338 surgeons' reports — Pennsylvania — seventeenth district. 



strnction of tbe Pomisylvania Kailrond, fiiniisbod tlie eastern markets with very large quantities of 

 shingles, boards, and ditfereut varieties of lumber, of superior quality for building purposes. 



Mifflin County, lying out of the range of coal deposits, with but a limited aaiouut of iron-ore, 

 furnishes a small (piaiitity of iron compared with other parts of this district. Freedom Forge, bow- 

 ever, requires special notice. This establishment is the property of the Pennsylvania Central 

 Railroad Company; is worked on a inagniUcent scale; and here the company manufacture the 

 tires for the large driving-wheels of locomotives, the axles, and all such parts of their rolling- 

 stock as require tiie best quality of charcoal-iron. They obtain their ore princii)ally from the 

 Greenwood Bank in this county. 



For many years, the United States Government ]iurchased the ''Juniata iron," which was made 

 from this ore, to manufacture into gun-barrels at Har))er's Ferry before the Pennsylvania Eailroad 

 Company got jtosscssion of the works. 



All this district lying east of the Alleghany Mountains has a strong limestone soil, with but few 

 exceptions ; consequently the fields yield heavy crops of wheat, rye, corn, barley, oats, and grass. 

 Lime is burned in large quantities in Blair County, and freighted to Pittsburgh, where it is used iu 

 the manufacture of glass, on account of its supeiior quality. 



The headwaters of the Juniata River, rising in Blair, Huntingdon, and Mifflin Counties, rush 

 with a rapid descent through this part of the districit, and aflbrd great facilities for the employment 

 of water-power. There are many furnaces, forges, tlouring-mills, and other factories erected thereon. 

 Among the principal of these is Mann's Ax Factory, which is bailt on Kisliicoquillas Creek, four 

 miles above Lewistown, where the creek breaks through a goi-ge in Jack's Mountain, with peaks 

 one thousand feet high overhanging the stream almost perpendicularly as it flows in torrents 

 over its rocky bed beneath. The excellence of Mann's axes has given this factory a wide-spread 

 renown. 



Altoona, situated at the base of the Alleghany Mountains on the eastern slope, on the Pennsyl- 

 vania Railroad, is one of our i)rincipal mantifacturing towns. It contains 8,01)0 inhabitants, most of 

 wiioin are em|)loyds of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Here the company have extensive 

 machine-shops and foundries, in which is made everything pertaining to rolling stock for their 

 road, from a car-wheel to a first-class locomotive. 



The Pennsylvania Railroad in its passage through this district jiierces the Alleghany Mountains 

 by a tunnel three-quarters of a mile in length. This company built and still own the "Logan 

 House," (one of the best hotels in Pennsylvania,) for the accommodation of the traveling community 

 over their road. Every train stops here long enough to accommodate passengers with a meal. 



The eastern i)ortiou of the Seventeenth District, through which the Ju niata River runs, from as 

 far back as the memory of man extends until aUout the year ISO ) was subject to malarial disease 

 in the form of bilious, intermittent, remittent, and continued or pernicious fevers, frequently of 

 severe grade. This intermittent typo was so prevalent here that pneumonia, pleurisy, rheumatism, 

 and all other acute diseases assumed its character, and persisted not only during the autumnal 

 season, but the year through, and such was the inqiression made on the subject of the disease by 

 malaria that apparent recovery was frequently deceiving; for no matter what attention was paid 

 to prophylactics, or what system of regimen was adopted, relapse after relapse would occur in the 

 intermittent form, jtroducing functional and organic disease of the liver, spleen, and other viscera, 

 which often terminated fatally in dropsy or other cachexia. When a scrofulous diathesis existed, 

 tuberculosis was frequently developed by this as an exciting cause. Such was the poisonous influ- 

 ence of malaria that premature old age marked our citizens, and it was in fact rare to see an indi- 

 vidual among us over seventy years of age. Premature decay of teeth was also apparent, attribu- 

 table, as we think, to the same cause. Quinine was of course indispensable in the treatment of 

 every disease before a cure could be effected, and this remedy could frequently be used in the early 

 staf/c ot the disease with advantage. About the autumn of 185S, bilious fevers in their several 

 forms became less formidable; and, iu 1800, they disappeared altogether. At the present time, no 

 epidemic prevails in any part of the district. 



Typhoid fever for several years past has been the predominant disease, and this in some local- 

 ities has broken out with considerable virulence. Erysipelas, diphtheria, scarlatina, and kindred 

 diseases have prevailed to as great extent perha|)s as any class. Dysentery and diarrhoea are by 



