LEGAL CHECKS 
35 
Legal Checks. — Our boards of health, backed by suitable 
laws, are doing good service in guarding us against smallpox, 
scarlet fever, diphtheria, and most other contagions, but 
people suffering from venereal disease commonly go un¬ 
checked, spreading their contagion to others, and in most 
states neither statute nor officer of the law attempts to re¬ 
strain them. In a few cities immoral women who are found, 
when arrested, to be diseased (most of them are, much of the 
time) are confined in hospitals and treated until there is little 
danger of their spreading their contagion. But their male 
companions, no matter how badly diseased and dangerous to 
the community, are rarely held in restraint. In a few states 
recently doctors have been required to report to the health 
officer cases of venereal disease, that the patient may be 
required to take treatment until cured. But the law is 
poorly enforced. In some states a physician’s certificate 
that the contracting parties are free from venereal disease is 
required before a marriage certificate is issued, a provision 
with which every one should gladly comply. 
1. What are boards of health doing in some places to check vene¬ 
real disease? 
2. What more should be done to stop the spread of these con¬ 
tagions ? 
3. In what ways do some states try to protect the family from the 
ravages of venereal disease? 
