the moment they saw what there were to be gained by it, and therefore they availed themselves of it. In the school of engineering also, the young men were examined. There were ten or a dozen examined, some of whom received the degree of Summa Cum Laude, some that of Magua Cum Laude, and some merely that of Cum Laude. The year before there had been a few students who could not pass the examination, although they did very well. They were disappointed; but they re-appeared the next year, and then passed the examination, and some of them succeeded in winning a Summâ Cum Laude. One of these young men obtained only the Magna Cum Laude. He said that the examination was fair, he was only entitled to the Magnâ Cum Laude, but he was so dissatisfied with himself because he ought to have got more, that he said, I will not take it this year; if you can not give me more than that, I will try again next year. And he is now studying and will not be satisfied until he gets the higher side. It seems to me that we cannot have a more decided and positive proof than this of the value of such a degree given under such circumstances; it ceases to be a name. It is a direct stimulus to education, and a stimulus, which lies in the right way, without raising any bad feelings; and yet it is as strong a stimulus as we can well devise.

It is interesting also to find that this system was introduced, although in an institution connected with the old forms of a college, yet not in an old college. Although I have been connected with these systems for twenty-five years, still I do not hesitate to say that I feel the great difficulties of the arrangement. I feel that it is hardly true in us to palm off with the name of well educated men-because the degree of Bachelor of Arts implies that-those who are not well educated. The President of the College in conferring this degree, says to the Governor of our State, when he is present, that he knows them to be well educated, and yet he knows that a great many are not. And thus the great Scio has got to be an object of ridicule. I think it is a wrong, and a great wrong, that our certificates of education should have upon the face of them a falsehood. This ought to be remedied; and I believe that if this Association would vigorously stand up and say that this shall be amended, they can carry it through, and the result will be a really American system of education, even if it may have its foundation in Prussia.

:

MR. WILLIAM B. FOWLE, of Boston, Mass., remarked :There exists in this country the most gross inequality in the matter of education. Our declaration of political rights is most signally falsified in this particular. School Districts, Towns, and States, differ as well in the means, as in the condition of education—both in the elementary and higher forms. The only remedy for this inequality, is in applying broadly and universally, the principle relied upon for sustaining a University--that the State should interpose its authority and means to provide institutions of different grades, each as perfect in its appliances as possible, and then enforce on every family the duty of availing itself of these or some other institutions, for the highest moral, intellectual, and physical education of every child.

OF SCIENCE AND LITERATURE IN FRANCE.

BY DANIEL C. GILMAN, A. M., NEW HAVEN, CONN.

THE contrast between America and Europe in the attention which is paid to special professional education is far greater than is generally supposed.

In the United States the importance of special education in the three learned professions of law, medicine, and theology, has long been recognized, and excellent schools, in which these sciences are taught are established in various parts of the country. Congress has made provision for the instruction of army officers at West Point, and of navy officers at Annapolis; the state governments in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Michigan, have organized normal schools for the education of teachers in common, or public elementary schools; some incompletely furnished institutions have assumed the title "Polytechnic," and here until quite recently have ended all attempts in this country to provide for special professional education. Within a few years past a slight advance has been perceptible. Arrangements have been made at Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Union, Brown, and perhaps in other colleges and universities, for instruction in applied chemistry and engineering, and "scientific schools" have been formally organized in connection with the three first named of these institutions. A large sum of money has been bequeathed in Massachusetts, for an agricultural school, and two or three State Legislatures have taken measures for the foundation of similar establishments.

Yet there still exists a lamentable ignorance as to the extent to which special schools, and particularly schools of science, are established abroad, for it can hardly be doubted that if a knowledge of their number, character and influence, were generally diffused among the people of this country, they would provide for themselves the same means of education which despotic governments have found contributing so much to the welfare and happiness of their subjects.

In a previous number of this Journal,* a list was given of the special schools, (Fach-schulen,) established in the different states of Germany. In further illustration of the acknowledged value of such

*Vol. I., p. 328.

institutions, it is proposed to cite the example of another country, which in spite of its frequent revolutions, maintains a proud preëminence in the application of science and art to the general wants of

men.

FRANCE is distinguished among European nations for the number, variety and excellence of schools which provide for special professional education. Under the direction of the government, are not less than nine schools of law, at Paris, Aix, Caen, Dijon, Grenoble, Poitiers, Rennes, Strasbourg, and Toulouse; three schools of medicine, at Paris, Montpellier, and Strasbourg; three schools of pharmacy at the same places; six faculties of theology, and eighty-three grand seminaries of theology of the Catholic church, (one in almost every diocese,) two Protestant faculties and seminaries at Strasbourg and Montauban, and a Rabbinical school at Metz. In the different departments there are not less than eighty-three seminaries or normal schools for male and female teachers. Special provision is made for military and naval instruction in the celebrated Imperial school at Saint Cyr, for the training of infantry, artillery and cavalry officers; in the Imperial naval school at Brest, (upon the vessel le Borda,) for the education of officers of the government marine; and in the Imperial school of military medicine and pharmacy at Paris, for the education of army physicians.

But in this article it is proposed to speak of the advantages which are offered in France for acquiring a superior education in special departments of learning, aside from law, medicine, and theology, or military and naval science.

Provision of the most liberal character is made for advanced scientific and literary education in the faculties of the University. The title "University" was formerly applied in France, as it still is in Germany to separate institutions of learning, of which there were many,that of Paris, being the most celebrated. After the great revolution, Napoleon arranged all the departments of public instruction in the empire into one system, which was styled the University of France. This appellation, if not formally, is virtually dropped at present, but the "Faculties" of the university are still, and always have been spoken of much in the same way as in Germany and other countries.

Thus the system of public instruction in France, recognizes five distinct faculties; theology, law, medicine, physical and mathematical sciences and letters.

In the empire there are 16 faculties of science, sometimes associated with, and sometimes disconnected from the other faculties above named. They are established at Paris, Besancon, Bordeaux, Caen,

Clermont, Dijon, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Marseilles, Montpellier, Nancy, Poitiers, Rennes, Strasbourg and Toulouse.

The scientific faculty at Paris, in the Sorbonne, numbers eighteen professors, (besides five agrégés*) among whom are many men of the highest distinction, Leverrier, Dumas, Milne-Edwards, &c.

The following are the present departments of instruction ;-physical astronomy; mathematical astronomy; higher algebra; higher geometry; differential and integral calculus; mechanics; physical and experimental mechanics; calculus of probabilities, and mathematical physics; general physics, (two professors;) chemistry, (two profess ors ;) mineralogy; geology; botany; general physiology; zoology, anatomy, and physiology; anatomy, comparative physiology and zoology.

The other faculties of science are naturally less complete than that of Paris, and it is deemed enough to mention the number of professors, without specifying their departments. It is as follows: Besancon, six; Bordeaux, six; Caen, five; Clermont, four; Dijon, six; Grenoble, five; Lille, four; Lyon, seven; Marseilles, four; Montpellier, seven; Nancy, four; Poitiers, four; Rennes, six; Strasbourg, six; Toulouse, eight.

The faculties of letters in France are 16 in number, and are in the same towns with the faculties of science, except that there are two of the former at Aix and Douai, and none at Lille and Marseilles. At Paris, in the Sorbonne, twelve chairs are occupied by this faculty, namely; philosophy, history of philosophy, Greek literature, Latin eloquence, Latin poetry, French eloquence, French poetry, foreign literature, comparative grammar, ancient history, modern history, and geography. There are four honorary professors, Messrs. Guizot, Villemain, Cousin, and Boissonade, and twenty agrégés. In the provincial towns, the number of professors in the faculty of Letters, is nearly the same as in that of the faculties of science.

There are four schools of a preparatory character, in which there are instructors both of Science and Letters at Angers, Mulhouse, Nantes and Rouen.

Subordinate to these faculties are the lyceums, 62 in number, and colleges, 245 in number, which are "secondary" in their rank, and hold nearly the same position in France, as the gymnasiums and real-schools in Germany. The limits of this article will not allow of their examination.

There is one college, however, which is an exception, the Imperial College of France, which was founded in 1530. Although now

*The agrégés in France correspond nearly to the Privat Docenten in Germany.

nominally under the ministry of public instruction, it has always been an independent establishment, and was not even included in the university organization of the Emperor Napoleon. In this institution there are thirty-four readers and professors in the following departments:-astronomy, mathematics, general and mathematical physics, general and experimental physics, chemistry, medicine, natural history of inorganic bodies, natural history of organic bodies, comparative embryology, natural and statute law, history of legislation, political economy, history and morals, archæology, Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Syriac languages, Arabic language, Persian language, Turkish language, Chinese and Tartar-mandchou language and literature, Sanskrit language, Greek language and literature, Latin eloquence, Latin poetry, Greek and Latin philosophy, French language and literature in the middle ages, modern French language and literature, languages and literature of modern Europe, Slavic languages and literature.

Some of the professors here, are also professors at the Sorbonne. Many of their names are of the highest distinction for example. Michel Chevalier, Elie de Beaumont, Biot, Stanislas Julien, &c.

In this place may also be mentioned the lectures of the Museum of Natural History, at the celebrated Garden of Plants. Connected with this institution are professors devoted to the following departments of natural history and science; comparative physiology; comparative anatomy; anatomy, and natural history of man; zoology, (mammalia and birds;) zoology, (reptiles and fishes ;) zoology, (insects, crustacea, and arachnides;) zoology, (Annelides, molluscs, and zoöphytes;) botany; cultivation; geology; mineralogy; palæontology; physics applied to natural history; organic chemistry; inorganic chemistry.

It thus appears that in sixteen faculties of science, the college of France, and the museum of natural history, instruction in pure science, of the most elevated order is provided, and that in sixteen faculties of letters, corresponding advantages are offered for literary pursuits.

But this is by no means all. The natural sciences, in their applications, are taught in a large number of central schools, established for the most part at Paris, and usually bearing the title "Imperial," as a recognition of the high estimation in which they are held by the government. In the provincial cities and towns, subordinate schools of science are found, of grades which correspond to the "Secondary," and "Primary " schools, ordinarily so called in the continental systems of public instruction. Many graduates of the higher Imperial schools become teachers in the lower schools, by means of which a practical knowledge of science is well diffused among all