382 



FRANCE. 



above the semi-cylinder a by a deflection of the 

 beds to the right and by a little mountain d on 

 the left. On the semi-cylinder & an enormous 

 elevation has taken place, attended by a violent 



rupture in which on one of the sides, /"and g, 

 the strata have been completely reversed, turn- 

 ing over as if on a hinge at the point h. On 

 the line between x and s the strata are found 



to overlie each other in a treble series, once in 

 the natural order, once inverted, and again in 

 their original position. If the disjoined and 

 inverted section were pushed away, the five 

 layers would be found doubled. Such exam- 

 ples of superimposed and inverted stratifica- 

 tion are not uncommon geological phenomena. 

 FRANCE, a republic of Europe. President 

 at the close of 1879, Francois Paul Jules Gr6- 

 vy, elect3d January 30, 1879. The French 

 Cabinet was at the close of 1879 composed as 

 follows: M. de Freycinet, President of the 

 Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs (see 

 FREYOINET); M. de Lepere, Minister of the In- 

 terior and of Worship ; M. Cazot, Minister of 

 Justice; M. Mi^nin, Minister of Finance; 

 General Farre, Minister of War ; Admiral Jau- 

 rdguiberry. Minister of Marine ; M. Jules Fer- 

 rv, Minister of Public Instruction ; M. Varroy, 

 Minister of Public Works; M. Tirard, Minister 

 of Commerce ; M. Cochery, Minister of Posts 

 and Telegraphs. The President of the Repub- 

 lic is elected by the Senate and Chamber of 

 Deputies, united in National Assembly. The 

 term of his office is seven years, and he is 

 eligible for reelection. The Senate is com- 

 posed of 300 members, of whom 75 hold their 

 seats for life, the vacancies being filled by the 

 votes of the Senators. The remaining 225 seats 

 are divided by lot into three classes of 75 each, 

 one class going out at successive periods of 

 three years. The election of these 225 Sena- 

 tors is by an indirect process. In the first in- 

 stance, the communes and municipalities of 

 France, 14,200 in number, elect a fixed num- 

 ber of electeurs senatoriaux, who in their turn, 

 after a lapse of two months, meet together to 

 choose the Senators. The Chamber of Depu- 

 ties is elected by universal suffrage under the 

 tcrutin d 1 arrondissement adopted by the Na- 



tional Assembly, November 11, 1875. The law 

 orders every arrondissement to elect one dep- 

 uty, and, if its population is in excess of 100,- 

 000, an additional deputy for each 100,000 or 

 portion thereof. 



The area of France, according to the latest 

 official calculations, is 204,092 square miles. 

 The population, according to the census of 

 1876, was 36,905,788. The table on page 383 

 exhibits the area of each department, its pop 

 ulation according to the censuses of 1872 and 

 1876, and the movement of population in 

 1876. 



The movement of population from 1867 to 

 1876 was as follows: 



The relation of marriages to the total popu- 

 lation from 1870 to 1876 was as follows : 



