On the question of the relation of the Imperial College to the University of London, the charter provides that, "subject to compliance with the statutes of the University of London and pending the settlement of the question of the incorporation of the Imperial College with the university, the Imperial College shall be established in the first instance as a school of the university."

Relation of Lord Kelvin to Glasgow University.-The death of Lord Kelvin, which occurred on the 21st of December, 1907, fell with peculiar heaviness on the University of Glasgow, with which he had been associated, first as student and then as professor, for more than half a century.

a

The following particulars of the life of this distinguished scientist are derived from current sources: He was the son of James Thomson, LL. D., an eminent teacher of mathematics. He was born at Belfast June 26, 1824; soon after his birth the father was appointed professor in the University of Glasgow, and here the future Lord Kelvin received his education. At the age of 18 William Thomson, as he then was, proceeded to St. Peter's College, Cambridge, where he became first Smith's prizeman and second wrangler, won the Colquhoun Sculls, and was elected president of the musical society. After leaving Cambridge he studied in France, then, as always, the mecca of brilliant mathematicians, and worked for nearly a year in the laboratory of the famous Regnault. An offer of the chair of natural philosophy at Glasgow caused him to return thither, and he held the appointment from the age of 22 until his resignation in 1899. At that time he applied to the Senatus Academicus to be appointed a research student, so that his name remained to the last upon the college roll. In 1903 he was elected chancellor of his beloved alma mater. The week of his death was marked by impressive ceremonies at the university, which regretfully acquiesced in the arrangement for his burial in Westminster Abbey. Telegrams of condolence with the university for the loss it had suffered were received during the week from all the leading universities and scientific societies of the world.

According to his great contemporary, Helmholtz, the distinguishing characteristic of Lord Kelvin's mind was "the gift of translating real facts into mathematical equations and vice versa," which, on the same authority, "is far rarer than the capacity for finding the solution of a given mathematical problem." Hence he did much to break down the dividing line between mathematics and physics. This faculty enabled him to interpret the experimental phenomena of electricity into the precision of mathematical terms, which in turn suggested further experimenting, and in this way he made many discoveries of technical importance in electricity. He was, on his practical side, the consulting electrician to Atlantic cable companies, and

a Athenæum, December 21, 1907, p. 803. Nature, January 2, 1908, p. 200.

made many inventions, both of the most delicate electrical instruments and apparatus for scientific investigations, and of technical apparatus to be used in industries, such as improvements in the Atlantic cable, electric lighting, ships' compasses, etc. On the other hand, he was equally great in speculation, and through his theories of the constitution of matter was one of the greatest scientific philosophers of the nineteenth century. A writer in Nature says:

He will be known to future ages, possibly even more widely, as a main pioneer and creator in the all-embracing science of energy, the greatest physical generalization of the last century.

In Lord Kelvin there has passed away one of the last commanding figures, perhaps in genius and the variety of his activities as great and memorable as any, in the scientific and intellectual development of the nineteenth century.

PARTIAL LIST OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION

(ENGLAND).

PUBLICATIONS RELATING TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.

Building regulations; being principles to be observed in planning and fitting up new buildings for public elementary schools. London, Wyman and Sons, 1907, 16 p. Fo (Gt. Brit. Parliament. Papers by command, cd. 3571).

Code of regulations for public elementary schools in England (exclusive of Wales and Monmouthshire), with schedules. London, Wyman and Sons, 1907, 46 p. 8° (Gt. Brit. Parliament. Papers by command, cd. 3594).

Reports on children under five years of age in public elementary schools. By women inspectors of the board of education. London, Wyman and Sons, 1905, 155 p. 8° (Gt. Brit. Parliament. Papers by command, cd. 2726).

Report of the consultative committee upon higher elementary schools. London, Wyman and Sons, 1906, 55 pp. F°.

Special report on the teaching of cookery to public elementary school children in England and Wales. By the chief woman inspector of the board of education. London, Wyman and Sons, 1907, 20 p. 8°.

Suggestions for the consideration of teachers and others concerned in the workof public elementary schools. London, Wyman and Sons, 1905, 155 p. 8° (Gt. Brit. Parliament. Papers by command, cd. 2638).

Suggestions on rural education. Together with some specimen courses on nature study, gardening, and rural economy. By T. S. Dymond. (Jan. 11, 1908.) London, Wyman and Sons, 1908, 54 p. 8°.

Welsh Department. Code of regulations for public elementary schools in Wales (including Monmouthshire), with schedules. London, Wyman and Sons, 1907, 49 p. 8° (Gt. Brit. Parliament. Papers by command, cd. 3604).

PUBLICATIONS RELATING TO THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS.

General report on the instruction and training of pupil-teachers, 1903-7, with historical introduction. London, Wyman and Sons, 1907, 217 p. F° (Gt. Brit. Parliament. Papers by command, cd. 3582).

Memorandum on the history and prospects of the pupil-teacher system. London, Wyman and Sons, 1907, 29 p. Fo.

Regulations for the instruction and training of pupil-teachers.

(In force from August

1, 1906.) London, Wyman and Sons, 1906, 36 p. 8°. Regulations for the preliminary education of elementary school teachers. (In force from August 1, 1907.) London, Wyman and Sons, 1907, 46 p. 8°.

Regulations for the training of teachers of domestic subjects. London, Wyman and Sons, 1907, 16 p. 8°.

Regulations for the training of teachers and for the examination of students in training colleges. London, Wyman and Sons, 1906, 77 p. 8° (Gt. Brit. Parliament. Papers by command, cd. 3049).

Welsh department. General report on the instruction and training of pupil-teachers in Wales (including Monmouthshire). London, Wyman and Sons, 1907, 33 p. 8°. (Gt. Brit. Parliament. Papers by command, cd. 3814).

PUBLICATIONS RELATING TO SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

Regulations for secondary schools. (In force from August 1, 1907.) Wyman and Sons, 1907, 19 p. 8° (Gt. Brit. Parliament. Papers by command, cd. 3592). Teaching of Latin in secondary schools. Circular 574, Wyman and Sons, 1907, 4 p. Fo. Welsh department. Regulations for secondary schools. (In force from August 1, 1907.) Wyman and Sons, 1907 (Gt. Brit. Parliament. Papers by command, cd. 3643).

School training for the home duties of women. London, Wyman and Sons, 1906–7, 3 v. 8°. (Special reports on educational subjects, v. 15, 16, 19 (Gt. Brit. Parliament. Papers by command, cd. 2498; cd. 2963; cd. 3860). Contents: Pt. I, The United States; Pt. II, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, and France; Pt. III, The domestic training of girls in Germany and Austria. School exercises and vacation schools. London, Wyman and Sons, 1907, v. 21, 89 p. 8°. (Special reports on educational subjects. Gt. Brit. Parliament. Papers by command, cd. 3866).

Schools, public and private, in the north of Europe. London, Wyman and Sons, 1907, v. 17, 136 p., 8°. (Special reports on educational subjects. Gt. Brit. Parliament. Papers by command, ed. 3537).

The education and training of the French primary school teacher. London, Wyman and Sons, 1907, v. 18, 222 p. 8°. (Special reports on educational subjects. Gt. Brit. Parliament. Papers by command, cd. 3777).

CHAPTER IV.

EDUCATION IN FRANCE.a

France, Republic: Area, 204,092 square miles; population, 39,252,267 (1906). Civil divisions having special functions in educational administrations: Departments (90 in number, including 3 in Algiers), communes (cities or villages).

TOPICAL OUTLINE.

Introduction: Importance of the present year (1907).-Readjustments growing out of the law of separation. Proposed legislation respecting private schools.-Scope of public education.-Principal features of the system under the minister of public instruction.-Statistical summary.-Principal events of the year (1907). Department of primary instruction: Laws pertaining to the system.-Formal organization.-Statistical summary: Pupils and teachers; appropriations and expenditures; statistics of primary schools of Paris.-Scholarships for primary pupils.-Supplementary education: Continuation classes; the People's University.-Unsatisfactory state of school attendance.-Features of chief interest to other nations; the teaching service.

Department of secondary education: Scope.-Statistics.-Recent reforms of secondary schools for boys: Classes of schools affected; the Ribot commission; characteristic features of the lycée organization; changes in the internal organization and scheme of studies; results of the reforms in organization as regards: The proviseurs (principals); the répétiteurs; the surveillants.-The baccalaureate examination; failure of candidates; proposed modifications.-State provision of secondary schools for girls. Department of higher education: The higher institutions pertaining to the general system of education. Statistics, current and comparative.-The State Universities: development; government; stimulating effect of the new régime.-Present needs: general need of resources; special needs of the medical faculties.-The École Normale Supérieure.-Efforts in the interests of foreign students. Technical and industrial schools: Statistical summary of technical and industrial schools not under the charge of the minister of public instruction.

Sources of information.-Reports and other publications consulted in the preparation of the chapter.

INTRODUCTION.

The present year, 1907, may be said to mark the beginning of a new era in the history of education in France, as a consequence of the changed relations between church and state. The church which, prior to the French revolution, was the great teaching agency of the nation, shared with the state the control of this interest from the establishment of the third republic, 1870, to the close of 1906. The several measures, beginning with the associations law of July 1, 1901, and ending with the law of December 5, 1905, providing for the complete separation of church and state, have practically left the latter in undisputed control of this interest.

a For complete index to articles on Education in France in the Annual Reports of this Office from 1889 to 1903, inclusive, see Report for 1905, Vol. I, chap. 4, pp. 57-8. For more recent articles see: Report of the Commissioner for 1905, Vol. I, chap. 4, pp. 57-86; chap. 5, pp. 87-95. Report for 1906, Vol. I, chap. 11, pp. 19-34.

The law of separation became effective in December, 1906, and hence the readjustments that it necessitates have begun during the year under review. The increased efforts and expenditures that would be required if the suppression of all clerical schools, or schools maintained by the religious orders, should be complete, are indicated by the fact that in 1905 above 18 per cent of the pupils in primary education were enrolled in private schools, and in 1901-the latest year for which statistics are available-more than 50 per cent of the young men in secondary schools. The private schools were mostly schools conducted by the religious orders, and even those that were classified as secular were known to be, as a rule, under clerical auspices. The influence of the religious orders was exercised chiefly in the province of secondary education. But the term secondary, it must be remembered, is used in France in a sense quite different from its use in this country. It pertains to establishments that admit boys at ten or eleven years of age, and retain them through the entire course of general education which leads to the bachelor's degree. The students live in the schools, hence their habits of thought and action are determined by the institutional life. Although the clerical schools derived no direct support from the Government, they profited indirectly by the annual appropriations from the public treasury for church purposes. The loss in this respect is naturally enormous, as is shown by the fact that whereas appropriations for public worship amounted in 1905 to 42,324,933 francs ($8,464,986), they were reduced for the year ending April 1, 1907, to 543,130 francs ($108,026). The clerical schools also had the use of properties belonging to the church, the final disposition of which property is still an unsettled matter.

The question naturally arises, what has become of the 62,000 secondary students that formerly were enrolled in the schools of the religious orders? From partial reports that have already been made, it appears that since 1901, the year of the passage of the associations law, public secondary schools have had an increase of 16,642 students in their attendance, and private secular institutions an increase of 3,456 students. These 20,000 students are a minority only of the entire number who formerly attended the clerical schools. The rest have still to be accounted for.

In a report recently issued, M. Steeg, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, expresses the opinion that quite a large proportion have entered the higher primary schools; many others have followed their clerical teachers across the border, especially into Belgium.

It is further noted by M. Steeg that in the large cities, and particularly in Paris, many boarding establishments of a semireligious character have been recently opened, in which former students of the suppressed schools reside, under the general charge of clerical