SIBERIA 521 interesting forms of physical disorder. When will all the papers be writ- ten that it is necessary to write, in order that, at last, the thing may be done that it is necessary to do ? — Siberian Messenger, No. 24, Tomsk, Oct. 24, 1885, pp. 1 and 14. Such is the account of the Tomsk forwarding prison that is given by the Tomsk press, and approved for publication by the acting-governor of the province of Tomsk. It seems to me to be much more nearly in harmony with my " ghastly descriptions " than with Mr. de Windt's " light, spacious, well- ventilated corri- dors"; cells equal to those of any prison in Europe; "perfect sanitary arrangements " ; " convalescents in warm, white flannel dressing-gowns"; and "light, cheerful rooms, iron bedsteads, white sheets, and scrupulous cleanliness, that would have done credit to a London or Paris hospital." It may, perhaps, be thought that between the time when I saw this prison and the time when Mr. de Windt " entirely failed to recognize it " from my " ghastly descriptions" something had been done by the authorities to greatly change its aspect, if not wholly to transform it, but I regret to say that such is not the case. Year after year I find in the Siberian newspapers, or in the official reports of the prison administration and the medical department, the same old melancholy story. In October, 1886, — one year later than the time to which the above extracts refer, — the Siberian Gazette, with the approval of the vice-governor of Tomsk, pub- lished, under the heading " City News," the following brief but significant paragraph : Dr. Orzheshko l informs us that the forwarding prison, at the present time, is filled to overflowing with the sick. They number 340, and the majority of them have typhus fever. Dr. Orzheshko's assistant, Dr. Hermanof, has taken the infection and is also down with typhus. Among the children of the exiles diphtheria prevails to a terrible extent, and in its most virulent form. The mortality is enormous. In view of the fact that the forwarding prison has become the home of contagious diseases, and will not soon be free from them, all possible measures should be taken to prevent the spread of such diseases from the prison to the city.— Siberian Gazette, No. 42, Tomsk, Oct. 19, 1886, p. 1172. The next year is 1887, for which we have the report of the Rus- sian medical department on " The Sanitary Condition of Prisons." iThe chief surgeon of the Tomsk forwarding prison.
