Morning journal and courier., 1880-02-21

At a recent woman's rights conference in
 Boston some letters from college presidents
 on the question of coeducation of the sexes. were read. President Seelye of Amherst said:
 ''It is my judgment that at the age usually | attained in a college course the distinctive | traits of each sex require so distinct treat
 ment that coeducation is really disadvantage l to both. Instead of being in the line of true progress, it seems to me truly 8 retro gression." President Chadbourne of Williams said 'fTo throw together for four years hundreds of both sexes just at that time of fife when their affections are most intense, their passions most easily, aroused, and they themselves without experience, ,-is 6 condition of trial to which would subj ect no son or daughter and for the result of which, as an educator, would never become responsible" President Bascom of the. Wisconsin Univer- sity said t: 'There is no variety of opinion in our faculty as to the fitness of coeduca- tion. So strongly do I feel on the subject that regard the opposite view as simply prejudice uncorrected by experience-the man of the tropics denying the existence of snow." President Barnard of Columbia said: s'I have no question that the time is coming, and that, relatively to the lifetime of nations, it is not very far distant, when all our princi- pal universities-Harvard and Yale and Prince ton and Columbia, and the rest-wiu open their lecture rooms as freely to women as to men,"
 There Is talk of introduci ng in New York city the plan of MT. Edward Atkinson, of Bos- ton, for protecting large cities from fire, and if it is tested there the experiment will be watched with much interest The system is simply an adaptation of that already in use in many New England factories, by means of which 8 supply of water can be obtained without trouble at the highest point in a building. In applying it in cities, Mir. Atkin- son proposes that a fourinch pipe shall be laid along the roofs of all the buildings in Q block. to be fed by three or four stand-pipes located at convenient distances and connect ing with the water mains under the streets. The roof-pipe is to have openings at which hose can be connected at each party wall, and, in order that it's circuit around a square can be conveniently traversed, even where the build ings are not of the same height. there is to be Q narrow pathway, with stationary steps or ladders. The roof-pipe may also be connect ed with the steam force pumps of the build ings in the block that may happen to be sup piled with such apparatus. Under ordinary circumstances, this roof-pipe is to be empty, for, in this latitude, if it were filled it would in the winter months be liable to rupture by the freezing of the confined water. The ad- vantage claimed for the system is this: When a fire now occurs which cannot bs put out by the fremen forcing their way with the hose into the burning building, the plan of attack is changed, and the fremen, by means of lad ders, carry lines of hose to the roofs of the adjacent buildings, and attempt to quench the flames by deluging the building that is on fire with water. This is exceedingly awkward method the hose is heavy and not easily handled, and cannot readily be conveyed from place to place, while great difficulty is experi- enced in forcing large and serviceable streams of water through it when taken to great al tituds. Now, with Mr. Atkinson's plan, the course of procedure would be wholly differ ent. Failing to put out the fire in the build ing, the fremen would mount to the roofs, and the water having been let on at the vari- ous stand pipes, they could make connections with one or more short lengths of hose wherever they desired. If the natural flow of water was not sufficient, and this would frequently be the case, it's force could be greatly increased by having steam fire engines pump directly into any one or all of the stand pipes.