56 REPORT — 1861. ' 



1. With a pressure of 7 lbs. With 30 revolutions per minute 7 hours 

 33^ minutes will be employed in completing the task, and the total quantity 

 of air inspired will be 4'15,636 cubic inches ; but if the rate be 45*7 revolutions 

 per minute, the task may be completed in 4 hours 55*4 minutes, and the 

 total quantity of air inspired will be 345,654 cubic inches, giving a diffei-ence 

 of 7982 cubic inches, or only 6 minutes' labour at the greater speed in favour 

 of the increased speed. 



2. With a pressure of 12 lbs. With 30 revolutions per minute the total 

 quantity of air inspired will be 571,158 cubic inches, and with 44*7 revolu- 

 tions per minute it will be 573, 19G cubic inches per minute, quantities 

 which for all purposes may be regarded as identical. 



Hence the law is established that the effect upon the system of the whole 

 day's work varies little with the speed, provided there be a fixed number of 

 revolutions per day. 



The experiments in reference to the effect of the two pressures with tlie 

 same kind of crank, show that with the ordinary rate of revolution the in- 

 fluence of the 7 lbs. to the 12 lbs. is a little more than as 3 to 5, or in general 

 terms it may be affirmed that 3\ hours' labour with the 12 lbs. pressure is 

 equal to 5 hours with 7 lbs. pressure. When the rate was increased beyond 

 the ordinary one, the relative effect of the greater pressure was somewhat 

 higher. 



The cranks used at the New Bailey prison are much inferior to those 

 found at Wandsworth, and the pressure employed cannot be rigorously 

 determined. The medium amount of pressure was estimated at 7 lbs. ; and the 

 effect of this labour with a rate of revolution of 36*5, 39*5, and 40 per minute 

 was to cause the inspiration of nearly double of that of the 7 lbs. crank at 

 Wandsworth, viz., 1793 cubic inches of air per minute, with 21^ respirations 

 and 155 pulsations per minute. When the pressure was increased to the 

 one of nominally 9 lbs., the quantities were nearly 75 per cent, higher than 

 that of the 12 lbs. crank at Wandsworth, viz., 2105 cubic inches of air, with 

 23^ respirations per minute. Hence the effect was much greater at this 

 than at the Wandsworth prison, and the pressure, although nominally the 

 same, was fearfully different. 



Such is the effect of crank-labour, an effect which time for time is less 

 than that of the treadwheel ; but the experience in prisons proves that crank- 

 labour is not inferior in severity to that of the treadwheel, and, in the ob- 

 servation of many, has long been believed to exceed it. The inquiries now 

 recorded enable us to determine this question with exactitude, and to show 

 that, when the duration of the labour is taken into considci-ation, the effect of 

 the crank at the New Bailey is so great that the treadwheel may be used as 

 a relief from it. 



In comparing the effect of crank- and trcadwheel-Iabour, it has been shown 

 that the 12 lbs. crank at Wandsworth and the so-called 7 lbs. crank at the 

 New Bailey, are equal time for time to that of the treadwheel at the New 

 Bailey, but that the etrcct of the so-called 9 lbs. crank at the New Bailey is 

 nearly equal to that of tlie treadwheel at Coldbath-fields, when considered 

 time for time ; but as the time of actual daily labour with the crank is double 

 that of tjie actual labour on the treadwheel, the whole daily effect must be 

 so striking as double of that of the treadwheel. Can it be wondered at 

 that the punishment of the lash and of the dark cell for neglect of work is 

 frequent at the New Bailey, and in general in all prisons where the ordinary 

 punishments are very severe ? 



fVifh (he Shot-drill. — This punishment is common in military prisons, but 

 in civil prisons it is used unfrequently and rather as an exercise and an alle- 



