SELECTED ARTICLES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 155, 19 October 1876, Page 3

SELECTED ARTICLES.

FEMALE DOCTORS. \ the opinlor* of l%dT* JSfwtsf, after ly jaar» of battle, «&* admission of \mx ci> pracfiicw as doctors is about fa ktlad. ih» the awtlwa for the second n* u| trie JftidMsal Act (Foreign Urntoss) BuJi, by Mr. CWp.tr Temple, a to ensued, which, la the «tfw r j*otacumpromae ttMi" will ptßti"»'«t)p b under wnku woin*n, t <fc» nmhtf IMr nw»Oi«dlp»ac«ke, ha*» tHruugh the ofe«tßStt« Mtfmafisy of

the British medical profession. Mr. Disraeli may rest assured that the removal of impediments from the path of female medical students will not be reckoned one of the minor beneficial rt salts of Ins domestic policy. The late Oov\ i-uu:: nt soar* d high tti«>ve such objects as i.->■„■ ;:>:t»:iv-;-r:i of w>men to medical degrje.»t: a:;-.i ieit behind them a goodly crop of unsettled domestic questions which the Tories arc taking np one by one, an I out of which they arc making weighty political capital. This question of qualified female medical practitioners is one that will eventually make a quiet and most beneficial revolution in every English household.

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC IN A BOAT.

A foolhardy feat has been safely accomplished by a Danish sailor named Alfred Johnsen, who has succeeded in sailing from Amcrida to England in a decked boat, 20ft. long, partialy flat-bottomed, iitted with a centre-board, and built m three water-tight compartments. He started from Gloucester, Massachusetts, on the Isth June, in this boat, which is named the Centennial, and has a single mast. He pat into Shake Harbor a week after starting, his compass being affected by his iron ballast, but this being remedied, he took his final departure from America on June 25th. On July ~th, heavy weather came on, during which some of his provisions were spoilt. He was then spoken by a barque, bound from Mexico to Liverpool, whose master offered to take him and his boat on board, drop them off Cape Clear, and say nothing about it, but Johnsen declined to accede to such a proposal. On the 2nd August, when about 300 miles from Cape Clear, Johnsen hove his boat to, a gale blowing at the time. About half-an-hour after heaving to the boat was capsized by a s«a, but Jjhnsen managed to get on the keel, where he remained for twenty minutes, when the boat was struck by another Sea, and he succeeded in righting her. JNo sooner had he got in than a shark came so close alongside as to touch the boat with its fins. Johnsen drove it off by means of a knife fastened to an oar. The account of the whole transaction, I must confess, seems to me rather apocr, - pliat. Five days later he got some bread and wafcjr from a passing brig, his prou'talous being damaged oy sea water. He sighted Mihord otA/.e 10th, and the wind :>Joining contrary he put into Abercastle, t'tml-roACshire, fur two days, sailing again on tue I2t;t, and reaching Liverpool on the 21st. Johnsen, who is a described as "a smart intelligent man of about 3.3," landed in good health, though suffering fYom want of steep and cramped by long axmnemeut, he having been forty-seven days in tne bo»s from bind to land alone. »Vhen asked if he vemthl care to repeat the voyage he answered tr.at he " thought ,ie bad bad about enough of it." He was ;.i good deal cheered on sailing* up tiie uderaey, witere his arrival was expected. tits boat is now on view at trie Kockf\rry tfolel there, and its txhtbition in various j/lace-a wilt probably bring Johnson a goon mm of money, Her average dady run tie calculates at about Sjventy miles.—Correspondent JMtityr Time*.

ENGLISH EXTRAVAGANCE. The first thing (says the Pnll Mali Clitzntl*) remarked in England by the intelligent foreigner is tne poverty of a people uraliowing in health. Nothing more astonishes the stranger's mind here c tan the juxtaposition, the mixture of meanness and raagnifieencs. Tne cause is rootled learned. We islanders will spend thirteenpenee ottt of a shilling, when the continental only spends elevenpence. And why do families migrate abroad for economy ( Tiie price or" a ponnd of bread is inacii the same r n most parts of the civikiaed world. The truth is, that what we Jeem necessaries in England we find to be inxttries abroad j economy resuJts not from paying less, bat from wanting less. In England we eat too much meat; once a day should solace for all save the hardest worked of working men. We drink too much ; *' tltstisable stimulants" should not be naed, except invalids, till late in tuo day; and the modem system oi •'drops" and "pick-me-ups," vulgarly called " nips," would ruin the strongest constitution. We smoke too much. Wisely said the Hodgts of yore to their .teirs, " Let not tuo smoke of the pipe go between thee and the sun I" and the practice of perpetual cigaretting is, U possible, worse than that of " nips." We ride and drive even in cabs, when we should, walk ; we pasa our evenings at expensive entertainments instead oi cheap spectacles ; in tact, we do a number of things waic i make ute, so economical abroad, dear in England. The reduction of even small incomes may do immense national good by preaching more simplicity of life.