Human Physiology. 67 



their own daughters for a living. Mr. William Tait gives the 

 result of an investigation in Edinburgh, by which it appeared 

 that there were in that town two mothers with four daughter 

 each, five mothers with three daughters each, ten mothers with 

 two daughters each, twenty-four mothers with one daughter 

 each all, mothers and daughters, living by prostitution. 



Official returns give the number of common prostitutes 

 under sixteen years of age in England and Wales, at about 

 5000 ; but a great many are unknown to the police, and those 

 who are so young often do not give their ages correctly. Any 

 man of experience who watches the streets of London, Bir- 

 mingham, Liverpool, or Manchester, will be surprised and 

 shocked at the number of mere children, girls of ten to fifteen, 

 who unrnistakeably belong to the class of prostitutes. In the 

 poorest parts of London, the girls of seven years of age are 

 turned into the streets to sell fruits, flowers, matches, &c. to 

 beg or pilfer for a subsistence. By the time they are fifteen 

 or sixteen, most of them become prostitutes. A relieving 

 officer of St. George's in the East says most of the daughters of 

 the coalwhippers, among the most oppressed and drunken of 

 working men, become prostitutes. 



Of 472 unfortunates received at the Queen Street Refuge by 

 the Society for the Rescue of Women and Children, 47 at the 

 period of their ruin were 1 7 years old ; 80 were 1 6 : 52 were 

 15 ; 55 were 14 ; 36 were 13 ; 37 were 12 : 10 were u ; 9 

 were 1054 were 9 ; and 2 were only 8 years old. 



Another report of the same society states that out of 538 cases 

 of young girls relieved by its officers, 365 had been seduced 

 before they were 16 years of age, and 106 before they were 12 

 years of age. The report further states that amongst the girls 

 admitted to the asylum last year i was seduced at 5, i at 7, 5 

 at 8, 7 at 9, 12 at 10, 7 at n, 73 at 12, 29 at 13, 60 at 14, 

 and 50 at 15 years of age. 



The actual number of children, girls from eight years old to 



