The inference is clear, that the greater portion of these men were benefited. If we look at the actual cases of mania occurring, the tables yield the following results. In the first year (1843), of 332 convicts, the daily average in the prison, three became affected with insanity. In 1844, when the daily average was 456, no case occurred. There was one in each of the two following years when the daily averages were respectively 445 and 423. In 1843 the cases were in the proportion of 9.03 per 1000.-During the whole period (four years and a quarter) since the prison was opened, the proportion of cases to the daily average of prisoners has been that of 2.29 per 1000 annually.From the end of the year 1843 to the present time the annual proportion has been no more than 1.48 per 1000.

The Reporters say :

'The remarkable difference in the number of cases of insanity at these different periods may have been partly owing to accidental circumstances. We believe, however, that to a great extent it admits of explanation, and that in the year 1843 there were some special causes in operation tending to affect the minds of the prisoners, which do not exist at the present time. However that may be, there is reason to be satisfied with the result, when we find that the proportion of insanity in the last three years has not been more than one-sixth part of what it was in the first instance.

'The statistics of insanity do not afford us the means of comparing the amount of this disease which exists at Pentonville with that in the general population. It would be more to the purpose to compare it with that which is met with in other prisons; but here also we have found it difficult to obtain such data as would enable us to arrive at an accurate conclusion. The returns from the various prisons of England and Wales, however, justify us in believing that, if the year 1843 be excluded from the calculation, the proportion of prisoners who were affected with insanity after committal to Pentonville is actually smaller than what occurs among persons of the same age in other places of confinement. The conclusion to be drawn is certainly favourable to the separate system. But it is still more so when we take into the account that, while other prisons contain individuals of all ages, the Pentonville prisoners, with a few exceptions, are from twenty to forty years of age; and that it is proved by the experience of such English and foreign lunatic asylums, nine in number, as afford the opportunity of making the comparison, that in no less than 57 per cent. of the whole number of insane persons the symptoms of the disease are first manifested in the course of these twenty years.'

Of course no exact comparison can be made between the inmates for eighteen months of Pentonville and the miscellaneous and diversely sentenced residents in any ordinary jail; but the Commissioners are so far supported by the following Note, for

which

which we are obliged to Mr. Perry, Inspector of Prisons in the Southern and Western Districts. This officer says—

The places of confinement in the southern and western districts are eighty in number-of which seven are conducted on the separate system. In the year from 29th Sept. 1844, to 29th Sept. 1845, the daily average of prisoners in the whole eighty places was 4361-in the seven on the separate system it was 644. The average period of confinement was rather less than seven weeks. Thirty-seven prisoners were affected with insanity; in nine of whom the symptoms first showed themselves during the period of their imprisonment: but of these nine, not one occurred in the seven on the separate system. The proportion of fresh cases of insanity was therefore 2.06 per 1000 in the year, being somewhat less than the proportion at Pentonville during the whole period that has elapsed since the prison was opened; but considerably greater, if the year 1843 be excluded from the calculation.'

The following RETURN well deserves to be considered in connexion with the foregoing statement of the Pentonville Commissioners. It will show the annual ratio of mental disease per 1000 strength, in our troops quartered at home, or in our most healthy stations abroad. We are indebted for it to Dr. Balfour of the Guards :

Compare the numbers in the last column with the recorded amount of mental disease among 1000 per annum in the model prison, and we shall find that—while the annual ratio in the latter is 1.48-it is nearly 1 at home among the Dragoon Guards and Dragoons,-1.43 in the Ionian Islands,-1.33 in Canada,-and 1.41 in Gibraltar; so that it may be fairly said that the prisoner under separate confinement suffers about as much as the soldier on the choicest spots of the Mediterranean, or in the bracing climate of Canada.

The Pentonville Commissioners very properly acknowledge

the

the want of data for a deduction of mathematical accuracy: but looking at the general results, they seem to be fully justified in their belief that the effect of the separate system, when enforced for eighteen months, is not injurious to the human mind; and we think we have evidence before us which sustains equally the opinion that it is not injurious to the physical health. On this last point the writers hostile to the system rest certainly on grounds far less safe than those adduced by the Commissioners. For example, these writers think it much for their argument that the mortality per 1000 in the metropolitan population between the ages of 20-40 is 10, while it is 15 at Pentonville, or one-third more. The gross results are merely looked at, and it is not considered that while the population of the prison is selected from a vicious community-that of the metropolis includes the sober and industrious. Men gamble with life-the honest equally with the dishonest. There is not the slightest doubt that the latter are greatly the losers, are pained more, gain less, and die very much sooner than the former. But in the honest and honourable pursuits of life is there no risk? Take the casualties of our soldiers, for example, in England, in home service. While the annual mortality of Pentonville per 1000 is 15.70, that of the Foot Guards is 21-6-nay, the mortality from consumption alone in the Guards is nearly as high (14.1 per 1000) as the total mortality of Pentonville prisoners-men, be it remarked, of about the same age on an average as the soldiers. Even in the Household Cavalry the mortality, varying from 13 to 15% per 1000, is but a fraction less than that of the criminal population in the Model Prison. Yet these soldiers,' says Colonel Tulloch, "carefully selected, and, so far as can be ascertained, subject to no physical defect at enlistment, are better fed, better lodged, and have less onerous duties to perform than the great mass of the labouring population.' -Report on the Mortality of Troops, p. 4.

The chief lowerers of life on the prisoner are bad food, bad air, and depressing passions. The two former are so completely under control as to admit of any degree of modification. The mind of man is a more stubborn element; nevertheless the discipline of the cell is so essentially mental as to leave no doubt of its effects on the generality.

It is not chimerical to hope that, as all the circumstances of imprisonment are more or less controllable, so most of its decided injuries may be warded off. It is curious to remark the effects of diet on the prisoners (5th Report, p. 12)-how little shook the scales in the balance of health and disease. No less striking has been the diminution of consumptive cases from attention to

suspicions

suspicions as to their origin. From the opening of the prison to the termination of 1844, the annual mortality per 1000 from phthisis had amounted to 11 47. The physician, Dr. Owen Rees, suspected that the dusty trades carried on in the cells might have added to the chances of death by this disease. In 1815 measures were taken to guard against the supposed cause; in 1846 only four cases per 1000 of consumption occurred; and in 1847 (up to the 20th of October) there has not been a single death from this terrible scourge.

We could readily produce evidence that the mortality in many callings is much greater than in prisons; but we have purposely selected the soldier at home. If the discipline of the cell is not worse in its physical and mental effects than that of the parade, there should not be much to complain of. It has been objected, that to carry through that of the Separate System, a large amount of food and more active stimulants also are required. This, however, is not the case. As compared with the consumption of the soldier, the prisoner is underfed: the former has daily twelve ounces of meat, and a pound of bread, with coffee and vegetables, and this may be increased under the discretion of the commanding officer-not to say his own; the prisoner has four ounces of meat, and twenty ounces of bread per day, with vegetables, gruel, and cocoa. It was only after repeated experiments and careful weighing of each prisoner that the dietary was adopted. On a daily average of 423 prisoners, in 1846, 37 required extra diet. In some the addition was merely a few ounces of bread; in others, stimulants were given, as wine and porter. With regard to the extra diet-even including these extras the amount of food is never greater than that of the ration of the soldier, and in most cases not so great. Occasionally, of course, stimulants are required for the sick and weakly in all hospitals, military or civil; but the documents as to the relative stress of wear and tear on the soldier and prisoner are precise. At Pentonville, then, the daily ratio is 14 sick in 423, or about 33 in 1000. In the Prussian army the daily average during ten years is 44 per 1000. Among 1000 of the Dragoon Guards and Dragoons serving in the United Kingdom, 40 are daily sick. Much stress has been laid as to the Pentonville prisoners being selected.' It is true they are, but selected notoriously from a short-lived and ill-conditioned class. Provided no overt disease or marked diseased tendency be apparent, the convict is at once admitted; and we have seen from the table furnished by the chaplain that many are received whose minds and bodies exhibit anything but a vigorous constitution. It is an abuse of terms to call this selection, as compared with the kind of man required for the Dragoon Guards. No insurance

office would take the majority of Pentonville prisoners even as average lives; a very cursory glance at the congregation in the chapel is sufficient to satisfy any physician on that point. In truth, there can be no question that the mass of our genuine criminal population is below par in physical, if not also in mental calibre. With regard to the injurious effect on the will,' as evidenced in the listless look,' the want of alacrity,' the loss of their gre garious habits,' a supposed dulness of comprehension,' &c., we may say, that this faculty is certainly the one most influenced by the discipline of the separate system. All but a few reprobates are thoroughly tamed. Punishments to enforce obedience are very rare; no corporal punishments have ever been required at Pentonville. The aspect of men who have been kept in comparative seclusion, and whose thoughts have been forcibly turned within, no doubt may present peculiarities. The prompt and constant subjection to the will of others may also give a cast to the physiognomy; but if will does not mean wilfulness, there is abundant evidence to show that that faculty is in full vigour under the separate system. Whether the test be taken from assiduous labour at a trade or in school, the proficiency of the disciple shows a hearty and a healthy direction of his will. It is not to be supposed that the labour of learning, which he has hitherto abhorred, does not now demand a sustained effort of will. The chaplain reports that, of 1000 prisoners, 696 at leaving the place possessed considerable general knowledge'that 713 had mastered the higher rules of arithmetic'—and that in many cases it is found necessary to check and moderate the ardour of investigation-especially as to religious subjects. Take from the same gentleman's paper the following out of many specimens of the concentrated activity of the mind in the Pentonville prisoner :

Reg. 432. This man had received, he told me, some injuries in his head from falling down a steep place some years back; had been a vagrant and singing beggar in the streets, and an associate of gipsies. When he left this place, whatever his moral character may prove to be (of which I am not now speaking), he knew more of religion and of general subjects than even respectable working artizans in general.

Reg. Nos. 548, 598, 685, and 558. These men were of uncommonly low intellect, and on admission did not know the alphabet; they now write their own letters, and so well express their ideas on the simple subjects before them, that their relatives can scarcely believe that they are the writers.

Reg. 580, a cab-driver-elevated now from the most debased and ignorant state to a very good acquaintance with religion and the elements of secular knowledge. His health, almost ruined by spirit-drinking, is also visibly improved.

Reg.