in their interest, but also in the higher interests of the society to which they belong."

It is quite true that law cannot be expected to take note of the many differences spoken of in the classification of criminals, but it can at least provide the machinery by which the criminal classes can be properly treated and cared for. It would be almost too much to expect that a magistrate without training would dispense law with the slightest regard to scientific justice.

Of course society must protect itself against those who have violated its laws, but it is a question if the highest kind of protection is assured when punishment is aimed at the offence alone. This seems, ordinarily, the basis of the treatment of crime. Then again, the punishment of a criminal does not accomplish all that it sets out to do, as it almost invariably neglects to take the slightest cognizance of the social conditions and defective institutions. which played an important part in the production of this outcast from society. The great trouble with the punishment theory is that it is based on the supposition that the criminal is in all instances a normal being, when the facts go to show that in many instances he is markedly abnormal.

To the physician the suggestion of cure invariably implies the existence of disease, and it is a common belief that the medical theory is wedded to a belief that crime is invariably the outcome of disease. Nothing could be more erroneous, as the classification adopted shows, and the utmost contended for is the very co-operation of judges and physicians suggested.

It is true that among us there is a knowledge of the fact that many murderers are epileptic or insane, and we know that many others guilty of this crime are criminals by passion, the least anti-social of any of the classes.

However, leaving the region of theory for a time, and taking the practical method of investigating the application of our laws in the care and treatment of well-defined criminals, what do we find in our own country? A ray of light has broken through the cloud in a few places, but on the whole we have little on which to congratulate ourselves when we study the methods in vogue. Our one ideal is uniformity, with absolute disregard of the individual, in other words the only question considered is that of making "the punishment fit the crime."

To commence with our classification, viz, the criminal insane. As I have explained before, when these sufferers from brain disease commit murder they are almost invariably hanged. A very few escape the gallows, and are acquitted on the ground of insanity; these are sent to the provincial asylums, which are not equipped to care for the criminal classes. Outside of that it is distinctly wrong to allow the criminal insane to associate with

the harmless insane, but the law insists upon it, and there is no escape. In case the crime is not murder, and the insanity is not discovered until the prisoner is transferred to penitentiary or prison, the result is somewhat different. If in the penitentiary, and his mental malady is not particularly annoying to others, he is kept with the ordinary convicts; if he is troublesome, he is transferred to what is by courtesy called the criminal asylum. As a matter of fact, an insane criminal is not treated differently from any other convict; when his sentence expires he is then entitled to treatment in one of the provincial institutions, and although the number of transfers has been large, we may well be silent about the recoveries.

Now as to the moral imbeciles. It matters little what becomes of them, for Mark Tapley cannot be compared with them for cheerfulness. Being devoid of moral sensibilities, punishments have no terrors for them, and a sentence of death is received with as much equanimity as an invitation to dinner. It is needless to say our penal system is quite oblivious to the existence of any such being as a moral imbecile, and confers on him the right to freedom when he has worked out his sentence; it will be learned in time that it will be best for all concerned to keep him under control for the whole of his life.

The instinctive criminal enjoys the same glorious privileges as the more amiable degenerate, the moral imbecile, but is much more apt to get into trouble, as even in prison his vicious nature may lead him into crime. If he succeeds in getting through his sentence without complication, he is once more at liberty to commit all sorts of atrocities, and is in trouble very soon.

The occasional criminal, the habitual criminal, and the accidental criminal are cooped up with the degenerates just mentioned it is one crime, one treatment. What need of classification when law is such a science that it can compute the exact number of days or years to extenuate a particular misdeed! What a picture, and what possibilities for the future!

How much, or rather, how little, is done in our prisons for the reformation of the convict. Little is possible under the present system, which is nothing better than an institution for the perpetuation of criminality. No wonder the tide of criminality

has risen.

Havelock Ellis says: "The key to the failure of the prison, and a chief clue to its reform, lies in the system of administering definite and predetermined sentences by judges, who, being ignorant of the nature of the individual before them, and, therefore of the effect of the sentence upon him, and of its justice, are really incompetent to judge." Possibly a slight recognition of this fact has occurred in Canada, where there is a tendency in minor

crimes to use what is called the suspended sentence, and a modified form of the parole system. That its effect is excellent all recognize, for unless we have a system that enables us to discriminate between different classes, how can we look for different results than those which are now the rule.

No one can deny the statement that there are hundreds of criminals in our prisons to-day who might under certain circumstances be set at liberty, while others who will in time be freed, will only continue to prey upon society and commit anti-social acts with regularity. The first step in the solution of the problem is of course obvious, viz., the proper development of the indeterminate sentence. This can be regarded as a mere starting point, although of vast importance, because it transfers the responsibility of fixing a sentence from the judge, who cannot form an opinion of the highest value in regard to the classification of the criminal during the course of a trial, where rival counsels are almost invariably doing their best to build up their reputations, rather than add to the knowledge of the court in regard to the prisoner.

The authority of the judge having been transferred to another quarter, it is obvious that the responsibility should be shifted, with great care and circumspection, to the prison or reformatory authorities. As the administration of justice is a costly article at the best, and the expense caused by the criminal population is so great, no fault can be found with a just expenditure which will eventually save untold thousands to the country. The ideal prison, then, should have at its head a commission of the very best judicial and scientific men the country can produce, men whose knowledge of their subject is of the most complete character, and who are able to study and classify criminals properly, and suggest the rational treatment, or punishment, if you prefer the word, in each case. Under this arrangement, it would be possible to give each criminal the careful study his case demanded, before being allowed to associate with others, and it is very certain that few mistakes would be made.

The instinctive criminals would be forever shut up and kept from society, and the work of reformation, which is, of course, the true work of every prison, could be carried on intelligently and with some hope, especially in the case of the young. Not only that, a proper system of probation or parole could be developed. At present the occasional criminal serves his sentence and leaves prison with the brand of infamy stamped upon him, and while it is true that he has satisfied the demands of the law, he has not expiated his crime, no matter how trivial, in the eyes of the public. A strong man would require an iron will to fight against. popular prejudice backed up by our so-called detective system;

a weak man finds it extremely simple to succumb to what seems to him the inevitable, and soon becomes a recidivist of the marked type. The system of probation should involve the finding of a proper situation for the probationer. The result is not uncertain, in fact in Elmira, where one of the few modern prisons is to be found, the percentage of recidivists under this system is extremely small. There the period of probation is generally six

inonths.

I have hinted at the importance of having a highly trained and broad-minded commission at the head of the ideal reformatory. More important still is the necessity of having efficient and well-educated officials to carry out the instructions of these heads. We recognize the marvellous change that has taken place in hospitals for the insane, since the advent of the trained and intelligent nurse, and it is more important still that the warders in charge of criminals should have the most advanced knowledge regarding prisoners and their treatment. As Havelock Ellis suggests, "The criminal in all his manifold variations, with his ruses, his instinctive untruthfulness, his sudden impulses, his curiously tender points, is just as difficult to understand and to manage as the hospital patients, and unless he is understood and managed, there is no hope of socializing him.”

The system of solitary confinement so warmly advocated by some cannot be too severely condemned. In Elmira, which we can regard as the nearest approach to the ideal reformatory, the endeavor is to occupy the convicts as completely and intelligently as possible, from the moment of waking until bedtime, leaving little or no opportunity for the development of evil, and not taking away the interest in life. For boys, physical and mental development classes are instituted, and the treatment adopted includes massage, gymnastics, baths, school work, etc., and a carefully regulated dietary restricted to the best requirements of the criminal.

The system, too, of allowing the hopeful criminals to win their way back to freedom, when properly applied, is excellent, as proved by competent observations. As has been well said, the chief aim of the ideal prison is that of being a moral hospital. It is, of course, impossible to more than indicate in a general way the lines along which the advances should be made, as the subject is too large to deal with here. Little has been said about the offences of minor criminals and drunkards. With the first class, providing that the offenders are not of the instinctive criminal class, the suspended sentence is excellent, although it is a mistaken kindness, in fact a grave wrong, with instinctive criminals. Great care should be taken by the magistrates when investigating

the crimes of boys, and if necessary, expert advice called in. This has been done occasionally with decided benefit.

Up to the present Canada has developed slowly and healthily, her expansion has been gradual, and we have escaped the dangers incident to sudden accessions of multitudes of immigrants from the older countries. Our record as a law-abiding people has been enviable, and on the whole the administration of the laws has made the comparison between ourselves and our neighbors to the south a very comforting one. As a matter of fact we have been drifting, and are now becoming blind to a danger that is apparent to any of those who have had much to do with the defective and criminal classes. It is useless to deny the gravity of the situation, and as an ounce of prevention is always better than the proverbial pound of cure, now is the time to face problems that are upon us.

As a general thing, Canadians are satisfied that in the administration of justice, we are ideal, and have little to learn, that when a prisoner has been convicted and punishment meted out our duty to society has been finished. Of course, those who bave made a study of penology are well aware that Canada is a generation behind the times as far as the care and treatment of the criminal are concerned. The only explanation of the general apathy regarding the matter is, that we have been living under conditions particularly favorable to ourselves, conditions that will no longer prevail. The difference between Canada and the United States in the matter of crime is ordinarily explained by the assumption that our laws are better, and are administered with greater dignity and promptitude. There is something in that, in fact in some notable cases of insanity there has been far too much promptitude, and judicial errors of the greatest kind made-errors that in a few years will be impossible. As a matter of fact, we are years behind some of the States, notably New York, in the care and treatment of the criminal, and we have not had to face the problems that are encountered there. Up to the present the United States have been the Mecca for all the defective and criminal classes of Europe, and the slums of the larger American cities will always prove an attractive haunt; but our time is coming.

It is a question for the politicians to argue as to whether it is advisable or not to open our country to hordes of subsidized immigrants, but certain it is, that when the tide of immigration turns this way as it is now doing from Europe, we shall know more about the criminal than is the case at present. Even now it is extremely interesting to study the old world degenerates collected in our institutions, and one marvels that such specimens. were allowed to reach our shores. In the anxiety to add to the