directors belong to the eighth, the other teachers to the ninth grade of official rank.

The incomes of the regular teachers of the complete State gymnasiums consist-(1.) of the salary, as to which there are three grades of gymnasiums, with salaries of 1,050 fl., 945 fl., and 840 fl. respectively, diminished 105 fl. for that half of the teachers for the shortest time in service -(2.) of the decennial increase, amounting to 105 fl. for each ten years of service from the date of appointment—and (3.) of a share of the tuition fees, amounting since 1864 to fifteen per cent. of one third of the fees for the six oldest teachers, and ten per cent. to the seventh. At the Vienna gymnasiums the salaries are somewhat larger. At the lower gymnasiums there is but one grade of salary (735 fl.,) with a like decennial increase, and twenty-five per cent. of a third of the fees to each of the four oldest teachers. The directors at the higher gymnasiums receive 315 fl. in addition, and at the lower, 210 fl. At the State gymnasiums the average income of the directors, aside from the tuition fees, is 1,335 fl. (ranging from 945 fl. to 1,995 fl.)-of the regular teachers, 895 fl. Thirty-three of the directors and ninety of the teachers had in 1863 been fourteen years or more in service. Catechists giving other than religious instruction, or the entire religious instruction at a higher gymnasium, receive from 525 fl. to 840 fl., according to the grade of the school-at the lower gymnasiums, but 525 fl.-with the decennial increase. All instruction beyond the ordinary school hours is forbidden. At the religious gymnasiums the lay teachers are paid as at State gymnasiums of the third grade, the eccle. siastics having no claim to a fixed salary but usually receiving a regular remuneration from their superiors. Associate teachers are paid by their tuition fees, which are fixed by the director and teacher, ordinarily 10 fl. for each scholar.

Retiring teachers at the religious gymnasiums simply return to their former position in their order. Other regular teachers have in general the same right of pension with other officials, commencing at ten years of service with one-third of the salary, increased to one-half at twenty-five years, and to the whole salary after thirty years. Their widows and orphans have a pension of one-third of the salary, not to exceed 350 fl., which may be increased if there be more than three children. Other teachers are without pension.

Branches of Instruction.-The studies are divided into the strictly obligatory, the conditionally obligatory, and the optional. Those that are obligatory upon all students, without exception, are religion, Latin and Greek, the native language, geography and history, mathematics, natural history, physics, and the elements of philosophy-the latter alone being omitted in the lower gymnasiums. The conditionally obligatory are such as may be made absolutely obligatory upon any student at the will of his parents, such as the provincial languages, where others than the German are spoken. Other branches are wholly optional.

A "Plan of Study" is annually drawn up at each gymnasium and submitted to the approval of the State Ministry. There is much uniformity in these plans, the greatest variations occurring at gymnasiums where German is not the native language of a majority of the students. In the “Plan of Organization" upon which the gymnasial system is based, the object that should be aimed at in each branch of instruction and the manner in which it should be pursued are detailed, as is very briefly indicated in the following sections.

Latin. In the lower gymnasiums an intimate acquaintance with Latin etymology and with the most necessary rules of syntax is secured, not so much by strictly conducted recitations and a memorizing of the rules, as by numerous, carefully prepared, written and oral exercises. In the first class, eight hours weekly are given to practice in the regular declensions, rules of gender, adjectives, the more important pronouns, cardinal and ordinal numbers, the regular conjugations, the use of the infinitive after certain verbs and adjective predicates, and of the subjunctive after certain conjunctions. With this is associated translation, both from and into Latin, and the memorizing of all the occurring Latin words. Afterwards a half-hour weekly is given to composition with close reference to the acquired grammar and vocabulary. In the second class an equal time is given to the remainder of the etymology and to the use of the accusative with the infinitive, and of the ablative absolute, with a like preparation and correction of written exercises. In the third and fourth classes, (six hours,) the syntax is limited to the most necessary rules, avoiding the more difficult details, the object being to assure perfect clearness of understanding and thoroughness in application. In the third class, four hours are given to reading "Historia Antiqua," and in the fourth, to Cæsar's Bellum Gallicum and selections from Ovid, with some instructions in prosody. The written exercises are always orally corrected in class, the teacher afterwards satisfying himself by inspection that the corrections have been understandingly made by the student.

In the higher gymnasium the course is continued by numerous written exercises, (one hour weekly,) aiming at accuracy in grammar and a familiarity with the peculiarities of Latin expression and the general principles of Latin style, increasing gradually in difficulty and made really beneficial by most scrupulous correction. In the fifth class, five hours are given to an equally careful reading of Livy and Ovid's Metamorphoses-in the sixth, the same time to Sallust, Cicero, Cæsar's Bellum Civile, and Virgil—in the seventh, four hours to Cicero, and the Æneid—and in the eighth, four hours to Tacitus and Horace.

Greek-In the lower gymnasium there should be acquired a knowledge of the etymology of the Attic dialect and of the most essential rules of syntax, continued in the higher classes by the reading of the best classics, so far as the limited time given to the branch permits. The study is commenced in the third class and the method of the Latin course is pursued throughout. Students not intending to pursue their studies beyond

the lower gymnasium may be released from Greek during the third and fourth years, instead of which, in the Vienna gymnasium, thorough instruction in French is given. Four hours are devoted to Greek in the fourth and seventh classes, and five in the remainder. Xenophon is commenced in the fourth class, followed by the Iliad and Herodotus-in the seventh class, the Odyssey, Demosthenes' minor orations, and Sophocles— in the eighth, Plato and Sophocles.

German.-Ability to read, write, and speak the language correctly is the object aimed at in this instruction in the lower gymnasium-in the higher classes, readiness and correctness in the use of language for the expression of thought, a broader historical knowledge of the language and its literature, and an acquaintance with the characteristics of the principal styles of prose and poetry. Four hours are given to it in the first and second classes, two hours in the fifth, and three in the remainder. Commencing with a review of what has been learned of the simple sentence in the common school, further grammatical instruction is confined to the two lower classes and principally to the syntax of the compound sentence. Great care is taken, by means of well arranged dictation exercises, to secure a fixed orthography, and due attention is given to the spelling of foreign words. The reading books contain only pieces that are classical in style, serving also to illustrate the instruction that is given in other branches, and designed to have a favorable influence upon the character of the student. The exercises in this connection are reading, grammatical analysis, recitation of the contents of the pieces, and committing to memory the finer ones, with instruction in style and metrics. The written exercises (at least once in two weeks,) commence with a simple writing over of short tales and descriptions, chiefly geographical or from natural history, advancing gradually in the liberty of expression that is allowed in the reproduction. In the second and subsequent classes, the subjects are usually connected with the history lessons, and in the fourth class may include forms of business composition.

In the higher classes the written exercises are designed to promote increased dexterity and correctness in the use of language, and have close relation with the subject matter of instruction in the other branches, which are now of a character to excite deeper thought and to give clearness and a degree of originality to the ideas of the pupil. The instruction in history and the reading of the Greek and Roman classics and of German literature afford an abundance of material, while the previous study of the subjects of the compositions secures the requisite character of thought. Finally, readiness in oral discourse is cultivated in the eighth class by exercises in which two students engage in discussion upon a selected theme, followed by the criticisms of the class and the concluding judgment of the teacher. The history of the literature of the earlier and middle ages is, as taught, principally a history of the development of the language. No text-book is used aside from the readers. Of modern literature the students are left to gain a more thorough knowledge by their

private reading. An analytical treatment of the fundamental ideas of æsthetics forms an exercise of the higher class.

When German is not the prevalent language in a district, instruction in the native language is conducted in the same manner as above described with German. Where instruction is given in a provincial language not spoken by a majority of the students, it commences in the second class and is limited, in the lower gymnasiums, to fluency in reading and speaking, and in the higher classes to grammatical correctness and readiness in composition and an acquaintance with its literature. German is strictly obligatory upon all, even where it is not the language of instruction. A third language cannot be commenced, even as a condi- . tionally obligatory branch, till the fifth class.

Geography and History.-Three hours a week throughout the course are given to instruction in these branches. After a full year spent in acquiring a correct idea of the physical characteristics of the earth's surface and its most important political divisions, geography for the rest of the course is taught in immediate connection with history, so that from the first, the relation of the earth to man and of the land to the people is made the prime consideration. In the three higher classes of the lower gymnasium, historical instruction includes a simple but animated description of the most important events and characters of ancient and modern times, impressing the more important names and dates by recitations and reviews—modern history being taught to the most advantage in association with the principal facts of Austrian history. In the upper gymnasium most stress is laid upon the causes and effects of events, the development of states and of their constitution and culture, giving special prominence to Greek and Roman history, and to the present condition of the Austrian Empire, its ethnography, State constitution and administration, physical resources, &c. The written exercises, already described, are of great service in their impressive and suggestive influence.

Mathematics.-Three hours a week are given to mathematics in the lower gymnasium. The arithmetical instruction is intended to suffice for the practical wants of those entering immediately into business and to prepare for the algebraical instruction of the higher classes. A full understanding of each operation is united with dexterity in its application and a knowledge of those relations in actual life to which the rule will apply. The elements of algebra in the third class serve to make the extraction of roots more easily understood and train the student to independent thought in the translation of given relations into the language of mathematical symbols. In all this instruction no text-book is employed. Systematic but not strictly demonstrative exercises upon the relations and properties of geometrical figures also tend to awaken the mathematical faculty, which at a later age is with more difficulty aroused to persistent action. In the higher gymnasium the chief object of algebraical instruction is a full comprehension of the relations of numbers and of arithmetical operations, with exercises in those more difficult. In geom

etry (which includes trigonometry, analytical geometry, and conic sections,) there is sought to be obtained a readiness in the original demonstration and solution of propositions and problems based upon already known and understood principles. Four hours are given to this branch in the fifth class; three in the sixth and seventh; and one in the eighth. Natural History.-Two hours a week are devoted to zoology in the first three semesters, to botany in the second semester of the second class, and to mineralogy in the third class. In zoological instruction, animals are classed in characteristic groups, and the students are made familiar with their distinctive differences, with the aid, so far as possible, of specimens and representations, while special attention is paid to their habits and relations to mankind. Botany is commenced with instruction in organography and terminology, training the students to recognize the individual organs in numerous distinct species and to describe them in correct terms, advancing without regard to systems from the easiest to the more difficult. In mineralogy the chief attention is given to those minerals which are most widely distributed, most useful, or most important in scientific respects. In the fifth and sixth classes of the higher gymnasium two hours are given to these branches, with a more thoroughly scientific treatment and with especial reference to the connection of mineralogy to geognosy, and of botany and zoology to paleontology, and to the geographical distribution of animals and plants and their relations to man. Physics. The aim of the instruction in physics in the lower gymnasium, (two hours in the third class and three in the fourth,) is a knowledge of the most important laws of nature, with their more easily understood applications in explanation of natural phenomena and in the arts. In the two highest classes, (for three hours weekly,) the same branches, including chemistry and the elements of astronomy, are treated in a more thoroughly scientific manner, and with the aid of elementary mathematics where applicable.

Elements of Philosophy.—This instruction includes those laws of formal logic that are recognized in all philosophical systems, (long previously unconsciously followed by the student in his study of other branches,) and empirical psychology with copious reference to the student's acquirements in history and literature and as a fertile inducement to wider thought. Any further extension of this introduction to philosophy, from the difficulty of limiting the subject and of avoiding a preference for some philosophical system, has been attempted at but few institutions. Two hours in the seventh and eighth classes are given to this branch.

Religion.-Religious instruction is given throughout the course, two hours weekly, with an additional hour in the eighth class. It commences with committing the catechism to memory, followed in the second class by explanations of the catholic liturgy, and in the third and fourth classes by biblical history. Instruction is then given in the grounds of Christian faith, to which succeed, in the two highest classes, a system of general