second of ancient humanities. That part of light relative to refraction has been carried back to the programme of the second class in the section of modern humanities and to the class of rhetoric in that of ancient humanities.

The requirement for future doctors of medicine, that they should present certificates of studies showing that they have pursued the course in Greek, has obliged these students to stop the study of chemistry, despite the important advantages offered by it for their university studies.

The course of chemistry, not being pursued except by students, always few, of the second and first commercial classes, lost much of its importance at the very time when laboratories were thoroughly organized in the majority of the secondary schools. Commercial sciences.—The programme of bookkeeping in the fourth class has been divided. One part is now given in the fifth class, occupying one hour a wek, the rest in the fourth, with two hours a week. The time devoted to that study remains the same. The division was made in the hope that pupils destined for scientific studies would continue in the fourth class the study of accounts begun in the fifth, so that thus the professor of commerce might not see his course neglected by students. That hope does not seem to have been realized. In the fifth class all the students follow regularly the course in commerce, which is important for their passage into the fourth; it is not the same in the fourth. Those who are to go into the scientific section know that results obtained in commerce have no influence upon their passage into the third class, where they are to pursue it no further.

It would be of importance, however, to future engineers and directors of workshops to have thorough knowledge of accounting. This would enable them to verify their own books and render them more exact in the management of their business. Drawing.—Results in the course in drawing vary considerably in different athénées. They depend less on the artistic accomplishment of the professor than upon his pedagogical aptitude and especially the order and discipline which he maintains. In fine, to obtain regular and continued work on the part of students prizes are bestowed upon the basis of all the marks obtained during the year. At the end of each trimester the professor sends to the prefect the work of the students with his marks.

For students in the scientific section it has been recommended to attach much importance to linear drawing. Examinations in descriptive geography, held during the lessons in drawing, are much more careful than formerly. The correctors of the general examination notice that improvement.

Gymnastics.-Instruction in gymnastics during the triennial period, 1891-1895, remained as it was in the preceding period. Courses are organized in all the establishments of intermediate instruction, and in the majority of them half-hour lessons are given conformably to ministerial instructions. Nevertheless in several athénées and in a certain number of intermediate schools each lesson lasts a full hour. However, the number of institutions wherein this obtains diminishes from year to year. The lessons, more often than otherwise, are given after class hours; that is to say, at 11 or half past 11, sometimes at noon, or at 4 o'clock. The consequence is that students who reside at considerable distances from school generally leave without participating in the exercises.

The material required for this exercise, good, or reasonably so, in some establishments, is quite inferior in others. In some of the schools there is no equipment for this work, communal authorities almost always refusing to make expenditures, without which the course can not be given to any advantage. Such conditions discourage both professors and students, and are the cause of much weakness and irregularity.

TECHNICAL AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS OF BELGIUM.

The system of technical and industrial training for which Belgium is somewhat noted is not as a whole under the charge of the minister of public instruction. Three grades or degrees of this instruction are recognized: To the elementary degree pertain the "écoles professionnelles;" to the intermediate grade, the industrial schools; both of these classes are under the minister of industry and labor. The superior degree of technical instruction is comprised in the engineering departments of the universities, which are under the charge of the minister of education. It is not always possible to distinguish between the first two classes of schools, i. e., the "écoles professionnelles" and the industrial schools; indeed, a few schools have both characters. In a report presented before the International Congress on Technical Education (London, 1897), M. Edouard Séve describes these schools as follows:

In general, it may be said that the industrial schools are in session in the evening and on Sunday, and the students are workmen or employees occupied in workshops during the day. The "professional" schools are open every week day and have their own shops, where the pupils are trained in manual work.

As regards their direction and support, the schools of either of the two classes may be public (communal) schools or private (libre). The former are administered by a commission in which communal delegates must form a majority, the latter-that is, the private schools-are administered by representatives of industries affected, or by syndicates formed by the workmen. The expenses of the schools, both the "professional" and the industrial, are borne by the State, the province, the commune, and by private persons. Generally the State bears onethird of the expense (exclusive of rents and the receipts from day pupils) for the industrial schools and two-thirds for the "professional," whose expenses are the heavier.

The programmes of the schools vary according to the locality, but they all have a common base, which comprises drawing, mathematics, geometry, elements of physics and of mechanics, hygiene, and industrial economics. Each school has its special practical course appropriate to the industry of the locality. In this course drawing plays an important part, developing according to the demands of the technical arts. Further particulars respecting the professional schools (écoles professionnelles) are comprised in a paper on technical instruction and private initiative in Belgium, presented before the same congress by Oscar Pyfferoen, doctor of laws and doctor of political and administrative science and professor at the University of Ghent.

Écoles professionnelles.-The expression professional applied to schools which give instruction in special manual arts is misleading in its English form, because the term has so long been applied to schools of a very different character. Its meaning as applied to technical schools

in Belgium and also in France is made clear by Professor Pyfferoen by the enumeration of the special trades for which their training prepares. These are tailoring, shoemaking, painting, carpentering, upholstering, etc. In England such schools are classed indiscriminately as technical and as trade schools. Professor Pyfferoen notes at the outset that in Belgium the State took the initiative in the establishment of these schools, and he contrasts this with the course pursued in England and in Germany.

In Germany corporations generally take the initiative in this work. After the value and utility of the schools are assured, the State may come to their aid with small subsidies. In England the polytechnics. and higher technical schools have been established almost entirely through the efforts of private individuals and with the aid of funds subscribed by public-spirited citizens. In Belgium the tendency has been to depend upon the State for provision of this kind. As a consequence the number of schools has not multiplied heretofore in proportion to the local requirements, the difficulties in this respect being greater than are experienced in countries where local effort is the main dependence. Thus for a long time Belgium had only one or two technical (professional) schools for workers in wood and in iron, notably those at Ghent and at Tournay, a few technical courses in industrial schools, a few workshops in the country for workers in textiles, and in Hainaut workshops for apprentices in stonecutting.

The reluctance of artisans and manufacturers to establish schools pertaining to their respective industries is explained by their failing to comprehend the value of the training and their unwillingness to bear the initial expense, which is considerable. Those who best understand the importance of the training are themselves too old to profit by it and show little disposition to make provision for others.

Development of private initiative.-Within a few years the tendency in this respect has changed somewhat. The Government itself, and especially M. Nyssens, the minister of industry and labor, encourages private initiative and strives to excite it by holding out the hope of State aid. As a consequence of these efforts technical schools have multiplied within a few years, and the State subsidies for these have been increased, reaching in 1898 the sum of $170,000, most of which was applied to schools started by private effort.

Private initiative is exercised in three or four forms:

(1) In many districts groups of artisans or workmen form syndicates or associations for the purpose of establishing trade schools (écoles de métiers) and solicit subsidies from the State, the communes, or the provinces. They themselves bear a very small part of the financial charge. Such was the origin of the schools for tailors at Brussels and Liège, schools for tapestry workers, clockmakers, jewelers, and hair dressers at Brussels; of armorers at Liège, and the schools for brewers at Ghent.

By the manner of their origin these various schools are entirely separate from each other. Nowhere in Belgium are found polytechnics like those of England, where all this instruction is concentrated under one direction. As a rule these technical or trade schools of Belgium are day schools equipped with workshops, and have a systematized course extending over two or three years. They are intended to take the actual place of apprenticeship and to turn out complete workmen. From these conditions also it becomes necessary to pay the pupils for coming to the schools, otherwise the parents refuse to send their sons for training, preferring to put them at once into the shop of an employer. Even with the plan of paying pupils for attending, the remuneration is so small that many parents will not sacrifice the chance of higher wages and allow their sons to take the time for training.

The men also who make their living by working at the small trades oppose the day trade schools, which being free from commercial competition can sell their products at such prices as they may command. Professor Pyfferoen suggests as a remedy for these apparent evils that the sessions of the schools should be held in the evening, which would enable those who are working to have the benefit of the training while they are earning wages, and also that the workshops of the schools should be used simply to supplement the theoretic teaching and not to make goods for the market. The advantages of this plan are seen from the school for printers at Brussels, which is an evening school open only to those who are already working at the trade. On the other hand, a serious crisis was provoked by the opening of a day school of metallurgy. The young apprentices from this school, passing forth into the workshops, crowded out experienced workmen and excited the jealousy of their fellow laborers. The consequence was a strike, which had a disastrous effect on the industry.

(2) Another type of technical schools due to private initiative, and one for which Belgium is specially noted, is found in schools established by the religious orders. The most important schools of this class are the academies of drawing and the St. Luke Technical Schools (écoles professionelles St. Luc), directed by the Christian Brothers. The majority of the St. Luke schools confine themselves to the trades, for which a knowledge of drawing is the chief requisite; some of them, however, go farther and include workshop practice. Until recently these schools have had no aid from the State.

The schools of St. Luke are for day pupils exclusively. But there are numerous orphanages and boarding schools maintained by other religious orders in which technical training finds a place. Such are the schools of the Salesian priests at Liège and of the Brothers of Our Lady of Lourdes at Oostacker and Maltebrugge, which have technical departments, to which day scholars as well as boarders are admitted. The Brothers in charge of the schools take orders for work, but the pupils receive no money for their work. They are, however, lodged, fed, and

clothed at the expense of the establishment. The period of apprenticeship is from five to six years.

According to Professor Pyfferoen the principal objections to the system of these schools is the length of the period of training under conditions unlike those actually affecting the trades for which the pupils are preparing and the absence of effective stimulus in their daily routine. Complaint is also made that these establishments compete unfairly with private industries. This is not a legitimate objection to the training itself, but simply to the work as managed by the religious orders. Corresponding to the schools for boys maintained by the Brothers are the "ouvroirs" for young girls. These are schools maintained generally by religious sisterhoods, but in some cases by private individuals, where young women are trained for the manual arts which are open to them, such as the cutting and making of garments, plain sewing, and embroidery. In the same category as regards their purpose are the schools of domestic art and economy, which exist in all the cities and many of the rural communes of Belgium. They are attached generally to the elementary school, whether public or private, and are often under the patronage of women of noble rank, and in some cases even of members of the Royal family.

(3) The demand for commercial education has given rise to a third form of private initiative in the establishment of technical schools. The Commercial School of Antwerp (Institut Supérieur de Commerce d'Anvers), which has existed for a long time, is a State school. Recently several similar schools have been founded by private effort. These have been established either by church authorities or private associa tions. An example of the former is found at Louvière. Here a church. college has annexed a section of commercial studies which bids fair to surpass even the school at Antwerp. The work of associations is illustrated by the Cercle Polyglotte of Liège. It comprises 500 members, who pay each a small annual fee. The fund thus secured enables the society to maintain evening schools, where, for a small tuition fee, young men may fit themselves for commercial business. It seldom happens in Belgium that the great manufacturers show the disposition to promote technical training by such princely gifts as are freely subscribed by English manufacturers for the foundation of technical schools.

In this respect, France also greatly surpasses Belgium. At Roubaix and at Tourcoing notable schools of spinning, weaving, and dyeing are maintained without public subventions from any source. The only example of this sort in Belgium is that of Verviers, where subscriptions running up into the hundred thousand francs have been secured for technical schools.

In concluding his survey, Professor Pyfferoen says:

If in Belgium private initiative has varied developments, it is because of the liberal character of our institutions and the assistance afforded by the public authorities. As yet, there is no settled legislation respecting technical instruction in its three