rtain
sense, socially useful as an outlet for masculine sexuality and a
preventive of crime" (Lombroso and Ferrero, _La Donna
Delinquente_, 1893, p. 571).

Those who have opposed this view have taken various grounds, and
by no means always understood the position they are attacking.
Thus W. Fischer (in _Die Prostitution_) vigorously argues that
prostitution is not an inoffensive equivalent of criminality, but
a factor of criminality. Fere, again (in _Degenerescence et
Criminalite_), asserts that criminality and prostitution are not
equivalent, but identical. "Prostitutes and criminals," he holds,
"have as a common character their unproductiveness, and
consequently they are both anti-social. Prostitution thus
constitutes a form of criminality." The essential character of
criminals is not, however, their unproductiveness, for that they
share with a considerable proportion of the wealthiest of the
upper classes; it must be added, also, that the prostitute,
unlike the criminal, is exercising an activity for which there is
a demand, for which she is willingly paid, and for which she has
to work (it has sometimes been noted that the prostitute looks
down on the thief, who "does not work"); she is carrying on a
profession, and is neither more nor less productive than those
who carry on many more reputable professions. Aschaffenburg, also
believing himself in opposition to Lombroso, argues, somewhat
differently from Fere, that prostitution is not indeed, as Fere
said, a form of criminality, but that it is too frequently united
with criminality to be regarded as an equivalent. Moenkemoeller has
more recently supported the same view. Here, however, as usual,
there is a wide difference of opinion as to the proportion of
prostitutes of whom this is true. It is recognized by all
investigators to be true of a certain number, but while
Baumgarten, from an examination of eight thousand prostitutes,
only found a minute proportion who were criminals, Stroehmberg
found that among 462 prostitutes there were as many as 175
thieves. From another side, Morasso (as quoted in _Archivio di
Psichiatria_, 1896, fasc. I), on the strength of his own
investigations, is more clearly in opposition to Lombroso, since
he protests altogether against any purely degenerative view of
prostitutes which would