man demands freedom for work and for pleasure. But
such national differences, if they exist, are tending to be levelled down,
and charges of criminal abortion are constantly becoming more common in
Germany; though this increase, again, may be merely due to greater zeal in
pursuing the offence.

Brouardel (op. cit., p. 39) quotes the opinion that, in New York,
only one in every thousand abortions is discovered. Dr. J.F.
Scott (_The Sexual Instinct_, Ch. VIII), who is himself strongly
opposed to the practice, considers that in America, the custom of
procuring abortion has to-day reached "such vast proportions as
to be almost beyond belief," while "countless thousands" of cases
are never reported. "It has increased so rapidly in our day and
generation," Scott states, "that it has created surprise and
alarm in the minds of all conscientious persons who are informed
of the extent to which it is carried." (The assumption that those
who approve of abortion are necessarily not "conscientious
persons" is, as we shall see, mistaken.) The change has taken
place since 1840. The Michigan Special Committee on Criminal
Abortion reported in 1881 that, from correspondence with nearly
one hundred physicians, it appeared that there came to the
knowledge of the profession seventeen abortions to every one
hundred pregnancies; to these, the committee believe, may be
added as many more that never came to the physician's knowledge.
The committee further quoted, though without endorsement, the
opinion of a physician who believed that a change is now coming
over public feeling in regard to the abortionist, who is
beginning to be regarded in America as a useful member of
society, and even a benefactor.

In England, also, there appears to have been a marked increase of
abortion during recent years, perhaps specially marked among the
poor and hard-working classes. A writer in the _British Medical
Journal_ (April 9, 1904, p. 865) finds that abortion is
"wholesale and systematic," and gives four cases occurring in his
practice during four months, in which women either attempted to
produce abortion, or requested him to do so; they were married
women, usually with large families, and in delicate health, and
were willing to endure any suffering, if they might be saved from
further child-bearing. Abortion is frequently eff