270 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Jail. 



syllabuses of the various subjects, which have received the 

 sanction of the French government, as likely to afford material 

 assistance to english teachers in determining the range and limits 

 of those scientific studies at which, in any special system of instruc- 

 tion, they may practically aim. The " Enseignement secondaire 

 special" might very safely be taken as a model of what it is 

 desirable to teach in the "modern departments" which are now 

 attached to some of our great schools. 



The boys who are destined to enter the learned professions con- 

 tinue a classical course, in which, however, much less time is 

 devoted to classical composition than is the case in our public 

 schools. Nor is science by any means neglected in this course, 

 which is intended to cover a period of three years. Besides the 

 " elementary division," there are five great classes in these schools, 

 viz., a grammar division, an upper division, a philosophy class, and 

 classes for elementary and special mathematics. 



In the grammar division there is a systematic instruction on the 

 physical geography of the globe. 



In the second class of the upper division the boys begin to be 

 taught the elements of zoology, botany, and geology in accordance 

 with the ministerial programmes ; and in the rhetoric class descrip- 

 tive cosmography (which seems to be nearly co-extensive with the 

 German Erkunde) forms the subject of a certain number of weekly 

 lessons. 



In the class of philosophy, the young students are initiated into 

 the elementary notions of physics (including weight, heat, elec- 

 tricity, and magnetism, acoustics, and optics) and of chemistry, 

 in which, at this sta^e, the teaching is confined to " general con- 

 ceptions on air, water, oxidation, combustion, the conditions and 

 effects of chemical action, and on the forces which result from it." 



In the classes of elementary and special mathematics, this course 

 of scientific training is very considerably extended ; and if the 

 authorized programmes constitute any real measure of the teaching, 

 it is clear that no boy could pass through these classes without a 

 far more considerable amount of knowledge in the most important 

 branches of science than is at present attainable in any English 

 Public School. 



6. The German Schools. 



In Germany the schools, which are analogous to public schools 

 in England, are the Gymnasia, where boys are prepared for the 



