768 



WISCONSIN. 



WOOD, ISAAC. 



$61,320.12. There have been sixty pupils at 

 the Institution for the Blind during the year, 

 at a cost for current expenses of $13,299.95. 

 An extension of the building is in progress. 

 At the Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, 95 

 pupils have been in attendance, and the at- 

 tempt to teach the dumb to speak is attended 

 with an encouraging degree of success. The 

 buildings of this institution, with workshops, 

 etc., are now complete. The current expenses 

 for 1868 amounted to $33,365.38. There is a 

 Home for Soldiers' Orphans, which affords pro- 

 tection to 300 children, but many applications 

 have been received beyond this number, and 

 further accommodations are contemplated; 

 $40,000 were appropriated to the support of 

 these wards of the Commonwealth during the 

 past year. A bill providing for the establish- 

 ment of a School for Imbecile and Idiotic Chil- 

 dren passed both branches of the Legislature 

 at the last session, but did not become a law, 

 in consequence of the failure to present it to 

 the presiding officers for their signatures. 



The management of the State Prison of Wis- 

 consin appears to be remarkably efficient. 

 Efforts are made to introduce several reforms 

 and improvements. The party-colored dress 

 has been abolished, and much is done to edu- 

 cate the prisoners and encourage them to pur- 

 sue a better course. It is an interesting fact 

 that, although the population of the State has 

 greatly increased during the past ten years, 

 the commitments to the State Prison have con- 

 stantly grown less, and in October, 1868, there 

 were only 184 convicts in that institution. 

 There is a State Eeform School, which is rep- 

 resented to be in excellent condition. During 

 the past year 227 children were committed to 

 its charge. 



The new State capitol will probably be 

 completed in the course of the coming year. 

 The entire cost of this structure will be $528,- 

 315.60. Since 1860 the State has expended 

 $1,200,000 in the erection of public buildings. 

 There are now about 1,100 miles of railroad in 

 operation in Wisconsin, and several new lines 

 have been projected. The construction of the 

 Northern Pacific Eailroad is strongly favored 

 in the State. A military road from Fort 

 Howard to the Michigan line is in progress, 

 and seventy miles have been completed and 

 accepted by the State. The improvement of 

 the navigation of the Wisconsin Eiver is ear- 

 nestly recommended by the Governor, as a 

 work " clearly national in its character, reach- 

 ing out to and affecting the commercial inter- 

 ests of many States, binding together, by a 

 navigable channel, the Mississippi Eiver and 

 the great lakes, and furnishing the much -needed 

 naval highway which will connect nearly all 

 the navigable waters of the Union." A com- 

 plete survey of the river has been made by the 

 United States Engineer Department, and it is 

 thought that the proposed improvements can 

 be made at a very moderate expense. 



The population of the city of Milwaukee 



has increased from 275 in 1836, 1,700 in 1840, 

 21,000 in 1850, 45,000 in 1860, to 80,563 in 

 1868. The assessed value of property in the 

 city is $39,262,452 ; $19,000,000 are invested 

 in manufactures, and the trade is quite large. 

 4,737 vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 

 1,913,328, and crews numbering 66,317, arrived 

 at that port during the year. There are 107 

 vessels, with a tonnage of 20,054, owned in the 

 city. Building improvements in the city were 

 made during the year of the value of $3,493,- 

 710. The new court-house, which has just 

 been begun, will be a magnificent structure, 

 erected at a cost of $600,000. The main build- 

 ing is to be 82 feet front by 104J- feet deep, 

 exclusive of projections ; the two wings are to 

 be 20 by 52.6 feet, and the transverse wings 

 88 by 43.6. This makes the total length of 

 front 210-l-feet, and the total depth, not includ- 

 ing porticoes, 130| feet. The height of the 

 wings is 50J feet, and that of the main build- 

 ing 69 feet. The height of the centre dome 

 will be 180 feet. It is expected that the build- 

 ing will be completed in 1870. 



WOOD, ISAAC, M. D., an eminent physician 

 and philanthropist of New York City, born in 

 Clinton Town, Nine Partners, Dutchess County, 

 N. Y., August 21, 1793; died at Norwalk, 

 Conn., March 25, 1868. His father removed 

 to New York City in 1803, and established a 

 bookstore and publishing house the following 

 year, which is still conducted by his descend- 

 ants. Isaac Wood, thus brought under the 

 influence of city life and opportunities in his 

 tenth year, early manifested a strong predilec- 

 tion for study, and soon became a pupil of the 

 celebrated John Griscom in physical science, 

 and of the Eev. Frederick Macfarlane in clas- 

 sical studies. Ambitious to enter the medical 

 profession, he abandoned his first intention of 

 taking a full collegiate course, and entered the 

 office of Dr. Valentine Seaman, then one of 

 the most eminent physicians of New York, in 

 1811, just before completing his eighteenth 

 year. As a student he was indefatigable, often 

 spending the whole night in medical and surgi- 

 cal investigations. He spent two years in the 

 New York Hospital, being assistant house- 

 surgeon from 1814 to 1815, and house-sur- 

 geon from 1815 to 1816. In 1815 he re- 

 ceived his license from the censors of the Med- 

 ical Society of the State of New York, and 

 in 1816 his diploma from the Medical Depart- 

 ment of Queen's (now Eutger's) College, 

 N. J. He soon became one of the physi- 

 cians of the New York Dispensary, and in 

 1818 a member of the Society of the New York 

 Hospital, but did not open an office for private 

 practice until January, 1820, when, having 

 joined the New York County Medical Society, 

 he commenced his life as a practitioner of med- 

 icine at his father's residence in Eose Street. 

 He removed thence two years later to Cherry 

 Street, and, in 1826, having been appointed 

 resident physician of Bellevue Hospital and 

 Almshouses, resided there till 1833, when 



