276 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE YETERIXARY SCHOOLS. 



zard, wliose library of some forty thousand Yolumes was pretty well 

 distributed among the three French schools. The school has a special 

 librarian, who also serves as curator of the museum. Students are 

 allowed to read the books at certain hours, but are not permitted to 

 leave the room while there, or to take books to their rooms. Xone 

 but the professors can take books to their residences. The school 

 also possesses a well-arranged riding academy, having some twenty- 

 five hoi'ses, and a riding-master for the instruction of the students. 

 It also has a room fitted up for the students to practice music. 



The Students. — It has been previously mentioned that the stu- 

 dents are divided uj3 into three classes^ viz., the internal or regular 

 students, the free students, and those known as external students, 

 who come and go as they please. In the summer of 1876, Miiller 

 reports that there were at Alfort 275 regular students, 35 external, 

 and 12 free students — the latter being mostly foreigners. The 

 "eleves externes" are generally students that did not present them- 

 selves at the end of the fourth year for examination, and are study- 

 ing, of their own free-wi]l, the fifth, or those who have been put 

 back one year and lost the support of the Government. For admit- 

 tance, a student must not be under seventeen or over twenty-five 

 years of age. Each student must present a certificate of birth, and 

 the attestation of a doctor that he has been properly vaccinated, or 

 has had the small-pox, and that he possesses a healthy physique, espe- 

 cially that he is free from scrofula ; also an attestation from the supe- 

 rior officer of his locality — mayor or prefect — that he has a good moral 

 character. Students over twenty years of age must also bring a cer- 

 tificate that they have fulfilled their military duties, or been freed 

 therefrom. Their acceptance is dependent upon the consent of the 

 minister having control of the schools. The students present them- 

 selves at the schools for the first time about the beginning of Octo- 

 ber (6th ?), and are then subjected to a matriculatory examination, 

 which consists in writing on dictation something in the French lan- 

 guage, and analyzations of portions of the same ; in arithmetic they 

 must have a knowledge of its principal elements, of the decimal sys- 

 tem, and arithmetical and geometric proportion ; in geometry, a 

 knowledge of its principal elements ; in geography, a general idea 

 of the geography of the world, and a special knowledge of that of 

 France. They also have to write an essay, or something like it, 

 upon history and geography. Special favors are given to those ap- 

 plicants who possess the title of " bachelier es lettres et sciences." 

 For a certain number of students, the " eleves internes," the Gov- 

 ernment supplies lodgings, the school at Alfort affording accommo- 



