GOSSIP FROM ABROAD.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 279, 18 August 1908, Page 3

GOSSIP FROM ABROAD.

Dr. Wera Dantschakoff has just been officially .engaged- and recognised by tho Russian Government, to lecturo at . the Moscow University. Dr. Dantschakoff, who is considered , one. of the greatest authorities on anatomy in Russia, has only reached her present position after an exceptionally hard fight against .the prejudices which all pioneers in woman's work havp to face. For two years she ijcted as chief of a hospital containing 500 beds, - and _ she also, personally superintended, the .carrying on of the laboratory'at Jekaterinslew, Dr. Wera Dantschakoff, first claimed public _ notice by a clover lecture which she delivered at tho first -International Anatomical Congress at Geneva: She also' lectured -at tho seventh Zoological Congress at Boston,'.and the last Congress of the Anatomical Society in Berlin: '■

iliss Elspeth M'Clclland can claim to bo the pioneer of lady-builders. She is absolutely ,the first girl in the United Kingdom to learn the work in classes devoted '.'to J practical building. Her first serious ' effort' at housebuilding ..was a model cottage; which she designed for. the ,Letchw6rth Cottage Exhibition, but .since then she has built other cottages to order 'in different parts of the country, and has superintended the alterations and decoration of many small houses. Miss M'Clelland has her own' ideas for house-designing. "I have a very great belief in: mating a house'really-fit the tastes and needs of those who are to, live in it," she remarked. '.'I do not, for instance,, think it is.sufficient'to know tho size of the family and :the number of servants that are to be ,kept. - In.'addition, I should try to ; get a clear idea of the amount of entertaining to be, done, also the'different tastes of the family." M'Clelland-'is a* young lady of many talents. After building a house for her clients, she will design wall-paper, carpets,' . mantelpieces, and , even - the furnituro'to suit tho rooms.

Of the morganatic marriages recorded in the I histories of ' European royalties' (says ■an , English magazine), -perhaps the most remarkable was ■ that between Elsie Hensler, the singer, and King Ferdinand 'of Portugal in 1869, for she is the only actress who can boast that sho married a king. This union had a far-reaching) effect ion the history of • Europe; : Ferdinana was : a popular favourite for the succession to Queen Isabella on. the throne'of Spain, but lie stoutly declined to go to Madrid-unless ho could be accompanied by his American wife, and this condition made his candidature impossible.. There followed, in consequence, the nomination of . a Hohenzollern Prince by Bismarck, the Ems telegram,. and the Franco-Prussian War. Though so much attention is paid to'the musical .education of upper class women in England, an ■ English paper considers that there is only ono society woman who can be described as a successful composer of music. She is -the* wife of Sir Charles Euan-Smith, K.C.8., and a daughter of the late General Alexander, R.A. Among Lady_ Euan-Smith's many successful compositions is "Carnelita.' She has also written many sacred compositions, including a Benediction Servico, which is sung constantly at tho Church of the Immaculate Conception in Farm Street, and has set many hymns-to music.