The pupils enter the college with the rank of élève de troisième classe. They rise successively to the second and to the first class, on making the requisite progress in their studies.
From the 1st of May to the 1st of November the élèves of the second and the third class are sent on duty into the provinces. The élèves of the first class who have completed their three years’ course of instruction, are employed in the duties of ordinary engineers, or are detached on special missions. In about three years after quitting the college, they may be appointed ordinary engineers of the second class.
The engineers of the Ponts et Chaussées prepare the projects and plans, and direct the execution of the works for the construction, preservation, and repair of high roads, and of the bridges and other structures connected with these roads, with navigable rivers, canals, seaports, lighthouses, &c. They are charged with the superintendence of railways, of works for draining marshes, and operations affecting water-courses; they report upon applications to erect factories driven by water. Under certain circumstances, they share with the Mining Engineers the duty of inspecting steam-engines.
Permission is not unfrequently granted to the engineers of the Ponts et Chaussées to accept private employment. They receive leave of absence for a certain time, retaining their rank and place in their corps, but without pay.
Mining Engineers.—(Mines.)
The Mining School of Application is organized almost exactly on the same plan as that of the Ponts et Chaussées: like the latter, it is in Paris.
The course of instruction, which lasts three years, consists of lectures, drawing, chemical manipulation and analysis, visits to manufactories, geological excursions, and the preparation of projects for mines and machines. Journeys are made by the pupils, during the second half of the last two years of the course, into the mineral districts of France or foreign countries for the purpose of studying the practical details of mining. These journeys last one hundred days at least. The pupils are required to examine carefully the railroads and the geological features of the countries they pass through, and to keep a journal of facts and observations. In the final examination, marks are given for every part of their work.
The mining engineers, when stationed in the departments, are charged to see that the laws and ordinances relating to mines, quarries, and factories are properly observed, and to encourage, either directly or by their advice, the extension of all branches of industry connected with the extraction and treatment of minerals.
One of their principal duties is the superintendence of mines and quarries, in the three-fold regard of safety of the workmen, preservation of the soil, and economical extraction of the minerals.
They exercise a special control over all machines designed for the production of steam, and over railways, as far as regards the metal and fuel.