EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES IN FRANCE 355 



and purity be so well studied as in the different French provinces. 

 As examples of admirably equipped institutions, he cited those of 

 Lyon and Lille; while others peculiarly endowed by nature with 

 a rare climate and superb physical attractions are Dijon, Toulouse, 

 Bordeaux, and Montpellier. Were he to begin life over again, he 

 would be a student nowhere else than at Grenoble, the great natural 

 beauties of which are so familiar to so many of our tourists. Paris, 

 he concluded, may well be kept for the last semester and fittingly 

 crown the foreign student's sojourn in France. 



The result of this article from the pen of so distinguished an 

 educator as M. Breal was the formation, about a fortnight later, 

 of a committee composed of the best known and influential men in 

 the educational world in and around Paris. 



M. Breal addressed the meeting, supporting by word what had 

 already appeared in print. The discussion was participated in by 

 MM. Bonet-Maury, Greard, Lavisse, Maspero, Paul Mellon, 

 Paul Meyer, and Parrot. In the course of the discussion, the sym- 

 pathy and encouragement of M. Hanotaux, the minister of foreign 

 affairs, and of M. Poincaire, of public instruction, were clearly 

 shown by their approval of the plan or form a Franco-American 

 committee. On the other hand, Mr. Furber voiced the equally 

 hearty support of His Excellency, the ambassador of the United 

 States, for this movement towards closer intellectual affiliation. 

 A commission was then and there (June 26, 1895) appointed to 

 study into the question of how to facilitate the entrance of American 

 students into French schools, and what inducements might prop- 

 erly be held out. So important and far-reaching have been the 

 results attained by this commission that it must be of interest to 

 American students to know who the men are who have been instru- 

 mental in securing for them such magnificent opportunities for 

 study as are now to be had at a mere nominal cost in France. The 

 members of the French commission were MM. Bonet-Maury, Pro- 

 fessor in the Theological School; Michel Breal, of the Institute, 

 Professor in the College de France; Bufnoir, Professor in the Law 

 School; Darboux, of the Institute, Professor in the Scientific School; 

 Giry, then Professor in the Ecole des Chartes; Lavisse, of the French 

 Academy; Levasseur, Professor in the College de France; Maspero, 

 of the Institute; Paul Mellon, Secretary of the Commission; Paul 

 Meyer, of the Institute, Director of the ficole des chartes ; Gabriel 

 Monod, Professor in the Ecole pratique des hautes etudes ; Schefer, of 

 the Institute, then Director of the Ecole des langues orientales 



