"_Report of Doctor_ H. N. WHITTELSEY, _Resident Physician of Randall"s Island, in answer to certain queries of_ ISAAC TOWNSEND, _Esq., Governor of the Alms-house, upon Const.i.tutional Syphilis_:
"New York, November 28, 1855.
"DEAR SIR,--From repeated conversations with you, I am led to believe that many diseases incidental to the children on Randall"s Island may properly be traced to parents who are affected with const.i.tutional syphilis. Please give me your views as to the following questions as early as 10th December.
"1. Among the children under your care, to what extent does inherited syphilis exist?
"2. Under what form does const.i.tutional syphilis present itself, and what diseases are attributable to its taint?
"3. Are not the children of parents thus affected unhealthy, scrofulous, subject to diseases of the eye, joints, etc.?
"Very respectfully, "ISAAC TOWNSEND, Governor A. H.
"Doctor H. N. WHITTELSEY, Resident Physician, R. I."
"Randall"s Island, Dec. 24, 1855.
"ISAAC TOWNSEND, Esq., President of the Board of Governors of the Alms-house.
"DEAR SIR,--In regard to the interrogatories contained in your note of a recent date on the subject of hereditary syphilis, I have the honor to reply:
"1. Regarding its prevalence. It is a matter of record that nine tenths of all diseases treated in this hospital during the past five years have been of const.i.tutional origin, and for the most part hereditary. These diseases a.s.sume a variety of forms, and involve nearly every structure of the body, terminating in cachexia, marasmus, phagedaena, etc., etc. The exact proportion which hereditary syphilis bears to this sum of const.i.tutional depravity can not be stated with accuracy for the following reasons:
"Children are admitted to this inst.i.tution between two and fifteen years of age, thus throwing out of the category infantile syphilis in all its forms; and except in few cases, showing none of its specific characteristics, having been modified by appropriate treatment, but manifests itself by general const.i.tutional depravity, and determines a great variety of diseases, embracing nearly every form of skin disease, affection of the mucous membranes and their dependencies, diseases of the eye and ear, of the bones, especially of joints, etc., proving the prolific and lamentable source of many of the diseases incident to children of the cla.s.s presented in this inst.i.tution.
Making, then, due allowance for its masked form, in which the consequences of inherited syphilis appear in this inst.i.tution, together with the absence of the previous history both of patients and parents, it is believed an approximate estimate may be made of the part which this malady bears to the sum of const.i.tutional disease.
From the foregoing facts, and from careful observation during the past few years in this branch of the Alms-house Department, it appears that human degradation is the source of the stream of pollution supplying this hospital with disease; and farther, that of all the vices which make up the sum total of depravity, both moral and physical, prost.i.tution and its consequences furnish the larger proportion.
"Here we have the sad picture presented of a large number of children doomed to an early grave, or to breathe out their miserable existence bearing a loathsome disease, carrying the penalties of vice of which they themselves are innocent, being a generation contaminated, and capable only of contaminating in turn.
"In the above sketch I have confined my statement to syphilis as manifested in the Nursery Hospital, where the average number of cases of disease treated is about two thousand. From this field is excluded every variety of the disease except the one, viz., const.i.tutional syphilis affecting children after having been modified by treatment in the infant.
"H. N. WHITTELSEY, M.D."
It has been stated already that the information obtained in the course of this investigation is, to a very great degree, undoubtedly reliable; but a few words more in reference to the same subject will not be out of place, if we consider the importance such information a.s.sumes when it is made the basis of serious deduction. These women were examined singly and alone, and a person who has been engaged for a number of years in any particular inquiry is able, by his experience, to judge whether his informants are speaking the truth in their replies. For this, among other reasons, we are satisfied that in almost every case there was no deception practiced, but that the answers obtained were true in all essential points. Another evidence of correctness is the degree of congruity that characterized the greater part of the replies. Farther than this: a reference to the questions themselves (as reprinted in chapter x.x.xII.) will show that they were so arranged that falsehoods would be easily detected unless very carefully contrived before the time of examination, of which those examined had no notice, and consequently no opportunity for fraud or deception could possibly exist.
It is not denied that there were many difficulties to be encountered, although the mode of operation was simple. It may be briefly described as follows. The captain of each police district (and oftentimes the writer with him) explained his object to the keeper of the house, a.s.suring her that there was no intention to annoy, hara.s.s, or expose her; and, particularly, that no prosecutions should be based upon any information thus collected. This latter promise was supported by a letter from a high legal functionary addressed to the Mayor and Police Department, a.s.suring them that the particulars they collected should not be used in any manner prejudicial to the women themselves, as it was believed that a collection of the necessary information required by such a work as the present would be productive of good to the city. When satisfied upon the subject of prosecution, they were told that the real motive was to obtain correct particulars of prost.i.tution without exposing individual cases, so as to enable the public to judge of its extent, and a.s.sist them in forming an opinion as to the necessity of arrangements which would ultimately become protective to our citizens at large, as well as to housekeepers and courtesans, and many of the housekeepers expressed a hope that the design might be accomplished. Their interests, therefore, led them to speak the truth. In short, from the precautions taken, and from the result itself, very little doubt can be entertained as to the authenticity of the princ.i.p.al part of the replies on all essential points; and upon this consideration these replies have been made the basis of the description and remarks upon PROSt.i.tUTION IN NEW YORK.
The task is completed, and the reader"s attention may be invited to the various facts substantiated, as embodied in the following
RECAPITULATION.
There are six thousand public prost.i.tutes in New York.
The majority of these are from fifteen to twenty-five years old.
Three eighths of them were born in the United States.
Many of those born abroad came here poor, to improve their condition.
_Education is at a very low standard with them._
One fifth of them are married women.
One half of them have given birth to children, and more than one half of these children are illegitimate.
The ratio of mortality among children of prost.i.tutes is four times greater than the ordinary ratio among children in New York.
Many of these children are living in the abodes of vice and obscenity.
The majority of these women have been prost.i.tutes for less than four years.
The average duration of a prost.i.tute"s life is only four years.
Nearly one half of the prost.i.tutes in New York admit that they are or have been sufferers from syphilis.
Seduction; dest.i.tution; ill treatment by parents, husbands, or relatives; intemperance; and bad company, are the main causes of prost.i.tution.
Women in this city have not sufficient means of employment.
Their employment is inadequately remunerated.
The a.s.sociations of many employments are prejudicial to morality.
Six sevenths of the prost.i.tutes drink intoxicating liquors to a greater or less extent.
Parental influences induced habits of intoxication.
A professed respect for religion is common among them.
A capital of nearly _four millions of dollars_ is invested in the business of prost.i.tution.
The annual expenditure on account of prost.i.tution is more than _seven millions of dollars_.
Prohibitory measures have signally failed to suppress or check prost.i.tution.
A necessity exists for some action.
Motives of policy require a change in the mode of procedure.