Page:Wrong and Right Methods of Dealing with Social Evil - Elizabeth Blackwell (1883).djvu/65

Rh, but she is advised to enter the Lock Hospital, and afterward return to the Magdalen. The proportion of women whom the Magdalen has been obliged to recommend to the Lock Hospital has grown less. In 1872, 34.7 per cent. were sent to hospital. In 1880 the percentage had fallen to 18.03, showing the diminution in disease. This is confirmed by the annual reports of the Lock Hospital during the past ten years, which repeatedly refer to the abatement in disease, caused in part by the energetic action of the local authorities in enforcement of the laws for the repression of vice.

In 1875 the gratifying result is presented of 414 patients dismissed as cured, out of 446 under treatment, with the remark, "The medical officers, from careful observation of the character of the disease, arrive at the conclusion that its virulence has been diminished" (7558). In 1878 the medical officer reports: "In reference to the period during which each patient remains under treatment, and the beneficial influence on the public health, the period of residence has been gradually diminishing; the disease is decidedly less virulent in its character than formerly, and is not so commonly found amongst the lower and working classes of the population."

The last Hospital Report for 1880 is as follows: "The medical officers append the following statement: Since the year 1805 the objects which the benevolent