The sanitary condition of the Prison has been unusually good during the past year. There has been a great decrease in dysenterys, diarrhoeas, and the various affections of the stomach and bowels. These diseases have heretofore prevailed to a very great extent here. Catarrhal and rheumatic affections have been very plentiful, and are becoming very troublesome. The cause of this is found in the crowded state of our Prison.
As you know, the men when locked up are literally piled one upon an-
other; this fills the rooms with animal heat and impure air. The mornings
are cold and chilly, and the men are called out early to work. The sudden
transition from heat to cold, with their bodies much relaxed and debilita-
ted by the heat and impure air of the rooms, renders them very suscepti
ble to the above-mentioned diseases. The nature of the work also com-
bines to produce the same effects. For the same reasons, fevers would
also be very common but for the extreme salubrity of this point.
I have had to treat more than the usual number of ague and fever, but I
What fevers there have been, have been generally of the mildest grade.
find the seeds of this disease almost invariably sown in some other local-
ity before coming here. The annexed tables will show rather a large
array of chronic constitutional diseases, and other diseases of a peculiar
lives. The only remedy for this must be in the general improvement of
nature, brought on by the indiscretions and follies of the men's past
but three deaths since the first of May, and but five for the whole
Four have been from natural causes; and one from the effects of a gun-
morale of this particular class before coming here. There have been
shot wound, received while endeavoring to escape.