The instructors in the School of Application in Paris, and in the School of Mines at St. Etienne, are exclusively taken from the members of the corps.
Like the engineers of the Ponts et Chaussées, the mining engineers obtain permission to undertake private employment.
Tobacco Department.—(Administration des Tabacs.)
The pupils who enter the tobacco service, commence, on quitting the Polytechnic, with the rank of élève de 2e classe. They study, in the manufactory at Paris, chemistry, physics, and mechanics, as applied to the preparation of tobacco. They make themselves acquainted at the same time with the details of the manufacture and with the accounts and correspondence.
They are generally promoted to the rank of élevè de 1re classe in two years. They rise afterwards successively to the rank of sub-inspector, inspector, and director.
After completing their instruction at the manufactory of Paris, the élevès are sent to tobacco manufactories in other parts of France.
Promotion in the tobacco service does not follow altogether by seniority. Knowledge of the manufacture and attention to their duties are much considered, as the interests of the treasury are involved in the good management of the service.
Telegraphs.—(Lignes Telégraphiques.)
On entering the telegraphic service the pupils of the Polytechnic receive the rank of élevè inspecteur.
They pass the first year at the central office. During the six winter months they study, under two professors, the composition of signals, and the regulations which insure their correctness and dispatch, the working of telegraphs and the manner of repairing them, the theory of the mode of tracing lines and of determining the height of the towers, electro-magnetism and its application to the electric telegraph. During the summer months they make tours of inspection. They assist in the execution of works, and practice leveling and the laying down of lines.