INSTITUTE INSURANCE. 



99 



was at first divided into three classes, each of which 

 was subdivided into several sections. The first class 

 embraced the physical and mathematical sciences, 

 the second the moral and historical, and the third 

 literature and the fine arts. The number of active 

 members, exclusive of the associes, was limited to 

 144. The national institute received, however, its 

 final organization by a decree of the 3d Pluviose of 

 the year 11 (January 23, 1803). It was then divided 

 into four classes 1. the class of the physical and 

 mathematical sciences, consisting of sixty-five mem- 

 bers; 2. the class of the French language and litera- 

 ture, consisting- of forty members ; 3. the class of 

 history and ancient literature, of forty members ; 

 and, 4. the class of the fine arts, with twenty-eight 

 members. In the last years of the imperial govern- 

 ment, the title of the national institute was exchanged 

 for that of the imperial institute. The restoration 

 of the Bourbons gave rise to new changes in this 

 learned body, which restored it, in some degree, to 

 its original condition. A royal ordinance of March 

 21, 1816, first restored the former names of the 

 classes, so that the name of institzite was applied 

 only to the whole body collectively. The same 

 ordinance assigned the first rank to the Academic 

 Francaise, as being the oldest ; the next rank to the 

 Academic des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres ; the 

 third to the Academic des Sciences ; and the last to 

 the Academic des Beaux Arts. These united aca- 

 demies were under the personal direction of the 

 king, and each had an independent organization, and 

 a free exercise of the powers committed to them. 

 To each academy were attached ten honorary mem- 

 bers, who had merely the right of being present at 

 the meetings. Such of the former honorary mem- 

 bers and academicians as had returned with the court, 

 became, as a matter of right, honorary members of 

 their respective academies. A list of names, appended 

 to the royal decree, determined the members. 



The Academic Francaise is well known to be 

 charged with the composition of a French dictionary. 

 As every one who has brought a vaudeville on the 

 stage with success, thinks himself entitled to a place 

 among the forty members of this class, these places 

 afford the most fruitful subjects for squibs and satire. 



The Academic des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres 

 has lately limited its members to thirty. It has 

 always been considered a great mark of distinction 

 to be an associe stranger ofthis class. The number 

 of corresponding members is unlimited. The most 

 distingnished scholars, both in and out of Europe, are 

 thus connected with the society. Committees of this 

 academy superintend the erection of public monu- 

 ments, and the preservation and description of those 

 already in existence. Sacy, Daunou, Caussin, 

 Letronne, Boissonade, were chosen from this aca- 

 demy to continue the Notices et Extraits des Manu- 

 scripts, de la Bibl. du Roy. The editing of the 

 Journal des Savans, to which the members of all the 

 academies contribute, devolves principally on this 

 academy. They have the distribution of prizes of 

 considerable value. 



The Academic des Sciences is divided, as .formerly, 

 into the two principal departments of the physical 

 and mathematical sciences, and retains most of its 

 earlier regulations, made in the time of the republic. 

 The number of its associes etrangers is limited to 

 ten. 



The Academic des Beaux Arts has five sections. 

 A committee of this academy is charged with the 

 publication of a dictionary of the fine arts. 



The annual changes which take place in the aca- 

 demies, may be learned from the calendar called 

 Institut Royal de France, published by Firmin Didot 

 printer to the institute. 



INSTITUTIONES. See Corpus Juris, and Civil 

 Law. 



INSTRUMENT, in music; any sonorous body, 

 artificially constructed for the production of musical 

 sound. Musical instruments are divided into three 

 kinds wind instruments, stringed instruments, and 

 instruments of percussion. Ot the stringed instru- 

 ments among the ancients, the most known are the 

 lyre, psalterium, trigonium, simmicium, epandoron, 

 &c. The principal wind instruments were the tibia, 

 fistula, tuba, cornu, and lituus ; those of percussion, 

 the tympanum, cymbalum, crepitaculum, tintinna- 

 bulum, and crotalum. 



INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC ; music produced by 

 instruments, as contradistinguished from vocal music. 

 The term instrumental is particularly applied to the 

 greater compositions, in which the human voice has 

 no part. The first instrument invented was probably 

 the pipe or flute. An idle shepherd might very 

 naturally, from accident, or in imitation of the effects 

 of the wind, blow through a simple reed, and thus 

 invent the pipe, from which the flute would readily 

 originate. The pipe is, in fact, found among many 

 savages. The invention of stringed instruments, as 

 they are more artificial, is of later origin. The 

 instrumental music of the Greeks was confined to a 

 few instalments, among which the flute, the cithara, 

 the sackbut, though not precisely like those instru- 

 ments among the moderns, were the most important. 

 The violin was invented in the middle ages, and soon 

 became the principal instrument, taking its place above 

 the flute, though the latter is of much more ancient 

 origin, because the playing on a stringed instrument 

 is less fatiguing, and the tone of the violin is more 

 distinct from the human voice, and, therefore, better 

 fitted to be used with it ; besides, the instrument per- 

 mits much more perfect execution. Until the middle 

 of the last century, the Italian composers used no other 

 instruments in their great pieces, than violins and 

 bass-viols ; at that time, however, they began to use 

 the hautboy and the horn ; but the flute has never 

 been much esteemed in Italy, particularly in music 

 exclusively instrumental. These were the only wind 

 instruments in Italy, used in instrumental music, 

 until the end of the last century ; and even to this 

 day, the Italians use wind instruments much less than 

 the Germans, and particularly the French. Since 

 Mozart, every instrument has been used, which 

 appeared adapted to answer a particular purpose. 

 This is the cause of the fewness of the notes in 

 the Italian, and of their great number in German, 

 and their excess in the modern French scores. In 

 general, symphonies and overtures, solos, duets, ter- 

 zettos, quartettes, quintettes, &c., sonatas, fantasias, 

 concerts for single instruments, dances, marches, &c., 

 belong to instrumental music. 



INSURANCE is a contract, whereby, for a sti- 

 pulated consideration, called a premium, one party 

 undertakes to indemnify another against certain 

 risks. The party undertaking to make the indem- 

 nity is called the insurer or underwriter, and the one 

 to be indemnified, the assured or insured. The 

 instrument, by which the contract is made, is deno- 

 minated a policy ; the events or causes of loss insured 

 against, risks or perils ; and the thing insured, the 

 subject or insurable interest. Marine insurance 

 relates to property and risks at sea ; insurance of 

 property on shore against fire, is called fire insur- 

 ance ; and the written contracts, in such cases, are 

 often denominated fire policies. Policies on lives 

 are another description of this contract, whereby a 

 party, for a certain premium, agrees to pay a certain 

 sum, if a person, to whose life it relates, shall die 

 within a time specified. These policies, however, 

 usually make an exception of death by suicide. 



