[ARCHIBALD] MATHEMATICAL INSTRUCTION IN FRANCE 129 
pension for 100-150 francs per month. Pensions on the other side of 
the Luxembourg from the Sorbonne are usually the cheaper. As 
some of the courses which the American will likely want to follow at 
both the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Sorbonne commence at half- 
past eight in the morning, it will be well not to live too far away. All 
necessary expenses of the student who spends the year in Paris, with 
summers elsewhere, ought not to exceed 750 dollars. 
At the Université de Paris the year commences about November 4th 
and, in contrast to German methods, the lectures start immediately. 
The student will find the opening addresses of the vice-recteur and 
doyens, delivered in the great amphitheatre a day or two after the 
semester has begun, of interest. Matriculation is a very informal, 
though tiresome, affair. A college diploma and a certified French 
translation of birth certificate should be taken to the Secretary’s office. 
It is with an air of considerable scepticism that the Frenchman receives 
the statement that birth certificates are the exceptional possession of 
the average Canadian or American. The difficulty, in the case of the 
Canadian, is very easily solved on applying to the Canadian Commis- 
sioner, rue de Rome, and doubtless like courtesy awaits the American 
at the bureau of his Consul General. A passport is not necessary in 
France, as in Germany. The fee of 30 francs gives the student all 
rights of library, lecture and conference, for the whole year. To follow 
the classes at the Ecole Normale it is only necessary to go through the 
formality of applying for permission to the Vice-recteur of the Univer- 
sité de Paris. The letter received in reply should be presented to 
M. Tannery, who will most cordially counsel and assist the newcomer. 
The courses at the Collége de France commence about December 3. 
The general holidays—one week before and one week after New Year’s 
day, two weeks similarly arranged with reference to Easter—are the 
same as at the Université de Paris. There is no break between the 
first and the second semester, which begins March 1. All lectures 
are freely open to the public. 
Just what courses of those offered in these three institutions will 
particularly appeal to the American student must naturally be both 
a matter of taste and of previous study. I have given the details of 
the courses in earlier pages. Appell, Goursat and Picard are especially 
noted for the elegance and clarity of their presentation. But, except 
from a pedagogical standpoint, Appell does not, at present, give any- 
thing of interest to the American student; while the first half of Goursat’s 
course will be found more or less of a review of earlier work. The 
courses of Darboux, Poincaré and Painlevé are of a more advanced 
nature and largely attended. Such conferences as those of Raffy' and 

1 Raffy died since I wrote the above ; his death occurred June 9, 1910. 
Sec. III., 1910. 9. 
