large, but rapidly increasing in size at the present time.
The typical rule of prostitution, although absent from some civilizations, is that the woman who “sins” once, if found out, becomes permanently a prostitute. Exceptions are made, in later forms of civilization, in favor of women belonging to certain small classes, but these exceptions are not of sufficient importance to alter the general conditions. Prostitutes are in general childless, except for the single “love child” which is in many cases the instrument through which the woman’s “sin” is discovered, and through which, therefore, she is committed to harlotry. In total, the progeny of harlots are of small consequence.
Prostitution furnishes therefore a sink, into which certain lines of human descent are constantly vanishing. The types of woman absorbed in this sink include two of probable importance as regards their effect on the stock. These are, first: the feeble-minded, who, according to current statistics, are found in significant frequency among harlots and “delinquent” woman;[1] and second, those women who are more like the male in the temporal course of sexual desire than is the
- ↑ Caution in evaluating these statistics is necessary. They are of course drawn from the relatively small class of “delinquents” who are caught; and of course the woman of lower intelligence is more apt to be caught than is the more intelligent “delinquent.” To a lesser degree, the same consideration applies to the statistics on relative frequency of nymphomania.
