No account of the English Prison System would be complete without reference to the place and duty of the Medical Officer in the daily administration of a Prison. The English law requires that a Medical Officer shall be appointed to each prison. The appointment is made by the Secretary of State on the recommendation of the Prison Commissioners, and office is held subject to the approval of the Secretary of State. Great care is taken in selecting suitable men with high medical qualifications, and who are possessed of proved tact and discretion; a practical knowledge of insanity is also requisite. As the size of the prison varies very considerably, in the smaller prison the Medical Officer is generally a medical practitioner residing in the vicinity of the prison, who devotes a part only of his time to prison duties: at least one visit daily is required. In the larger prisons one or more medical men are appointed, whose whole time is at the service of the Commissioners, the senior appointments being filled by promotion from the junior rank. The prisons are frequently visited by a Medical Inspector who not only supervises and advises the Medical Officers, but forms a link with the whole of the Medical Staff, thus tending to standardize the medical work carried out in prisons. He is also available to visit and report on any individual prisoner when any difficulty arises necessitating special inquiry. He works under the Medical Commissioner, who represents the medical side of the service on the Prison Board, and deals with the administration of the Department. The mere enumeration of his statutory duties reveals the great and varying responsibility imposed upon the Medical Officer:--examination on reception and discharge; visitation of the sick and those under punishment; the sanitary condition of the buildings; ventilation; food; water; clothing and bedding:--all these things are combined in the daily round. He classifies prisoners for labour according to their physical fitness. He carefully notes the effect of imprisonment on the mental or physical state of prisoners, and advises when, in his opinion, life or reason is likely to be endangered by the continuance of imprisonment, and it is satisfactory to record that no abuse of this great responsibility has occurred since the prisons were taken over by the State in 1878. He takes under special observation any case where he has reason to suspect that the mental state is becoming impaired or enfeebled by imprisonment, and carefully notes any sign of incipient insanity. The health of the prison officers and their families, and the sanitary condition of their quarters are also his special concern.