o all concerned.

To return to my own case: after being carried upstairs to the hospital,
I was inspected by the medical officer, and ordered into one of the
largest wards, containing thirty-six beds, on one of which I was
destined to pass many long and painful months. On the following morning
my knee was examined by both the prison surgeons. Unfortunately they
seemed to differ in opinion as to the treatment it should receive. The
senior officer, who took charge of my case, wished to make a stiff
joint, whilst his junior thought it should be lanced and poulticed, to
take out the matter, which by this time was creating an abscess in the
joint. Had I been allowed to express my opinion on the subject I would
have supported the latter mode of treatment; but a convict dare not
utter a word with respect to medical treatment. I was accordingly
obliged to lie in one position for three months with my leg strapped to
a long slab, and to use a lotion which proved very injurious to it.
During these three months I suffered the most intense pain. I not only
could not get out of bed, but I could not change my position in it;
and, to add to the wretchedness of my situation, I could not read; and
finally I could not even sleep. My food, however, was better and more
abundant than it had been hitherto. At first I was allowed a little
porter and some very inferior beef-tea, in addition to the ordinary
second-class hospital diet.

Some time after, when my knee was being frequently leeched, I said to
the doctor that, if he thought it necessary to take more blood from me
I would feel very grateful for a mutton chop in lieu of the beef-tea.
This he at the time very snappishly refused, but next morning he
appeared to have seen the reasonableness of my request, and allowed me
the chop. Being always truly grateful when I obtained any concession of
this kind, and always civil and polite to those with whom I was brought
into contact, whether officers or prisoners, I received more favourable
consideration than the generality of my neighbours; and I had nothing
to complain of, so far as regarded diet, during my subsequent stay in
the hospital.

After a few weeks of great suffering to me, it became quite evident
that my leg was not to get better under the treatment prescribed for
it, but was rapidly getting worse. The knee was now so sensitive that
the tread of any person's foot passing near the bed caused me excessive
pain. I was afraid to sneeze