44 
GEOGRAPHIC LITER A TURE 
Navy Depaiitmext — Surgeon General. — Among valuable special reports 
are those of Surg. Gen. Tryon, on “The Relation of Naval Architecture 
to projjer Sanitation; Dr H. G. Beyer, on “Normal Growth under the 
Influence of Exercise,” and Dr E. K. Stitt, on “The Medical Aspect of 
tlie Nicaraguan Canal.”' Dr Stitt believes that while the construction of 
the canal would temporarily increa.se the prevailing malarial diseases, it 
would ultimately remove the most potent pestilential forces through 
changes in swamps and in the level of lake Nicaragua. 
Po.sT Office Departmext. — The Postmaster General states that the 
revenue of his department for the year lS94-’95 was in round numVjers 
$77,090,000, and that the expenditures amounted to $87,000,000. ^lail 
service has been established on electric and cable lines in Boston, Brooklyn, 
Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. The net increa.se in 
the number of po.st-offices is 429, principally in Oklahoma, Indian Terri- 
tory, and Virginia. Cape Colony has joined the postal union, leaving 
Korea, China, and the Orange Free State the only civilized nations not 
embraced therein. 
Departme.xp of the Ixterior. — The Secretary of the Interior covers in 
his report the operations of many bureaus, of which the more important 
are treated under the following heads : 
Patent Office.— There were 3(3,972 applications for patents, 20,465 pat- 
ents were granted, 12,906 expired, and .3,208 were forfeited for nonpay- 
ment of fees. 
Indian Bureau. — There are 161 Indian reservations, on which the prob- 
lem of making tbe ahiorigines self-supporting is progressing with more or 
less rapidity. For schools alone $2,060,695 was appropriated, and nearly 
$7,000,000 for payment for lands and other treaty obligations. The school 
pupils have increa.^ed by 1,417 during the year. The total enrollment 
was 23,036, of whom 4,673 are in industrial training schools. Lands have 
been patented to 6,851 Indians during the year. 
Generfd Land Office. — Of public lands there have been disposed of to 
Indians 42,000 acres; by sale, 417,000; miscellaneous entries, 7,947,000. 
There remain undisposed of 599,000,000 acres, exclusive of Alaska. The 
vacant public lands are largely in the arid regions, and from 8 to 25 per 
cent, according to various e.stimates, may ultimately be cultivated by irri- 
gation. The Laud Commi.ssioner recommends the establishment of forest 
re.ser vat ions, and that legislation be enacted relative to public timber, to 
the surveying of public lands through the Geological Survey, and to the 
estiiblishment of a district land office in Alaska. 
Bureau of Educ'Uion. — The number of pupils enrolled in schools in 1894 
was 15,5.30,000, or 22.9 per cent of the entire population. 
yationul Parka and Forest Resermtions. — There are si.xteen reservations, 
with a total area of 16,325,000 acres, embracing parts of Arizona, Cali- 
fornia, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. The more im- 
portant Yellowstone, A^osemite, and Sequoia parks are protected b\' mili- 
tary guards. 
