effect in a letter dated 7th June 1823, addressed to Sir John Cox Hippisley, Bart. The whole question indeed is there treated in so candid and comprehensive a manner, that it may be regarded as an epitome of medical testimony; and I cannot do better for this cause of justice and humanity than recommend the Letter of Dr. Good to general perusal. There are also the well known names of Sir Gilbert Blane, Sir William Blizard, Mr. Copeland, Mr.. Cole; to which may be added, that of the late lamented Dr. Baillie*, as having agreed in the same sentiments; besides many other members of the medical and surgical professions, less celebrated perhaps, but not less competent to form a correct judgment on the case. These have unanimously declared their apprehension of great danger to the health and constitution of the prisoners from this new and unnatural toil. And their opinions, moreover, may be regarded as free from any bias of interest or prejudice, none of them being in any way connected with a prison. I have never conversed with a single member of the profession, unconnected, and scarcely with any one connected, with a prison, who has not invariably expressed himself more or less unfavourable to the Treadwheel, from medical considerations alone †. Nor should I omit the following statement given by Dr. Paris, in his interesting work on Medical

* Appendix, B B.

+ Appendix, CC.

Jurisprudence :-" The punishment is one of the "most unequal in its operations that can be con

66

ceived, and for women in certain situations, it " is a dangerous and indecent torture, one which "should be immediately forbidden, if not by the

66

humanity of the Magistrates, by the wisdom of "the Legislature." Among periodical writers of the day the respectable Editors of the London Medical and Physical Journal (who are Members of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons) deliver their opinions, without ambiguity, in unison with those of the authorities before mentioned.

In addition to the weight of medical testimony, the Magistrate, who, by a public expression of his sentiments, has most strongly declared himself an enemy to the Tread-wheel (although an equally sincere and zealous friend to the wholesome discipline of hard labour) is Sir John Cox Hippisley, Bart. whose instructive compendium of correspondence on the subject has been before the public since the beginning of June 1823; and some part of which was communicated at a much earlier date †. I believe there are many of our number who, either wholly or in part, coincide in the same feelings, although they may not have so openly expressed them. Among others is the name of Sir John Palmer Acland, Bart. whose able and active services, as a Justice of the Peace, are deservedly

Appendix, DD.

† Appendix, EE

appreciated in the county where he resides; and whose evidence, taken in a Select Committee of the Lords and Commons in 1819, fully establishes the good effects of manual labour, when enforced with discretion and humanity, both on the present and future deportment of the prisoner*. In a letter to Sir J. C. Hippisley on the comparative merits of the Hand-crank-mill and the Tread-wheel, Sir J. P. Acland thus expresses himself; "The "Tread-wheel is so much sanctioned by popular opinion as a new mode of punishment that the

66

66

66

66

philanthropy of the day does not recoil at it, and "it is to be carried on throughout the prisons with"out consideration, nay, against a prudent one; presently, we shall find the impropriety of it appealed against, and voted cruel and dangerous, "and the like; and it will be ordered to be laid "aside as disgusting and unsuited to the age we "live in, and to the humanity due to prisoners." "The first dangerous result from the Tread"mill will open the eyes of the blind and "unthinking."That many " dangerous results" many" have occurred from the use of this discipline, in the prisons of Cold Bath Fields, Guildford, and Brixton, the cases which I have felt it my duty to present to you, will, I think, satisfactorily prove; and I think also with the Hon. Baronet, that such results will lead many minds to form

Appendix, F F.

+ Appendix, GG..

a different conclusion from the ideas they may have previously entertained.

The next step, in the course of examination, is a reference to the Official Reports from those Gaols and Houses of Correction where the Tread-wheel has been erected, printed by order of the House of Commons, on the 10th of March 1823. These documents, I confess, have produced no difference of impression on my own mind, although others may have read them with opposite feelings. It is true that, with few exceptions, they endeavour to place the operation of this Machine in the most favourable light; as beneficial to the health as well as habits of the prisoners. The surgeon attached to the gaol at Exeter even declares, "I am of opinion, which has been confirmed

by inquiry, that after a few days work on the "Tread-mill, the muscles of the legs, thighs, and "back becoming habituated to it, the employment

66

१

on the mill ceases to be a punishment:" but this, (if it be so) appears to me a reason why it ought to be abandoned by those of its advocates who consider the TERROR excited in the sufferer, as its principal merit. I observe, in the Report of the surgeon of Reading Gaol, that, in his opinion, "no "injurious effects have been produced on the "bodies or limbs of the prisoners employed in the "Tread-mill, since the commencement of its ope "ration" (about eleven weeks previous). But I also find, that he is subsequently directed by the

2

Visiting Magistrate to certify, that on the very next day after the above Report, an accident occurred to one of the prisoners; and "that William Strange "is afflicted with a rupture, which took place "whilst working on the Tread-mill, by a violent "fit of coughing, and, in all PROBABILITY, would "have happened independent of the exertion on "the mill." I know not how far this PROBABILITY existed-how far a fit of coughing is likely to produce rupture; nor do I know the previous tendency of this poor man's constitution to rupture; but I have no doubt whatever, that he was a most unfit subject for the discipline of the mill.

It is also proved by this official correspondence, that a difference exists in the intervals or space between the treadles of the Wheel; which, in some, is beyond two feet and a half*: and likewise in the rate at which the machinery is impelled. I have worked on a Wheel in the Newport Bridewell, revolving five times in a minute, where the prison allowance consisted of a pound and a half of bread alone, per diem, with the sum of five shillings and sixpence expended in meat on Sundays, and divided amongst the prisoners, whatever their number, or the quantity so procured, at the fluctuating price of provisions.

At Exeter, it is stated, that there had been "no complaint whatever, or objection from the

* Appendix, H. H.

E