other hundreds of thousands of brave men had died to win, the war was
prolonged, thousands of millions were added to the National Debt, and half
trained boys and elderly fathers of families were hurried into the firing
line. At that time there were in hospitals or in depots, convalescent from
venereal disease, enough fully-trained allied soldiers to furnish, not an
army corps but a great army, complete almost from G.O.C. to trumpeter.

Fear of disease does not prevent immorality, as may be judged from the
immense prevalence of venereal disorders. But it does drive baser
characters to the pursuit and seduction of "decent" girls. In this way
nearly all prostitutes begin their careers. Prostitutes are much more
diseased than other women, who, though often diseased, are seldom
suspected of disease. Yet, since it has been found statistically that
three out of four men acquire their maladies from amateurs, it is manifest
that prostitutes only hang on the fringe of a vaster immorality. Men, who
know more of these diseases than women, are, on the average, much less
chaste. Medical students who know most are not more moral than other men.
Plainly venereal diseases are causes, not preventives, of immorality.
Nothing, therefore, is gained from their prevalence except a flood of
death, disability, and misery, which falls alike on the just and unjust.

During the war Sir Archdall Reid, employing very simple means, reduced the
incidence of disease among the large body of troops in his charge almost
to the vanishing point. He could not make them more moral, he did not make
them less moral, but at any rate he preserved their services for the
country in its hour of need. And he preserved their future wives and
children from unmerited death and suffering. Other doctors were equally
successful. The town authorities of Portsmouth and many other boroughs are
about to employ these methods for the prevention of disease among the
civil population. This book describes them and tells the story of the