1903-4. | _ SCIENCE AND ENGLISH Law. 69 
the only object aimed at. Of what use is it to imprison the burglar or the 
forger for five, or ten, or fifteen years, if at the end of the time he is let loose 
to prey upon society again? Again, the law in most cases gives a large 
discretion to the judge in fixing the penalty, and hence arises inequality 
which is frequently startling. A good-natured judge will let the prisoner off 
with a light punishment, whilst a judge of sterner character will for the 
very same crime impose the extreme penalty allowed. The remedy for this 
is what has come to be termed ‘‘the indeterminate sentence,”’ which as well 
as being in the interest of society will be a great relief to the judges and pos- 
sibly also to juries. Analogy from natural science will help us here. If 
a man accidentally cuts his finger, he ties it up with a piece of cotton, ren- 
dering the use of it impossible, and keeps it so tied up until the wound is 
healed. But if he takes the bandage off too soon, and attempts to use the 
finger before it is properly healed, he opens the wound possibly in a worse 
condition than at first, and is obliged to repeat the operation and wait 
longer for a cure than if he had had more patience in the first instance. 
So it is with the criminal. If upon trial and conviction he is condemned 
to a short term of imprisonment, he serves his term and is discharged, in 
ninety-nine cases out of 100, worse than when he began; he renews his war 
upon society, which is obliged to go again through the whole course of trial, 
conviction, and sentence, and the criminal sinks deeper and deeper in degra- 
dation and sin. A philanthropist in an address recently delivered in this 
city is reported to have advocated the letting off of first offenders. That 
seems to me to be dangerous doctrine. It is not in accordance with natural 
law, which invariably and inevitably vindicates itself against every violation 
of its behests. If this is the case in the material world, it is equally so in 
the moral and spiritual world. If the criminal escapes punishment, society 
is punished in his stead and the law is vindicated, but at what cost? Obsta 
principiis. Check the evil at the very beginning. That is the salvation 
of society. Will it be objected that this is Draconian severity? I 
answer that it is more merciful to restrain the criminal until he reforms, 
than to leave him to his own devices, which will certainly lead him astray. 
But look at the cost, some one may say. I venture to affirm that it will be 
cheaper to keep all the criminals behind bars than to maintain an army of 
policemen and other court officials, whose main reason for existence is the 
freedom allowed to the criminal class, leaving out of consideration altogether 
the losses of individual citizens by reason of their depredations. It is an 
obligation upon society to pay for its own protection. 
There is another reform which the application of the teachings of 
science to law will effect, which is worthy of our attention, I mean the treat- 
ment of those who are not criminal but only diseased. Time was when 
insanity was treated as a crime, when lunatics were loaded with chains 
and shackled in dark dungeous, their scanty food thrown to them as to wild 
