who visit them if they wish to stay. If not confined to their beds they are at liberty to go during the day, and see their friends to understand that their stay in hospital is for examination.
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A still be continued after the Ordinance was abolished. For while the law was still in force those who were detained in hospital were always allowed to see their friends and are well acquainted with the risks of their profession and that they may become diseased without knowing it until the disease has reached an advanced stage entailing a long period of sickness, which if they had been warned of earlier might have been prevented. They see friends or other women who come in from sly brothels to the Hospital laid up for months or perhaps die from the effects of severe attacks by syphilis. They see other friends who have been warned in time and are not in Hospital but are visiting it as out-patients.
It was for these reasons that these women petitioned that they should not be detained against their wishes. Any friend who came to visit them in the afternoon every day and those women who had never been examined learned to appreciate the necessity of getting treated as early as possible to avoid being laid up for weeks if not months.
This is the reason for their regular attendance and the care that has been taken not to suggest to the young women that they should come into Hospital unless absolutely necessary for their good. This has made them more regular year by year since the abolition of forced attendance.
If the instructions of the Secretary of State were carried out they would regard it as a great piece...