A 5

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1845,

BY FRANCIS BOWEN,

in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

10371

BOSTON:

PRINTED BY S. N. DICKINSON & CO.

WASHINGTON STREET.

PREFACE.

THE astronomical calculations for this volume of the American Almanac, which is the seventeenth since the commencement of the work, have been made by Mr. PEIRCE, Perkins Professor of Astronomy in Harvard University, and it is believed that they will be found as full and accurate as usual. The list of officers of the General Government and the Individual States, and the particulars respecting the Judiciary, the finances, and the statistics of the country, have been collected from official sources down to the latest date, and condensed and arranged with great care and labor. A complete list is given of the members of the next Congress, and an abstract of the laws passed at the last session. The register of colleges, of the theological, medical, and law schools, and the statistics of the religious denominations have been carefully revised and enlarged, and will be found complete enough for all ordinary purposes of reference. In can hardly be expected that a work embracing such a multitude of particulars should be found entirely free from errors; but by the kindness of the officers of governinent, and of numerous contributors from every part of the United States, the liability to mistake is greatly diminished, and the successive volumes of the work, it is hoped, improve in point of accuracy and completeness. The best thanks of the editor are due to these gentlemen, and a continuation of their kindness is respectfully requested. Communications from any person, tending to the correction of errors, or the furnishing of additional information, will be gladly received and acknowledged. The notices of distinguished persons in this country deceased during the past year have been compiled with much care, and furnish the only full obituary record that is published in the United States.

Under the head of the Individual States, the subjects of pauperism and crime have received particular attention. Unfortunately, but few of the States collect any statistical information upon these important subjects; and only from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia, could returns be obtained of suffi cient extent and value to deserve publication. Persons who may be able to procure corresponding information from any other State will confer a