122 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
The chairs and foundation which have interest for us are the follow- 
ing :— 
Mécanique analytique et mécanique céleste—“Theory of elastic 
Diaten in Ana PRESS PA RU ARCS RTE Hadamard. 
Mathématiques—“ Transformation and multiplication of com- 
plexes in elliptic functions.”........... (Jordan) G. Humbert. 
Physique générale et mathématique—“ Elasticity of solids and 
AAA AOR dna) ea Pant sont De NA AA CIS al Wei iis Brillouin. 
Physique générale at expérimentale — “General phenomena of 
electricity and magnetism. "2:47 0e .. Langevin. 
Cours complémentaire —“* Hyperelliptic surfaces of the fourth 
deere PU AU 0) Re Bee EP AVE RS ET INSEE RARPUEE QE Traynard. 
This last course was established by a foundation of Mlle. Peccot who 
wished to be the means of encouraging young mathematicians. The 
instructor must be a doctor of less than 30 years of age and he may not 
lecture for more than five years. 
Jordan has not lectured for several years and his duties have been 
performed by the suppléant Humbert. We have here another peculiar- 
ity of this institution. Jordan continues to draw two-thirds of his 
salary while Humbert is remunerated with the remaining one-third. 
The courses usually represent personal researches of the lecturers 
and are well attended, particularly by éléves of the Ecole Normale 
Supérieure. 
CoNCLUDING REMARKS ON MATHEMATICAL INSTRUCTION. 
Unless I have greatly failed in.my presentation, one thing which 
may be readily inferred from what has gone before is, that no idea 
could be more mistaken than the one so prevalent among us, that the 
French are light-hearted, frivolous and at best superficial. Their 
struggle for existence is severe and the competition is terribly keen. 
As far as the mathematician is concerned and his training is by no 
means exceptional, we have found that from the time the élève leaves 
the Premiére, that is when he was 15 years old, onward, he undergoes 
most exacting examination at almost every turn. The successive 
stages in his studies are very largely marked out for him and care is 
constantly exercised to see that he make no false step and that he be 
properly prepared to pass his examinations. The Université de Paris 
has appeared to be a great institution, “wonderfully organized, to 
turn out a certain amount of a certain product, of a certain degree of 
excellence, with the least possible loss of time and energy.” The 
strenuous directness of method and of achievement in this system 
cannot help but impress us. 
