PHYSICAL TRAINING OF CRIMINALS. 647 
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as none of us had had any experience with physical training upon a 
selected number, and the writer was assigned to inaugurate the work. 
In June, 1886, the initial class was formed. It consisted of twelve 
men, from nineteen to twenty-nine years of age, who for a period ranging 
from one to two years had made no appreciable progress in school work 
and hand-craft, and whose sensitiveness and susceptibility were upon a 
par with those of any other domesticated animal. 
The plan proposed to be followed was the substitution of a special 
dietary for the regular prison fare, weighing out to each one his rations, 
shat all might be observed under similar conditions. A common diet for 
all, the same in quantity and kind, was altogether scientific in its applica- 
tion, as the needs of certain individuals might indicate different forms of 
food ; but this course was rendered necessary so as not to embarrass the 
domestic arrangements of the place too severely, and the difficulty was 
partly remedied by a varied diet. 
The school work was to be continued upon a common plane, as all were 
practically illiterates. The reduction of the most advanced to the level 
of the lowest wrought no detriment to the former, and possibly might 
through companionship enthuse the latter. The class was organized June 
th, at which time the men were examined, weighed, and a few simple 
measurements taken. They were supplied with a new outfit of clothing 
throughout, and placed, so far as could be—even to the extraction of all 
carious teeth—in a condition to most readily respond to the plan of treat- 
ment mapped out for them. They were placed under the immediate care 
of the writer, under supervision of a fellow-convict, a man of energy who 
previous to arrest had associated in the training of prize-fighters and other 
sseudo athletes. 
The morning, from eight to twelve, was occupied with school and bath- 
ng. Three baths per week were given, a tub and vapor bath alternating. 
Each was followed by douching and massage, and an hour allowed before 
inner for relaxation, which was usually passed in sleep. I improvised a 
dath that was a hybrid—neither a Russian nor a Turkish bath—by turning 
steam into a room until a temperature of 120° Fahrenheit was reached. 
[n this moist atmosphere the men were placed for half an hour. The 
crude bath served its purpose well enough in that it excited the glandular 
functions of the skin and corrected the ¢ hide-bound” appearance of the 
men. 
The afternoon was devoted to free-hand exercises, marching, military 
evolutions, etc., which usually occupied three hours or more, with frequent 
intervals of rest. This may appear an excessive length of time for a daily 
setting-up drill and calisthenic exercises, but we considered it better so 
shan to undo our efforts and promote inertia with corroding thoughts by 
confinement in a cell. The experiment was continued for five months, at 
the end of which time they were returned to the routine of prison life,