XIV. ALGERIA…

XIV. ALGERIA

Prostitution in Algiers before the Conquest.--Mezonar.--Unnatural Vices.--Tax on Prostitutes.--Decree of 1837.--Corruption.--Number of Prostitutes and Population.--Nationality of Prostitutes.--Causes of Prostitution.--Brothels.--Clandestine Prostitution.--Baths.-- Dispensary.--Syphilis.--Punishment of Prostitutes.

A pamphlet has lately appeared in France on the subject of Prostitution in Algiers. Its author, Dr. E. A. Duchesne, has rendered service by collecting a large number of important facts and statistical data.[247]

When the French conquered Algiers in 1830, they found prostitution established there, and prevailing to a large extent. So far as we are able to ascertain, it had always been a leading feature of Algerian society; travelers had noticed it in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In 1830 it was estimated that, with a population of thirty thousand, Algiers contained three thousand prostitutes. We have already had occasion to notice the unreliable character of similar estimates in general, but there is no doubt that the number of lewd women at Algiers under Arab rule was inordinately large. They were mainly Moors, Arabs, and negresses. All were under the control of the chief of the native police--the Mezonar. He kept a list of them, and laid a tax amounting to about two dollars per month on each. As he paid a fixed sum to the government for the privilege of collecting this tax, it was to his interest to increase the number of prostitutes as much as possible, and he appears to have done so. He kept in his employ a number of spies, who watched women suspected of immoral habits, and denounced them whenever they were detected, in which event they were inscribed on the Mezonar's list, and became prostitutes for life. He was empowered to compel every prostitute to discharge the duties of her calling, and was frequently applied to by strangers to supply them with women. He was not allowed, however, to lease women to Christians or Jews. Twice a year the Mezonar gave a public fête, to which all the male inhabitants of Algiers were invited; the prostitutes formed the female portion of the assemblage, and the public officer profited by the increased patronage they obtained during the festivities, as well as by the sale of tickets for the entertainment.[248]

It is right also to add that the French found that other feature of Oriental manners, unnatural habits, largely developed at Algiers. The cafés, the streets, the baths, the public places were full of boys of remarkable beauty, who more than shared with the women the favor of the wealthier natives. Owing to a criminal negligence on the part of the French authorities, no systematic endeavor has ever been made to eradicate this shameful vice, which appears still to prevail to an alarming extent.

The influx of population, mainly soldiery, into a city thus steeped in immorality, produced natural results. A few weeks after the invasion, the French general was compelled to establish a Dispensary, and to decree that all dissolute women must undergo an examination there once a week. A tax of five francs per month was laid upon prostitutes to defray the expenses of the establishment. Within less than a year, such grave abuses had crept into the collection of this tax that it was resolved to farm it out, and it was adjudged at auction to a man who agreed to pay 1860 francs per month for its proceeds. In 1832 the monthly tax was raised successively to seven 44/100, and nine francs per girl, and on these rates it was farmed to one Balré, who paid 1666-80/100 for the privilege of collecting it. He was also entitled to levy and retain the amount of all fines imposed by the police on prostitutes, and to charge women ten francs each time they went to a fête outside the city, and five francs if the fête were within the limits. The profits of the farm were so great that in 1835 Balré was able to pay the government 2250 francs (four hundred and fifty dollars) per month.[249]

Under this system the gravest inconveniences occurred, and became so troublesome that in November, 1835, the governor promulgated a decree remodeling the regulations in force on the subject. It appears the farm system was then abandoned, and the government agents who were intrusted with the collection of the tax robbed both the prostitutes and the state shamefully.

Hence, in December, 1837, a new decree was issued by the governor, repealing all former laws and regulations, and placing the whole subject under the control of the Commissary of Police. The leading provisions of that decree were as follows:

"Every public woman who desires to prostitute herself must declare her intention beforehand to the Comptroller of Public Women, who shall enter her name in his register, and present her with a pass-book which he shall sign."

"Every girl inscribed on the register shall place in the hands of the treasurer of the Dispensary, monthly, a sum of twenty francs if she be a kept woman, and ten francs if she be not kept. The treasurer shall give her a receipt for the same, and record it in his account-book."

"The mayor shall be authorized to remit this monthly due, as well as any fines that may have been incurred, when the girl owing the same can prove by a certificate from the comptroller, the treasurer, and the physician that she is indigent."

"Every girl who shall not have paid her monthly due, as well as her fines, within ten days after the visit to the Dispensary, shall undergo an imprisonment of not less than five days and not more than three months, unless she establish her indigence as aforesaid."

"Girls detained in prison shall, on the first symptoms of syphilis, be transferred to the Dispensary for treatment, after which they shall be remanded to prison to serve the remainder of the time."

"The physician of the Dispensary shall not only treat patients in that establishment, but shall pay periodical, accidental, and all necessary visits to the prostitutes, who are hereby subjected to such visits. He shall visit the Dispensary twice a day, from 7 to 9 A.M. and from 3 to 4 P.M. He shall enter upon his memorandum-book, and upon the pass-book of the girl, the result of all accidental or necessary visits. He shall receive a salary of two thousand francs."[250]

This law is in force at the present time, and is said to have led to great inconvenience. Police agents are accused of levying black mail on the prostitutes to an enormous extent, in the shape of fines, dues for going to balls, hush-money for escaping the visit to the Dispensary, presents to the policeman on the birth of his children, etc. The product of the tax is inordinately large, amounting, independently of fines, to one hundred and twenty francs, or twenty-four dollars per annum for each girl. Several administrators have recommended its diminution or total suppression, but it is still retained.[251]

In the year 1838, when the present law was passed, the number of women inscribed on the police register was 320, the total population of Algiers being 34,882, of whom two thirds were Africans and one third Europeans; but the mayor of the city gave it as his opinion that this figure (320) was in reality far below the truth. In 1846 measures were taken for enforcing the police regulations more strictly than before, and some care was used to procure correct statistics of population and prostitution.[252] We compile the following table from several given by Dr. Duchesne:

+-------------------------------------------------+ | |Registered | POPULATION. | |Year.|Prostitutes|-------------------------------| | |(average). | African |European.| Total. | | | |(estimated).| | | |-----|-----------|------------|---------|--------| |1847 | 442 | 25,000 | 42,113 | 67,113 | |1848 | 387 | 25,000 | 37,572 | 62,572 | |1849 | 395 | 25,000 | 37,572 | 63,072 | |1850 | 479 | 26,000 | 29,392 | 55,392 | |1851 | 342 | .... | .... | 55,392 | +-------------------------------------------------+

To these figures, some of which are only approximative, must be added the number of French soldiers in the garrison at Algiers. At times the effective force has been as large as twelve or fifteen thousand men.

Another point of interest is the nationality of the prostitutes of Algiers. It is known that the native women are loose in their morals. In many parts of the interior it is common for fathers or brothers to let out their daughters or sisters by the night or the week to strangers, and the young women themselves are only too willing to ratify a bargain which promises to gratify their unbounded sensuality. The following table gives the nationality of the registered prostitutes during the period 1846-1851.[253]

+--------------------------------------------------------------- | | EUROPEANS. | | |-------------------------------------------------------| |Years.|France.|Mahon.|Italy.|Germany.| Great |Spain.|Holland.| | | | | | |Britain.| | | |------|-------|------|------|--------|--------|------|--------| | 1847 | 107 | 14 | 6 | 11 | 4 | 58 | 2 | | 1848 | 78 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 49 | ... | | 1849 | 82 | 8 | 2 | 17 | 3 | 60 | ... | | 1850 | 113 | 8 | 2 | 20 | 2 | 57 | ... | | 1851 | 81 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 37 | ... | +---------------------------------------------------------------

+--------------------------------------------------------+ | | AFRICANS. | | |-------------------------------------------------| |Years.| Arabs |Jewesses.|Mulattoes.|Negresses.|Total.| | |and Moors.| | | | | |------|----------|---------|----------|----------|------| | 1847 | 203 | 26 | 6 | 16 | 451 | | 1848 | 181 | 28 | 7 | 16 | 387 | | 1849 | 183 | 22 | 7 | 17 | 401 | | 1850 | 248 | 19 | 7 | 17 | 493 | | 1851 | 170 | 12 | 3 | 13 | 336 | ---------------------------------------------------------+

On inquiring for the causes of prostitution at Algiers, Dr. Duchesne found that they might be summed up under three heads: 1st. Poverty, mainly due to the French conquest and the wars which followed. To the present day it appears that it is not unusual for an Arab chief to relieve his wants by sending his prettiest daughter to Algiers to perform a campaign as a prostitute. 2d. The idleness in which all Arab and Moorish women are trained. It was proved that, while all the European women were capable of working at some calling or other, and did work during their stay in the hospital, not one of the native women had any idea of manual employment. A few could sing, and had at one time gained a livelihood as street-singers, but the immense majority were absolutely incapable of doing any thing for a livelihood. 3d. The Oriental idea that the woman is a chattel, to be sold or hired out by her legitimate owner, father, brother, or husband. This idea, which prevails in many savage nations, among others, many of our own Indian tribes, is, of course, the best of all entering wedges for prostitution.[254]

There are fourteen houses of prostitution at Algiers, all kept, it seems, by Europeans, and the greater part by retired prostitutes. The natives object to living under the control of a brothel-keeper. They live alone in their own rooms. Sometimes three or four of them club together and form a partnership. Their rooms are generally shabby and ill furnished.[255]

Arab prostitutes seldom appear in the streets, and when they do, they are veiled and dressed like modest women. They may be seen at their windows of an evening, peeping through small holes contrived for the purpose, and smoking cigarettes. Their customers are procured by means of runners, who are mostly small boys.

As may be inferred from the amount of the tax on prostitutes, clandestine prostitution is very extensively practiced at Algiers. We have no details or even approximate estimates of the number of clandestine prostitutes, but it doubtless exceeds that of the registered women. Many of them are attached to the garrison, and are handed from regiment to regiment, shielded from the police by being claimed as wives by some of the soldiers. Others in like manner prevail upon some colonist to afford them a temporary home, and so elude the visit of the physician. Dr. Duchesne had reason to believe that syphilis prevailed to an alarming extent among the secret prostitutes, and that, until the tax was removed, and they were encouraged to register themselves on the police roll, it would continue to be general and virulent.[256]

Formerly the baths were the great haunts of clandestine prostitutes. It is known that in most eastern countries the bath is not only a sanitary necessity, but a common ally of sensuality. At Algiers, before the conquest, men and women are said to have bathed promiscuously, and frightful scenes of debauchery occurred daily. Under French rule this has been reformed. Men may not bathe from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M.; but Dr. Duchesne was led to believe that it was quite common for men to introduce women into the baths at night, with the connivance of the bath officials. Indeed, some of the latter appear to fill the same office to the Algerine bathers as the Roman bath servants did to the dissolute men of that day.[257]

It now remains to speak of the Dispensary at Algiers. It was established, as has been stated, within a few days after the capture of the place. For nearly ten years it was a scandal to the faculty and the authorities. The wards were too small; there were not beds enough for the women; every thing was either deficient in quantity or objectionable in quality. In 1839, orders were given for the establishment of a proper and commodious Dispensary. Three old Moorish houses were hired and divided into wards. They contain at present thirteen wards, with beds for seventy-seven patients; a bath-room, containing six baths; a hall for the visits of prostitutes; and the necessary offices, etc. The staff of the Dispensary consists of a director, treasurer (econome), physician, apothecary, clerk, cook, assistant apothecary, porter, five laborers, and four police agents. All the washing is done in the establishment. The commissariat is on the amplest scale; meat, soup, vegetables of all kinds, rice, eggs, fruit, etc., being supplied in abundance to the patients.[258]

Every morning at seven o'clock the women are visited by the physician, assisted by the apothecary. Those who are able to walk are examined in the salle de visite, the others in their beds. The average number of patients during the year appears to be from five hundred and fifty to six hundred. The average duration of the treatment is from twenty-four to thirty-four days. The cost to the Dispensary averages from one and a half to one and three quarters franc per day for each girl (about thirty or thirty-five cents).[259]

The Dispensary physician reported to Dr. Duchesne that, so far as his observation went, syphilis was more severe on the sea-coast than in the interior; and in the months of September, October, November, and December, than at any other period of the year.[260]

Prostitutes are punished for being more than twenty-four hours behind time in visiting the Dispensary; for leaving it during treatment; for insulting the physician or other authorities; for continuing to exercise their calling after being attacked by disease. The penalty is imprisonment, either in the ordinary prison or in the solitary cell. Formerly, the tread-mill was used, and in bad cases a girl's hair was cut off, and her nose slit; but these savage relics of Moorish legislation were long since abandoned. Solitary confinement is found to answer every useful purpose.[261]

XV. BELGIUM

Hospitals and Charitable Institutions.--Foundlings.--Estimate of the Marriage Ceremony.--Regulations as to Prostitution.--Brothels.-- Sanitary Ordinances.

Belgium takes a more prominent position in Europe than its mere extent would warrant. This influence is derived from the vigorous and effective stand made in behalf of rational freedom, and from the manner in which free institutions have been originated and maintained.

The hospitals and other eleemosynary institutions of Belgium are of a magnificent character, supported at an annual expenditure of nearly two hundred thousand dollars. Almost every town, and many of the larger villages, have hospitals for the sick, sometimes maintained at corporation expense, sometimes by private endowments. In 318 hospitals, during the four years from 1831 to 1834 (inclusive), no less than 22,180 persons were treated.[262]

Foundling hospitals are a marked feature of these charitable establishments. The turning table, which was formerly in use in all such institutions, has lately been abandoned in most of them, but still remains in use at those of Brussels and Antwerp. The total number of children annually abandoned in Belgium is estimated to exceed eight thousand out of one hundred and forty-four thousand births, a ratio of about one in eighteen. The average expense attendant upon the maintenance of each infant is about seventy-two francs.

Marriage in Belgium is, by law, simply a civil contract, requiring fifteen days' notice posted in front of the Hôtel de Ville. Notwithstanding the simplicity of this ceremonial, it is affirmed that an enormous extent of immorality and illegitimacy is to be met with, and that a virtuous servant-girl is altogether exceptional, there being scarcely one of them who has not an illegitimate child, while they maintain with the most unyielding confidence that, so long as the father is a bon ami (sweetheart), there is no moral turpitude in the case.

Belgium is remarkable for its regulations with respect to prostitution and the spread of venereal disease. The perfections of the latter arrangements are shown in the fact that, out of an army of thirty thousand men, there were less than two hundred cases of syphilis in the year 1855.

The brothels of Brussels are of two kinds: les maisons de debauché and les maisons de passe; these are visited by les filles éparses, who keep their appointments there. The two classes of houses are distinguished by different-colored lanterns hung over the doors.

All classes of prostitutes are required to be examined twice a week; those who live in brothels of the first and second class are visited by the physicians, while the very poor women of the third class, and all those who do not reside in brothels, are obliged to attend at the Dispensary. If they are punctual in their visits for four weeks in succession they are exempt from all tax; but if, on the contrary, their attendance is irregular, they can be imprisoned from one to five days. Any woman who does not live in a brothel can be examined at her own residence, provided that she pays at the Dispensary a sum amounting to about eighty-five cents. For this she receives four visits, and the physicians will continue to call upon her as long as the payments are made in advance. Thus the denizens of the aristocratic brothels are saved the inconvenience of attending at the Dispensary, as also that portion living in private lodgings who can afford to pay the fee to release themselves from going to the office as common prostitutes, while the half-starved, ill-dressed pauper of the third class must wait at the Dispensary until examined, and then return to her squalid home, where none but her companions and the police-officers are ever seen.

The medical staff of the Dispensary is composed of a superintending inspector, whose duty is to be present in the Dispensary when examinations are being made, and to visit the houses once a fortnight at least; of two medical inspectors, who, during alternate months, examine, one the women in the brothels, the other those who attend at the Dispensary. The date and result of every examination are marked on a card belonging to each woman, in the registers kept at the brothels, and in the records of the Dispensary. If a woman be found affected with syphilis or any other infectious disease, the owner of the brothel must send her immediately, in a car, to the hospital, and as soon as her cure is complete her card is handed to her, and she is at liberty to resume her calling.

XVI. HAMBURG

Ancient Legislation.--Ulm.--Legislation from 1483 to 1764.--French Revolution, and its effects on Morals.--Abendroth's Ordinance in 1807.--Police Ordinance in 1811.--Additional Powers in 1820.-- Hudtwalcker.--Present Police Regulations.--Number of Registered Women.--Tolerated Houses.--Illegitimacy.--Age and Nativity of Prostitutes.--The Hamburger Berg and its Women.--Physique, Peculiarities, and Diseases of Prostitutes.--Dress.--Food.-- Intellectual Capacity.--Religion.--Offenses.--Procuresses.-- Inscription.--Locality of Brothels.--Brothel-keepers.-- Dance-houses.--Sunday Evening Scene.--Private Prostitutes.-- Street-walkers.--Domestic Prostitution.--Unregistered Prostitution.-- Houses of Accommodation.--Common Sleeping Apartments.--Beer and Wine Houses.--Effect of Prostitution on Generative Organs.--General Maladies.--Forms of Syphilis.--Syphilis in Sea-ports.--Severity of Syphilis among unregistered Women.--The "Kurhaus" and general Infirmary.--Male Venereal Patients.--Sickness in the Garrison.-- Treatment.--Mortal Diseases of Hamburg Prostitutes.--Hamburg Magdalen Hospital.

The ancient legislative enactments respecting prostitution in Hamburg seem to have been of the same character, and based upon the same principles, as in other Continental cities, namely, a partial toleration of a necessary evil for the sake of preventing injurious excesses. This may be traced in the oldest extant law on the subject, dated in 1292. In the public account-books for 1350 are entries of charges which imply that public brothels were built by the corporation, though we find no satisfactory information as to whether they were managed by an appointed official as in Cologne, Strasbourg, or Avignon, or were leased by the city to an individual as in Ulm. It will be interesting to give a sketch of the regulations of prostitution in the latter city before proceeding with the investigation concerning Hamburg.

The laws of the city of Ulm in 1430, or at least that portion of them called "woman house" laws, provided that the houses should be leased, and the lessee, on becoming tenant, swore to serve the city faithfully; to prevent all foul play or concealment of suspicious goods in his house; to provide clean, healthy women, and never to keep less than fourteen. He was bound to observe a fixed dietary scale; the daily meals were to be "of the value of sixpence;" on meat days every woman was to have two dishes, soup with meat and vegetables, and a roast or boiled joint, as most convenient. On fast-days and in Lent they were to have the same number of dishes, which (out of Lent) might consist of eggs and baked meat. As a change to this, they might have herrings and eggs; or fishes (probably fresh-water fish), which they could cook for themselves, and to which the keeper must add white bread. If a woman refused the food provided, he was bound to give her something of the value of sixpence; he was also to sell them wine "when they required it." If a woman was pregnant, he was to put her out of the house. In the "woman's house" there was a chest for general purposes, and a money-box for the accounts between the host and the women. Every woman who kept company with a man at night must pay the keeper a kreutzer, the remainder of the fee being her own property. All money the women obtained in the day was to be put into the general chest; the third of this belonged to the host; the balance was paid to the women at the end of the week, less any debts they had contracted in the mean time. A woman resided in every house who made financial arrangements between inmates and visitors. If a woman received a present in addition to the stipulated fee, she was at liberty to spend it on clothes, shoes, or personal matters to which nobody could lay claim. The keeper could not supply the women with clothes, etc., without the knowledge and consent of the Master of the Beggars (a local functionary who seems to have combined the supervision of brothels, and of known vagrants and beggars). The host was required to provide, at his own cost, a cook and a cook's maid. Girls or women could, with their own consent, be apprenticed to the "women keeper" by their parents or husbands; but if one was apprenticed against her will, and she, or her friends, wished to cancel the agreement, the keeper was bound to release her without requiring the repayment of any money he might have disbursed for her. If a woman who had accumulated a guilder of her own wished to quit her sinful life, she was allowed to tender it to the keeper in discharge of all her liabilities, and must then be permitted to leave the house, wearing the clothes she wore when she entered it, or, if they were worn out, in her common "Monday clothes." A woman who desired might leave without this payment if she had nothing to give, but if subsequently detected in any other house the keeper could enforce his demands against her, the discharge not affecting his claim under such circumstances. Every Monday each woman had to contribute one penny, and the host twopence, to the money-box to purchase tapers for the Virgin and the saints, to be offered in the Cathedral on Sunday nights. If any of the women were sick or could not support themselves, they were to be provided with necessaries from the money-box, to which (for greater security) there were two keys, one kept by the host and the other by the Master of the Beggars. Each woman had to spin daily for the keeper two hanks of yarn, or, in default, to pay three hellers for each hank. On Sunday, Lady-day, and Twelfth-day, after vespers, and in Passion Week, the house was not to be opened. If the keeper broke any of these regulations the council could dismiss him. The oath taken by the Master of the Beggars required him to visit the women-houses every quarter day; to read the laws to the women; and to report to the council any offenses he found existing.[263]

In Hamburg, in 1483, the calling of brothel-keeper was limited to certain streets, apart from the ordinarily frequented thoroughfares--a rule which would imply that the authorities had discontinued building public brothels, and relinquished the business to individuals.

In the seventeenth century a different course of action was adopted, and, in place of toleration and limitation of brothels, strict laws were made in reference to visiting suspected places, and the custody of persons of bad character. The women-houses were pulled down and the women expelled; the criminal records contain frequent instances where the pillory or exile was inflicted for the crime of prostitution.

In 1764, and again in 1767, the Hamburgers enacted very severe laws against offenders, under the title of "delicta carnis," by which both sexes were subject to pains and penalties, but men seem to have been allowed to clear themselves on oath. The officers of justice were directed to make domiciliary visits in search of offenders, and the pillory, bread and water, the House of Correction, or banishment, are the penalties threatened on habitual evil-doers.

In Germany, prostitution received a terrible impulse from the French Revolution, when the general disruption of public obligations paved the way to unbounded private license. Probably the licentiousness of Europe at the end of the last and commencement of the present century was more extravagant than at any other time. The irruption of immigrants at the fall of the French monarchy flooded Hamburg with Parisian morals and customs. Places of entertainment and sensual gratification arose in all directions, the homely, simple manners of the Vaterland were subverted, and a less rigid line of conduct took their place. In the words of a writer of the day: "Our eating-houses were metamorphosed into restaurants; our dancing-rooms into saloons; our drinking-shops into pavilions; our cellars into halls; our girls into demoiselles; in short, we were thoroughly polished up by the immoral shoal of immigrants. Quick and unrestrained strode the crowd over our pleasant streets, and modesty and respectability fled with averted faces, to the sorrow of the few good men."

The name demoiselle was granted to many of the common women, their places of resort being called "Ma'amselle houses." In those days the Hamburgers saw, with astonishment, houses fitted up and furnished in the style of mansions, with costly upholstery and cabinet-work.[264] Among the women were the femmes entretenness, who received their friends at certain hours, and whose favors were dispensed for a Louis d'or or a ducat. They frequented the first and second boxes of the German and French theatres, and drove through the public streets in handsome carriages. Some of the keepers of this class of houses had physicians in their pay, whose services were always available by the inmates. Petits soupers were given here, and sometimes a ball took place.

These were literally the aristocracy of prostitution. The second, third, and fourth grades resided in inferior streets or in the suburbs, differing in their attractions according to the rank which they assumed, but all equally shameless and unequivocal in their conduct and appearance.

Notwithstanding this rapid spread of prostitution, the police of the city can not justly be charged with neglect of duty, any public outrage being followed by condign punishment. At one time a whole ship-load of nymphs of the pavé was dispatched to the colonies; at another a raid was made on the most conspicuous houses, some of the inmates alarmed into decency of conduct, and the incorrigible publicly exhibited in the streets, decorated with inscriptions signifying their offenses. The voice of the few was powerless against the corruptions of the many. The pamphlets and papers of the time teem with the proffered services of go-betweens, and even the Hamburg ladies themselves were far from perfection, if we may credit the evidence of a fictitious petition, praying, among other things, that the ladies restrict the indecency of their costume, and not make such a liberal display of their charms.

It was impossible such an extravagant state of society should long exist; a reaction was inevitable; and we find, accordingly, an ordinance enacted in 1807 by the Proctor Abendroth in reference to the matter. It recognized brothel-keeping and prostitution as a calling, and permitted it under certain restrictions. A tax on the class was imposed, and means were prescribed by which a register of all persons engaged therein was to be kept, and their health and general good conduct maintained and enforced. The official justification of the tax is found in the order itself, which declares that, "for the purposes aforesaid" (police register and supervision, medical examination, maintenance in sickness, poverty, etc.), "and in order that the public shall be at no charges, each housekeeper shall, for every woman residing with him, pay two marks to the Proctor's treasury. The surplus of this treasury shall go to the Hospital."

During the French occupation in 1811, the police renewed and enforced the stringent regulations on the subject of common houses and women. The preamble of their "Instructions" (April, 1811) is worthy of notice:

"Public and personal safety require a constant inspection, as well of the public houses dedicated to debauchery, as of the women and girls who frequent the same, live therein, or dwell there from time to time. This inspection must also be extended to those places which are not expressly appointed for dwelling-houses, but which, nevertheless, must be included among the public houses, inasmuch as they serve for refuge to the women and girls who wander about the streets."

"The grounds of this inspection are two-fold. In one respect they belong to the maintenance of public order: it is needful that no one be withdrawn from the eye of the police, nor find an asylum in such houses. It is likewise expedient that the magistracy take notice of disgraceful and disorderly proceedings, or prevent those which take place too often in the town. The other grounds respect the public health. The habits of debauchery have become so general, and inspection has, for some years, become so difficult, that the most dangerous maladies have increased to an unprecedented extent. All classes of society complain, and call loudly for regulations to restrain these evils. These considerations have moved the General Police Commissary to renew, in full force, the before-enacted laws and regulations, and to order them to be enforced with rigor in the present state of affairs."

After the withdrawal of the French, the vigilance of the police authorities seems to have relaxed, if we are to judge by complaints published at the time, in which they are accused of complicity with the unfortunates who infested the streets of Hamburg, and are said, "by the agency of a trifling bribe, to be able to ply their hideous trade unobstructed, and to the great annoyance of the virtuously disposed, who, after certain hours of the evening, are unable to pass along the streets."

In 1820, "the previously existing police regulations against prostitutes being proved very ineffectual, insomuch that they infest the public streets and ways, not only to the offense of decency and propriety, but to the endangerment of public order and safety," it was ordered that the regulations should be renewed, and additional powers were given to the police to enforce the registry of individuals coming within the scope of the law.

At this time we find some information as to the number of prostitutes, who are stated to be about five hundred, chiefly foreigners, and their receipts from their patrons, but we have no guide to the number of women who pursued their calling privately, which must have been large.

The civic administration of the Senator Hudtwalcker is marked by earnest endeavors to control prostitution and restrict it within known bounds. Some of his views on the subject met much opposition. He wished to close up one end of a notorious street, and to wall up the back windows, stationing a watchman constantly at the end left open. After great personal attention to the subject, he published the result of his experience.[265] His principles are those upon which the present police regulations of Hamburg are based. He says:

"All brothel-keepers and girls should be distinctly made to understand that their infamous and ruinous calling is only tolerated, not permitted, or authorized, or even well wished. Still less can they feel that they have any right to compare themselves with worthy citizens as though their calling, because an impost is levied on them, can be put on a level with other permitted callings. They must remember that this impost is raised solely to defray the necessary cost of police supervision, and of the cure of maladies brought on the common women by their own profligate course of life."

"2. Public or private brothel-keeping to be notified to the police; the regulations to be read over and subscribed; offenders to be punished by bread and water, and the House of Correction. If an uninscribed woman have the venereal disease, the fact is prima facie evidence of prostitution."

"3. Change of residence to be notified, under penalty."

"4. The concession may be withdrawn by the authorities at their pleasure."

"5. Houses of accommodation will only be tolerated,

(a.) where the landlord is inscribed;

(b.) where a resident girl is inscribed;

(c.) where an inscribed girl is the party using it."

"6. Women from abroad, kept by single men, must obtain the police residence permission, and should pay the tax for the first class, without, however, being subject to medical visits. They have the right of the free use of the General Infirmary. Should such a girl be proved to have intercourse with several men, or, being venereal, to have infected others, she should be treated as a public woman."

7, 8, 9. Prescribe the identification of individuals subscribing; the details of their place of birth; the consent of parents when living; also, "That any brothel-keeper detaining an innocent girl on false pretenses shall be punished with fine and imprisonment, and the concession be withdrawn."

"10. Female servants or relatives of brothel-keepers residing with them to be over twenty-five years of age."

"11. No prostitute is suffered to keep children of either sex over ten years of age; even her own must be brought up elsewhere if she continues her calling."

12. Prohibits solicitation of passengers.

"13. No common woman to be in the streets after eleven at night without a male companion."

14. Limits the places to which prostitutes may resort.

"15. Young people, under twenty years, not to enter a brothel."

"16. No music or gaming in brothels, nor liquor-selling, except by special permission."

"17. Noise and uproar in brothels punishable."

"18. No brothel-keeper or inscribed woman to permit extortion or violence to a customer, but they may detain persons who have not paid. Thefts or foul dealing prohibited; the landlord prima facie responsible."

"19. No compulsion or violence of the women by the keeper, nor by guests with his cognizance."

"20. A woman wishing to return to a virtuous life at liberty to do so, notwithstanding any keeper's claims. If they disagree as to such claims, the police to settle them, but in no case has the keeper any lien on her. Nevertheless, this privilege not to be abused. If a woman returns to her evil courses, the keeper's claims on her revive, and she may even be punished. Limitation, according to the class of a woman, of the right of borrowing money."

"21. If parents or relatives will undertake the reclamation of a prostitute, the police will compel restitution of her person, irrespective of the keeper's claims, or even of the woman's own refusal."

"22. A woman changing her residence, and disputing any settlement with the keeper, can have the same rectified by the police."

"23. The women to be subjected every week to medical visitation. No woman, during menstruation, or with any malady in the sexual organs, to receive visits from a man. No woman to be approached by a man diseased, or reasonably suspected of disease. To this end, a statement of the signs of venereal disease to be furnished."

"24. The orders of the public physician are imperative, and must be strictly observed. Want of personal cleanliness increasing the virulence of syphilis, the directions of the physician on this matter to be imperatively followed."

"25. The medical officer to report the result of examination to the police, and to enter the same in a book to be kept by each woman, to be produced on demand."

"26. A woman finding herself to be venereally infected to report either to the keeper or the police; in other illness to report to the medical officer, who will direct her course of treatment at home, or, in venereal and infectious cases, at the hospital. In cases of pregnancy she is to report herself to the medical officer."

"27. A keeper punishable for the disease of a man in his house, and liable for the charges of cure."

The remaining sections relate to the collection of the tax; the penalties for violation are fine and imprisonment.

Having thus briefly sketched the progress of legislation on prostitution in Hamburg, based upon the principle that "prostitution is a necessary evil, and, as such, must be endured under strict supervision of the authorities," it seems an appropriate place to copy the following remarks of an eminent local writer:

"That brothels are an evil no one can deny; still, the arguments against the sufferance of brothels are, except as to that incontestable truth, no answer to the 'necessity,' which is the very gist of the thing, and which necessity is based on the uncontrollable nature of sexual intercourse, and on the circumstances of our social condition."

"The sufferance of brothels is necessary,

"1. For the repression of profligacy, of private prostitution as well as of its kindred crimes, adultery, rape, abortion, infanticide, and all kinds of illicit gratification of sexual passion. The latter cases occur very rarely with us. Of Pæderasty or Sodomy we find but few instances; and of that unnatural intercourse of women with each other, referred to by Parent-Duchatelet as common among the Parisian girls, we find no trace."

"The sufferance of brothels operates to the suppression of private prostitution, in so far as brothel-keepers and the 'inscribed' women are, for their own interest, opposed to it, and are serviceable to the police in its detection. Unquestionably, private prostitution is an incalculably greater evil than public vice."

"2. On grounds of public policy in regard to health. It is quite erroneous to suppose that these legalized brothels contribute to the spread of syphilitic maladies. This should rather be imputed to the private prostitution which would ensue on the breaking up of the brothels, and from which that medical police supervision that now limits the spread of infection would, of course, be withdrawn. The experience of all time proves that, by means of secret prostitution, the intensity and virulence of venereal disorders have been aggravated, to the multiplication of those appalling examples familiar to every medical reader, and which cause one to shudder with horror; while numerically, disease and its consequences have been carried into every class of society. It is precisely our knowledge of these very facts which has induced the sufferance, or, rather, the regulation of these brothels."

"3. Suppression is ABSOLUTELY IMPRACTICABLE, inasmuch as the evil is rooted in an unconquerable physical requirement. It would seem as if the zeal against public brothels implied that by their extinction a limitation of sexual intercourse, except in marriage, would be effected. This is erroneous, for reliable details prove that for every hundred brothel women there would be two hundred private prostitutes, and no human power could prevent this. In a great city and frequented sea-port like Hamburg, the hope of amending this would be purely chimerical."

Thus much for Hamburg legislation, and the sound arguments in its favor. We will now give some facts illustrative of the vice as it exists at the present time, using a pamphlet by Dr. LIPPERT, entitled "Prostitution in Hamburg. 1848."

It must be premised that, for the purpose, Hamburg is divided into two parts: the city proper, and the suburb of St. Paul. The latter is under a distinct municipal authority, and is the ordinary residence of seamen and those depending on a seafaring life.

For many years the police returns of the city proper would show about five hundred of the registered "common women" (eingeschrieben Dirnen), and one hundred registered brothels. The police regulations requiring monthly payment of the personal and house tax, and also a renewal of the permission to keep brothels at the same time, is a very convenient method of obtaining a census of the class. The following is a statement of the largest and smallest monthly number of registered women for several years:

Year 1883 Largest number, 550 Smallest number, 456 " 1834 " " 550 " " 450 " 1835 " " 481 " " 441 " 1836 " " 546 " " 473 " 1837 " " 514 " " 484 " 1844 " " 502 No reports. " 1846 " " 512 No reports.

These monthly reports do not show any marked variation at any particular period, the rise and fall being arbitrary. The fluctuation is not very great in the aggregate, although from November, 1834, to January, 1835, there was a decrease of 86 (or nearly one fifth), while between November, 1835, and January, 1836, there was a corresponding increase. Since that time the numbers have remained steadily at about one point.

The housekeepers' (bordelwirth) return does not vary to the same extent. The average is 105 But it decreased in 1844 to 90 " " " 1845 " 93 " " " 1846 " 96 Of these housekeepers in the last-named year (1846) there were Males 60 Females 36--96 In December, 1844, there were Registered women 502 who were subdivided into those Living in registered houses 294 Living privately 208--502 In May, 1845, there were Registered women 505 who were subdivided into those Living in registered houses 326 Living privately 179--505 (At this period there were four registered houses without any women in them.) In August, 1846, there were Registered women 512 who were subdivided into those Living in registered houses 334 Living privately 178--512

These figures show that the number of those living privately is gradually diminishing, more of them being concentrated in the registered houses.

Dr. Lippert is of opinion that prostitution decreases in the summer and increases in the winter months. The statistics will certainly support this theory, but the difference is so small as scarcely to warrant its reception as a rule.

Thus the months of May and July, for five years, give a monthly average of 499-5/10 and the months of November and January for the same time give a monthly average of 501-1/10 -------- showing an average increase in the winter months of 1-6/10

or about one third of one per cent. on the average number of prostitutes.

In reference to the classes from which the ranks of the common women in Hamburg are recruited, Dr. Lippert states that four fifths are from the agricultural districts of the vicinity; that they live as house-servants, tavern-waiters, or in other callings for a time, and then become prostitutes "as a matter of business." Without any desire to controvert his opinion on local questions, it may be doubted whether bad example, vicious education, ignorance of moral or religious obligations, or temptation, are not sufficient to account for their fall, aside from this sweeping denunciation, this commercial view of the question, opposed as it is to all experience in every civilized country where any inquiries on the subject have been made.

The private prostitutes, whether registered or unregistered, are mainly seamstresses or others dependent upon daily labor. These women seem to retain some natural sense of the disgrace attached to open and avowed courtesans, and in their secrecy and quiet retain a few feminine characteristics of which the common brothel woman is destitute.

We have no reliable detail of private unregistered prostitution, or of mere houses of accommodation in Hamburg; but an important fact is to be found in the number of illegitimate children, and the decrease, in proportion to the population, of the number of marriages. The following results are taken from Neddermeyer's "Statistics and Topography of Hamburg."

In 1799, the marriages were about 1 in 45; From 1826 to 1835, " " " " 1 " 97; In 1840, " " " " 1 " 100.

The proportion of illegitimate to legitimate children is about 1 to 5, the actual number of illegitimate births being as follows:

Years Illegitimate Births. 1826 649 1827 606 1828 723 1829 801 1830 786 1831 805 1832 926 1833 867 1834 846 1835 730 1836 807 1837 771 1838 762 1839 765 1840 754 1841 749 1842 702 1843 655 1844 797 1845 778 1846 779

The population of Hamburg was in 1826 100,902 " " " " 1840 124,967 " " " " 1846 130,000 or upward was assumed as the number.

We have now to examine the physiological and pathological peculiarities of the Hamburg prostitutes.

The police regulations require that no registered woman shall be under twenty years of age; but in this they have a discretionary power, so as to keep under inspection and supervision some younger girls whom neither the work-house nor prison can reclaim, the experience of the Hamburg authorities having convinced them that such punitive institutions are seldom successful in the work of reformation; a truth which will, ere long, be more generally acknowledged, especially in reference to abandoned women, than it is at the present day.

The official list for 1844 shows that of the registered prostitutes there were

Under 20 years of age 16 From 20 " to 30 years 401 " 30 " " 40 " 74 " 40 " " 50 " 11 --- Total 502

In 1846, of women living in registered houses, there were

From 20 years to 30 years of age 199 " 30 " " 40 " " 50 " 40 " " 50 " " 8 --- Total 257

The birth-places of the 502 women reported in 1844 included most of the countries in Germany. There were from

Hamburg 108 Hanover 101 Prussia 81 Holstein 78 Other parts of Germany 129 Holland 2 Russia 2 France 1 --- Total 502

The nativity returns for 512 women, in 1846, do not vary materially from the above, the difference in the foreign-born being that there were four, instead of five, born out of Germany. These tables show that about one in five are natives of Hamburg city and territory. Dr. Lippert notices this fact as a small proportion, and accounts for it by enumerating the difficulties of local relationship, parentage, etc., which would be opposed to the registration of native women. These circumstances favor the presumption that many of the unregistered women are city born.

The Hamburger Berg, or St. Paul's Suburb, is on the west side of Hamburg, and has already been mentioned as the abode of seamen and their dependents. Brothels were tolerated here, in deference to the wants of the inhabitants, at a time when they were strictly excluded from the city proper. The women and the houses are of a different type from those of other parts of Hamburg. All the prostitutes live in registered houses, unregistered or private traffic in this quarter being rigorously opposed by the authorities. The brothels and their inmates are in the most flourishing condition at the end of autumn, when the home voyages are completed and the sailors paid off. For a time mirth and excitement bear the sway; when the wages are all spent, things relapse into their old condition, and sometimes the keepers dismiss some of their women, the supply being in excess of the demand.

During the year 1846 the number of registered women in this district was

January 186 May 189 August 181 December 169

The 169 women registered in December were distributed among nineteen tolerated houses. In seven of these music and dancing were permitted, and they contained respectively 21, 13, 11, 19, 20, 18, 29 women, leaving only 26 women to inhabit the remaining twelve houses.

The ages of these women were

Under 20 years 27 From 20 " to 30 years 129 " 30 " " 40 " 13 --- Total 169

The places of birth do not vary materially from the proportions given already. Other matters relating to this particular class will be found hereafter.

In their physique the great majority of the registered women present no pleasing aspect. Generally taken from the rudest classes, they are coarse and unattractive in their appearance, and from the consequences of irregular indulgence and continual exposure, they soon lose the womanly characteristics they once possessed. But this is not a portrait of the whole. Among the unregistered private women may be found some of considerable beauty. The registered women who reside in private, or in first-class brothels, have some prepossessing members of their ranks, while the St. Paul suburb has few but of the roughest kind. Physical strength seems more in demand among the habitués of that section than a graceful form or a pretty face.

In their bodily peculiarities and diseases there is no difference between the public women of Hamburg and those of other cities. At the commencement of their career they frequently become thin and emaciated, but after a time, probably owing to their idle life and good food, regain their substance. In their phrenological development we find a marked preponderance of the animal instincts over the intellectual faculties. The effect of their mode of life will depend somewhat upon individual constitution. The teeth of women of the town are generally bad, but in Hamburg they are in excellent order--much better than the majority of the general population. Their complexion is pale, and they endeavor to remedy this by the constant use of coarse cloths, applications of eau de Cologne, and other stimulants, but very rarely by painting, except among the lowest classes. They soon lose their hair from dissipation, the use of pomatum, curling irons, etc. It is, however, in the rough, harsh voice that the most conspicuous result of their calling is shown.

We will leave, for the present, the medical portion of this inquiry, and give a sketch of their domestic or every-day life. It must be borne in mind that the police divisions are into "registered" or "unregistered," and "public" or "private" women.

The public women (öffentlichen dirnen) are under the special control and supervision of a police authority charged with this duty. Without his express cognizance and permission they can not be registered, or "written in" (eingeschrieben), nor can they have liberty to change their residence, or to be "written out" (ausgeschrieben). This officer is the collector of the impost upon them and upon the brothel-keeper (bordelwirth), which is paid over to the fund (meretricen kasse). We can not give the detailed application of this money, but, in general terms, it does not swell the revenues of the city, and, to avoid public scandal, is applied exclusively to the police and medical services required by the class.

The keepers and women are of three grades. It does not clearly appear whether a woman can select the class with whom she will associate. We are inclined to think the magistrates decide this point, and allot her to the one for which she seems best adapted.

In their apparel and food there exists the usual difference that may be found in all places and ranks of life. The police regulations, and the generally sober style of dress among the Hamburgers, restrict any immodest display of the person or extravagance of attire. The first-class women are generally costumed with taste and elegance, while among the lower ranks plain and serviceable garments are in demand. In most cases of the registered women residing in brothels, the keeper supplies the clothes, and very often charges extravagant prices for them. Extortionate demands in this respect are a fruitful source of complaints to the police, who moderate the bills with no very tender sympathy for the creditor. The clothes and jewelry of some of the first-class women are hired from some clothes-lender (vermietheinnen), but others seldom resort to this expedient, excepting for trinkets.

The food of the house-women is good and plentiful, varying according to the rate of the brothel in which they live. The old sumptuary laws are not in force, but the interest of the keeper induces him to desire a prudent popularity among his women, and to maintain the character of his house by the liberality of his entertainment both in quantity and quality. A considerable portion of their liquids is coffee, of which they are very fond. Wines and liquors are supplied by the house only on holidays, but visitors can purchase them at any time they wish. Drunkenness is comparatively rare among the better class, partly owing to the care of the keeper, but more from dread of the police supervision and consequent punishment.

In their intellectual capacity there is nothing to distinguish the prostitutes in Hamburg. Few can read, and fewer still can write. Those who can read seek their amusement in the old romances of the circulating libraries, seldom perusing that libidinous style of publications known among us as "yellow-covered literature." En passant, this seems the universal practice of the class, wherever any inquiries have been made. Like other ignorant persons, they are superstitious. Lippert mentions one particular omen connected with their calling: she who picks up any article which has been thrown away is sure to receive a visit from a man soon after. He does not say whether this has been verified by experience.

Their ordinary routine of life is one of useless idleness. They rise about ten and take breakfast, of which coffee is the staple. The morning is loitered away in dressing, reading novels, playing cards or dominoes, and kindred occupations. In some of the lower-class houses they dispel their ennui by assisting in domestic work, but this is a matter of favor which they are careful shall not become an obligation. By the middle of the day they are ready for dinner. In the afternoon they add the finishing touches to their dress, and wait the arrival of visitors. Some resort to the public lounges or dancing saloons to form or cultivate acquaintances, but the aristocracy of the order hold it more becoming to their dignity to stay at home and wait for their "friends."

In that fine and peculiar quality of modesty, which adds the crowning grace to woman's charms, even the prostitute is not wholly deficient. Some trace of the angel attribute is visible, but mostly in the private women, where a regard for the decent proprieties of life yet lingers amid the wreck of character, and to such it frequently forms the chief attraction.

Religion has an influence over some, strangely at variance with its dictates as are their lives, but a large majority are entirely destitute of any such sentiment. Occasionally, Biblical pictures may be seen in the rooms of brothels, but merely as ornaments, for they are neutralized by the contiguity of others more consonant with the place.

In their relations to the male sex there are differences between women residing in public brothels and those living privately, whether registered or unregistered. Partly from inclination, but mainly from policy on the part of the keeper, the former seldom own allegiance to any particular lover. It is true that any one who is able and willing to pay liberally can come and go as he pleases, provided he does not interfere with the girl's "business" in other profitable quarters. Not so with the private women, who frequently have particular "lovers" to whom they show much kindness, although from them they often receive but little sympathy or protection, many of these men not scrupling to exist entirely upon the earnings of a woman whom they would publicly insult if they met her away from home.

In their personal conduct toward each other the women residing in one house are constrained and envious. In the first class there is a ceremonious retention of the forms of politeness, but they are too frequently brought into personal rivalry to entertain much good feeling. In the lower classes jealousy often finds vent in reproaches or blows, and frequently a conflict ensues requiring the interposition of the host or of a neighboring police officer. Among those who live alone warm friendships are not uncommon; much timely assistance is afforded in times of sickness or want; good offices are reciprocated; and it sometimes happens, in the delicate matter of their visitors, that a man who has been in the habit of favoring one woman will not find his attentions welcomed by others.

Their crimes and offenses include the ordinary category, but it is asserted that theft is less common in Hamburg than elsewhere, and, when it does take place, it is more frequently committed by the irregular members of the body than by the duly registered women. It will be perceived that the system of registration offers too many facilities for detection, a fact to which the unusual honesty must doubtless be ascribed. Personal quarrels and assaults, or drunkenness among the older members, consign them to the House of Detention or House of Correction. Those imprisoned from various causes generally amount to one hundred or one hundred and twenty.

The licensed brothels are supplied with inmates by females (kupplerinnen) whose services are recognized by the authorities. In case of any emergency, the keeper applies to one of the procuresses, and if the girl she offers suits him, the candidate is first subjected to a medical examination. Passed safely through this ordeal, she is taken to the police office and "written in" to her new keeper, who is bound to discharge certain of her debts, as the amount due his predecessor, for instance. If the medical officers report her sick, she is sent to the infirmary if she belong to Hamburg, but if a foreigner is dispatched out of the city forthwith. In cases where a woman thus applying to the authorities has not previously lived as a prostitute, she is usually exhorted by the magistrate to abandon her intention and return to the paths of virtue, a routine piece of benevolence which is usually fruitless. The ordinary police fee for registration is two marks, the physician's fee is one mark, and the agent's usual remuneration four marks.

The registered women are thus kept strictly under the eye of the police, and, whenever they are disposed to quit their wretched life, have the special protection of that body. The keepers naturally throw all possible obstacles in the way of such a determination, especially if a girl is much in debt; but, by some means, whenever a woman is under any restraint, and is consequently unable to apply personally to the police, an anonymous note finds its way to the office, and speedily effects the desired object. The authorities do not sympathize in any way with the brothel-keepers, but use all their energies to serve the women whenever any occasion offers.

The registered women are designated as "Brothel women" (Bordell dirnen), who live in licensed houses; as "Private women" (für sich wohnende dirnen) when they live by themselves, in which case their landlords are mostly mechanics, hucksters, or laundresses; and the common "Street-walkers" (Strassen dirnen), who ply their trade in the streets, and find shelter in the abodes of indigence and misery. These last are the lowest grade of the registered women.

Most of the brothels (bordelle) are in the oldest parts of the city, to which they were originally limited, but the leading houses may be found in the Schwieger strasse, a street of moderate traffic in a good neighborhood. Here the women are seated at the windows, conspicuously dressed up and prepared for the public eye, making themselves known to passengers by their gestures and salutations. Some of these houses accommodate as many as fourteen inmates. They are well supplied with good mahogany furniture and fine draperies, and are neat and elegant throughout. The women are generally from twenty to twenty-five years old, and are attractively dressed and decorated. The venereal disease is very rare among this class, great attention being paid to personal cleanliness, and the bath very frequently used. The men who visit this neighborhood consist of merchants, the richer public and business employés, officers, and especially the numerous commercial men who resort to Hamburg at all seasons of the year.

The denizens of the Dammthorwall, the Drehbahm, and Ulricas strasse lead but a dull life, as it is the custom in those localities for the women to sit at the windows all day. Their great diurnal event is the visit of the hair-dresser (friseurian), who, while contributing to the adornment of the person, a very serious affair, owing to the quantity of false hair required, and the necessity of making to-day's effect vary from yesterday's, also retails the latest items of interesting news or scandal. Whenever any of these women go out to walk, it is customary for the keeper to send together two who are at variance with each other, so as to establish a mutual check. The hair-dressing and walk over, the next important occurrence is dinner, after which they spend their time solely at the doors or windows.

The hours of closing in these first and second rate brothels are not so strictly enforced by the police as in the lower parts. Occasionally the women are allowed to visit the balls at the celebrated Hall of Mirrors, or other well-known dancing saloons in the vicinity.

In first-rate houses the accounts between the keeper and the women are but little understood. As already observed, some of them hire their clothes; others purchase from the landlord on credit, and he charges accordingly; but these matters trouble the women very slightly. If they leave one house to reside in another, the new keeper pays the old one's bill; if a woman abandons prostitution entirely, the host's demand is totally irrecoverable.

In the second and third rate houses the charges for board and lodging are better understood. It will average about twenty marks (five dollars) a week, washing, fire, and light being extra charges. The keeper will supply fortunate or attractive women with articles of dress to any reasonable amount, but his liberality is restricted toward those who have fewer visitors. His endeavor is to keep all in debt, and in this he is usually successful. Their ornaments are usually the property of the landlord, and form a common stock distributed among his boarders in the manner best calculated to increase or display their powers of fascination, and resumed by him at discretion.

Passing over some intermediate classes of brothels, which present no remarkable characteristics, to those in the Gangen, we find the lowest grade of registered houses and registered women. Most of these are drinking-shops, and the police exercise the right of determining the prices to be charged for liquors. Here may frequently be seen host, guests, and girls, drinking and frolicking together in a small back room, where scenes of gross indelicacy (to use a mild term) frequently take place. The women in this district have literally to work hard, and are generally required to perform all the domestic labor of the establishment. In winter it is a common occurrence for them to take a shovel and clear the snow and ice from the pavement in front of their domicile. Like others of their calling, they are seldom out of the landlord's debt, their board costing them from ten to fourteen marks weekly (say three to four dollars). Washing, fire, and light cost a dollar more, and the hair-dresser's charge is about fifty cents. In addition to this, they must pay the weekly medical and monthly police tax. They spend a miserably monotonous existence, seldom leaving the house for weeks or even months, except when they are required to visit the doctors or the police. Their visitors are from the roughest and most animalized of the population, and the treatment they receive is merely that of purchasable commodities, intended to supply the grosser wants of men whose lives are centred in sensuality. Like their compeers of the St. Paul Suburb, they are usually women of great strength and endurance, but soon degenerate into mere passive, passionless tools. Could it be imagined that they were of reflective habits, it would be impossible to conceive a more severe punishment than their own sense of the degradation, the total loss of all womanly feelings, exhibited in their daily existence.

The brothel-keepers, among whom are some Jews, have no striking peculiarities as a class. It has been already shown that both sexes are engaged in the hideous trade, and, despite the police regulations and restrictions, the obligations and disabilities under which they are placed, it is undoubtedly a most lucrative occupation. The rental of a registered house is usually double the ordinary charge for similar tenements. There are some keepers who own the houses in which they live. In their liabilities must be included the regulation which makes them responsible for thefts committed in their houses, and for any violence or disorder which may take place there, the penalties for which are fine, imprisonment, and loss of license. They also sustain considerable losses from the repentance of some of their inmates; but, in spite of all untoward circumstances, they contrive to make money rapidly.

The period during which they continue in business is uncertain, many of them continuing their houses from inclination long after they have accumulated sufficient property to retire. Of the female keepers some are young and handsome, but these do not find much favor with their women, who dread the effects of an opposition. They are rarely married, but cohabit with some man for the sake of his protection. Among these pro tempore husbands are some whose qualifications and previous positions render it surprising that they should consent to purchase existence from so polluted a source.

The housekeepers of the Hamburger Berg are not only under a separate municipal jurisdiction, but are in themselves a different class of people. They are mostly men, their dealings being principally with sailors, and their visitors sometimes demanding more physical strength than a woman could command to restrain them within the prescribed limits. Their houses are but indifferently furnished, and the whole arrangements are very humble and unpretending in character. A few years ago fatal quarrels were not uncommon among their customers, but this pugnacious tendency has been materially checked by a stricter and more constant police visitation. Even now, jealousy will sometimes cause a furious contest between two of the hardy sons of Neptune. The singular fidelity of some sailors to particular women will account for this. When a man returns from a long voyage, he is desirous of paying his attentions to the female who has before shared his affections and his wages, and if he finds her under the protection of another man, the natural result is a trial of strength as to who shall be the possessor of the beauty in dispute. These tournaments, or the general fray which sometimes arises at the close of the Sunday evening dance, require to be subdued by no gentle means: hearty blows are far more effectual peace-makers than words or threats.

Some of these registered hosts have followed their calling for many years. One noble incident in connection with them must not be omitted. In the severe winter of 1846, the landlord of the "Four Lions," a brothel-keeper of twenty-four years' standing, maintained at his own cost, for some months, nearly one hundred poor families, many of them with three or four children each.

In the dance-houses there is music every evening except Saturday; on week-days from six to eleven, and on Sundays from four to eleven. At eleven the music is stopped, and at twelve the house is peremptorily closed. The evenings during the week are comparatively dull affairs, and male visitors are sometimes so scarce that the women are compelled to dance with each other, or sit in inglorious idleness. A scene of the wildest uproar and most uncontrolled mirth is exhibited on Sunday evenings. Every variety of national dance may then be seen--cachucha, reel, jig, contré-dance, waltz, and hornpipe have each their several admirers. Songs and shouts are heard in every conceivable dialect, and the room becomes literally "confusion worse confounded" until the hour arrives for closing.

Of the registered women living by themselves there is little to note. They are more industrious than those in brothels. Many of them have a fixed occupation, but resort to prostitution to increase their income. Money earned in this way is occasionally required for the common necessaries of life, but is more frequently spent in personal gratification, in the way of fine dresses, ornaments, etc., or is appropriated to support the extravagance of some lover, who repays the generosity by a little flattering attention, or an occasional escort to some dancing saloon in the suburbs. The visitors to these women are more select than those to the courtesans hitherto described.

In the lowest ranks of prostitution, the common "street-walkers," to be met at all times and places, under all circumstances and of all ages, we find the most prolific sources of infection. A certain, though very small remnant of decency, seconded by the invaluable watchfulness of the police, secures the visitor from disease among the inmates of registered houses, but the street-walker is under no such control. Young girls scarcely more than children, old women almost grandmothers, ply their frightful trade on the "walls" around the city, and in other obscure places, where a trifling present will purchase their caresses. Their principal customers are young boys and very old men, their practices being continued under the shades of evening until the arrival of the night-watch drives them to their wretched dens.

The Hamburg police are perfectly cognizant of these proceedings, and wage perpetual war against individuals, but find it altogether impossible to suppress the class, among whom are the habitual tenants of the jail and the House of Correction. No one can differ in opinion from Dr. Lippert, who says, "In this class of women the most pernicious results of prostitution are to be found."

Private or domestic prostitution, so widely extended in every great town, exists in less proportion in Hamburg than in other capital cities of the same extent. That disgraceful union in evil occasionally met with on the Continent, in which husband and wife mutually agree to follow their inclinations or lusts untrammeled by each other, is scarcely known. The kept woman is comparatively rare. The expense attendant upon such an appendage of luxury is a serious consideration, and none but the wealthy patrician or successful business man venture on the step. It is assumed, on very good authority, that there are not fifty "mistresses" in Hamburg. Those residing there are under no police control, as in a public point of view they commit no breach of law.

Under the second head of private prostitution we find those who, having legitimate employment, increase their earnings in this manner. We have alluded already to the same class of registered women, but the greater portion keep themselves aloof from police observation as long as possible. They are composed of needle-women, laundresses, hair-dressers, shop-girls, and others, but it must not be supposed that they represent the majority of women dependent upon those occupations. The contrary is the fact; for in Hamburg, as every where else, are to be found many bright examples of chastity in the midst of poverty; of patient, persevering industry and integrity in unfavorable circumstances. Those working women who are willing to accept the price of sin are known in the streets by a peculiar gait, by their searching and inviting glances, or their treacherous but winning smile, and also by frequently walking in the same neighborhood. They are seldom seen abroad during the day, but in the afternoon, about "'change hours," they begin to resort to the streets near the Bourse, encountering the men as they hurry to and from the centre of business. In the evening they promenade in the vicinity of the hotels and theatres, on the Jungfernstig, the new walls, etc., when night helps their incognito, and shrouds them in a little more mystery. They are fond of attending the theatres and dancing saloons on Sundays and holidays, like the Parisian grisette, in company with a lover, but the sum of their enjoyment is complete if they can participate in the annual Shrove Tuesday ball and masquerade at the Apollo Saal, the Elb Pavilion, or the theatre.

Another class of private prostitutes is known to the police by the term "Winklehuren" (hedge w----). These are of the lower class of female operatives. Servant-girls, from their proximity to the junior members of families, often spread disease in the household of their employers. Dr. Lippert records as a medical fact that examinations have frequently shown the domestics in the highest families to be literally saturated with venereal disease, and he states his opinion that six out of every ten servant-girls who are found in the streets at night are accessible to pecuniary temptation. This ratio is very large, but as it is a local matter with which he is presumed to be well acquainted, it would be out of place to attempt either to sustain or controvert it.

All these private prostitutes resort to the houses of accommodation (Absteigequartiere), which exist in spite of the constant watchfulness of the police. When they are hunted up and rooted out of one place, they reappear under another guise elsewhere; a removal being facilitated by the slender nature of their equipment, which seldom consists of more than furniture for one room. For "genteel" delinquents, they are placed where the accommodation is veiled under the French disguise of petits soupers, or some such flimsy artifice.

To the question, "What becomes of the prostitutes?" Hamburg offers no special reply. Under favorable circumstances, they abandon their calling, and become the wives of mechanics or small tradesmen; or they carry on some business for themselves, and strive to become reputable members of society; or they become companion to some man, and follow his fortunes, usually reverting to common prostitution. When their charms are entirely lost, and no hope remains of earning a living from their sale, they sometimes, but very rarely, become brothel-keepers; sometimes procuresses; and, more frequently, servants in the registered houses.

Some of the dancing saloons already mentioned have attained European celebrity. They stand in the same relation to common women as the exchange does to the mercantile community. Their female visitors are mostly prostitutes, a fact which deprives the scene of many fascinations existing in other cities. In the end of the last century there was no public place expressly designed for dancing, until, with the many equivocal blessings disseminated by the French Revolution, they also became an institution. The Hamburg saloons are conducted with order and quiet, and are generally closed about one o'clock in the morning. One of the most important, the Bacchus Hall, was burned down some few years since, and the authorities have, as yet, refused to grant a license for its re-erection.

As public places which in some degree facilitate prostitution, mention must be made of the common sleeping apartments locally called "deep cellars" (tiefen kellar). These are roomy vaults, many feet under ground, in which the poor find nightly shelter at very low prices. They are provided with beds and bedding. In the depth of poverty to which some of their customers have fallen, they can not afford to pay two schellings (about four cents) for the luxury of a bed, and these repose their weary limbs on some foul straw, or on the ground, at the charge of half a schelling. Some of these cellars are fifteen or twenty feet below the surface of the street, and it will not require a very vivid imagination to portray their horrors.

The beer and wine houses of Hamburg are tolerably free from prostitution; but a new class has lately sprung up, called "cellar-keeping" (kellerwirthschaff), and in these the guests are served by females in fancy costume, Swiss, Polish, or Circassian, as the case may be. Many of these contain private rooms for prostitution, and, although they are closely watched by the police, who sometimes ungallantly expel the fair foreigners and close the establishments, they still flourish, others being speedily opened elsewhere to fill up the gap.

From this general description of prostitutes, their habitations, and customs, we will proceed to a consideration of their condition as to health, and the extent and virulence of syphilis among them, still taking the pamphlet of Dr. Lippert for our guide.

It is generally imagined that the excessive action of the generative organs interferes with the power of procreation in common women. Dr. Lippert undertakes to controvert this opinion, with what success medical men whose professional experience has been among this class will be able to judge. He supports his views by general assertions rather than by specific facts, but refers, in corroboration, to well-known instances in which children have been born while the mothers were living in a state of open prostitution, as also to those cases where women who have abandoned the habit of promiscuous intercourse confine themselves to one man by marriage or cohabitation, and then become mothers. He attributes their sterility during prostitution to their wild and irregular life, their constant exposure to weather, etc., and argues that the powers of conception are suspended, but not destroyed thereby. He also introduces the fact that abortions are frequently produced in Hamburg by the common women themselves, or by some old crones who preside over their orgies, and are stated to have a long list of drugs applicable to this purpose, which they use in a reckless manner. The medical police are not unaware of these proceedings, but find them difficult to detect, as a woman will endeavor to avoid the stated examination by pleading excessive menstruation, or inventing some story she thinks likely to deceive, until all traces of the abortion are removed. The remarks of Dr. Lippert would lead to the belief that the excessive use of the female organs was more favorable to health than the disuse would be, a conclusion which most physicians will not be willing to admit. He adds, "Cancer of the womb occurred but once in my experience of eleven years at the General Infirmary, and cases of prolapsus uteri are very rare."

A disease incident to common women, Colica scortorum (W----'s Colic), happens in Hamburg as elsewhere, but is attributed to exposure to the weather more than any other cause. It consists of pain in the womb, extending across the abdomen round to the loins, and sometimes including the whole region of the stomach. It is frequently accompanied with gastric derangement, sickness, or diarrhoea.

The enlargement of the clitoris, so much insisted on by some writers, Lippert altogether doubts, except as a very exceptional case; nor does he admit any effect of prostitution on the rectum unless induced by unnatural intercourse. As a general result of his observations, he concludes that, "apart from syphilitic affections, the generative organs of a prostitute do not usually differ from those of a virtuous woman."

We find some returns of diseases not directly connected with prostitution; thus, cases of itch, which is now becoming rare, were in

1836 62 1837 76 1838 87 1839 98 1844 38 1845 22 1846 36

Of other general maladies, including fevers, inflammation of the lungs, liver, womb, etc., rheumatism, small-pox, piles, jaundice, gout, dropsy, and diarrhoea, the following are reported:

1837 62 1838 90 1839 100 1844 85 1845 76 1846 77

Convulsions are more rare than in the female sex in general; of hysteria there is scarcely a trace, and a few cases of epilepsy are ascribed to the use of ardent spirits.

Delirium tremens seldom occurs. The vigilance of the police, and the prompt committal to prison of every prostitute found drunk and disorderly, may account for this. The proportion of cases of delirium tremens was only about one in one thousand.

Mania sometimes shows itself. Remorse may produce this, as may a violent affection for some particular man.

Of the actual extent of venereal disease in Hamburg, or any other city, it is impossible to speak with certainty, but the fact that in the general hospital there it is of a very mild type is an argument in favor of medical inspection. Dr. Lippert says:

"The usual form is gonorrhoea, with its complications, bubo, inflammation of the scrotum, phymosis, paraphymosis, etc. Inflammation of the prostate gland, and stricture, are comparatively rare. Disease of the rectum is very rare, but there are examples."

"We have excoriations and irritations of the sexual organs. The simple chancre is common; the indurated chancre not unfrequent; the phagedænic chancre is seldom met with. In general, the sores have a mild character, and heal easily with simple treatment and regular topical applications. Herpes preputialis is extremely general. This is a group of small pustules, quickly healing up, but as quickly breaking out again, often in regular periodical recurrence. It is found especially on men who have suffered from gonorrhoea or chancre."

"Secondary syphilis, ulcers of the neck, eruptions, syphilitic inflammation of the eyes, tumors, etc. These prevail more at some times than at others; how far the genus epidemicum, the weather and season, the idiosyncrasy of the person, or the intensity of the infection operate, we have yet to learn."

"Tertiary syphilis is rare."

"In sea-ports it is often observable that the disease takes peculiar aspects, and what may be called exotic forms are occasionally encountered. With sailors, syphilis is frequently latent or only partially cured, and is intensified by their habits and diet. Sexual intercourse with them will produce it in an exaggerated character. This is not so much the case in Hamburg, owing to the constant and prompt medical attention; still, some distinction is observable between the venereal maladies of the city women and those of the St. Paul Suburb. Among the latter the cases of a malignant type generally occur."

The negro sailor is held in very bad repute by these women, and some keepers will not allow him to enter their houses, believing that infection from a colored man is of the worst kind, and almost incurable.

The medical returns for the year 1846 give the following tables relating to the women in the St. Paul Suburb:

"In January there were 186 women, of whom 15 were sick; the diseases were

Venereal disease 9 Itch 1 Colic 1 Gastric fever 1 Rheumatic fever 1 Catarrh of lungs 1 Calculus 1 -- Total 15

"In May, of 189 women, 21 were sick:

Venereal disease 9 Itch 8 Gastric fever 2 Inflammation of lungs 1 Spitting of blood 1 -- Total 21

"In August, of 181 women, 17 were sick:

Venereal disease 13 Colic 2 Itch 1 Rheumatism 1 -- Total 17

"In December, of 161 women, 18 were sick:

Venereal disease 6 Itch 6 Sprain 1 Colic 1 Gastric fever 2 Disorder of digestive organs 1 Cold on the chest 1 -- Total 18

This would give an average of about ten per cent. of the women of the suburb sick."

From the facts we have quoted, it is evident that the virulence of syphilitic affections among the registered women is unquestionably mitigated. "Tertiary syphilis is rare;" secondary syphilis but occasional, while primary forms have lost their malignity. "There is a marked aggravation of the disease during the summer months, when a considerable influx of strangers takes place. This was particularly observable after the great fire in 1842."

The mildness of the disease, and its easy control, can be ascribed to nothing but the weekly medical supervision. The women are visited at their own houses, and any reluctance or refusal renders them liable to punishment.

Contrasted with this state of affairs, we have the severity of syphilis among unregistered women, who conceal their disease as long as they can. Of those arrested, many are found to be diseased in an aggravated form. In the year 1845, of 138 unregistered women sent to prison, 43 had syphilis, or nearly one third of the whole. Parent-Duchatelet says this proportion is exceeded by the same class in Paris, where the infected amount to one half the illicit prostitutes.

The "Kurhaus" is a medical institution especially designed for bad characters who are arrested by the police, be they registered or unregistered. The General Infirmary has also a venereal ward. The police authorities contribute annually, from the amount raised by the impost on brothels and prostitutes, 5000 marks ($1500) to the funds of this infirmary. From the following facts this would seem an inadequate amount. In 1844 there were received and treated 580 females with syphilis; the total residence amounting to 30.387 days, or a pro rata average of 53-1/2 days each, the stipend allowed for which service would be about four and a half cents per day.

The number of female cases of syphilis received into the same institution in 1843 was,

Registered women 480 Unregistered women 74 --- Total 554

and in 1845,

Registered women 521 Unregistered women 71 --- Total 592

The state of the male venereal patients proves the same general amelioration in the character of the disease. The cases, however, are worse than among the registered women, which must be ascribed to the dislike of men to enter the hospital until such a course becomes unavoidable. The numbers received were, in

1843 355 1844 335 1845 316

Some returns are given by Dr. Lippert of the amount of sickness in the garrison; but he has not stated the number of soldiers, so no comparison can be drawn from his information. The figures are as follows:

1843, Gonorrhoea 90 Chancre 67 Secondary syphilis 13--170 1844, Gonorrhoea 58 Ulcers 63--121 1845, Gonorrhoea 89 Ulcers 79--168

The treatment of syphilis adopted in the Hamburg hospital was introduced by Dr. Fricke, one of the first to apply the non-mercurial system. Ricord's practice is also followed, and Hydropathy has been tried. It would be out of place to enter into any arguments here as to the relative merits of these systems.

The mortal diseases of the Hamburg prostitutes are incidental to their course of life. Exposure to the weather, alternate extremes of want and luxury, night-watching and constant excitement, induce consumption, inflammation of the lungs, dropsy, internal and abdominal complaints; gastric, rheumatic, or nervous fevers; and these, or chronic diseases resulting from renewed venereal infection, lead to the

"Last scene of all, That ends this strange, eventful history."

Before dismissing this subject, we will give a sketch of the

HAMBURG MAGDALEN HOSPITAL.

This institution was founded in 1821 through the exertions of the Burgomaster Abendroth and others, and was constructed on the model of a similar asylum in London. The object is to reclaim women from vice by means that can be applied only in a place expressly dedicated to the purpose.

The number of inmates is small; only twelve can be received. The business of the asylum is conducted by a committee, including two ministers, a physician, three female overseers, and a matron. The overseers are respectable married women or widows, who voluntarily undertake the duties of a sub-committee. They assume the direction of the household affairs alternately for a month each. They meet frequently at the house, assist in Divine service, and take care of the girls who are discharged. These are provided with situations or placed in business, and require to be upheld and maintained in their new character.

The chaplain assists the ladies' committee in their duties, but directs his energies particularly to the religious instruction of the inmates. Frequent meetings for prayer are held, and every half year the sacrament is administered to such as he deems duly prepared to receive it, and who have a competent knowledge of its importance and efficacy.

To be qualified for admission, the applicant must be young, and must have a desire to amend. The limited room will not allow the reception of old or worn-out women, who would flock there in crowds to obtain a shelter under which they could die in peace. When a woman's application is granted, she must go through a novitiate of four or eight weeks. During this time she works and eats with the other inmates, but sleeps alone, and is closely watched by a member of the committee. When her novitiate expires and she is fully received, she is requested to give an explicit account of her life, every particular of which is recorded. Her name is not disclosed to her companions, but she, as are all the others, is known only by a Christian name.

The women are employed in all kinds of housework, needlework, or, when practicable, in any manner which will accustom them to continued physical exertion. Their previous life having made indolence almost "second nature," this course is adopted to inculcate the necessity of industry. A strict account of the produce of their labor is kept, and a portion is set apart as a fund for their benefit.

The time of their stay is usually about two years. When they leave they give the chaplain a written promise of good conduct, and receive from him a Bible and a Prayer-book, and the sum of money accumulated for them. The results of this benevolent attempt are sufficient to encourage the laborers in the good work, and we can not but think that their endeavors must be productive of great good, based as they are upon the sound principle of receiving but a few women, and treating them as members of one family, in opposition to the general theory of such institutions, whose managers attempt to crowd in as large a number as a large building will contain, and, in the endeavor to generalize rules for reformation, lose the valuable opportunities for noticing and acting upon individual traits of character.

The particulars of the subsequent life of twenty women are given as follows:

Continued faithful to their promises 6 Removed from where they were placed 10 Relapsed into vice, only 1 Died 1 Unknown 2 -- Total 20

XVII. PRUSSIA

Patriarchal Government.--Ecclesiastical Legislation.--Trade Guilds.-- Enactments in 1700.--Inquiry in 1717.--Enactment in 1792.--Police Order, 1795.--Census.--Increase of illicit Prostitution.--Syphilis.-- Census of 1808.--Ministerial Rescript and Police Report, 1809.-- Tolerated Brothels closed.--Re-enactment of the Code of 1792.-- Ministerial Rescript of 1839.--Removal of Brothels.--Petitions.-- Ministerial Reply.--Police Report, 1844.--Brothels closed by royal Command.--Police Embarrassment, and Correspondence with Halle and Cologne.--Local Opinions.--Public Life in Berlin.--Dancing Saloons.-- Drinking Houses.--Immorality.--Increase of Syphilis.--Statistics.-- Illegitimacy.--Royal Edict of 1851.--Recent Regulations.

Among the warlike Germans in the days of Herminius, sexual intercourse was looked upon as enervating to youth, and discreditable or even disgraceful to men until their valor had been proved by deeds of arms, and their experience authorized them to assume the duties of husbands and fathers.

In the Middle Ages, when the legislative and executive functions were vested in one individual, and the rights and obligations of the governing power were of a paternal or patriarchal character, we find much of their law-giving directed to the preservation of morality, the repression of extravagance, and the minute regulation of public economy. In their edicts against prostitution this paternal spirit was visible, in conjunction with what may be considered a due regard to the rights and interests of the law-givers, the punishments being professedly directed against a breach of morality or a public scandal, because it was a disgrace to families, and a peril to husbands and fathers, rather than a vice in itself. The provisions tacitly sanctioned its existence; and while they severely punished any invasion of domestic peace or infraction of marital rights, it seems to be conceded that, when no such relationships were involved, illicit intercourse was regarded as an allowable solace or an actual necessity for the physical requirements of unmarried men.

We learn from the German historian Fiducin ("Diplomatischen Beitrage zur Geschichte der Stadt Berlin"), that the German laws rendered it obligatory on every honorable man to espouse a virtuous maiden, and the term "hurenkind" (illegitimate child) was the bitterest form of reproach. The early statutes were very severe in the punishment of immodest females, and some carried this principle so far as to require that a woman who led an unchaste life in her father's house should be burned at the stake. The ecclesiastical legislation moderated this severity, and crimes against morality became sins which were expiated by public penance. The citizens of Berlin became convinced that the penances of the Church were not sufficiently potent to counteract the evil, the morals of the clergy themselves being frequently impeached, and secular government was suggested in place of ecclesiastical. This seemed especially necessary, because the canon law, which ordained the celibacy of the priesthood, pronounced it to be a work of mercy to marry an erring woman, in opposition to the Berlin sheriff law (schoffen recht) declaring the children of such marriages illegitimate; and persons were not wanting who held the opinion that the work of mercy recommended by the Church was at times advocated by the clergy as a means of covering their own frailties.

The same writer records instances as late as the close of the sixteenth century in which adultery was punished by death, the offenders in each case being married persons. He also cites the records of the fourteenth century to show that the same punishment was inflicted on those who acted as procurers or procuresses, wherever family honor was encroached on.

In the sixteenth century the law required that an immodest woman belonging to any reputable family should be publicly shorn of her hair, and condemned to wear a linen veil; nor was any distinction made between unmarried women and widows against whom the offense was proved.

About the same period the trade guilds enacted stringent laws prohibiting the admission of improper characters to their public festivals, and restraining their members from marrying women of that class. To attain this end, any master tradesman who designed to marry was compelled to introduce his intended bride at a meeting of the company, that all might be convinced of her discreet character and conduct, and any who married without observing this requirement were expelled the association. The guilds inflicted the same penalties on any of their members who had intercourse with improper characters, or who seduced a virtuous woman and subsequently married her.

A certain recognition of the existence of public women may be traced throughout these regulations, which appear to have admitted the necessity from regard to the rigorously enforced sanctity of the domestic circle, but, at the same time, endeavored to prevent the increase of immorality by attaching odium to its followers.

Again, turning to the pages of Fiducin, we find that, "in all the great towns of the German Empire, the public protection of women of pleasure (lust dirnen) seems to have been a regular thing," in proof of which he says, "Did a creditor, in taking proceedings against his debtor, find it necessary to put up at an inn, one of the allowed items of his expenditure was a reasonable sum for the company of a woman during his stay (frauen geld)." This was a question of state etiquette in Berlin in 1410, a sum having been officially expended in that year to retain some handsome women to grace a public festival and banquet given to a distinguished guest, Diedrich V. Quitzow, whose good-will the citizens desired to cultivate.

During this period of toleration the expediency of controlling public women was unquestioned; but the first Berlin enactment of material importance to this investigation bears date in 1700, and is remarkable as clearly enunciating the principles which have been adhered to, with only a short interval, ever since. The first section declares, "By law this traffic is decidedly not permitted (erlaubt), but simply tolerated (geduldet) as a necessary evil."

Sections 2, 3, and 4 require the keeper of any house of prostitution to give notice to the commissary of the quarter when any of his women leave him, or when he receives a new one, and restrain him from keeping more women than are specified in his contract.

Sections 5 to 9 provide that a surgeon shall visit every woman once a fortnight, "for the purpose of protecting the health of revelers (schwarmer), as well as that of the women themselves;" that every woman shall pay him two groschen for each visit; and that, upon observing the slightest signs of disease, the surgeon shall require the housekeeper to detain the woman in her room. If the keeper neglect this order, he is made responsible for the entire costs of the illness which any visitor could prove was contracted from one of his women. If the surgeon finds the woman already so far infected that she can not be cured by cleanliness and retirement alone, he is authorized to order her removal to the Charité, "where she will be taken care of in the pavilion free of charge."

Sections 10 and 11 provide that the debts of a woman must be paid before she can remove from one house of prostitution to another, or before she can leave one house to commence another on her own account.

Section 12 enjoins that any woman who desires to quit her mode of life altogether shall be entirely discharged from any debts to the housekeeper.

The last section requires every housekeeper who has music to pay six groschen a year for the permit to his musicians, the money to be applied to the benefit of the poor-house.

The "toleration but not authorization" clause is the noticeable feature in these regulations, and indicates the policy which was then generally adopted throughout the kingdom.

In reference to the period succeeding the issue of these rules, which continued in force till 1792, we find some information in the pages of Fiducin. Thus, in 1717, an inquiry proved that the inmates of brothels, and also the secret prostitutes, were mostly the children of soldiers, who "had been brought to vice as a trade, either from the want of a proper bringing up or of a skillful handicraft."... All measures for the extermination of the evil having been found ineffectual, "they were obliged to adopt the system of a larger toleration of common brothels, to be strictly watched over by the police, as a necessary outlet for the tendency to immorality." The number of houses of ill fame increased in proportion to the population, the influx of strangers, and the additions to the garrison made under Frederick II.; and still more so after the close of the seven years' war. In the year 1780, there were one hundred such houses in Berlin, each containing eight or nine women. They were divided into three classes; the lowest were those in which the women dressed in plain clothes, and were frequented mostly by Hamburg or Amsterdam mariners; the second class of women paraded themselves with painted faces, haunted the more retired corners of the town, had little attractive about their persons or dress, and were principally visited by mechanics and laborers; the third, and apparently the most select of the kind, was a description of coffee-house, frequented by females, who were designated "Mamselles:" these did not live in the houses, but used them merely as a convenient rendezvous.

In 1792 a new code of regulations appeared, the bulk of which continued in force in Berlin and other towns for many years. The rules of 1700 were too vague, made no provision for a variety of cases likely to arise, and were silent as to the question of private prostitution. Many inconveniences had arisen from these omissions, and, in consequence, a memorial was addressed to the government by the police director, Von Eisenhardt, containing suggestions for amendments to the law.

The preamble of the royal reply to this application acknowledges the attention of the police to the matter with much satisfaction; admits prostitution (hurenanstalten) to be "a necessary evil in a great city where many men are not in a position to marry, although of an age when the sexual instincts are at the highest, in order thereby to avoid greater disorders which are not to be restrained by any law or authority, and which take their rise from an inextinguishable natural impulse;" but expressly reiterates that it is "only to be tolerated (zu dulden);" and that it can not, "without impropriety and consequences injurious to morality, be established by the public laws, which do not contain any sanction whatever to common prostitution."

The sections following this preamble provide that any one who seduces a woman, or induces her to carry on a venal traffic with her person, shall be liable to one year's imprisonment in the House of Correction, and on repetition of the offense, besides doubling the punishment, shall be whipped and driven from the country; declare any man or woman who communicates the venereal disease liable for the expenses of the cure and incidental damages (sonstigen interesse), together with imprisonment for three months, commutable by paying a fine of one hundred dollars; prohibit taking young women from the country into houses of prostitution by any device against their will, and authorize the punishment of any man who willfully infects a common woman.

In reference to the special directions touching brothels and prostitutes, the document provides, "as a leading point, that every thing which exceeds the mere gratification of the natural passions, and tends to the advancement of debauchery, or the misuse of our toleration of a necessary evil, must be prevented;" and accordingly the women are prohibited from increasing their attractions "by painting or distinguishing attire," and also from soliciting passengers in the public streets, or at the doors or windows of their houses, "as this is not only in contravention to public morals, but especially perilous to male youth; and such means of increasing the gains of people seeking their livelihood in this manner is not to be tolerated." For similar reasons, the keepers of houses were restrained from offering wines or other strong drinks to their visitors, although it is admitted "they can not be prevented from providing refreshments," yet stimulants are forbidden, "because they are great inducements to debauchery, whereby other excesses may be caused."

The orders farther provide that no woman shall become a resident in a house of prostitution without previously appearing before the police, and obtaining permission from them; and the police are directed not to allow this permission to any female under age, unless they are satisfied that she has previously made a trade of prostitution. The section containing this stipulation is prefaced by a statement that "keepers of these houses seek especially to obtain blooming young girls, who can not be procured without infamous seduction, calculated to lead to debauchery."

In reference to precautions against infection, it provides that the prostitutes and keepers of houses shall be instructed by some competent surgeon in the signs of venereal diseases, so that they may detect it in their visitors or themselves; also that any man communicating infection to a prostitute may be sentenced to make ample compensation if the woman can identify him; and farther, that the punishment inflicted upon girls infecting their visitors shall also be inflicted on the housekeepers, "as, although they may be innocent, their being included in the punishment for an incident of their trade is for the general weal." All fines received were to accrue to the medical institutions provided for the cure of syphilis.

Again, it was deemed that "the venereal disease was much extended by common street-walkers," and no women but such as resided in the known houses, where medical visits of inspection were constantly paid, were to be tolerated, and the night-watch were instructed to arrest those common women who were in the habit of plying their trade in the streets after dark--a portion of the penalty exacted being awarded to the officers who made such arrests, "to encourage their zeal." But they were strictly cautioned against annoying innocent persons, "inasmuch as blunders in such matters create ill impressions against the authorities, and because the honor and happiness of the person might be irretrievably injured, so that it would be better to pass over a guilty person here and there, than to inculpate a single innocent one." The royal rescript concludes by directing that a strict surveillance be kept over the females of the garrison, many of whom are stated, in very plain language, to be of improper character.

These directions were subsequently embodied in the general statute, or law of the land (landrecht), and upon that the police regulations which we quote hereafter were based.

The statute formally declares procurers and procuresses liable to imprisonment for from six months to three years in the House of Correction, with "a welcome and farewell;" Anglice, a sound whipping when admitted, and another when discharged. In the cases of parents or guardians who may aid in or connive at the prostitution of their children or wards, the term of imprisonment is doubled, and made more severe. It requires all common women to reside in the tolerated houses "under the eye of the state," which houses are only to be permitted in populous cities, and "not elsewhere than in retired and back streets therein, the consent of the police authorities having been first obtained." And in any case where a house of prostitution was established without this consent, or in defiance of the public orders, the keeper was to be liable to one or two years' imprisonment. The police are strictly commanded to keep all tolerated houses under strict and constant surveillance; to make frequent visits in company with medical men, so as to check the progress of venereal disease; to prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors therein; to see that no woman was introduced without the knowledge and permission of the authorities, under a fine of fifty thalers, for each offense; and, more especially, that no innocent female was, by force or deceit, compelled or induced to live therein; which latter offense imposes "a public exhibition," in the stocks or pillory, we presume, and from six to ten years' imprisonment, with "welcome and farewell," on the keeper, who was not to be allowed to keep such a house again under any circumstances.

The police are farther enjoined to see that the mistress of the house informs the authorities of the pregnancy of any woman residing in the house as soon as she is aware of it herself, but if it is concealed she (the mistress) is liable to imprisonment, especially if a secret birth takes place. The mistress is required to take charge of any woman who becomes pregnant, if there is no public institution to which she can be removed, and is at liberty to seek compensation from the father of the child, or, if he can not be found, she has a claim upon the mother. The child must be removed from the house as soon as it is weaned, and is to be cared for at the public cost if the parents have not means to do so.

If the keeper of the house, or the inmates themselves, conceal any venereal infection from the knowledge of the police, they render themselves liable to imprisonment from three months to a year, with "welcome and farewell."

If thefts, assaults, or other offenses occur in such houses, the keeper is, in all cases, liable to the injured party, who can not in any other way obtain his indemnity, and is also suspected of complicity in the offense so long as the contrary can not be substantiated; and if it is proved that he did not exert all his power to prevent such occurrences, his neglect is to be punished by fine or imprisonment.

No woman desirous of leaving a tolerated house to change her mode of life, and support herself honestly, can be retained against her inclination, and no difficulties may be thrown in the way of her doing so; nor will the master be allowed to force her to remain, even though she may be in his debt, under the penalty of the loss of his permission from the police.

Prostitutes who do not conform to the regulations and place themselves under supervision, are to be arrested and imprisoned for three months, and, when their term of imprisonment has expired, are to be sent to the "work-houses," and detained there until they have inclination and opportunity for honorable employment. Any females, not being inmates of the tolerated houses, who had intercourse while suffering from disease, and thereby infected men, are declared liable to an imprisonment for three months.

This comprehensive legal enactment left many matters of detail to the discretion of the police, and accordingly they issued their rules. The opposition these subsequently encountered makes them important in the history of Prostitution in Berlin, and although they are in many points a mere repetition of the terms of the statute, we give them in extenso. They are entitled,

"PROVISIONS AGAINST THE MISLEADING OF YOUNG WOMEN INTO BROTHELS, AND FOR PREVENTION OF THE SPREAD OF VENEREAL DISEASE.

"Preamble. It has been brought to notice that simple young girls, especially from the smaller towns, under the craftiest pretensions to place them in good situations, have been brought to Berlin, and, without their knowledge of the fact, taken to brothels, and therein, against their will, led astray to their ruin, and to the life of a common prostitute.

"At the same time, it is matter of remark that common prostitutes, after they have been diseased, continue their practices as long as the state of their sickness permits, and thereby farther infection is extraordinarily increased and extended.

"With the express view of meeting such infamous seductions, and the highly injurious results of the before-mentioned communication of venereal disease, the following directions are brought to the cognizance and perfect information of the keepers of houses of prostitution, and of the females who make a trade of their persons.

"1. No one can set on foot a brothel, or keep women for the purposes of prostitution, without having communicated previously with the Police Directory on the subject, and obtained their permission in writing. Whoso acts contrary to this shall, together with absolute withdrawal of his license, be liable to one or two years in the House of Correction.

"2. Every brothel-keeper must, before taking a girl into his service, produce her before the Police Directory, and must not conclude any contract with her until the Police Director has given him written leave to do so; whereupon, forthwith the conditions upon which the keeper and said woman have agreed are to be registered with the police, and an abstract thereof shall be given to each party, for which eight groschen are to be paid as fees. The before-mentioned brothel-keepers, to whom the Police Director's toleration is extended, must, at his order, produce the common prostitutes, and submit the same to a similar license, and the conditions must be drawn up for them in the before-mentioned manner. If a keeper omits the same, and is accused of having any woman for common use in his house for forty-eight hours without such notice, he shall pay a fine of fifty thalers, and, upon the third offense, in addition to the said fine, his trade shall be stopped, and he shall not carry on the same any more. Further, it shall be no excuse that the person in question was not there for the purpose of prostitution, inasmuch as he is enjoined to point out every female whom he receives into his house, without exception, and neglect of this shall be taken as a proof of contravention. Under penalty of the same punishment, he must give a similar notice if a common woman comes to him from another house.

"3. Females under age, who have not, before the publication of these ordinances, notoriously abandoned themselves to common prostitution, are not to be received by any brothel-keeper, and when he produces such persons before the Police Directory the permit shall not be allowed. If he acts contrary to this prohibition, he shall be punished with two years' labor in jail.

"4. The departure from a brothel of any woman who desires to change her mode of life, and to subsist in a respectable manner, is not to be checked or prevented. Even on account of sureties entered into or debts incurred, the keeper is not to retain any such against her will, at the risk of losing his permit, and the police are charged to give every assistance. If, however, any such person desire only to remove to another house of prostitution, this can not be done without the consent of her former keeper, until after three months' notice given, when it will be permitted upon proof of brutal treatment by the keeper, or other good and reasonable grounds shown to the police. No woman who seeks to quit a brothel for the purpose of carrying on prostitution for pay on her own account will be permitted to do so; and if any person, having, on pretense of an honest calling, quitted a house of prostitution, shall be adjudged guilty of prostitution on her own account, she shall have four weeks at the House of Correction, with a welcome and farewell. And whereas it is known that many brothel-keepers, who treat their girls with an unbearable harshness, keep so strict a watch upon them that they can not succeed in bringing their complaints before the authorities, information shall from time to time, ex-officio, and without the presence of the keeper, be taken, whether the girls have any well-founded complaints to bring forward against the said keeper.

"5. The common prostitutes in the brothels are strictly prohibited from enticing or inviting passengers in the streets, with looks or signs from the houses or windows, and the keepers are on no account to permit the same. Diligent regard to this is to be had by the police, and those who act contrary will be punished, the first time with three days, and, on a repetition of the offense, with a week's solitary confinement, one half of the time on bread and water. The keeper who is shown to have been party to the same will suffer double punishment.

"6. In these houses the keepers shall not supply visitors with wine, brandy, liquor, punch, or other strong drinks, or with food, but only with tea, coffee, chocolate, beer, or similar beverages; further, it is not permitted for the visitors to bring in drink or food. For every case of contravention the keeper shall pay five thalers, or a week's detention; on repetition, he shall be punished more severely; if this will not suffice, the permit shall be withdrawn from the house. No brothel-keeper shall allow any guest to remain after twelve o'clock at night, nor allow any one to enter after that hour. Whoso acts contrary shall, for the first offense, pay ten thalers; on repetition, the fine is doubled; for the third time, the keeper shall lose his permit.

"7. Should thefts, assaults, or other offenses take place in such houses, the keeper is in all cases liable to the injured party if he can not get his redress elsewhere. Further, the said keeper is suspected of complicity in the offense so long as the contrary is not proved, and if it appear that he did not use all possible means for the prevention of such offense, he shall be punished by fine or in person.

"8. In case any innocent female shall, by fraud or violence, be brought into any brothel, the keeper and those who are accomplices in such infamous offense shall undergo public exhibition, and four to ten years' House of Correction, with welcome and farewell. Besides this, the permit will be withdrawn. It shall be no excuse for him to allege that he neither knew nor assisted the said seduction, inasmuch as he had no right to receive any female into his house without first giving notice thereof to the Police Directory, and receiving from them, after inquiry into the circumstances, permission to do so.

"9. In like manner, a brothel-keeper may not, under penalty of twelve months' imprisonment, give any one (whatever his rank may be) facility to carry on criminal intercourse with any woman who has been brought into his house; and it is absolutely forbidden for any person to bring a female to such house, and there to have any private communication with her, which shall be only with the regular women of the place, inasmuch as by section 2 no keeper is permitted to receive any woman as servant-maid, or under any pretense whatever, among his inmates, without previous notice to the police, and their assent to the same.

"10. In order to combat the frequent infection of common prostitutes, and, if possible, prevent them from severe attacks of venereal disease, or its farther extension, and at the same time not only to restrain the rapid progress of this highly pernicious malady, but, so far as possible, entirely to root it out, the brothel-keepers and the women kept by them are bound to give their most observant attention thereto, both for their own advantage, and also for the diminution of their own misfortunes and severe punishment. To this end, the brothel-keepers are not to oppose the appointed surgeons in each quarter, so often as the same make their visits to the women at their houses; and every woman shall be subject to these visits. For the information of every brothel-keeper, and of the prostitutes kept by him, a copy of printed directions, prepared by competent authority, shall be given to the brothel-keeper, whereby the signs of actual infection and of the commencement of venereal disease may be known, and they shall be clearly instructed by the duly appointed surgeon how to form an opinion upon their own state of health, and be able to explain the same on his visits, so that thereby the detection of venereal disease at any time may be facilitated. Furthermore, upon perceiving the symptoms whereby venereal disease is known in a man, they should abstain from carnal intercourse with him.

"11. Should a woman suspect that she is infected, she must permit no one to have connection with her, but shall mention the same as well to her keeper as to the surgeon of the district, upon which steps shall forthwith be taken for her cure. If she neglect this she shall be punished with detention, three months for the first time, on repetition of the offense with six months in the House of Correction, with welcome and farewell. If the said woman, through concealment of her venereal malady, has given occasion to a wider spread thereof, she shall the first time be liable to twelve months in the House of Correction, with welcome and farewell. In case the brothel-keeper shall know of the diseased condition of such woman, and shall not hinder her from the exercise of her trade, or shall keep her therein, he shall be liable to the same punishment, and, moreover, shall be liable to the costs and charges of cure and attendance of the man so infected by such woman, if he requires it, or if he can not pay such expenses. For this reimbursement a brothel-keeper shall be held liable even if he did not know the diseased condition of a woman kept in his house, inasmuch as such obligation shall, for the public weal, be taken to be a risk and burden incident to the trade permitted to be carried on by him.

"12. On the other hand, a prostitute can prosecute any one for having infected her by means of connection, and such person shall, upon the complaint and showing of her and the brothel-keeper, bear the expense of cure and maintenance for so a long time as, pursuant to the orders of the authorities of the Charité, the woman may have to remain in the Charité; and further, shall be liable to a fine of fifty thalers, or three months' imprisonment in the House of Correction.

"13. If any woman, before declaring her venereal disease, shall have concealed it so long that, by opinion of competent persons, she must have known the same for a considerable length of time, she shall, whether she shall or shall not have infected other persons, be liable to the same punishment as if she had infected others.

"14. Whereas, it has been the practice for the women to conceal their venereal diseases; and whereas, they have intrusted themselves to incompetent persons for cure; and whereas, the brothel-keepers are bound to refund to the Charité the expenses of the cure and attendance, which sometimes fall ruinously heavy upon them: it is hereby directed, for the removal of this difficulty, that a healing fund (heilings casse) shall be established, by means whereof the keepers and their women, on the occurrence of disease, may be relieved of the heavy expenses to which they are put, and may be assured against the destruction of their bodies and health, which ensue from the growth of this terrible disease. To this fund every brothel-keeper shall contribute a monthly sum of six groschen (twelve cents) for each woman that he keeps, and shall give in a statement of the name and place of birth of such woman; for which, at the commencement of the following month, he shall receive an acknowledgment, and he shall recover such sum from every woman on whose account he shall have paid the same. Nevertheless, any brothel-keeper who shall have allowed more than one of these monthly payments to run into arrear with the women, shall not, on that account, be able to prevent her leaving him, if, as before ordered, she desires to change her way of life. If a woman goes from one brothel to another without the six groschen having been paid for her, the brothel-keeper to whom she goes must pay this amount in due time for her. This shall happen notwithstanding that she is bound to give notice of her removal to the police commissary of the quarter. The monthly payment of this tax is to be made to the duly appointed medical officer of the quarter, who shall pay over the whole amount of the same to the collector of the healing fund, who shall give him for the same a receipt under his own hand; whereupon the comptroller shall compare the list of the same with the list of the brothel-keepers and women in the several districts, and shall compel defaulters to pay the outstanding tax.

"15. A perfect account is to be kept of this healing fund, and out of the same every diseased woman shall be taken to the Charité, and, without farther charges to herself or keeper, shall be maintained and thoroughly cured without being sent, as formerly directed, to the work-house. Farther, the woman shall not intrust herself either to the visiting surgeon or to any other person for cure, but such shall take place only in the Charité.

"16. No brothel shall be tolerated in the respectably inhabited and frequented streets and squares of the city, but they shall be established at a moderate distance from the same, so that the police can watch them and speedily correct any disorder; otherwise only in the smaller streets and thoroughfares.

"17. The matters that are ordered and prescribed in the foregoing articles to the brothel-keepers, are also to be observed by female brothel-keepers under like penalties.

"18. Single women living by themselves for purposes of prostitution must give in their notices to the Police Directory in the same manner as the women in the brothels; must also undergo examination by the medical officers of the quarter in which they reside; must pay their six groschen a month to the healing fund, and be subject to all the directions applicable to brothel-keepers and their hired women, and to the like punishments in case of offending against the directions.

"19. Procurers and procuresses, who make it their business to provide opportunities in their houses for criminal intercourse of men and women (whatever their condition), shall be strictly watched, and, upon conviction, shall be liable to three months' detention in the House of Correction.

"20. The street-walkers roaming the streets after dark are not to be tolerated, but where they can be met with are to be taken into custody, and after being cured, if they are affected with venereal disease, shall be sent from six to twelve months to the House of Correction.

"21. Whoever can not pay the fines shall receive a corresponding corporal (am leibe) punishment.

"22. Informers shall receive half the fines paid in, and the remaining fines shall be collected and distributed as the reward of those who make discovery and information of any contraventions of these regulations.

"23. In those cases mentioned in section 3, wherein, together with a breach of these regulations, a crime against the laws of the state is committed, the criminal department of the High Court will take cognizance of it, and the remedies proceed from them to the criminal deputation of the Chamber of Justice.

"24. In order that no one who, whether as keeper or girl, makes a trade of prostitution, shall be in a position to excuse themselves on account of their ignorance of this code of regulations, a copy of them shall be given to every person at the time of registration, for which six groschen shall be paid, and carried to the reward fund for informers."

The royal rescript, the statute, and the police ordinance of 1792 are founded upon the principle that prostitution is a necessary evil, which, if unregulated, tends to demoralize all society, and inflict physical suffering on its votaries; but, as it can never be suppressed, it is tolerated in order that those who practice it may be brought under supervision and control. In furtherance of this idea, another police order was promulgated in 1795, prohibiting music and dancing at the tolerated houses, and limiting the resort of prostitutes to public places of amusement. The immediate effect of this measure was to close several coffee-houses served by women (mädchen tabagieen). At the same time, the women were classified into first, second, and third classes, and the monthly tax graduated to one thaler (sixty-eight cents), two thirds of a thaler, and one third of a thaler, which was appropriated to the healing fund, as directed by the regulations of 1792. This impost was doubled at a subsequent period in consequence of public calamities.

To enforce the police directions and collect the tax, a census of the public prostitutes in Berlin was taken in June, 1792, when they amounted to 311. The toleration was withdrawn from some of these for various reasons, and the numbers were, in

July 269 August 268 September 249 October (a period of fairs and other assemblages) 258 And the average finally settled at about 260

in a population of 150,000.

In the exercise of the discretionary power vested in the police of Berlin, as in most other cities of Continental Europe, they found it necessary to extend their toleration so as to include in their supervision those private prostitutes who could not be permitted to reside in the tolerated houses because they had not reached the age prescribed by law, which in Prussia fixes majority at twenty-four years; and also another class who were secretly visited at private lodgings by those wealthy libertines whose pride would not allow them to enter a common brothel, and whose amours consequently exposed them to liabilities which the spirit of the law justified the police in encountering. The persons (mostly widows) with whom the private prostitutes resided were made answerable to the police, and subjected to the same rules as the tolerated houses.

Under the new scale of impost there were, in 1796,

6 brothels of the 1st class, with inmates 16 8 " " 2d " " 33 40 " " 3d " " 141 ---190

Private prostitutes of the 1st class 39 " " " 2d " 28 --- 67 Total 257

About this period, an epoch of general political movement, men of the highest rank in Prussia began to doubt the propriety of tolerating prostitution, and orders were given, in opposition to the remonstrances of the police, to take measures which would effectually compel brothel-keepers to close their houses. This appears to have been the first positive attempt at absolute repression, and the police intimated that illicit prostitution would be its inevitable result. In reply, they were directed that, if their prediction should be verified, they must pursue the vice more closely. In 1800 the number of registered women had decreased to 246, but it was notorious that illicit prostitution had increased largely. This fact was not denied by the police. They ascribed it, very justly, to the restrictions imposed on the tolerated houses, which were now actually less than ever, at a time when the resident population of Berlin was twenty thousand more than at the last computation, exclusive of a large influx of troops and foreigners. They were not supported in their views, but were ordered, on the ground of extensive disease among the soldiery, to "crush out" the illicit prostitution, and this order they vainly endeavored to accomplish. An inquiry into the comparative state of the venereal disease was directed at the same time, and the state physician reported that there was less disease among registered than illicit prostitutes, and inferred that a diminution of tolerated, but strictly guarded regular brothels, was not for the public benefit.

The year 1808, when the French army overran Europe, was a period of general war and trouble; the police regulations fell into abeyance, and prostitution became comparatively free and uncontrolled. The French military commanders in Berlin made complaints to the police of the lawless state of the town, particularly specifying some of the brothels, which had become nests of gamblers, wherein robbery, duels, suicides, and other offenses were of frequent occurrence. The results of an inspection were as follows:

50 brothels containing women 230 Private prostitutes 203--433 In addition to this, there were of notorious illicit prostitutes known to the police (60 of whom were stated to have disease in its worst forms) 400 And also reasonably suspected of prostitution 67 --- Making an aggregate known to the authorities of 900

There were also seventy dance-houses, which were known as places of accommodation. The population at this time was about 150,000. The figures thus given, from an official enumeration, are the best practical commentary upon the effects of the abandonment of a tried system of surveillance.

The state of affairs disclosed by this inquiry called forth a ministerial rescript, dated May 8, 1809, which we copy:

"The brothel-houses are, by reason of the great influence they have on morality and health, a very important branch of police administration. We should desire to be satisfied whether it is more desirable to suppress or tolerate them. In any case, it is, however, improper and injurious to license them, and thus to give them a certain sanction; still less can they be tolerated in public neighborhoods of a city. It is rather to be desired that, upon every convenient and properly occurring opportunity, they should be stamped with the well-merited brand of the deepest depravity and infamy. We have therefore commanded the Police Directory to effect the removal of all such houses into quiet, retired streets of the suburbs and liberties, and we direct you to take into consideration whether a like regulation can not be accomplished here in the city of Berlin; whereupon you will make to us a well-considered report. You are also to take into consideration what can be done to brand such places with the deepest depravity and infamy."

In obedience to this order, which had doubtless emanated direct from royalty itself, Herr Von Gruner, the head of the Berlin police, communicated a report containing his conclusions, as follows:

"1. That closing, or even limiting the brothels, would lead to very general ill health."

"2. That, in consequence of the exertions of the police, illicit prostitution had been diminished very much, and even the number of the registered women had decreased."

"3. That in 1809 there were in Berlin

1 first class brothel containing women 6 20 second " " " " 75 22 third " " " " 117--198 Private prostitutes 113 --- Total registered 311

That this number might seem larger than before, but the passage of troops and the large garrison of Berlin had led to the increase, and evidently a great increase of secret prostitution and its results would have been experienced in place of the registered prostitution, had not an extension of this same registered prostitution been tolerated."

"4. That particular streets in which brothels were to be found were certainly no longer suitable places on account of the greater traffic which they had gained, and these houses might, on that account, be removed to back streets, including the Königsmauer, etc."

"5. That he did not know in what manner 'the brand of depravity and infamy' could be impressed on the trade of prostitution, except by directing a particular costume, differing from the clothing of respectable women."

In continuation of this report, the commissary states his opinion "that it would be dangerous to public order to keep the common houses in narrow limits, as it would bring together all the idle people, which might lead to a disturbance; that a special costume for the women would be of no use at home, and out of doors it would only give occasion for a public scandal without effecting the purpose of their reform; that, lastly, he objects to the toleration of private prostitutes, as there is no good result from their registration except their health, and the general regulation in that and other matters is much better secured in the brothels."

Among the official correspondence on this matter we find another document worthy of notice. It is a report by a sub-inspector to the superior police authorities, dated January 16, 1810.

"There are forty-four such houses of prostitution, and, compared with the population of Berlin, 180,000, that is not many. They are divided into three classes, and, together with the prostitutes living on their own account, are controlled in conformity with the regulations of February 2d, 1792. In compliance with such rules, they pay the taxes to the healing fund.

"Past negligent mismanagement has unfortunately permitted several brothels in much-frequented streets. Their removal to more retired places I find highly desirable. It is urgent that no more private women of the town should be tolerated, but rather that they should, if they can not return to good conduct, be sent into the brothel-houses, or, where they are not natives of Berlin, be sent out of the city forthwith, or otherwise be sent to the House of Industry. These women, living alone, are very perilous to morality and health, inasmuch as they can not be so perfectly controlled as in the brothels in modesty of deportment, cleanliness, and retirement; also because they are able to withhold themselves from medical inspection, and to carry on their trade when they know themselves to be suffering from venereal diseases. The lists of the prostitutes under treatment at the Charité demonstrate this. The opinion that this living alone favors a return to virtue is not supported by experience; were it even so, the disadvantages enumerated are more important than so rare and problematical a benefit.

"The question, 'whether the toleration of brothels in large cities, and their regulation by the police, so that infected females should not be permitted therein, is advisable, in order to counteract the seduction of respectable females?' can not be categorically answered in the affirmative. Still, in Berlin, it seems that brothels, if not a necessary evil, can not be momentarily abolished, but such steps must be devised as will gradually remove the evil, and make the disgrace generally noticeable. To this end, the above propositions, touching private prostitutes and removal of brothels from public streets, will be carried into effect. Express limitations of the brothels to two or three streets would give occasion to gatherings on holidays that might lead to riots and other excesses.

"A special external designation of prostitutes would only lead to uproar, without causing the women to feel the odium of their calling more than at present."

The remainder of this report is unimportant. In October, 1810, a public order was made for effectuating its recommendations.

After this event the king became impressed with an idea of the impolicy and impropriety of the "toleration" system, and a lengthy correspondence ensued between the various departments and state officials on the subject; the royal rescripts enunciating the oft-repeated opinions on the subject in general, objecting to the details of the police management, or directing reports on some particular incident of the system; the police authorities, fortified by experience as opposed to theory, adhering to the toleration practice, and demanding increased powers to restrain private prostitution, and compel all such persons to enter the public houses. The matter was brought to a close in 1814 by an order from the crown for a total closing of the tolerated brothels. The police president, Lecoq, thought it advisable to communicate with the authorities of the town of Breslau before he complied with this order, requesting some information as to the state of public morals there, it being stated that there was not a single brothel or registered prostitute to be found within its limits.

The reply from the Breslau officials was in the affirmative as to the fact. As to the results, they had consulted with the state physician and the hospital physician, and their opinion was that closing the brothels and withdrawal of toleration had not been advantageous, as, in spite of the police vigilance, illicit prostitution had increased since, and procuresses carried on their arts more extensively, their operations being altogether secret, and under no police control; that the venereal disease had not decreased; that nothing counteracted it so effectually as the medical inspection of known brothels; and that its secret spread had been so great as to extend its ravages, through the instrumentality of female servants, into respectable families; that the hospital returns proved but little, because the cases were suffered to run on or were privately cured, but these returns were given as follows:

Venereal cases in Illegitimate births Years. Breslau Hospital. in Breslau. 1805 155 .... 1806 202 .... 1807 323 .... 1808 233 .... 1809 150 .... 1810 118 382 1811 98 316 1812 139 282 1813 159 222

The years 1800 and 1807 were those of the French invasion. In 1812 the brothels in Breslau were closed.

The general peace of 1814 diverted the energies of crowned heads and leading statesmen from matters of internal policy, and the police of Berlin were left at liberty to pursue their old plans. Then the inhabitants began to object to brothels, and to petition against those in their immediate neighborhood. This drew from the police an argumentative document, in which they fully reviewed the question, but refused the prayer of the petition.

The change of localities, alterations in the law, and other circumstances, made a re-enactment of the code of 1792 desirable, and this took place in 1829. The alterations are chiefly in minor details of no general interest, but the law against frequenting places of public amusement was made part of this police order, which declared that the presence of prostitutes at houses of public entertainment was strictly forbidden. The most material change consisted in some very minute directions for guarding against venereal disease. To this end, every brothel-keeper was required to furnish each woman in his house with a proper syringe, which she was directed to use frequently, under the orders of the medical visitors. The private prostitutes were directed to observe similar precautions, and in place of a fixed weekly inspection by a medical officer, he was ordered to make his visits at uncertain intervals.

At this time there were thirty-three brothels in Berlin. Some of the citizens renewed their petitions for a removal of a portion of them, but with no better success than before.

In 1839, the morality of the system of toleration was again questioned by those in authority, and the Minister of the Interior, in a rescript to the authorities of the Rhine provinces, alluded to the matter of prostitution, and expressed himself as strongly opposed to any system of toleration. We quote a portion of his remarks:

"As for the granting of licenses to brothels, I can not accede to it, inasmuch as the advantages to be gained are, in my opinion, illusory, and in no degree countervail the inconvenience of the state sanction thus afforded to discreditable institutions. All attempts by the police to introduce decency and propriety by means of brothel regulations are idle. * * * * Brothels are not an invention of necessity, but are simply an offshoot of immoral luxury.(?) * * * * No one has a right to expect himself to be protected from injury and disease while seeking the gratification of unreasonable sexual enjoyments. * * * * The opinion that brothels are outlets for dangerous arts of seduction has never been substantiated. * * * * Had the police ever realized the suppression of illicit prostitution by means of tolerated brothels, then, indeed, a decided opinion might be formed as to the utility, in a sanitary point of view, of brothels."

Opinions of this nature from such a quarter, notwithstanding their absurdity in many respects, could not be without their effect, and induced the citizens to renew their petitions for the suppression or removal of some of the tolerated houses of prostitution. In 1840, a ministerial order enjoined such removal. It was promptly obeyed: some brothels were at once suppressed, and others were removed and concentrated in a notorious spot called the Königsmauer. The relative number of brothels and prostitutes in the years 1836 and 1844 was as follows:

1836, brothels 33 Prostitutes 200 1844, " 24 " 240 -- --- Decrease of brothels in 1844 9 Increase of prostitutes in 1844 40

Forty more women crowded into a less number of houses; an average of ten prostitutes to each brothel, instead of six as before, is but a poor commentary on enforced suppression.

The known inclination of the highest persons in the kingdom to put down brothels speedily induced a renewal of the agitation against them. So far as locality was in question, it was admitted that no more suitable place could have been found. The Königsmauer was a spot shunned by decent people from old times, out of the way, and with few inhabitants but those interested in the traffic, there was nobody to suffer, and the whole argument virtually turned upon the moral consequences of the government regulations and their utility to the public.

Among the petitions of 1840, one had been presented "from a number of Berlin citizens" to Prince William, the uncle of the king, stating that these brothels were an abomination; that many of them were splendidly fitted up, in which all means of excitement were used; that the women appeared at the windows exposed and bare-necked; in short, the memorialists said all that is customarily said on such occasions. But they seem to have forgotten that the police possessed both power and inclination to suppress such grievances, or else it never occurred to these "Berlin citizens" that their assistance given to the police would have speedily checked the evils. The memorial was handed to the king himself, and he required a report upon the matter from the Director of Police. This was duly furnished, and represented,

"1. That the corruption of manners in Berlin, and in the parts of Berlin complained of, was not more extreme than in other great cities of Germany, and in like places.

"2. That in the limitation of the ineradicable vice of prostitution by her police regulations, Berlin had greatly the advantage of Vienna; for in 1840, Berlin (including the garrison) had a population of 350,000 souls, among whom there was, of course, a very large number of unmarried men. That the syphilitic cases in the Charité had been in

1838, men 569 Women 634 Total 1209 1839, " 695 " 738 " 1433 1840, " 704 " 757 " 1461

Assuming that one third of the venereal cases in Berlin were treated privately, this gives an average of 1 in 450, or in every four hundred and fifty men there is one syphilitic subject, whereas M. Parent-Duchatelet's calculation for Vienna is 1 in every 250."[266]

The same report continues:

"Every official will bear out my assertion that the number of brothels is in inverse proportion to illicit prostitution; that is, the fewer of the former, the more of the latter, and the greater the difficulty of dealing with them, and preventing syphilis."

In 1841 another memorial was presented, with further complaints against the same houses in the Königsmauer. This was referred to the police authorities with the brief injunction, "Make an end of the nuisances about which there are so many complaints."

The Schulkollegium of the province of Brandenburg now joined their influence to swell the public outcry that the few houses of prostitution on the Königsmauer were hurtful to public morals, and a bad example to youth, and, on the ground of interest in their students and pupils, demanded that they be closed. The police, who had previously taken every precaution against a violation of public decency, now deputed a special inspector to give his personal attention to the locality. He reported there was no valid ground of complaint as to the outward conduct of the inhabitants, or the internal management of the houses. Thus satisfied as to the nature of the opposition, the police treated the college officials somewhat cavalierly, and recommended them to prohibit their students visiting such an out-of-the-way place: a very sensible piece of advice, and the best that could have been given under the circumstances.

According to Dr. Behrend (who has written on Prostitution in Berlin), the leading spirits of this agitation were a clergyman, and a distiller who had a brewery and spirit-store in the vicinity of the Königsmauer. The clergyman proceeded upon moral and religious grounds, and led the crusade against brothels as a public disgrace, unworthy a Christian nation. We do not learn what line of argument the distiller adopted, or whether the prohibition of liquor in houses of prostitution influenced his zeal. These agitators applied to the police with a succession of general complaints as to the luxury of the houses, the gains of the women, the bad example to the young, and other topics of a similar nature. They met with but scant favor; however, they were assured that every possible means should be used to keep the offenders within the bounds of existing rules.

The memorialists then carried their grievances to various influential people, and at length to Count Arnim, the Minister of the Interior, to whom a petition was presented, praying the entire suppression of all tolerated brothels. This petition contained all the allegations and arguments which could possibly be advanced against the places in question, augmented by much rhetorical flourish about the degradation of royal officers; the desecration of the baptismal register produced by prostitutes at the time of inscription; the insult to majesty in allowing brothels to exist in a street called Königsmauer, and many similarly weighty points. The practical knowledge of the police as to the effect of registration in checking more baneful excesses was theoretically disputed; the propositions on which the toleration system was based were denied; the defense of the plan by those cognizant of its working was entirely ruled out; so that, to a person unacquainted with both sides of the question, a sufficient ex parte case was presented.

The ministerial reply was favorable, but not conclusive; it was to the effect that,

"1. The number of brothels is to be reduced one half, which are to be removed beyond the city walls to the most retired position possible, where annoyance to the neighbors is not to be feared.

"2. For the control of those remaining, patrols of gens d'armes are to be kept afoot, and relieved six times a day.

"3. Every third breach of the regulations, whether in small or great matters, will be followed by the closing of the house.

"Should these orders not be sufficient, the police are empowered to close all the houses, for it must be understood that brothels are not licensed, but only tolerated as necessity requires, and care for public decency permits."

The police authorities foresaw difficulties in the details of these proceedings, and asked for more explicit instructions, which were supplied. In the second communication was this remarkable passage:

"Should a diminution in the number of brothels take place, and thereby the number of common prostitutes be affected, we shall then learn by experience whether consequences injurious to public morality and order ensue, and the decision of the main question can then be made with certainty, whether we can not advance to the entire abolition of brothels."

In following the prescribed course, and overthrowing an established system in order to furnish ministerial "experience" of the trouble it would cause, the police instituted a series of inquiries, and embodied the result in a report to the Minister of the Interior, dated July, 1844, which shows that there were

26 brothels, containing women 287 Registered private prostitutes 18 --- Total 305

The amount received and disbursed on account of the healing fund was also reported in thalers, thus:

1841. Received 3384 | Disbursed 1027 1842. " 3393 | " 861 1843. " 3365 | " 689

It concludes with the opinion entertained by the police:

"As for the influence which the extinction of brothels may have upon the morals, safety, and health of society, the police authorities think themselves obliged, as before, to declare against the expediency of the proceeding. What should be done in case this course should be adopted is a question that requires much consideration. Meanwhile, the police are of opinion it would be highly objectionable to close the brothels before other measures are prepared in reference to prostitution."

No such measures were prepared. The king would hear no farther argument upon the matter; and, by positive "royal command," the brothels were closed and registered prostitution stopped, December 31, 1845. Berlin became (nominally) as virtuous as an edict from the throne could make it. The majority of the prostitutes were either sent to their former homes or supplied with passports for places out of the kingdom. A few were left houseless, friendless, and destitute. History does not say whether the friends of enforced continence provided for these sufferers.

This summary edict seriously embarrassed the police, especially as the state laws tolerating prostitution were unrepealed. They applied to the authorities of Halle and Cologne, where a similar measure had been enforced, and the substance of the replies received was as follows.

From Halle:

"Since the French occupation, the brothels had been put down. There had been a few persons charged with prostitution, whom the police caught now and then, and sent to jail, where they were cured. There were, however, very few vicious persons in Halle, and there had been no need of special provision. It was not difficult to find honest livelihood for the common women. As to syphilis, there had been no increase of cases since the last of the brothels."

The authorities of Cologne had no such pleasing tale to tell. They say,

"At the end of the French occupation, the authorities had put down all the licensed brothels, and, at the same time, made vigilant search for private prostitutes. Legal difficulties had for many years been in the way, as the laws made no provision against private prostitution, when not carried on as a trade for gain, and the technical proof was difficult. Against procurers and procuresses the law was ineffective, except in cases where the seduced female was under age. When the amendments in the law had taken place, the police had worked vigorously, and in the years 1843 and 1844, a time when illicit prostitution had enormously increased, they had presented three hundred cases of that offense.

"As regarded syphilis, the city physician was of opinion that, in late years, the disease had increased among all classes, and had appeared in a much worse type.

"In consequence, however, of the increased energy of the police, affairs had become under better control, and the number of private brothels had materially diminished, so that there are now but about fifteen in the city. The secret prostitution was not, however, under any control. The police found it impracticable to keep vicious persons in check, who (in default of other accommodation) committed the most depraved acts in stray vehicles or any suitable hiding-place."

The writer of this official communication added his private opinion, based upon the experience of some years, that "no effective steps could be devised to suppress prostitution: all that could be done would be to palliate it, and keep it under surveillance."

These statements were not calculated to relieve the anxiety of the Berlin officials, who were pressed by the ministers to devise plans for executing the royal orders. They accordingly met, in much embarrassment, and prepared a scheme which was not acceptable to the superior powers. It was ordered, eventually, "that the women suspected of prostitution, being about 1000 or 1200 in Berlin, should be warned by the police to discontinue their practices. If found out, they were to be punished, and, after punishment, to be continued under surveillance until good behavior. During such period they were to be periodically examined for disease, at the police office, by medical men; the punishment to be made more severe on the repetition of the offense."

These orders, following immediately the suppression mandate, will strike every one as reaffirming the principles of the toleration system in the most important particular--the regard for public health. The police used all their energy to enforce them, but at the same time represented their fears of the consequences, namely, the spread of prostitution, the increase of disease, and a general licentiousness of habits.

It now remains to trace the effects of the suppression of registered brothels, and local authorities afford abundant and satisfactory proof that the fears of the police were realized.

The Vossicher Zeitung (July, 1847), says:

"Well meant but altogether erroneous is the proposition that brothels can be dispensed with in times of general intelligence and education, and that now this relic of barbarism can be done away with. Already, only two years after the closing of the brothels, this deception has been exploded, and we have bought experience at the public cost. The illicit prostitutes, who well know how to escape the hands of the police, have spread their nets of demoralization over the whole city; and against them, the old prostitution houses, which were under a purifying police control in sanitary and general matters, afforded safety and protection."

In another local paper we find:

"Prostitution, which had previously kept out of sight in dark and retired corners, now came forward boldly and openly; for it found protection and countenance in the large number of its supporters, and no police care could restrain it. The prostitutes did not merely traverse the streets and frequent the public thoroughfares to hunt their prey, thereby insulting virtuous women and putting them to the blush, they crowded the fashionable promenades, the concerts, the theatres, and other places of amusement, where they claimed the foremost places, and set the fashion of the hour. They were conspicuous for their brilliant toilettes, and their example was pre-eminently captivating and pernicious to the youth of both sexes."

From a work called "Berlin," by Sass, we obtain the annexed view of

PUBLIC LIFE IN BERLIN.

"No city in Germany can boast of the splendid ball-rooms of Berlin. One in particular, near the Brandenburg gate and the Parade-ground, is remarkable for its size, and presents a magnificent exterior, especially in the evening, when hundreds of lamps stream through the windows and light up the park in front. The interior is of corresponding splendor, and when the vast hall resounds with the music of the grand orchestra, and is filled with a gay crowd rustling in silks or satins, or lounging in the hall, or whirling in the giddy waltz, it is certainly a scene to intoxicate the youth who frequent it in search of adventure, or to drink in the poison of seductive and deceiving, although bright and fascinating eyes. Should the foreigner visit this scene on one of its gay nights, he may get a glimpse of the depths of Berlin life. Many a veil is lifted here. This splendid scene has its dark side. This is not respectable Berlin. This whirling, laughing crowd is frivolous Berlin, whether of wealth, extravagance, and folly, or of poverty, vice, and necessity. The prostitute and the swindler are on every side. Formerly the female visitors were of good repute, but gradually courtesans and women of light character slipped in, until at length no lady could be seen there. And the aforesaid foreigner, who lounges through the rooms, admiring the elegant and lovely women who surround him in charge of some highly respectable elderly person, an 'aunt,' or a 'chaperone,' or possibly in company with her 'newly-married husband,' seeks to know the names and position of such evident celebrity and fashion. 'Do not you know her? Any police officer can tell you her history,' are the replies he receives. There is a class of men at this place who perform a function singular to the uninitiated. These worthies are the 'husbands' of the before-mentioned ladies. They play the careless or the strict cavalier; are Blue-beards on occasion; appear or keep out of sight, according to the proprieties of the moment."

From the same writer we extract the following sketch of a

DANCING SALOON.

"The price of admission is ten groschen (about twenty cents), which insures a company who can pay. The male public are of all conditions, and include students, clerks, and artists, with, of course, a fair share of rogues and pickpockets. The majority of the women are prostitutes: there may be found girls of rare beauty, steeped to the lips in all the arts of iniquity. The philosopher may see life essentially in the same grade as in the last description, but in a somewhat less artificial condition. Scenes of bacchant excitement and of wildest abandonment may be witnessed here. The outward show is all mirth and happiness; pleasure unrestrained seems the business of the place. Turn the picture. The most showy of the costumes are hired; the gayety is for a living; the liberty is licentiousness. These creatures, who, all blithesome as they seem, the victims of others who fleece them of every thing they can earn, are now engaged in securing victims from whom they may wring the gains which are to pay the hire of their elegant dresses, or furnish means for further excesses, or perhaps to pay for their supper that evening. It is the fashion of the place for each gentleman to invite a lady to supper, where the quantity of wine drunk is incredible. How many a young man has to trace not merely loss of cash and health to such a place, but also loss of honor! The ladies who have no such agreeable partners sit apart, sullen and discontented; oftentimes they have no money to pay for their own refreshments. Pair by pair the crowd diminishes, until toward three or four o'clock, when the place is closed."

The lowest dancing-houses are the Tanz wirthschaften, inferior to the saloons, where (again quoting)

"The dance is carried to its wildest excess, to ear-splitting music in a pestilential atmosphere. The poor are extravagant; drunkenness and profligacy abound. Servants of both sexes, soldiers and journeymen, workwomen and prostitutes, make up the public. Here, on the most frivolous pretenses, concubinage and marriage are arranged, and from this scene of folly and vice the family is ushered to the world. The wet-nurse is met here, "the type of country simplicity," who, after a night of tumult and uproar with her lover, will go in the morning to nurse the child whose mother neglects her parental duties at the dictates of fashion. The working classes have their representatives, who drown their cares in drink, while boys and girls make up the motley party. In these assemblies there is a difference. Some are attended by citizens of the humbler classes, by working men and women; others by criminals and their paramours. In these latter resorts the excesses are of a more frightful character than in those where a show of decency restrains the grosser exhibitions; youth of both sexes are among the well-known criminals, who are habituated to smoking, drinking, and the wildest orgies, long before their frames have attained a proper development. Physiognomies which might have sprung from the most hideous fancy of poet or painter may be met with."

In an anonymous pamphlet, entitled "Prostitution in Berlin," is another hideous picture:

"In the Königstadt there is a drinking saloon where, besides the wife of the host, there are two young girls who exceed all compeers in shamelessness and depravity. The elder betrays secondary syphilis in her voice; the younger has such noble features, is of such beauty, and is altogether of such prepossessing appearance, that the infamy of her conduct is incredible. In the evening these girls and the host are generally drunk. At one or two in the morning the place is a perfect hell, the whole company, guests, host, and girls, being mad with liquor. Some are dancing with the girls to the tinkle of a guitar, the player of which acted her part in one of the abolished brothels; others are roaring obscene songs. If the guitar-player has brought her daughter, then the tumult of the den is complete. It is never closed before four o'clock in the morning, when the girls retire to their dwellings in company with one or the other of their guests."

In reading these descriptions, it must be remembered that, under the toleration system, the police would not permit prostitutes to visit places of public amusement, nor would they allow music and dancing in the brothels.

Another part of Dr. Sass's work contains a truly horrid picture of the immorality of the city. We transcribe it, in conclusion of this branch of the subject:

PRIVATE LIFE IN BERLIN.

"... Let us enter the house. The first floor is inhabited by a family of distinction; husband and wife have been separated for years; he lives on one side, she on the other; both go out in public together; the proprieties are kept in view, but servants will chatter. On the second floor lives an assessor with his kept woman. When he is out of town, as the house is well aware, a doctor pays her a visit. On the other side the staircase lives a carrier, with his wife and child. The wife had not mentioned that this child was born before marriage; he found it out; of course they quarreled, and he now takes his revenge in drunkenness, blows, and abuse. We ascend to the third floor. On the right of the stairs is a teacher who has had a child by his wife's sister; the wife grieves sorely over the same. With him lodges a house-painter who ran away from his wife and three children, and now lives, with his concubine and one child, in a wretched little cupboard. On the left is a letter-carrier's family. His pay is fifteen thalers (twelve dollars) a month, but the people seem very comfortable. Their daughter has a very nice front room, well furnished, and is kept by a very wealthy merchant, a married man. Exactly opposite there is a house of accommodation, and close by there is a midwife, whose sign-board announces 'An institute for ladies of condition, where they can go through their confinement in retirement.' I can assure the reader that in this sketch of sexual and family life in Berlin I have 'nothing extenuated, nor set down aught in malice.'"

In estimating the effects of the suppression of brothels, it will be necessary to take medical testimony. In Dr. Loewe's pamphlet, "Prostitution with reference to Berlin, 1852," we find:

"In vain the Charité, after the ordinary wards were full of venereal patients, set aside other parts of the building. The patients were still poured in from the houses of detention, until, at length, the directors of the Charité refused farther admission, the consequence of which was a long and angry correspondence between them and the police. The Minister of the Interior interfered, and ordered more accommodation for the Charité. This was done, but the new wards were soon filled with venereal females; the patients exceeded the accommodations, and at last it was found necessary to take the Cholera Lazaret for syphilitic cases. Against this arrangement the magistracy of Berlin remonstrated that the present influx of venereal patients must be regarded as the inevitable, natural consequence of the abolition of the brothels; that this abolition had not originated with them, therefore they were not bound to provide for it."

Dr. Behrend, to whose work we have already alluded, gives much statistical information, from original documents, showing the results of suppression. He says:

"In 1839, out of 1200 women brought to punishment for begging and similar offenses, there were about 600 common unregistered prostitutes. In 1840, the period of reducing the number of brothels, there were 900 such women. In 1847, a year after their suppression, there were 1250 notorious prostitutes. Those, in the opinion of the police, constituted but a portion of those who practiced prostitution, but yet had an apparent means of living. Behind the Königsmauer the traffic is carried on worse than formerly, while the place itself is the scene of disorder and irregularity, which used not to be under the former system. These offenses can not be punished, owing to the difficulties of technical proof which must always exist. The police have done what is possible by continually patrolling the streets, and arresting openly objectionable characters, and even those who are informed against as being diseased, but they can do no more. The prostitution which was formerly confined within a limited district is now spread over the whole town."

Respecting the influence of the withdrawal of toleration upon the public health, Behrend concludes there is a greater amount of syphilis. He gives the following list of cases in the Charité:

Year 1840 Females, 757 Males, --- " 1841 " 743 " --- " 1842 " 676 " --- " 1843 " 669 " --- " 1844 " 657 " 741 " 1845 " 514 " 711 " 1846 " 627 " 813 " 1847 " 761 " 894 " 1848 " 835 " 979

He also investigated the average time each patient was under treatment, as tending to show the malignity of the disease, and reports:

Year 1844, men, 21-5/6 days; women, 31-2/3 days; both sexes, 26-3/4 days. " 1845, " 26-6/7 " " 42-8/9 " " " 34-2/3 " " 1846, " 30-1/2 " " 51-1/2 " " " 40-7/8 " " 1847, " 34-1/9 " " 43-2/3 " " " 38-2/3 " " 1848, " 33-1/3 " " 53-1/6 " " " 43-1/2 "

These facts are corroborated by the registers of the Military Lazaret. From returns made to the police department by Herr Lohmeyer, General Staff Physician, it appears there were in the garrison

In 1844 and 1845, 735 syphilitic cases. Of these,

633 cases of primary syphilis required 17,916 days of attendance; 102 " " secondary " " 4,947 " " --- ------ 735 " " " 22,863 " "

In 1846, and the first six months of 1847, there were 618 cases:

501 cases of primary syphilis required 17,788 days of attendance; 117 " " secondary " " 5,213 " " --- ------ 618 " " " " 23,001 " "

Dr. Behrend states, as the results of conversations and communications with many of the medical profession, and of his own experience:

"1. That in the last four years there are more cases of syphilis.

"2. That, in consequence of the increased facilities for communication, the disease has spread to the small towns and villages.

"3. That it has been introduced more frequently into private families.

"4. That the character of the disease is more obstinate, thereby operating severely on the constitution and on future generations.

"5. That, since the abolition of the toleration system, unnatural crimes have been much more frequently met with."

As to the influence on public morals, he contends that the abolition has produced the most injurious consequences, particularly alluding to the desecration of matrimony. He says:

"It is common for persons of vicious habits to arrange a marriage, for the purpose of enabling them to avoid the police interference. This marriage bond is broken when convenient, and other marriages are formed: sometimes two couples will mutually exchange, and go through the ceremony."

He also made inquiries as to illegitimacy, and publishes some voluminous tables on the subject. From them we condense a

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF THE LEGITIMATE AND ILLEGITIMATE BIRTHS IN BERLIN FROM JANUARY 1, 1838, TO MARCH 31, 1849.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Years | Births. | Ratio of | | |---------------------------------| illegitimate to | | |Legitimate.|Illegitimate.|Total. |legitimate Births.| |--------------|-----------|-------------|-------|------------------| | 1838 | 8,587 | 1196 | 9,783| 1 in 7·2 | | 1839 | 7,820 | 1412 | 9,232| 1 in 5·5 | | 1840 | 9,019 | 1487 | 10,506| 1 in 6· | | 1841 | 9,024 | 1557 | 10,581| 1 in 5·7 | | 1842 | 10,269 | 1928 | 12,177| 1 in 5·3 | | 1843 | 10,370 | 1969 | 12,339| 1 in 5·2 | | 1844 | 10,958 | 2000 | 12,958| 1 in 5·4 | | 1845 | 11,402 | 2138 | 13,540| 1 in 5·3 | | 1846 | 11,717 | 2140 | 13,857| 1 in 5·4 | | 1847 | 11,294 | 2204 | 13,498| 1 in 5·1 | | 1848 | 12,113 | 2303 | 14,416| 1 in 5·2 | |3 mos. of 1849| 3,278 | 646 | 3,921| 1 in 5·1 | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+

Having rapidly traced the Berlin experience of the various methods of controlling prostitution for nearly three fourths of a century, it only remains to say that the increased evils of illicit prostitution, and the total inability of the police to counteract them; the spread of the venereal disease, and its augmented virulence; the palpable and growing licentiousness of the city; the complaints of public journals; the investigations of scientific men; and the memorials of the citizens generally, reached the royal ear, and induced an ordinance in 1851, restoring the toleration system, and entirely repealing the edict of 1845, which had produced such disastrous results.

The experiment of "crushing out" had been fairly tried. The king and his ministers lent all their energy and inclination to the task, and, after six years' attempt, it was admitted to be a futile labor, and entirely abandoned. Berlin will have to suffer for years from the consequences of this misdirected step, for it is an easy matter to abandon all control, but an exceedingly difficult one to regain it. Now that the police are reinvested with their former authority, they strive, by every possible means, to repair the evils of the interregnum. Their most recent regulations are embodied in the following

DIRECTIONS FOR KEEPERS PERMITTED TO RECEIVE FEMALES ABANDONED TO PROSTITUTION INTO THEIR HOUSES.

"1. The duties hereby imposed upon the keeper are not to be taken to relieve him from the ordinary notices to the police respecting persons taken into his house or employment.

"2. The keeper must live on the ground floor of his house, near the outer door, in order to watch all entrance into his house, and to be ready to interfere in case of tumult or uproar therein.

"3. The keeper has the right to refuse any person admittance into the house. For preservation of order and quiet in, and in front of his house, the keeper will have the requisite assistance from the police.

"4. Dancing and music in the house are strictly forbidden; billiards, cards, and other games are also forbidden, whereof the keeper is to be particularly watchful.

"5. In order to avoid quarrels with the visitors, the keeper must affix, in each of his rooms, a list of prices of refreshment, to be previously submitted to the undersigned commission for approval.

"6. The agreement which the keeper enters into with the females living in his house must be also communicated to the undersigned commission. In case of dispute as to this agreement between the keepers and the females, both are to address themselves to this commission.

"7. Each of the females receives a printed list of directions, which she is strictly to follow. It is the duty of the keeper to make himself well acquainted with these directions, and to see that they be followed.

"8. It is for his own interest that the keeper should keep his house in order and quiet, and should also give attention to the cleanliness and health of the female inmates. Each of these is ordered to obey him in every thing relating thereto, and should any of them be contumacious, the keeper is to appeal to the police commissary, or to the undersigned commission, but he can not himself chastise or use force with any female.

"9. If the keeper know or suspect any female to be sick with venereal disease or itch, he must give notice to the visiting medical officer, or to the undersigned, and the person is to be kept apart until she has been examined. In default of this notice, or even of the privacy required, the keeper is liable to the same punishment as the law inflicts for being knowingly accessory to illness of other people.

"10. If the keeper knows or suspects that any of the females are pregnant, he must give notice thereof to the visiting medical officer. Neglect of this involves the punishment of concealing pregnancy.

"11. Every person is to be visited thrice a week by a medical officer, on appointed days and hours; and, besides, according to the order of the commission, at hours not appointed. These visits the keeper is to facilitate in every way.

"12. For these visits, indispensably requisite for the health of the female inmates, the keeper is to provide beforehand,

"(a.) An examination chair, of an approved pattern.

"(b.) Two or three specula.

"(c.) Several pounds of chloride of lime.

"(d.) For every female, besides necessary linen, her own washing apparatus, her own syringe, and two or three sponges.

"13. The keeper is strictly charged that he cause the women to observe decency and propriety whenever it is allowed them to walk abroad in the streets, or to take exercise in the open air for the sake of their health. If any of these persons require to take any such necessary walk, the keeper can not refuse her, but must provide a suitable male companion, who is to take charge of her. She is to be respectably and decently clad, is not to stand still on the streets, nor to remain out longer than is requisite for completing her business or for proper exercise.

"14. In case any woman manifests a fixed desire to give up her profligate mode of life, the keeper shall make no attempt to turn her from it, and can not, even on account of sureties he may be under, hinder her from carrying out her determination. Moreover, the keeper must present the woman with apparel suitable to a woman of the serving class, in case she should be destitute of the same."

15. Provides for change of keepers.

"16. The keeper is expected to give all assistance to the commission in their efforts to lead such persons back to an honest livelihood; especially so in their endeavors to suppress illicit prostitution, and to detect the sources of venereal infection."

XVIII. LEIPZIG

Population.--Registered and illicit Prostitutes.--Servants.-- Kept-women.--Brothels.--Nationality of Prostitutes.--Habits.-- Fairs.--Visitors.--Earnings of Prostitutes.

But very few remarks are necessary concerning prostitution in Leipzig, where no striking peculiarity marks the common women as a class, and the legislation is based on the ordinary German principle of toleration.

If we reckon its garrison as a part of the population of the town, the number of inhabitants will amount to about one hundred thousand, nearly one third of whom are soldiers or transient residents. It is subject to many fluctuations at various times, but the general average may be assumed at the number stated. Of the permanent residents there are about six hundred well known and professed male rogues and blacklegs; these are under the constant and vigilant surveillance of the police. They unquestionably exert a considerable influence on the female morality of the place, not only from their own amours, for which men of this character are notorious wherever located, but by the agency they frequently assume to arrange the "pleasures" of their victims and acquaintances.

It need, therefore, occasion no surprise to ascertain that, in addition to about three hundred registered prostitutes who are subject to medical and police supervision, there are about twelve hundred women who notoriously frequent the city, from the neighboring towns and villages, for purposes of prostitution, whenever a large influx of visitors makes it probable that Leipzig will be a lucrative market for them. These are not directly under any police control. To this number of fifteen hundred avowed and known prostitutes, who are to be found in the city during busy seasons of the year, must be added the class of irregular or private courtesans, mostly composed of domestics. It is estimated there are three thousand servant-girls in the city, and the habits of a large number of them leave no doubt as to the propriety of including them in this enumeration; indeed, those who have had the best opportunities for observation do not hesitate to assert that at least one third are vicious. Assuming this to be an accurate calculation, we have 2500 prostitutes, or one in every forty of the gross population, exclusive of kept mistresses, or those frail women in the more aristocratic circles of society who should properly be classed with them. In this respect we have no reason to conclude that Leipzig is either better or worse than other large cities of the present day.

There are about sixty-six common brothels in Leipzig, the majority of which are registered and closely watched by the police. They are situated in the lowest and least frequented parts of the city, and many of them present, in excess, some of the worst features of such places. To escape their annoyances as far as possible, and retain that outward show of respectability most acceptable to their visitors, many of the prostitutes have private lodgings in various parts of the town, resorting to every conceivable disguise to conceal or modify their real character. Very many of them are said to be married women, whose husbands not merely connive at, but frequently compel this loathsome trade for the sake of its emoluments.

The proprietors of the tolerated brothels "assume a virtue if they have it not," and seek to disguise their houses under the names of coffee-houses or restaurants; a course recognized by the authorities, who do not insist upon calling such places by the vernacular designation, as is done in Hamburg or Berlin.

The women inhabiting these houses are principally natives of Altenburg, Berlin, Dresden, or Brunswick; those from the latter district are noted by travelers for their personal beauty. Very few Polish women are found here. The requisite supply of women is kept up through the agency of procuresses, as in Hamburg, who are remunerated by the brothel-keepers in proportion to the distance they have traveled to secure recruits, or according to the attractions of the girl, or her probable success in the establishment.

In regard to dress, manners, conduct, and the other incidents of their calling, there is little distinction between the prostitutes of Leipzig and those of other European cities. A late anonymous writer gives them credit as a class for a studious, literary habit, and names a somewhat intelligent selection of light works as those they prefer to read, such as the writings of Fredrika Bremer, Bulwer, Walter Scott, Caroline Pichler, Schiller, and others. If this statement be correct, it may be accounted for by the great local demand for literature, books and furs being universally known as the great staples of Leipzig, and the fact can scarcely be assumed as indicative of any especial inclination for belles-lettres. Prostitution and studious habits or reflective minds are very seldom associated. The majority of the brothel-keepers are stated to be anti-literary in their tastes. They keep the women plentifully supplied with cards and dominoes, which they use more for the purpose of predicting good fortunes to their visitors and themselves than for gambling. We have never heard that any of their liberal prognostications have been verified. Apparently the same usages and habits of life prevail among the common women of Leipzig as among those of Paris, Hamburg, Berlin, London, or elsewhere. Indolent from the nature of their position, envious from their relationship to their compeers, their life would seem to pass in a routine of doing nothing with considerable zest, or of quarreling among each other with noteworthy animation.

No material variation from the ordinary routine of sickness caused by prostitution has been discovered in Leipzig. Syphilis has its average number of victims, the intensity of the malady being diminished or aggravated as a less or greater number of strangers may happen to be in the city.

The medical and police surveillance of prostitutes in European countries being modeled almost literally from one system, as is also the strictness with which it is now enforced, it is unnecessary to say any thing of its workings in Leipzig farther than the fact that the variable and floating nature of the population, at times, makes its application a difficult task. A description of it would be only a repetition of what has already been said of Paris, Hamburg, or Berlin.

The great fairs draw a large concourse of strangers from all parts of the world to Leipzig, and its geographical position beyond the centre of Europe brings it so close to the frontiers of Turkey, Poland, the Danubian provinces, and Russia, that the scene at these meetings is perhaps more motley and curious in race, costume, and characteristics than in any other city in the world. Among so heterogeneous a mass there exist many standards of morality. The semi-barbarous habits of some of the visitors entail a large share of sorrows on the prostitutes; more, in fact, than are generally experienced by any but the very lowest grade of women in other places. When in the tolerated houses, these rude hordes abandon themselves to the grossest licentiousness, use expressions compared with which the ordinary conversation of brothels is chaste and refined, and seek to extinguish every vestige of shame or womanly feeling in their companions. If a woman ventures to remonstrate at such extravagant lewdness, the reply is, "Well, now, be silent. I have paid you, and you are mine as long as I have you." It may therefore be easily credited that during such periods no shadow of decency can be found in the common houses. Any which exists (and truth compels the admission that it is very rare during the crowded season) can only be traced among those women who have private lodgings.

The only compensation for such depravity is found in the large sums obtained by the women from their lovers, in some cases amounting to forty thalers (about thirty dollars) per week. Of this, one half always goes to the brothel-keeper as his share, and, calculating his expenses to be five thalers per week for the board and lodging of each woman, it will be seen that his profits are not inconsiderable. The sum retained by the women is spent for articles of dress, pleasure, etc. This calculation is for a time when the town is in the full tide of commercial prosperity; but if we assume the average receipts at ordinary times to be one half only, we shall be able to form a tolerably good idea of the financial result of prostitution in Leipzig.

XIX. DENMARK

Prostitution in Copenhagen.--Police Regulations.--Illegitimacy.-- Brothels.--Syphilis.--Laws of Marriage and Divorce.--Infanticide.-- Adultery.--New Marriage Ordinances.

Prostitutes are very numerous in Copenhagen. This might be expected from the mixed character of the city, at once a capital, military station, and sea-port. It has been remarked by a traveler of great experience[267] that it is very rare to see a drunken man or a street-walker in Copenhagen; all seem to have a home or a place to go to, and the general character of the Danes is that of an orderly, educated, well-conducted people.

Some of the prostitutes of Copenhagen live in a kind of hotel, where they hold public entertainments; others live in brothels; and others still have private lodgings. There is nothing remarkable enough about them to call for any particular description. They are under police regulation to some extent, and receive a sort of half permission, which is not withdrawn during good conduct. A regulation is extant which professes to limit the number of children they are allowed to bear, without becoming amenable to the law as criminals. It requires that the mother of more than two illegitimate children be fined and imprisoned. As may be readily imagined, the law is very rarely enforced, its impolicy, if rigorously applied, being self-evident, since it would operate as a direct premium for abortion.

"Formal concessions are not granted either to public prostitutes or those with whom they lodge; neither are there in Denmark brothels, in the ordinary sense of the term, as they are found in other countries."[268] So writes a Danish official. His distinction is too nice to be appreciated. The Copenhagen police know of the existence of such women, and put them under strict regulations, not altogether prohibitory. They control and interfere with prostitutes; they do not tolerate them--that is to say, they do not issue a regular license to them or to the brothel-keepers. Consequently, there are no recognized brothels. The house in which courtesans live is a private dwelling, so far as the police are concerned, and is only interfered with when it becomes disorderly, the keeper not being accountable for the women or their conduct.

Nevertheless, the police regulations prescribe the number of women recognized as prostitutes who may live in any house, and from their official reports, it seems that there were in Copenhagen in

1850 201 prostitutes. 1852 198 "

In the latter year there were sixty-eight persons who were authorized to lodge from one to four women each, the total of the women permitted to live in these houses being 139, and the remaining 59 being allowed to reside in private apartments. "Care is taken that they are all treated in the general hospital, and that they shall not be treated elsewhere, unless they give a sufficient guarantee not to propagate disease, or their personal position requires certain consideration, a thing which can seldom apply to the generality of prostitutes." The meaning of this regulation is not very clear, nor is "certain consideration" an intelligible phrase; it may imply pregnancy, or it may mean influential friends. The medical officer visits all cases which the police refer to him, and makes the necessary examinations, receiving his fees from the police.

The rules for detection and suppression of syphilis in Copenhagen are very stringent. All persons under arrest are required to declare if they are then, or have been lately diseased, and are liable to punishment if they conceal or misstate the facts. A visit of inspection is made when a ship is about to go to sea. All non-commissioned officers, musicians, and soldiers are examined on entering and leaving the service, and also regularly every month during their stay in it.

To check the propagation of venereal disease, every soldier who is attacked is obliged to state the source of his infection, whereupon information of the individual is given to the police. Those who do not give early intimation of their disease are liable to bread and water diet for a certain time after their cure. In 1797, all the inhabitants of several districts were obliged to submit to an examination, ordered by the chancellor, on account of the frequency of syphilitic cases therein.

The following table, taken from Berhand's minute on Copenhagen, shows the working of the system there for seven years. The most remarkable feature is the large number who married or went to service, which would seem to indicate a more charitable feeling on the part of the Danes than is usually evinced toward these unfortunates:

+---------------------------------- | | Prostitutes registered. | | |--------------------------| |Years.| At |During| | | |commencement| the |Total.| | |of the year.|year. | | | | | | | | | | | | |------|------------|------|------| | 1844 | 297 | 34 | 331 | | 1845 | 284 | 43 | 327 | | 1846 | 256 | 18 | 274 | | 1847 | 241 | 22 | 263 | | 1848 | 116 | 27 | 143 | | 1849 | 208 | 19 | 227 | | 1850 | 196 | 23 | 219 | +----------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------+ Prostitutes abandoned their calling. | ---------------------------------------------------------------------| Went to |Transferred|Sent to| |Left the| |Committed| | service.| to the |Prison.|Married.|Country.|Died.|Suicide. |Total.| |commission | | | | | | | | for the | | | | | | | | Poor. | | | | | | | --------|-----------|-------|--------|--------|-----|---------|------| 20 | 13 | 1 | 16 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 63 | 14 | 27 | - | 24 | 4 | 3 | - | 77 | 15 | 16 | 2 | 13 | 1 | 2 | - | 49 | 20 | 17 | 1 | 17 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 62 | 15 | 16 | 1 | 16 | 2 | 7 | - | 51 | 17 | 10 | 1 | 9 | - | 6 | 1 | 44 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | 27 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------+

By a code of 1734, promises of marriage might be either verbal in the presence of witnesses, or written and certified by two witnesses. Widows acting against the consent of their guardians, and women of bad repute, were excluded from the benefit of this code. A servant pregnant by her master, her master's son, or any one domiciled in her master's house, could not plead a promise of marriage. Corroborative testimony was sometimes required in affiliation cases, where the putative father denied his liability on oath.

Divorce was allowed on simple abandonment for seven years; desertion for three years; in case of sentence of perpetual imprisonment; of ante-nuptial impotence; of ante-nuptial venereal disease; of insanity; and of adultery. Divorce by mutual consent might also take place, but three years' separation from bed and board was requisite as a preliminary. The king had a prerogative of divorce, without cause shown.

Illegitimate children were to be supported by their father until two years old, according to his rank in life. They could not inherit the paternal property, but might take the mother's. They could be legitimatized by subsequent marriage or adoption.

Infanticide was punished by beheading, and exhibiting the head of the criminal on a spike.

Adultery is punished by law in both husband and wife. Practically it is seldom noticed.

In 1834 a new ordinance was proclaimed fixing all the minutiæ of marriage contracts, parental obligations, and the general laws of sexual intercourse. A man is a minor until eighteen, and under some degree of parental authority to twenty-five, at which age he becomes a citizen. The woman is under tutelage all her life. Guardians are assigned to widows, who control their legal powers, but a widow may choose her own guardian. The laws of divorce are similar to those of France. The practice of formal betrothal is as common in Denmark as in Northern Germany, and implies a real and binding engagement, not to be broken without cause shown, or without discredit to one or both parties. Whether this custom favors illegitimacy is still a disputed point in Denmark.

XX. SWITZERLAND

Superior Morality of the Swiss.--Customs of Neufchatel.-- "Bundling."--Influence of Climate.

This country, from her republican form of government, and her comparative isolation from the rest of the world, presents matter of peculiar interest to the inquirer into the nature and working of social institutions. Protected, as are the Swiss, from violent contrasts of excessive wealth and extreme indigence, the moral condition of their people will compare favorably with that of most nations. The simplicity of patriarchal relations is maintained both in their national and municipal governments; and although many customs are retained which smack strongly of the despotism of the Middle Ages, they can not be said to materially check the welfare of the people. In the absence of the emulation encouraged by the constant contemplation of luxury and wealth, the wants of the population are few and easily satisfied. Their virtues, however, partake of the bold and rugged nature of their country; and while there may be little of that practical vice and immorality which are the usual accompaniments of society in most kingdoms and states, we are not prepared to assert their superiority over the rest of mankind in innate virtue. Hardness of heart and selfishness of disposition will be found as rife in Switzerland as elsewhere; it is the manifestation only that differs.

Authors are so universally deficient of remark on the subject of prostitution, or even of immorality in Switzerland, that, if we may judge from their silence, nothing of the kind exists there. "The Swiss population is generally moral and well-behaved. A drunkard is seldom seen, and illegitimate children are rare," says Bowring.[269]

In Neufchatel, which, except politically, can hardly be considered part of Switzerland, a custom exists strongly similar to one in Norway, and a general usage among Lutherans, namely, that of associating before marriage. This, as Washington Irving says of the "delightful practice of bundling," is sometimes productive of unfortunate results. A lady writer says that public opinion upholds the respectability of the females if they are married time enough to legitimatize their offspring. Instances have occurred of two couples quarreling, and a mutual interchange of lovers and sweethearts taking place, the nominal fathers adopting the early-born children.[270]

The frugal thrift of the great bulk of the Swiss population, their distribution over the country in small numbers, the absence of large masses of human beings pent up in the reeking atmosphere of cities, their constant and intimate association with their pastors, and the hope which every individual cherishes of purchasing with his savings a small patch of his beloved native soil as a patrimony, seem to discourage prostitution as a trade. The influence of climate, also, must not be forgotten; and Mr. Chambers, in accounting for the general good conduct of the Swiss peasantry, lays much stress on their temperate habits, the use of intoxicating liquor among them being very rare indeed.