TECHNICAL INSTITUTES.

The following table shows the number of technical institutes and students attending them for the two years specified:

Or an increase of 1,027 registered students in 1896 and a decrease of 849 special students, owing to a decision of the department of public education (1895) denying to all nonpromoted or not-admitted outside students inscription as "special" in the class to which they aspired, or to a superior one.

The attendance for 1895-96 in the 74 institutes was as follows:

Making a total of 9,407. against 23 for 1893–94.

3,342

1,581

1,504

18

2,576

123

9,144

263

Included in this number were 50 girls, as

At the examination for promotion to the second year 69 per cent were promoted, 20 per cent not promoted, and 3 per cent were absentees; 550 were without examination.

Examination of "licenza" in 69 institutes: Out of 2,304 pupils (including 4 girls) of the second year course, 1,543 passed, or 66.97 per cent of the candidates, as against 1,521 licensed, or 68.79 per cent, in 1893-94, as follows:

The lowered percentage of the "licensed" in 1895-96 is due to the participation in the examination of students prepared by private instructors or private institutes; the licensed students of State courses amounted to 83.81 per cent of the candidates.

The number of instructors in technical institutes was as follows:

NAUTICAL INSTITUTES.

In 1895-96 there were 21 nautical institutes, of which 19 were State schools, 1 communal, and 1 private, with 550 attending students, 44 special students, and 309 registered for the two years of the preparatory course.

The attendance on the various sections was as follows:

In the examination for promotion, out of 336 students attending the different sections (excepting the last year, when the examination for letters patent follows), 21 were promoted without examination, 214 after examination, 83 were not promoted, and 18 were absent; or, out of each 100 students having attended courses, 70 were promoted, 25 not promoted, and 5 were absentees.

In the examination of "licenza" in 18 institutes there were 419 candidates, of whom 285 passed, or 68 per cent, as against 461, 280, and 61 per cent in 1893-94.

Of the 285 in 1895-96, 141 passed at the first examination and 145 at the fall reexamination; 5 received letters patent of sea captains, 4 of naval constructors of second class, 7 of machinists of second class, 69 of high-seas captains, 6 of naval constructors of first class, and 194 of machinists of first class. Of the 285 naval students thus licensed, 173 belonged to State, 6 to nonranked, and 4 to private institutes, while 102 studied privately for preparation.

Number of professors in twenty-one nautical institutes: In 1893-94, professors, 181; presidi, 6; professors of gymnasium, 19. In 1895–96, professors, 183; presidi, 7; professors of gymnasium, 18.

STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF SECONDARY INSTRUCTION.

The following table shows the changes that have taken place in fifteen years (1881–1896):

Thus it is shown that while the number of schools for secondary instruction is about the same in 1896 as in 1881, except the nautical institutes, all branches of instruction have an increased number of students, the increase being 45 per cent for the ginnasii, 67 per cent for the licei, and 67 per cent for the technical schools.

The following is a summary of the latest figures on secondary instruction, from advance sheets of the reports for 1896-97 and 1897-98:

Since 1888 the statistics of the convitti have included also the institutions for the blind and the deaf and dumb, but the convitti annexed to the practical schools of agriculture and to the agricultural schools, and also the convitti attached to exclusively professional schools, are not included.

In 1895-96 there were 919 convitti for males, 50 of which were State schools, 15 provincial, 62 communal, 220 endowed, 297 supported by religious corporations, and 275 private, being an increase of 6 over 1894.

As to attendance, in 1893-94 there were 60,105 male pupils in all the convitti (86 per cent in the schools annexed to the convitto itself). In 1895-96 there were only 58,839, or a decrease of 1,266 pupils from the previous year.

In 915 out of the 919 convitti in 1895-96 there were 915 directors, of whom 557 were priests. In 255 convitti the teachers were all priests, in 240 partly priests and partly civilians, and in 100 there were no teachers besides the director. As in preceding years, "secular priests," viz, those not inscribed in any religious order, constituted the majority.

As to the annual contributions of the pupils, the following figures were gathered by the general director of statistics (915 convitti furnished in season their figures): In 120 convitti all the inmates were admitted gratuitously, in 473 on payment, and in 322 partly on payment and partly gratuitously.

CONVITTI FOR FEMALES.

In 1893-94 there were 1392 convitti for females, with 50,162 pupils, and in 1895-96 there were 1,456, with 49,367 pupils. Of these convitti, 11 were State schools, 25 provincial, 47 communal, 718 endowed, and 665 private.

The number of girls attending "special schools" of singing, music, embroidery, etc., was 4,629; normal schools, 4,620; elementary or complementary and superior schools, 40,118; total, 49,367, as against 35,543 in 1885, or an increase in ten years of 13,824 female pupils. Out of the 1,456 directors, male and female, of the female convitti, 917 were priests and 539 civilians. The instructors were divided as follows: 665 priests, 462 civilians, .and 236 unclassified.

Of the female convitti, 436 were free, 592 admitted pupils on full payment, and 415 admitted part free and part on payment.

"In the female convitti," states the director of statistics, "instruction is, as a rule, given by nuns," thus making evident that in Italy the education of girls, outside of those attending State schools, is still almost exclusively in the hands of the clergy, to the extent of at least about 50,000 girls. The same thing can be said of male convitti enrolling 58,839 students.

OTHER INSTITUTIONS.

Of the 8 special schools of agriculture founded between 1879 and 1898, 5 are devoted to vine culture, 1 to olive culture and oil making, 1 to pomology and horticulture, and 1 to zootechny and cheese making. In 1897-98 these 8 schools had 90 instructors and assistants and 410 students; in 1898-99, 496 students. There were 89 diplomas granted for 1897–98.

There are 28 practical schools of agriculture, having 112 teachers and assistants; number of students in 1897-98, 951; in 1898-99, 1,085. There were 201 diplomas granted in 1897–98.

There are thus in all 36 agricultural schools, which had in 1898-99 a total of 202 teachers and 1,581 students. The 4 schools of mines had 14 teachers and 42 pupils, and issued 6 diplomas in 1897–98.

These last schools are located in the 69 provinces. There are also 26 academies and institutes of the fine arts, of which 13 are national and 13 private. These had in 1897-98 230 teachers and 3,886 pupils. The Institute of Fine Arts, at Florence, dates from 1350, the Academy of Carrara from 1769, the Academy of Milan from 1776, the Institute of Modena from 1786, and the Institute of Parma from 1756. The others have been established during the present century.

Italy has 6 national institutes and conservatories of music, which had 145 teachers and 875 pupils in 1897-98. Of the pupils, 555 were males and 320 females. The College of Music, at Naples, the oldest of them, dates from 1806.

There are also in Italy a great number of private institutes and conservatories of music; among these 5 musical lyceums and 40 private or municipal conservatories and musical institutes attain to the standard of the national institutions.

Normal schools of choral singing are attached to the conservatories of Naples and Parma. Their two years' courses embrace, beside the theory and practice and the art of singing, elementary harmony and practice on the keys of an instrument; also anatomy, physiology, hygiene, and their applications to singing.

There are in Italy 11 military institutes and superior schools. The Military Academy of Turin, dating from 1669, teaches the art of war, the use of artillery, engineering, and military sanitation. There is also a normal school of infantry and another of cavalry. In 1897-98 the 11 institutes had 299 instructors and 1,616 pupils, and 988 pupils were promoted at the end of their courses of study.

The Naval Academy, at Leghorn, founded in 1881, and the School of Pupil Machinists, at Venice, founded in 1862, taken together had 79 instructors and 301 students, of whom 116 were promoted.

The

Of the 32 State libraries the largest is the national library at Naples. This and two others contain more than 100,000 volumes each. total number of books and manuscripts in 1897-98 was 1,690,825, of which 12,711 were manuscripts. The number of readers was 1,294,869. One library dates from the sixteenth century, 3 from the seventeenth, 7 from the eighteenth, and 2 are of this century.

The libraries of Italy may be grouped into the following 11 classes:

VI. STATISTICS OF SPECIAL SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION.

The following list gives the names and locations of the 11 superior special schools, with the dates of their foundation:

Bari: Superior School of Commerce, 1886.
Florence: School of Social Science, 1875.

Florence: Superior Institute of Work for Women, 1882.

Genoa: Superior School of Commerce, 1884.

Genoa: Superior Naval School, 1870.

Milan: Superior School of Agriculture, 1870.

Portici: Superior School of Agriculture, 1872.

Rome: Superior Institute of Work for Women, 1882.

Turin: Museum of Italian Industry, 1862.

Vallombroso: Institute of Forestry, 1869.

Venice: Superior School of Commerce, 1868.