The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-11-23
CURRENT NOTES.

ment to an understanding of its functions.
The work is compiled from the best English
authorities on the British Constitution, Is pub
lished in two volumes, and contains several
good Illustrations
A curious idea is started by a correspondent
of the English periodical, Land and Water.
He proposes that criminals be fed on horse
flesh for meat. The advantages would, he
thinks, be numerous. The flesh is good,
wholesome and cheap The criminals, as well
as most others, have great objection to eat
ing it, however, and the restriction of the ami
NAL diet to this meat would, therefore, be a
punishment and modification Of the flesh,
without working any real injury to the cul-
prit, while the prospect Of having to live upon
meat would be an excellent deterrent from
crime, and the use of 1t would serve to utilize
what is now wholly wasted
While independent and individual immi-
grafton does not appear to be diminishing at
all, there is large increase Of organized colo
nization. It has become no uncommon thing
for great tract Of land in chosen spot to be
entered upon by u colony from Europe, which
comes In 4 body and fills up village or
county in locality before uninhabited. The
latest instance is the purchase of thirty-threc
thousand acres Of land for colony Of twelve
hundred English families, who have built up
the Town of Wakefield, and have established
an agricultural college and school for the re-
ception and education OF orphan boys from the
London School and Farm under the control OF
the Reform Society of London, of which Earl
shaltesbury is president.
At the recent half yearly meeting of the
general council of the University of Edinburgh,
the question of the admission of females TO
the study of medicine, after thorough dis
cussion of the subject, was decided in the
affirmative. The medical faculty had agreed
to separate classes for females. and the uni
yersity court, approving of what the faculty
had DONE deferred all proceedings TO the gene
raj council. During the discussion Professor
Mason stated that in the examination which
had already taken place women had exhlpited
greater knowledge Of medicine and surgery
than the men. On taking the vote the general
council decided, by large majority, in favor
of admitting women. The regulations require
that women shall only attend classes entirely
composed of females. This is the plan to be
adopted, and speedily, in this country.
An iron-cad ship of war, the Moyini Zaffir,
recently built in the Thames, for the Turkish
Government, has been exciting the attention
of English engineers, who claim that an ei-
fecliye antagonist to the monitors has at last
been constructed. 1t appears, however, That
the frame of this new vessel can only sustain
armor plates six inches thick, while the dou-
ble-turreted monitors built in the United States
will support an iron casing ten inches thick
and iron turrets with walls fifteen inches thick.
The casemates of the Turkish ship will carry
Only four Armstrong twelve ton riied guns,
while the American monitors can be mounted
with four twenty-four ton guns, end in TACT,
with the heaviest guns that can be made. In
addition TO impregnability and weight of
guns. the monitors excel the Turkish iron
clad in range. The turrets of the monitor
revolve and the four guns can be trained to
any point in. the horizon, while the Armstrong
guns in their rival are limited to 9S degrees
Taking all these points into consideration, 1t
is asserted that the actual efficiency of the two
turreted monitor as compared with that of the
casemate ship, is as 4O0 10 lis or 3.5 to l. One
of the main objections to the monitors that
ssthc Joint between the turrct and the deck
cannot be made secure" it is cOntendcd has
no foundation in fact.
Communications respecting the SueZ Canal
fall thick and fast. il is only now that the
importancc of the work appears in its full ex-
tent To reduce the navigable distance bc-
tween the West and the East by nearly $500
miles is acknowledged TO be q great under
taking From England 10 India, for example,
the distance by the Cape Of Good Hope is l5,-
600 miles, by the Suez Canal il will be 1900.
The two hundred millions OF Europeans who
send their manufactured products 10 the East,
and the seven hundred millions OI 0ricntals
who consume those products and send in eX-
change their raw materials TO the West, viii
be brought into much more intimate relations.
Shortncss Of time combined with cheapnesS
and avoidance Of trouble Is secured Dy
the canal. As compared with the cape route,
the saving Of time will considerably
more than compensate for the expense OF the
tolls. and as compared with the land route
through Egypt, while the time is nearly the
same. the trouble is NIL, and the expense con
siderably less-thc railway charge for convey
ing goods between Alexandria and Suez being
more than double the ten francs per ton pro-
posed as the rate for the canal. Much time,
however, must inevitably elapse before any
thing like o full development OF the antlclpa-
ted traffic can be realized; and many modlilci- =
tons and changes, all involving great outlay,
will have to be made. The sharp turns in the
canal must be done away with, and the
breadth and depth considerably increased.
Englanl, meanwhile, begins to see that the
success OF the work deals much heavier
blow at the monopoly she has enjoyed of the
trade between the East and the West than any
Mtherto experienced