to grant this sanction made you hesitate in an expression of opinion. It was clear, however, that those juries, made independently of the ordinary class masters, need amendment in order to obtain a more satisfactory direction of studies and a greater surety in the result of the examination.

For higher education the questions proposed were of great importance. The Congress has made but a sort of preliminary investigation on the place of sociology. Your ideas and plans of organization will be valuable to those who are genuinely interested in the moral future of the world.

It was easier to come to conclusions in the examination of the international equivalence of degrees. Leaving on one side the application of the degrees to the practical exercise of a profession, a matter of interest to the State, you have liberally and wisely affirmed the desirability in the realm of pure science of doing away with useless and harmful barriers, without trenching on the authority necessary to great academic bodies, intrusted with the charge of higher education; you have opened the way to intercourse, communication and reciprocal penetration to the great benefit of science and the fraternal feelings which she awakes and sustains. Had your labors ended but in this resolution they would have been enough to characterize and to justify this Congress. There are still disappointed men who ask, with a touch of scepticism, "What is the use of a congress? Would not an exchange of papers, where everybody could find what he wanted, be enough?" Papers certainly play an important part in our studies; there is no use in denying this; they pave the way, they clear up and complete discussions. But are the living communications, that lend warmth, power, all the charms of the spoken word to thought, nothing? Conversations such as we have had, are of necessity somewhat hurried through the limit of time, and they can not have the precision of a book; and although I should not deny that our reports contain certain inaccuracies and contradictions in details, the important thing to do was to lay down the principles that are the light and soul of things, and this you have done. But neither papers, nor books, I affirm, could have evoked the sympathy that the discussion has caused among those whom liberal views have brought together.

A common thought has more than once shown itself clearly in your discussions; the resolutions you have taken ought to be communicated to all the bodies they affect; our study ought to be followed up and brought to a successful issue by the perseverance of all countries; in short, the international bond that you have created ought to be maintainted, enlarged, and strengthened.

This wish you have left with us. It will not be our fault if it is not realized.

The electric stream of sympathy set going by the President was in no whit diminished by the foreign delegates, M. Laskowsky, Mr. Stanley, M. Basiadis, and Mme. Griseri, who thanked M. Gréard for the tact and fairness with which he had presided over the Congress, and, through him, they thanked France for her hospitality.

B. THE EXHIBITION AND CONGRESSES ÓN SPECIAL SUBJECTS.

PART I.-THE EXHIBITION.

SECTION I.-PRELIMINARY.

The preliminaries for the exhibition relating to primary instruction were put in train by M. Berthelot, who, on April 4, 1887, appointed a commission of eighty-nine members, with MM. Gréard and F. Buisson at its head. The commission sent a report to the Government on June 27, based on the labors of six committees, who entered fully into the necessary details. This report was followed on July 31 by a general instruction from M. E. Spuller, in which emphasis was laid on the need of

a complete and faithful presentation of public primary instruction. An offer of free space was made to all those who, participating in the great work of national education, were desirous of exhibiting under the auspices of the minister.

Of the nine great groups into which the whole Exhibition was divided, education, occupying classes 67 and 68, was included with the liberal arts under group 2. In the second volume of the General Official Catalogue the exhibits were arranged in each class, first under countries and then under the names of the exhibitors, with, finally, the place in the Exhibition grounds, the word "Esplanade" often occurring wrongly in the place of "Palais" (des Arts Libéraux). The catalogue needed a great deal of study before it could be effectively used.

Primary instruction occupied class 6, and was divided into sections, each of the seven sections being arranged under three distinct heads: installation, method, results. Installation comprised plans of school buildings, furniture, and teaching apparatus; under method, specimens of copy and exercise books, registers of attendance, rewards, school societies, savings banks, games and discipline, visits and holiday resorts, books used in school; under results, specimens of the pupils' work. For the latter special pains were taken to avoid any abuse. Under no pretense were exercise books, drawings, or maps admitted that had been prepared with a special view to the exhibition. The obvious wisdom of this precaution was enhanced by the selection of work done, not by a selected few of the best scholars, but by the ordinary average child.

It is unnecessary to enter more fully into the rules and regulations laid down, as we shall find them translated into practice in the Exhibition. The elaborate sets of questions addressed to the various bodies of teachers, the ́shapes and sizes of the objects to be exhibited, and other matters of the highest value to future organizers, will be found in the thirty-eighth fascicule of the publications of the Musée Pédagogique: L'Exposition scolaire de 1889.*

Armed with this preliminary knowledge, we descend the slope of the Trocadero gardens; our delight in the delicate elegance of the Eiffel tower passes into amazement at its size and strength when we stand underneath. We ascend to get a clear view of the buildings, and we see the vast Machinery Building running parallel to the Seine and at right angles to the main axis of the Exhibition grounds. Another set of buildings, we learn from our guidebook, is devoted to the miscellaneous French groups, and two wings, one on the left for fine arts and the other on the right for the liberal arts, run nearly up to the tower, leaving the gardens in the center. Directly beneath us a motley group of buildings are dotted over the grass in the gayest confusion. Mexico finds herself a near neighbor to the Argentine Republic and a restaurant, while Chile can look into Venezuela or the Children's Palace. The Quai d'Orsay couples the Colonial Exhibition on the Esplanade des Invalides with the Champ de Mars. On the other side of the river the Trocadero, perched on its slight hill, seems to protect with its curving wings the Exhibition from the outer world. A request for a general catalogue produced eight volumes, but a few hours spent in examining them were well repaid. The first two groups, art and education, were devoted to intellectual labor; the others showed the mechanical processes needed to supply man's most primitive wants-a dwelling, clothes, and food.

Several days were needed merely to walk through the various galleries. Unlike earlier exhibitions, the arrangement was not by countries as a whole, but by subjects, an excellent change for purposes of international comparison-the relative strength and weakness in any section being at once obvious. The strength of Switzerland, for example, in machinery must have been a great surprise both to foreigners and to the Swiss. To obtain, however, a general idea of the resources of any particular country necessitated a great number of visits to very different quarters, accompanied by a fear that something was sure to be overlooked. A strong feeling

* A complete list of the fasicules will be found in Appendix II of this chapter, pp. 137-142.

of half-angry disappointment was inevitable as soon as it became clear that the official political boycott of the Government had been extended to the Exhibition. Surely it would have been enough for the ambassadors to have been absent from the various political fêtes. France did not refuse to send to London and Melbourne. From an educational point of view the absence of Germany was a heavy loss, especially for England, who has begun her educational reform so late and needs, above all, the awakening of a pedagogic sense.

Even in France the schools belonging to the various religious bodies were not represented. If the object was to weaken those who refuse to allow the school to be a weapon of sectarian propaganda, it failed utterly. Abstention did but help to throw into higher relief the logical and comprehensive grasp taken by the Government of the whole field of education from the cradle to the university. The honor of displaying the completest educational exhibition the world has yet seen belongs to a secular government with a secular programme. France and Switzerland alone made an adequate educational display, and in both the main weight was laid on primary and technical schools. With all these restrictions, however, there was enough for the most inveterate sight-seer, and for the student a month's work would hardly suffice for a single group.

Let us turn to the special subject in hand. We walk toward the wing of the liberal arts; we pass the colossal statue of Buddha placidly smiling on the crowd beneath, and mount the staircase with the reflection that the East sits and meditates while the West stands and works. A thousand objects challenge our attention, but we enter class 6 and find a long corridor parceled out into eight large rooms by partitions springing right and left from the walls. Down the center runs a series of glass cases. In spite of this liberal space M. Messin, to whom the task of organization fell, found that only a part of the objects sent by the various exhibitors could be shown. Handicraft is certainly the watchword of the day. All the walls in the first room were covered with work in wood and iron, sent by various higher primary schools and training colleges.

The programmes reach down to the maternal school and regulate the minutest details of procedure. The strongest opponent of such a method can hardly deny that the programmes afford good educational reading. For each of the three stages into which primary school life is divided there is a separate programme, and each is divided into the three rubrics of physical, intellectual, and moral.

SECTION II.-CITY OF PARIS.

Two large buildings at the bottom of the garden, between the luminous fountains and the central dome, were occupied by the city of Paris and the prefecture of the Seine. The sense of unity in this exhibition within an exhibition was a charming relief to the distracting wealth and variety outside. The large spirit in which the municipal council took up the question was sufficiently clear from the report presented by M. G. Gaufrès (Revue pédagogique, February, 1889, p. 138). The first impulsion came mainly from M. Gréard's memoir, L'enseignement primaire à Paris et dans le département de la Seine de 1867 à 1877. M. Duplan's continuation, under the title L'enseignement primaire public à Paris, 1877 à 1888, is a perfect mine of information on all possible points of school organization. The establishments represented were the maternal schools, the elementary primary schools, the higher primary schools, and the professional schools.

In order to comply as soon as possible with the law making attendance compulsory, 16,252 places were temporarily provided for between September 1, 1882, and April 1, 1883, by the erection of forty-nine wooden schools.

These were gradually replaced by "school groups." These ought to contain under the same roof the necessary buildings for a maternal school, a boys' and a girls' school, a covered playground, a special room for drawing, one or two workshops, a sewing room, porter's lodge, kitchen, a small room for the library, another for the weapons

of the school battalion, a master's room, and a reception room for the use of the head master.

All the books, pens, pencils, etc., are supplied gratuitously to the children by the city; the directors send up from time to time a list of what is wanted; the amount demanded must not exceed 4 francs per head. In 1871 a large Magasin scolaire de la ville de Paris was started in the boulevard Henri IV, through the initiative of M. Gréard.

A beginning of an attempt to solve the difficult question of comparing one year with another was made by a table of statistics drawn up in accordance with some very detailed instructions. In the lowest grade of writing, spelling, and arithmetic the best boys obtained 55 as against the girls' 49 per cent; in the second grade, on six subjects, the boys won 62 and the girls 58 per cent; in the higher grade, on eight subjects, the numbers were 81 and 75, respectively.

Public libraries.-The west pavilion near the Palais des arts libéraux was almost entirely given up to the school. As though to emphasize the fact that education must be carried on throughout life we first meet with an account of the public libraries in Paris. There are to be ultimately eighty of them in the whole city; fiftyseven are at present in working order, comprising twenty at the different mairies, and thirty-seven in communal schools. Books and pieces of music may be taken home for a fortnight; in 1888, although 1,277,436 loans were made, the losses only came to 4 in 1,000. Besides these libraries for the general reader there are eight specially devoted to industrial art; of these the best known is the Bibliothèque Forney. To an annual income of 7,105 francs from M. Forney's bequest the city adds 5,600 · francs. Such a collection of engravings, photographs, designs, and expensive art books has never before been within the reach of working men. In 1888 the eight libraries answered to 49,693 requests from readers. "The nation that teaches design to the mass of its people will be the leader in things that require taste and dexterity of hand," said Diderot long ago."

Maternal schools.-A model of a maternal school, filled with the desks already described, contained specimens of the children's work. Some exercise books showed that the very first elements of knowledge were judiciously given; the comic drawings in them awoke confidence in the genuine realism of the exhibits. Among the books displayed we noticed the first part of M. Duplan's book; Koenig and Durand, "Jeux et travaux enfantins;" Delon, “Exercises et travaux pour les enfants." The 127 maternal schools contain 22,879 places for children of both sexes between the ages of 2 and 7. They are entirely in the hands of women, there being 123 heads and 307 assistants. The instruction includes the first elements of morals, knowledge of common things, drawing, writing, and reading, exercises in language; notions of natural history and geography, recitations, singing, and graduated gymnastic exercises.

A well-arranged gymnasium near showed, besides the usual pieces of apparatus, a set designed by M. Pichery to develop strength by working against a coiled spring. Canteens.-Opposite the gymnasium was a cantine scolaire, such as can be found in every school group in Paris. Although the prime object of these is to improve the physical build of the children by supplying them with wholesome food, their value in securing regular attendance was an important factor in persuading the municipal council to vote on the proposition of M. Hérold, then préfet of the Seine, 480,000 francs to organize the service and to replace a number of private "tuck shops" kept by the school porters.

The children are provided beforehand with tickets with which they can buy portions of soup, vegetables, or meat for 5, 10, or 15 centimes. The children as a rule bring their own bread. Parents who are very poor can get these tickets from the schoo committee. In 1888 12,263 portions were given away and 15,965 were paid for. Th corresponding numbers in 1886 were 8,717 and 15,086. In both cases the tickets hande

* See Les expositions de l'état, Tome II, p. 116.

in by the children are exactly the same. and the committee of the school bursary.

The funds are administered by the mayor

Primary schools.-In the room devoted to the primary school the blackboard covered the whole length of one side. Thousands of exercise books with the masters' corrections were displayed. Some of them contained accounts of visits to interesting places; whenever words seemed to fail, a sketch or a diagram was at once employed, affording an indirect but powerful proof of the emphasis laid on drawing. Pen sketches are hardly desirable for beginners.

The tasks done in the books were of two sorts, daily and monthly, and did not seem to be too long; above all the exercises in grammar were kept well in check. The attempt to find some evidences of the effects of the teaching of morals did not lead to any decisive result.

A large glass case contained a school library; the number of books permitted to be put on the shelves reaches nearly 600, and the masters are looked after as well as the children. From the former were a large number of reports of pedagogic meetings, showing that peculiar intimacy of treatment found only among genuine workers.

The gendarmes, who turned me out into the grounds several times, seemed to be highly amused that any one could be so absorbed in reading exercise books as not to hear the 6 o'clock gun.

The instruction comprises morality and civies (if I may coin the word), reading, writing, the French language and the elements of its literature, geography, especially that of France; history down to the present time, especially that of France; elementary ideas on law and political economy; elementary natural science, physics, and mathematics; their applications to agriculture, hygiene, and industry; handicraft and the use of the tools employed in important trades; drawing, modeling, and musie; gymnastics, with military exercises for the boys and needlework for the girls. The 191 schools for the boys contain 70,694 places; the 174 for the girls 60,509 places. Of the former, 17, called "infant schools," are limited to the elementary course (boys from 7 to 8) and are presided over by women. The total number of teachers, men and women, is 3,002.

The course of study for the higher primary schools comprises morality and civics, political economy, common law and commercial law, French language and literature, writing, history, geography (physical, political, administrative, etc., industrial, and commercial), modern languages, mathematics (including plane trigonometry and elementary solid geometry), bookkeeping, physics, chemistry, natural history, drawing, singing, gymnastics, and handicraft.

Paris now possesses five of these schools-Turgot, Colbert, Lavoisier, J-B Say, Arago-the instruction being gratuitous and obtained by public competition. Boarders (who have to pay) are taken only at the J-B Say school. The same sort of education is also given to the lower classes at the municipal Chaptal school. Three thousand seven hundred and ninety-three places are thus provided in all.

The Sophic-Germain school accommodates 384 girls. The boys showed work in wood and iron and the girls some elegant dresses. The room was full of bound notebooks. There was an air of reality about the essays. Three marks are given, one for the matter, another for the style, and the third for the "effort."

The increase of handicraft, which is begun at the age of 10, apparently had had no bad effect on the literature. In some of the books there were very good exercises in etymology. Groups of allied words were collected and their meanings discussed, or else the force of a prefix or a suffix was amply illustrated from the compounds. Undigested scraps of derivation borrowed from the etymological dictionary most in vogue were carefully avoided.

These schools are said to form an unbroken line with the primary school, and to afford an excellent preparation for those children who go afterwards to the training colleges or to art and trade schools, whereas the less clever help only to swell the overcrowded army of clerks.