clxxxvi GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



sanitary regulation. During the past year the system al- 

 luded to was adopted either exclusively or in part in quite 

 a number of localities. 



Many matters of importance in this department have 

 doubtless been overlooked, or perforce omitted, because of 

 the limited space at our command. We may hope, however, 

 notwithstanding the comprehensiveness of the field, to have 

 selected at least the salient points of interest out of the host 

 of items and novelties which make up the progress of the 

 year in the application of science to the useful arts. 



COMMERCE. TRADE.- INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS. 



The preparation of the Annual Record in advance of 

 the actual close of the year involves the loss of certain in- 

 teresting statistical figures concerning the condition of home 

 and foreign trade, internal improvements, and manufacturing 

 industries ; or the substitution of estimated for ascertained 

 values. The effects of the great financial crisis, which are 

 manifested on all sides in the almost universal depression of 

 business, and the suspension of work upon our great public 

 improvements, will make the year 1874 a memorable one in 

 the annals of the country. The following statistics of our 

 foreign trade, from the report of the Bureau of Statistics for 

 the fiscal year ending June 30th, 18 74, reaching back as they 

 do into a period of comparative business activity, display 

 certain gratifying features in the item of domestic exports, 

 which will quite certainly be unfavorably modified during 

 the current year. The appended table shows the gold value 

 of imports, exports, and re-exports for a series of years : 



TOTAL IMPORTS, ETC. 



The eifect of the panic in diminishing the demand for for- 

 eign goods will be manifest from an inspection of the above. 

 The following table gives the value of the importations for 



