UNCHASTITY 251 



them the transgression becomes habitual, and the stain 

 on the character is deep and lasting. ' ' * 



Poverty.— The pressing influence of poverty has 

 been urged as one cause of prostitution. It cannot be 

 denied that in many cases, in large cities, this may be 

 the immediate occasion of the entrance of a young girl 

 upon a life of shame; but it may still be insisted that 

 there must have been, in such cases, a deficiency in 

 previous training; for a young woman, educated with 

 a proper regard for purity, would sooner sacrifice life 

 itself than virtue. Again, poverty can be no excuse; 

 for in every city there are made provisions for the 

 relief of the needy poor, and none who are really 

 worthy need suffer. 



Ignorance. — Nothing fosters vice more than ig- 

 norance. Public prostitutes come almost entirely 

 from the more ignorant classes, though there are, of 

 course, many exceptions. Among the lowest classes, 

 vice is seen in its grossest forms, and is carried to the 

 greatest lengths. Intellectual and moral culture are 

 antagonistic to sensuality. As a general rule, in pro- 

 portion as the intellect is developed, the animal pas- 

 sions are brought into subjection. 



Disease.— Various diseases which cause local irri- 

 tation and congestion of the reproductive organs are 

 the causes of unchastity in both sexes^ as previously 

 explained. It not infrequently happens that by con- 

 stantly dwelling upon unchaste subjects until a con- 

 dition of habitual congestion of the sexual organs is 

 produced, young women become seized with a maniacal 

 furor for libidinous commerce. This disease, known 

 as nymphomania, has been the occasion of the fall of 

 many young women of the better classes who had been 

 bred in luxury and idleness, but were never taught the 



* Ware. 



