2. The Medical Charities of Cincinnati, by Dr. W. H. Taylor . 44-53 REPORTS ON INSANITY 79-97 REPORTS ON PENAL AND PRISON DISCIPLINE 1. The Discipline of County Jails, by Joseph Perkins 2. Prison Discipline in General, by Z. R. Brockway 102-127 102-106 106-111 164-168 168-194 . 168-187 187-194 2. Mr. F. H. Wines's Communication on Hospital Building Report by Mr. Carroll D. Wright PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF CHARITIES, HELD AT CINCINNATI, MAY 21-23, 1878. THE new and spacious Music Hall of Cincinnati was placed at the disposal of the American Social Science Association, and the sessions of the Conference opened there. The first session began at ten A.M., on the 21st of May. The Conference was called to order by one of the Secretaries, Mr. H. W. Lord, of Michigan, who announced that Gov. Bishop of Ohio was present, and would preside. Hon. R. M. BISHOP then took the chair, and spoke as follows: OPENING ADDRESS OF GOV. BISHOP. As chief magistrate of the State of Ohio, it affords me great. pleasure, gentlemen, to welcome you to our chief city, a city noted for the hospitality of its citizens, for the enterprise of its business men, and for the broad and generous culture which makes its intellectual, social, and religious progress. I bid you doubly welcome to this city, because you will find here a warm and hearty sympathy with the purposes of your Conference, and also a liberal understanding of the subjects which will come before your body for discussion; and this fact, I trust, will contribute something towards making your meeting here a pleasure to you, as well as profitable to the people whose honored guests you are. And what I have said of Cincinnati, I can, I think, with equal propriety, say of the whole Commonwealth which I have the honor to represent. I am proud to know that Ohio is justly distinguished for her public charities and for her earnest efforts to deal wisely Hence her with the evils of pauperism, crime, and insanity. hearty greeting to you, on this occasion, is only an expression of interest in what, with her people, is already a profound conviction. It is not necessary, nor will it be expected of me, that I should go into a detailed account of our State work. For such information as you may desire in reference to this matter, I would respectfully refer you to the very able Report of the Board of State Charities, which was made to the General Assembly of Ohio for the year 1877. This Report abundantly shows that our State is fully alive to the importance of the great questions which you have convened to consider. With an annual expenditure of two millions of dollars in support of public charities, and bearing the burdens which this expenditure imposes without complaint, our people have a right to be heard on the matters you represent; and, when I tell you that they bid you a hearty welcome to their State, it is but a feeble expression of their interest in a conference which promises so much for the cause of humanity. Hence this kindly greeting does not arise simply from the generous disposition and cordial hospitality of our citizens, but largely from the character of the mission you represent. You are here not only in the interest of charity, the noblest of all virtues, but you are here also in the interest of a wise, discriminating policy in the bestowal of charity. Your purpose is to unite science with love; to vindicate human sympathy at the bar of educated reason; to make religion and political economy co-operants in the alleviation of human suffering. In other words, it is your aim to do more than simply stimulate charity on behalf of those who are already in distress. You strike at the root of the matter, and seek to devise ways and means by which many of the causes of suffering may be removed, and thus practically illustrate the old proverb, "An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” And when was there ever a more propitious time than the present for pushing vigorously the objects of your respective organizations? I need not tell you that ours is a remarkable age. What would have been regarded as an extravagant characterization of any past epoch, would, when applied to the present, be little more than a stale platitude. In fact, language can no longer express the marvellous achievements of the human intellect in exploring the great realms of nature. Within the last hundred years the most wonderful progress has been made in what are called the physical sciences. Discovery has followed discovery with such |