44 REPORT 1861. 



Die Feuermeteore, insbesondere die Meteoriten historisch und naturwissen- 

 schaftlich betraclitet. Giessen, 1859. 



3. Keiigott iiber Meteoriten. Zurich, 1860. 



4. Recherches sur les Meteores et leslois qui les regissent: par M. Coul- 

 vier-Gravier. Paris, 1859. 



5. Ueber den Ursprung der Meteorsteine : von P. A. Kesselmeyer. 

 Frankfurt am Main ; accompanied with a most valuable catalogue of meteor- 

 ites and 3 maps. 



Report on the Action of Prison Diet and Discipline on the Bodily 

 Functions of Prisoners -Vstxt I. By Edward Smith, M.D., LL.B., 

 F.R.S., Assistant Physician to the Hospital for Consumption, Bromp- 

 ton; and W. R. Milner, M.R.C.S., Surgeon to the Convict Prison, 

 Wakefield. With Appendices. 



The Committee appointed at the late Meeting of the British Association, 

 " to prosecute inquiries as to the effect of prison diet and discipline on the 

 bodily functions of prisoners" have the honour to state that they have ful- 

 filled the task assigned to them so far as time and opportunity have per- 

 mitted ; but they regret that, on the one hand, they have not been able to 

 gain access to some information which they required, and, on the other, 

 that the great extent of the inquiry has prevented the completion of the 

 series of researches, to which they attach great importance. Hence they 

 purpose on the present occasion to present the first part of their report, 

 which will include some general remarks on the management and present 

 system of dietary and punishments in county gaols, with the various re- 

 searches which they have hitherto made into the influence of prison disci- 

 pline over the weight of the prisoners, the precise influence of prison 

 punishments over the respiratory function and the elimination of urinary 

 products, with the ordinary discipline of the gaol and with certain forms of 

 labour. 



In conducting their researches the Committee have had in view not only 

 the letter but the spirit of the resolution by which they were appointed, and 

 have understood their prime duty to be the elimination of important physio- 

 logical facts, for which the discipline enforced in gaols offers good opportu- 

 nities. Whilst, therefore, determining the various matters which will be 

 discussed in this the first part of their report, they have also been very de- 

 sirous to investigate some of the more recondite questions in nutrition — as, 

 for example, the relation of the nitrogen ingested to that egested ; and having 

 obtained the valuable aid of Mr. Manning in making chemical analyses, they 

 have concluded two extended series of inquiries at Coldbath Fields and 

 Wakefield Gaol, in which the relations of the ingested and egested nitrogen 

 have been largely inquired into ; but the great care required in this part of 

 the inquiry, and the very extended character of the subject, have induced the 

 Committee to withhold the results hitherto obtained until another occasion, 

 when, should they be permitted to do so, they will present them with addi- 

 tional inquiries in the second part of their report. 



With these explanatory observations, the Committee proceed to state the 

 results of their inquiries, and, first, to offer some general remarks upon the 

 management, the dietary, and the punishments in county gaols. 



