INTRODUCTORY.
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its part in the future welfare of society. It has long been recognized, that, for the best good of the individual and posterity, there should be a sound development of body and mind, requiring a pretty definite term for its accomplishment, as a platform on which to rightly pose the special function of sex. A failure to secure this must inevitably militate against physical integrity, and to a great degree affect the moral status of the sufferer.
A youthful moral distortion involves inseparable present enmity to right physical and mental development. To this attaches persistent injury of fabric; and, even if the train of physical and social evils incident to prostitution and a life of misery do not follow, there is sure to result a lessened vigor and vitality. The influences that bring about these interchangeable moral and functional perversions are notably abundant in the present “ omissions and commissions ” of industrial employments. Says Cashel 1,* “ The
* P. Gaskell : The Manufacturing Population of England.
3 *