Magdalenism : an inquiry into the extent, causes, and consequences of prostitution in Edinburgh / by William Tait.

  • Tait, William.
Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Magdalenism : an inquiry into the extent, causes, and consequences of prostitution in Edinburgh / by William Tait. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    ber necdssary for the supply of those dens of vice about 600— ^he nufiiboT in private lodgings, in rooms of their own, or living with fiicuds;, is ;il)ont 200 ; amounting in all to about 800, or about^ne to every eighty of Uic adult male population.) Ifi^on- doii)there is for every sixty]; and iiVParisy^ne for every fifteen,^ Edinburgh is thus about twenty-five per cent', better in point of morality than London ; while the latter is about seventy per cent, better than Paris ! And what is to be said of the chief city of the^nitetl States of America^of the independent, liberal, reli- gious, and enlightened inhabitants of/New York ?; It will scarcely be credited that that city furnishesv_a prostitute,; forj^'every six or sevenjof its adult male population ! Alas ! for^lie reli^on and morality of the country that affords such a demonstration of Jts depravity^ It was not surpassed even by the metropolis of France during the heat and fervour of the Revolution, when libertinism reigned triumphant, and the laws of God and man were alike set at defiance.* It may be objected by some, that the;inhabitants of Edinburgh, being ^professedly a religious peo|D)e, |luve more respec^ for their characters ^han to expose themselves publicly on the streets^;while they nevertheless incline to^and(in fact do )follo_w,/a life of prosti- tutio]^)in a sly and secret manner; whereas, in France and America, all who choose to follow a life of this kind do so openly and fear- lessly, and that this is the chief reason why prostitutes appear to be more numerous in these countries. So far from this being an ex- tenuation of the crime, or in favour of the morality of the inhabi- tants of these nations, it is directly the reverse, as^othing could be advanced more unfavourable to the morality of any city br nation, i than that they were so hardened in their wickedness as to appear | publicly on the stfeetrwithout experiencing any degree of shame.j' * The manner in -vvliicliftlicsc calculationsyro^iadc iis as follows :—The 'pne-half of the population of these citicSvis supposed to tic mal'cs-ira^ third part is subtracted from this nimiberjj^as being^ithcrjoo younger tjoo old Sof exorcising their procreativefunc- tions—and^hc remainder's dividcd^)y,(thc number of public prostitutes^n each city. The number'of prostitutes supposed to exist in/EdinbUrgli is 800 ; in London,: COOO ;y in'Paris^BjOOO^ anlflnTNow Yorkj[iO,OpO^-vvlnch gives llic proportions iabovc stated. ' '