M. Thenard, Member of the Academy of Sciences, and of the Board of Improvement of the Polytechnic School, President.Le Verrier, Member of the Academy of Sciences and of the Legislative Assembly, Reporter.Noizet, General of Brigade of Engineers.Poncelet, General of Brigade of Engineers, Commandant of the Polytechnic School, Member of the Academy of Sciences.Piobert, General of Brigade of Artillery, Member of the Academy of Sciences.Mathieu, Rear Admiral.Duhamel, Member of the Academy of Sciences, Director of Studies at the Polytechnic School.Mary, Divisional Inspector of Roads and Bridges.Morin, Colonel of Artillery, Member of the Academy of Sciences.Regnault, Engineer of Mines, Member of the Academy of Sciences.Olivier, Professor at theConservatoire des Arts et Metiers.Debacq, Secretary for Military Schools at the Ministry of War, Secretary.
M. Thenard, Member of the Academy of Sciences, and of the Board of Improvement of the Polytechnic School, President.
Le Verrier, Member of the Academy of Sciences and of the Legislative Assembly, Reporter.
Noizet, General of Brigade of Engineers.
Poncelet, General of Brigade of Engineers, Commandant of the Polytechnic School, Member of the Academy of Sciences.
Piobert, General of Brigade of Artillery, Member of the Academy of Sciences.
Mathieu, Rear Admiral.
Duhamel, Member of the Academy of Sciences, Director of Studies at the Polytechnic School.
Mary, Divisional Inspector of Roads and Bridges.
Morin, Colonel of Artillery, Member of the Academy of Sciences.
Regnault, Engineer of Mines, Member of the Academy of Sciences.
Olivier, Professor at theConservatoire des Arts et Metiers.
Debacq, Secretary for Military Schools at the Ministry of War, Secretary.
A chronic dispute which has gone on from the very first year of the school’s existence, between the exclusive study of abstract mathematics on the one hand, and their early practical application on the other, was brought to a head (though it has scarcely been set at rest) by this commission. All the alterations effected have been in the direction of eliminating a portion of the pure mathematics, and of reducing abstract study to the limits within which it was believed to be most directly applicable to practice. The results, however, are still a subject of vehement dispute, in which most of the old scientific pupils of the Polytechnic, and many of what may be styled its most practical members, the officers of the artillery and engineers, are ranged on the side of “early and deep scientific studyversusearly practical applications.” It is, indeed, a question which touches the military pupils nearly, since it is in their case particularly that the proposed abstract studies of the Polytechnic might be thought of the most doubtful advantage. We do not try to solve the problem here, though the facts elsewhere stated will afford some materials for judgment. We incline to the opinionof those who think that the ancientgenius loci, the traditional teaching of the school, will be too strong for legislative interference, and that, in spite of recent enactments, abstract science and analysis will reign in the lecture-rooms and halls of study of the Polytechnic, now as in the days of Monge.
The Polytechnic, as we have said, is a preparatory and general scientific school; its studies are not exclusively adapted for any one of the departments to which at the close of its course the scholars will find themselves assigned; and on quitting it they have, before entering on the actual discharge of their duties of whatever kind, to pass through a further term of teaching in some one of the schools of application specially devoted to particular professions.
The public servicesfor which it thus gives a general preparation are the following:
Military: Under the Minister at War.Artillery (Artillerie de terre.)Engineers (Génie.)The Staff Corps (Corps d’Etat Major.)The Department of Powder and Saltpetre (Poudres et Salpétres.)Under the Minister of Marine.Navy, (Marine.)Marine Artillery (Artillerie de mer.)Naval Architects (Génie maritime.)The Hydrographical Department (Corps des Ingénieurs Hydrographes.)Civil: Under the Minister of Public Works.The Department of Roads and Bridges (Ponts-et-chaussées.)The Department of Mines (Mines.)Under the Minister of the Interior.The Telegraph Department (Lignes Télégraphiques.)Under the minister of Finance.The Tobacco Department (Administration des Tabacs.)
Military: Under the Minister at War.
Artillery (Artillerie de terre.)
Engineers (Génie.)
The Staff Corps (Corps d’Etat Major.)
The Department of Powder and Saltpetre (Poudres et Salpétres.)
Under the Minister of Marine.
Navy, (Marine.)
Marine Artillery (Artillerie de mer.)
Naval Architects (Génie maritime.)
The Hydrographical Department (Corps des Ingénieurs Hydrographes.)
Civil: Under the Minister of Public Works.
The Department of Roads and Bridges (Ponts-et-chaussées.)
The Department of Mines (Mines.)
Under the Minister of the Interior.
The Telegraph Department (Lignes Télégraphiques.)
Under the minister of Finance.
The Tobacco Department (Administration des Tabacs.)
To these may be added at any time, by a decree on the part of the government, any other departments, the duties of which appear to require an extensive knowledge of mathematics, physics, or chemistry.
Admission to the schoolis, and has been since its first commencement in 1794, obtained by competition in a general examination, held yearly, and open to all. Every French youth, between the age of sixteen and twenty, (or if in the army up to the age of twenty-five,) may offer himself as a candidate.
A board of examiners passes through France once every year, and examines all who present themselves, that have complied with the conditions, which are fully detailed in the decree given in the appendix. It commences at Paris.
A list of such of the candidates as are found eligible for admittance to the Polytechnic is drawn up from the proceedings of the board, and submitted to the minister at war; the number of places likely to be vacant has already been determined, and the minister fixes the number of admissions accordingly. The candidates admitted are invariably taken in the order of merit.
The annual chargefor board and instruction is 40l.(1,000 fr.,) payable in advance in four installments. In addition there is the cost of outfit, varying from 20l.to 24l.Exhibitions, however, for the discharge of the whole or of one-half of the expense (boursesanddemi-bourses,) are awarded by the state in favor ofallthe successful candidates, whose parents can prove themselves to be too poor to maintain their children in the school. Outfits and half outfits (trousseaux) anddemi-trousseaux) are also granted in these cases, on the entrance of the student into the school; and the number of theseboursiersanddemi-boursiersamounts at the present time to one-third of the whole.
The course of study is completed in two years.On its successful termination which is preceded by a final examination, the students are distributed into the different services, the choice being offered them in the order of their merit, and laid down in the classified list drawn up after the examination. If it so happen that the number of places or the services which can be offered is not sufficient for the number of qualified students, those at the bottom of the list are offered service in the infantry or cavalry, and those who do not enter the public service, are supplied with certificates of having passed successfully through the school. Students who have been admitted into the school from the army, areobligedto re-enter the army.
All others, as has been said, have the right of choosing, according to their position on the list, the service which they prefer, so far, that is, as the number of vacancies in that service will allow; or they may if they please decline to enter the public service at all.
Such is a general outline of the plan and object of the school. We may add that, besides its military staff, it employs no less than thirty-nine professors and teachers; that it has four boards of management, and that ten scientific men unconnected with the school, and amongst the most distinguished in France, conduct its examinations.The magnitude of this establishment for teaching may be estimated by the fact, that the number of pupils rarely exceeds three hundred and fifty, and is often much less.
A fuller enumerationof these bodies will complete our present sketch.
I. The military establishment consists of:—
The Commandant, a General Officer, usually of the Artillery or the Engineers, at present a General of Artillery.A Second in Command, a Colonel or Lieutenant-Colonel, chosen from former pupils oftheschool; at present a Colonel of Engineers.Three Captains of Artillery and Three Captains of Engineers, as Inspectors of Studies, chosen also from former pupils of the school.Six Adjutants (adjoints,) non-commissioned officers, usually such as have been recommended for promotion.
The Commandant, a General Officer, usually of the Artillery or the Engineers, at present a General of Artillery.
A Second in Command, a Colonel or Lieutenant-Colonel, chosen from former pupils oftheschool; at present a Colonel of Engineers.
Three Captains of Artillery and Three Captains of Engineers, as Inspectors of Studies, chosen also from former pupils of the school.
Six Adjutants (adjoints,) non-commissioned officers, usually such as have been recommended for promotion.
II. The civil establishment consists of:—
1. A Director of Studies, who has generally been a civilian, but is at present a Lieutenant-Colonel of Engineers.2. Fifteen Professors, viz.:—Two of Mathematical Analysis. Two of Mechanics and Machinery. One of Descriptive Geometry. Two of Physics. Two of Chemistry. One of Military Art and Fortification. One of Geodesy. One of Architecture. One of French Composition. One of German. One of Drawing. Of these one is an officer of the Staff, another of the Artillery, and a third of the Navy; two are Engineers in Chief of the Roads and Bridges; nine are civilians, of whom two are Members of the Academy of Sciences.3. Three Drawing Masters for Landscape and Figure Drawing; one for Machine Drawing, and one for Topographical Drawing.4. Nineteen Assistant and Extra Assistant Teachers, (répétiteursandrépétiteurs adjoints) whose name and functions are both peculiar.5. Five Examiners for Admission, consisting at present of one Colonel of Artillery, as President, and four civilians.6. Five Examiners of Students (civilians,) four of them belonging to the Academy of Sciences.7. There is also a separate Department for the ordinary Management of Administration of the affairs of the school, the charge of the fabric and of the library and museums; and a Medical Staff.
1. A Director of Studies, who has generally been a civilian, but is at present a Lieutenant-Colonel of Engineers.
2. Fifteen Professors, viz.:—Two of Mathematical Analysis. Two of Mechanics and Machinery. One of Descriptive Geometry. Two of Physics. Two of Chemistry. One of Military Art and Fortification. One of Geodesy. One of Architecture. One of French Composition. One of German. One of Drawing. Of these one is an officer of the Staff, another of the Artillery, and a third of the Navy; two are Engineers in Chief of the Roads and Bridges; nine are civilians, of whom two are Members of the Academy of Sciences.
3. Three Drawing Masters for Landscape and Figure Drawing; one for Machine Drawing, and one for Topographical Drawing.
4. Nineteen Assistant and Extra Assistant Teachers, (répétiteursandrépétiteurs adjoints) whose name and functions are both peculiar.
5. Five Examiners for Admission, consisting at present of one Colonel of Artillery, as President, and four civilians.
6. Five Examiners of Students (civilians,) four of them belonging to the Academy of Sciences.
7. There is also a separate Department for the ordinary Management of Administration of the affairs of the school, the charge of the fabric and of the library and museums; and a Medical Staff.
III.The general control or supervision of the school is vested, under the war department, in four great boards of councils, viz.:—
1.A board of administration, composed of the commandant, the second in command, the director of studies, two professors, two captains, and two members of the administrative staff. This board has the superintendence of all the financial business and all the minutiae of the internal administration of the school.
2.A board of discipline, consisting of the second in command, the director, two professors, three captains (of the school,) and two captains of the army, chosen from former pupils. The duty of this board is to decide upon cases of misconduct.
3.A board of instruction, whose members are, the commandant, the second in command, the director, the examiners of students, and the professors; and whose chief duty is to make recommendations relating to ameliorations in the studies, the programmes of admission and of instruction in the school, to—
4.A board of improvement, charged with the general control of the studies, formed of—
The Commandant, as President.The Second in Command.The Director of Studies.Two Delegates from the Department of Public Works.One Delegate from the Naval Department.One Delegate from the Home Department.Three Delegates from the War Department.Two Delegates from the Academy of Sciences.Two Examiners of Students.Three Professors of the School.
The Commandant, as President.
The Second in Command.
The Director of Studies.
Two Delegates from the Department of Public Works.
One Delegate from the Naval Department.
One Delegate from the Home Department.
Three Delegates from the War Department.
Two Delegates from the Academy of Sciences.
Two Examiners of Students.
Three Professors of the School.
The entrance examination is held yearly in August; the most importantconditions for admissionto it are always inserted in theMoniteurearly in the year, and are—
1st. All candidates must be bachelors of science.
2nd. All candidates (unless they have served in the army) must have been as much as sixteen and not more than twenty years old on the 1st of January preceding.
3rd. Privates and non-commissioned officers of the army must be above twenty and under twenty-five years of age; must have served two years, and have certificates of good conduct.
4th. Candidates who propose to claim pecuniary assistance (abourseordemi-bourse) must present formal proofs of their need of it.
The subjects of the entrance examinationare the following:—
Arithmetic, including Vulgar and Decimal Fractions, Weights and Measures, Involution and Evolution; Simple Interest.Geometryof Planes and Solids; application of Geometry to Surveying; Properties of Spherical Triangles.Algebra, including Quadratic Equations with one unknown quantity, Series and Progressions in general; Binomial Theorem and its applications; Logarithms and their use; on Derived Functions; on the Theory of Equations; on Differences; application of the Theory of Differences to the Numerical Solution of Equations.Plane and Spherical Trigonometry; Solution of Triangles; application of Trigonometry to Surveying.Analytical Geometry, including Geometry of two dimensions; Co-ordinates; Equations of the first and second degree, with two variables; Tangents and Asymptotes; on the Ellipse, Hyperbola, and Parabola; Polar Co-ordinates; Curved Lines in general.Geometry of three dimensions, including the Theory of Projections; Co-ordinates; the Right Line and Plane; Surfaces of the second degree; Conical and Cylindrical Surfaces.Descriptive Geometry; Problems relative to a Point, Right Line and Plane; Tangent Planes; Inter of Surfaces.Mechanics; on the Movement of a Point considered geometrically; on the Effect of Forces applied to points and bodies at rest and moving; on the Mechanical Powers.Natural Philosophy, including the Equilibrium of Liquids and Gasses; Heat;Electricity; Magnetism; Galvanism; Electro-magnetism and Light; Cosmography.Chemistry, the Elements;French;German;Drawing, and (optionally)Latin.
Arithmetic, including Vulgar and Decimal Fractions, Weights and Measures, Involution and Evolution; Simple Interest.
Geometryof Planes and Solids; application of Geometry to Surveying; Properties of Spherical Triangles.
Algebra, including Quadratic Equations with one unknown quantity, Series and Progressions in general; Binomial Theorem and its applications; Logarithms and their use; on Derived Functions; on the Theory of Equations; on Differences; application of the Theory of Differences to the Numerical Solution of Equations.
Plane and Spherical Trigonometry; Solution of Triangles; application of Trigonometry to Surveying.
Analytical Geometry, including Geometry of two dimensions; Co-ordinates; Equations of the first and second degree, with two variables; Tangents and Asymptotes; on the Ellipse, Hyperbola, and Parabola; Polar Co-ordinates; Curved Lines in general.
Geometry of three dimensions, including the Theory of Projections; Co-ordinates; the Right Line and Plane; Surfaces of the second degree; Conical and Cylindrical Surfaces.
Descriptive Geometry; Problems relative to a Point, Right Line and Plane; Tangent Planes; Inter of Surfaces.
Mechanics; on the Movement of a Point considered geometrically; on the Effect of Forces applied to points and bodies at rest and moving; on the Mechanical Powers.
Natural Philosophy, including the Equilibrium of Liquids and Gasses; Heat;Electricity; Magnetism; Galvanism; Electro-magnetism and Light; Cosmography.
Chemistry, the Elements;French;German;Drawing, and (optionally)Latin.
This examination is partly written and partly oral. It is not public, but conducted in the following manner:—
Five examiners are appointed by the minister of war to examine the candidates at Paris, and at the several towns named for the purpose throughout France.
Two of these examiners conduct what may be called a preliminary examination (du premier degré,) and the other three a second examination (du second degré.) The preliminary examiners precede by a few days in their journey through France those who conduct the second examination. The written compositions come before either.
The preliminary examination(du premier degré) is made solely for the purpose of ascertaining whether the candidates possess sufficient knowledge to warrant their being admitted to the second examination; and the second examination serves, in conjunction with the written compositions, for their classification in the order of merit.
Prior to the examination, each candidate is called upon to give in certain written sheets containing calculations, sketches, plans and drawings, executed by him at school during the year, certified and dated by the professor under whom he has studied. Care is taken to ascertain whether these are the pupils’ own work, and any deception in this matter, if discovered, excludes at once from the competition of the school.
This done, the candidates are required to reply in writing to written or printed questions, and to write out French and German exercises; great care being taken to prevent copying. This written examination occupies about twenty-four hours during three and a half separate days, as shown in the following table. It usually takes place in the presence of certain official authorities, the examiners not being present.
First Sitting.
Second Sitting.
Third Sitting.
Fourth Sitting.
Fifth Sitting.
Sixth Sitting.
Seventh Sitting.
Nexteach candidate is examined orally for three-quarters of an hour, on two successive days, by each of the two examiners separately, and each examiner makes a note of the admissibility or non-admissibility of the candidate.
At the close of this oral examination, the notes relating to the various candidates are compared, and if the examiners differ as to the admissibility of any candidate, he is recalled, further orally examined, and his written exercises carefully referred to, both examiners being present. A final decision is then made.
The preliminary examiners then supply the others with a list of the candidates who are entitled to be admitted to the second oral examination. On this occasion each candidate is separately examined for one hour and a half by each examiner, but care is taken that in all the principal subjects of study the candidate is examined by at least two out of the three examiners.
Each examiner records his opinion of the merits of every candidate in replying, orally and in writing, by awarding him a credit varying between O and 20, the highest number indicating a very superior result.
This scale of meritis employed to express the value of the oral replies, written answers, or drawings. It has the following signification, and appears to be generally in use in the French military schools:—
Considerable latitude is granted to the examiner engaged in deciding upon the amount of credit to be allowed to the student, for the manner in which he replies to the various questions. He isexpected to bear in mind the temperament of the candidate, his confidence or timidity, as well as the difficulty of the questions, when judging of the quality of the reply, more value being given for an imperfect answer to a difficult question than for a more perfect reply to an easy one.
The reports of the examiners, together with the various documents belonging to each candidate, are sent from each town to the minister at war, who transmits them to the commandant of the Polytechnic School to make out a classified list.
Very different valueof course is attached to the importance of some of the subjects, when compared with others; and the measure of the importance is represented in French examinations by what are termedco-efficients of influence, varying for the several subjects of study and kind of examination. The particular co-efficients of influence for each subject in these written and oral examinations, are as follows:—
In order to make out the above mentioned classified list, the respective credits awarded by the examiners to each candidate are multiplied by the co-efficients representing the weight or importance attached to each subject; and the sum of their products furnishes a numerical result, representing the degree of merit of each candidate.
A comparison of these numerical results is then made, and a general list of all the candidates is arranged in order of merit.
This list, and the whole of the documents from which it has been drawn up, are then submitted to a jury composed of the
Commandant of the School.The Second in Command.The Director of Studies.Two Members of the Board of Improvement.The Five Examiners.
Commandant of the School.
The Second in Command.
The Director of Studies.
Two Members of the Board of Improvement.
The Five Examiners.
It is the special business of this jury carefully to scrutinize the whole of the candidates’ documents, drawings, &c., and they further take care that a failure in any one branch of study is duly noted, as such failure is a sufficient reason for the exclusion of the candidate from the general list.
As soon asthis general list has been thoroughly verified, it is submitted to the minister of war, who is empowered to add one-tenth to the number actually required for the public services; and thus it may happen that one-tenth of the pupils may annually be disappointed.
A brief description of the buildings may be a suitable introduction to an account of the studies that are pursued, and the life that isledin them.
The Polytechnic Schoolstands near the Pantheon, and consists of two main buildings, one for the official rooms and the residence of the commandant and director of studies, the other, and larger one, for the pupils. Detached buildings contain the chemical lecture room and laboratory, the laboratory of natural philosophy, the library, fencing and billiard rooms.
The basement floor of the larger building contains the kitchen and refectories. On the first floor, are the two amphitheaters or great lecture rooms, assigned respectively to the pupils of the two years or divisions, in which the ordinary lectures are given. The rooms are large and well arranged; the seats fixed, the students’ names attached to them. The students are admitted by doors behind the upper tier of seats; at the foot of all is a platform for the professor, with a blackboard facing his audience, and with sufficient room for a pupil to stand and work questions beside him. Room also is provided for one of the captains, inspectors of studies, whose duty it is to be present, for the director of studies, whose occasional presence is expected, and for the assistant teachers orrépétiteurs, who in the first year of their appointment are called upon to attend the course upon which they will have to give their subsequent questions and explanations. On this floor are also the museums, or repositories of models, instruments, machines, &c., needed for use in the amphitheaters, or elsewhere. The museum provided for the lecturer on Physics (or Natural Philosophy) appeared in particular to be well supplied.
The whole of the second floor is taken up with what are called thesalles d’interrogation, a long series of small cabinets or studies,plainly furnished with six or eight stools and a table, devoted to theinterrogations particulières, which will presently be described.
The third floor contains the halls of study,salles d’étude, or studying rooms, in which the greater part of the student’s time during the day is passed—where he studies, draws, keeps his papers and instruments, writes his exercises, and prepares his lectures. These are small chambers, containing eight or, exceptionally, eleven occupants. A double desk runs down the middle from the window to the door, with a little shelf and drawers for each student. There is a blackboard for the common use, and various objects are furnished through the senior student, the sergeant, a selected pupil, more advanced than the rest, who is placed in charge of the room, and is responsible for whatever is handed in for the use of the students. He collects the exercises, and generally gives a great deal of assistance to the less proficient. “When I was sergeant,” said an old pupil, “I was always at the board.” The spirit ofcamaraderie, said to exist so strongly among the Polytechnic students, displays itself in this particular form very beneficially. Young men of all classes work heartily and zealouslytogetherin thesalles d’étude, and no feeling of rivalry prevents them from assisting one another. The sergeant does not, however, appear to exercise any authority in the way of keeping discipline.
These chambers for study are arranged on each side of a long corridor which runs through the whole length of the building, those of the juniors being separated from those of the seniors by a central chamber or compartment, thecabinet de service, where the officers charged with the discipline are posted, and from hence pass up and down the corridor, looking in through the glass doors and seeing that no interruption to order takes place.
The fourth story is that of the dormitories, airy rooms, with twelve beds in each. These rooms are arranged as below, along the two sides of a corridor, and divided in the same manner into the senior and junior side. A non-commissioned officer is lodged at each end of the corridor to see that order is kept.
Such is the building into which at the beginning of November the successful candidates from theLycéesand theEcoles préparatoiresare introduced, in age resembling the pupils whom the highest classes of English public schools send annually to the universities, and in number equal perhaps to the new under-graduates at one of the largest colleges at Cambridge. There is not, however, in other points much that is common, least of all in the methodsand habits of study we are about to describe. This will be best understood by a summary of a day’s work.
The students are summonedto rise at half-past five, have to answer the roll-call at six, from six to eight are to occupy themselves in study, and at eight they go to breakfast. On any morning except Wednesday, at half-past eight, we should find the whole of the new admission assembled in an amphitheater, permanent seats in which are assigned to them by lot, and thus placed they receive a lecture from a professor, rough notes of which they are expected to take while it goes on. The first half hour of the hour and a half assigned to each lecture is occupied with questions put by the professor relating to the previous lecture. A name is drawn by lot, the student on whom the lot falls is called up to the blackboard at which the professor stands, and is required to work a problem and answer questions. The lecture concluded, the pupils are conducted to thesalles d’étude, which have just been described, where they are to study. Here for one hour they devote themselves to completing and writing out in full the notes of the lecture they have just heard. The professor and his assistants, therépétiteurs, are expected to follow and make a circuit through the corridors, to give an opportunity to ask for information on any difficult points in the lecture. A lithographed summary of the substance of the lecture, extending perhaps to two octavo pages, is also furnished to each studying room for the use of its pupils.
The lecture, as we have said, commences at half-past eight o’clock; it lasts an hour and a half; the hour of writing up the notes brings us to eleven. The young men are now relieved by a change of occupation, and employ themselves (still in their places in the rooms of study) at drawing. A certain number, detached from the rest, are sent to the physical and chemical laboratories. The rotation is such as to admit each student once a month to two or three hours’ work at a furnace for chemistry, and once in two months to make experiments in electricity, or other similar subjects. In this way, either at their drawing or in the laboratories, they spend three hours, and at two o’clock go to their dinner in the refectories below, and after dinner are free to amuse themselves in the court-yard, the library, the fencing and the billiard rooms, till five. At five they return to the studying rooms, and for two hours, on Mondays and Fridays, they may employ themselves on any work they please (étude libre;) on Tuesday there is a lecture in French literature, and on Thursday in German; at seven o’clock they commence a lesson, which lasts till nine, in landscape and figure drawing, or theydo exercises in French writing or in German; at nine they go down to supper; at half-past nine they have to answer to a roll-call in their bedrooms, and at ten all the lights are put out.
Wednesday is a half-holiday, and the pupils are allowed to leave the school after two o’clock, and be absent till ten at night. The morning is occupied either in study, at the pleasure of the students, or in set exercises till eleven, when there is a lecture of one hour and a half, followed, as usual, by an hour of special study on the subject of the lecture. On Sunday they are allowed to be absent almost the whole day till ten P.M. There is no chapel, and apparently no common religious observance of any kind in the school.
Such is a general sketch of the ordinary employment of the day; a couple of hours of preparatory study before breakfast, a lecture on the differential calculus, on descriptive geometry, on chemistry, or natural philosophy, followed by an hour’s work at notes; scientific drawing till dinner; recreation; and general study, or some lighter lecture in the evening. Were we merely to count the hours, we should find a result of eleven or eleven and a half hours of work for every day but Wednesday, and of seven and a half hours for that day. It is to be presumed, however, that though absolute idleness, sleeping, or reading any book not authorized for purposes of study, is strictly prohibited, and when detected, punished, nevertheless the strain on the attention during the hours of drawing and the lectures of the evening is by no means extreme. Landscape and figure drawing, the lecture in French literature, and probably that in German, may fairly be regarded as something like recreation. Such, at least, was the account given us of the lectures on literary subjects, and it agrees with the indifference to literature which marks the school. Of wholesome out-of-door recreation, there certainly seems to be a considerable want. There is nothing either of the English love of games, or of the skillful athletic gymnastics of the German schools.
The method of teachingis peculiar. The plan by which a vast number of students are collected as auditors of professorial lectures is one pursued in many academical institutions, at the Scotch universities, and in Germany. Large classes attend the lectures in Greek, in Latin, and in mathematics at Glasgow; they listen to the professor’s explanations, take notes, are occasionally questioned, and do all the harder work in their private lodgings. Such a system of course deserves in the fullest sense the epithet of voluntary; a diligent student may make much of it; but there is nothing to compel an idle one to give any attention.
It seems to have been one especial object pursued in the Polytechnic to give to this plan of instruction, so lax in itself, the utmost possible stringency, and to accumulate upon it every attainable subsidiary appliance, every available safeguard against idleness. Questions are expressly putvivâ voceby the professor before his lecture; there is a subsequent hour of study devoted to the subject; there is the opportunity for explanation to individual students; the exaction of notes written out in full form; the professor also gives exercises to the students to write during their hours of general study, which he examines, and marks; general vivâ voce examinations (interrogations générales,) conducted by the professors andrépétiteurs, follow the termination of each course of lectures; and lastly, one of the most important and peculiar parts of the method, we have what are called theinterrogations particulières. After every five or six lectures in each subject, each student is called up for special questioning by one of therépétiteurs. The rooms in which these continual examinations are held have been described. They occupy one entire story of the building; each holds about six or eight pupils, with therépétiteurs. Every evening, except Wednesday, they are filled with these little classes, and busy with these close and personal questionings. A brief notice, at the utmost of twenty-four hours, is served upon the students who are thus to be called up. Generally, after they have had a certain number of lectures, they may expect that their time is at hand, but the precise hour of the summons can not be counted upon. The scheme is continually varied, and it defies, we are told, the efforts of the ablest young analysts to detect the law which it follows.
It will be seen at once that such a system, where, though nominally professorial, so little is left to the student’s own voluntary action, where the ordinary study andreading, as it is called in our English universities (here such an expression is unknown) is subjected to such unceasing superintendence and surveillance, and to so much careful assistance, requires an immense staff of teachers. At the Polytechnic, for a maximum of 350 pupils, a body of fifteen professors and twenty-fourrépétiteurs, are employed, all solely in actual instruction, and in no way burdened with any part of the charge of the discipline or the finance, or even with the great yearly examinations for the passage from the first to the second division, and for the entrance to the public services.
With a provision of one instructor to every eight students, it is probable that in England we should avoid any system of large classes, from the fear of the inferior pupils being unable to keeppace with the more advanced. We should have numerous small classes, and should endeavor, above all things, to obtain the advantage of equality of attainment in the pupils composing them.
The French, on the other hand, make it their first object to secure one able principal teacher in each subject, a professor whom they burden with very few lectures. And to meet the educational difficulty thus created, to keep the whole large class of listeners up to the prescribed point, they call in this numerous and busily employed corps of assistants torepeat, to go over the professor’s work afresh, to whip in, as it were, the stragglers and hurry up the loiterers. Certainly, one would think, a difficult task with a class of 170 freshmen in such work as the integral and differential calculus. It is one, however, in which they are aided by a stimulus which evidently acts most powerfully on the students of the Polytechnic School. During the two years of their stay, the prospect of their final admission to the public services can rarely be absent from the thoughts even of the least energetic and forethinking of the young men. Upon their place in the last class list will depend their fortune for life. A high position will secure them not only reputation, but the certainty of lucrative employment; will put it in their power to select which service they please, and in whichever they choose will secure them favorable notice. Let it be remembered that fifty-three of these one hundred and seventy are free scholars, born of parents too poor to pay 40l.a year for their instruction; to whom industry must be at all times a necessity, and industry during their two years at the Polytechnic the best conceivable expenditure, the most certainly remunerative investment of their pains and labor. The place on the final class list is obviously the prize for which this race of two years’ length has to be run. What is it determines that place? Not by any means a final struggle before the winning-post, but steady effort and diligence from first to last throughout the course. For the order of the class list is not solely determined by success in the examination after which it is drawn up, but by the result of previous trials and previous work during the whole stay at the school.
For, during the whole time, every written exercise set by the professor, every drawing, the result of everyinterrogation particulièreby therépétiteurs, and of each general interrogation by the professors andrépétiteurs, is carefully marked, and a credit placed according to the name of the student and reserved for his benefit, in the last general account. The marks obtained in the examination which closes the first year of study form a large elementin this last calculation. It had been found that the work of the first year was often neglected: the evil was quickly remedied by this expedient. The student, it would seem, must feel that he is gaining or losing in his banking account, so to call it, by every day’s work; every portion of his studies will tell directly for or against him in the final competition, upon which so much depends.
Such is the powerful mechanismby which the French nation forces out of the mass of boys attending their ordinary schools the talent and the science which they need for their civil and military services. The efforts made for admission to this great scientific school of the public services, the struggle for the first places at the exit from it, must be more than enough, it is thought, to establish the habits of hard work, to accumulate the information and attainment, and almost to create the ability which the nation requires for the general good.
We may now follow the student through his course of two years’ study.The first year’s workmay be mainly divided into three portions of unequal length; two of them of about four months each (with an additional fortnight of private study and examination,) are mainly given to hard lecturing, whilst the third portion of two months is devoted to private study and to the examinations.
In accordance with this arrangement of the year, the four hardest subjects are thus distributed. Analysis and descriptive geometry, the staple work of the school—its Latin, as M. de Barante called it—come in the first four months; there is then a pause for private study and a general examination in these two subjects (interrogations généralesas distinct from theinterrogations particulièresof therépétiteurs.) This brings us to the middle of March. Analysis and geometry are then laid aside for the rest of the year, and for the next portion of four months the pupils work at mechanics and geodesy, private study and a general examination completing this course also. Important lectures on physics and chemistry run on during both these periods, and are similarly closed by private study and a general examination. The less telling evening classes of French literature and German end at the beginning of June, and landscape and figure drawing only last half the year. It may be observed also, that, as a general rule, there is on each day one, and only one, really difficult lecture. This is immediately preceded and followed by private study, but then comes something lighter, as a relief, such as drawing or work in the laboratories.
The chief feature in the third portion of the year is the complete break in the lectures for general private study (étude libre,) a monthor six weeks before the closing examination at the end of the year. The immediate prospect of this prevents any undue relaxing of the work; and it is curious to observe here how private efforts and enforced system are combined together, for even the private efforts are thus systematized and directed. The closing examination of the first year begins on the 1st and ends on the 25th of September.
The total number of lectures in each branch of study, with the dates when they respectively commence and finish, and the period when the general examinations (interrogations générales) take place, are exhibited in the following tables, and we should add that the interval between the close of each course and the commencement of the chief yearly examination is devoted to free study.
TABLE FOR THE SECOND OR LOWER DIVISION, FOLLOWING THE FIRST YEAR’S COURSE OF STUDY.
NL No. of LecturesE Annual Examination
NL No. of Lectures
E Annual Examination
* Begins on the 1st Sept., and ends on the 25th Sept.
The work of the second yearis almost identical in its general plan with that of the first. A continuation of analysis with mechanics in place of descriptive geometry is the work of the first four months, then comes the private study and theinterrogations générales, and then again, from the middle of March to the middle of July, work of a more professional character, stereotomy, the art of war and topography, forms the natural completion of the pupil’s studies. Chemistry and physics follow the same course as during the first year, and terminate with the private study and the general examination at the beginning of August. The evening lectures in French literature and German end about the middle of June, and those in figure and landscape drawing at the beginning of May. The last portion is again given to private study and the great Final Examination.