[ARCHIBALD] MATHEMATICAL INSTRUCTION IN FRANCE 121 
From being perhaps the leading school of the time with regard to 
its output of brilliant mathematicians it has, then, sunk to a position 
of wholly inconsiderable importance in this respect. Yet each year 
four times as many talented young mathematicians try to get in here 
as into the École Normale Supérieure. The number of those who enter 
the Ecole Polytechnique because of failure to get into the Ecole Normale 
is not perhaps very large; nevertheless there are certainly some among 
them who would have made good mathematicians but who do not 
make good engineers. They form, however, an insignificant fraction in 
comparison with the hundreds of graduates who by original choice have 
succeeded to the brilliant careers open to them. 
The course at the Ecole Polytechnique is two years and mathematics 
is taught each year. As at the Sorbonne, but in less effective manner, 
the instruction is a combination of lecture and conference. Jordan and 
G. Humbert are the professors but they are assisted by several inter- 
rogateurs or rép étiteurs as at Lycée Saint Louis. Humbert’s Cours d’ Ana- 
lyse (2 vols.), gives an idea of the course in analysis (2 years); then there 
are also mechanics and machines ( 2 years); descriptive geometry (first 
year); astronomy, geodesy (second year); physics, acoustics and optics 
(first year) ; physics, thermo-dynamics, electricity and magnetism (second 
year); etc. 
THE COLLEGE DE FRANCE. 
This, the highest institution of learning in France, was founded by 
Frances I, in the sixteenth century. It does not form part of the Aca- 
démie de Paris, but is under the direct control of the minister of public 
instruction. No fee or form of matriculation is necessary to attend the 
lectures, no examinations are held and no degrees are conferred. It is 
not necessary for its professors to hold any degree or to have passed any 
specific examination. A man who holds only the degree of bachelier, 
although not qualified to teach in secondary schools may, if otherwise 
competent, be appointed professor here. Successive vacancies are 
filled by the minister of public instruction who chooses between the 
names of two candidates who have been recommended by the body of 
professors occupying the 45 chairs. The professors have absolutely no 
obligations apart from the delivery of lectures, and in some cases, those 
with untroubled consciences have more or less evaded this requirement. 
Such abuse of privilege led this year to a law requiring each professor 
to give 40 lectures, distributed somewhat symmetrically over the two 
semesters. The purpose of the Collége de France is to advance learning. 
Within the limits of their chairs, the professors are absolutely free to 
treat any part of their subjects, no matter how limited or how minute, 
provided that they go to the bottom of it. 
