_The Latin System and the Germanic System._--Two circumstances mainly determine the manner in which in a particular country the care of foundlings is regulated. The first of these is the condition of poor relief in the country we are considering, inasmuch as the care of foundlings is merely one section of poor relief. The second is the legal position of illegitimate children, for the majority of the children to be dealt with in this connection are illegitimate. The essential peculiarity of the Latin system lies in this, that abandoned and neglected children are dealt with through the mediation of foundling hospitals. This system obtains especially in those countries in which no inquiry into paternity is permitted. In the Germanic system, on the other hand, foundling hospitals are unknown, and abandoned and neglected children are dealt with on the same lines as other destitute persons. The children are cared for directly by the local authorities responsible for poor relief, being in some cases boarded out, in others cared for in orphan asylums or other institutions. The foster-parents of boarded-out children are directly supervised by the Poor Law authorities. If the parents or other near relatives of the children are living, it is only when the relatives are unable to provide properly for the children, or are themselves in need of poor relief, that the children are regarded as requiring public assistance. The public assistance, in such cases, is not given to the child, but to the person or persons regarded as legally responsible for the child’s support. Thus, the child remains with its family as an individual relieved in common with its relatives. The Latin system employs a similar method to the one just explained for the relief of unmarried mothers (_secours temporaire--secours aux filles-mères_). To render it unnecessary for the mother to send her child to a foundling hospital, and to relieve her of the cost of maintaining it outside, she is provided with a monthly allowance. This method, which, notwithstanding obvious defects, is ever more widely applied, is of course associated with a supervision of the mother--a supervision that is too often defective.