Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

nation is placed upon mathematics, which in both the oral and written parts is accorded more than half the whole number of possible points. The severity of this test precludes its passage by students who have not passed through the special class of mathematics in the lycée or received equivalent instruction elsewhere. From the relation of the school to the State service it follows that foreigners are only admitted by special arrangements.

Candidates for admission to the entrance examination for the École Polytechnique are not necessarily graduates from the lycée, but may have received their preparation elsewhere, as is the case with candidates for other competitive examinations. Since, however, their scope and standards are determined by the lycée program, those prepared elsewhere are at a great disadvantage.

Program. The program of studies for the polytechnique consists almost entirely of mathematics and applied science, as indicated by the following conspectus:

Calculus.-Differential and integral—two years.

Descriptive geometry.-Different methods for the representation of bodies; a study of the principal geometrical surfaces; the construction of models one year. Stereotomy.-Carpentry and stonecutting-one year.

Mechanics and machinery.—Theoretical study completed by the construction of models, the designing of new machines, etc.-two years.

Physics.-Thermodynamics, electricity, and magnetism- two years; acoustics and optics one year; laboratory practice-two years.

Chemistry.-Organic and inorganic, accompanied by experiments two years.
Astronomy and geodesy.--Practical work-one year.

Architecture. Theory and the drawing of designs and plans- one year.

Military art. Two years.

History, geography, and literature.—The military, political, and moral history of the principal nations of Europe during modern and contemporaneous times; compositions on historical topics-two years.

German language, drawing from objects, coloring. Two years.
English language.--Optional.

Practical exercises.-Laboratory and workshop practice, the designing and construction of models, are required whenever possible. The instruction in drawing and designing is very elaborate and the work executed by the students is subjected to rigid examination. In addition to the school instruction, students are also taken on visits of observation to the observatory and to manufacturing establishments in and around Paris. The régime of the school is military. All the students are exercised in military tactics, in horseback riding, fencing, and general gymnastics. The military training and conduct while at the school, however, is less severe than that at the special military schools.

Fees and scholarships.-The students board at the school and wear a uniform. The cost to the students is about $200 (1,000 francs) for tuition and board per year. The outfit and incidentals cost

81797-17-3

each year form $140 to $150 more (700 to 750 francs). The Government, however, makes liberal provision of scholarships available for students of great promise who otherwise might not be able to bear the expense of the training. These scholarships are of four grades as follows: (1) Full scholarships; (2) half scholarships; (3) scholarships carrying relief from outfit and incidental expenses; (4) scholarships carrying half relief from outfit and incidental expenses. Services. As already stated, the polytechnique does not prepare directly for the Government service, but for certain schools of application, each giving instruction preparatory to some special service. The choice of the service to be entered upon is not made by the students until their graduation from the polytechnique, and is determined finally according to respective ranks at graduation. As a rule, all the graduates are sure of admission to the Government service.

The several services open to the graduates of the École Polytechnique are as follows:

1. Land artillery, colonial artillery, or engineering corps, in which they are accepted as "sublieutenant students of artillery," or of engineering, and are immediately placed in either the artillery school at Fontainebleau or the military engineering school at Versailles. Both these schools have a one-year specialized course in their respective subjects. The Versailles school also gives supplementary military and horsemanship training.

2. Mines; bridges and roads; or naval engineering.-On entering either of these services the polytechnic graduates assume the title of student engineers of mines, of bridges and roads, or of naval constructions, and pass, in this capacity, through a specialized course in one of the three schools of application maintained for this purpose. The course in the school of mines covers three years; in the school of bridges and roads, also three years; in the school of naval engineering, two years. After the completion of this course the students acquire the degrees of ordinary engineers of bridges and roads, or of mines, or subengineers of naval constructions. Those in the last category have to serve a practice term on the schoolship Jeanne d'Arc.

3. Navy.-On entering the naval service directly from the Ecole Polytechnique the students receive the title of ship ensigns of the second class and are sent on board Jeanne d'Arc, where they complete their practice together with graduates ("aspirants") of the school of naval engineering.

4. Manufacturing establishments conducted by the State. In this service the graduates of the Ecole Polytechnique are placed directly in the tobacco plants or match factories with the degree of student engineers.

5. The commissariat of the navy accepts the graduates as commissaries of the third class; in order to become commissaries of the second class they must pass through a two-year course in the school of commissariat.

6. The service of powders and saltpeters and the hydrographic service are open to graduates of the polytechnique, admitting them at first for practice and later giving them permanent positions; for telegraph service a higher course of training in postal and telegraph subjects is provided.

Finally, graduates desiring to enter other civil services than the above enumerated have the advantage of the reputation attached to the institution.

Although St. Cyr, the great military school of France, is in no sense an adjunct of the Ecole Polytechnique, many of the most distinguished officers of the French service have resorted to it for their mathematical training before entering the military school.

Fraternal societies.-An interesting and traditional characteristic of the École Polytechnique is the solidarity maintained among the graduates. This is manifested not only as a sentiment, but by the practical assistance and protection offered the younger or less fortunate graduates by those holding influential positions. For this purpose a fraternal society of graduates of the school is maintained, which assists members who meet with reverses, aids their destitute widows, and provides education for their children.

Modern methods of demonstration.-The higher technical schools of France have developed a system of demonstration by means of wall tables, charts, and luminous projections, that is in many respects the most advanced in the world. The École des Ponts et Chaussées possesses a unique collection of constructional plans, designs, etc., used to illustrate the instruction in the school; this collection is the joint work of professors of the various subjects and an eminent specialist, M. Coquillard, who has devoted to this task his exclusive activity for a long period of time.

For the last 20 years this school has also made extensive use of stereopticon projections, and has a rich collection of slides, especially those pertaining to reinforced concrete constructions. The use of cinematograph with specially prepared films of scientific subjects also received early recognition in this institution.1

ÉCOLES NATIONALES D'ARTS ET MÉTIERS.

The Ecoles Nationales d'Arts et Métiers, situated, respectively, at Aix, Angers, and Chalons, are included in the class of secondary technical schools. These institutions were originally intended to provide the army of industry with directors, that is, managers and

1 See article by Ch. Rabut in Revue Générale des Sciences, Mar., 1916, p. 137.

[ocr errors]

foremen of works, but they have developed beyond this stage, and it is claimed that they should be transferred to the class of higher technical schools. Admission to these institutions is determined by a competitive examination for which only those applicants are eligible who already possess the certificate showing the completion of the first cycle of the lycée course or its equivalent.

The three schools are noted for their elaborate equipment, the great competency of their teachers and directors, all of whom are selected by competitive examination, and the very rigorous character of the training throughout the three years' course. Graduates receive a special diploma, the brevet d'ingénieur des écoles nationales d'arts et métiers, which was created by a decree of 1907. Although these institutions do not give the same high degree of mathematical training as the Ecole Centrale, the technical training is regarded as superior.

RECENT MOVEMENTS.

The higher technical schools of France have provided the State with trained experts for the public service, but on account of their specialized character and their location with few exceptions at Paris, they have not exercised a powerful influence in the industrial development of the country. Complaint is also made that in their isolation from the universities, the technical schools lose the stimulating effects of scientific researches, for which only the universities have adequate equipment. A movement for correcting these defects was begun soon after the transformation of the former isolated faculties into organic universities in accordance with the law of July 10, 1896.

An important result of the new university régime was the multiplication of chairs for scientific studies and the equipment of laboratories and institutes in the provincial universities. At the University of Marseille a chair of industrial physics was established and another of industrial chemistry; at the University of Bordeaux a laboratory of chemistry instituted for the promotion of the resin industry; at Lyon chairs in chemistry equipped with laboratories for research in regard to local industries and agriculture. These are notable illustrations of a movement which spread to every university center of France, giving new direction to scientific research.

Through this extension of university activities, extreme specialization in the province of higher technical education in France has given place to the principle of coordination and philosophic unity. For the purpose of increasing this provision, a bill was introduced into the Senate during the present year, providing for the creation of separate faculties of applied science in all the universities. The motive for the bill was expressed in a ministerial circular which defined the new purposes which the universities must fulfill as follows:

They must insure the renaissance of the national economic activity by means of the sciences, and take the direction of the vast movement for the revival of the chemical and physical industries which will of necessity follow peace.

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »