of a highly crystalline character, and traversed, sometimes, by veins of different colors, which impart to the marble a beautiful appearance. Several varieties are found in the vicinity of Pilot Knob Mountain. Gypsum, or sulphate of lime, from which plaster of Paris is made by heating the gypsum, has been discovered in Jackson county, extending in a regular layer, some distance along the bank of the Missouri. It may prove very valuable in agriculture. Saltpetre is known to exist in caverns on the banks of the Maramec, Current, and Gasconade. Sulphate of baryta, or heavy spar, is found in the lead diggings.

Coal exists in abundance in the northern part of the state. It is in general what is called bituminous coal. At Cote Sans Dessein, however, it assumes the form of cannel coal, a variety which contains less bitumen and more carbon than the other. It has been discovered at several distinct points in Cole and Callaway counties, and as high as 40 miles upon the Osage. Some of its layers are of a great thickness. On distillation, this coal furnishes an excellent coke, and gives out gas of a fine illuminating power. It burns with a bright and copious flame, and leaves but little ashes. Being destitute of sulphur, it is well adapted to furnaces and manufacturing purposes.

Clays, useful for economical purposes, are found in different parts of Missouri. The subsoil of the region around St. Louis, abounding as it does in oxyde of iron and alumina, makes brick of a very handsome red tint and smooth texture. It is fitted, too, for the manufacture of pottery. Variegated clays are found in the same vicinity. Kaslin (the Chinese name for porcelain clay) and pipe clays, of which porcelain and earthenware may be made, have been discovered near Caledonia and near Cape Girardeau. Delftware is manufactured in St. Louis from clay obtained near Commerce, in Scott county. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.-Missouri is far in the rear of other newly settled states, as regards works of internal improvement. There were in the state, at the beginning of 1850, five Macadamized roads, commencing at the city of St. Louis, neither of which, however, were in use more than a few miles beyond the city limits; a rail-road in progress of construction from Independence to the Missouri River, a distance of about three miles; and certain improvements had been made on the Osage River, at a cost of about $18,570. Common roads and bridges excepted, these were all the public improvements made up to 1850, in the state. Charters for sundry rail-roads,—one running from Palmyra to the Mississippi, one from Hannibal to St. Josephs, one from Independence to White River, one from Alexandria to St. Francisville, in Clark County, and another from Lexington, Lafayette County, to the Mississippi,-have been obtained from the legislature; but it is probable that no further steps will be taken for some time towards constructing at least the second, third, and fifth mentioned roads. The obtaining a charter has been the only noteworthy event in the history of most rail-road enterprises in Missouri. We have learned by verbal communication, that a plank road is being constructed, in lieu of the proposed rail-road from St. Genevieve to the Iron Mountain. The work is being carried

on with zeal. Measures are being taken also for the construction of a plank road from Cape Girardeau to Jackson. The amount of $30,000 has been subscribed for the purpose. The work has been commenced.

Manufacturing and mining are in advance of internal improvements. The amount invested in both would not, it is thought, have exceeded, in 1850, $2,000,000. Few states possess more manufacturing facilities than Missouri; but, as yet, only a few factories are in operation. In 1840, there were in the state, according to the census, 9 woolen manufactories: 6 in Calloway, and 3 in Pike, with 13 workmen, a capital of $5,100, and goods produced to the value of $13,750. There are no cotton or silk manufactories. Home-made cotton goods, of family wearing, amounted in value to $1,149,544. Several bale rope and bagging factories were in operation on the Missouri, and two in St. Louis.* The statistics of 1840 show that the lumber trade of that year produced $70,355; and that there were sold 196,032 horses and mules, 433,875 neat cattle, 348,018 sheep, 1,271,161 swine, and poultry to the value of $270,647. Since that time all these articles of trade have increased in yearly quantity; as also the agricultural products of the state. We have no means at present of ascertaining the precise increase.

POPULATION. From 1848 to 1850 the state increased 93,936 souls, or nearly sixteen per cent. in population, notwithstanding the large emigration to California. The ratio of increase of the whites and that of the slave is nearly exactly the same. In the 100 counties of the state there resided, in 1848, 588,971 people; in 1850, 682,907; of whom 595,140 were free, and 87,769 slaves. Next to St. Louis County, which contained 105,064, Platte County, containing 16,929, had the greatest number of inhabitants.

*The subjoined extract, from the message of Gov. Edwards, for 1846, sets forth the principal supposed causes which retard the advancement, as well as those which tend to promote the establishment, of manufactures in Missouri:

"The establishment of manufactories is attended with its difficulties. To carry them on very successfully, large investments and a superior population are required. We are not without capital, but the high rate of interest, and the many supposed profitable investments for money which have heretofore existed, have prevented the appropriation of funds to the erection of manufacturing establishments. If the rate of interest were lower, capital would be profitably invested in manufactories to a considerable extent. The tariff, also, retards the establishment of manufactories in our state, whether it be a tariff for protection, or a tariff for revenue, for all tariffs for revenue are tariffs for protection to a greater or less extent; but a high tariff tends more to prevent the establishment of manufactories in our state, than a low one, being a protection to the eastern manufacturer. The eastern manufacturer contends that he cannot succeed without protection against his foreign com petitor. Our interior position, and our remoteness from the principal ports of entry, gives the manufacturer in this country a protection which no tariff can immediately affect. If, then, the eastern manufacturer was but lightly protected, or not protected at all, he would find it profitable to remove his capital, and to invest it in manufactures in the West, where nature would always protect him against the foreign competitor. No country can manu. facture cheaper than our state. We have all the necessary ingredients at the lowest prices. We have the real estate, the water power, the ore to make the iron to make the machinery, the manual labor, the provisions to support the hands, the raw material, the flax, hemp, and wool of our own production, and the cotton in exchange for our wheat, corn and tobacco, hogs, horses, cattle and mules; and these ingredients we have, taken together, cheaper than any other country on earth. Even our manual labor is at the lowest price. But, as before observed, to manufacture very successfully, a superior popula tion is required. This we can soon have by fostering the common school, and developing the genius and mechanical ingenuity of the youth of our country."

EDUCATION.-The state supports common schools, which seem to be working well. It contains, beside these and private schools and academies, five colleges: the University of St. Louis, a Roman Catholic Institution, located in St. Louis, and founded in 1829; St. Mary's College, at Barrens, also Catholic, founded in 1830; Marion College, at New Palmyra, founded in 1831; St. Charles College, Methodist, at St. Charles, founded in 1839; Fayette College, at Fayette; and Missouri University, at Columbia, founded in 1840. They could number in all, in 1840, about 500 students. The University of Missouri had, in 1850, 154 medical students; 6 seniors; 13 juniors; 10 sophomores; 21 freshmen; and 30 in the preparatory department. The President is Rev. James Shannon, A. M.: the professors are, W. W. Hudson, A. M., Math., Nat. Philos. and Astronomy; E. H. Leffingwell, A. M., Chem., Mineral. and Geology; R. F. Barrett, M. D., Physiol. and Mat. Medica; J. M. McDonell, M. D., Anat. and Surgery; J. S. Moore, M. D., Theory and Prac. of Medicine; R. S. Thomas, A. M., Metaph., Rhet., and Logic; G. II. Matthews, A. M., Anc. Languages; John B. Thompson, M. D., Pathol. and Clin. Medicine; R. A. Grant, A. M., tutor of Mathematics; W. C. Shields, A. B., tutor of Languages; J. S. Moore, M. D., Dean of Med. Faculty; I. J. Hodgen, M. D., Demonst. of Anatomy; R. S. Thomas, A. M., Librarian.

In 1840 the Methodists had 51 traveling preachers in the state; the Baptists, 86 ministers and 146 churches; the Presbyterians, 17 ministers and 33 churches; the Roman Catholics, one bishop and 30 priests; the Episcopalians, three ministers.

ART. VI.-INTERIOR VALLEY OF NORTH AMERICA.*

BOUNDARIES AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE OF THE VALLEY-THE SOUTHERN HYDROGRAPHICAL BASIN-CLIMATE OF THE VALLEY-PLANTS AND ANIMALS-POPULATION, FOOD, HABITS, &C. &C.

One of the most useful books, recently published in this country, is the work of Dr. Drake, on the Principal Diseases of our Interior Valley. Its prime object is to detail the etiology, pathology, and treatment of the diseases prevalent in that valley. Preliminary to the direct consideration of the subject-matter, the author gives a care

Systematic Treatise, Historical, Etiological, and Practical, on the Principal Diseases of the Interior Valley of North America, as they appear in the Caucasian, African, Indian, and Esquimaux Varieties, and its Population, by Daniel Drake, M. D.; Cincinnati, 1850. Vol. 1, pp. 878.

It is a matter of regret that scientific writers, when introducing new technical terms into their vocabulary, are not always careful to write them etymologically. Acorrect orthogra phy will often save a reference to the lexicon for the signification.

The incorrect spelling, etiology, gives rise, moreover, to an almost universally incorrect pronunciation. Thus, instead of e-tiology (the e sounding like e in me.) every one not well versed in Greek will infallibly say etiology, (the e sounding as e in met). Webster, with not unusual inconsistency, gives the word in two places, under al, and under et; but his division of the syllable is, in both cases, correct.

ful and lengthy sketch, geological, hydrographical, climatic, physiological, and social, of the Interior Valley; which, apart from its usefulness to the practical physician and medical student, is rich with matter highly interesting to the historian, geologist, meteorologist, and all who delight in the discoveries of science. Unlike most books, this has a permanent and increasing value. Its true worth will only be known hereafter. It is, in short, a “ктñμa εis àɛí ̧.” The present article is intended as a review, or rather brief condensation of the preliminary sketch, which occupies much the larger part of the volume, being 701 pages in length. The more strictly medical portion is not well fitted for treatment in the pages of this periodical; and it deserves, too, and will no doubt abundantly receive, the consideration of writers much better acquainted than ourself with the entire circle of diseases and their ætiology. In describing the Interior Valley we shall follow substantially the order adopted by Dr. Drake, as upon the whole the most natural and convenient. In a treatise so brief, we can have little more to do than condense the subject-matter of the leading topics which he discusses, referring but little, if in any respect, to the observations of other writers, and indulging not at all in original speculations. In accordance with this plan, we proceed to treat of the

BOUNDARIES AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE OF THE INTERIOR VALLEY.

This region extends, on the north and south, from the tropic of Cancer (lat. 23° 28' N.) to the north polar circle, the whole length of the north temperate zone; on the east and west, from the Appala

"I cannot omit mentioning here the very able review of Dr. Drake's work by my friend and fellow-citizen, Bennet Dowler, M. D., of European as well as American reputation as an original investigator. He says: "Dr. Drake's book is unrivalled as an elegant and learned summary of the topographical, social, and vital physics of the interior valley of North America. But he leaves the great problem still to be solved, namely, the invariable connections between the physical agents and the special diseases of localities. The great desideratum which connects, as cause and effect, the meteorology, the hydrography and general topography of a delta, a basin, a plain, a lake, a river, a swamp, a mountain, and a country, with the maladies for population, is still unsupplied." (P. 5). Dr. Drake's few leading generalizations on the etiology of Autumnal Fever, (the only disease specially treated in the published volume,) which he calls "unquestionable facts," are thus pointedly dissented from by the reviewer: "That these conclusions are in accordance with the almost universal opinion of medical men, cannot be denied; but, with the exception of the influence of temperature, every one of them may be regarded as hy. pothetical, nay, scarcely reconcilable with established facts, which European, American, African, Asian and Oceanic valleys and mountains supply abundantly." (P. 14). Now, upon the whole question of etiology, there can, I conceive, be no doubt, a priori, that topographical, meteorological, climatic and social influences, tend to produce and to modify diseases in general; but it is, in the first place, hard to determine, precisely, what conditions, topographical, &c., actually exist; and, in the next place, it is very difficult, in the present imperfect state of aetiological science, to discover what subordinate, modifying, and even transforming agents of a chemical or other character are also at work in the same localities; and next to impossible, even when all efficient causes are known, to calculate the precise effect of the whole operating in combination. Many years of careful observation and experiment on the diseases of the valley must yet elapse, before we can ascertain their aetiology. Towards accomplishing this end, Dr. Drake's work is by far the most valuable yet published. To its high worth Dr. Dowler bears testimony in se veral places in his review. "The statesman," says he, "the geographer, the geologist, and the civil historian, will dispute with the pathologist for the right to this work... To all classes it will be interesting." (P. 5.) With this opinion my own entirely concurs.

chian to the Rocky Mountains, widening as one passes from south to north. Supposing 8,000,000 of square miles to be the area of North America, the valley contains 6,000,000. The northern half is almost uninhabitable; and of the remaining 3,000,000 square miles, only one-third is as yet inhabited, and that but sparsely, by a civilized population. The western boundary of the valley is the Rocky Mountains, which are composed of many chains united by offsets, and run northwest to the Polar Sea. The range varies in height from 10,000 to 14,000 feet above the level of the ocean; and is distant, on an average, about 100 of longitude from the Pacific. The vast inclined plane on the east of the range is 5,000 or 6,000 feet lower than the mountain at the point of recession from the range. Upon this plain are found several tracts of high table land, either projecting from the mountains, or insulated; of which the principal are the Sweetwater Mountains and Black Hills, the Llano Estacado, the Ozark Mountain, and the Coteau des Prairies. The Appalachian Mountains form the eastern boundary, which run northeasterly, at an average elevation about one fourth of that reached by the chain on the western margin. The plain which inclines from the Appalachian Mountains to the trough of the valley, is much narrower than that running from the mountain range on the other side. It does not, like it, present elevated ranges of table land, but it is in general more rugged. Nor does the Appalachian chain, like the Rocky Mountains, extend to the Polar Sea, but is interrupted by the lakes and the river St. Lawrence, and finally disappears before it reaches the coast of Labrador. The northern part of the valley is an immense flat, stretching across from the Rocky Mountains to the Labrador coast, deeply indented in many places by the Northern Ocean.

On the north side of the valley lies Hudson's Bay; on the south, the Gulf of Mexico; both penetrating deeply into the land, and each a reservoir of many large rivers, which originate in the centre of this region. Lakes are seldom found in the southwestern part of the valley, but are numerous in the more northern portion. Deserving of particular notice is that remarkable chain which, commencing with Great Bear Lake in the northeast corner of the valley, (lon. 1270,) runs southerly as far as Lake Erie, (lat. 40°, lon. 80°,) and then northeasterly into the river St. Lawrence, through which the waters of nearly the whole series are discharged into the Atlantic. This is the longest chain of lakes in the world. The valley abounds in rivers, on which are situated our largest cities, and between which, in the bottom lands, resides the densest rural population. These rivers have, severally, hydrographical axes, or centres, in which they originate, and by which they are divided into as many distinct groups as there are distinct centres. Of these axes, some lie wholly within the valley; others among the mountains on its eastern and western margins. Those within the valley are: 1. The region west of Lake Superior, (mean lat. 47°, mean lon. 950,) whose average elevation is 1,500 feet, and from which rivers flow in three different directions. Mississippi, running southeast through the central

These are, the trough of the