a department in the north-east of France, formed out of the southern part of the ancient province of Lorraine, and extending in north latitude from 48° 31' to 49° 7', and in east longitude, from 5° 30' to 6° 12'. It is bounded on the north by the departments of the Meuse and the Meurthe, on the east by those of the Upper and Lower Rhine, on the south by that of the Upper Saone, and on the west by the Upper Marne. It contains 2,8 square miles, and returns three members to the Chamber of Representatives. Vosges is divided into five arrondissements, thirty cantons, and 547 communes, and in 1836 had a population of 411,034 souls. They all adhere to the Catholic church, are of German origin, and though active and careful, are for the most part excessively poor. The surface of the department is for the most part mountainous and woody. The Vosges mountains, which are a prolongation of the Jura, stretch in a direction from east to west from Belfort to Langres, and in the north join the Hunsrück. These are valleys of greater or less extent, and capable of cultivation. The highest point of the mountains is the Hochberg, whose summit rises to the height of 4,320 feet. Considerably more than one-third of the land is covered with woods. The soil in the eastern part is a mixture of sand and stones, and is very unproductive. In the western parts it is calcareous, and covered with a heavy clay, and though difficult to work, is the most productive division; but the soil does not grow sufficient corn for the consumption. The mountains are covered with snow during the greater part of the year, the climate is raw and cold, but is not unhealthy. The mountains are the sources of several streams. The chief of them is the Moselle, which flows northerly direction, and soon enters Meurthe, and finally falls into the Rhine. The other rivers are the Moselle, the Meurthe, the Saone, the Breusch, and the Maas; and there is a great number of smaller streams.

The productions of the land are cattle, chiefly cows and sheep, fruit, wax, honey, corn, wine, flax, and hemp; but the most important are from the forests, which supply the wants of numerous saw-mills a vast quantity of wood, both for building and for fuel. There are quarries of marble, and mines yielding silver, lead, and copper in small portions; but the iron mines are the most important. Some of the articles of manufacture are produced; but the poverty of the inhabitants is such, that they have little power of consuming luxuries of foreign growth, and have no other means than that of selling the few low-priced commodities which their soil produces.