ART. 36. The suppléances are suppressed. When the leave granted to the titular professors requires it a course or conference is provided, renewable each year, to fill the lacuna. [Formerly the suppleant" took the chair of the absentee.]

ART. 37. Whenever a chair becomes vacant by death, expulsion, retirement on a pension, or by revocation, until the appointment of a new titular professor the lacuna in the instruction is filled by means of a course or conference renewable each year.

ART. 38. The claims of the applicants for chargé de cours aud of maître de conferences are submitted to the consideration of the consulting committee of public instruction [ministry of public instruction at Paris, first section]. In the faculties of law and medicine the courses and conferences are confided to the agrégés.

ART. 39. The titular professors are not required to retire on a pension until they are 70 years of age, except they ask it or are unable to perform their duties. They may remain in service beyond their seventieth year detached (hors cadre) with the consent of the permanent section of the higher council of public instruction.

SALARY OF THE PROFESSOR.

Previous to 1876 the professors were paid a regular salary of from $800 to $1,200, which was increased by their fees as examiners. By the decree of January 14, 1876, these examination fees to the profit of the professor were abolished and a fixed salary paid instead $1,200 to $2,200 for the professors in the faculties of law and letters, of $1,200 to $2,000 in the faculties of medicine and sciences. The professors were classed as professors at Paris, and professors-outside-of-Paris. The practical working of the new order of things was unsatisfactory, for it only "sowed division among colleagues who had passed the same examinations, lowered the dignity of the professors, and introduced into the faculties habits of solicitation deeply to be regretted." In 1881 a new classification was made, the professors of the several faculties of the country outside of Paris were placed in one of four classes, called first, second, third, and fourth class respectively, and the professors of the Paris faculties placed in one of two classes, called first and second class respectively. The following table will show the change in salary made by the law of 1881 and the variation in the number of titular professors. It will also bring out the difference, so far as the absolute amount received is concerned, of being a professor at Paris and a Government professor in another part of France:

APPOINTMENT OF JUNIOR MEDICAL PROFESSORS ("AGRÉGÉS").

In repealing the third section of the statute of November 16, 1874, governing the character of the examination of the junior medical professors, the following reasons were given for the change, in the report presented to the higher council of public instruction by the commission of the council, to whom the question had been referred'. It was found that the old law governing the examination was better calculated to ascertain the erudition of the candidate than his personal scientific ability. Medicine has changed, says the commission, since 1842, when the original law was drawn. Physiology and pathological histology have extended their domain and experimental pathology and microbiology have been born. In our day the greatest problems of medicine present themselves and are solved in the laboratory. Yet such is the present organization of the examination of assistant professors that a “young worker," bright and provided with a good memory, is able to pass without having put foot within a laboratory, without having made an effort to testify concerning his own personality. Success is for the candidate who has retained the most and who has been exercised the most in the art of speaking well on any subject whatsoWhen this supreme end is attained and the candidate is appointed agrégé he is 35 or 36 years of age, and it is too late then to turn to the laboratory. He has forgotten the technique that he learned when a student and is ignorant of what has been done since his pupilage.

ever.

Now, in the faculties of medicine, the agrégé has a very important rôle to fill in the direction of the course. He takes part in the assembly of the faculty 2 and in the examinations; he fills the chairs of professors; ho takes part, under the title of "chargé de conférences" or of "cours complémentaires," in the instruction given by the school. It is necessary that the influence which he exercises over the students should be conformable to the scientific tendencies of the day; it is necessary that he should know how to utilize the laboratories for the benefit of the student.

Guided by these general ideas, the commission endeavored to frame a substitute to, the third title of the 1874 law, which would not only bring out the crudition of the candidate, but also his "professional aptitudes, his scientific aptitudes, and the amount of practical instruction he had received." This substitute was issued as an "arrêté" July 30, 1887, and reads as follows:

ART. 37. In the faculties of medicine and in the mixed faculties of medicine and pharmacy the agrégés hold their position for nine years; one-third being reappointed every three years. [They have become titular professors in the meantime, if capable.]

ART. 38. There are four sections of agrégés:

The first, for anatomical and physiological sciences, comprehends anatomy, physiology, and natural history.

The second, for physical sciences, comprehends physics, chemistry, pharmacy, and toxicology.

The third for medicine, properly so called, and medical jurisprudence.

The fourth for surgery and acconchements.

ART. 39. The preparatory examination consists of

(1) An oral lesson of forty-five minutes, had after three hours of preparation in a guarded room upon a question concerning the subject on which the candidate is being examined. The surveillance shall be provided for by the jury of examination. The candidate shall have the aid of such books as the jury may allow.

(2) A public exhibition by the candidato of his personal work. [ ["During thirty minutes the candidate shall say what progress, great or small, he has made in science, what problems he has attacked, what obstacles he has encountered, what solution he has found. If some candidate gives way to the temptation to exaggerate the value of his work, he will thus give to a competent jury the measure of his tact.3"]

(3) For candidates for the subjects of physics, chemistry, and natural history a

Recueil des lois et règlements sur l'enseignement supérieur, tome 4, p. 347 et seq.

Each faculty has two deliberative bodies or "council of the faculty," made up wholly of titular professors, and an assembly of the faculty," of which the agrégés form a part.

3 Rapport par M. Brouardel pour la commission.

composition on anatomy and physiology. Five hours are given for this composition which is to take place in a closed room, under the supervision of a member of the jury. The composers are not allowed the aid of any printed or manuscript work. ART. 40. The final examination consists

(1) Of an oral lesson of an hour after forty-eight hours of independent preparation (2) A series of practical evidences:

(a) For medicine: A clinic lesson upon one or two patients chosen by the jury examined with all the resources of the laboratory; exercises in pathological anatomy (b) For surgery and accouchements: Same practical proofs as for medicine, and in addition, an operation upon the cadaver for surgery.

(c) For anatomy: A lesson upon a subject of descriptive anatomy; practical exercises in histology.

(d) For physiology: A lesson upon a subject of histology; practical exercises in experimental physiology.

(e) For physics: A lesson upon an experiment in physics; practical exercises in physics.

(f) For chemistry: A lesson upon a chemical experiment; practical exercise in chemistry.

(9) For natural history: A lesson upon a subject of natural history; practical exercises in natural history.

(h) For pharmacy: A lesson upon pharmaceutical operation; practical exercises in pharmacy. ART. 41. The subjects and the duration of the practical exercises are determined by the jury.

By the decree of July 30, 1886, the agrégés are made members of the faculty or school to which they are attached. They take rank after the titular professors. They are members of the assembly of the faculty or school, having a vote if they are conducting a course of instruction that is provided for by the budget or are conducting a course of practical work, the other agrégés have only the privilege of giving an opinion (voix consultative). They participate in the examination; fill the place of professors temporarily absent, and conduct courses with the view of rounding out the instruction given by the titular professors. In the faculties of medicine the number of agrégés having courses shall not be fewer than one-third nor more than one-half of the chairs of the faculty.

The pay of the agrégés for medicine (including pharmacy) and law was fixed in 1876 as follows:

By the decree of July 30, 1876, the agrégés filling the place in the course of instruction of an occupant of a chair received in addition $600 at Paris and $400 in the other parts of France.

APPOINTMENT OF JUNIOR LAW PROFESSORS (AGRÉGÉS).

By the statute of 1874 the French law of 1857 governing the appointment of associate professors of law was modified in that which regards the tests given at the competitive examination to the following extent:

The preparatory or eliminating tests were to be (1) a composition upon a question of French law; (2) two [trial] lessons, one given after four hours of independent preparation upon a subject of French civil law, the other after twenty-four hours of preparation upon a subject of Roman law.

The definite tests were to be (1) a composition in Latin upon a question of Roman law; (2) two lessons, each given after twenty-four hours of independent preparation, the first upon a question of French civil law and the second upon a question selected by the judges from another branch of French law; (3) two arguments, one upon a title of Justinian's Digest, the other upon a question from the French civil law. This examination was found to require too much time and to be an unnecessary multiplication of tests, and it was changed in 1880.

By the regulation of December 27, 1880, the composition in Latin on the Roman law was taken out of the definite or second examination and put in the first or eliminating examination, "for it is necessary," says the committee of the superior council of public instruction, to which the matter had been referred, "that the candidate should have a certain habitude of using the Latin language;” but one exhibition of teaching power was dropped from the eliminating examination. The committee found themselves, however, unable to drop either of the two lessons required in the definite examination, as they were both calculated to show the ability of the candidates in different subjects of the law, and hence the completeness of his knowledge. They deemed it equally out of the question to drop the argument upon a title of Justinian's Digest, also required in the second examination, as it is "a very probing test, which assumed that those who passed through it successfully had extended knowledge and two indispensable qualities for teaching-that is to say, promptness of mind and command of language;" but the argument on a question of French law was thrown out as an unnecessary test.

But this remaniement-this rehandling of the competitive examination of the aspirant for a junior professorship-was not entirely satisfactory. Candidates showed that they were, in spite of the requirements, less and less familiar with the Latin language, and to cause them to use a medium of expression with which they were not familiar paralyzed or altered their ideas. Again, what was the value of the argumentation in point of spontaneity if the contesting parties compared notes before the mere exhibition came off? But these reforms, says the commission of 1890, are of secondary importance. We wish to go very much farther in this matter,' for it appears to us that the competitive examination (concours) as organized by the statute of December 27, 1880, is very justly criticised in several particulars which we enumerate:

(1) The duration of the examination is too long. This causes a rather considerable outlay of money by those candidates who are not living with their family, but for all it is a long drawn out cause of feverish excitation injurious to health. (2) The preliminary proofs are too chanceful. A lesson prepared in the short space of four hours and two compositions, both upon a special question! are these satisfactory criteria upon which to judge of the merits of a candidate? Can an examiner flatter himself that he knows anything about the admissibility or inadmissibility on such contrivances? Men 30 to 35 well instructed and of brains may have the luck to be pitted against subjects with which they are unfamiliar or which to them are distaste ful, are trivial, or far fetched, and thus they are thrown out, eliminated, to the advantage of the other candidates who have not been superior but more lucky than they. (3) The tests do not correspond to the curriculum in the faculty. These tests are exclusively confined to Roman and the French law and do not permit certainty in diagnosing the special aptitudes of each candidate, nor do they interrogate those who are to treat the history of law, public law, and political economy.

The committee having thus reported, the minister immediately (1890) notified the fourteen faculties of law that the tests were no more in relation with the curriculum of the faculties and asked their assistance in framing a new scheme of examination. It is rather interesting to compare the position of the important faculty of law of Paris at the date of 1890 and 1895, when a new curriculum had been promulgated on each occasion.

I Concours d'agrégation dans les facultés de droit. Enquêtes et documents relatifs à l'enseignement supérieur, Paris 1890, p. 2.

The plan of 1895, say the Parisian faculty of law, is, from a scientific standpoint, good, but from a practical standpoint it has disadvantages. The candidates will devote themselves to the study of one of the sections and will become narrow specialists, so as not to be of use when they become professors and are called upon to take a university view of affairs. To obviate this the candidate must take two doctors' degrees-one the degree juridique, the other politique-so as to assure the indispensable all around legal culture.

III. THE HOUSING OF THE INSTRUCTION.

Before passing to the relation of the professions of medicine and law to the State it is necessary to speak of the laboratory, the hospital, and the library. The hospital may be sufficient to make the practitioner, but the laboratory and the library are indispensable to make the savant. It has been remarked before that the American and English schools are in charge of practitioners, while those of Germany-and now of France-are directed by a pedagogical class of professors. Of nothing connected with their higher instruction in 1870 were the French more ashamed than their laboratories. Two reports upon improvements to be made in that respect were presented by Professor Wurtz, and they are both used freely here to illustrate the necessary accessories to medical instruction.