The authoress of "Poems by L." has just published "St. Bernardine," a dramatic poem, a tale of the fifteenth century (Whitfield).

"The History of the Temperance Movement in Great Britain and Ireland," by Samuel Couling, (Tweedie,) includes Biographical Sketches of well-known Temperance advocates.

Among educational works we notice Miss Sewell's "Ancient History," comprising Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia.

We believe we are correct in stating that Mrs. Henry Wood, in addition to "East Lynne" and "The Channings," just completed, is now conducting three serial stories in the pages of as many periodicals: "The Shadow of Ashlydyat," in the New Monthly; "Mrs. Ashburton's Niece," in the Quiver; and "The Life Secret,' in the Leisure Hour; added to which, we understand the new volume of Once a Week will commence with a story from the same pen, illustrated by Charles Keane.

LXVIII. MADAME LUCE AND THE GREAT EXHIBITION.

OUR readers, who may remember the biographical account of Madame Luce, published in this journal for June, 1861, are informed that a large case of Algerian embroidery, executed in the Ouvroirs Muselmans under her supervision, is to be found in the Algerine Department of the French Court. The articles are for sale, and are chiefly adapted for beautiful and expensive toilettes: embroidered jackets, handkerchiefs, scarves, &c. Dolls dressed in Algerine costume, and a pair of rich curtains, are also to be found in the case, which adequately represents Madame Luce's extraordinary energy, and the exquisite manufacture of female handicraft in Algiers. B. R. P.

LXIX.-OPEN COUNCIL.

(As these pages are intended for general discussion, the Editors do not hold themselves responsible for the opinions expressed.)

LADIES,

To the Editors of the English Woman's Journal.

I have read with much interest the letters which have appeared in your valuable journal on the desirability of ladies entering the medical profession, and having myself been intimately connected with that profession for many years, I beg leave to offer a few suggestions, trying to forget as far as possible the vexed questions of "rights of doctors, and rights of women," former precedent, and such like; and simply looking upon it as a matter of business, and as we do when choosing professions for our boys.

In the first place, it seems to me that if our young ladies could become

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Physicians, which, by the way, your correspondents usually style them, they might see their way," as the expression goes; but it must be remembered that before a man takes to this, the higher branch of the profession, he must have had a long and expensive education, he must at all events be supposed to possess superior abilities, and last, not least, he must have sufficient money to keep him in the position of a gentleman till he becomes known to his medical brethren and the public generally. He is also expected to hold some public appointment. Now, as I do not imagine that it is contemplated that young ladies with money shall betake themselves to professional work, there remains nothing for those without it but to join the already overcrowded ranks of general practitioners. That they are overcrowded, is, I think, universally admitted. We will say nothing of the multiplicity of brassplates always before our eyes; but if there is work to be found in this way, why do so many young medical men fail in obtaining practice, and turn to emigration as a pis-aller? We will suppose our daughter to have completed her medical education, to possess a good constitution, and average abilities and energy. Well! in the name of wonder, where is she to begin to practise? An army appointment is out of the question; employment in the mail packet or emigrant service equally so; and few, I think, except your correspondent, who has decided that woman's bodily strength is equal to that of man, would condemn her to the hard work, the long rides by day, and often by cold snowy nights, which are requisite to enable the young country surgeon to do little more than earn his daily bread.

Hapless the man, whom hard fates urge on
To practise as a country surgeon!"

Necessarily, then, our young Doctor must betake herself to towns, and begin, as her brethren around her are doing, with small fees, picked up in poor localities; and till these localities become very different from what they now are, would any man entertain for a moment the idea of a lady belonging to him visiting them at night, and alone; and yet this of necessity must be the

case.

Far be it from me to maintain that many women would not make excellent doctors. All I hold is, that in this country at least there is no demand for them, and that with such odds against them in the struggle-odds resulting partly from the laws of nature, and partly from the constitution of society, it would be impossible for them to undertake their share of professional work, even if it were given to them. That such would ever be the case I very much doubt. The office of the family doctor is looked upon as almost sacred, and so much is this the received idea, that I believe the great majority of women would quite as soon entrust themselves to the care of a medical man as to that of one of their own sex. Sympathy and tenderness are not always desirable; and in cases where they are so, few medical men will withhold them, and yet retain their practice. We believe that the desire for such demonstrations is strongest in young girls. We have heard of a boarding school of young ladies all seized with hysteria; mistress and teachers adding fuel to the flame by the injudicious display of that sympathy so much valued by one of your correspondents. The entire school was cured in a few minutes by the firmness and apparent severity of an eminent medical man. It is the difference of sex, of strength, and of disposition, which gives the one sex so much power over the other. Who does not know the ease with which a lady influences boys, and who has not felt how much more readily a great lad will submit to his mother than to his father; and vice-versa, men exercise an influence over the minds of women that one of themselves will never do; and how desirable is that influence, when we consider that mind and body are twin sisters, and that the one seldom suffers without the other in a greater or less degree becoming affected?

In conclusion, I must apologize for a letter which to me has been an easy task-for it is always easy to show the difficulties of an undertaking when

proposing no remedy for them; but it seems Quixotic, not to say cruel, to encourage our countrywomen of the middle ranks to educate themselves for a profession in which there is no opening for them, and where so many men find their fortunes shipwrecked, as the records of our Medical Benevolent Fund, alas! so sadly testify, and where they will hold no higher position than that of educated nurses or midwives, whatever high-sounding name may be at first bestowed upon them. To your correspondent, who charms us with the idea that " a practice of four or five hundred a year is not thought much of among physicians; but ladies who can seldom, even by hard work during their best years, earn more than, say £200 a year, will not despise the crumbs which fall from the rich man's table," I would suggest that she advertize that some such crumbs are to be had, and I fancy she would be surprised at the number of Lazaruses who would appear, in the persons of middle-aged men of high moral character, excellent testimonials, good education, fair abilities, and only too thankful to pick them up. Before allowing them to do so, I should insist on their showing their marriage certificate, and this I believe they could readily do, for among their numbers there are few to be found who do not, and that pretty early in life, support

A DOCTOR'S WIFE.

LADIES,

To the Editors of the English Woman's Journal.

A plan of giving Lectures to ladies, by a lady, was read by me with much pleasure in your Journal of October last; and I have waited with great interest to see in what manner that suggestion would be received and acted upon. Many months have been allowed to pass by; and then, only in the month of April, one lady was found willing to undertake and organize a work, which must be of incalculable benefit to all those who choose to avail themselves of it. I have been a constant attendant at these Lectures, on History and Useful Subjects, and am therefore able to bear witness to the efforts made to render them worthy of the mission for which they are intended. When I tell you that the Lectures have been given in the lady's own drawing-room-which can of course hold but a limited number, that the distance from any central part of town is an objection, (the house being in the N.W. district,) and that the whole labor and trouble of each lecture has fallen entirely upon herself, you will see that the difficulties have not been slight. Now it appears to me that the success might be much greater, if a number of ladies were to take it in turn to lecture, choosing a farge room in some central position: by adopting this plan, the actual work would be divided, and so fall heavily upon no one, the plan would be more perfect, and union in so good a cause would bring a great blessing with it. Again, I would suggest that the movement should emanate from Langham Place, and be strongly and efficiently supported by those connected with the Institute. I believe, with the exception of one or two personal friends, nothing has been done by the Society for promoting the undertaking. I read in the little pamphlet on "Women and Work,"(circulated from Langham Place,) that "1000!! women ought to be trained as Lecturers," and yet the whole movement is left to rest, with all its weight of labor and anxiety, upon one!!! How glad I shall be if, on reading these few poor words of mine, some of those ladies, so capable of lecturing, should be induced to help personally in a work, to which I am sure they so heartily wish success. I am, Ladies, yours truly,

A LISTENER.

LXX.—PASSING EVENTS.

PUBLIC AND POLITICAL.

HER Majesty returned to Windsor Castle from Balmoral the beginning of June, and has proceeded to Osborne, where the marriage of the Princess Alice with the Prince of Hesse is fixed to take place. The Queen's birthday was not publicly celebrated. The poor at Balmoral, however, were not overlooked. Her Majesty sent Mr. Loland with a supply of tea, sugar, and flannels around the district, with instructions to ask how each of the old recipients were, as regarded health and comfort. The Queen, accompanied by the Princesses Helena and Louisa, and Lady Bruce, had a drive in the afternoon, visiting some of the poor in the neighborhood of Abergeldie.

HER Majesty's interest in the International Exhibition has never flagged, and it is now assuming a more active form. With delicate kindness she has purchased 1000 half-crown tickets for the International Exhibition, to be given in her name to deserving pupils of the various schools of design. She has also purchased 3000 shilling tickets for distribution among the workmen who helped to build the Industrial Palace.

THE Royal Princes and Princesses have been, during their sojourn at Windsor, almost every day at the building.

By command of Her Majesty a monument has lately been erected in Whippingham Churchyard, Isle of Wight; it consists of a cross on three steps and circle, with the following inscription:-" To the memory of George Frederick Jones, born 1820, Groom to Queen Victoria, and the faithful attendant during thirteen years of the Royal children, by whom this stone is erected. 1862."

THE Prince of Wales arrived in England from the East on the evening of June 14th.

THE Japanese Ambassadors have left this country for the Netherlands; they intend proceeding from thence to Russia, Prussia, and Portugal, before they return to their native country.

THE Viceroy of Egypt is now in England, and a constant visitor to the International Exhibition.

SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL.

THE Sixth Annual Meeting of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science was opened in London on Thursday the 5th of June, and the Session was concluded on the 14th instant. The venerable Lord Brougham was President.

AN interesting though melancholy return of the number of suicides during 1860, in England and Wales, has been published. By this it appears that in England 1,365 persons (one in every 14,286 of the population) terminated their existence; while in France the numbers were 3,057 men and 842 women. During the same year, 14,775 persons in England and Wales died a violent death-being one in every 1,328 of the population. The returns further show that many women are now burnt to death in consequence of the prevailing fashion in dress; the annual number, according to the RegistrarGeneral, far exceeding those who in the days of superstition were burnt as witches.

WOMEN IN WORKHOUSES.-In March of last year there were 39,073 adult females in workhouses in England and Wales, and this classification of them can be given :-10,644 were women or girls who had misconducted themselves, and among these were 470 idiotic, or weak-minded, single women, but with a child or children; 5,160 other women and girls were imbecile, idiotic, or weak-minded; 19,182 were respectable women and girls, who were inmates

of a workhouse generally on account of age, bodily infirmity, or illness, only 2,267 being able-bodied: 2,389 were married women deserted by their husbands, or with their husbands in gaol; and 1,698 were married women with their husbands also in the workhouse.

MUNIFICENT GIFT.-Miss S. Lechmere, resident in Somersetshire, has presented £300 to the National Lifeboat Institution, to enable it to pay the cost of the lifeboat and transporting carriage which the Society is about stationing at Withernsea, near Hull. Some lamentable wrecks, with loss of life, have occurred near that dangerous place. It is a gratifying and remarkable fact that most of the lifeboats presented to the institution have come from ladies. One gift is of a striking character. A lady, who has to this day withheld her name, had come to the institution month after month until she had given the cost of four lifeboats.

In a letter published in a late number of the Cincinnati Gazette, Mr. John M'Lean Collins, who was lately at Memphis, gives the following account of what he saw there :

:

"On the 25th of April, 1861, I was arrested upon the allegation that I was a correspondent of the Tribune, and thrown into a dark and loathsome dungeon, where the accumulated filth of years rendered existence for any length of time impossible. This arrest the Avalanche was exceedingly jubilant over, and had their counsels for summary execution been acted upon, I would not now be writing this letter. While confined in that city, I was compelled to witness the enormities perpetrated in obedience to the behests of those who ruled the mob. One hour in the morning, from six to seven, was allowed me to stand at the window-grate, and at such times their whippings and head shavings were indulged. Here I saw, from the 27th of April to the 6th of June, eighty-five men whipped and their heads shaved, and fortythree hung, because they refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Southern Confederacy. And on the 19th of May last, one of the most beautiful and accomplished young ladies this country can boast of, was stripped to the waist, thirteen lashes laid upon her back, and the right half of her head shaved, simply because she had purchased a ticket for Cairo, and was congratulating herself that she would soon be in a land of freedom. These crimes, which make the blood curdle in our veins, and rouse a vengeance blood alone can quell,' were regarded as small matters by the Avalanche, altogether too insignificant to be noticed."

ON Thursday, May 30, an interesting scene took place at the East India Docks, Blackwall, on the occasion of the embarkation of the first thousand colonists, who are now on their way for New Zealand, in order to found the new settlement of Albertland, (named after the late Prince Consort,) about fifty miles from Auckland. The colonists consisted of nearly all classes of society.

THE VICTORIA PRESS.-The Queen, in token of her satisfaction with a volume lately printed for Her Majesty by the female compositors at the Victoria Press, has, by a warrant of the Lord Chamberlain, appointed Miss Faithfull "Printer and Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.'

THE Annual Meeting of the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women was held at Guildhall on the 11th inst. The Annual Report was read and passed. It will be given in the August number of this journal.

LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.

MR. BUCKLE, the author of " The History of Civilization," has died of fever at Damascus, at the early age of thirty-nine.

MRS. ELIZABETH DIXON, widow of the late John Dixon, Esq., Surgeon, Royal Navy, and daughter of Archibald Dalzel, Esq., some time GovernorGeneral of Cape Coast Castle, died at Tripoli, in Barbary, on the 30th of last April. It was chiefly through the persevering efforts of this excellent lady