The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-05 00:00:00

A DIFFICULT QUESTION.

The question as to the propriety or impropriety,ri3lrt or no right, of women to avail themselves of
the advantages of a University education has been
just raised in a somewhat unexpected form at St.
Andrews. A young English lady, Miss Elizabeth
Garrett, the daughter of a gentleman of independent
fortune, who has educated herself highly in classics
and iu some of the physical sciences with a view to
the study of medicine, visited St. Andrews during
the summer, and intimated her desire to become a
student in several of the classes during the winter.
She 'received decided encouragement from some of
the professors; and others were understood to say
that they would offer no opposition to her becoming
a student. They were all very gallant except, we
believe, Professor Ferrier, whose strong conservative
tendencies led him to oppose, and to intimate his
opposition with that candour which extorts the re-
spect due to a trusty opponent as to a trusty friend.
Relying on the encouragement which she had re-
ceived, this lady arrived at St. Andrews a few days
ago, and on Wednesday last applied to the Rev. Mr.
Macbean, Secretary of the University, for a matri-
culation ticket, paid the usual fee, received the tic-
ket, and signed her name in the matriculation-book.
Next day she presented her ticket to Dr. Heddle,
the Professor of Chemistry, and asked leave to at-
tend his lectures. He stated that he had no perso-
nal objection, and gave her a letter to Mr. Ireland,
the Secretary of the United College, authorising
him to give her a ticket for the chemistry class.
On presenting this letter and paying the class
fee, she, according to the usual course, ob-
tained the ticket. In the same way she obtained
a ticket for Dr. Day's Class of Anatomy
and Physiology, he having no objections to
her being a member of it, but, on the contrary,
giving her a cordial welcome. All this was very
well, and just what might have been expected from
the distinguished and accomplished Professors of
this ancient and celebrated University. But, un-
luckily, they seem somehow to have becomealarraed
at the idea of being the first to take the lead, or
rather to permit of its being taken, in regard to this
so-called " innovation" of educating women in a
college, and in those branches of education that
have been generally confined to men, or at least not
sought after by women. Accordingly on Saturday
the Senatus met and passed a resolution to the effect
that the issuing of the matriculation ticket and the
class ticket to Miss Garrett was not sufficiently
authorised; that this novel question raised ought to
be deliberately considered and decided ; that the
opinion of other Universities and of lawyers should
be taken if thought expedient, and that in the mean-
time professors should be enjoined to defer allowing
the attendance of this lady on the classes of the
University. No one can fail to sympathise with
the difficulty of the St. Andrews' Senatus. We feel
assured that it appears to them a very serious one,
or gentlemen so enlightened and so much before the
age in point of liberality as the majority of its mem-
bers are, would not have hesitated to make up their
minds at once and settle this question one way or
other upon grounds of reason and common sense.
We feel sure that on these grounds the great majo-
rity of the professors think as we think, that it is
not wrong, but right, to educate women in the
highest pitch possible, and that female doctors of
medicine would be a great boon to society, and an
inestimable safeguard to the feelings of delicacy of
their own sex. However, there is still left the prac-
tical difficulty of mixed classes of young men and
young women—especially in medical classes—and
we can see that this difficulty may attain very for-
midable proportions, though not at St. Andrew's,
which, in this sense, would be a favourable field for
the experiment. The classes there are all com-
paratively small, in anatomy averaging about a
dozen, and in chemistry about twice that num-
ber; so that every student is under the professor's
eye, and no indecorum can go unnoticed, as might
be the case in very large classes. Moreover, not
many ladies are likely soon to seek to attend college
classes, and such as do are all but certain to be true
and devoted student& By a strict entrance exami-
nation all frivolous female applicants could be ex-
cluded, should they ever think of efrering them-
selves, which will not be until the tide of fashion
has set in very strong, and that cannot be for a
generation or two. But one lady—a true lady with
self-control sufficient for the most difficult positions
—need give no great cause of alarm. If the diffi-

culty as to mixed classes does not arise hereafter,

and experience is against their continuance, they
can be put down as easily as they can be repressed
now. But, besides these practical, there are knotty
legal points in the matter. For example, it may
be doubted whether any Senatus can exclude ladies
from those Universities that are established by law
and supported by public money. Where do they
find the right to do it ? Girls are not yet prohibited
from attending palish schools—they are rather en-
couraged to attend—and what difference is there,
unless arising from custom, between parish schools
and Universities? We are unaware of any difference
in law. Males are admissible, and in Acts of Par-
liament the male includes the female. It may have
been decided in the Court of Session some time or
other that a woman was not entitled to the privi-
lege of a University education, but we have never
heard of any such odd decision. Most likely the
question was never raised, and we presume that but
for custom it is still open. A custom that regulates
the measure of rights may be very important ; but
when there has been no exercise of right at all,
there can be no custom, and it is not in every class
of circumstances that the non-use of a right is fol-
lowed by the loss of it. Not very long ago the
women of this country could neither write nor spell.
Would custom have been effectual to prevent their
entering classes for spelling and writing at schools P
—Scotsman.

ACCIDENT ON 7HE LONDON AND
NORTIL-WESTERN RAILWAY.

Yesterday morning an accident of an alarming
nature happened on the West London line of the
London and North Western Railway. A coal train,
consisting of 25 waggons and two break vans, left
Willesden-station about 9 a.m. for Fulham-bridge,
and proceeded at the customary speed for such
trains as far as the canal, which is passed before ar-
riving at Wormwood Serubbs, where the coupling
chains broke and the train was divided into two
portions, the first consisting of the engine, the two
break vans, and five waggons, and the second of the
remaining 20 waggons. As there was no shock when
the chains gave way the men in the break vans did
not know of the accident, and so the first portion
went on for some little distance, leaving the other
behind. On arriving at the bridge on Wormwood en.ll3l7)s,the men in the train were apprised of the
oiu ccurrence by some men working below. The men
the break vans instantly stopped the train, and
as it was very f
Was in the
first oggy at the time, Henry Plews, who
after the other break van, ran up the line to see
there was waggons. In the second break van
ilatigeto.n examiner and a breaksman,
named Joseph
placed next to the
ennegbam• Both break vans were
incline on the down linein
, account of the great
Before Plews had proceeded
far the missing waggon,
trerd him at great speed. '
Buckingham, who saw
first van to take off the breaZlnbuintg' went into the
before he could
do so the two portions of the train
The van in which he was at we came into collision.
rk waB.
Jemmied right
up,and hung over the bridge, and the
precipitated into the roadway henellatZfell"v was
of about 50 or 60 feet. Ile was taken na d
iistance
-P naensi.
ble, and conveyed to St. Mary's Hospital, Padding_
ton, where he was promptly attended to by Dr. Urge- I
and notwithstanding the skilful medical treatment'
to which he was subjected our reporter was informed
that the injuries he had received were so severe that
death would inevitably follow, and he could not last
many hours. He is between thirty and forty years
of age, and has a wife and ono child. The other
men in the train jumped off, and so escaped any
serious injury. Both of the vans and many of the
waggons were very much damaged, The top of the
van in which Buckingham was at work when the
accident took place was found by his side on the
ground. Mr. Bruyers, general superintendent, was
soon on the spot with a large force of men, by whose
exertions the line was cleared and the traffic re-
sumed in a few hours afterwards.

REALM OF LONDON DURING TILE

IV FES.

(From the Regzstrar-General's Weekly R.:tarn.)

The deaths in London, which rose in the preced-
ing week to 1,224, declined in the week that ended
last Saturday to 1,884. The avera le number of
deaths in the ten weeks (of 1852-61) corresponding
with last week becomes, with a correction for in,.
crease of population, 1,215. It appears from this
statement that the number of deaths in the present
return is less by 31 than it would have been if the
average rate of mortality at the end of October had
prevailed.
Scarlatina, which had been recorded in 104 cases
in the previous week, declined to 94 last week.
Of the latter number 3 occurred in the sub-dis-
trict of St. Mary, Paddington, 3 in that of Ken-
Sington Town, 3 in the Amwell sub-district
(Clerkenweil), 3 in the town of Bethnal-green, 3
in Mile-end New Town, sin Kennington first part,
3 in Peckham, and as many as 7 in the sub-dis-
trict of St. Peter, \Valwortb.
The death from measles were rather numerous in
the week—they rose to 68. Nine children died of
measles in the district of Kensington, 3 in the sub-
district of St. Botolph, 11 in the district of Shore-
ditch,th3e Tottenham
-court
Wandsworth.
andsworth
In subdistrict
occurred from " ague (16 days), apoplexya death
(2
hours.)" A boy, aged 2 years, died of porrigo. A
woman, aged 63years, of lupus exedens.
In the Kensington Town sub-district there were,
besides the three deaths from scarlatina mentioned
above, 3 from measles, 3 from diphtheria, and one
from typhus.

Last week the births of 920 boys and 963 girls,
in all 1853 children, were registered in London. In
the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1832-61
the average number (corrected) was 1856.

At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 26.682 in.
The reading fell to 29.44 in. on Sunday, and it was
29.82 in. on Monday and Wednesday. The mean
temperature of the air in the week was 46.8 deg.,
which is exactly the average of the same week in
43 years (as determined by Mr. Glaisher). The
highest day temperature was 58 deg. on Sunday—
the lowest night temperature was 28.5 deg. on
Thursday. The range of the thermometer in the
week was, therefore, 29.5 dcg. The mean daily
range was 13.3 deg. The range on Thursday was
23.3 deg. The difference between the mean-clew
point temperature and air temperature was only 1.7
deg. The air was excessively humid. The mean
degree of humidity was 94, the point of complete
saturation (100) having been reached on Thurs-
day and Friday, and nearly reached on Sunday,
Tuesday, and Saturday. The wind was in the
south-west on Sunday and Monday ; it was after-
wards in the north-east ; and on the last
three days it was in the south-east and East.
The total amount of rain was 0.54 in. There
was rain on six days. There was fog on the night
of Wednesday, which became very dense on the
following morning. The mean of the highest tem-
peratures of the water of the Thames was 50 6 deg.;
the mean of the lowest 48.6 deg.

TH.r. TARRAGONA AND MICLIEL GROVE

AFFAIR.

Ours is nct a sporting paper. We neither keep
a prophet nor a poet, nor advertise "tips," nor pub-
lish " the odds ;" nor have we any sympathy with
the detestable new morality which prevails among
the habitues of Newmarket and Hyde Park-corner.
Our sole object, therefore, in noticing an affair
which has kept the sporting press and the sporting
world in a state of ebullition for the last fortnight
is to point out how utterly absurd and untenable
are the pretensions put forward by the friends of
the individuals implicated in the Tarragona and
Michel Grove affair, when they argue that those
persons should have been dealt with by the stewards
of the Jockey Club otherwise than offenders on
their trial are usually dealt with by the ordinary
tribunals of the country. It appears that two
officers of the Guards, named Burnaby and Annes-
ley, have been accused of foul play at Newmarket.
Colonel TlSnenaby is stated. to have osnsed lxis mare
Tarragona to be "pulled" in a match with a horse
called Michel Grove, and Captain Annesley to have
made a fictitious or collusive bet with the owner of
Tarragona, with the view of misleading those who
heard the bet made, and inducing them to suppose
that Colonel Burnaby really considered his mare
likely to win a race which he had privily arranged
that she should lose. When the subject was first
brought to the notice of the Jockey Club Colonel
Burnaby expressed great anxiety that a full and
searching investigation of his conduct should take
place before that tribunal, and, as the club appear
to have readily acceded to and acted upon the gal-
lant colonel's invitation, it seems to us that the
complaints which are now made by that officer's
friends of the over-rigorous way in which the in-
quiry was conducted must necessarily fall to the
ground, If the colonel did not really want a full
and searching inquiry, he ought not to have asked
for it. The result of the investigation has been a
dry verdict of " not proven," which, as may be sup-
posed, is by no means satisfactory to Colonel Bur-
naby, Captain Annesley, and their friends. Long
before this verdict was arrived at their supporters
in the sporting press had been clamouring loudly
for a full and complimentary acquittal, abusing the
Jockey Club for hesitating to accept the word of
honour of the parties accused that they were not
gulty as a conclusive proof of their innocence, and
lamenting that " a court of honour" should be con-
ducted by English noblemen and gentlemen in the
same deliberate and stringent manner as a common
court of justice. Having now discovered that the
Jockey Club was not to be intimidated by the
vapouring of racing prophets, the same writers are
proceeding to denounce that body as a prejudiced
and incompetent tribunal, and are recommending
the injured officers to appeal for protection to the
Commander-in-Chief, who, we should imagine, has
no leisure to bestow upon the " urgent private
affairs" of gambling Guardsmen. It may, therefore,
not be inopportune to explain to the uninitiated
who the members of the Jockey Club are, what are
the which they wield, and how far they are
present instance to have misused them.
like
ly in powers
the
The Jockey Club is composed of 62 members, almost
all of them persons of high degree, and all of them
thoroughly conversant with "turf" matters and
e turf" men. Among these are to be found one king,
fot.r dukes, five marquises, 20 earls, One count, two
viscounts, six lords, five baronets, and but 18 com-
moners. The Earl of Derby is a member of the
club; so is Viscount Palmerston. More than half
of the club are members of the Legislature, and, as
such, are in the constant habit of conducting the
most difficult and important inquiries. The great
majority of them are men of unblemished character;
and although it cannot be denied that there are
among the lot a few black sheep, who would be shy
of showing themselves in a witness-box, the only
wonder is how they got into such good company,,ter •
and why they are allowed to remain in
it after
hav-
ing betrayed their true colour on the turf and in the
ring. It cannot, therefore, justly be said that the
accused in this Tarragona and Michel Gro -.T case have
been tried by inexperienced hands, or that such
men as those of whom the Jockey Club is mainly
composed (Capt. Annesley's brother being actually
a member of the club) would be likely to allow the
slightest shadow of an imputation to rest unjustly
on the characters of two gentlemen of their own
class, with whom they have been for years in daily
and familiar intercourse, if they could, with honour
and with justice, have protected them from such a
o disgrace.t It has been urged that the club ought
not to have permitted themselves to return any ver-
dict one of guilty or of
Why not?
en
the characters
entirely
on
the Does not the nature of a verdict depend
oef
and on theirvidence submitted to the Court, on
owitnesses who give the evidence,
man
depend a little on
eerh of
giving
it?
previously bore ? 2e
tics always honourable
the judge never allo a
the dock in significant silence? Doe
him that he has met with nude Does it not also
Are
which the accused
acquittals in courts of jus-
w the
complimentary ? Does
ed
accused to slink out of
Does h e never tell
served good luck in
getting off, and that he had better be careful for
the future ? We know nothing of the circumstances
of the present case, and wish to know nothing of

them; indeed, we care very little whether the par-
ties accused of foul
play are guilty or innocent, or
whether they deserve the modified acquittals against
which they are now protesting. Bat we see no rea-
son why the Jockey Club should not have arrived
at the conclusion at which they have arrived if they
thought that it was borne out by the evidence ad-
duced before them, or why they should be expected
to go out of their way to compliment Col. Burnaby
and Capt. Annesley on their complete innocence if
they entertained any doubts of it, which they very
possibly may do. Col. Burnaby and Capt.Annesley
knew very well what sort of a tribunal the Jockey
Club was when they appealed to it. Had they
chosen, they might have refused to submit to its
jurisdiction, and have stood upon their own cha-
racters. The worst, or rather the best, that could
have happened to them would have been exclusion
from the heath and the rooms at Newmarket and
from the stands at Epsom and Ascot, so limited
are the powers which the club wields. But es
they did not see fit to do so, as they invited the
opinion of that tribunal and volunteered to
submit to its decision, to which they would have
appealed triumphantly had 'it been more in
their favour, we really conceive that the only
sensible and manly course which is now open to them
is to eat their leek in silent resignation, thank their
stars that they have not fared worse, and do their
best to mend their ways for the future. They may
rest assured that such a case as theirs will not be
bettered by the combined ravings of all the racing
prophets in England, no matter how loudly or how
rabidly they rave.— 7he London _Review.