In all offences of a trivial character presumably springing to a large extent from the action of temperature, it might be wise if the offender were only punished in such a way as would keep alive in his memory a vivid recollection of the offence.  This method of punishment is better effected by a short and sharp term of imprisonment than by inflicting a longer sentence and making the prison treatment comparatively mild.  A short, sharp sentence of this character has also another advantage which is well worth attention.  In many cases the offender is the bread-winner of the home.  The misery which follows his prolonged imprisonment is often heartrending; the home has to be sold up bit by bit; the mother has to strip off most of her scanty garments and becomes, a piteous spectacle of starvation and rags, the childrens’ things have to go to the pawnshop; and it is fortunate if one or two of the family does not die before the husband is released.  The misery which crime brings upon the innocent is the saddest of its features, and whatever society can do consistently with its own welfare to shorten or mitigate that misery, ought, in the interests of our common humanity, to be done.

One word with reference to offences which do not come within the cognisance of the criminal law.  I do not know if there are any statistics to show that, in schools, in workshops, in the army, or, indeed, in any industry or institution where bodies of people are massed together under one common head—­there are more cases of insubordination and more offences against discipline when the temperature is high than in ordinary circumstances.  But, whether such a statistical record exists or not, there can be little doubt that cases of refractory conduct prevail most largely in the warm season.  It would therefore be well if this fact were borne in mind by all persons whose duty it is to enforce discipline and require obedience.  Considering that there are certain cosmical influences at work, which make it note difficult for the ordinary human being to submit to discipline, it might not be inexpedient, in certain cases, to take these unusual conditions into account and not to enforce in their full rigour all the penalties involved in a breach of rules.  It is a universal experience that many things which can ordinarily be done without fatigue or trouble, become, at times, a burden and a source of irritation.  Some physical disturbance is at the root of this change, and a similar disturbance is also at the root of the defective standard of conduct which a high temperature almost invariably succeeds in producing among some sections of the community.

CHAPTER IV.

DESTITUTION AND CRIME.

Under this heading I shall discuss some of the more important social factors which either directly or indirectly tend to produce crime.  It will be impossible to discuss them all.  The action of society upon the individual is so complex, its effects are so varied, in many instances so impalpable, that we must content ourselves with a survey of those social phenomena which are most generally credited with leading up to acts of delinquency.