cord the enlightened benevolence of the town of Paisley, where an Auxiliary Society has recently been formed, though it never was visited by the pupils. This may serve to shew the impulse created on the public mind in favour of the Institution, and the deep and permanent interest which is felt in its benevolent objects.

The Committee, therefore, may now venture to congratulate the friends of the Institution, on its having taken its destined place, among the public establishments of Scotland. In that character, it now solicits public support. While its Managers acknowledge with gratitude the measure of public liberality which it has already enjoyed, they now presume to appeal in its behalf, not to Edinburgh only, but to Scotland. The sphere of its operations has no other limit, than that of the country which it seeks to benefit. From every district, and every considerable town, in which deaf and dumb persons can be found, it may with confidence solicit the means of restoring, to comfort and usefulness-to the enjoyment of existence here, and the hope of happiness hereafter, many who are now perhaps the sorest affliction of their parents and families, and the most helpless and hopeless incumbrances of the community.

The funds of the Institution have not yet had time to experience the advantages of that extension of its field of usefulness, which has just been opened. The measures, however, which are in the course of operation in diffe. rent parts of Scotland, will speedily, the Committee trust, add largely and permanently to its revenue.

In the mean time, the income of the past year, though not inadequate to the stated expences of the Institution, has not received any increase-indeed, upon a comparison with that of the preceding year, it will be found to have diminished. But it will be observed, that the Glasgow Society has only remitted L.105 during the year,a sum falling greatly short of their former very liberal contributions. This diminution, however, will, it is hoped, be only temporary.*

It is also to be noticed, that the Committee have abstained from increasing their funds by charity ser mons, during the past year; being unwilling to encroach upon any of the sources of that extraordinary provision for the poor, which the lamentable exigencies of the past season rendered so peculiarly necessary.

To compensate these deficiencies, some seasonable aids have been received. By the northern journey, exclusive of the incalculable advantages already enumerated, a clear profit was derived to the funds of the Institution, after paying every expence, of no less than L.77, 4s. 6d. The executors of the late Dr James Nasmyth of Hopepark, who were instructed to divide L.500 among the public charities of Edinburgh, allotted L.50 of that sum to this Institution. Several donations of L.10, 10s. have been received from benevolent individuals. The Committee have also had the satisfaction of adding the name of his Grace the Duke of Portland to the list of annual subscribers for L.10, 10s.

year are as follow:Donations and Subscriptions

in Edinburgh,

Remitted by Glasgow Committee,.

Collected at Annual Examination,

Profits of Examinations during Northern Journey, Share of Dr Nasmyth's Legacy, deducting tax,

L.529 13 6

105 00

28 11 0

77 4.6

45 0 0

Total, L.785 90

This fund has been managed with every attention to economy; and, though it has proved sufficient for the objects to which the Committee have been forced to restrict themselves, it falls short of enabling them to do all the good which the Institution might bestow. There is still, besides, a debt of L.200 due by the Institution, for the purchase of the property in Chessels' Court. It is therefore incumbent on the friends of the Institution to as sist its funds; not only in order to afford the means of continuing and extending its usefulness, but even to pre serve it from embarrassment.

It will be observed, also, that the means which have been so successfully employed for making it more general ly known throughout Scotland, certainly involve the consequence of subjecting it to the applications on behalf of many unfortunate persons, whose claims would have otherwise never been heard of; and it would be useless to have extended its sphere of operation, unless its means of meeting the demands of humanity were extended in the same proportion.

The Report then notices the means taken to repress the typhus fever in the school, and warmly express their obligations to Dr Keith.

Of the state of the school under the charge of Mr Kinniburgh, the Committee can still speak in terms of the

indeed, chiefly on the assurance of the great benefits derived by the pupils from his tuition, and the wonderful change which it has introduced into the moral condition, that they solicit the aid of a benevolent public. They' entreat all, to whom the interests of their fellow-creatures are dear, to visit the school, and to judge for them." selves. Let them first contemplate the deaf and dumb in their natural and unimproved state,-almost the lowest condition in which a mortal being can be placed, and then survey in our school the effects of instruction. So completely has it broken down the barrier, hitherto considered insurmountable, which excluded all the lights of truth, of reason, and of religion, from the minds of these unfortunate persons; that it is no exagge ration to say, that there is perhaps no class of persons in their station, who are so thoroughly well educated, as the pupils of this Institution.

Independently of moral and religious instruction-to which almost all other knowledge is but as the means to an end-the pupils are taught to read and write their native language, to compose in it with ease and fluency, and even to use it in articulate speech. They are also taught arithmetic, and such other branches of education as may fit them for the stations to which they are des tined. There are, doubtless, situa. tions and professions, from which their infirmity necessarily excludes them; but there is no condition in which they can find occupation, for which they may not, and do not, receive the appropriate instruction in the Institu

tion.

The pupils who belong to the lower classes of society, are trained to those habits which are to make them useful in their station. All the female pupils are taught sewing, and other peculiar branches of female education.

The females of an inferior station are instructed, by Mrs Kinniburgh, in those occupations which qualify them for domestic service. Those who prefer to support themselves by labour, are taught shoe-binding, and other works of that nature.

Similar attention is paid to the appropriate instruction of the boys. It was mentioned in the last Report, that, as a beginning of mechanical instruction in the Institution, a number of boys had been taught shoemaking. This experiment has been remarkably successful. The Committee annex, in

the Appendix, a state of the expence of this department, from which it will be found, that no loss has arisen from it, but that, on the contrary, it has been, to a small extent, a source of profit, which will doubtless increase, as the boys become more perfect in their trade. It is proper to add, that a large stock of shoes, of different qualities, the work of the pupils, is for sale at the Institution, by the purchase of which, at the ordinary prices, its friends will materially benefit its funds, without increasing their own contributions.

THE weather of 1818 was, upon the whole, favourable to the labours of the cultivator and the produce of the soil. The first two months of the year were mild, though unsteady, and allowed him to carry forward his work out of doors with little interruption. During the sowing season, from the beginning of March till the middle of May, it was cold, occasionally boisterous, particularly in March, and sometimes very wet, yet the seeds were in general deposited in a dry bed; and though vegetation had made little progress, even at the latter period the young plants remained in a healthy state. The last fortnight of May was remarkably genial, with an uncommonly high temperature, and fine weather may be said to have continued from that time to the end of October. In June, July, and August, the thermometer often stood at 80°, and even in October at 60°, without ever falling so low as to approach the freezing point, a change which not unfrequently occurs during the night, after some of our hottest days, to the great injury of the crops. The harvest was therefore early, and as August, and the greater part of September, were dry, the crops were all gathered and stored in the best condition. As a proof of the unusual heat of this summer, it is worthy of notice,

that grapes for making wine were brought to the London market in cartloads, and sold at 7d. a pound; and the melody of the nightingale is said to have been heard on the banks of the Forth.

The following is an abstract of a register of the weather kept on the banks of the Tay, near Perth, which, upon being compared with a similar one for 1817, in our last volume, exhibits a higher temperature by 1.92 degrees, while the quantity of rain is less by 1.109 inches.