286 MARRIAGE AND DISEASE. 



prisoners fitted for hard labour. Dr. Clouston, in hig 

 Morison Lectures delivered at the Koyal College of 

 Physicians, Edinburgh, in November 1890, said that 

 he had " examined the prisoners in the Edinburgh 

 prison, many of whom were habitual criminals. A 

 large proportion of these were of the degenerate class, 

 mentally and bodily, and fully one half were in face, 

 stature, and appearance far below any minimum 

 standard of healthy human development." * 



All who have examined the inmates of our prisons 

 agree that they are a degenerate and a decaying race. 

 They are scrofulous, and great numbers of them die 

 from various forms of tubercular disease. During 

 eight years 50 per cent, of the deaths occurring at 

 the Elmira Reformatory, New York, are stated by 

 Dr. Wey to have been due to " diseases of the chest 

 other than heart disease." Nervous affections also 

 carry off considerable numbers. Again, tissue de- 

 generations such as are found in the gouty and 

 rheumatic are commonly met with even among the 

 comparatively young, as proved by the fact that Penta 

 found 44 per cent, suffering from earthy degeneration 

 of the tissues, and Flesch 50 per cent, with heart 

 disease, of which 20 per cent, actually died. 



According to the report of the Medical Inspector of 

 English Prisons the death-rate among our convict 

 population is close upon a half higher than among 

 the general population at corresponding ages, notwith- 

 standing that the health of prisoners is looked after 

 * Lancet, November 29, 1890 



