10 



sentence pronounced upon man "In the sweat of thy 

 brow shalt thou eat thy bread." Brief terms of improve- 

 ment as a rule were advocated, especially in the case of 

 the young, and at this point the very groundwork of the 

 whole system was reached. The intellectual and moral 

 education of the young was the most effective method of 

 reform. Crime was hereditary like any other disease; 

 our penitentiaries and jails are crowded with the ignorant 

 and depraved, and it would be good economy for the 

 state to gather up the homeless and fatherless children in 

 our large cities, and endeavor to make good men and 

 women of them. There has been a great advance in pro- 

 viding for the physical comfort and treatment of the 

 inmates of our prisons. The sick are cared for in well- 

 lighted and cheery infirmaries. The insane criminals are 

 no longer confined in dungeons and fettered with chains, 

 but are sent to asylums for appropriate treatment. But 

 we need go a step farther ; crime is a mental disease and 

 needs a careful diagnosis for its successful eradication, 

 and our system of prison discipline has much to learn in 

 this respect. 



The lecturer closed with an eloquent tribute to the 

 memory of Howard, to whom the world owes so much 

 for the alleviation of prison discipline. 



At the adjournment on Tuesday, March 16, Mrs. 

 Jerome Carter and Miss L. F. Tyler, both of Salem, were 

 elected members. 



Votes of thanks were passed to Rev. Robert Collyer, 

 of New York, for his interesting paper "An Episode in 

 the life of Edward Fairfax," and to Hon. Thomas H. 

 Walker, of Pottsville, Penn., for his valuable paper on 

 "Prison Discipline." 



