LITERARY INSTITUTIONS IN FRANCE.

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS IN PARIS, AND OTHER PARTS OF THE KINGDOM, NOT CONNECTED WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF FRANCE.

[Communicated at the Editor's request, by the Rev. Robert Baird, Paris.]

In a former article, [August, 1836,] I gave an account of the University of France, together with some notices of the history of education in this kingdom. I now propose to give a brief description of the most important literary and scientific institutions and establishments in Paris, and other parts of the kingdom, which are not connected with the University of France, and therefore not under the direction and control of the Royal Council of Instruction. These institutions are, some of them, under the direction of the minister of public instruction; others appertain to the department of the minister of war, or the minister of the interior; whilst some are wholly independent of any control, excepting what may be experienced from the civil power in case of an infraction of the act of incorporation, by which they were organized and recognized. I begin with

SECTION I.

Royal College of France.

(Place, Cambray.)

The Royal College of France was established in 1530, by Francis I., the restorer of letters in France. He created in it twelve professorships, viz. for instruction in Greek, Hebrew, Eloquence, Philosophy, Mathematics, and Medicine. There were afterwards added successively others for Canon Law, Botany, Chirurgery, etc., until the number of professorships amounted to nineteen. In 1774, this college was recognized, and the course of instruction was fixed as it is at present, except that the two chairs for the Chinese and Sanscrit languages were established in 1814, by Louis XVIII., and three others for Political Economy, History of Comparative Legislation, and Archæology were created by royal ordinances in the year 1831. The professors are appointed by the king, and the college is under the authority of the minister of public instruction. The course of instruction is public.

All these professors deliver lectures from two to three times a week, except M. Letronne, who delivers lectures only once a week. This college has long maintained a well-merited celebrity. It is a noble monument of true liberality and wisdom on the part of the government.

SECTION II.

Royal Polytechnique School.

(Rue Descartes, Mount St. Geneviève.)

This school was placed, by an ordinance of the 30th of October, 1832, under the direction of the minister of war. Its government is military in its character. Its general object is to diffuse instruction in the mathematical sciences, natural philosophy, chemistry, drawing, etc. Its special object may be said to be, to train young men for the artillery service on land and on ocean, military engineering, civil engineering, (or that employed in the laying of roads, the erection of bridges, and the working of mines, etc.) maritime engineering, the manufacture of powder and saltpetre; and, in a word, for all other public services which require extended knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences, as well as the teaching of those sciences.

The candidates for the Polytechnique School are admitted only after a rigid examination, according to a programm which is published every year.

The length of a complete course of instruction in this institution is two years. The pupils, however, in case of sickness, obtain leave to spend three years, but never a longer time. They are required to undergo an examination on all the branches which they have been taught, at the end of the first year before they can commence the studies of the second, and at the close of the course before they are allowed to enter the schools of application.

Each student has to pay 1,000 francs, (nearly $200,) annually, as well as furnish his clothes, books, and other things necessary for his studies.

Twenty-four gratuitous places, or foundations, are provided by the government for the benefit of pupils whose pecuniary circumstances are not easy. Of these twenty-four places, eight are attributed to the department of the interior, twelve to that of war, and four to that of the marine.

The council of instruction, in this school, is occupied with all that relates to the instruction and studies of the pupils. It is composed of the commandant, president, the second in command, the director of the studies, the professors, the drawing master, and the librarian.

The council of administration is charged with all that relates to the administration. It is composed of the commandant, the president, the second in command, the director of studies, two professors, two inspectors of studies, the administrator, and the treasurer.

The council of perfection (perfectionment) is occupied with the means of perfecting and directing the instruction so as to make it most available for the public service; with reducing the programms of instruction and examinations; with the harmonizing of the instruction of the polytechnique school with that of the schools of application. It proposes regulations for the promotion of order, diligence of the pupils, and to assure the best employment of time. This council is composed of the commandant of the school, the president, the second in command, the director of studies, the permanent examiners, and an examiner of admissions, three members of the academy of sciences, three professors of the school, and one member of each public services, which are maintained at the polytechnique school.

This celebrated school dates from March 11, 1794. Under the government of Bonaparte, it underwent various modifications. By an ordinance of Louis XVIII, dated September 4, 1816, it was completely reorganized and placed under the special protection of the Duc d'Angoulême. A great number of excellent officers, engineers, and scientific men have been educated at this school. Pupils are admitted from the age of sixteen to twenty. The instruction is exceedingly thorough. The present number of pupils is usually about three hundred.

SECTION III.
Military Schools.

1. Military Gymnasia.

There is a normal military gymnasium at Paris, and five military gymnasia, situated in different parts of the kingdom, for the special instruction of the troops in the five military divisions or districts into which France is divided. M. Amoros, Colonel of Infantry, is Inspector.

Normal Military School.

(Situated near the Champs de Mars, Paris.)

This establishment, into which both civil and military pupils are admitted, serves also for the instruction of the troops of the garrison of Paris. Both civil and military professors are attached to it to train directors and monitors for the gymnasia in the divisions or districts of the kingdom, and to secure uniformity in the subjects and mode of instruction in those establishments. The directors and professors of those establishments are chosen from among the pupils of this normal military school.

M. Amoros, Colonel of Infantry, Director.

M. Batsale, Lieutenant, Commandant of the Military Dépôt attached to the Gymnasium.

GYMNASIUM OF THE DIVISION OF ARRAS.

M. Beauchamp, Lieutenant, Director.

GYMNASIUM OF THE DIVISION OF METZ.

M. Simonnot, Lieutenant, Director.

GYMNASIUM OF THE DIVISION OF STRASBURG.

M. Boulanger, Sub.-Lieutenant, Director.

GYMNASIUM OF THE DIVISION OF LYONS.

M. Caillier, Lieutenant, Director.

GYMNASIUM OF THE DIVISION OF MONTPELLIER.
M. Beaulincourt, Lieutenant, Director.

*The office of a Repetitor (or Repeater) is to take the students over the same subjects upon which they have heard a professor, and go more fully into details, and explain what they may not have fully comprehended.

2. SPECIAL MILITARY SCHOOL OF ST. CYR.

At this school each pupil is required to pay 1,500 francs, besides 750 for his clothing, of which a minute description is sent to his parents at the time of his admission.

Every candidate is required to prove that he is a French citizen, either by birth or by naturalization.

The candidates must not be less than eighteen, nor more than twenty-one years of age, on the 1st of October of the year in which they make application for admission. Nevertheless, the sub-officers and soldiers of the regular corps may be admitted until the age of twenty-five years, provided they have not arrived at that age before the 1st of January of the current year, and that they have been at least two years in actual service on the 1st of October of the same year.

The examinations for places in the special military school are held annually at Paris, and in the chief cities of the kingdom at the same time at which those for places in the polytechnique school are held, and by the same examiners. Programms, specifying the attainments previously required for this examination, are published every year, three months beforehand. The young men who wish to be competitors for places in this school are required to inscribe their names as candidates, at the office of the prefect of the department in which their parents or guardians have their legal residence, before the 10th of June, and to depose, 1st, a certificate of their birth, according to due form; 2. A declaration made by some physician or surgeon attached to a civil or military hospital, that they have been vaccinated, that they are free from any contagious disease, and that they are not afflicted by any infirmity which might render them unfit for the service; 3. A certificate of the sub-prefect, countersigned by the prefect, showing that their parents are able to meet their expenses at the school; 4. A private contract, in which their parents engage to pay the expenses of their education, quarterly in advance, into the treasury of the receiver-general of the department of Seine and Oise, and meet the expenses of their clothing, &c. The candidates, can only be examined in the arrondissement (or county) in which their parents reside, or in that in which they have completed their previous studies.

The results of all the examinations are submitted to a committee, or jury of judges, upon whose proposition the minister of state for war prepares a list of the nominations, and presents it for the approbation of the king. When his majesty has pronounced his decision, letters of appointment are sent to all the candidates accepted, with the indication of the time when they ought to present themselves at the military school at St. Cyr.

The pupils are not received at the school but upon the presentation of a written, voluntary engagement to enter a regiment of infantry or cavalry, according to the conditions of the law of the 21st of March, 1832, on the recruitment of the army, and the royal ordinance of the 28th of April of the same year.

The pupils admitted to the special military school, remain there two years. At the expiration of that period, they undergo an examination for going out of it. Those who do not give satisfaction at that examination may remain another year, unless very grave circumstances occasion a forced suspension of their studies.

This college is placed under the direction of the minister of war. It is designed for the education of the sons of officers without fortune, and by preference of orphans.

The number of pupils, maintained at the public expense, is three hundred on complete burses or scholarships, and one hundred on demi-burses.

Children are also admitted who pay their expenses. The cost of a whole pension (that is, all expenses of the school) is 860 francs; and that of a demipension, is 425 francs.

The age of admission is from ten to twelve years.

Note. There is a school for girls, the daughters of officers, at St. Denis, where there are several hundred receiving their education at the public expense, in whole or in part. It is a most interesting establishment, and well conducted.

4. SCHOOL FOR ARTILLERY AND ENGINEERING, at Metz.

This school, which was established, by a decree, on the 4th of October, 1802, is designed to form officers for the service of royal corps of artillery and fortification. The pupils who belong to it are taken from among those of the polytechnique schools, and are such as are discovered to be admissible into the public services, after an open examination, to that effect, after the 1st of October of each year, at the latter school, and which determines the branch to which they are devoted. They receive, from the time of their admission, the brevet of sub-lieutenants, which takes its date from the 1st of October of the year of their leaving the polytechnique school. The pupils who are sub-lieutenants of artillery and engineering at the school of application, are subject to the same regulations in regard to instruction and discipline, according to the division to which they appertain. The duration of the course of study is two years, or three at most. At the end of that time, those pupils whose final examination has been satisfactory, are classed definitively in that branch of the public service to which their merits entitle them. They are then placed in the corps of artillery and engineering, to fulfil the duties of lieutenants, prescribed to the pupils by the laws of April 14th, 1832. In consequence of the time consecrated