MUSCLE AND MIND. 389 



Three of them had been total-abstinence men ; eight had in- 

 dulged in alcoholic drinks occasionally, and one habitually. Sever- 

 al of them confessed to intemperate parents ; one had an insane and 

 one an epileptic mother. Many of these men had faces indicative 

 of criminal tendencies ; the heads of two were suggestive of idi- 

 ocy ; and among the entire number there was not a face which 

 did not express either mental hebetude or moral obliquity, or both 

 combined. 



During the previous two years these men had made no appre- 

 ciable progress in school-work, seeming incapable of prolonged 

 mental efforts. One of them could neither read nor write ; an- 

 other found great difficulty in doing either ; and, although four of 

 them understood the steps necessary for working out a problem 

 in long division, they could never obtain a correct answer, while 

 the remaining eight were " stranded upon the shoals of rudiment- 

 ary arithmetic from notation to simple division." Some of them 

 were unable even to name the State or country from which they 

 had come. It will be admitted that the proposed test of the value 

 of physical culture was of the severest possible kind. 



The physical discipline to which they were subjected consisted 

 in (1) hot baths — three weekly, the Turkish and common bath 

 alternating ; (2) massage — kneading of the muscles, passive mo- 

 tions of the joints, and friction of the entire surface ; (3) physical 

 exercise — manual drill, free gymnastics and exercise with dumb- 

 bells ranging progressively from three to eight pounds in weight ; 

 (4) the substitution of a special dietary for the regular prison 

 fare. The experiment was continued during five months — long 

 enough to demonstrate the value of the method, but not to deter- 

 mine the full measure of success probably attainable by these 

 means. At the end of this period, nine of the eleven men then 

 living had risen from the third or refractory to the intermediate 

 grade, the remaining two having merely maintained their original 

 standing in this grade. 



During the six months immediately preceding the experiment, 

 the average marking for shop-work, school-work, and conduct had 

 been forty-six per cent. During the experiment, the average for 

 school-work, previously lowest of all, rose to seventy-four per 

 cent, the conduct improving at about an equal rate. Shop-work 

 was discontinued, as the special training was thought to secure 

 enough muscular exercise. During the six months following the 

 term of the experiment, the average marking of the men in the 

 three departments of shop- work, school- work, and conduct rose to 

 seventy-one per cent as compared with forty-six per cent for the 

 six months preceding the experiment. At the end of this period 

 Dr. Wey reported * that " although the men had been remanded to 



*See " Science," June 11, 1887. 



