The twelve professors at the Naval School are divided as follows:

The professors do not reside on board the ship, but are brought off from shore every morning in a small steamer attached to the school, in time for the morning lecture.

The other officers of the school are, a principal mechanician, instructor in steam-engineering; a chaplain; an assistant commissary, who has charge of all administrative matters other than military or academic; three surgeons; and an accounting officer and storekeeper (agent comptable économe). The latter officer has the direction of a variety of matters, such as the care of public property, the preparation of estimates for stores and materials, receipts, disbursements, and purchases, and the correspondence of the captain of the school with the parents of pupils.

To the list of officers should perhaps be added the members of the two boards of examination, whose functions are subsidiary to the main purpose of the school, though the members are not attached to the Borda. One of these boards conducts the examination for admission, the other the annual and final examinations. The latter board is composed of naval officers of high rank, together with a member of the corps of hydrographic examiners. The pharmacist-in-chief at Brest usually examines in chemistry.

The crew of the Borda numbers about 150 men. The warrant and petty officers are carefully selected by the captain of the Borda, and six or eight of them, in addition to their regular duties, assist in the instruction of the students in practical exercises connected with the specialties to which they belong. These special branches include seamanship and gunnery, and the specialties of helmsmen, topmen, machinists, and captain of arms. A similar number of non-commissioned officers of the marine artillery (adjudants) perform the details of disciplinary service. At their head is the captain of arms, and the whole force comes directly under the executive officer. Their duties include the hourly oversight of the pupils, the frequent inspection of their desks, chests, and lockers, and of all their belongings, and duty as watchmen by day and by night. They are directed to enforce the regulations of discipline, and to report all infractions. In fact, in all matters of detail they perform the police of the ship.

There are four boards or committees that occupy an important place in the organization of the school. The first of these is the committee on improvements (conseil de perfectionnement.) It is composed of the Préfet Maritime, as president; the captains of the Borda and of the Flore, the sea-going practice-ship of cadets; and the members of the two ex

amining boards, of admission and graduation. It meets annually, revises the programme of study, and considers and proposes other changes in the organization and methods of the school. These changes are submitted for approval to the Board of Admiralty (conseil d'amirauté) at the Ministry of Marine.

The council of instruction or academic board (conseil d'instruction) is composed of the captain and commander of the Borda, the two examining boards, three professors or instructors, appointed for one year by the Préfet, of whom one is in the professional, one in the scientific, and one in the literary or "general" department, and the commissary.* The duties of the board are to consider and report upon measures proposed by the secondary council, or referred to it by the Minister. The latter include the distribution of scholarships (bourses), and of indemnities for outfit.

The secondary council of instruction (conseil secondaire d'instruction) is composed of the same members as the council of instruction, except the examining boards. It acts as an advisory board to the Préfet Maritime and the captain of the school, by whom various questions relating to academic organization are submitted to it. It has also the initiative in all propositions relating to the instruction and course of study, and it conducts the re-examination of deficient pupils, making recommenda. tions as to the final disposition of doubtful cases. It considers proposals for the purchase of scientific works, periodicals, and apparatus. Its other duties include the preparation of the term and yearly classlists, and, in general, it attends to those matters of detail which concern the academic interests of the school. The captain of the school is president of the council, and any of the instructors or professors who are not members may be required to attend its discussions, but only with a consulting voice.

The fourth of the governing boards is the council of administration (conseil d'administration). It is composed of the captain and commander, the commissary, and the two senior lieutenants, chiefs of sections. It keeps the running account with the Ministry of Finance, and with the pupils, and it has general charge of receipts, disbursements, and purchases. The "accounting officer and storekeeper" (économe) acts as its agent.

2.-EXAMINATION FOR ADMISSION.

The examination for admission to the Naval School is one of the most important parts of the French system of naval education, on account of its scope, its method, and its close relation to the system of public instruction in the country. It is competitive in character. Its requirements are high and extend over a considerable range of subjects. Finally, it is based directly on the programmes of study in the lycées, the principal schools for secondary instruction in France. It has several * It must constantly be borne in mind that the word commissary denotes a member of the administrative corps of the Navy, and has no connection with what in English is understood as the commissariat.

other noticeable features, but it is to these three that its important effects are chiefly due.

The method of organization is simple. The examining board consists of four examiners, chosen each year by the Minister of Marine, two in scientific, and two in literary or general subjects. A captain in the Navy is president of the board, but his duties are confined to administrative matters. Junior officers are assigned to take charge of the examination-room. A special examiner is appointed to mark the drawings handed in by candidates.

The examination is in two parts, written and oral. The written examination is held first, and candidates are required to obtain a certain mark-35 per cent. in mathematics, 25 per cent. in literary subjects, and 15 per cent. in drawing. Those who fail to reach this standard are excluded from further competition. To save candidates the expense of a long journey, the simple and excellent method is adopted of having different centers of examination, at any one of which candidates may present themselves. The centers are ten in number-Paris, Brest, Cherbourg, Lorient, Rochefort, Toulouse, Toulon, Bastia (Corsica), Algiers, and Lyons. At these places written examinations are held simultaneously on the 11th, 12th, and 13th of June in each year. As most of the places designated are naval stations, or stations where a number of naval officers are constantly on duty (all, in fact, except Lyons and Toulouse), the service of conducting the written examination is attended with no special expense to the government.

Useful as this system is found in France, its advantages would be even greater in the United States, on account of the immense distances to be passed over by candidates from all the Congressional districts, in reaching any given point. At present it happens, and under the existing system it must continue to happen, not infrequently, that young men whose means do not warrant the expense are obliged to take a journey of 1,500 or 3,000 miles to present themselves at an examination which they are totally unprepared to pass. The only way to avoid this is by holding examinations simultaneously at different centers. The principal navy-yards furnish convenient points, with all the materials ready at hand. In this way Boston and Portsmouth would be centers for New England; New York and Philadelphia for the Middle States; Annapolis, Norfolk, Port Royal, and Pensacola for the Southeast, and San Francisco for the extreme West. To these might be added Cincinnati, Chicago, Saint Louis, and New Orleans for the center. Such a system would present great advantages, and at the same time be easy of application and attended with little or no expense. Persons desiring to compete in the examination for admission to the Naval School are obliged to enter their names as candidates at the prefecture of the department in which they reside, between the 1st and 25th of April, preceding the examination at which they intend to present themselves. They must be at least fourteen, and not more than sevenS. Ex. 51- -8

teen, years of age on the 1st of January preceding their application. This condition is rigorously applied, and no dispensations are ever granted to candidates above or below the limits. The average age of candidates admitted has been found to be about 16 years. At the time of entering their names, candidates are required to present the following papers:

1. Certificate of birth.

2. Certificate of French nationality.

3. Physician's certificate of vaccination.

4. Choice of center of examination.

5. Bond of parent or guardian for payment of fee for board and tuition, amounting to 700 francs a year.

6. Bond of parent or guardian for payment of outfit, amounting to about 1,000 francs.

The regulations for conducting the written examinations are prescribed with considerable minuteness, particularly with a view to prevent irregularity or unfairness in marking. The questions are the same at all the centers of examination. They are sent in sealed envelopes from the Ministry of Marine to the prefects and subprefects in whose jurisdiction the examination is to be held, and by whom they are transmitted to the naval officers in charge of the examination.

The examinations are held with closed doors, at the day and hour prescribed. Not more than twenty candidates can be placed in one room, and warrant officers are detailed for the surveillance of these rooms; at least one to every ten candidates. At the beginning of each day's session the officer in charge opens the envelope in the presence of the candidates, and reads aloud the questions. At the close of the session he collects the papers and transmits them to the ministry of marine. Here the duties of this officer cease. The papers are sent to the president of the board of examiners, who detaches the headings containing the name of the writer, after having placed on both headings and papers a corresponding series of numbers. In this condition, numbered, but not named, the papers are turned over to the proper examiners to be marked. When the marking is finished, the board meets and draws up a list, still without the names of candidates, of the marks given to each numbered paper. The president then opens, in the presence of the board, the sealed envelope in which he had previously placed the headings, and the final report of the written examination is drawn up. This is published in the Journal Officiel, and is the only notification received by the candidates of their success or failure at the preliminary examination.

The oral examinations follow immediately upon the written. Like the first, they are held at various cities, the board of examiners making a tour for this purpose. The places of the examination are the same as before, except in the case of Bastia and Algiers, candidates from Corsica and Algeria presenting themselves at Toulon. The first examination is held at Paris, July 1, and at the other cities in succession. Each candi

date must pass a medical examination before a board composed of the president of the examining board, a commander, and a naval surgeon. This always precedes the oral examination. Candidates who have failed at the written examination, or who have absented themselves from any of the tests, or who have made use of any improper means of assistance, are ruled out before the oral examination begins.

The final classification is prepared under the direction of the jury of examination, composed of the examining board, together with two naval officers of high rank, sitting at Paris. The marks, ranging, according to the usual scale in France, from 0 to 20, are multiplied by the prescribed coefficients, and the sum of the products gives the final mark. In case two candidates have the same mark, the oral examination decides their final position; and if the result is still the same, greater weight is given to the scientific branches. Thirty additional marks are given to candidates who have taken the degree of bachelor of letters. From the final list the minister appoints the members of the entering class at the naval school in the order of classification, and in accordance with the number required. A letter is accordingly sent to each successful candidate, which he is to present to the major-general (chief of naval staff) on his arrival at Brest, before the beginning of the session. After a second medical examination, and after making the necessary deposit, he is regularly entered at the school.

The scope of the examination for admission is defined in the programmes of certain classes in the lycées. These are the principal public schools in France of a general character, and they are so closely connected with the special schools for professional training that some further allusion to them will be necessary. The subjects of the examination, with the coefficients of each, are as follows:

*After 1880, Greek is to be omitted from the programme, and Statics is to be added.