prison officials, the result of a long experience perhaps of imposture
and deception. Under the present system the resident medical
superintendent has the lives of his patients at his sole disposal, and
it is a very dangerous thing for a convict patient to offend the
medical officers in any way, and of course the more so if they happen
to be of a cruel or vindictive disposition. My own case was in some
respects an instance of this. The experience I gained in the Yorkshire
prison, after I had ventured to insinuate to the doctor there that he
had not quite understood the nature of my complaint, kept my mouth
hermetically closed during the ill-concealed disagreement between the
two doctors here as to the method of my cure. The chief medical officer
at this prison was very much disliked by the majority of the patients,
particularly by the young prisoners in the early stages of consumption.
The cause of this, was supposed to be the desire to keep the hospital
well filled with patients, and to have the greater proportion of them
of the class who were content to be idle without craving for "extras."
He could thus keep the cost per head lower than the medical officers at
other prisons, and obtain the greater credit at head-quarters. Young
consumptive patients he found to be too expensive, and they were
accordingly made uncomfortable. His junior, on the other hand, although
blunt in his manner and speech, was held in general esteem. He seemed
to have his heart in the profession, and endeavoured to cure complaints
deemed curable without reference to the expense of the diet, if it
contributed to the end he had in view.

In another chapter I shall again allude to this subject, and give a
number of cases which came within the range of my own observation, to
prove the justice of some of the reflections I have made on the want of
periodical inspection of our prison hospitals. In the meantime my stump
continued to discharge matter. An abscess formed and retarded the
healing of the wounds and it was not till I discovered a cure myself
that it showed any symptoms of healing. The cure was to hold the stump
under a tap of cold water, using friction afterwards. This I continued
to do long after the wound had finally closed.

CHAPTER VI.

I PETITION THE HOME SECRETARY--DOCTOR PRONOUNCES ME "QUITE
WELL"--"SCHEMERS;" THEIR TREATMENT AND FATE--DEATH-BED SCENES.

About two months after the amputation of my leg, feeling and believin