268 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



French. Candidates for admission must produce certificates of 

 health, character, and a certain proficiency in the common 

 branches of school education. A limited number are supported 

 by the government. The lectures open in October, and terminate 

 in July, the vacations being devoted to mining excursions. The 

 instruction is communicated by lectures, illustrated by figures 

 on the black-board, by experiments, by specimens, and by mod- 

 els, as the nature of the subjects may require. Mondays are de- 

 voted to the inspection of mines in the vicinity, — there being, 

 within a circuit of three miles, no less than 100 ; in which are 

 about 200 vertical shafts, and 250,000 fathoms of adit, wherein 

 may be viewed every species of timbering and masonry. The 

 pupils are required to keep a fair copy of their notes, and of all 

 their lectures. At the end of each month, they undergo a rigid 

 examination upon all their studies ; and, at the close of each 

 year, are rewarded according to the result. The course extends 

 through a period of four years ; and is admirably contrived for 

 insuring correct practice in every detail of the art, and, at the 

 same time, a thorough comprehension of the principles on which 

 that practice depends. 



Another of these institutions, most worthy, perhaps, of being 

 described, was founded in 1770, at Schemnetz, in Hungary, by 

 the Empress Maria Theresa, by whom it was also endowed 

 with great, liberality. During the third year of the course at 

 Schemnetz, the pupils are required, on one day of each week, to 

 go through a portion of some mine, and to make out a written 

 report of every thing that concerns its condition. Some of the 

 poorer young men even take jobs in the mine, which serve, in 

 part, to defray their expenses. The semi-annual examinations 

 are held, not for the vain purpose of showing off, but for deter- 

 mining, in the strictest manner, what each pupil has learned. 

 The questions are written on small slips of paper, and are drawn 

 out by lot, by the students, who give the answers on the spot. 

 The most successful are rewarded by having the charge of their 

 education almost wholly remitted ; while those who fall below a 

 certain standard are forced to relinquish all hope of ever obtain- 

 ing government employ. The number of pupils in this institu- 

 tion is, at present, between three and four hundred. 



