On the influence of the seasons of the year, employment, period of imprisonment, etc., on the gain or loss of weight, by the prisoners confined in the convict prison at Wakefield, between January 1, 1848, and December 31, 1857 / by W.R. Milner.

  • Milner, William Ralph.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the influence of the seasons of the year, employment, period of imprisonment, etc., on the gain or loss of weight, by the prisoners confined in the convict prison at Wakefield, between January 1, 1848, and December 31, 1857 / by W.R. Milner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    [Reprinted from the Sasit.uiy Review, January lfi.'.O.] ON TIIE INFLUENCE OF THE SEASONS OF THE YEAR, EMPLOYMENT, PERIOD OF IMPRISONMENT, ETC., ON TIIE GAIN OR LOSS OF WEIGHT, BY THE PRISONERS CONFINED IN THE CONVICT PRISON AT WAKEFIELD, BETWEEN JANUARY 1, 1848, AND DECEMBER 31, 1857. By W. R. MILNER, Surgeon. The prisoners upon whom my observations have been made, are men who have had sentences of transportation or penal servitude passed upon them, and who have been sent to Wake- field to undergo the first portion of their punishment, during which they are kept in separate cells for a period of about nine months. The prisoners are all males, between the ages of sixteen and hfty, and are all presumed to be in good health when sent Ihe cells in which they are confined have a cubic capacity of about nine hundred feet, and from thirty to thirty-five cubic feet of air, per mmute, are passed through each cell no ?1mia\temperature of the ceUs for the entire year was / ’ * .,e ^g^est monthly mean 66'5° occurred in August: the lowest o6-9 m March. ° ’ The diet is uniform, with the exception of the alterations ordered by the medical officer m individual cases, and consists of the following articles daily :-Bread, twenty ounces ; meat without bone four ounces ; soup, half a pint (these are equiva- lent to about seven ounces and three quarters of butcher’s meat); potatoes, one pound; skimmed milk, three quarters of a pant; gruel, one pint, containing two ounces of oatmeal. 1 he dress is, cloth jacket, waistcoat, trousers, cap, and stock • Imen shirt; woollen stockings, drawers, and under shirt Ihe prisoners are sent out to exercise in the open air nine hours a week; the exercise is for one hour at a time; the men wa k in circles, and every ten minutes they run for a hundred and fifty yards. They are all supplied with work, and are for cornFfiRter PaiH +Tpl°yed m makin« mats, and matting of cocoa fibre and other materials; some work at tailoring and shoemaking, and a few have other work to do.