•2H(i SURGEON.s' REPORTS NEW JERSEY THIRD DISTRICT. 



considered sufBcient to cause tbeir uames to be stricken from the lists. Of the latter, no record \ras 

 made, for the reason that the clerks could not spme the time required to make such records with- 

 out neglecting luo're important business. * * # 



This distJ-ict is conijiosed of the live counties of Warren, Hunterdon, Somerset, Middlesex, and 

 Union; being a tier extending from Staten Lsland Sound on the east to the Delaware River on 

 the west. 



In the upper portion of the district, the surface is somewhat hilly, and in some parts quite mount- 

 ainous; but, as we approach the east, it gradually flattens down to a dead level in tlie neighbor- 

 hood of the salt-marshes upon Newark Bay and Staten Ishmd Sound. 



The princii)al stream uf water is the Raritiin River, rising in Warren and Hunterdon Counties, 

 and crossing JNIiddlesex County to empty into Staten Island Sound at South Amboy. 



The district is remarkably well supplied with railroa<ls ; the New Jersey and Camden and 

 Amboy Railroads crossing Union and Jliddlesex Counties on the direct line from New York to 

 Philadelphia, and the Cential Railroad of New Jersey crossing Union, Somerset, Hunterdon, and 

 Warren ('ounties on the route irom New York to the great coal and iron tields ot Pennsylvania, and 

 to the Western States. These railroads intersect each other at Elizabeth, for which reason that city 

 was selected as the headquarters of the district, as it is now pretty well settled that in the United 

 States railroad-centers are the proper i)laces for business; geographical centers being considered of 

 comparatively little importance, unless situated upon some main line of railway. 



Besides these facilities for communication, the Delaware and Earitan Canal crosses the lower 

 and central portions of Middlesex County. It is probable that no district in the United States 

 has better facilities for travel and transportation than this; and the eastern countiesof Union and 

 Middlesex, and some portions of Somerset, are being rapidly settled and developed by New York 

 biisiTiess-men, who select their residences at points whence they can have access to New York at all 

 hours of the day or night. 



The physical geography and the geology of the district are so closely connected with each other 

 that it is almost impossible to speak of the one without including the other. The range of mount- 

 ains crossing Wairen, Somerset, and Hunterdon Counties is of the oldest geological Ibrmation in 

 the State, being of the Azoic period. In its extension in New York, it forms the Highlands, and in 

 PeniKsylvania the South Mountain. The prevailing rock is gneiss, in some jjlaces quite hard, and 

 at others easily decomposed, becoming the basis of a jjroductive. soil. In tliis region, magnetic- 

 iron ore is to be found in large quantities. Springs, streams, and i)onds ot pure soft water abound 

 in this portion of the district. Immediately to the northeast of this last-named formation, and con- 

 stituting almost the whole of Warren County, is a part of the Kittatinny Valley, the great valley 

 of the Eastern States. Geologically, it belongs to the Silurian period, and contains the oldest of 

 our fossiliferous rocks, composed of slate and limestone. We also And limestone of this age along 

 the South Branch of the Earitan Eiver in Hunterdon County. The soil is here rich and produc- 

 tive, and tnis portion of the district is thickly settled by an agricultural population. Water is 

 abundant, clear, and lively, but much of it contains lime in variable quantities. 



Lying immediately .south of this, and stretching from the Hudson to the Delaware, is a strip fif- 

 teen or twenty tidies wide, in which we fiii<] the Old Red Sandstone formation of the Triassic period. 

 Large portions of Uidoii, Middlesex, and Somerset Counties are included in this formation, in 

 wlii<'li the soil is not lich, but yields generous returns to skillful husbandry. It is everywhere 

 occu])ied by a mixed population of farmers, mechanics, and manufacturers. Water from near the 

 surface is generally scdf, but well-water is mostly hard. Tliere are large ])ortions of this section of 

 tlu' district in which the natural drainage is iusufiticient, and which would be much improved in a 

 hygienic point of view by artificial means. This is ])articularly the case in the neighborhood of 

 the .salt-marshes in Union und Middlesex Counties, wliich there is every reason to believe, if prop- 

 erly protected by embankments and thoroughly diked, could be made as healthy and productive 

 as any other part of the; State. The portions of Middlesex County southeast of Lawrence's Brook, 

 tlie township of Perth Amboy, and i>art of Woodbridge are of the Cretaceous period. The 

 material is not a lock, but consists of white and dark colored clays, sand, gravelly loam, &c. It is 

 not so thickly settled as the other portions of the district, though with improved husbandly it is 

 yielding well to the market-gardener and farmer. Water from the sands is soft, but from the clay 



