whether internal or
external, should be treated with laudanum, those of the body with castor-oil,
and those of the lower limbs with an embrocation of strong sulphuric acid and
water.
    It may be said that the classification was not sufficiently careful, and
that the remedies were ill chosen; but it is a hard thing to initiate any
reform, and it was necessary to familiarize the public mind with the principle,
by inserting the thin end of the wedge first; it is not, therefore, to be
wondered at that among so practical a people there should still be some room for
improvement. The mass of the nation are well pleased with existing arrangements,
and believe that their treatment of criminals leaves little or nothing to be
desired; but there is an energetic minority who hold what are considered to be
extreme opinions, and who are not at all disposed to rest contented until the
principle lately admitted has been carried further.
    I was at some pains to discover the opinions of these men, and their reasons
for entertaining them. They are held in great odium by the generality of the
public, and are considered as subverters of all morality whatever. The
malcontents, on the other hand, assert that illness is the inevitable result of
certain antecedent causes, which, in the great majority of cases, were beyond
the control of the individual, and that therefore a man is only guilty for being
in a consumption in the same way as rotten fruit is guilty for having gone
rotten. True, the fruit must be thrown on one side as unfit for man's use, and
the man in a consumption must be put in prison for the protection of his
fellow-citizens; but these radicals would not punish him further than by loss of
liberty and a strict surveillance. So long as he was prevented from injuring
society, they would allow him to make himself useful by supplying whatever of
society's wants he could supply. If he succeeded in thus earning money, they
would have him made as comfortable in prison as possible, and would in no way
interfere with his liberty more than was necessary to prevent him from escaping,
or from becoming more severely indisposed within the prison walls; but they
would deduct from his earnings the expenses of his board, lodging, surveillance,
and half those of his conviction. If he was too ill to do anything for his
support in prison, they would allow him nothing but bread and water, and very
little of that.
    They say that society is foolish in refusing to allow itself to be benefited
by a man merely because he has done it harm hitherto