f humanity."
In these words of Duclaux, the distinguished successor of Pasteur at the
Pasteur Institute, in his noble and admirable work _L'Hygiene Sociale_, we
have indicated to us, I am convinced, the only road by which we can
approach the rational and successful treatment of the great social problem
of venereal disease.

The supreme importance of this key to the solution of a problem
which has often seemed insoluble is to-day beginning to become
recognized in all quarters, and in every country. Thus a
distinguished German authority, Professor Finger (_Geschlecht und
Gesellschaft_, Bd. i, Heft 5) declares that venereal disease must
not be regarded as the well-merited punishment for a debauched
life, but as an unhappy accident. It seems to be in France,
however, that this truth has been proclaimed with most courage
and humanity, and not alone by the followers of science and
medicine, but by many who might well be excused from interfering
with so difficult and ungrateful a task. Thus the brothers, Paul
and Victor Margueritte, who occupy a brilliant and honorable
place in contemporary French letters, have distinguished
themselves by advocating a more humane attitude towards
prostitutes, and a more modern method of dealing with the
question of venereal disease. "The true method of prevention is
that which makes it clear to all that syphilis is not a
mysterious and terrible thing, the penalty of the sin of the
flesh, a sort of shameful evil branded by Catholic malediction,
but an ordinary disease which may be treated and cured." It may
be remarked that the aversion to acknowledge venereal disease is
at least as marked in France as in any other country; "maladies
honteuses" is a consecrated French term, just as "loathsome
disease" is in English; "in the hospital," says Landret, "it
requires much trouble to obtain an avowal of gonorrhoea,
and we may esteem ourselves happy if the patient acknowledges the
fact of having had syphilis."

No evils can be combated until they are recognized, simply and frankly,
and honestly discussed. It is a significant and even symbolic fact that
the bacteria of disease rarely flourish when they are open to the free
currents of pure air. Obscurity, disguise, concealment furnish the best
conditions for their vigor and diffusion, and these favoring conditions we
have for centuries past acc