[240] A sixth less numerous class might be added of the young girls, often no more than children, who have been practically raped by men who believe that intercourse with a virgin is a cure for obstinate venereal disease.  In America this belief is frequently held by Italians, Chinese, negroes, etc.  W. Travis Gibb, Examining Physician of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, has examined over 900 raped children (only a small proportion, he states, of the cases actually occurring), and finds that thirteen per cent have venereal diseases.  A fairly large proportion of these cases, among girls from twelve to sixteen, are, he states, willing victims.  Dr. Flora Pollack, also, of the Johns Hopkins Hospital Dispensary, estimates that in Baltimore alone from 800 to 1,000 children between the ages of one and fifteen are venereally infected every year.  The largest number, she finds, is at the age of six, and the chief cause appears to be, not lust, but superstition.

[241] For a discussion of inherited syphilis, see, e.g., Clement Lucas, Lancet, February 1, 1908.

[242] Much harm has been done in some countries by the foolish and mischievous practice of friendly societies and sick clubs of ignoring venereal diseases, and not according free medical aid or sick pay to those members who suffer from them.  This practice prevailed, for instance, in Vienna until 1907, when a more humane and enlightened policy was inaugurated, venereal diseases being placed on the same level as other diseases.

[243] Active measures against venereal disease were introduced in Sweden early in the last century, and compulsory and gratuitous treatment established.  Compulsory notification was introduced many years ago in Norway, and by 1907 there was a great diminution in the prevalence of venereal diseases; there is compulsory treatment.

[244] See, e.g., Morrow, Social Diseases and Marriage, Ch.  XXXVII.

[245] A committee of the Medical Society of New York, appointed in 1902 to consider this question, reported in favor of notification without giving names and addresses, and Dr. C.R.  Drysdale, who took an active part in the Brussels International Conference of 1899, advocated a similar plan in England, British Medical Journal, February 3, 1900.

[246] Thus in Munich, in 1908, a man who had given gonorrhoea to a servant-girl was sent to prison for ten months on this ground.  The state of German opinion to-day on this subject is summarized by Bloch, Sexualleben unserer Zeit, p. 424.

[247] A. Despres, La Prostitution a Paris, p. 191.

[248] F. Aurientis, Etude Medico-legale sur la jurisprudence actuelle a propos de la Transmission des Maladies Veneriennes, These de Paris, 1906.

[249] In England at present “a husband knowingly and wilfully infecting his wife with the venereal disease, cannot be convicted criminally, either under a charge of assault or of inflicting grievous bodily harm” (N.  Geary, The Law of Marriage, p. 479).  This was decided in 1888 in the case of R. v.  Clarence by nine judges to four judges in the Court for the Consideration of Crown Cases Reserved.