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arch, near Mobile, Jan. 10. damaged, but saved from sinking. Avalanche, badly injured by coming in contact with the Alvarado in the Illinois river, near Bardstown. Saved from sinking by means of pumps and bulk-headings.

Anthony Wayne, sunk while ascending the Lower Rapids in the Mississippi, in Dec., afterwards raised and taken to Rock Island for repairs.

Avalanche, sunk on the Chain in December, 12 miles above this city, where she now lies high and dry.

Buena Vista, took fire at Kaskaskia land

ing, cargo greatly damaged by water, boat saved from burning by the exertions of her officers and crew.

Belle Creole, exploded one or more boilers on her trip from Mobile to New-Orleans, Several persous badly scalded.

Confidence, sunk at New-Albany bar in the Ohio, Sept. 23th, raised and sunk again a few miles below Cincinnati, on the 10th of Nov. Again raised and taken to Louisville for repairs.

Daniel Boone, sunk in the Wabash river, afterwards raised and repaired.

Embassy, exploded boilers at Evansville, Ind., in June, killing and badly scalding more than thirty persons; since repaired and now running.

Falcon, sunk by ice at the mouth of the Missouri; since raised.

Fawn, badly injured by coming in collision with the steamer Patrick Henry in the Yazoo River. Engineer killed and several others badly injured.

Gov. Bent, exploded boilers at Island 75, Lower Mississippi, April 26th; one deck hand killed.

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went on the docks at New-Orleans, afterward run out on a bar near Vicksburgh, since got off and taken to Louisville for repairs.

Magnet, collapsed connection pipe and flue at St. Louis, August 8th; since repaired.

Pike No. 9, met with an accident near Louisville, in February, by which the boat was considerably injured and three persons killed.

San Francisco, exploded a boiler at St. Louis, May 30th, killing and scalding several persons; afterward burned at the same place on July 29th.

St. Paul, sunk at Hat Island, Nov. 18th; raised and taken to Vide Poche for repairs, and now running, valuable cargo; badly damaged and partially lost.

Santa Fe, collapsed a flue at Fort Coffee, January 14th; one person killed.

Talleyrand, lost a cargo of 1,110 bales of cotton by parting hog chains near Egg Point, in the lower Mississippi.

Warrior, collapsed a flue near College Point, on the lower Mississippi, killing one engineer and four or five others.

It will be seen that the total loss of boats and cargoes, is estimated at $1,585,400 not including the numerous other accidents, such as sinking, collapsing of boilers, flues, damages to boats' cargoes, &c., and we think a fair estimate of every loss connected with western steamboat navigation, if included, would swell the amount to the enormous sum of $2,000,000 or more; and included in this, accidents of flat, keel and various other species of water craft, and we might safely set the sum total down at $2,500,000. STEAMBOAT DISASTERS ON THE WESTERN WATERS,

Gov. Briggs, struck a wreck and sunk, in During the year 1850, as published in the Insurance backing out from the wharf at St. Louis, July 12th; since raised and repaired.

Highland Mary No. 2, struck a snag in the Upper Mississippi, near Bayley's landing, and sunk in eighteen feet water; siuce raised and repaired; cargo valuable, and greatly damaged.

J. T. Doswell, sunk by coming in contact with the Gen. Jesup in the Lower Mississippi near Tunica, September 29; since raised and repaired.

Lake of the Woods, collapsed a flue on Grand River, killing the first engineer and five other persons; repaired.

Laura, exploded her boilers in Ouachita River, Nov. 8th, several persons badly scald

ed.

Mustang, sunk in Arkansas River, near Fort Smith, in January; since raised and repaired.

Mohawk, struck a snag in the Lower Mississippi near the mouth of the Arkansas, which knocked a hole in her hall, causing a large amount of freight and a considerable number of cattle to be thrown overboard;

Reporter:

Total number of boats.

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STATISTICS-SCIENCE OF.-The science of statistics is of recent origin. Archenball, who was born at Elbing, in Prussia, in 1719, and died in 1772, was the first who gave the name and a scientific form to this brauch of knowledge. His compend, originally published in 1749, went through seven editions. His most distinguished pupil, Schlossa, carried out his views still further, in the excellent yet incomplete "Theory of Statistics," printed at Gottingen in 1804. In 1807 appeared Newman's "Outlines of Statistics." In the systematic and compendious treatment of this subject, Toze, Remer, Meusel, Sprengel, Mauuert, Fischer, and especially Hassell, have distinguished themselves. The last named is the eminent geographer. In Italy there are the well-known names of Balbi, Quadri and Gioja. The first European government that paid any attention to the collection of statistics in a systematic manner, though this was on a limited scale, was Sweden.

About the middle of the last century a special commission was employed, who made known at intervals of five years many interesting facts in relation to the population of the country, etc. Schlosser having called attention to the important results of the Swedish commission, several other states soon entered into a similar arrangement. There is now a Statistical Department, or what is termed a "Bureau," in connection with the government of Prussia, Austria, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Naples and Sardinia. At the head of the "Bureau" in Berlin is a gentleman of great intelligence, M. J. G. Hoffman. In 1832, Lord Auckland and Mr. Poulett Thompson, who then presided over the Board of Trade, in England, established a statistical office in that department, to collect, arrange and publish statements relating to the condition and bearing upon the various interests of the British empire. The volumes annually printed and laid before Parliament by this office, are well known and highly esteemed. In the year 1831, a statistical society was formed in the kingdom of Saxony, which has prosecuted its objects with great energy and success. The French Society of Universal Statistics was founded on the 22nd November, 1829, and is under the protection of the king. It proposes and decrees prizes, grants medals, publishes a monthly collection of its transactions, and maintains a correspondence with learned bodies in all countries. The society numbers at present more than fifteen hundred members, French and foreign, who are classed into titulary, honorary and corresponding members. The subjects about which the society is employed are arranged into three classes: First, Physical and descriptive statistics, embracing topography, hydrography, meteorology, geology, mineralogy, population, man considered physically, hygiene, aud

the sanitary state. Second, Positive and applied statistics, embracing vegetable and animal productions, agriculture, industry, commerce, navigation, state of the sciences, general instruction, literature, languages, and the fine arts. Third, Moral and philosophical statistics, including the forms of religious worship, legislative and judicial power, public administration, finance, the military, marine and diplomacy.*

The science of statistics may be considered as almost a new one in our country; it has, nevertheless, of late excited much attention, and we see from the reports of Congress and of state, down to the newspaper press, the strongest evidence of its favor and progress. Such a science is worthy of all attention, and deserves to be introduced into our schools and colleges as it is into the merchant's counting house and the legislative halls, as an independent and most important branch of sound practical education.

STATISTICAL BUREAUS IN THE STATES.-CIRCULAR OF THE BUREAU OF STATISTICS TO THE PEOPLE OF LOUISIANA.

I. Time of settlement of your parish or town: dates of oldest land grants; number and condition of first settlers; whence emigrating; other facts relating to settlement and history.

II. Indian names in your vicinity; what tribes originally; what relics or monuments of them; if Indians still, in what condition?

III. Biography, anecdotes, &c., of individuals distinguished in your vicinity in the past for ingenuity, enterprise, literature, talents, civil or military, &c.

IV. Topographical description of your parish, mountains, rivers, ponds, animals, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles, insects, &c.; vegetable growths, rocks, minerals, sand clays, chalk, flint, marble, pit coal, pigments, medicinal and poisonous substances, elevation above the sea, nature of surface, forests, or undergrowths, what wells and quality of well water, nature of coasts, does the water make inroads, mineral springs, caves, &c.

V. Agricultural description of parish; former and present state of cultivation; changes taking place; introduction of cotton, sugar, rice, indigo, tobacco, grains, fruits, vines, &c., &c.; present products; lands occupied and unoccupied, and character of soils; value of lands; state of improvements; value of agricultural products; horses, cattle, mules, hogs, and whence supplied; profits of agriculture, prices of products; new estates opening; improvements suggested in cultivation and new growths; improvements in communication, roads, bridges, canals, &c.; kind and quan tity of timber, fuel, &c.; state of the roads, summer and winter; kind of inclosures, and of what timber; manures; natural and arti ficial pastures; agricultural implements used;

* Hazard.

fruit trees, vines and orchards; modes of marks: "I have been informed that a bill transportation; extent of internal naviga- has been introduced and is now pending in tion; levees, &c.; modes of cultivating and manufacturing sugar in use.

VI. Instances of longevity and fecundity; observations on diseases in your section; localities, healthful or otherwise; statistics of diseases; deaths; summer seats, &c.

VII. Population of your parish; increase and progress, distinguishing white and black; Spanish, French, American, or German origin; foreigners, classes of population; number in towns; growth of towns and villages, &c. ; condition, employment, ages; comparative value of free and slave labor; comparative tables of increase; marriages, births, &c.; meteorological tables of temperature, weather, rains, &c.

VIII. Education and Religion.-Advantages of schools, colleges, libraries enjoyed; proportion educated at home and abroad; expense of education; school returns, churches or chapels in parish, when and by whom erected; how supplied with clergy; how supported and attended; oldest interments, church vaults, &c.

the legislature of Louisiana, providing for the organization and establishment of a Bureau of Statistics. It is ardently hoped that the measure may be carried, and that the example which will be thus set by Louisiana, resulting from an enlightened view of the im portauce of her great interests, agricultural and commercial, will be speedily followed by other states of the Union-all have industrial interests of sufficient importance to justify the establishment of such a bureau in their respective governments." In the volume for 1849, language still stronger is used by the commissioner: "In the pursuit of its statis tical investigations, this office has keenly felt the want of means for obtaining accurate and reliable information concerning the great industrial interests of the country. No provision has been made by the general government for obtaining such information, except in relation to our foreign commerce, and but very few of the states have adopted measures for obtaining authentic information in relation to these industrial interests. Massachusetts

IX. Products in Manufactures and the and Louisiana are in advance of most other Arts.-Kinds of manufactures in parish; per In the former state, very full returns are obstates in their legislation upon these subjects. sons employed; kind of power; capital, wages, per centum profit: raw material; tained in short periods of a few years, if not sugar and cotton; machinery and improve-in the latter a Bureau of Statistics has been annually, of her industry and resources; and ments; kind and value; manufacturing sites,

&c.

X. Commercial Statistics.-Value of the imports and exports of Louisiana, with each of the other states of the Union, as far as any approximations may be made, or data given; growth and condition of towns; increase in

towns, &c.

XI. General Statistics.-Embracing banking, railroads, insurances, navigation, intercommunication: learned and scientific societies; crime, pauperism, charities, public and benevolent institutions; militia, newspapers, &c.; application of parish taxes; expenses of roads, levees, &c. ; number of suits decided in different courts; expenses and perfection of justice; number of parish officers, lawyers, physicians, &c.

established, etc., etc. A most interesting view of the vast resources of this great repub lic would be annually exhibited, if all the and Massachusetts. The statesman and legis states would follow the example of Louisiana lator, to whom the people commit the destinies of their common country, would then them in the intelligent discharge of their have at their hands ample material to sid which they are like blind men feeling their momentous and responsible duties, without way in the dark."

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A special committee of the legislature of South Carolina, in the session of 1848, after having ably shown, in a variety of instances, the resources of that state, declare, There how little information existed in regard to XII. Date, extent, consequences, and other exhibited, would prove the necessity of proare facts and considerations which, properly circumstances of droughts, freshets, whirl-viding some such organization as would lead winds, storms, lightnings, hurricanes, or other to a correct understanding of these important remarkable physical events in your section, matters; and the insufficiency of the matters from remote periods; other meteorological phenomena; changes in climate, &c. &c.

XIII. Literary productions emanating from your neighborhood; your associations, if any; what manuscripts, public or private records, letters, journals, &c., or rare old books, interesting in their relation to the history of Louisiana, are possessed by individuals within your knowledge. State any other matters of interest.

In his report of January, 1848, Hon. Edmund Burke, Commissioner of Patents, re

here presented, only serves to show conclusively that we have been heretofore neglectful of those means of information which are calculated to elicit correct apprehensions of our advantages and duties. We know not how strong we are at some points, and how weak we are at others. The appointment of such a committee (i. e., on commerce, agriculture and mechanics) will soon lead to the establishment of an efficient Bureau of Statistics, which will be the means of collecting and disseminating statistical information

touching all the interests of the state, of the most valuable kind."

Governor Seabrook, in his message to the legislature of the same state, says: "To as certain with correctness the resources of a country which a beneficent Being has so prodigally endowed, is among the paramount duties of the representatives of the people. Their development and improvement, when ascertained, might properly be entrusted to the people themselves.

letter to the undersigned, compliments, in handsome terms, the action of Louisiana, and adds that Rhode Island will undoubtedly cooperate.

Massachusetts is far beyond every other state in the pains which she takes to preserve even the most minor particulars relating to her population and industry. It is to this that we may attribute in a degree the rapid advances of that commonwealth, and her course should serve to guide each of her sisters. She "As inseparable from the enterprise, should appropriates, annually, large sums to the nuthe wisdom of the legislature determine to merous agricultural associations within her prosecute it, I recommend the careful col- limits, in aid of their premiums and publicalection of statistical information on all the tions. On the table before me are a large numbranches of industry. By the possession of ber of her published reports and documents, facts and materials, lucidly arranged and furnished kindly by the Secretary of State at methodized, we shall be furnished with com- my request. A list of these will aid us in plete data, as to the present state of the understanding the system she adopts, and population, white and colored; concerning perhaps stimulate our own efforts. agriculture, commerce, navigation, manufac- No. 1.-Statistics of the Condition and Protures, trade, finance, health, and indeed of ducts of Certain Branches of Industry in whatever may be interesting or instructive Massachusetts. This is a volume of 400 to our citizens and their rulers. Under our closely-printed pages, mostly figures, pubpolitical organization, and in the condition of lished in 1845, prepared from the returns of Society which the southern states exhibit, the the assessors, who were provided with blanks value of this knowledge will soon become by the Secretary of State. This volume is manifest aud duly estimated. It will tend admirably complete, and is expected to be materially to facilitate many of the most im- followed up, at short periods, by similar pubportant duties of the public functionary; ena-lications. ble the legislature to adjust and regulate the various interests of society, and to reduce a chaos of details, on matters requiring their action, into order and system. Nor will the people themselves be less benefited. To know all that concerns the land of their birth, is a matter of pride and deep interest. The suggestions of the governor are, we understand, soon to be carried out, and a number of distinguished citizens of the state have had the subject in consideration, and are, by correspondence, &c., devising the best method to ensure success. The state has already, by a handsome appropriation, secured the publication of the reports of her central agricultural society in one large vo. lame, embracing a vast amount of information relating to the staples of cotton, rice, and corn, the negro population, negro laws, soils, minerals, manures, etc., etc.

In the legislature of Rhode Island, now in session, a memorial was referred to a select committee, but a few days ago, requesting the appointment of a superintendent of statistics, with a suitable salary, whose duty it shall be to collect all the information possible relative to the agricultural and other products of the state, its resources of every description, the commerce of the state with sister states and foreign countries, the nature and value thereof, the mechanic arts and manufactures, public education, religion, public health, and such other information as may, from time to time, be required of him, having a bearing upon the industrial and progressive history of the state. The author of the measure, in a

No. 2.-Abstract of the Returns of Agricultural Societies. A volume of 160 pages, made up from the returns of all the agricultural societies in the state, who, as a condition precedent to the receipt of the bounty allowed, must report annually the amount expended by them, premiums allowed, reports of committees, names of officers, addresses delivered, etc., etc.

No. 3.-Abstract of Massachusetts School Returns, containing 336 pages, and published annually by the Secretary of State. This volume was digested by the Hon. Horace Maun from the reports of the School Committees in all the 309 towns of the state, which amounted in manuscript, as he says, to 5,500 closely-written pages, and is very full upon even the merest details of her education system.

No. 4.-Insurance Abstracts. These are large pamphlets published annually by the state, giving the operations of every incorporated company from returns required by law.

No. 5.-Bank Abstracts. Similar annual publications, showing the capital of every bank in the commonwealth, circulation, profits, debts, deposits, resources, dividends, etc. No. 6.-Annual Reports of all Rail-Road Corporations.

No. 7.-Annual Reports of Lunatic Asylum.

No. 8.-Annual Reports of Births, Marriages, and Deaths.

These are volumes of 125 to 150 pages each, and are prepared with great care from

the returns made by the clerk, etc., in each of the towns in the state. Nothing like this is found in any other state of the Union, and the general deductions made from the tables have high influence in the regulation of life and society.

Many of our large cities have been equally liberal in the documents prepared and published, showing the progress and pursuits of their population. Prominent among these have been Boston, New-York, and Charles ton, which have contributed each large vol umes of statistics, so condensed and presented as to show everything that could be desired in every department, and to afford the highest and best evidence of the actual condition of the people. Nothing could be more complete and admirable than these volumes. They furnish, as it were, a map of the operations of a city from the earliest period down to the moment that we examine them. Should it not be hoped that our cities, and New-Orleans in particular, the second important, commercially, in the Union, will provide for similar volumes by public appro priations. It affords me great pleasure to say, that a movement has already been made for the purpose by Mr. Jarvis, a member of the General Council.

SILK AND SILK CULTURE.*-ORIGIN OF THE SILK INDUSTRY; EARLY HISTORY; SKETCHES OF PROGRESS; PECULIAR VIEWS AND PRACTICES OF THE CHINESE IN THE PRESERVATION OF EGGS; CULTIVATION OF THE MULBERRY TREE; CONSTRUCTION OF FADING APARTMENTS; MANAGEMENT OF THE SILK WORM; COCOONERIES, ETC., ETC., ILLUSTRATED BY CUTS; INTRODUCTION OF SILK CULTURE IN OTHER COUNTRIES; HISTORY OF SILK IN THE UNITED STATES; NATURAL FA CILITIES OF THE U. S. FOR MAKING SILK; ADVANTAGES OF SOUTHERN AND WESTERN STATES; COMMUNICATIONS FROM PRACTICAL MEN; GENERAL SUGGESTIONS ON THE SUBJECT. It is the duty, as it is the interest, of all nations to guard carefully their resources. They should not only aim at the perfection of those arts and occupations with which their citizens are already familiar, but offer every

"J. D. B. De Bow, Esq.

It

consistent encouragement for the introduc-
tion of other and new branches of industry
which may be made to contribute to the sup-
ply of their own necessities and luxuries, or
produce articles valuable for commerce.
is pre-eminently important that "We, the
People of the United States," by the blessing
of heaven the most free, the most popular,
the most thriving nation of the earth, should
live within our means. If this is good policy
for individuals and corporations, it is infinitely
more so when applied to states and nations.
Well would it have been for us had we long
ago conceived, practically, the importance of
this great truth. Land and labor are with us
the only legitimate sources of wealth, and our
evident interests demand the exercise of such
a policy as shall secure the steadiest employ.
ment, and lead to the development of these,
our natural capital. Unpardonable disgrace
should attend indifference or neglect in these
respects. Unemployed labor, or labor inju-
diciously or unprofitably employed, should
be considered a calamity as carefully to be
avoided as famine, pestilence, or war.

We cannot conceive of a greater inconsistency than that of sending from three to fifteen thousand miles for any article of our consumption which our own labor and skill, in the appropriate use of means which nature has provided, might create. And yet it cannot be denied, this monstrous incongruity has attached itself to our government and people ever since our independence, and that in reference to an article of immensely more value in the aggregate than any other product of human industry.

That article is Silk, the beauty and richness of which were not over prized, when, in the reign of Tiberius (A. D. 14), its use was restricted by sumptuary laws to women of rank and fashion, to whom the considerations of cost were trifling; or when (A. D. 222) the famed voluptuary of Syria, Heliogabalus, in the extremity of his extravagance, as charged upon him by Roman authors, wore a halosericum, a garment made entirely of silk; nor when its purchase required the payment of its weight in gold, which was as

been done to establish beyond cavil the fact that the United States, in climate and soil, and all their natu"I received not long since, through my friend the ral facilities, are peculiarly adapted to the producHon. Edmund Burke, of the Patent Office, your let-tion of silk-and our people equally adapted to its ter of recent date, in which you solicit for publica- manufacture into the most beautiful and finished tion my views on the subject of Silk Culture. I am fabrics of which the article is susceptible. I believe ready to improve every medium through which I there are not ten men in this nation, who, if they can contribute to the advancement of this interesting have examined the subject with care, will dispute and important pursuit. It gives me great pleasure, this position. It has been too often and too amply sir, to comply with your wish, and I am exceedingly demonstrated, under the most untoward circumgratified to know that you have considered this a stances, to admit of a single doubt. subject of sufficient importance to occupy the columns of your Review. In my opinion, sir, they cannot contain matter of more intrinsic value, or that which more intimately concerns your readers and the general public. The business has had its advocates since an early day in our history, and silk of superior quality has been making for more than a century past. Innumerable obstacles have retarded its progress from the beginning, but enough has

"I herewith transmit the manuscript copy of a brief treatise on the culture of silk, which has been prepared in accordance with your expressed desire. "In the hope that it may be instrumental in awakening favorable public notice; and turning to this enterprise the attention its importance demands, it is respectfully submitted by,

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Sir, your most obedient servant,
"A. C. VAN EPPS."

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