A Boy Reader.—1. Candidates for appointments as Engineer Students in Her Majesty's Navy must not be less than fourteen or more than seventeen years of age on the first day of May in the year in which they are examined. Their parents or guardians must pay £40 a year during their training, which may in certain cases be reduced to £25. The pay begins at once at 1s. a week. You can get full particulars by writing to the "Admiralty," London, when papers will be sent you.—2. Barnard Smith's arithmetic is excellent. You can procure it either with answers to the problems or without at a low price. If you want to prepare for any special examination you had better use the prescribed handbooks.

S. T. P. Q.—1. We find it a little difficult to select one play exactly fulfilling all the conditions you describe. Home Plays for Ladies (French, 89, Strand), is published in parts containing three or four plays each, price 1s. each part. Scenes from the Novels of Jane Austen, arranged by Mrs. Dawson, published at 2s. 6d., by J. M. Dent & Co., might suit you; or Fairy Tale Plays and How to Act them, by Mrs. Hugh Bell (Longmans & Co.). We should obtain French's Catalogue in the first instance and send for one or two of the "parts" mentioned.—2. Your writing is very clear. We think it would be better if the loops to your l's, d's, y's, etc., were not so black, and if you avoided the inclination to make your letters pointed.

Rex.—1. There are a great many good French dictionaries, published at prices varying from 21s. to 1s. 6d. As you do not name any sum we may mention Feller's Pocket Dictionary, or Cassell's Dictionary; net cost of either, 2s. 7½d. Do not rely on any dictionary for the proper pronunciation of French.—2. Your writing is very well formed. There is not quite enough freedom about it; it looks too "copperplate" and stiff. But we do not advise you to introduce flourishes. Practice will improve it with regard to the point we criticise.

Marita (an Australian admirer).—1. The best hand-book to help you in composition is How to Write Clearly, by Dr. Abbott; but in order to store your mind with beautiful ideas, you should read the best of all literature, poetry and prose,—Shakespeare, Scott, Ruskin, and so forth.—2. We like your writing. It seems to us characteristic, and as you grow older it will more and more take your own impress. A good distinct sort of handwriting at seventeen is far better than an indefinite scrawl, and makes a more satisfactory foundation for what comes afterwards.

A Grateful Reader, A. L. B.—Would you not like to take a situation in a very good boarding school, and receive painting lessons from the master who teaches there in whole or part return for your services? The only way to hear of such a situation is to advertise in some London paper, or apply to a registry office, saying exactly what you want. You might find a situation on the Continent, entering a family (for instance in Dresden) to teach English, and studying under some artist. There is a Governesses' Home at Dresden, and the Lady Principal might give you some hints. Address, Fr. Hartung, Lehrerinnen Heim, Cranach Strasse, 11, Dresden. Again, you might give some household assistance in return for a home in London, and so attend either the Academy Schools or one of the numerous Metropolitan District Schools of Art. Advertising and private inquiry are the only means of finding what you want.

Othello.—You can obtain Milton's Paradise Lost (abridged) for one penny, in the "Masterpiece Library," but we advise you to spend about 1s. 6d., and to get such an edition as that in the Temple Classics (J. M. Dent & Co., London). We are glad you intend to read it.

Ivanhoe.—1. Are you not thinking of Bulwer Lytton's historical play, "Richelieu"? You can obtain an acting edition for 6d.—2. October 12th, 1875, was a Tuesday. Two questions are our limit.

Veilchen.—Mudie's Library, New Oxford Street, London, supplies a large number of the best foreign books, and as boxes are sent to the country we suggest that you should write there for particulars.

MEDICAL.

Cornflower.—Starch, being one of the chief foods of man, cannot be injurious to the blood. If taken in excess it has a tendency to make you fat. It is most undesirable to get into the habit of sucking alum, for this drug has an exceedingly injurious effect upon the stomach and bowels. Chalk will cause indigestion and constipation. This habit of taking chalk, starch, etc., is due to what is sometimes called depraved appetite, but it is most commonly merely a silly habit, easily broken by a little determination.

Anxious.—You certainly suffer from some trouble with your lungs and need further treatment. You had far better see a skilled physician and have your chest thoroughly overhauled. From your letter, we think that you would obtain great advantage from spending the winters abroad, if you can do so. But do nothing until your chest has been examined.

E. H.—That we do not write for London girls only is abundantly proved by this correspondence column. We have this morning answered letters from all of the five continents. In fact, very few of our medical correspondents are Londoners, which is not surprising, for medical advice is so easy to obtain in the great Capital. Most of our correspondents live in out-of-the-way places—very many in the Australian bush or North American prairies. Of course, the science of medicine is much the same all over the world, and the advice that we give to a person in London is usually applicable to everyone suffering from the same affection in Europe, Asia, Africa or America.

Bivalve.—The question of the causation of typhoid fever by oysters created a great sensation last autumn, and it will doubtless do so again this year. Typhoid is infinitely more common in autumn than at any other season. It is caused by a definite well-known microbe, and it never occurs without the presence of this organism. The question of oysters conveying typhoid, therefore, depends upon the answer to the query, "Can the bacillus of typhoid live in the oyster?" It appears to be an undoubted fact that the living microbe can exist in the living oyster. Some men tried to prove that the organisms only occurred in oysters that were bad; but this was proved to be incorrect. Having decided that oysters can harbour the bacillus, the next question is—"How does the oyster obtain this microbe?" The answer to this is easy. The bacilli can only come from a patient with the disease, and so the oysters must obtain the poison from sewage. As far as we know oysters which are unable to feed on sewage matter cannot possibly obtain the typhoid poison. By no means everybody who swallows typhoid bacilli gets the fever. Typhoid is a distinctly infectious disease, but is rarely, if ever, caught from person to person as scarlet fever and small-pox are. The disease invariably results from taking food contaminated with sewage. Water is the chief vehicle by which the disease is spread, and therefore during epidemics of typhoid all water that is intended for drinking purposes should be boiled. Milk, watercress, oysters, salads, etc., also convey the disease. Milk is a common method of spreading typhoid, either by the milk being diluted with water, or else the cans having been carelessly washed out. Pure milk, absolutely free from water, cannot convey typhoid. Typhoid fever rarely attacks the same individual twice.

Effie.—You can do nothing to alter the colour of your eye. It is not at all uncommon for the eyes to be of different colours, but nothing can be done to cure it.

C. A. E. F.—That you have had gastric ulcer is of course unquestionable, but from what you say you have apparently been well treated. Gastric ulcer is a dangerous disease, and is very liable to recur unless stringent precautions are taken. If, however, patients with gastric ulcer are very careful, the disease gets less and less and usually ends in complete cure; but careful diet is always essential. As you know, the treatment is practically the same as that for severe dyspepsia. As regards your diet, we should not advise much alteration. You must not take oats in any form, for they are indigestible. We would suggest milk instead of cocoa, for notwithstanding all that has been said about cocoa, we have considerable reason for suspecting that it is anything but easy of digestion. When you have pain, you would do well to eat nothing but bread and milk for a day or two, and you should remain in bed during that time. As you get better you might take a little chicken or hashed mutton. It is extremely probable that you will soon get well enough to do some work. You should be careful to be near a doctor to whom you can send immediately that any untoward symptoms become manifest.

"A West Country Inquirer" asks us to explain the following circumstance—"I poured some permanganate of potash solution through the charcoal of my filter—as it were, washing out the filter with it—and the solution retained its bright proper colour. Must not this prove that my filter—a glass one with charcoal for the water to pass through—must be quite free from germs?" We will tell her that it by no means follows that her filter is free from germs. It is true that organisms (or rather their products) do destroy the colour of permanganate of potash, but they can only do so to a certain extent. She says that she used the solution to "wash out the filter." Probably she used some pints. It would require a vast host of microbes to destroy the colour of this quantity of solution. Her filter is, we take it, one with a carbon block, and usually in this kind of filter at least ninety per cent. of the water flows through holes in the carbon and corks, very little of it indeed going through the mass of carbon. Animal charcoal of itself will often decolourise potassium permanganate. If this correspondent wishes to test her filter more thoroughly, let her take out the carbon block and place it in a clean jug full of water, to which one or two drops of the permanganate solution has been added so as to make it a very, very pale pink. Having left it an hour or so, let her place a sheet of white paper behind the jug and see if the solution round the carbon block is paler in tint than the rest of the fluid. Even if this test is negative it will not prove that the carbon block is free from germs; nothing but a bacteriological investigation could prove the block to be sterile.

GIRLS' EMPLOYMENTS.

A Constant Reader (Teaching).—You are thinking of entering the Oxford Senior Local Examination. This undoubtedly would be a wise step. To pass this examination, however, even with the highest honours would not qualify you to take a very good position in the teaching profession, though it would help you towards such a position. A very good plan, if finances must be carefully considered, would be on passing the Oxford examination to proceed to some training college for elementary teachers. At Whitelands College, Chelsea, there is now a course of training that has been arranged specially for girls possessed of a superior general education. If you pass the Oxford examination, you would be eligible to avail yourself of this, and the expense is not very great. The Secretary of Whitelands College would doubtless send you a prospectus on application. Elementary teaching offers, on the whole, better opportunities than does the career of private governess. To become a fully-qualified High School teacher would probably entail too much expense, as you ought to obtain a University degree, if later you wish to secure a good salary and promotion. Your handwriting is neat, clear, and good for your age.

Erica.—Your position is indeed a hard one, and it is difficult to advise you satisfactorily. But the future must be considered as well as the present, and it seems to us that this future is decidedly cloudy unless you can be trained for some employment now. If friends could come forward with an offer to train you for any of the occupations mentioned here from time to time, we think your mother would see the propriety of your availing yourself of the chance, sad though it would be to part, and much though there is to say in favour of the immediate economy of living together. We would suggest that you should learn either dressmaking or drawing—the latter with a view to newspaper and magazine illustration or fashion drawing. It is evident you have some talent for art, or your pictures would not have been exhibited; but as money is so much needed, we advise you not to go in for painting. You write a good hand, and a letter which leads us to think you have more than average ability. At the same time your health is possibly not robust. Cannot a little council of relations and friends be held so as to decide what plan should be taken to enable you to earn a living?

Lady Udina S. (Working for Charity).—The circumstance that your presentation at Court has been postponed leaves you with more time free than you would have had if you had entered into the regular round of engagements during the London season. These engagements, however, do not occupy all a girl's time. We are glad to observe that girls and young married women, occupying the very highest positions in London society, set apart some portion of their time for work of public usefulness. Like yourself, they are not content to lay aside only one-tenth of money that has cost them no effort to obtain (though the subtraction of such an amount for God is obligatory), but they wish also to do work for others. It is not always easy to decide what a young and inexperienced girl can do. To help in a Working Girl's Club is suitable and often most interesting; or you might join the local committee of the Children's Country Holidays Fund. The Charity Organisation Society, and the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants, are both societies that can sometimes delegate practical duties to young assistants. In the meantime you should still pursue your general education notwithstanding the fact that your governess is no longer needed. It is education that will make you of service in the world. Read the standard works of the best writers, study the course of history in the newspapers and with the aid of a map. Try almost every day to give some time both to study and to practical duties. We commend the motive that prompts you to wish to earn money in order to have more to give away. But the earning of money is a serious matter. It can only be performed successfully by girls who have had some special training or who possess special gifts. You give us no information in regard to these points. On the whole it would be better that any work you now do should be voluntary. At the same time, circumstances may occur to almost anyone to render it most desirable that one should be able to earn money. Try, therefore, within the next few years so to educate and train yourself that, if need arose, you could turn your hand profitably to something. A knowledge of housewifery, for instance, is a splendid possession for any girl and can never prove useless.

Yvonne (Hospital Nursing or Teaching).—Since you feel drawn towards hospital nursing, you might do wisely to enter one of the largest London hospitals as a probationer, when you are twenty-three or twenty-four. Having only passed the Oxford Senior Local Examination, your prospects as a teacher cannot be very brilliant, and in the long run you might find yourself more favourably placed in life as a nurse. But in the meantime you had better continue to teach. It hardly seems to be advisable that you should give up your present situation when you appear to be kindly and fairly treated. People who hold the same opinions as ourselves even on the highest subjects are not always pleasant in their dealings. You can at all events strive to show the beauty of your creed in your life and conduct; for a noble example is often more persuasive than doctrine. In hospital wards, moreover, you will find quite as great a diversity of beliefs as you could possibly encounter on the Continent.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Mary L.—We quite agree with you. Our advice to you is not to miss reading Ruth Lamb's supplemental story—"Friend or Self"—for we feel sure, judging from your letter, that you will enjoy it quite as much as we have done.

Anxious.—The account of the very unnatural and unamiable state of mind of your "female friend" is a grievous one; but as she is only a little school-girl of fifteen, she may improve. We do not know of any book likely to effect a change. Such a girl would not care to read one giving advice. Talk to her of the love of our Divine Redeemer and of the obligation resting on us to "show piety at home," and to "requite our parents." It is His will that we should do so, and although we cannot purchase our salvation by our good works, we are bound to produce them in proof of our faith and our gratitude. "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." "Ye call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not the things that I say." "Every tree is known by its fruits," and our first duty is to our parents.

Melissa.—We recommend you to procure Home Handicrafts, published at this office. Chapter ix., p. 95, supplies the information you require on mirror painting. Instruction in fifteen different kinds of artistic and useful work are given in this book, and all equally suitable for both sexes.

Amy.—There is certainly a family similarity evidenced in the handwriting, which is very general. It sometimes skips a generation and crops up again, just as personal features and peculiarities, as well as intellectual gifts. This fact is noted by Darwin and Lord Brougham (whose peculiar hand resembled his grandfather's). George Seaton expressed the same opinion, and so do others. But we all have the power to improve upon the family style, or change it.

Lover of Art.—We believe that the oldest known English pictures are two portraits, one of Chaucer, and the other of Henry IV. The former is painted on a panel, the date about 1380; that of the king, 1405.

Carrie.—If a sufferer from anæmia, we think you could not do better than go for a month's treatment to Buxton, Derbyshire. Of course you should neither take the waters, nor use the baths, without medical advice, as your dietary should be prescribed as well as treatment by the waters. You will find much to interest you in the neighbourhood when able to walk, or drive, such as Haddon Hall, Chatsworth, and Old Hall; and a little diversion of the mind, and turning of the thoughts from personal ailments, will also tend to restoration. If you have a kodak, or have any taste for sketching, you will have plenty of subjects—objects for a walk. Should you prefer to go abroad, Royat near Clermont-Ferrand (France), which stands on an elevation of 1,400 feet above the sea, is a charming place; the waters of four springs—of mixed alkaline, gaseous, ferruginous, slightly arsenical and lithia waters—are to be had in the ancient Roman baths. Anæmia, lymphatic and other affections may find alleviation, if not a cure, in this beautiful mountainous locality. We have ourselves inspected these baths, and are likewise acquainted with Buxton and its neighbourhood.

Song-bird.—The instrument for regulating time in the performance of instrumental music, called the metronome, was invented by Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, a German machinist, in 1812, and patented in England in 1815. His younger brother was also an inventor, and produced two remarkable instruments, viz., one imitating an orchestra, called a panharmonicon and an automaton chess-player.

A. B. C. inquires what the "Ptolemaic system" was, and who Ptolemæus was? He lived in the reigns of Adrian and Antoninus, a native of Alexandria, and was celebrated in those times as both an astronomer and a geographer. His system was quite erroneous, and was confuted by Copernicus, for he supposed the earth to be the centre of the universe. Do not confound him with Ptolemæus (called Ptolemy), and surnamed Lagus—as also Soter, on account of the assistance he gave to the people of Rhodes against their enemies. He was king of Egypt, and died 284 years B.C. This Ptolemæus I., though not an astronomer, was a man of learning, and laid the foundation of a library which became the most celebrated in the world.

Marian.—The origin of the name Albion (by which the French elect by preference to call England) has its origin in mythology. For Albion was the reputed son of Neptune and Amphitrite, and was said to have come to Britain and established a kingdom, where he introduced the art of shipbuilding and the science of astrology.

D. L.—It is not generally known that any disease in dogs or cats, from which they lose their hair, is most contagious, and if touched by a human hand, would probably result in the same loss. We lately read of a gentleman whose retriever was thus diseased, and those who washed, or even played with the animal lost their own hair in quantities. The dog should at once be sent to a veterinary surgeon, and prompt measures be taken for the cure of those infected. More than once we have been consulted by correspondents about their cats and dogs, whose hair came off in patches, but quite in ignorance of the danger to themselves in touching them, or even in having them in the house.

Janie.—There are no free passages to any of the Colonies for female domestic servants, except to Western Australia. You can obtain all information, and penny circulars, at the Emigration Office, 31, Broadway, London, S.W., and letters to the Secretary need not be stamped. The voyage to Western Australia takes about thirty-five or forty days; to Canada, from nine to ten only. Free grants of land are made in both these Colonies, and in the first-named of the two there are numerous public works now under construction involving a good demand for carpenters, bricklayers, and mechanics, and labourers generally; and a considerable number of free homesteads to be had. A tailoress can always get work at Sydney, New S. Wales, and a few first-class lithographers would find employment at from £3 to £4 a week. In reference to Western Australia, and the demand for maid-servants, mechanics and labourers, the town of Coolgardie must be named as an exception.

Young Housekeeper.—There are several kinds of cheese-cakes. One, for example, is made with cocoanut. For this, take equal parts of the latter, grated, and of sifted sugar, say, one pound of each, the yolks of four, and whites of three eggs. Mix these thoroughly and boil for twenty minutes. Then pour the mixture into jars, closely covered, and keep till required in a cool place. When used, line patty-pans with puff-paste, and bake. Cheese pastry for the cheese course is easily made. Roll out some puff-pastry, sprinkle it well with grated cheese, and a little cayenne pepper, repeating three times, mix well and bake lightly. Serve hot. A very nice dish is one of stewed pigeons and mushrooms. Two pigeons divided into halves (each) should be placed in a stew-pan with one ounce of fresh butter, stew a little, then adding a pint of good gravy, of mushroom ketchup, a little salt and pepper. Stir till it boil, and then let it simmer for three-quarters of an hour. The mushrooms must now be added, say, a couple of dozen smallish ones. Stew for ten minutes longer, and add two tablespoonfuls of cream. The mushrooms should be placed round the pigeons, and the dish served hot.

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