description that can do justice to its value must necessarily be deferred till our next number; only a few words can be said of the important contribution which these ladies, but especially Miss Anthony, have made to political and historical literature. The present volume contains a record of the work done from 1861 to 1876. The editors had intended to limit the work to two volumes, but so many new questions in regard to citizenship, state rights and national power, indirectly bearing on the political rights of women, grew out of the civil war, that a third volume is inevitable. The political significance of the war and the prolonged discussion on the vital principles of government involved in the reconstruction threw new light on the status of woman in a republic. Under a liberal interpretation of the XIV. Amendment, women, believing their rights of citizenship secured, made several attempts to vote in different States. Those who succeeded were arrested, tried, and convicted. Those who were denied the right to register their names and deposit their votes sued the Inspectors of Election. * * * A proposition for a XVI. amendment to the National Constitution to secure to women the right of voting is now pending in Congress. Some phase of this question is being debated every year in the State Legislature, and propositions for so amending their Constitutions as to extend the elective franchise to women will be voted upon by the people in four of the Western States within the coming two years. The successive steps which have led to these changes in fifteen years are faithfully chronicled in this important work, and the biographical sketches of the many noble women who have taken part in this movement would alone render these volumes deeply interesting, even to those who have no sympathy with the question. Social Science Association, a narrative of results by J. L. CLIFFORD SMITH. This year being the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Association, this little compendium of the action which it has taken in philanthropic, legal and educational reforms, is interesting. Among them are some of the movements which have done much towards raising the position of women. The Council memorialised in 1871 the Committee of Council on Education as to the fitness of women for the work of education generally. The memorial urged the employment of women as teachers in schools of every grade, as September 15th, 1882. members of School Boards under the Act of 1870, and as inspectors of girls' and infants' schools. An animated discussion was held, under the presidency of Lord Brougham, in 1862, at which a resolution was passed that means ought to be provided for testing and attesting the education of women of the middle and higher classes, resulted in the Committee of the Education Department, in concert with a special committee of ladies, taking part in negotiations with the Cambridge Syndicate for holding in London an experimental examination in connection with the Cambridge Local Examination for 1863. The authorities consented; extra copies of the papers were given to girls whose examination was held simultaneously with that of the boys. Eighty-three girls were examined, and the result was so satisfactory that the Senate of Cambridge University, and afterwards Oxford and Edinburgh, settled the whole question by regularly extending the local examinations to girls. Again, the Social Science Association has given frequent and cordial aid in the question of the Property of Married Women since 1867, when it was first brought before their attention at Belfast. It has always assisted the Society for promoting the Industrial Employment of Women, the Ladies' Sanitary Association, the Workhouse Visiting Society, &c. There are many subjects on which we are disposed to think the action of the Association has not been altogether beneficial as for instance, prison discipline, in which it largely contributed to the Bill which transferred to the State the administration of the prisons, or the compulsory notification of infectious diseases, which it is desirous now of promoting, which seems as if it would introduce an injurious system of espionage. But leaving these subjects aside, women must acknowledge their indebtedness to the Association for the cordial reception which it has always held out to them, whether in contributing papers or discussing them. An article on the subject of Medical Women for India, by Dr. FRANCES E. HOGGAN, has appeared in the Contemporary Review for August. It is a valuable contribution to the discussion of this important question. The Oracle for July 8th had an interesting resumé of the history of the Medical Schools open to women. Dictionary of Needlework.-This excellent dictionary, which is so carefully compiled and so clearly expressed that even a tyro in needlework can profit by it, has now been completed. Her Majesty the Queen has, in the most gracious terms, been pleased to accept a copy of the "Dictionary of Needlework," the joint work of Miss S. F. A. Caulfeild and Miss B. C. Saward. We have before had occasion to notice its usefulness. RECORD OF EVENTS. MARRIED WOMEN'S PROPERTY ACT. It is our joyful duty to record the termination of this long struggle for justice and right. On the consideration of the amendments to this Bill on August 15th, Mr. Warton, M.P., for Bridport, moved an amendment limiting the operation of clause 1 to women married after the passing of the Act. Upon this the House divided, six voting for the amendment and seventy-nine against it. A number of verbal amendments were then inserted on the motion of Mr. Osborne Morgan, and by leave of the House the Bill was then read a third time amid cheers.* DIVISION LIST. * Married Women's Property Bill [Lords]-As amended, considered :— Amendment proposed, in page 1, line 11, to leave out the words “a married woman," and insert the words "every woman who marries after the commencement of this Act"-Mr. Warton-instead thereof :-Question put, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Bill:"-The House divided: Ayes 79, Noes 6. On August 16th the Bill as amended by the Commons was considered and agreed to in the House of Lords, and on Friday, August 18th, it received the Royal assent. The Bill will come into operation on the 1st of January, 1883. We subjoin a copy of this important Act, whose benefits will be felt in countless thousands of homes. MARRIED WOMEN'S PROPERTY. AN ACT TO CONSOLIDATE AND AMEND THE ACTS RELATING TO THE PROPERTY OF MARRIED WOMEN. Whereas it is expedient to consolidate and amend the Act of the thirty-third and thirty-fourth Victoria, chapter ninety-three, intituled "The Married Women's Property Act, 1870," and the Act of the Lawson, Sir Wilfrid Lee, Henry (Southampton) Lefevre, Right Hon. Geo. John Shaw Lusk, Sir Andrew M'Arthur, William (Lambeth) M'Kenna, Sir Joseph Neal Molloy, Bernard C. Monk, Charles James Morgan, Right Hon. G. O. (Denbighs.) Mundella, Rt. Hon. Anthony John O'Shaughnessy, Richard Paget, Thomas Tertius (Leic. S.) Playfair, Right Hon. Lyon Reed, Sir Edw. James (Cardiff) Williams, S. C. Evans (Radnor) Tellers for the Ayes, Lord Richard Grosvenor and Lord Kensington. Alexander, Colonel Barttelot, Sir Walter B. Ross, Alex. Henry (Maidstone) NOES. Talbot, John Gilbert (Oxf. Univ.) Wilmot, Sir J. Eardley (Warw.) S. Tellers for the Noes, Mr Warton and Mr. Montagu Scott. thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth Victoria, chapter fifty, intituled " An Act to amend the Married Women's Property Act (1870)" : 1. (1.) A married woman shall, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, be capable of acquiring, holding, and disposing by will or otherwise, of any real or personal property as her separate property, in the same manner as if she were a feme sole, without the intervention of any trustee. (2.) A married woman shall be capable of entering into and rendering herself liable in respect of and to the extent of her separate property on any contract, and of suing and being sued, either in contract or in tort, or otherwise, in all respects as if she were a feme so'e, and her husband need not be joined with her as plaintiff or defendant, or be made a party to any action or other legal proceeding brought by or taken against her; and any damages or costs recovered by her in any such action or proceeding shall be her separate property; and any damages or costs recovered against her in any such action or proceeding shall be payable out of her separate property, and not otherwise. (3.) Every contract entered into by a married woman shall be deemed to be a contract entered into by her with respect to and to bind her separate property, unless the contrary be shown. (4.) Every contract entered into by a married woman with respect to and to bind her separate property shall bind not only the separate property which she is possessed of or entitled to at the date of the contract, but also all separate property which she may thereafter acquire. (5.) Every married woman carrying on a trade separately from her husband shall, in respect of her separate property, be subject to the bankruptcy laws in the same way as if she were a feme sole. 2. Every woman who marries after the commencement of this Act shall be entitled to have and to hold as her separate property and to dispose of in manner aforesaid all real and personal property which shall belong to her at the time of marriage, or shall be acquired by or devolve upon her after marriage, including any wages, earnings, money, and property gained or acquired by her in any employment, trade, or occupation, in which she is engaged, or which she carries on separately from her husband, or by the exercise of any literary, artistic or scientific skill. 3. Any money or other estate of the wife lent or entrusted by her to her husband for the purpose of any trade or business carried on by him, or otherwise, shall be treated as assets of her husband's estate in case of his bankruptcy, under reservation of the wife's claim to a dividend as a creditor for the amount or value of such money or other estate after, but not before, all claims of the other creditors of the husband for valuable consideration in money or money's worth have been satisfied. 4. The execution of a general power by will, by a married woman, shall have the effect of making the property appointed liable for her debts and other liabilities in the same manner as her separate estate is made liable under this Act. 5. Every woman married before the commencement of this Act |