Have we realized that every feeble-minded girl is a potential prostitute? Have we realized that feeble-minded mothers give birth to large numbers of children doomed to mental deficiency? Have we realized what this will ultimately mean in deterioration of human stock and in the complication of social problems? To stop the stream which is bringing into prostitution large numbers of mentally deficient girls and women, we must safe-guard these girls and prevent them from having offspring. Evidence presented to the Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-minded in Great Britain, and careful studies in America, show conclusively that mental deficiency tends strongly to be inherited, and that feeble-minded mothers are more prolific than normal women. P. 267. _DOWNWARD PATHS. An Inquiry into the Causes which Contribute to the Making of the Prostitute. With a foreword by A. Maude Royden. T. Bell & Sons, Ltd. London._ It is astonishing to find experts denying the element of economic pressure as a factor in the creation of the prostitute. It is an influence constantly present and it is only when we interpret it to mean actual physical starvation that we can say it is rarely a determining factor. Economic pressure does not begin with starvation, it ends there. There is again the long strain of underfeeding and overwork, of the absence of interest, variety and color, and all that makes life worth living to a human being. Poverty often means isolation, and isolation the absence of all those ties which keep us in our place in the social order, and make it worth while to preserve our self-respect. To be without this is to be constantly in danger and it is economic pressure which has thrust many over the brink of the precipice, though few would say their fall was due to actual starvation. P. 10. Intimately connected with this aspect of the question is that of home and housing, especially of the child. The age at which children are first corrupted is almost incredibly early, until we consider the nature of the surroundings in which they grow up. Insufficient space, over-crowding, the herding together of all ages and both sexes, these things break down the barriers of a natural modesty and reserve. Where decency is practically impossible, unchastity will follow, and follow almost as a matter of course. There are certainly natural defences in the right instincts of young people brought up in the right kind of home, which we look for in vain among those who have never had space enough for growth, or privacy enough for refinement. P. 11. We must allot to bad housing and over-crowding a foremost place, not only as undermining the physical health which conduces to normal sexual relationship, but also as a danger to the wholesome innocence of youth. P. 21.