THE AMERICAN ALMANAC AND REPOSITORY OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE, FOR THE YEAR 1849. BOSTON: CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by G. P. SANGER AND F. E. PARKER, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. CAMBRIDGE: METCALF AND COMPANY, PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. PREFACE. THE twentieth volume of the American Almanac, being the tenth volume of the second series, is now offered to the public. The volume for 1839, which was the tenth volume of the first series, contained an index of such matters in those ten volumes as were not common to all the volumes of the Almanac. A similar index to the ten volumes of the second series is appended to this volume. Unwearied pains have been taken to collect full, authentic, and varied information concerning the complex affairs of the general and State governments; and a mass of official documents and private correspondence has been digested relating to the government, finances, legislation, public institutions, internal improvements, and resources of the United States. It is believed that the present volume is equal to its predecessors in fulness and accuracy, and that it will sustain the high character of the American Almanac as a trustworthy manual for reference, and a full repository of useful knowledge. The Astronomical Department has been, as usual, under the direction of Professor Peirce, whose high reputation is a sufficient guaranty of the completeness and accuracy of the computations. The article upon the Coast Survey will give a distinct idea of this great national work, of the method of conducting the survey, and of the benefits that have already resulted from it to science, commerce, and navigation. The Meteorological Information is full, embracing points in all parts of the United States. The returns for consecutive years from the same places, and by the same observers, give a continuous series of observations of great value. In the Second Part of the volume, the chapters upon the several Departments will be found to be full and accurate, having been corrected at Washington to the latest dates. The account of the dead-letter office, the rates of postage to foreign countries, and the tables of the extent of territory acquired by the recent treaty, will be found interesting and valuable. The article upon Population as affected by Immigration points out the true method of estimating the number of immigrants. The extent and rapid growth of the undeveloped resources of the country are practically exhibited in the articles upon the Ice-Trade and the Commerce of the Lakes 1060 RECAP) 62365 |