CHAPTER XXI. ADMISSION. Application for permission to enter the Navy as cadet is made at the Imperial Admiralty in Berlin, in the months of August and September of the year preceding the entrance examination. The application must be accompanied by a number of papers, such as certificates of birth, religious creed, confirmation, &c.; a full narrative of the life of the applicant, written by himself and duly attested, stating the schools he has attended, his course of study, changes of residence, illnesses, German and foreign works read by him, and other minute facts; school diplomas; and the health certificate of a military or naval surgeon. The parent is also required to give a bond to make the deposit necessary to procure the first outfit of his son, to pay for his subsequent outfits, and also to make him an allowance up to the time of his promotion to the grade of lieutenant. The allowance is fixed at 30 marks (about $7.50) per month. It is paid for the first six months in advance, and afterwards in quarterly payments. It is not paid directly to the cadet or midshipman, but to the treasurer of the Naval School; and it is disbursed by the paymaster who h for the time being, the accounts of the cadet. In certain exceptional cases, as in that of midshipmen who contract debts on the practice-cruise, it may be paid, like the regular salary, to an officer designated by the captain, and the midshipman has no control over it for the time being, except according to the discretion of the officer who has it in trust. Candidates must be under seventeen years of age at the date of admission. Exception is made, however, in the case of graduates (Abiturienten) of the Gymnasia, Realschulen of the first-class, and similar institutions (that is, institutions of an equally high standard), who may be admitted up to the completion of their nineteenth year. No minimum age of admission is prescribed, but a limit is practically fixed by the regulation which requires candidates to present a certificate from a gymnasium of fitness for the upper second class, or to show in the examination their qualification for it. To do this, the candidate must have passed through the lower classes of the schools, which he could hardly accomplish before his fourteenth or fifteenth year. The examination for admission, like the later examinations to which officers are subjected, is conducted by a special board of examiners (SeeOffizier und Cadetten Prüfungs-Commission). The board is appointed by the Minister of Marine (Chef der Admiralität), and its proceedings are governed by minute regulations. Besides the entrance examination, it has charge of the midshipmen's examination, and the first and the final examination for officers. It has no duties of instruction. The latter are S. Ex. 51-11 performed entirely by the regular officers and professors of the schools, and it is the object of the system to make the examiners a distinct body. The board of examiners holds therefore a very important place in the German system of naval education. As it is governed by similar regulations in the conduct of all the examinations, it may be well to give here a general outline of the system. The board is composed of a president, examiners, secretaries, and of ficers to do proctor's duty in written examinations. The president conducts the meetings of the board, gives special directions in regard to examinations, and is present at the oral examinations. The examiners conduct the oral examinations, and set the written papers. Three times the number of papers required are made out in each subject by the examiners, from which the president of the board chooses the allotted number. The examiners mark the work-papers. Candidates obtaining, or seeking to obtain, improper assistance, are rejected without further formality. In addition to the prescribed subjects, candidates, at all the examinations, are allowed to offer one modern language, as an extra subject. In this case they receive an examination in the language. If they receive a mark of above 55 per cent. in the extra, it goes to increase their final mark, unless this final mark is below the passing standard; in which case the extra does not count at all. In no case does it count so as to diminish a final mark. The oral examination is intended to complete and supplement the written, in order that the examiners may determine, with greater accuracy, the merits of a candidate. At least ten minutes must be allowed to each candidate. The system of marking at the examinations is that employed in all the educational establishments of the Navy, and has some peculiarities that are worthy of notice. The scale of marks ranges from 1 to 9, and a general average of 5 is required in order to pass. A mark of 5 is also required in certain designated subjects. The time occupied in writing a paper is considered in marking. The marks for the oral and written examinations are combined with equal weight. To fix the relative weight of subjects in the final calculation, they are divided into three classes, according to their importance. Each class has its coefficient; that of subjects of the first class being always 3, of the second 2, and of the third 1. In computing the final mark of a candidate, the marks for separate subjects are not taken directly as the basis of the computation, but the difference by which each mark exceeds or is less than 5, the passing mark. All marks greater than 5 give plus quantities, and all marks less than 5 give minus quantities. These differences, plus or minus as the case may be, are then multiplied by their respective coefficients, and the algebraic sum of the plus and minus products constitutes the final mark. The result may be a plus quantity, a minus quantity, or zero. Candidates are grouped together, according to the result, in five classes. Those whose final mark is a minus quantity are designated as not passed. Those whose mark is zero, and who have obtained the required mark in the separate subjects in which a standard is exacted, are satisfactory. Above this limit candidates are classed as good, or very good, according to the degree of excellence. Candidates whose final mark is zero or above, but who have failed in one or more of the separate subjects in which there is a passing standard, are classed as having passed with conditions (bedingt bestanden). The last may be recommended for re-examination. At the conclusion of each examination, the board makes up its report with a general merit-roll and recommendations in the cases of candidates who have failed. It also issues certificates to those who pass. The recommendations of the board decide, finally, the disposal of all doubtful cases. The examination for admission is held annually at Kiel, in the month of April. Four weeks before the date fixed for the entrance examination, the papers sent in by applicants for admission are sent to the president of the examining board. Candidates are first subjected to a medical examination by a naval surgeon, in presence of the president and recorder of the board. The results of this examination are forwarded to the Admiralty, but they have no bearing upon the mental examination. The requirements for admission in the mental examination are as follows: A. FIRST CLASS: COEFFICIENT, 3. 1.-LATIN. The examination is based on the course of study in the lower second class of a Gymnasium or Realschule of the first class, and includes the authors usually read at schools in this and the preceding classes, together with written translation from Latin into German and the grammatical analysis of passages. * Preparation of an essay on a simple subject, without errors in spelling or grammar, and showing a certain facility in expression. * 1. The whole of arithmetic, and algebra through logarithms and exponential equations. 2. Elementary plane geometry. 3. Trigonometry, plane and spherical, including the discussion of trigonometrical functions, the deduction and application of formulas, and the determination of the areas of right-line figures and segments of circles. 4. Elements of stereometry. B.-SECOND CLASS: COEFFICIENT, 2. IV. PHYSICS. Elements of physics and mechanics. *In all the programmes of examination, given under the head of German schools, starred subjects are those in which a mark of 5 is required in order to pass. V.-GEOGRAPHY, PHYSICAL AND POLITICAL. VI.-HISTORY. History in general, and the history of Germany in particular, with special reference to the growth of its territory and the development of its constitution, and to the principal events of the most important wars since the middle of the 18th century. C.-THIRD CLASS: COEFFICIENT, 1. VII.-FRENCH AND ENGLISH. Tolerable fluency is required in reading and translating easy passages into German, and vice versa, with some readiness in grammatical analysis. VIII.-DRAWING. The candidate must produce a freehand drawing of his own, duly attested, or in default of this, is required to draw from models or objects set by the examiner. If the candidate has the certificate of fitness for the upper second class of a gymnasium, or realschule of the first class, or if he has passed satisfactorily the first-class course in the Cadetten-Haus at Berlin, he is exempt from the examinations in Latin, German, and history. In obtaining the final mark in such cases, the subjects in which examination is waived receive a mark of 5, satisfactory; but candidates are always at liberty to obtain a higher mark by passing the examinations, if they desire. If the candidate has been graduated with a diploma (AbiturientenZeugniss) from a gymnasium, a realschule, or other similar institution of learning, he is entirely exempt from the entrance examination, provided the diploma classes him as good* in mathematics. In the absence of this qualification he must pass an examination in mathematics before the board. The board decides according to the result of the examination, and sends to the Admiralty an abstract of the proceedings in relation thereto, in which it is stated finally whether a re-examination may be granted. The Minister makes his decision in regard to the appointments on the basis of this report. * This term has a definite official significance in the German school system. CHAPTER XXII. CADETS' PRACTICE-CRUISE. Cadets who have received appointments are arranged provisionally according to the result of the examination, those who come in with graduates' diplomas being ranked first according to age. All the cadets are embarked in April, on board the cadets' training-ship, and receive there their first training as seamen and officers. The training-ship makes a cruise during the summer, and returns to port about the end of September. Those cadets who, during the cruise, appear unfit for the naval service, from want of capacity or otherwise, are to be reported as soon as possible to the Admiralty by the commanding officer, after consultation with the other officers. On the basis of this report, the minister finally orders their discharge from the service. The time passed on board the training-ship, however, does not in these cases count as service-time towards the performance of obligatory military service, required by the German laws of all citizens. The object of the six months' practice-cruise, with which the German cadets begin their professional education, is to discover their physical aptitude for the service, and to give them the needful elementary training in the practical duties of their profession. Hence there is no theoretical instruction, as such, on board the school-ship. The course may be divided into five branches, which are pursued as follows: 1. Seamanship.-This includes the first instruction in the standing and running rigging and sails, and practice in setting up and taking down rigging, sending up and down upper masts and yards, setting, reefing, furling, and taking in sail, and working ship under sail. 2. Gunnery, including the guns and carriages on board the ship, their equipments, and ammunition. In exercises, the cadets are shifted to different guns, and to different numbers, so as to give every variety of practice. At quarters they have their regular stations. Firing-practice is so arranged that each cadet has two firings with the 8.c. m. gun, and two with the 12-c. m. or 15-c. m.; one of which is with the fixed target, and the other with the floating target at sea. 3. Navigation.-The cadets have some instruction of a practical and elementary character in the use of reflecting instruments and charts, and they are taught the use of the compass, log, and lead. 4. Official duties (Dienst-Kenntniss).—Manual and use of small-arms; landing parties; infantry drill on shore. 5. Rigging, steering, and sailing boats. In addition to this programme, the cadets, when opportunty offers, in |