/?//? WILLIAM SIEMENS, F.R.S. 211 



competitive examination. The degree of Bachelor in Science 

 or Literature is required for admission to the competition. This 

 examination is a somewhat severe test of sound primary education, 

 as it comprises the whole of arithmetic, elementary geometry, 

 a lp 'l>ra, trigonometry, descriptive geometry, physics and general 

 rlu-iii istry, and a knowledge of German. From 120 to 150 are 

 iulmitted per annum, out of a number five times as great, who 

 present themselves usually for examination. The pupils pass two 

 years at the Ecole Polytechnique : the studies are purely scientific ; 

 they embrace the higher mathematics, mechanics, physics, chemistry, 

 astronomy, &c. There are some 20 or 25 places in the Civil 

 Service set apart annually by the Government for the benefit of 

 the first students in the order of their classification at the final 

 examinations of the Ecole Polytechnique ; and as these are 

 extremely honourable and highly prized by the students, it re- 

 sults in a close competition and in the attainment of a high 

 standard. 



The students who pass sufficiently high can choose to enter into 

 the Ecole des Pouts et Chaussees, or the Ecole des Mines. In 

 these the student engineers remain three years, and receive a state 

 allowance of 72 a year. The instruction has for its object 

 the application of the physico-mathematical sciences to special 

 branches of engineering. At the Ecole des Mines, for example, 

 the course consists of geology, mineralogy, analytical chemistry, 

 and metallurgy. Some of the students complete their practical 

 instruction by travelling in France and abroad, at the partial 

 expense of the State. 



Of equal importance with the Ecole Polytechnique and its 

 branches is the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, though 

 somewhat inferior to it as regards the curriculum of mathematical 

 and physical knowledge. Its special object is to train engineers 

 for private industry, and it turns out annually from 100 to 120 

 scholars, who can boast of having received a three years' course of 

 general scientific education, including the higher branches of 

 mathematics, physical science, pure and applied chemistry, geology, 

 mechanics, metallurgy, mineralogy, and other branches of useful 

 information, fitting them for the career of the civil engineer and 

 of the manufacturer. This school was originally founded by an 

 association of savans, and without connection with the state, but 



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