minate herding together. As far back as 1849, M.
Dufaure advocated the keeping apart of prevenus and of those condemned
for minor offences. But it was not till 1875 that a law was passed
decreeing the separation of those serving sentences of imprisonment of
less than a year. The department of the Seine endeavored to carry out
the requirements of this law on as large and complete a scale as
possible, and accordingly laid the foundations of these two large penal
establishments outside the walls of the city. Those at Fresnes may be
considered as model prisons; it has even been suggested that the comfort
of the inmates has been almost too closely considered, and that, with
the exception of the guards and the jailers, these buildings suggest the
model cheap lodgings of modern practical philanthropy. The architect had
taken the greatest care to assure the well-being of his involuntary
clients, their health and personal cleanliness; their cells--more
spacious than usual--have hardwood floors, the walls are painted and
varnished, as are the table, the chair, and the iron bedstead provided
with softer bedding; the latest mechanical and electrical appliances are
to be found in these very modern dungeons. The extent of the mental and
moral amelioration of the Parisian criminals that will follow the
introduction of this new regime will doubtless be profitable to
contemplate.

In addition to its various prisons, the department of the Seine
maintains two very large establishments for beggars, paupers, vagabonds,
and the wretched of every description, whether they have or have not
records approved by the police. The largest of these _Depots de
Mendicite_, that at Nanterre, is at once a prison and a hospital; it
contains three thousand inmates of both sexes, and cost some twelve
millions of francs. Of the five sections into which it is divided, the
first, reserved for voluntary mendicants, is the only one which contains
prisoners, properly speaking, men in one quarter and women in another.
The other sections, each divided likewise into male and female quarters,
are devoted, the second, to voluntary patients whose antecedents are
known; the third, to those whose antecedents are doubtful or unknown;
the fourth, to the impotent, infirm, paralytic, and septuagenarians; the
fifth is the hospital proper. The inhabitants of these different
sections are distinguished from each other, the men by the color of
their woollen caps, and the women by