Dakotas the annual mean does not exceed 45°. The rainfall of the United States varies greatly in different sections, not only as to quantity, but as to distribution throughout the year. The eastern part of the country is well watered, having not only an ample supply, but an average rainfall for any month which in the long run does not vary much from that of any other month. The requisite moisture is furnished by the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. The western portion, excepting the strip between the Sierras and the Cascade Range and the Pacific Ocean, and a few limited areas favoured by some peculiar features of topography, has an insufficient supply, and agriculture is dependent for success upon Irrigation (q.v.). Between the two regions is a belt approximately following the meridian of longitude 100', in which agriculture may sometimes be carried on without recourse to irrigation, but which in any season is liable to suffer from drought. The rainfall of the Pacific coast is peculiar. The westerly winds crossing the warm oceanic current are laden with moisture, which is precipitated whenever the air is sufficiently cooled to lower the dew-point. Washington, where the land is relatively cooler than the sea for the greater part of the year, rains are frequent, but heavier in winter than in summer. Farther south the land is warmer than the sea in summer, but cooler in winter, so that in northern and central Calfornia, for example, there is a wet and a dry season. In southern California, where the land is, as a rule, warmer than the sea, there is little or no rain, and an arid climate prevails.

In

The eastern portion of the United States is in the main well wooded. Forests also occur in northern California, Oregon, Washington, and in northern Idaho and Montana. The Cordilleran region and the Great Plains are treeless, except upon high plateaus and mountains. The limit of the growth of trees in the east is approximately marked by the same line which separates the region of ample from that of insufficient rainfall. In fact the distribution of forests very closely follows the distribution of rainfall. There is, however, a tract in the central portion of the country, between the parallels 39 and 43°, which at the time of the advent of the white man was a prairie region with very little woodland. The conditions of rainfall and evaporation, together with the prevalence of prairie fires in this area, were such that apparently trivial circumstances turned the tide against forests. With a modification of these conditions by the increase of civilisation, the prairie regions are disappearing and wooded tracts are increasing.

Political Divisions.-Under its present organisation the United States comprises fifty different political divisions besides its Arctic province of Alaska. Of these forty-four are states enjoying the full privileges afforded by the federal constitution; four are organised territories not yet admitted to statehood; one is an unorganised territory set apart as a home for Indian tribes, and one is a special district containing the capital of the nation. By reference to the table (page 373) the name of each of the divisions, its capital, its area, and its population in 1890 may seen. Both the land and the water area are given in accordance with the computations of the census of 1890. The chain of Great Lakes is excluded from the calculations of enclosed water surfaces. It is worthy of remark that the centre of population has advanced westward during the ten decades since 1790 in a nearly uniform line along the 39th parallel of latitude. It has progressed during the century from a point 23 miles east of Baltimore, a distance of 505 miles, to a point 20 miles east of Columbus, Indiana. Of the total population 96 per cent. of the inhabitants live in that

part of the country which is drained to the Atlantic Ocean, and more than one-half live in the region drained by the Gulf of Mexico. The greatest density of population is in the region having a mean annual temperature of from 50 to 55°. From this maximum the density rapidly diminishes with the increase or decrease of temperature. There are three cities, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, having a population of more than 1,000,000. Brooklyn, St Louis, Boston, and Baltimore have each more than 400,000 inhabitants. There are twenty-one cities having a population less than 400,000 but over 100,000; thirty with a population between 100,000 and 50,000; and sixty-six with less than 50,000 but over 25,000. See also the articles on the several states and territories, and on the rivers, lakes, &c.

GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES.

The continent of North America began to be developed in the earliest time of which we have as yet any knowledge. It is evident that this part of the world was the seat of certain land areas in the Laurentian age, though we cannot as yet determine the form or position of these ancient islands. In the period of the Lower Cambrian we know that there were dry lands in the Rocky Mountain district, in the region to the south and east of Hudson's Bay, extending as far south as northern New York and along the Atlantic coast from Labrador to Georgia and Alabama. These islands, probably in area small as compared with the present surface of the continent, in a general way outlined the form of the great land. Its subsequent development has been in the main on the lines which were thus traced, the islands of the ancient archipelagoes having become united and extended as the continental elevation has been gradually uplifted above the level of the sea. During the Silurian and Devonian periods not only were the lands enlarged, but the seas lying between them were shoaled, so that the great Mediterranean included within the eastern, northern, and western groups of islands was converted into shallow water.

In the early stages of the Carboniferous period a great portion of the continent, which had gradually Been rising from the depths of the sea, was uplifted above the ocean's level and converted into low marshy plains upon which developed the luxuriant swamp vegetation from which the deposits of coal were formed. These plains of the coal-making age were mainly developed within the limits of the United States, occupying a broad field to the west of the ancient mountain-ranges of the Blue Ridge, stretching thence for the greater part of the dis tance across the valley of the continent to the westward. A fringe of similar lowlands lay along the Atlantic coast from Labrador to the southern part of New England. In this age the continent, which has always been subject to oscillations of level, appears to have been peculiarly unstable, so that from time to time the swamps which were formed on these plain lands were lowered beneath the waters, and their accumulations of peaty matter were buried beneath layers of sand, gravels, and mud, after a while to be again elevated and reconverted into swamps. By these successive movements the peaty matter, which has gradually been converted into coal, was imbedded in the rocks of the Carboniferous period. In the time when the Triassic rocks were formed there came one of the greatest periods of mountain-building which the continent has experienced. The ranges of the Alleghany system, extending from near New York to Alabama, were uplifted, and about the same time the region of the Cordilleras or Rocky Mountains underwent extensive elevation. Coincident with these movements the great central trough of

the continent, now occupied by the rivers of the Mississippi system, rose so far above the level of the sea that North America took on something like its present outline.

Until the close of the Carboniferous time the central portion of the continent, though occasionally and in parts above the level of the sea, had never been brought for any length of time above the ocean's level. With possible exceptions there appears always to have been a sinus or strait connecting the waters of the northern and eastern ocean with the Gulf of Mexico. During the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods a northward extension of the Gulf of Mexico more or less constantly occupied a portion of the continent lying to the east of the Rocky Mountains, and perhaps extending to near the Mississippi River. It is not certain that this sea extended to the Arctic Ocean, but it probably united the waters of the north and south for a portion of these ages. A further elevation of the continent occurring in the later Cretaceous time reduced this great central bay to the state of very extensive fresh-water lakes, which formed a fringe along the eastern border of the Rocky Mountains. These basins were gradually filled with the waste from the neighbouring highlands; and, with the slow uprising of the continent which occurred in the later Tertiary time, the rivers which drained them carved their ways to such depths that these remnants of the continental seas disappeared. To these same relatively recent elevations we owe the uplift of the great southern plain about the Gulf of Mexico which reduced the old American sea to its present narrow limits in the gulf just named.

The elevations which took place during the Tertiary period were in the eastern part of North America unattended by any considerable crumpling or folding of the rocks, such as produces mountains. In the western portion of the continent, however, the mountain-building forces, from the beginning more constantly active than in the eastern district, profoundly affected the topography of the surface. This greater intensity of mountainous growth in the western portion of North America was attended by a development of volcanic activity in that part of the continent. In the region east of the Mississippi this form of geological activity has not been distinctly manifested since the Triassic time.

The last great geological accident of North America consisted in the wide-spread extension of glaciers, which in a relatively very recent time occupied the surface of the country from the high north to the central portions of the United States, covering the greater portion of the land as far south as the parallel of 40°. Although this visitation of the ice occupied a relatively brief period, it greatly affected the surface of the country, and has had a profound influence upon the character of its soils. During the glacial period the surface of North America appears to have been subjected to remarkable oscillations of level-at least in the district east of the Mississippi River-the northern portions having sunk down, probably in consequence of the burden of ice laid upon them, while the southern parts were correspondingly elevated. At present, the ice having recently passed away, the form of the continent appears to be undergoing some readjust ment, a considerable portion of the Atlantic coast in the region south of New York being in process of down-sinking.

The geological resources of the United States include a greater variety of economically valuable substances than has as yet been found within an equal area in the other parts of the world. Most of these may for convenience be classed as carbonaceous materials, metalliferous substances, and architectural materials. The first group includes the varieties of coal, petroleum, and the burnable rock gases. These

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three classes of substances exist in remarkable quantities in the United States, particularly in the region to the east of the Mississippi River. Probably nine-tenths of the workable deposits of carbonaceous material contained in North America lie in the district between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Mississippi River. As there are no considerable coal-fields in the Canadian Dominion or in the countries which lie to the south of the Federal Union, it follows that the United States possesses by far the greater part of the subterranean fuels which the continent contains. The Appalachian coal field, together with the somewhat detached area lying in western Kentucky and the southern parts of Indiana and Illinois, contains over 60,000 sq. m. of workable coal-deposits. In the western portion of the country there are a number of small coal-basins, mostly formed in later ages than the Carboniferous, which afford fuels of lower grade than those obtained from the true coalmeasures, and which are of only local importance. On the Atlantic coast to the east of the Appalachian Mountains there are several small coal-fields, of which those about the Gulf of St Lawrence and about Narragansett Bay in the states of Rhode Island and Massachusetts are of Carboniferous age, while those near Richmond, Virginia, and in the valley of the Dan River, North Carolina, were formed in the Triassic time. By far the larger part of the fields have the fuel in the ordinary bituminous state. Some small areas in the mountain-built districts afford anthracites varying in quality from excessively anthracite coal, such as is found in the Narragansett district, to materials which verge on the bituminous state. The coals found in the Cordilleran region, especially those deposited in the later geological ages, generally belong to the group of lignites. The coals of the United States possess the advantage that they are prevailingly of excellent quality, being especially well suited for use in smelting ores, and they generally lie in positions where they may be mined by means of horizontal galleries penetrating from the neighbouring valleys.

The strata containing economically valuable deposits of petroleum lie in the rocks between the Cambrian and the Carboniferous, though there are some small basins which afford rock-oils in the more recent beds of the Cordilleran mountain district. The greater part of these burnable fluids is obtained from the horizontally stratified rocks lying in the valley of the Ohio River. In this field the product is obtained from a number of distinct areas, where the decomposition of the organic matter buried in the rocks at the time of their formation has produced the petroleum, and where the physical condition of the strata has led to the safe storage of the material in the strata. The range in quality of the American petroleum is great, some of the fields yielding oils of a light nature, others producing forms of the substance suitable for lubricating machinery.

The

The rock gases of a burnable nature, which were formed under substantially the same conditions as those which led to the production of petroleum, are somewhat more widely distributed than the fluid materials. They occur wherever rocks rich in organic matter, and in which the gases are produced, are overlaid by impervious strata. beds where these gases have been proved to exist in economically important quantities extend, though not in a continuous way, from central New York southward and westward through the Ohio valley. Similar deposits, though as yet of unknown value, exist in the more western portions of the country. The utilisation of natural gases for lighting and heating is an industrial feature which is almost peculiar to the United States.

The most important metallic resources of the United States are found in its iron ores. These exist in great quantities in various parts of its territory. On the Atlantic slope north of New York City the only important deposits lie in the valley of the Hudson, and are mainly magnetic oxides. In Virginia, and thence southward in the Appalachian mountain-system to central Alabama, there are very rich beds of limonite ores which lie in the horizons of the Cambrian. Farther to the west the rocks of the Clinton epoch in the Upper Silurian age contain some layers of limonites and hematites, which are remarkably continuous deposits extending with few breaks from Lake Ontario to Alabama. In the northern part of the field these deposits rarely exceed a foot in depth, but they thicken to the southward until, in the region beyond the Tennessee River, they often have a depth of from 10 to 20 feet. The portion of the Appalachian iron-field from the Potomac southward has the advantage that the ore-beds lie near to coals which afford excellent coke, and are in the immediate vicinity of limestones which are well suited for fluxing purposes. It is characteristic of these southern ores of iron that they are rarely in the form of magnetic oxides, and that they are prevailingly too phosphatic for the manufacture of steel by the Bessemer process, though they are well suited to conversion by means of the basic method of reduction. In the region about the western extremity of Lake Superior, particularly in the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan, there are very extensive deposits of high grade iron ores, principally magnetites, which, though occupying a much smaller field than those of the Appalachian district, have been for years the seat of the most extensive production of iron ore in the country. These beds appear to be in strata lying between the true Laurentian and the Cambrian deposits. Owing to the fact that coal is lacking in this district, almost all the ores are shipped away to the regions in the south and east where coke from the Appalachian coal-fields may be had. Most of the ores from the Lake Superior district are used for the manufacture of iron which is to be converted into Bessemer steel, while the ores from the Appalachian field serve in the main for the qualities of iron used for ordinary castings. In the region of the Cordilleras there are very great deposits of iron ore which occasionally, as at Leadville, are associated with the precious metals; but as yet these iron-fields have been but little explored.

The next most important metal in the United States is copper, which is widely distributed both in the metallic state and in that of ores. In the older rocks of the Appalachian Mountains it occurs in mineable quantities at a number of points from central New Hampshire to eastern Tennessee. Formerly the production from these mines of the eastern mountain-system was considerable; but the copper district of Lake Superior, which is limited to a small field in northern Michigan, has since the decade 1860-70 been the principal seat of production of this metal in North America. It is an eminent peculiarity of the mines in this region that they afford the substance in the metallic state: sometimes it occurs in the form of very great sheets of an indistinctly lens-like form, each of which may contain scores or even hundreds of tons of the metal. The deposits occur in rocks which were formed in Cambrian or perhaps in earlier times, and they lie in beds of conglomerate, or in accumulations of volcanic ash. At various points in the Cordilleran region, particularly in Montana and Arizona, there are deposits of copper ores which have been accumulated in wide veins, and which contain

small amounts of gold and silver. Although the production of the metal from these ores is more costly than in the case of the mines of Lake Superior, these fields of the Rocky Mountains are very productive, and vie with those of Michigan in their contributions to the market.

Lead ores, mainly in the form of galena, occur in great quantities and with a wide distribution in the United States. The easternmost region which has yielded a considerable supply is in Iowa and Illinois, where the mines of this metal were in the middle part of the 19th century of much importance, though they have been rendered almost valueless by the cheaper production in the more western states. In Missouri galena occurs in large quantities commingled with zinc blende, and is produced in considerable quantities. But the present source of supply is mainly from the silver-bearing lead ores in the Rocky Mountains. Many great vein deposits in that district consist of lead ores which contain a sufficient amount of silver to make them profitable for the precious metal alone, so that the lead is produced as a by-product and practically without cost. The ores of zinc occur in economically valuable quantities in the Appalachian district south of New York, in Missouri, and at various points in the Cordilleras.

We have now noted the most important of the grosser metals which occur in economically valuable quantities in the United States. The following named, however, deserve mention because of their incidental value in the arts. Oxide of manganese is found in workable quantities at various points in the southern Appalachian district, in western Arkansas, and at various places in the Cordilleran region; iron pyrites in numerous large veins in the Appalachian and Rocky Mountain districts, the ore commonly containing a share of copper, and not unfrequently some gold; and the ores of tin at many points in the older rocks of the eastern and western mountain-systems, but so far not in conditions to have any commercial valuealthough recent discoveries appear to indicate that the metal may occur in quantities sufficient to repay mining in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Nickel has been mined in Pennsylvania and in Oregon, the last-named region giving promise of a considerable production. The country has a full share of the world's gold and silver, and platinum occurs, though it is not yet economically valuable. In the Appalachian region ores containing silver in quantities to profit the miner are unknown. Goldbearing rocks are there widely distributed, but the veins containing the metal are commonly lean, and the mines opened on them have been unremunerative except in the region south of the Potomac, where during the slave-holding time a considerable amount of gold was produced by the use of this cheap labour. Gold and silver occur in conditions to tempt the miner in the region about the west end of Lake Superior; but, though some of the deposits have been temporarily productive in former years, the efforts to win these metals in this district have on the whole been unremunerative. From the eastern face of the Rocky Moun tains westward to the Pacific coast deposits of varied character containing silver and gold are extremely abundant. In fact this portion of the Cordilleran region appears to be the richest in precious metals of any equal area in the world. The silver of this district generally occurs in combination with galena, and has thus been won so cheaply and in such quantities as greatly to lower the price of the metal in the world's markets. The gold of this region occurs partly in ordinary lodes of varied character, and partly in deposits of gravel, sand, and clay, which occupy extensive areas in the river-valleys, especially in the state of

California. Although in all countries where gold has been mined more or less considerable portions of the metal have been won from alluvial deposits, these auriferous gravels of the Cordilleran district have attained an economic importance unknown in any other country, and have become the seat of a peculiar kind of mining known as the hydraulic process (see GOLD). So extensively was hydraulic mining carried on that the beds of the rivers in the lowlands became filled with the debris which was thus washed into them, and the sands overflowed wide areas of tilled land. On this account it has been found necessary in California to limit its practice by law.

this

Not only the existing river-valleys of the Cordilleran region contain gold-bearing gravels, but many ancient stream beds, which were filled with lava by volcanic eruptions and have since been left by the down-wearing of the country high above the drainage level, also contain deposits of the precious metal commingled with alluvial material. The precious metal deposits of the Cordilleras differ in an interesting way from those of other countries. The Comstock fode of Nevada is not only remarkable for its great width and the surprisingly rich though widely separated pockets of ores of gold and silver which it afforded, but also for the extraordinarily high temperature which is encountered at from 1000 to 2000 feet below the surface. Although this heat is variable in different parts of the mine, it occasionally amounts to more than 120° F., making the work of mining extremely costly. In Nevada and elsewhere ores of silver, and less commonly of gold, are often found deposited in caverns originally excavated by the waters of hot springs, and since more or less completely filled with deposits bearing those metals.

The architectural stones of the United States, though on the whole less varied and ornamental than those of the Old World, are abundant and well suited to the needs of construction. In the eastern part of the Appalachian district, particularly in New England, granitic and other related rocks of excellent quality for building plentifully occur. The marbles of Vermont are the seat of a great quarrying industry, and are excellent for the builder's use. Similarly extensive deposits occur in north-western Georgia. In this Appalachian section also occur many deposits which afford good roofing slates, and the sandstones of Triassic age are well suited for architectural work. In the central parts of the Mississippi valley the unmetamorphosed strata of Palæozoic age afford many varieties of limestone and sandstone which are serviceable for building purposes. In the Cordilleran district we find the richest field for the quarrymen which the continent affords. In addition to the more ordinary varieties of building stone, there are many species of volcanic rock which are admirably adapted for constructive purposes, being easily worked, enduring, and of pleasing colours.

The varieties of clays used for making bricks of various kinds, and for pottery purposes, abound throughout the districts between the western portion of the Mississippi valley and the Atlantic seaboard. Certain clays found near Milwaukee produce, under skilful burning, brick of a very delicate buff colour. The refractory clays suited for resisting high temperature are very abundantly developed, especially in the rocks of Carboniferous age. Their frequent occurrence in this formation is due to the fact that the earth had the lime and other basic materials which cause ordinary brick to melt removed by the action of the roots belonging to the species of plants which form the coal-beds. Rocks affording cements abound in almost all parts of the country; but the product of the quarries is on the whole not as

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good as that obtained from similar deposits in England and Germany.

Among the most important mineral deposits of North America, and particularly of the United States, must be reckoned the phosphatic rocks which are used in the manufacture of agricultural manures. These accumulations in quantities sufficient to have a great commercial value are found in the district about Charleston, South Carolina, and in a field having an aggregate area of about 1000 sq. m. in western Florida, bordering upon the Gulf of Mexico.

Although certain precious stones have been found within the limits of the United States, none of the prized species occur, so far as is known, in quantities sufficient to have distinct economic value. The mineral springs of the eastern part of the United States do not exhibit a great variety, and, except in Virginia and North Carolina, none of them are sufficiently warm to be prized for their temperature. Hot springs of much medicinal value occur at Little Rock, Arkansas. waters have a higher temperature than those of any other part of the continent east of the Rocky Mountains. In the Cordilleran district the number of mineral springs and those of high temperature is exceedingly great. As yet their therapeutic value is imperfectly known, but it seems certain that ultimately they will prove to be of much value.

EDUCATION.

Their

Introductory.-The country at large has no national system of education. By the constitution of the United States only such powers are vested in the federal government as concern the whole people. Education is left to the states. The central government has contributed greatly and in many ways to the encouragement of schools and the integration of systems, and toward unifying the educational policies of local authorities. It has influenced the direction of educational thought, and fixed the character of educational institutions. It possesses, however, neither legislative nor administrative power to improve schools directly. The schooling of the Indians and special education to fit for service in the army and navy only have been made a charge of the nation. There is maintained at the capital, however, as a division of the department of the interior, a ' Bureau of Education,' whose twofold function is to collect statistics and to diffuse information. Based upon the information voluntarily returned to it by local and state authorities, it issues an annual report, special reports upon educational questions, and numerous minor bulletins and circulars of information.'

By the general government also there is administered at Washington the Smithsonian Institution (q.v.); and still further, the federal government liberally supports special scientific inquiry, through the coast, geographical, and geological surveys, the Signal Service (or weather) Bureau, frequent naval explorations, and a national observatory, besides numerous publications of a scientific or historical character, incidentally connected with one or another of the several departments. And finally, under the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787,' granting to each state organised thereafter section 16 in every township for school purposes; and by an Act of 1849 setting off 500,000 acres to each of certain specified states; and again by an Act of 1862 giving to each state 30,000 acres of land for every representative in congress, to be used in establishing schools of agriculture and the mechanical arts, land has been appropriated by the national government for purposes of education in the states, aggregating nearly 80,000,000 acres.

All educational systems in America are relatively recent. Except for some New England

attempts made in Massachusetts by the law of 1647, and under the Connecticut Code of 1650, no effective movement for general education was inaugurated in the United States prior to the 19th century. In a few states permanent educational funds (hinting at centralisation and state control) were begun just after the revolution. But not until 1812 (in New York) was any law passed that could be construed as contemplating a uniform system for an entire commonwealth. That of Massachusetts, as now in force, dates from 1837. The Michigan system is a year older. Connecticut organised in 1838, and Rhode Island in 1843. But for the country at large the period of growth and the integration of systems, and the centralisation of control, includes little more than the years since 1870. Closer supervision, the improvement of teachers, the revision of school courses, the introduction and multiplication of technical and trade schools, the adoption of the Kindergarten, and the marvellous development of free schools in the southern states belong wholly or chiefly to this period.

The public school system now is practically co-extensive with the nation. Theoretically, the state agrees to furnish schooling for all who seek it (restricted as to age only), schooling of any grade to any class, with free tuition in some states even through the university. But other agencies also have the right to conduct schools, with or without the sanction of the state authorities. Their management (whether private or parochial) is free from state oversight; it passes upon the qualifications of, and employs, its own teachers; it determines its own courses and textbooks; it is required to make no reports; in short it is regarded in every respect by the civil authorities as a private enterprise, and treated accordingly.

Denominational Schools, &c.-Among the earliest of educational agencies in every section has been the church: not unfrequently the first schools among the pioneers have been veritable home missions. But now elementary denominational schools are neither numerous nor largely attended. Most Protestant sects patronise the public system; fivesixths of all the 700,000 children attending the parochial schools of all the states are Catholics. Of 1324 non-public secondary schools reporting to the National Bureau 548 are church controlled, and enrol nearly 90,000 pupils. But as an educational agency the church shows greatest zeal in establishing higher institutions of learning: of 506 colleges entitled to grant degrees 382 are avowedly denominational. There are also (approximately) 200 superior institutions, independent of both church and state, some of them endowed, varying greatly both as to quantity and quality of work, empowered to grant degrees. Of the eight colleges of the first class for women seven are private foundations, and enrol more than 2000 students. Of the 114 degree-giving institutions for women included in the second class 59 are private organisations, and have an attendance of about 9000 students. Of the 12 university foundations five are independent corporations having 6000 students. Sixty-one of the 384 colleges for men alone or co-educational for the sexes are private, and enrol 10,000 students. In addition to these still, there are 32 independent schools of science with 8000 students. In the aggregate the private institutions for superior instruction number 164, with an annual membership of 35,000 students.

Public (State-controlled) Schools. The schools of all grades enrol approximately 14,000,000 pupils. Of this number nearly 12,500,000, or 90 per cent., belong to public institutions; the remaining 10 per cent. to denominational and private schools. Moreover of those in the public schools 96 per cent.

are in the elementary grades (six to fourteen years of age); 312 per cent. in the public high schools, or preparatory departments; and about one-fourth of 1 per cent. in the state colleges and universities, including students in the public technological schools. The first two of the grades mentioned constitute the Common School System' of the states, tuition in both of which is free. In most states admission to classes beyond high schools involves the payment of a small fee, though most of these institutions have some endowment, and, in addition, most receive periodical appropriations from the legislatures that created them. The total appropriations average perhaps not less than a million dollars annually; the income from all other sources being about twice that amount. The endowment for all such institutions organised since 1800 began in the Federal Act, 1785, granting out of the public lands one full township (later two) to each state for the establishment and maintenance of a 'Seminary of Learning.' This as a nucleus has been variously managed by the different states, and sometimes increased through special appropriations, &c. Although the schools of this group comprise but one-fifteenth of all the superior institu tions of the country, they enrol one-sixth of the students. The state agricultural and mechanical schools have all grown up since 1865, taking their rise in the grant by congress in 1862. Upon this foundation, enlarged by individual donations of land and funds, by bequests and state grants, there are twenty-six independent schools having an aggre gate endowment of something over $10,000,000, with a property holding of farms, machinery plants, and buildings valued at $7,000,000 more.

The

Professional Schools.-Among the professions medicine ranks first in number of schools (188), theology second (141), and law last (52). schools of theology have nearly 7000 students, and represent 27 different denominations. In the 52 schools of law are 4000 students, and in medicine (including surgery, dentistry, pharmacy, and veterinary science) there are as many as in theology and law combined. Of the 52 law schools 18 are state supported, and of the medical schools 37. There should also be mentioned 33 schools for nurses, representing fourteen states, twenty-two cities, and 1248 students. The courses average two full years in length, from which are graduated annually over 400 nurses.

Supplementary Institutions.-There are 74 schools for deaf-mutes, with 8156 students; 33 schools for the blind, having 3134 students; 26 schools for the feeble-minded, with 4784 pupils; and 50 reform schools, with 19,790. These schools for the defec tive and wayward classes are found in almost every state, are generally public, and represent an aggre gate annual expenditure of five and a half million dollars. Evening schools are maintained more or less regularly and successfully in 150 cities. Half as many cities sustain Kindergartens, public or private. The support of these latter is, in most cases, an experiment only, though Boston, Philadelphia, St Louis, and a few other cities include them in the common school system, and provide for all alike. Here, as in so many other educational interests, private enterprise and church zeal have taken the initiative. The present total enrolment perhaps reaches 25,000.

Common School Statistics.-The lowest minimum age is 4 years, the highest 8, the average 5.5 years; the lowest maximum age 15 years, the highest 21, the average 197 years; the average school period 14.2 years. The highest ratio of school census to population is 22 9 per cent., the lowest 114 per cent. The accompanying table presents the population of the United States for the three census years 1870-80-90, together with the school enrolment for