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objection obviated, it would make little or no difference in the matter. But, to return to Dr. Good.

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The next class of accidents are such as cramp, breaking the Achilles tendon, aneurismal and varicose swellings, &c. Of these, the prisoners are represented as being in perpetual danger. Consequently, as these are not chronic affections, which may require years before they fully develop themselves, we should imagine that the returns must exhibit the proofs of such danger in the shape of accidents, if Dr. Good's apprehensions are well founded. But the returns one and all declare, that no injurious effects of this description have been produced on the bodies or legs of the prisoners by this species of labour. At Reading, a case of rupture occurred, occasioned by a violent fit of coughing, which, the surgeon to the gaol is of opinion, would in all probability have happened independent of the exertion on the Mill. At Dorchester, a few of the female prisoners are reported by the surgeon to have been subjected to certain complaints incidental to women, more than usual, the consequence (in his opinion) of the ⚫ exertion and exposure to cold. At Lancaster, a prisoner in a diseased state of body had a degree of inflammation induced by the exercise. But not one case has occurred of cramp, aneurism, snapping the tendon, or any other mischief of the specific kind which the nature of the labour is said by Dr. Good to have a constant tendency to produce. At Bedford, the average number of prisoners employed at the Discipline mill had been about thirty, and 212 had undergone the discipline for the whole term of their respective sentences, varying from two weeks to twelve months. The visiting magistrates had watched the effect with scrupulous attention, and they express their conviction, that no injurious result had arisen either to the general health, or to the body, or to the limbs of the prisoners. Thomas Lovesy, a convict who had been regularly kept to hard labour on the Tread wheel for twelve months, on being examined by the magistrates the day before his discharge, stated,

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That he has enjoyed perfect health during the whole period of his year's hard labour at the Tread-mill; that he has never felt any pain in the loins or shoulders, or in the tendons near the heel; that he has experienced no numbness of hands or arms; that he has never heard any complaints from his fellow convicts, except that when some of them first began to labour on the wheel in their high shoes, the stepping galled their ancles, but that after they put on proper shoes, no inconvenience was experienced by them.'

The Surgeon to the Devon House of Correction, after reporting that no case of injury had occurred, or, in his opinion,

could arise, except from wilful negligence of the individual, adds, as the result of his inquiry, that, after a few days' work on the Tread-mill, the muscles of the legs, thighs, and back, become habituated to it, so that the employment ceases to be a punishment. And the case is mentioned in the same Report, of a young woman, who used to go on with her knitting while on the Wheel. Dr. Good, however, denies that habit will have any effect in rendering the work easier or less trying. The general law of the animal economy, by which the organs acquire strength by being called into exercise, is limited,' he says, to such employment as they are naturally fitted for." Now, as our legs were never designed for the exercise in question, it is a gross mistake' to imagine that a person could ever acquire facility in executing so unnatural and tortuous an action.' This is a very important remark, because it applies to other modes of tortuous and unnatural action besides that required by the Tread-wheel. Some of our readers may have found, on first repairing to the sea side or to a hilly country, that the unwonted process of climbing the heights, produced a pain in the calf of the leg, a shortness of breath, excessive perspiration, or, it may be, left a stiffness about the loins; and they possibly have been so imprudent as to persist in this unnatural exercise, under the mistaken idea that use would mitigate these distressing and alarming symptoms. Nay, they may even have fancied that such an effect really took place; that it fatigued them less, occasioned less perspiration and loss of breath, left no sensation of cramp or uneasiness about the loins, after they had for a few days accustomed their muscles to the tortuous action. But this has been, on their parts, a gross mistake; and had they but known what risk they ran of aneurism, varicose veins, snapping the tendon Achilles, ruptures, spitting of blood, &c. they would never have walked up hill, or run up hill again. The first mischievous influence,' Sir John Cox Hippisley's physician would have informed them, will not be recovered from by a repetition, but will go on from worse to worse, till some one or other of those maladies are actually produced, to which such exercise predisposes from its earliest use.' (p. 102.)

But Doctors differ. Sir Gilbert Blane, on being applied to by Dr. Good for his opinion, drily remarks, that he knows of no solid objection to Dr. G's physiological reasonings, except that they are mere theory, and that theory is always fallacious 'till tested by experience."

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Perhaps, adds Sir Gilbert, the power of habit has not been sufficiently adverted to as a principle of marvellous efficacy in renovating both the mind and body in untoward circumstances. Might it

not also be asked, whether there are not many species of labour necessary for carrying on the useful and necessary acts (arts) of life, in which the virtuous and innocent members of the State are engaged, much more injurious to their health than the Tread-Mill?' p. 125.

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This hint of Sir Gilbert's is, however, lost on his Correspondent; for, as to the power of habit,' Sir Gilbert has evidently fallen into the gross mistake above referred to, a mistake proceeding altogether, as Dr. Good assures us, from a wrong application of a right principle.' Habit can never, it seems, render it easier for a man to mount a ladder, tread on tiptoe, or climb the ropes of a vessel to the mast-head, because for such actions men are not naturally fitted.' Hence, the Tread-mill is a most unchristian mode of discipline.

The second class of objections relates to the effects of overexertion. For, though an attempt is made to hold up ruptures, spitting of blood, loss of flesh, female complaints, &c. as peculiarly resulting from the specific action of the limbs in the tread-mill, Dr. Good will not deny, that over-exertion of any kind would produce the same effects. The last-mentioned result, he is well aware, would be caused by over-fatigue from mere walking or dancing; and ruptures more frequently take place in consequence of manual and dorsal exertions, than of any other species of labour. The Surgeon to the Truss Society 1 represents the average number of individuals afflicted with hernia among the labouring classes, as one (male) in six. We consider this to be much over-stated; but it must be admitted as a proof that the labouring classes, whatever be their employment, are very liable to this complaint. Yet, of all the' : hundreds who have been subjected to the discipline of the Tread-mill, not one individual has suffered any such injury, except in the case where rupture was produced by a violent fit of coughing. The presumption is, therefore, that the labour of the Tread-mill is less calculated to occasion ruptures, than the carrying of loads, and various descriptions of labour in which the majority of the lower classes are occupied. Indeed, a physician of the highest reputation' at Dublin, gives it as his opinion, that the Crank exercise, for which Sir John and his Physician so warmly contend, may distress the lumbar muscles and kidneys, and threaten rupture as much as the, Tread-mill.' (p. 151). With reference to which apprehension, Sir John has only to reply, That the system of regulation and the improvements proposed for the Crank machinery, will obviate objections of this kind, derived as they are from its ordinary action, and probably under a careless superintend'ance.' Here, then, it is admitted, that the ordinary action of

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the Crank-mill endangers the occurrence of the very mischiefs charged exclusively on the Tread-mill, which mischiefs have, in fact, never been known to occur. Dr. Good, however, denies that the Hand-crank mill is likely to induce any such complaint; and he adduces, in support of this denial, the testimony of two surgeons. Mr. Copeland thinks Hernia and Varices much more likely' to be produced by the labour of the Treadmill, than by that of the Hand-crank mill; an opinion reasonable enough as regards the latter complaint, and the coupling the two together takes off all the force of his opinion; though. it amounts, at most, to no more than this, that such diseases are likely to be produced by both species of labour, but that probabilities are in favour of the Crank-mill. Mr. Macelwain simply states, that those modes of labour which call alternately into action different sets of muscles, are the best adapted to promote health and strength; which general opinion is really little or nothing to the purpose. And these are Dr. Good's authorities.

But we must not pass over the sarcophagous effects of this monstrous machine. The Lancaster magistrates, desirous of ascertaining the effects of the Tread-mill on the general health of the prisoners, gave directions to have them weighed, in order to ascertain the average gain or loss of flesh produced by the labour; or, in the more ornate phrase of Dr. Good, by putting this slow and snail-paced labour to the test of a pair of scales, which have been employed as a direct sarcometer, to determine the amount of struggle between the living powers of human flesh, and the destroying powers of the Tread-wheel.' The result was as follows:

From Feb. 10 to Feb. 19. working 7 hours each day, 1lb. 7 oz. gain pér mán.

Feb. 19 to Mar. 4

Mar. 4 to Mar. 25
Mar. 25 to April 28
April 28 to May 26

9 hours

oz. gain.

10%

1 lb. loss.
24 lb. loss.

ditto

10 hours 1 lb. 8 oz. gain.

There has been no alteration in diet. The prisoners have been kept solely on the prison allowance. As far as my experience goes, I am of opinion that the employment is very healthy, and I have not observed that this species of labour has had the slightest tendency to produce any specific complaint.' p. 49.

These are the observations of the Keeper. Upon this curious fact, Dr. Good indignantly remarks:

• Now what other labour under the sun, short of that of actual torture, to which men have ever been condemned, or in which they ever can engage, in the open air, has produced, or can be conceived to pro

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duce, such a loss of flesh and blood as that before us; where the rate of progression, whether up hill, down hill, or on level ground, does not exceed two miles for the entire day, and the labourer has to carry no bag of tools or weight of any kind ?"

What the rate of progression has to do with the question, we cannot perceive: but we should really be glad to know, what species of hard labour continued for 10 hours per day, the workmen being kept on prison allowance, would not occasion a loss of flesh. Yet, this he terms the experimentum crucis! The prisoners, when over-worked, lost flesh; when the period of labour was shortened but half an hour, they recovered flesh faster than they had lost it. In the first instance, however, not only was no inroad made on the living principle, but they increased in weight as the result of this very species of labour, which is represented as coming short only of actual torture !!

But we hasten to notice the third class of mischiefs, those maladies of slow growth which the Tread-mill has an ultimate tendency to produce. Dr. Good, weary at last, as it should seem, of being questioned, loses all patience when he comes to speak on this point. There is no end,' he savs, to answering all ⚫ the follies and caprices to which the Tread-mill must give rise from its intrinsic demerit.' Then, after the remarks already cited on subverting the order of nature, the Dr. thus proceeds.

The question which, I understand, is very often put forth, whether any of the maladies that are predicted so freely and confidently by medical practitioners against the Tread-Mill have any where yet taken place, is at first sight plausible; but it is nothing more, for it will not bear reflecting upon for a single moment. In the case of women, the mischievous effects have been actually proved; and hence at this moment, the Tread-Mill, as I am told, is abandoned at Coldbath Fields, as far as relates to them. For the same reason it is equally abandoned as to all those who have ruptures or hydroceles, or an obvious tendency to such. But by far the greater number of the predicted evils are such as could not have taken place from the shortness of the time the machines have been at work in any prison; but which, to the eye of the pathologist, are as certain as if they were at this moment in full force. Such, I mean, as lumbago, weakness of the kidnies, cramps, rheumatisms, and stiff joints of all kinds, as well of the hands from an uniformly fixed position, as of the legs and feet. These are all chronic affections, and may require years before they fully develope themselves. How long is it after the liver is first affected, before the structure of the organ becomes, in many cases, seriously injured, or the general health destroyed! The poison of lead is often operating for years upon painters, before their limbs and bowels are rend naralytic; and the worn-out husband

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