MEURTHE-ET-MOSELLE, a department of north-eastern France, fOrmed in 1871 out of those parts of the old departments of Meurthe and Moselle which continued French. Before 1790 it belonged to Lorraine, or to one or other of the bishoprics of Toul, Metz and Verdun. Pop. (1931) 592,632. Area 2,036 sq. miles. It is bounded east by Lorraine, north by Belgium and the grand-duchy of Luxemburg, west by the department of Meuse, and south by that of Vosges. The department is formed of the basins of Meurthe and Moselle near Nancy, but not of the part of the Moselle basin focussing on Metz, for the department was recon stituted after that city had been taken by the Germans in 1871. It extends northwards to the frontier of Luxemburg along the scarp of the Cotes de Moselle (Oolite), including the Haute Plaine de la Voevre within its borders. The department is hilly and rises to 2,041 ft. in the south-east near the Vosges. Summers are hot and winters severe. The mean annual temperature is between and 49°. The annual rainfall averages between 28 and 32 in. The chief crops are cereals and potatoes, clover, mangel-wurzels, tobacco, hops and beetroot. The vine is cultivated ; the best vin tages are in the Toul district. Fruit trees include pear, apple, wal nut, cherry and plum. Oak and wych-elm are most frequent in woods in the west, beech and fir in the Vosges. The French school
of forestry has its seat at Nancy. Horse-rearing is important. The salt-workings (chiefly between Nancy and St. Nicolas), and the iron-mines (round Nancy and Longwy) of Meurthe-et-Moselle are very important. Industries include manufacture of boots and shoes, straw and felt hats, pottery, tanning and brewing, cotton and wool spinning, and the manufacture of cotton goods, hosiery, embroidery, chemicals, soap, crystal, mirrors, glass, army cloth ing and paper. The Eastern railway from Paris to Strasbourg goes through Nancy. The main waterway is the canal between the Marne and the Rhine, communicating with the Moselle, which is navigable from Frouard downwards, and with the Eastern canal, which unites the Meuse and the Moselle with the SaOne and the Rhone. The department constitutes the diocese of Nancy, under the archbishop of Besancon, has its court of appeal at Nancy, and forms a part of the district of the VI. (Metz) and the XX. (Nancy) army corps, and of the academie (educational division) of Nancy. There are three arrondissements (Nancy, Briey and Luneville), with 29 cantons and 600 communes. The principal towns are Nancy, the capital, Luneville, Toul, Longwy, Pont-a Mousson and St. Nicolas.