In ordinary hospital practice only visible sores are treated, and gonorrheal discharges as long as they are apparent; the prostitutes are then allowed to return to their brothels. Moreover, inspection is made too rapidly; for, if every woman was examined carefully from head to foot every week, neither the brothels, the prostitutes nor the doctors could exist. Certain persons have made the proposition, as ridiculous as it is radical, of submitting every man who visits a prostitute to medical inspection! This would indeed be the only means of preventing the infection of prostitutes. But I ask my readers to imagine such a measure put in practice. Is it likely that the _habitués_ of brothels, some of whom visit prostitutes nearly every day or oftener, would make this known to a doctor in their town, and submit, before each coitus, to a medical examination which would cost them more time and money than their pleasure! Can one imagine doctors examining whole _queues_ of clients waiting their turn in brothels when business is brisk! Whilst an independent prostitute still possesses some human sentiment and a vestige of modesty which cause her to choose as far as possible a limited number of clients, the police certificate of regulation officially places the woman who receives it in the class of the pariahs of society, and this leads to her losing the little that remains of her womanly nature. In brothels, the last vestige of her human nature is trampled under foot. =Degrees of Prostitution. Protectors.=--Several degrees can be recognized in private prostitution. A variety of prostitute rather less low than others, looks for clients at public balls, certain cafés and other doubtful localities, and hires herself to a certain number of temporary acquaintances. The lowest and most common form of private prostitution is that of the streets. Generally at night, but sometimes in the daytime, these prostitutes, dressed so as to attract attention, promenade in certain well-known and frequented streets, and solicit passers-by. This is the common method employed in nearly all towns. This solicitation is supervised by the police in countries where prostitution is regulated, and is only permitted to women who possess their certificate of inscription. Here the "protector" (bully) intervenes, and keeps an eye on the clients at the prostitute's house, or sometimes in the street. If they do not pay up, or pay too little, or if they threaten or ill-treat the woman, the protector administers a drubbing, and sometimes relieves them of their purse or clothes.