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our Irish poor in time of sickness and trouble, the extreme devotion of 

 the poor to the poor. The rich often will give money, sometimes kind 

 words ; but the poor give all they have — their food, their money, their 

 hearts to each other in time of sickness. I believe, and I am sure my 

 experience will be confirmed by that of every physician who hears me, 

 that those sufferers who have themselves drunk the bitter cup of life to 

 its very dregs are the most ready to offer to the lips of a dying brother 

 or sister the cup of cold water in the name of their Divine Master. 



My efforts to obtain a coefhcient of muscular force were not confined 

 to observations upon the poor in hospitals ; I also had to come in con- 

 tact with a more uninteresting, but perhaps not less curious, class — the 

 criminals in our jails. It is necessary for the student of animal mechanics 

 to become an expert in the use of the treadmill, to understand the mys- 

 teries of shot-drill, and to know how to use the crank. My object was 

 to learn how to work upon the treadmill as an intelligent lazy burglar, 

 trying to do my work with the least trouble to myself ; and I can assure 

 you, after much labour, I perfectly succeeded, and can go through shot- 

 drill, turn the crank, and work the treadmill, as the laziest burglar in 

 London might do, working my muscles involuntarily by the principle 

 of least action, and doing my hated task in a lazy manner, with the 

 least trouble to myself. How did I obtain this knowledge ? How did 

 I learn these things ? I have been taught the use of jemmies, and bur- 

 glars' tools as well. I know the slate trick, which is a secret known to Irish 

 thieves only ; I also know where to place myself to the best advantage on 

 the treadmill ; and I learnt all this by a plan extremely simple, and which 

 I would heartily commend to our criminal reformers as a most powerful 

 weapon in their hands — an ounce of tobacco. An ounce of tobacco will 

 draw the dearest secret from the heart of a burglar ; it will make the 

 most discontented, sulky wretch in the gaol obedient and quiet for a 

 week, the promise of an ounce of tobacco at the close. I believe it is 

 done in some prisons, and it ought to be done in all. Instead of the 

 extreme severity which characterises our treatment of these poor men, 

 the occasional offer of rewards, which the men would prize, would do 

 more to reform them than all our severity and all our stripes. I must 

 say for them that I have found them, as a class, both English and Irish 

 burglars and thieves, much better than I had expected. 



Having made my observations upon the work done by groups of 

 muscles in vaiious conditions of action, I then had, as you will see, 

 to proceed to the examination of the measurements of these muscles 

 after death. Now, this was no easy task. The observations on the forces 

 employed were made upon men in health — generally young men in the 

 full vigour of life — for I was anxious to ascertain what the coefficient 

 of muscular exertion in healthy men and in full condition was. But 

 the examinations of muscles after death were necessarily made upon 



