ection on the women subjected thereto
were, however, quite different from those on the troops. In 1866, there
were, to every 1,000 prostitutes, 121 diseases; in 1868, after the law
had been in force two years, there were 202. The number then gradually
dropped, but, nevertheless, still exceeded in 1874 the figure for 1866
by 16 cases. Under the Act, deaths also increased frightfully among the
prostitutes. In 1865 the proportion was 9.8 to every 1,000 prostitutes,
whereas, in 1874 it had risen to 23. When, towards the close of the
sixties, the English Government made the attempt to extend the Act of
Inspection to all English cities, a storm of indignation arose from the
women. The law was considered an affront to the whole sex. The Habeas
Corpus Act,--that fundamental law, that protects the English citizen
against police usurpation--would, such was the sentiment, be suspended
for women: any brutal policeman, animated by revenge or any other base
motive, would be free to seize any decent woman on the suspicion of her
being a prostitute, whereas the licentiousness of the men would remain
unmolested, aye, would be protected and fed, by just such a law.

Although this intervention in behalf of the outcasts of their sex
readily exposed the English women to misrepresentation and degrading
remarks from the quarter of narrow-minded men, the women did not allow
themselves to be held back from energetically opposing the introduction
of the law that was an insult to their sex. In newspaper articles and
pamphlets the "pros" and "cons" were discussed by men and women; in
Parliament, the extension of the law was, first, prevented; its repeal
followed later. The German police is vested with a similar power, and
cases that have forced themselves into publicity from Berlin, Leipsic
and other cities, prove that its abuse--or be it "mistakes" in its
exercise--is easy; nevertheless, of an energetic opposition to such
regulations naught is heard. Even in middle class Norway, brothels were
forbidden in 1884; in 1888 the compulsory registration of the
prostitutes and the inspection connected therewith were abolished in the
capital, Christiania; and in January, 1893, the enactment was made
general for the whole country. Very rightly does Mrs. Guillaume-Schack
remark upon the "protective" measures adopted by the State in behalf of
the men: "To what end do we teach our sons to respect virtue and
morality if the State pronounces immorality a necessa