Calvinistic ideas, that is, rigid Protestantism, and common sense, have always struggled together in Germany, and the authorities have had the greatest trouble to regulate a necessary evil—the one of which we are treating. The practical views of the administration were fought against up to 1855, when a fixed system was established.
During the whole of this time the public health was entirely neglected, which one can partially understand, for syphilis did not make many ravages during the 16th century. It was not until the 17th that the necessity for checking its progress made itself felt. The first regulation bearing upon this scourge appeared in 1700. A medical visit was ordered every fifteen days; women found to be tainted were at once sent to the hospital, and, when cured, sent to a prison or workhouse, where they laboured until they had paid off the cost of curing their illness.
The moral condition of Berlin in 1717 was sad in the extreme. The houses of correction were not sufficient to hold the prisoners committed to them, clandestine debauchery had reached its height, and, to remedy this deplorable state of things, it was found necessary to increase the number of tolerated houses, the number of which, in a very little time, increased to an alarming extent. At the end of the seven years’ war, more than a thousand houses of this nature might have been counted in the city, each containing on an average nine women. These houses were divided into three distinct classes, the lowest of which accommodated ruffians and blackguards of every description. The prostitutes were there dressed commonly, and like working people. The houses of the second category were devoted to the artizans and the middle classes. Those of the third class, were, of course, devoted to the rich, and contained women well dressed, and in every way qualified to seduce from the paths of virtue.
In 1796 another attempt was made to reduce the number of prostitutes, but like all former attempts of the same nature, it proved ineffectual on account of the augmentation of secret vice. This was at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century; and caused syphilis to increase very much, and the old regulations were put in force from 1815 to 1829.
In 1844 the respectable inhabitants of Berlin clamoured loudly for the suppression of houses of ill fame; and the government, in spite of the remonstrances of the police, listened to the petitioners, and, in 1845, all houses of this nature were closed, and the girls sent back to their homes, or some other place that they indicated outside the Prussian territory. This accomplished, the consequences very soon made themselves felt, and the Puritans, who were at the bottom of the measure, were compelled to confess that their precipitancy and ill-advised legislation were productive only of the worst effects. Clandestine prostitution developed enormously, syphilis extended its ramifications, and, after ten years, it was found necessary to re-establish tolerated houses.
The garrison suffered dreadfully from disease; so much so, indeed, that General Wrangel solicited the Minister of the Interior to put things on their old footing.
Illegitimate births terrified statisticians by their frequency.
Let us consider the number of natural births during three different periods. The first period shall indicate the births during the time that prostitution was tolerated and spread equally over the city. The second when it was confined to certain streets, and the third during the suppression.
| Years. | Illegitimate Births. | Legitimate Births. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st period, | 1838-9, 1840-1 | 5,652 | 34,450 |
| 2nd „ | 1842-3, 4, 5 | 10,175 | 54,696 |
| 3rd „ | 1847-8, 9 | 5,053 | 26,782 |
The proportion of illegitimate births to legitimate, in the first period, is one to seven; in the second, one to five; in the third, one to six.