“It is not unfrequently the case that subjects which have been presented in the ministrations of the Sabbath, are called up by the prisoners themselves during the _daily visitation_ in their cells, and thus the opportunity is furnished of impressing upon their minds, when alone, that _heavenly truth_ which may ultimately bring them to repentance and to God. In this feature of the _separate system_, one of its principal excellencies consists. The prisoner, by himself, separated from all vicious influences, is far better prepared to receive and retain wholesome instruction than when surrounded by men of a moral cast like his own. If the reformation of convicts be accomplished at all, it must be done, as a general rule, by those moral influences which are made to reach him, _when_ and _where_ intercourse with the vicious is cut off. In this situation he will listen, reflect and reform.” III. The New Jersey Penitentiary, at Trenton, received 108 convicts during the year just past; and had 176 in confinement December 31, 1848, which is 23 more than at the close of 1847. Of the 85 discharged during the year, 71 had completed their sentences, twelve were pardoned, (two on the day before their sentence expired,) and two died. Of 176 in confinement at the date of the report, 99 were received in 1848, and 38 in 1847. Eighty-six were for crimes against property, 142 for a first offence, 127 were under middle age and 42 were foreigners. In respect to color, 123 were whites, (114 males and 9 females,) and 53 were colored, (one a female.) Sixty-six had no trade or occupation. The available means of the prison, at the close of the year, were upwards of six thousand dollars. The physician’s report states, that “but _one_ death occurred during the year and that a suicide. From diseases contracted within the prison, (where there are under discipline 260 persons,) do not average one a year.” The physician says, that “all experience has proved steam to be the best carrier of heat, and by far the most certain and economical.”--p. 43. The report of the Rev. Mr. Starr, (the moral instructor,) is quite a valuable and intelligent document. We cannot refrain from copying a single paragraph, touching the advantages of separation as an element of prison discipline, especially in its relations to moral and religious instruction.