they may dress as they like. They are, however, strictly forbidden to wear the uniform of the Ecole Polytechnique, and are not allowed to smoke or play at cards.

We now proceeded to a vestibule where was a spacious oak table, from the middle of which protruded and arose a large stove. In the adjoining library—a fine solid room, containing 16,000 volumes and 3000 brochures, warmed by two stoves, and having at one end, on a small platform, the elevated desk of the librarian--were four tables covered with books and inkstands, lying on loose green cloth. At each table were ten chairs, five on each side. In this reading-room, open from twelve to five and from seven to ten, absolute silence must prevail. "Le silence le plus absolu y est de rigueur." A third library contains, in cabinets, lettered, numbered, and closely packed in shelves only a few inches asunder, 3000 valuable drawings of railways, bridges of stone, wood, and iron, and other engineering subjects. Attached to these three rooms is a small one, a peaceful retreat for the librarian.

On descending to the ground floor I entered a laboratory, in which twelve students at a time, each at his severely burned table, and with a compartment of shelves of his own, covered

with bottles, and containing his "Pharmacie," analyse their limes, cements, &c.

I was now led into a very handsome stone promenade, communicating with a small and a large amphitheatre. In the former I found thirty scholars, on benches, one above another. In front of them was a large black board, at the foot of which, in an elbow-chair, before a rectangular oak table, sat the professor.

In the grand amphitheatre, which, by a similar arrangement, can contain two hundred students, each bench, divided into twelve separate seats, is numbered in front by a brass shining plate. On the wall, close to the black board, hangs in a glass case a tell-tale list of the names of the occupiers of each seat, so that the professor, without moving anything but his head, or without a word of inquiry, can by a glance at once inform himself of the name of any one who disturbs him. Behind, in the small private room of the professor, I found a similar black board, exactly of the same dimensions, "pour s'amuser." 1 In these amphitheatres, besides mathematical and geometrical demonstrations, the students are instructed in geology, mineralogy, political economy, architecture, surveying, levelling, irrigation, draining, the construction of roads,

'To amuse himself with.

canals, bridges, and in the German and English languages.

On opening a door on the left, over which was inscribed "Galerie des Modèles,"1 I entered a lofty long hall, containing models of machinery of almost every description, of different sorts of bridges, lighthouses, of the principal aqueducts of France and of foreign countries, also plans of the best modes of irrigation. There were likewise, admirably arranged and lighted, fragments of the most important portions of the interior of steam-engines: among these I observed a locomotive engine, sawed and separated into two pieces, so as to enable the students, as it were by dissection, to anatomise the reality of these powerful bodies. Adjoining were plans explaining the construction of atmospheric railways; a very interesting model of the "Pont au double" near Notre Dame in Paris, which, although of a span of 115 yards, with a rise in the arch of only ten feet, is composed of nothing but a conglomeration of broken stones and cement.

Among the drawings are some showing an infinity of purposely confused details, exhibited as a style which, instead of being imitated, should be shunned. I here inspected a variety Gallery of models.

1

of plans, elevations, and sections by the students, many admirably and beautifully executed.

Beyond this interesting gallery I entered one devoted entirely to harbours and canals, containing, besides various models of both, dredging machines, bridges of boats, &c. Above is a gallery full of theodolites, spirit-levels, and a variety of other mathematical instruments, the cost of which in Paris I observed to be less than half the prices in England.

Lastly, I was conducted into a hall full of specimens of mineralogy, previous to leaving which I ascertained from the superior that, for the elucidation of the details I had witnessed, there are employed fifteen professors; that the Government liberally gives to each student 150 francs a month during the three years which form the course of his education in this valuable establishment; besides which, there exists in "la Rue des Coutures St. Gervais" a private one on a similar plan, entitled "Ecole des Arts et Manufactures," for the education of young persons (above sixteen years, and possessing a certain knowledge of algebra, geometry, and mathematical drawing) who are desirous, by the aid of science, to be made competent to practise as civil engineers, as builders, or as directors of factories.

School of Arts and Manufactures.

1

LES CASERNES.1

As the momentum or force with which a cannon shot strikes anything that opposes its progress does not depend solely on its weight, or solely on its velocity, but on the product of both, so does the real power of an army depend not solely on its numbers, or solely on its military knowledge, but on the combined powers of both; and thus, just as a small shot can, by greater velocity, be made to strike a heavier blow than a much larger one propelled with little velocity, it is evident that, although in point of numbers the army and militia in Great Britain, Ireland, and the Channel Islands, as compared with the Garde Nationale and army of France and Algeria, are in the proportion of one to thirtynine, superior acquirements in the smaller body might compensate for its deficiency in physical force. With this reasoning in my mind, I felt anxious, during my short residence in Paris, to

The barracks.