A letter on the nature and effects of the tread-wheel, as an instrument of prison labour and punishment : addressed to the Right Hon. Robert Peel, M.P., His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, &c. &c. / with an appendix of notes and cases ; by one of his constituents, and a magistrate of the county of Surrey.
- John Ivatt Briscoe
- Date:
- 1824
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A letter on the nature and effects of the tread-wheel, as an instrument of prison labour and punishment : addressed to the Right Hon. Robert Peel, M.P., His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, &c. &c. / with an appendix of notes and cases ; by one of his constituents, and a magistrate of the county of Surrey. 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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![The reader is thus informed, that Samuel Towers lost in weight by his labour on the Tread-wheel, 2glb. be- tween Nov. 29, 1823, and Jan. 10th, 1824. But Samuel Towers began to work on the Tread-wheel on the 10th of November, 1823, and to determine his entire loss of flesh by the Tread-wheel, it is necessary to be informed—what was his actual weight at that period, and when he was first placed on its steps;—an information which Mr. Drummond has not commumcated. He was dischai’ged on Jan. 31; and during nearly the whole of tlie last month he was not continued on the Wheel, but was employed in mat-making. It should be observed, moreover, that this case was a re-committal, the prisoner- having been already sent into confinement in the spring of 1823, “ for two months, during the whole of which time he worked upon the Tread-wheel.” Edward Broughton. It is stated that the “ weight of Edward Broughton, on the 1st of Januai-y, 1823, was 8st. l^lb.; and not- ' withstanding the alleged horrors of his treatment, it had increased, on the 10th of January, 1824, to 8st. 41b.” Edward Broughton, however, came into prison on the ] 3th of May, 1822, about twenty months previous. He also did not work on the Wheel from the 28th of November till the 12th of January. An increase of weight of 2ilbs. during a period when he did not work on the Wheel, and after a montKs previous rest, can speak but little in favour of the beneficial powers of the Tread-wheel itself. “ Edward Broughton (we are further told) has also been confined for four months at Brixton, where he worked](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22390662_0162.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
