186
1205
-5-
From 1886-1896 the nu:ber of inscribed women in Berlin averaged 3,006: in 1905 there were 3,115 and in 1910 thore were 3,559 (9)
It is estimated that for about the years 1908-12, of the clerks and merchants between the ages of 18-28 in Berlin, 45% had had syphilis, 12% gonorrhoea ini Breslau 774 had had syphilis, 200 gonorrhoea. (10). This does not show rogula- tion as an efficient preventive of venereal disease.
A census taken by the Prussian Government on 30th April 1900 shewed with incomplete returns that in Berlin only 18.46 per 10,000 of the, population were under medical treatmont for venereal diseases.
In an investigation made in 1913 in the large cities in Germany there were 64 per 10,000 inhabitants under treatment and in spite of the inclusion of venereal disease under the government Health Insurance scheme and the opening of 164 dispensaries for advice the incidence of disease remains very high as a similar enquiry through the large towns in Germany in 1919 shevod 61 per 10,000 of the population under treatment.
However, in the letter enquiry, owing to post war con- ditions, fewer medical men responded to the questionnaire, and on a closer analysis of the figures Dr. Berger of the German National Board of Health estimates the number under treatment as 80 per 10,000.
In 1903 an Amending Act to the Health Insurance Act did away with the special disabilities of the venereally diseased, A year before this the German Society for Combating Venereal Diseases had been formed. As the result a system of Dispen- Saries for the insured venereally infected has sprung up throughout Germany. By 1921 there were 164 such centres and the number of patients under treatment rose from 4,839 in 1916 to 107,985 in 1920.
As the result of a more general understanding of the problem on the part of the medical profession and the public, Bills were introduced in 1918 and 1922 at the instigation of
The Bill the German Society for Combating Venereal Diseases. for 1922 has passed through all its stages and only awaits ratification. Under this the regulation of prostitution is
The altogether abolished and sanitary measures are taken. whole of the administration with reference to venereal disease becomes a matter for the Public Health Service and among other measures the knowing transmission of disease is penalised.
It is very clear that under regulation the incidence of venereal disease, as she 7 by the onquiries made in the large towns, was extremely high, while with the institution of facilities for free treatment for the whole population very large numbers were brought under treatment and the medical opinion in the country has been convinced that the persistence of the regulation system is a barrier to the complete success of their present scheme.
(9) "Prostitution in Jurope" by Flexer. p.144.
(10) "Prostitution in Europe" by Flexner quoting Blaschko.