518 
munity to inflict the punithment of death 
upon its member ; and, if Iam not mif- 
taken, this punifhment is in America Te- 
firicted tomurderers of the worft clafs only. 
Meditating upon thefe fubjects a few 
nights ago, it-occurred to me that the 
fault of our laws might perhaps confit in 
the punifhments we inflict not being pro- 
petly proportioned to the crimes; or, in 
other words, that rogues have been rar 
more fertile in devifing new crimes, than 
honeft men, or legiflators (who ip/o faéo 
are honeft men), have been ingenious in 
varying theixs means of punifhment. To 
enumerate all the crimes for which the law 
ordains punifhment, would requirea much 
larger proportion of your Magazine than 
you might be difpofed to allow to fuch a 
purpofe; but all the punifhments in ufe 
may, I believe, be expreffed in thefe few 
words, death, banifhment, imprifonment, 
ewhipping, pillory, and fines. There are fix 
punifhments to at leaft fix hundred {pecies 
of crimes; and, by the bye, to fave my- 
felf the trouble, I beg leave to refer the 
curious reader to Mr. Colquhoun’s two 
volumes on the London and Marine Po- 
lice, where he will find the gewera and /pe- 
cies of rogues claflified in a truly Linnean 
fyitem, and often with Linnzan names. 
' Perhaps, therefore, I fay, the failure of 
our penal laws may proceed from the want 
of connection between -the crime and the 
punifhment. But it is not my intention 
at prefent to attempt to eftablith this con- 
neciion: I leave that to wifer heads, and 
proceed to inform you, that, in the courfe 
of my meditations aforefaid, I recolleSted 
a plan put into my hands fome years ago, 
for “* commuting all punifhments for opfe- 
rations of pharmacy and furgery.’ The 
worthy gentleman who propofed this 
{cheme had principally in his eye the fre- 
quency of executions, which he thought 
difgraceful to a country boafting its hu- 
manity ; and his idea was, inftead of hang- 
ing fo many felons, to make them fubmit 
to certain experiments and operations in 
phyfic and furgery. Hereby, faid he to 
me, with all the enthufiafm of a fchemer, 
{cience will be promoted as well as crimes 
punifhed, by rogues being obliged to fub- 
mit to operations, which, Tam forry to fay, 
we can tcarcely perfuade honeft men to 
undergo, although their lives are in dan- 
ger; and I know fomuch of thefe opera- 
tions, that I will venture to fay, that, if 
my fcheme be adopted, felons will under- 
itand what it is to fuffer the paizs of law 
wetter than ever they did. 
Medical and Surgical Punifoments; 
[July I, 
This plan of my learned friend, howe- 
ver, did not fucceed at the time it was pro- 
poled, and I know not why; I am, how- 
ever, hopeful that it may meet with a more 
gracious reception from the public at pre- 
fent, when the invention of fubftitutes is 
greatly the fafhion, and when we have in- 
genious men who undertake to find fub/ti- 
tutes for almoft every neceflary of life, from 
a militia man to a joint of meat. Now; as 
it is Notorious that the punifhment of fe- 
lons is very expenfive to government, and 
as government, like all other well regu- 
lated families, nauft be fenfible of the hard- 
nefs of the times, I flatter myfelf I am per- 
forming an acceptable fervice by pro- 
pofiing a cheap fubititute for punifh- 
ments. 
Tt is almoft needlefs to fay, that the fcience 
of furgery is very much obftruéted by the 
want of opportunities for operations and ex- 
perimentsbefore the ftudent arrivesat a@tual 
practice upon his patients. It isa very awk- 
ward thing, and would be very fhocking 
if it were known, that a furgeon fhould be 
able to fay to a patient, * Sir, I am come 
to cut off your leg; but as this is the firft 
time I ever performed the operation, you 
mult excufe me, if I don’t go through it 
as I could wifh.*” This, Mr. Editor, 
would furely be very hocking and very 
unfafe ; whereas, it is obvious, that b 
the fcheme I propofe, at leaft twenty ftu- 
dents may go through the whole feries of 
operations in the courfe of one Old Bailey 
feffions, greatly to their improvement, and 
to the furtherance of the law. 
Another advantage would be, that, as 
the operations of furgery are very nume- 
rous, they might afford that variety of pu- 
nifhment which feems very much wanted 
in order to proportion punifhments te 
crimes ; and the antipathy of the lower 
claffes to furgical operations is fo ftrong, 
that I truft I need not expatiate on this as 
a powerful argument in favour of the 
{cheme. The fight of a cafe of inftruments 
would create more terror than the fight of a 
Cat-o-nine-tails, which I am told there are 
various ways to evade. For flight of- 
fences, or frit offences, it may perhaps be 
neceflary to order the felon to be put under 
the hands of an apothecary’s boy for a 
week or fortnight. Crimes cf the next 
degree of atrocity might be punifhed by a 
gentle diflocation; as we rife higher in 
offence, we afcend through the various 
degrees of fractures fimple and compound, ’ 
up to the trepan, or lithotomy. 
Methinks I hear the recorder. paffing 
fentence 
