nd abandoned girls,
except such as no law could save from what is really innate
depravity; and that there are no illegitimate children except
those whose mothers are unhappily nearer to animals by their
senses than to human beings by their reason and dignity."

The new civil code of Japan, which is in many respects so
advanced, allows an illegitimate child to be "recognized" by
giving notice to the registrar; when a married man so recognizes
a child, it appears, the child may be adopted by the wife as her
own, though not actually rendered legitimate. This state of
things represents a transition stage; it can scarcely be said to
recognize the rights of the "recognized" child's mother. Japan,
it may be added, has adopted the principle of the automatic
legitimation by marriage of the children born to the couple
before marriage.

In Australia, where women possess a larger share than elsewhere
in making and administering the laws, some attention is beginning
to be given to the rights of illegitimate children. Thus in South
Australia, paternity may be proved before birth, and the father
(by magistrate's order) provides lodging for one month before and
after birth, as well as nurse, doctor, and clothing, furnishing
security that he will do so; after birth, at the magistrate's
decision, he pays a weekly sum for the child's maintenance. An
"illegitimate" mother may also be kept in a public institution at
the public expense for six months to enable her to become
attached to her child.

Such provisions are developed from the widely recognized right of
the unmarried woman to claim support for her child from its
father. In France, indeed, and in the legal codes which follow
the French example, it is not legally permitted to inquire into
the paternity of an illegitimate child. Such a law is, needless
to say, alike unjust to the mother, to the child, and to the
State. In Austria, the law goes to the opposite, though certainly
more reasonable, extreme, and permits even the mother who has had
several lovers to select for herself which she chooses to make
responsible for her child. The German code adopts an intermediate
course, and comes only to the aid of the unmarried mother who has
one lover. In all such cases, however, the aid given is
pecuniary only; it insures the mother no reco