Proposal to form a London female sanitary society, and savings' bank / by William Acton.

  • Acton, William, 1813-1875.
Date:
[1857]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Proposal to form a London female sanitary society, and savings' bank / by William Acton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    7/12 (page 5)
    that this is well, or flatter yourselves that you are better than the Pharisee, whom you scorn in your inner chamber, but imitate in your public conduct? If you wiU persist in this know-nothing plan; if you will studiously ignore the existence of vice; if you, like the Levite of old, will pass by on the other side, I say you will have to answer for it. Failing another monitor—that modem invention, the sanitary reformer, must remind you to be up and doing. This lethargy becomes you not. The pear is ripe for the plucking, and the harvest for the gathering,—the evil is at full flood, too. You must stay the inundation, and save the crop, even though, as did your Saviour, you should chance to fall into company with the harlot and the sinner. These are big words, I grant; but the time is come when the con- dition of the Helots who have so long served society to point its morals withal, is forcing itself upon public notice. I, like others, have con- sidered how closely the deplorably low social and sanitary condition of London is connected with the class I refer to; and, after fifteen years' initiation into these mysteries, I admit that I, too, paused and flinched before I broached the subject, fearing to confound the Quixotic with the practical, the charitable with the questionably moral. I have, however, decided to go forwards : and on the eve of publishing a short treatise on the greatest of our social evils, I wish to appeal to my profession for their invaluable assistance. I would ask of them, and, of aU classes in society, they will best appreciate the evil and understand the remedy, and are most likely to be called upon some day to carry out this work, their advice and assistance towards perfecting some scheme of Prostitute regu- lation and amelioration, which shall entitle us yet more to the gratitude of our country. I therefore determined, after consulting some professional friends in whom I have confidence, upon circulating the present sheet, with the view of obtaining the verdict of the profession generally, as well as any suggestions bearing upon the subject-matter, with which persons who take an interest in social reform may be pleased to intrust me. It has, then, been thought desirable, from sanitary considerations, that every female exposing herself to the risk of contracting contagious diseases, should be advised to subscribe,* during her state of health and prosperity, to * I feel that this inviting women to subscribe is the weak point of the whole system— so much so that I have heen over and over again on the point of giving up the notion. It must instinctively be repugnant to every well-regulated mind to be instrumental in col- lecting money that is the wages of sin—the reward of iniquity. Could I have devised any other plan, willingly would I have done so. If the State, as I believe is its duty, or the public, undertook the foundation and maintenance of special hospitals, these words need not have been written. But as such institutions do not seem forthcoming from either source, I am forced back Tii]on this proposal of co-operation : and have silenced ray own doubts by the argument, that the dii-ection of the wages of sin towards the salvation of the sinner, is more than enough to sanctify their handling.