MEUSE, a department of France, formed out of a part of Lorraine and Champagne. Pop. (1931) 215,819. Area, 2,408 sq. miles. It is bounded north by Belgium and the department of Ardennes, east by that of Meurthe-et-Moselle, south by those of Vosges and Haute-Marne, and west by those of Marne and Ardennes.
Oolitic rocks outcrop over most of the surface, and the de partment has the impervious lower Cretaceous clays beyond its western border and the Lias beyond its eastern one. The Meuse river crosses it from south-south-east to north-north-west, be neath a limestone scarp on the west (1,388 ft. in the south west), and a ridge rises rapidly on the east (Cote de Meuse) to the high plain of the Woevre. To the northern part of the western scarp the name of Argonne is given. The east of the Woevre drains to the Moselle via the Orne and the Made, the valleys of which thus give access to the Meuse from the north-east ; this gave St. Mihiel and Verdun very special significance in the World War. West of Verdun the hills of the Argonne diminish rapidly in height northwards. Most of the department save the north-west is over the 600 ft. level.
Its winters are less severe than those of the Vosges, but it is not so temperate as the Seine region. The average annual rainfall is about 3o inches. The chief crops are wheat, oats, rye, barley, clover, potatoes and mangel-wurzels. The vine is grown to some extent, notably at Bar. The forests, occupying more than a
quarter of the area, are mainly of oak, and are rich in game, as are the rivers in fish. Baskets are made in the Argonne. Mineral wealth includes good freestone (Euville, Lerouville). It has iron and steel works, wire-works, and manufactories of files, hardware and edge tools. Ligny-en-Barrois manufactures scientific instru ments. There are cotton-spinning, wool-weaving, and hemp, flax and jute factories, sawmills, carriage works, leather manufactures, glassworks, paper-mills, distilleries and flour-mills. The depart ment is served by the Eastern railway, the principal lines being that from Paris to Strasbourg through Bar-le-Duc and Commercy, that from Paris to Metz through Verdun, and the branch line of the Meuse valley. The chief waterways are the canal connecting the Marne with the Rhine and the Eastern canal along the Meuse valley; together they are 145 m. long.
The department forms the diocese of Verdun under the arch bishop of Besancon; it has its court of appeal and academie (educational division) at Nancy, and forms part of the district of the VI. army corps (Metz). There are 3 arrondissements Bar-le-Duc, Commercy and Verdun-28 cantons and 586 com munes. The principal places in the department are Bar-le-Duc, the capital, Commercy, Verdun and St. Mihiel.