"The following quantities of sugar, brown, clayed and refined, have been imported into the United States from Louisiana and the Floridas, viz.

"There are no colleges, and but one public school, which is at New-Orleans. The masters of this are paid by the king. They teach the Spanish language only. There are a few private schools for children. Not more than half of the inhabitants are supposed to be able to read and write, of whom not more than two hundred, perhaps, are able to do it well. In general the learning of the inhabitants does not extend beyond those two arts; though they seem to be endowed with a good natural genius, and an uncommon facility of learning whatever they undertake."

In the large and copious appendix we find nothing to our immediate purpose; for it consists chiefly of the code of Spanish laws as adapted to the province. It will be sufficient for us to inform our readers that they consist of four parts: 1. The Epitome or Digest from the Recopilation des Indes, as promulgated in 1769 by Governor O'Reilly. 2. A Body of Instructions as to Judicial Proceedings in Civil and Criminal Cases, by Dr. Urrustia and Counsellor Rey, and published under the same authority in 1769. 3. An Ordinance of the same Governor relative to Grants of Lands issued in 1770. 4. Regulations concerning General Police, the Repair of Bridges, Roads and Mounds, and the Treatment and Discipline of Slaves, enacted in 1795, by the then Governor, Baron de Carondelet. There are also several interesting tables of the population. Of these several articles we deem it foreign from our design to make any analysis.

If, in the review we have given of this official publication, we have been rather prolix, or have occupied more than ordinary space, it must be imputed to our desire of laying before our readers as ample a view as our limits would in any wise permit, of these authentic particulars relative to a country which is now become a part of our domain, and, consequently, a subject of uncommon interest and solicitude. And with this apology we hope our friends and patrons will be content..

ART. III. A General History of Quadrupeds. The Figures engraved on Wood, chiefly copied from the Originals of T. Bewick. By A. Anderson. First American Edition; with an Appendix, containing some American Animals not hitherto described. 8vo. pp. 531. New-York. G. & R. Waite. 1804.

'OOLOGY may be pronounced the most agreeable and interesting part of natural history. And of the animal crea tion, the study of quadrupeds, or of creatures that walk the earth, and in their food, residence, and bodily organs, appróximate most nearly to man, is, perhaps, next to himself, the most obvious and useful. Many of these animals supply the lord of this created world with nourishment, several of them assist him in performing labour, and a number more annoy him by preying upon his substance, and occasionally even upon his life. A knowledge, therefore, of this class of beings obtrudes itself upon the notice of every person in some degree. To him who goes extensively abroad, and especially who visits. foreign climes, and examines the productions of the remote regions of the earth, a decent acquaintance with this branch of natural history is highly convenient. But the man of industry, the accomplished gentleman and the finished scholar, all find that a more intimate acquaintance with this department of physics is indispensible. How boorish, for example, is it to be ignorant of the general history of the elephant! Would it be excusable for the oriental traveller to be uninformed of the character and qualities of the camel? And it would seem. that the man of business and general information ought to have informed himself pretty well of the haunts and manners of the seals, for whose skins many long and distant sea-voyages are performed; and of the food and residence of the beavers, whose furry coats are sought after with such desire that inland expeditions of great toil and hazard are undertaken to procure them. It is esteemed shameful and vulgar, in this age of the world, and in our state of society, to be wholly uninformed upon. such matters.

It is not, however, our design to write an essay in praise of natural history at large, nor of zoology as one of its great departments, nor yet of the study of the mammalia as an important subdivision of it. Happily these subjects are among the most early that are presented to the eyes of infancy; they make strong impressions upon the curiosity of childhood;

and, with a little cultivation and method, tend to embellish and fortify the understanding of youth. An acquaintance with the works of nature, in addition to its other advantages, is so admirably calculated to lead to just views and proper conceptions of its author, that it is to be deeply regretted it is completely neglected in so many modern seminaries of learning. It sounds like a strange story, that the plan of fashionable education leads to the reading of almost all books, except that most delightful and instructive one, the great volume of

nature.

We collect, however, from the work before us, that the public taste and the enterprize of individuals, in a good degree, supply this defect in collegiate establishments. Bewick's figures of the four-footed creatures, and the striking illustrations and ornaments which accompany them, have been finely copied in New-York. Our American Anderson has imitated most beautifully his manner of engraving upon wood. He may be said to have equalled in most respects, and even in some to have exceeded, the spirit and execution of his British original.

With impressive likenesses of the greater part of the quadrupeds described, done by this skilfui artist, Messrs. G. and R. Waite have given an handsome edition of this collection of zoology. It is probably already known to many of our readers, that this history of animals is rather a popular than a scientific performance. The original compiler, in order to render the work amusing and attractive, appears intentionally to have exempted it from the formality and stiffness of system. But although he has not followed Linnè, or Pennant, or any of the methodical writers on this subject, he has made an arrangement which is very natural and easy as he passes from one quadruped to another. To young persons it is likely to be highly engaging, and may serve to prepare them for and initiate them into the more regular and systematic performances. And to elderly readers, who have no desire to study the systematic works, but are content to take subjects piecemeal as they turn up, this work will afford a great variety of information, which, though a little desultory, will not be less entertaining.

The descriptions which accompany the figures are concise and sententious, and generally very just and appropriate. We observe, with pleasure, the care that has been bestowed on the history of the horse, the cow, the sheep, and the dog. And we remark with approbation an important addition to the

original text, in the figures and descriptions of four American animals, to wit, the shy hamster of Georgia, the fossil mammoth skeleton of New-York, the wild sheep of Louisiana, and the strange vivo-oviparous shark of Long-Island. These make a substantial addition to the work, and must be considered, by every person of discernment, as giving to it new importance and value. On considering all these circumstances, it would be an omission of what we conceive due to the publishers, if we did not wish them to be well remunerated for their laudable design, and the becoming manner in which they have executed it.

MEDICAL & PHILOSOPHICAL NEWS,

DOMESTIC.

LOUISIANA.

Report made by Dr. MITCHILL, Chairman of the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures, on the Resolve of the House of Representatives, directing them to inquire into the Expediency of authorizing the President of the United States to cause certain remote and unknown Parts of Louisiana to be explored, and read in Congress Feb.

18, 1804.

"BY

Y a series of memorable events, the United States have lately acquired a large addition of soil and jurisdiction, This is believed, besides the tracts on the east side of the Mississippi, to include all the country which lies to the westward between that liver and the great chain of mountains that stretch from north to south, and divide the waters running into the Atlantic from those which empty into the Pacific Ocean; and beyond that chain, between the territories claimed by Great-Britain on the one side, and by Spain on the other, quite to the South-Sea.

"It is highly desirable that this extensive region should be visited, in some parts at least, by intelligent men. Important additions might thereby be made to the science of geography. Various materials might thence be derived to augment our knowledge of natural history. The government would thence acquire correct information of the situation, extent and worth of its own dominions, and individuals of research and curiosity would receive ample gratification as to the works of art and productions of nature which exist in those boundless

tracts.

"There is no need of informing the House, that already an expedition, authorised at the second session of the seventh Congress, has been actually undertaken, and is going on, under the President's direction, up the Missouri. The two enterprizing conductors of this adventure, Capts. Lewis and 4. Clark, have been directed to attempt a passage to the western shore on the South-Sea: from them, on their return in 1805,