Human Physiology. 73 



has come to regard it as a necessary evil a safety-valve for 

 the lust of men the safeguard of marriage, and the security of 

 virtuous women; virtuous women, who seem content that so 

 many thousands of their sisters should be sacrificed for their 

 protection. 



The evil consequences of prostitution are proverbial- 

 written in the Proverbs of Solomon, and those of all nations. 

 Its depraving influence upon its victims is obvious; the modest, 

 gentle girl becomes in a short time the brazen, shameless, 

 abandoned, and often dishonest, profane, and drunken "crea- 

 ture." Drunkenness becomes the habitual condition of great 

 numbers, for it is only by drink that they can endure the 

 disgusting horrors of their daily life. If the harlots of loveless 

 marriage fly for solace to drink, how much more must they who 

 are also the constant victims of lust, without the compensating 

 advantages of a good name and respectable position; Many 

 prostitutes are thieves, and the greater number are, in one way 

 or another, the robbers of their dupes. No class is so reckless, 

 so extravagant, or costly to the public on which they live. 

 The wasted money must be reckoned by millions; but what 

 shall we say of wasted honour, reputation, prospects of happi- 

 ness, virtue, health, and life? These losses are incalculable. 



England has become familiar with the subject of the conta- 

 gious diseases propagated by prostitution, the worst of which 

 have been known to the civilised world less than four centuries. 

 It was after the discovery of America by Columbus that the 

 plague of syphilis fell upon Europe like one of the seven vials 

 of the wrath of God. It was not known to ancient Rome in 

 -its most licentious epochs it was not one of the scourges of 

 the middle ages; but when it was introduced, whence or how is 

 not known, it quickly spread over Europe, and ever since has 

 filled the world with its horrors and desolations. 



Mr. Berkeley Hill has stated in a letter to the Times (Feb. 

 22, 1869), that in English towns 69 per cent, of children who 



