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 LOUISIANA 677 table have a preparatory and a collegiate course. Leland university (Baptist), in New Orleans, was incorporated in 1870. By the aid of the freedmen's bureau and of benevolent individu- als grounds were bought and a building was erected, which was opened for the reception of students in November, 1873. A preparatory and a theological department are in operation, and others are to be organized. The university of Louisiana, in New Orleans, was chartered in 1847. The law department was organized the same year ; in 1874 it had 4 professors and 464 alumni. A medical school, organized in 1834, became the medical department ; in 1873-'4 it had 10 professors and instructors, 210 students, of whom 49 graduated in medi- cine and 11 in pharmacy, and a library of 2,000 volumes. The students have the use of the charity hospital as a school of practical in- struction. The other departments of the uni- versity originally contemplated have not been organized. The New Orleans dental college, organized in 1867, in 1873-'4 had 8 professors and 18 students. By the act of congress of July 2, 1862, for the establishment of colleges of agriculture and the mechanic arts, 210,000 acres of land were donated to the state, which has been sold for $182,630. This fund has been bestowed upon the " Louisiana state agri- cultural and mechanical college," organized by the act of April 7, 1874. It has been opened temporarily in New Orleans, but a permanent site in the country is contemplated. The act of organization appropriates $10,000 for the purchase of land and the erection of buildings, and pledges further appropriations for those purposes to the aggregate of $50,000. .The college embraces a preparatory course of two years and agricultural and mechanical schools, in each of which the regular course is four years. Those who complete this course re- ceive the degree of doctor of philosophy. There are professorships of chemistry and of natural philosophy and mathematics as applied to agri- culture and the mechanic arts, of civil, mechan- ical, and maritime engineering, and of modern languages and literature ; a tutor in geometri- cal, topographical, and free-hand drawing ; an instructor in maritime science and practice (to be taught on a school ship) ; and tutors in te- legraphy, wood engraving, and photography for female pupils. Students are admitted without distinction of race or color, and tuition is free to those who intend to enter the ministry or are nominated by members of the legislature, each senator having the right to nominate two and each representative three. Applicants must be at least 12 years old, residents of the state, and competent to enter upon the studies of the preparatory course. The number of libraries returned in the census of 18vO was 2,332, containing 847,406 volumes, of which 1,852, with 584,140 volumes, were private. Of those not private, 2, with 64,000 volumes, were state libraries; 1, with 10,000 volumes, city; 61, with 31,583 volumes, court and law ; 34, DENOMINATIONS. Number of edifices. Number of sittings. Value of property. Baptist 208 1 9 32 5 3 202 34 2 102 1 66,140 800 4,650 17,100 2,200 1,650 52.990 14,100 800 62,525 1,000 $346,500 3,000 56,200 160,800 75,000 28,000 851,775 185,450 2,000 2,886.800 8,000 Christian Congregational. . . Episcopal Jewish Lutheran. Methodist Presbyterian Eeformed (late German Keformed). Eoman Catholic Unitarian Total 599 218,955 $4,048,525 with 37,050 volumes, school, college, &c. ; 173, with 40,225 volumes, Sunday school ; 183, with 60,008 volumes, church ; and 26, with 20,400 volumes, circulating. There were 92 news- papers and periodicals, having an aggregate circulation of 84,165, and issuing 13,755,690 copies annually, viz. : 7 daily, circulation 34,- 395 ; 1 tri-weekly, circulation 800 ; 8 semi- weekly, circulation 8,500 ; 75 weekly, circula- tion 39,970 ; and 1 monthly, circulation 500. They were classified as follows: agricultural and horticultural, 1 ; commercial and financial, 2 ; illustrated, literary, and miscellaneous, 3 ; devoted to nationality, 1 ; political, 85. About 20 are printed wholly or partly in French. The number of church organizations was 638, with edifices, sittings, and property as follows : The French after their establishment in Can- ada explored the Mississippi to the sea in 1682, but made no settlement near its mouth before 1699, when Iberville founded his first colony at Biloxi, now in Mississippi. In 1702 settle- ments were made on Dauphine island and at Mobile, now in Alabama. At this time and for 60 years afterward the Perdido river was the eastern boundary of the province of Loui- siana. New Orleans, the first permanent set- tlement within the present limits of the state, was founded in 1718, and became the seat of the colonial government, transferred from Mo- bile, in 1722. In 1717 the province of Loui- siana was granted, with extensive powers and privileges, to a corporation known as the "Western Company," or "Company of the Mississippi." Notwithstanding the disastrous failure of John Law's "Mississippi scheme," with which this company was intimately con- nected, the population and general prosperity of Louisiana were greatly advanced under its proprietorship, which continued for 15 years. Its charter was surrendered to the crown in 1732. The French remained in possession of Louisiana till 1762, when they ceded it to Spain. Little improvement was effected un- der the new rule, which was never popular. In 1800 it was retroceded to France, which in 1803 sold it to the United States for the sum of $15,000,000. The region comprehend- ed in this purchase included all the country "W. of the Mississippi not occupied by Spain,