imprisonment in a dark cell, with reduction of food; and we are assured that a very few days only, of such discipline, are sufficient to curb and subdue the most refractory—and even this mild punishment has to be applied very rarely. _Influences of the Systems Compared._—There is nothing, as we believe, in the working of our system, which can make the prisoners _worse_ than when they enter; but on the contrary there is much, the direct tendency of which is to make them better. We are well aware that _all_ are not reformed by it, though we thankfully trust that such is the result with regard to many. Under the discipline of the “Auburn System,” we can hardly see how reform amongst the prisoners can be promoted. And we are convinced that there is a mistake in the confident claim set up, that, as conversation between the prisoners is almost wholly suppressed, they cannot corrupt each other, and consequently, if not made better, they at least cannot be made worse. The very fact that the prisoner, in daily, though silently, meeting in the workshop a large mass of fellow-convicts, is sensible that he is surrounded by, and on the same level with, the off-scouring of the community, degrades him in his own estimation, and silently, perhaps slowly, but almost inevitably, sooner or later, drags him down, till he becomes sorrowfully demoralized. In confirmation of this, it may be mentioned that one of our own members, in the course of a visit a few months since, at the State Prison at Auburn, was informed by the officer in attendance, that amongst their convicts there were ministers, doctors, and lawyers. Upon this, our member inquired if they there maintained a deportment consistent with their previous position in society. The reply was: “For a short time they do; but they soon sink to the level of the most degraded.” Another point of much consequence, in comparing the “Congregate” and “Separate” systems, is,—that by the former, each of the prisoners becomes familiarly acquainted with the countenances of the others, and consequently, on meeting after leaving the prison, an immediate recognition takes place between them, and on the principle that “Birds of a feather flock together,” they are united by a kind of sympathy, which is anything but salutary; while by the latter, never having seen each other during their incarceration, there is no danger of their being drawn into evil association after their discharge. _Reference to Publications._—Our time and space forbid our extending this branch of our subject. Before leaving it, however, we think proper to refer to two or three, amongst the many publications in which interesting and valuable views may be met with on the subject of prisons, particularly such as relate to what we have been endeavoring to set forth as the “Pennsylvania _Separate_ System” of prison discipline, and its practical working.