6. The importance of written exercises in determining the respective merits of the pupils has been decreased, apparently from the difficulty of establishing a security that such compositions were the unaided work of the individual.
The following table shows the present course of instruction during the two years, and the alterations which have been made in the number of lectures in each subject since 1856:—
| Subject.—First Year’s Course. | Lectures in—1868. | 1856. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analysis | Differential calculus, | 25 | 28 |
| Integral calculus, | 18 | 20 | |
| Descriptive geometry and geometrical drawing, | 32 | 38 | |
| Mechanics and machinery, | 40 | 40 | |
| Physics, comprising heat and electricity, | 30 | 34 | |
| Chemistry:—The metals, | 30 | 38 | |
| Astronomy and geodesy, | 30 | 35 | |
| French composition and literature, | 25 | 30 | |
| History, | 25 | 0* | |
| German, | 25 | 30 | |
| Figure and landscape drawing, | 48 | 50 | |
| Second Year’s Course. | |||
| Analysis:—Integral calculus, | 32 | 32 | |
| Stereotomy:—Geometrical drawing of constructionsin timber and masonry, | 28 | 32 | |
| Mechanics:—Dynamics, hydrostatics, andmachinery, | 40 | 42 | |
| Physics:—Acoustics, optics, and heat, | 30 | 36 | |
| Chemistry:—Continuation of the metals andorganic chemistry, | 30 | 38 | |
| Architecture and buildings, construction of roads,canals, and railways, | 40 | 40 | |
| French composition and literature, | 25 | 30 | |
| History, | 25 | 0* | |
| German, | 25 | 30 | |
| Military art, | 20 | 20 | |
| Topography, | 2 | 10 | |
| Figure and landscape drawing, | 48 | 48 | |
* Introduced in 1862.
In connection with several of the courses, such as descriptive geometry, stereotomy, machinery, and architecture, much drawing is done by the pupils; hand sketches are taken of the diagrams shown in the lecture-room, and finished drawings are afterwards executed in the salles d’étude. In addition to this, 30 attendances of two or three hours each, distributed over the two years, are especially devoted to drawing more elaborate plans and elevations of architectural constructions and machinery. The practical applications of the theoretical instruction are limited to manipulations in the laboratory in connection with the course of lectures on chemistry and physics. Towards the close of the second year the pupils are also taken to visit some of the large manufacturing establishments in Paris, in order to gain a practical acquaintance with machinery.
All the subjects taught at the school are obligatory, but history and military art, as already stated, have no influence in determining the order of merit of the pupils in the final result.
The only instruction in practical military exercises, which is compulsory upon all, is that in drill. The pupils are exercised under arms in company drill, and are also occasionally drilled as a battalion; but very little importance is attached to this point—the only really military portion of their training. Drill goes on only for about three months in each year during the spring and summer, and even during this brief period only takes place about twice a week. By the regulations of the school the pupils should be exercised in musketry practice, but although they are armed with the Chassepot rifle this regulation is never carried out. Instruction is given in fencing and gymnastics, but attendance at both is voluntary, and scarcely more than half the pupils take advantage of it. Neither riding nor swimming are taught at the school.
The school year commences about the 1st of November, and terminates about the first of August. Some seven months of the year are given up to lectures and the ordinary routine of study; about two months are occupied with the annual examinations and private preparation for them; the remaining three months—August, September, and October—are the vacation. In addition to this long vacation, from eight to twelve days are allowed after the periodical examination, which takes place near the end of February, at the close of the first portion of each year’s study.
One peculiarity in the arrangements of the school is that the subjects of each year’s course are not all studied simultaneously. The lectures in the main subjects of instruction—those which, as a rule, present the most difficulty—are divided into courses which continue only during a certain portion of each year. Thus in the junior division, analysis and descriptive geometry are the mathematical subjects studied during the first three months, or three months and a half. The course in them is then concluded; an examination by the professors (interrogation générale) is held in these subjects, and they are laid aside for the remainder of the year, though they enter into the examination at the close of the year. Their place is then taken by a course of lectures in mechanics and geodesy. Similarly in the second year, analysis and mechanics are the subjects of the first course of lectures, at the termination of which there is an examination; and for the remainder of the year no further lectures in them are given, stereotomy and military art taking their place.