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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1191, 7 December 1871, Page 2

The San Francisco News Letter —Tn New York city, so far as we can learn, there are some twenty female doctors, and in the country at large, as we estimate from data in our there arc not than 200 in all. There is in New York one female doctor whose income from her profession is $20,000 a year; and there must be at least a dozen others whose annual incomes range from f. 5,000 to SIO,OOO, There is a female doctor who has a son also a doctor, and he has a wife who is also a doctor. There is a female doc-, tor in Buffalo, who has a husband also, a doctor, and the professional income of the wile is twice as much as that of her husband. There is a female doctor in Orange, New Jersey, whose professional returns for many years past, have ranged from f 15,000 to $20,00.0 a year. There are also female doctors in Philadelphia, Boston, Cincinnati, and other cities, with very large incomes from their practice; but it is not in our power to give anything like precipe statements regarding them. Now, we don't propose to discuss the propriety of women becoming doctors; but it is certain that, judged by pecuniary and professional standards, there are not a few of them who have been amazingly successful. The male practitioners now look on their professional sisters with much greater leniency than they diii in former tunes, and many are quite ready to enter iuto consultation with them in difficult case*, though several of the medical societies have prohibited this custom. There are abundant signs that a much larger number of women will enter into the practice of medicine in coming jears than have thus far entered into it; and it looks as though, before another generation, the maladies of woman would be almost exclusively treated by professional members qf hep ows sex.

There is in the town of Meridan, Connecticut, (says the Scientific American) a Leffell double turbine .wheel, running under 240-feet fall, and driving a manufactory. It uses only about one-half of a square inch of water, and runs at the marvellous speed of 3000 revolutions per minute, or fifty revolutions per second, which is by far the most rapid rate of motion e:\er imparted to a water-wheel. This is also Tjcyond comparison, the greatest fall applied to a wheel in America. The Wheel at Meridan is of (he most diminutive size, scarcely encoding in dimension'* the old-fashioned "turnip" watches which our grandfathers used to carry in their capacious vest pockets. The complete success of this wheel has attracted much attention, and affords further evidence of the wide range of adaptability of the Leffell iturbine.

An interesting description of a water velocipede has been invented by an office of the Madras army. It is notable for the strength and simplicity of its machinery, its comparative immunity from the risk of capsizing, and its propelling power, which gives a minimum speed of from seven to eight miles an hour through smooth water, by the labor of one man sitting in an easy chair, and treading with his feet—a ppeed that can be accelerated by the employment of more than one laborer The velocipedes of one man power may be described as consisting of two canoes, /connected together by a wooden framing, the boats being 10 feet long, and 1 foot beam, placed 3 feet apart on which rests a platform 10 by 3. In ihe centre of tlie platform is the crank (raised on wooden chucks), on which the bearings are placed, connecting the two paddle wheels, 3 feet in diameter. The dip of the paddles is about Ift The motion is given to the crank which propels the %elocipede by means of the paddlewheels, by two rods which may be called piston-rods, each two and a half feet, long, woiking through an oscillating bar three feet long, fixed at the hinder pan of the platform. The motion is given by the direct action of the power applied, the exertion required for woiking the velocipede is not greater than *hal required for walking, and the motion of the legs is similar, being forward. The boat has sitting room for four persons including the operator