Of the success of the New York Inebriate Asylum, it is perhaps too early to speak. We could but notice, however, the great disparity between the faith of the Commissioners, in their appeals to the Legislature in 1862-63, for authority to found an asylum, and their report of the same Institution in 1869, when they "deemed it their duty to thus frankly state their views, that the streams of public beneficence be not unduly diverted objects of great and permanent utility to those the benefits of which, in their opinion, are largely factitious and imaginary." The resident physician, in his very thoughtful and carefully prepared report of the same year, declared his entire loss of faith in the voluntary system" generally adopted in these asylums, and introduced at the opening of the Institution on Ward's Island. Still, the undertaking is too important to suppose these gentlemen likely to relinquish their endeavors, or to admit the possibility of ultimate failure. This entire scheme for reforming the inebriate is yet in its early infancy, and must, like every other system, meet with much baffling and difficulty. We think a stricter discipline, and more positive self-denial and rigor, would be an improvement in every inebriate asylum. Children who grow up under wise but positive laws exhibit more self-control and self-denial all through life, than those who have lived under the voluntary system. Inebriates for the most part have grown up without restraint, the principles of which they must somewhere master, before they can attain to real manhood, and without which they must forever remain in their sunken, enslaved, and demented condition. And while we regard facilities for amusement and pleasure desirable in an institution, we still believe labor immensely more likely to contribute to one's reformation; and the more one has been addicted to softness and pleasure, in consequence of his wealth, the greater the necessity for arduous exercise, which shall harden his muscles, invigorate his intellect, and strengthen his will. Reformation, when one has been long and woefully corrupted, is not a holiday recreation, but a manly and deadly struggle, taxing to the utmost the finest faculties of the soul. Little can be expected from young men of wealth, who, while they voluntarily shut themselves for a time from the intoxicating bowl, live at ease, indulging every other appetite. Their reformation is not sufficiently deep and general to resist the shock of subsequent temptation. And no more can be hoped for those who enter an asylum simply to gratify the wishes of friends. These belong to that class who will also enter a billiard saloon and a beer garden when invited by an old companion. Still less can be expected from those floating human wrecks on the sea of life that drift once a month into the Workhouse, for their lewdness and habitual dissipation. Coming from the most abandoned classes in the community, utterly improvident and reckless, their involuntary abstinence for a brief period is likely to be followed by deeper dissipation when opportunity offers. The New York Inebriate Asylum is not to be judged from its fruit in the treatment of these. To rescue many of them requires a miracle as great as the raising of Lazarus.

It is conceded that there is no medicine which acts specifically in drunkenness. The physician can only assist nature in its work of repairing, by slow processes, the ravages dissipation has made in the system. The appetite must be conquered by voluntary abstinence, which is greatly assisted by good society, means of culture, toil, and prayer. The treatment in an institution of this kind is eminently moral, hence too much pains can hardly be taken in the selection of its officers. The superintendent, physician, and chaplain are not dealing largely with matters of physical science, but with the perverseness of the human mind, requiring, besides a knowledge of the strange contradictions of human nature, a magnetic influence calculated to attract and mold. The success of an institution depends more upon the men to whom its management is committed than upon the technicalities of the system adopted within its walls, its convenience, or its location.

The principles, practices, and spirit of a genuine heart-piety, more than any or all other things combined, give success to an inebriate asylum; and we have known few examples of genuine reformation among inebriates, without a moral regeneration. A change of life is difficult without a change of heart, but with this it becomes comparatively easy. Change the fountain, and the bitter water will cease to flow.

We are thankful that the attention of thoughtful men throughout the civilized world is being concentrated on this great problem: how to successfully treat and reform the inebriate. It is, indeed, a vital question, involving the happiness of the individual and the family, the wealth of the community and the strength of the State. A system based on truly scientific and moral principles will certainly be evolved sooner or later, and we trust that at no distant day the New York Inebriate Asylum will rank among the best of its kind in the world.