The communal university at Amsterdam had 589 students and hearers. There were also 25 Gymnasien and 4 Progymnasien; teachers, 358 (in 1881-'82 there were 334); students, 2,170 to 1,911 in 1881-82. The expenditures amounted to 1,829,254 florins.

NORWAY, Constitutional monarchy: Area, 122,869 square miles; population (at close of 1880), 1,913,000. Capital, Christiania; population in 1875, 76,054. Minister of education and ecclesiastical affairs, N. C. E. Hertzberg (appointed January 30, 1882).

Full statistics of education in Norway are wanting. However, in 1880 there were 6,617 elementary schools, with 279,668 pupils. In 1879 5,014 pupils were reported in the higher grades, and in 1882 there were 870 students at the University in Christiania. In the budget of 1883 the sum of 136,4281. was set down for elementary education. Most of the towns support a high grade of school, and in 17 of the principal towns there is an öffentlig skole or college. These are maintained partly by subsidies from the government. Taxes are levied in every parish for the support of schools, and there are also state grants. The school age is 7-14 in towns and 8-14 in rural districts. Education is compulsory throughout the kingdom. By a law of June, 1869, middle, or 6-class, schools were established in Norway. These form a link between common schools and Gymnasien and serve as preparatory to the Gymnasium, besides giving a general education to children who do not intend to pursue their education further. Pupils desiring to enter must have reached their ninth year and have passed the required examination. The instruction begins with religion, the mother tongue, history, geography, writing, and arithmetic. German is taken up the second semester; natural sciences and drawing, next; a year later, geometry. With the fourth year there is a division of studies, and it rests with the pupil to follow either the English or Latin course. French is studied the fifth year, but it is not obligatory. After graduating from these 6-class schools the pupil is ready for either the Realschule or Gymnasium. Pupils in the Realschule follow a one or two year course, the studies tending towards a business education. The studies are arranged in groups, some of the modern tongues entering into one of the groups. The Gymnasien are subdivided, as Latin- and Real-Gymnasien, the courses following on in the same line as in the middle schools. Latin is not taken up in the Realgymnasium. In the Latin division English is an optional study; in the Realgymnasium German is a part of the regular course. The Gymnasien have 3-year courses, at the close of which the "examen artium" takes place. Graduates are then ready for either university or technical schools. Should a Latin student wish to enter the military school he must pass an examination in some of the branches taught in the Realgymnasium. The Norwegian statesman Johann Sverdrup has projected the following reforms in education, which, if carried out, will be of great benefit to all concerned: He suggests more years to be spent in acquiring an education; additional branches; better text books, and instruction in the language suited to locality; gymnastic exercises, military drill, and handwork; better normal methods and employment of women teachers who are properly trained; higher salaries; employment of more cultivated and energetic men on school boards; new regulations concerning employment of school officers, &c. All of this, he says, will tend to the greater enlightenment of the people. PORTUGAL, constitutional monarchy: Area, 36,510 square miles; population, 4,160,315. Capital, Lisbon; population, 253,496. Minister of the interior, Senhor Barjona Freitas.

An interesting account of education in Portugal (from the pen of Hon. John M. Francis) was given in the Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1882-'83. The only item of information on hand since then is the following statement in regard t an educational commission:

Portugal is to have a superior council of public instruction. It is to be divided int two sections: the one, comprising 12 members and forming a permanent section, is to be named by the King; the other, comprising 22 members, is to be formed by elec

tion. The elected members will be taken from representatives of the three grades of instruction. Superior instruction is to have 15 members, secondary instruction 3, and primary education 2; the private schools are to elect 2 members. The council is to be composed entirely of lay members.

RUSSIA, absolute monarchy: Area, 8,520,637 square miles; population, 102,682, 124. RUSSIA IN EUROPE: Area, 2,041,402 square miles; population, 86,486,959. Capital, St. Petersburg; population (1881), 929,093. Minister of public instruction, Delyanoff.

The following interesting statements concerning the school system of Russia are taken from a lecture by Dr. Theodor Vetter, a native of Switzerland, who resided for four years in Russia, where he was a private tutor and later a teacher at the Grand Duke Nicholas Lyceum in Moscow:

Public education is under a department at the head of which is the minister of public instruction. He, with his assistant and five or seven specialists, forms the highest legislative and administrative body in the department, whose decisions have to be approved only by the Emperor. The Empire is divided into twelve administrative districts, though Finland has a separate school system of its own and Caucasus and the countries east of the Aral Sea have their schools under military supervision. The minister of public instruction is represented in each of the school districts by a "curator," who appoints the teachers in the Gymnasien and scientific schools. The school laws are excellent, but the execution of them is quite another thing. They are drafted from foreign models, but many of them are entirely inapplicable. In 1847 Russia had 2,500 schools, with 2,700 teachers and 125,000 pupils, 55,000 of whom were children of foreign colonists. In 1864 Count Tolstoï, late minister of public instruction, shifted the burden of the primary schools in each province upon the Zemstvo, which is an assembly of representatives of the administrative district. This was a decentralizing movement, but the Zemstvo, without resources, was, and still remains, an undeveloped institution. At the same time, during the past fifteen years the number of common schools has increased. In 1871 there were 10,700 schools, with 675,000 pupils; but this is only about 1 pupil out of about 100 inhabitants, while statisticians usually put the number of children between 6 and 14 years of age at 10 per cent. of the population; there are provinces, too, where the schools have to be closed for want of money. The provinces with factories and other industrial establishments show the best school attendance. The full course in the common schools consists of five classes of one year each. Religious instruction is given. The teachers are poor, and, although between 1866 and 1876 Count Tolstoi greatly increased the number of seminaries from which they could be drawn, the supply is yet inadequate. Institutions for higher education are in a better condition. The Gymnasien, modelled on those of Germany, bring the student about as far as the sophomore class in American colleges. Boys of the higher classes receive a home education until about the twelfth or fifteenth year, at which time they enter the Gymnasium or a military school. Instruction is somewhat faulty in the Gymnasium, but one good point is that teachers divide the work of instruction in a foreign language in such a way that the students practise their own and the foreign tongue alternately with a person who in each case is native to that language. In 1866 there were 108 Gymnasien; in 1876 there were 202, of which 133 fitted students for the university. Under Tolstoi's administration all students had to take up Greek and Latin. The universities are the best and most prosperous schools in Russia. They are similar to German universities and are really professional schools. The passing of the final examination gives the student the right to practise the profession he has chosen.

The Czech journal, Ucitelské Noviny, of Prague, publishes the following statistics of primary schools in the 10 academic districts of Russia in Europe, as well as those of Siberia and Turkestan. The figures are for 1883 unless otherwise designated. The total number of primary schools is 24,853; pupils, nearly 2,000,000; the expenditures, nearly 8,000,000 rubles. Of this amount 41 per cent. is furnished by the communes and 34 per cent. by the Zemstvos.

1 The value of the ruble is 65.8 cents.

a These figures indicate what per cent. of the 24,853 schools belong to each district. b Ninety versta (square) make 100 square kilometres. The majority of the schools of the Baltic are not under charge of the ministry of public instruction, which accounts for the small number reported.

In 1883 there were 62 Russian normal schools reported, 42 of them maintained by the government, 11 by the Zemstvos, 1 by the Marie Agricultural Society of Moscow, and 1 by special funds. The budget amounted to 1,241,991 rubles. There were 4,423 pupils (3,803 men and 620 women). Of these, 51 per cent. belonged to the peasant class, 20 per cent. to ecclesiastical families, and 11 per cent. to families of officials or to the nobility. The normals are said to furnish a considerable number of teachers to the schools of the Zemstvos. The principal faults of the teachers are lack of general instruction, too theoretical knowledge, and the lack of energy to carry out their duties. The remedies proposed are to create a preparatory class, to render the examinations more severe, to add a fourth year to the normal course, and to give the third and fourth years to practical exercises. At date of October, 1884, on account of disturbances among the students, the university at Kieff was closed till January 1, 1885. All the students were dismissed with the prohibition of reception into other universities of the Russian Empire, with the right of readmittance, however, into Kieff University through the medium of the commission specified in article 3 of the imperial rules respecting universities. It is said that this means exclusion forever from Kieff and every other Russian university of those who on September 7, 1884, were enrolled as students of Kieff University. The Russian government has also issued a circular to the principals of schools in Russia, holding them responsible for any revolutionary tendencies their pupils may have and enjoining them to maintain strict supervision over their pupils in order to dissipate the slightest flavor of nihilistic sentiments.

A number of new regulations concerning the organization of the Russian universities have lately received the imperial sanction. These regulations, which vary somewhat from those of 1863, are to take effect in 1884-'85. The principal points of interest are enumerated below:

The universities are under the special protection of His Majesty the Emperor and are called imperial universities. Each university has four faculties-history and philology, physics and mathematics, law, and medicine-and the University of St. Petersburg has a special faculty for Oriental languages. Although the universities are nominally under charge of the minister of public instruction, they are really in charge, each one, of the curator for the local district, who reports to the minister. The rector, who is chosen from among the ordinary professors of the university, has a 4-year term of office, which may be lengthened to 4 years more by imperial ordor...The

rector is the real head of the university, and, where he formerly had to defer to the university council, as he was chosen by the corps of professors, he now, by virtue of being appointed by the minister of public instruction, has a more extended authority. The inspector of studies is now named by the curator, but receives orders from the rector. The examinations are carried on as heretofore by the faculties, but others may be appointed by the minister to take part in these ceremonies. The professors are now permitted to treat of other subjects than those laid down in the regular course; they are to be paid extra for such lectures, and fees, which formerly went to the university budget, may be accepted by the professors. The number of professors for the 8 universities is to be increased from 364 to 385. In each, chairs of ethnography, geography, and commercial law are created. The system of Privatdocenten is also adopted, and the courses of studies are divided into semesters instead of years as formerly, viz, 10 semesters for medicine and 8 for the other branches. The board of directors of each university is composed of the deans of all the faculties and of the inspector, the rector presiding. The dean is chosen by the curator for a 4-year term from among the professors. His term of office may also be extended 4 years by order of the minister. At the University of Moscow, a councillor for the economic service (conseiller pour le service économique) is added to the board of directors. A special chair of theology is created for students of the orthodox faith. The professor is a member of the council without being a part of the faculty. The faculty of history and philology (12 ordinary and 5 extraordinary professors) embraces 11 subjects; that of physics and mathematics (same number of professors), 10 topics; that of law (11 ordinary and 4 extraordinary professors), 12 branches; that of medicine (14 ordinary and 9 extraordinary professors), 23 subjects; that of Oriental languages at St. Petersburg, which embraces nine languages, has 6 ordinary and 3 extraordinary professors. The number of professors may be increased on demand, and special teachers are to be employed for German, French, English, and Italian. The semesters are from August 20 to December 20 and from January 15 to May 30. There are two kinds of examinations: those before a commission and before the faculties. Students are admitted to the former if they have been ten semesters in the faculty of medicine or eight in the other faculties. They appear for examination before the faculty for admission to university grades, for scholarships or some material aid, and at the end of the semester (this last obligatory in the faculty of medicine only). No person may be a professor unless he has the degree of doctor in the specialty which he is to teach, and he must have acted as Privatdocent for at least 3 years. The professor who has held that position during 25 years becomes a professor emeritus. Students to be admitted to the universities must have graduation diplomas from the Gymnasium. Hearers are also to be admitted to the courses, according to regulations to be established by the minister of public instruction. The student and the hearer pay five rubles a semester as matriculation fees, then one ruble each semester and weekly course.

SERVIA, principality: Area, 18,787 square miles; population (December 31, 1882), 1,810,606. Capital, Belgrade; population, 36,177. Minister of public instruction and worship, G. Pantelitch.

For information as to this country, see the Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1882-'83.

SPAIN, constitutional monarchy: Area, 195,767 square miles; population (June, 1883), 16,858,721. Capital, Madrid; population, 397,690. Minister of instruction, Señor Pidal y Mon.

No statistics of public education in Spain have been received since the publication of the last report. A private educational institution called the Institucion Libre de Enseñanza has attracted attention in the last few years, both on account of the objects of its founders and its method of conducting instruction. An account of that institution is therefore given here.

The Institucion Libre de Enseñanza is a private institution which was founded in Madrid in 1876 for the purpose of extending national education. To this end it has established (1) a school in which instruction is given in primary and secondary branches; (2) a course of public lectures and concerts; (3) special courses intended to diffuse popular information of the principal events of history and to give an idea of the greatest works in literature and art; (4) instruction in making researches and investigations under the supervision of professors supplied by the institution; and (5) the publication of a periodical and of various other works, among which may be mentioned a set of photomicrographs, the first published in Spain.

Many of the most eminent men in science, literature, art, and politics in Spain contribute to these publications, and by their aid the institution has been enabled to supply in part the deficiencies of university education. The program it announces embraces the history of the Slavic nations, the Code Napoléon, legislation concerning mortgages, the institutions of the United States, positive philosophy, elementary mathematics, geometry, chemistry, natural history, the history of modern literatures and languages, Latin, philology, architecture, &c.

The students of the institution were the first in Spain to introduce students' excursions; they have begun to form herbariums, mineralogical and entomological collections, &c., and they make topographical relief maps. The notes and observations collected by the professors and students during their excursions serve as material for small guide books to the more important places in the country, such as Salamanca, Toledo, Seville, and Granada. This method of study and the introduction of astronomy, sociology, the history of fine arts, law, singing, drawing, gymnastics, and French into the course of study form so many innovations in instruction in Spain. After the study of French was introduced into the program of the institution, the government made the study of that language obligatory in the official institutions. The same will be done, before long, with gymnastics. The excursions now form as important a feature in Spain as in any other country in Europe. They are of all kinds, from those of an hour or two in length to others which last a month, and the range of subjects studied covers archæology, botany, geology, mineralogy, and agriculture and other industries. The students of the institution are in charge of the professors alone at all times, no system of surveillance intervening between the teachers and their pupils. In the staff of professors there is no rank, but all are on an equality, and those teachers who are selected to give primary instruction are chosen because of a special aptitude for that branch and not because they are less learned than their colleagues. The institution gives the title of honorary professor to distinguished men who have rendered eminent services to science or education, such as Darwin, Tyndall, Berthelot, Andrade-Corvo, Tiberghien, &c. The instruction given is free from all political, religious, or philosophical bias, each professor being responsible for his own doctrines.

The institution was established on shares of 250 francs each and by private gifts, without any aid from the state. It is managed by a body of directors, half of whom are replaced every year. The directors are elected by members of the society and by the professors, who have exclusive control of the scientific and pedagogic management of the institution, elect the rector, vice rector, and the editor of the Journal annually, and arrange the excursions.

The object of the institution is to modify primary instruction so as to make it conform to the principles of modern pedagogics. This means the substitution of class study for home study, of the intuitive method for the time honored memorizing; the introduction of regulated physical exercise, &c. The same method and principles are employed in secondary as in primary instruction, since secondary education is only a continuation of elementary. It is hoped that before long some branches of superior instruction may be added to the present course, so that the scope of the institution will soon become more comprehensive. The character of the institution is ex