Chapter LII: Appendix (2)

But, again, we are met with the objection that this proposition is impracticable, that it looks very well on paper, but that it can not be carried into effect. Let us see. It is quite safe to conclude that what has been done can be done, and that what wise and judicious people do, and persist in doing after experiment, is proper to be done. What is the most warlike nation of Europe? What nation of Europe has carried military science to the highest degree? What nation of Europe has the greatest genius for organization? You will say the French. Let us see what is their system. I read from the report of the Commission appointed by Congress in 1860 to visit the Military Academy at West Point, and report upon the system of instruction; a commission of which you, Mr. President, [Mr. FOOT,] were a member:

Among the European systems of military education that of France is preëminent. The stimulating principle of competition extends throughout the whole system; it exists in the appointment of the student, in his progress through the preliminary schools, in his transfer to the higher schools, in his promotion to the Army, and in his advancement in his subsequent career. The distinguishing features of the French system are thus described by the British commissioners.

“1. The proportion, founded apparently upon principle, which officers educated in military schools are made to bear to those promoted for service from the ranks. 2. The mature age at which military education begins. 3. The system of thorough competition on which it is founded. 4. The extensive State assistance afforded to successful candidates for entrance into military schools whenever their circumstances require it. * * * * * *

Admission to the military schools of France can only be gained through a public competitive examination by those who have received the degree of bachelor of science from the lycées or public schools, and from the orphan school of La Flèche.

A powerful influence has thus been exercised upon the character of education in France. The importance of certain studies has been gradually reduced, while those of a scientific character, entering more directly into the pursuits of life, have been constantly elevated.

The two great elementary military schools are the School of St. Cyr and the Polytechnic School. These, as well as the other military schools, are under the charge of the Minister of War, with whom the authorities of the schools are in direct communication. Commissions in the infantry, cavalry, and marines can only be obtained by service in the ranks of the army, or by passing successfully through the School of St. Cyr, admission to which is gained by the competitive examination already referred to.”

Again, the Commission say, speaking of the School of St. Cyr:

The admission is by competitive examination, open to all youths, French by birth or by naturalization, who, on the 1st of January preceding their candidature, were not less than sixteen and not more than twenty years old. To this examination are also admitted soldiers in the ranks between twenty and twenty-five years, who, at the date of its commencement, have been actually in service in their regiments for two years.

A board of examiners passes through France once every year, and examines all who present themselves having the prescribed qualifications.

A list of such candidates as are found eligible for admission to St. Cyr is submitted to the Minister of War. The number of vacancies has already been determined, and the candidates admitted are taken in the order of merit.

Twenty-seven, or sometimes a greater number, are annually, at the close of their second year of study, placed in competition with twenty-five candidates from the second lieutenants belonging to the army, if so many are forthcoming, for admission to the Staff School of Paris. This advantage is one object which serves as a stimulus to exertion, the permission being given according to rank in the classification by order of merit.

In regard to the Polytechnic School, the Commission say:

Admission to the School is, and has been since its first commencement in 1794, obtained by competition in a general examination, held yearly, and open to all. Every French youth between the ages of sixteen and twenty (or if in the army up to the age of twenty-five) may offer himself as a candidate.

This is the system which was organized by Carnot and adopted and extended by Napoleon. Under this system the French army has attained its perfection of organization, its high discipline, its science, its dash, and its efficiency.

But not the French alone have adopted the competitive system. In England, all whose traditions are aristocratical, where promotion in the army has so long been made by patronage and by purchase, the sturdy common sense of the nation has pushed away the obstructions that have blocked up the avenues to the army, and have opened them to merit, come from what quarter it may. In the commencement of the Crimean war, the English people were shocked at the evident inferiority of their army to the French. Their officers did not know how to take care of their men, or how to fight them. And although in the end British pluck and British persistence vindicated themselves as they always have and always will, it was not till thousands of lives had been sacrificed that might have been saved under a better system. No French officer would have permitted that memorable charge at Balaklava, which was as remarkable for the stupidity that ordered it as for the valor that executed it, and which has been sung in verses nearly as bad as the generalship which they celebrate. After the war, the English Government, with the practical good sense which usually distinguishes it, came, without difficulty, to the conclusion that merit was better than family in officering the army, and that it was more desirable to put its epaulets upon the shoulder of those who could take care of the men and lead them properly than upon those who could trace their descent to the Conqueror, or whose uncles could return members of Parliament. Accordingly, the Royal Military Academy, which had been filled, as ours is, by patronage, was thrown open to public competition. On this subject I quote from the very interesting and valuable report of the Visitors of the Military Academy in 1863:

The same principle was applied to appointments and promotion in the new regiments called for by the exigencies of the great war in which England found herself engaged.

Subjects, time, and place of examination were officially made known throughout the kingdom, and commissions to conduct the examinations were appointed, composed of men of good common sense, military officers, and eminent practical teachers and educators. The results, as stated in a debate in Parliament five years later, on extending this principle to all public schools, and all appointments and promotions in every department of the public service, were as follows: in the competitive examinations for admission to the Royal Military Academy candidates from all classes of society appeared--sons of merchants, attorneys, clergymen, mechanics, and noblemen, and among the successful competitors every class was represented. Among the number was the son of a mechanic in the arsenal at Woolwich, and the son of an earl who was at that time a cabinet minister--the graduates of national schools, and the students of Eton, and other great public schools.

On this point Mr. Edward Chadwick, in a report before the National
Social Science Association, at Cambridge in 1862, says:

“Out of an average three hundred patronage-appointed cadets at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, for officers of engineers and the artillery, during the five years preceding the adoption of the principle of open competition for admission to the Academy, there were fifty who were, after long and indulgent trial and with a due regard to influential parents and patrons, dismissed for hopeless incapacity for the service of those scientific corps. During the five subsequent years, which have been years of the open-competition principle, there has not been one dismissed for incapacity. Moreover, the general standard of capacity has been advanced. An eminent professor of this university, who has taught as well under the patronage as under the competitive system at that Academy, declares that the quality of mind of the average of the cadets has been improved by the competition, so much so that he considers that the present average quality of the mind of cadets there, though the sorts of attainment are different, has been brought up to the average of the first-class men of this (Cambridge) university, which of itself is a great gain. Another result, the opposite to that which was confidently predicted by the opponents to the principle, has been that the average physical power or bodily strength, instead of being diminished, is advanced beyond the average of their predecessors.”

I read this also from the same report:

Another result of immense importance to the educational interests of Great Britain has followed the introduction of these open competitive examinations for appointments to the military and naval schools, to the East India service, as well as to fill vacancies in the principal clerkships in the war, admiralty, ordnance, and home departments of the Government. A stimulus of the most healthy and powerful kind, worth more than millions of pecuniary endowment, has been given to all the great schools of the country, including the universities of England, Scotland, and Ireland. As soon as it was known that candidates, graduates of Trinity College, Dublin, had succeeded over competitors from Oxford and Edinburg in obtaining valuable appointments in the East India service, the professors in the latter universities began to look to their laurels. As soon as it was known to the master of any important school that some of his leading pupils might compete in these examinations, and that his own reputation as a teacher depended in a measure on the success or failure of these pupils, he had a new motive to impart the most vigorous and thorough training.

Such has been the result in France and in England. We are not without examples at home. The competitive system has been tried in repeated instances here in the appointments both to the Military and the Naval Academy. Several Representatives in Congress, with a conscientious sense of the responsibility resting upon them, have given their patronage to the result of general competition, among them the gentleman who so ably represented, in the last Congress, the district in which I live. The results have been most satisfactory. Here, again, I will quote from the report of the Board of Visitors for 1863:

The principle itself, of selection by merit, either in the mode of public examination or of careful and searching inquiry by competent and impartial educators designated for this purpose by the parties to whom custom, and not law, had assigned the grave responsibility of nominating candidates, has been voluntarily applied in several Congressional districts. Not a cadet known to have been thus selected and appointed has ever broken down from want of vigor of body or mind, or failed to reach and maintain an honorable position on the merit-roll of the Academy; and to this careful selection by those who felt the responsibility of the privilege accorded to them is the country indebted for its most eminent and useful officers.

The same report makes some observations on another point:

To the objection that selection by public competitive examination will involve expense, we reply that any expense which will do away with the prejudices against the Academy, which the present system of patronage has done so much directly and indirectly to evoke and foster, and which will, at the same time, exclude incompetent and secure the services of vigorous, talented, well-trained officers for every arm of the service, will be well incurred. But in our opinion there will be no more expense in selecting and educating a given number of cadets on this plan than on the present. The two thousand cadets who were appointed by patronage and failed to graduate, cost the Government, directly and indirectly, each year a much larger sum than it would have taken to have excluded them in advance from the institution by competitive examination and filling their places by better men; and their exclusion by substituting better material would have been an incalculable gain to the Academy, facilitating its discipline, increasing the value of its instruction, and giving to the Army a larger number of competent officers.

Even under the despotic government of Austria the competitive system has been adopted for the higher places, and it has been adopted by Prussia and Italy. In Austria every subject can claim admission into the military schools on payment of the cost of his instruction; and all the appointments to the staff are on the competitive system. On this subject I read from the work upon Military Education and Schools, by Hon. Henry Barnard, who stands in the very front rank of the great educators, and who gives, to the competitive system the weight of a name which alone should incline us strongly in its favor:

The yearly examinations, the manner in which the marks of the monthly examinations tell on the final one, and the careful classification of the pupils in the order of merit, reminded us of the system of the Polytechnic more than any other school we have seen. * * * *

The arrangements for the general staff-school require more remark.

In our report upon Austrian schools we have specially noticed this school as remarkable for its thorough and open competitive character from first to last, and its very sensible plan of study. Admission to it is by competition, open to officers of all arms. The pupils are not unduly overburdened with work; perhaps there is even room for one or two more subjects of importance; but what is done seems to be done thoroughly. The officers are carefully ranked on leaving the school, according as the abilities they have displayed may be considered a criterion of their fitness for employment on the general staff; and in this order they enter the staff corps. The consequence is that every officer knows distinctly, from the time that he first competes for admission until his final examination on leaving, that the order in which he will enter the staff depends entirely on his own exertions and success at the school. It seemed to us that this open competition produced a spirit of confidence and energy in the students as great, if not greater, than any we met with elsewhere.

I quote from the same work in regard to the military education in Sardinia:

Admission into the artillery and engineer school may be considered the reward of the most distinguished pupils of the _Accademia Militare_, who, after spending their last year in that institution in the study of the higher mathematics, chemistry, and architectural drawing, are transferred for the completion of their education to the school of the artillery and engineers.

The staff-school, the formation of which dates from 1850, is chiefly frequented by officers of the infantry and cavalry, who must be below the age of twenty-eight years upon their entrance. It is carried on upon the competitive final examination, the ablest entering the staff corps in that order.

In the same work Mr. Barnard characterizes the Staff-School at Vienna:

The most striking features in the system of this school, both at the entrance and throughout the course, are, that it is distinctly competitive, that it admits very young officers, and that while the work is considerable, the subjects for study are not numerous. In these three points it differs considerably from the Prussian staff-school, in which the students are generally older, and the principle of competition is not so fully carried out. In the Austrian school the students are placed, on entering, in the order which their entrance examination has just fixed. They are examined once a month during their stay. On leaving the school their respective places are again determined, and they have a claim for appointments in the staff corps in the exact order in which they were placed on leaving the school. In Belgium, the competitive system is fully adopted.

The following testimony is from a report on the progress of the principle of competitive examination for admission into the public service, read before Section F. Economic Science and Statistics of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at Leeds, September 27, 1858, by Edward Chadwick:

Mr. Canon Mosely attests that the “qualifications of the whole” body of competitive candidates appeared to rise above the general “level of the education of the country.” It is stated in evidence before the commissioners for inquiring into the means of improving the sanitary condition of the army, that this was most decidedly so of the whole body of competing candidates for medical appointments in the East India service. Mr. Canon Mosely concludes his report on the last year’s experience in the following terms: “With reference to the general scope and tendency of competitive examinations, I may perhaps be permitted the observation, that the consciousness which success in such examinations brings with it in early life of a power to act resolutely on a determinate plan, and to achieve a difficult success, contributes more than the consciousness of talent to the formation of a manly and honorable character, and to success on whatever career a man may enter.”

The report of the last Board of Visitors at West Point, from which I have read, I believe has not yet been printed by Congress; I have read from a pamphlet copy of it printed in the Journal of Education. The Board was composed, as it usually is, of men of high character and ability. After a full and laborious examination of the whole subject, they unanimously and earnestly recommend the adoption of the competitive system.

If the appointments to fill and maintain the corps at this maximum [four hundred] can be selected out of the many American youths ambitious to serve their country in the Army, on the plan of an open competitive examination in the several States, the Visitors believe that ninety out of every one hundred thus appointed will go through the whole course with honor, and the average ability, scholarship, and good conduct of the whole corps will equal that now reached by the first ten of each class.

With such experience of other nations, with such examples at home, I submit that we may safely in this republican country give our young men the privileges that are conceded in imperial France and in aristocratic England; that we may safely place competition against patronage, and give to modest merit a chance with pretentious imbecility. I would go somewhat further in the competitive system. I would not have the Army or the Navy officered exclusively by the graduates of the national Academies. If any young man, at his own expense, and by his own study and aptitude for the profession, has fitted himself for a command in either, let the competition be open to him equally with those who have been instructed at the public expense, and let the epaulets rest on the shoulders that are most worthy to wear them. But I do not propose to follow the subject to this extent at present. I shall be abundantly content if the Senate will adopt the competitive system, which has worked so well in other countries and so well here as far as it has been tried, in the Military Academy.

TABLE VII.--SUMMARY OF EXAMINATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY FOR FIFTEEN YEARS, FROM 1856 TO 1870, INCLUSIVE.

[Transcriber’s Note:
The following tables were printed sideways, on two pairs of facing
pages. Each has been rearranged for this e-text. The table labeled
“Rejections for Literary incompetency”, was originally part of the
main Table VIII. Under “Table VIII, Continued”, the information for
the two Academies has been split into separate tables.]

[KEY]
C Candidates.
A Accepted, total.
T Total.
PD Physical Disability
15Y During fifteen years. [_1856-1870: See second table_]
W Writing, including orthography.
R Reading.
A Arithmetic.
Ge Geography.
Gr Grammar.
H History.

---------------+-----+-----+------------------------------------
| | | Rejected.
| | +---+--------------------------------
| | | | On what account.
| | | +--------------------------------
| | | | | Literary incompetency.
Appointed | | | | +---+------------------------
from-- | | | | | | Deficient in--
| | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+----
| C | A | T |PD |15Y| W | R | A |Ge |Gr | H
+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----
| No.| No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.| No.
---------------+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----
Alabama | 32| 20| 12| 1| 11| 5| 3| 4| 7| 7| 7
Arkansas | 10| 7| 3| 1| 2| 1| 1| 1| 1| 2| ..
California | 15| 12| 3| ..| 3| ..| ..| 2| 3| 2| 3
Connecticut | 22| 14| 8| 2| 6| 2| ..| 4| 1| 2| 2
Delaware | 11| 6| 5| ..| 5| 2| 2| 4| 3| 3| 4
Florida | 4| 4| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..
Georgia | 32| 23| 9| ..| 9| 7| 2| 7| 4| 3| 5
Illinois | 55| 47| 8| 1| 7| 5| 1| 1| 2| 4| 1
Indiana | 67| 46| 21| 2| 19| 17| 8| 9| 3| 3| 3
Iowa | 24| 19| 5| 1| 4| 4| 3| 3| ..| ..| ..
Kansas | 6| 3| 3| ..| 3| 2| ..| 1| 2| 1| 1
Kentucky | 60| 43| 17| ..| 17| 8| 5| 9| 7| 6| 6
Louisiana | 18| 14| 4| 1| 3| 2| ..| 3| 1| 1| 1
Maine | 26| 22| 4| ..| 4| 3| ..| 2| 3| 1| 2
Maryland | 32| 25| 7| 2| 5| 3| 2| 3| 1| 1| 1
Massachusetts | 43| 42| 1| ..| 1| ..| ..| ..| 1| ..| ..
Michigan | 29| 20| 9| 1| 8| 6| ..| 3| ..| 2| 3
Minnesota | 11| 9| 2| ..| 2| 2| ..| 1| ..| ..| ..
Mississippi | 24| 16| 8| 1| 7| 4| 4| 4| 6| 5| 5
Missouri | 48| 32| 16| 1| 15| 12| 6| 7| 1| 6| 3
Nebraska | 5| 4| 1| ..| 1| ..| ..| ..| ..| 1| 1
Nevada | 7| 1| 6| ..| 6| 1| ..| 3| 1| 3| 1
New Hampshire | 14| 12| 2| 1| 1| 1| ..| ..| 1| ..| 1
New Jersey | 27| 25| 2| 1| 1| ..| ..| 1| ..| ..| 1
New York | 157| 128| 29| 4| 25| 15| 1| 6| 6| 10| 6
North Carolina | 32| 26| 6| ..| 6| 2| 1| 4| 1| ..| 1
Ohio | 111| 80| 31| 4| 27| 18| 13| 9| 3| 6| 4
Oregon | 4| 3| 1| ..| 1| ..| ..| 1| ..| ..| ..
Pennsylvania | 127| 101| 26| 6| 20| 13| 6| 10| 4| 5| 4
Rhode Island | 7| 7| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..
South Carolina | 22| 17| 5| 1| 4| 2| ..| 3| 1| 2| 2
Tennessee | 48| 33| 15| 3| 12| 10| 4| 3| 3| 2| 2
Texas | 8| 5| 3| ..| 3| 1| ..| 3| 2| 1| 1
Vermont | 13| 12| 1| ..| 1| 1| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..
Virginia | 46| 34| 12| 1| 11| 8| 4| 6| 3| 3| 2
West Virginia | 10| 6| 4| 1| 3| 2| 1| 1| 1| 1| ..
Wisconsin | 27| 20| 7| 2| 5| 3| 1| 3| ..| 1| ..
Dist. Columbia | 6| 5| 1| ..| 1| 1| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..
Colorado Ter. | 4| 2| 2| ..| 2| 1| 1| 1| 1| 1| ..
New Mexico | 5| 4| 1| ..| 1| 1| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..
Utah Ter. | 3| 3| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..
Washington Ter.| 4| 4| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..
Dakota Ter. | 3| 3| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..
Arizona Ter. | 2| 2| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..
Idaho Ter. | 4| | 4| ..| 4| 2| ..| 3| 2| 3| 2
Montana | 1| 1| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..
Wyoming Ter. | 1| 1| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..| ..
At large | 192| 170| 22| 3| 19| 7| 7| 8| 6| 9| 6
+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---
Grand totals |1,459|1,133|326| 41|285|173| 76|133| 80| 98|81
---------------+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---

REJECTIONS FOR LITERARY INCOMPETENCY, BY YEAR:

---------------+---------------------------------------------
Appointed | In the year 18..
from-- +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---
|56|57|58|59|60|61|62|63|64|65|66|67|68|69|70
---------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---
Alabama |..| 1|..| 1|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..| 3| 1| 4
Arkansas |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..| 1
California |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 2| 1|..
Connecticut |..|..| 2|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..| 3
Delaware |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1| 2|..| 1| 1
Florida |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..
Georgia |..| 2| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 4| 2|..
Illinois | 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..| 1|..| 3|..| 1
Indiana | 1| 2|..| 3| 1|..|..| 1| 2| 3| 2| 2| 1| 1|..
Iowa |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 2| 1| 1|..|..|..|..
Kansas |..| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 2
Kentucky | 1|..| 1|..|..| 1|..| 1| 2| 1|..|..| 3| 2| 5
Louisiana |..|..| 1|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1
Maine |..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..|..| 1| 2
Maryland |..|..| 1|..|..| 2|..| 1|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..
Massachusetts |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1
Michigan |..|..|..| 1| 1|..|..|..| 1|..| 1|..| 3| 1|..
Minnesota |..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..|..
Mississippi | 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 6
Missouri | 1|..| 1| 3| 2|..|..|..|..|..| 2|..| 2|..| 4
Nebraska |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..
Nevada |..|..|..|..|..|..| 2|..|..|..|..| 1|..| 1| 2
New Hampshire |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..
New Jersey |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1
New York | 2| 2|..| 2|..| 1| 2|..| 1| 2|..| 1| 4| 1| 7
North Carolina | 1| 1| 2|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1| 1|..
Ohio | 3| 2| 1| 1| 2| 2| 3|..| 1| 1| 2| 2| 1| 1| 5
Oregon |..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..
Pennsylvania | 1| 2| 2| 2|..| 1| 2| 1|..| 2|..| 1|..|..| 6
Rhode Island |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..
South Carolina |..| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1| 1| 1
Tennessee |..|..| 1|..| 1|..| 1|..| 1| 1| 1| 1| 3| 1| 1
Texas |..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 2
Vermont |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..
Virginia | 3| 1|..| 1|..| 1| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 4
West Virginia |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..| 1| 1|..
Wisconsin |..|..|..| 1| 1| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 2|..
Dist. Columbia |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..
Colorado Ter. |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 2
New Mexico | 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..
Utah Ter. |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..
Washington Ter.|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..
Dakota Ter. |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..
Arizona Ter. |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..
Idaho Ter. |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1| 1|..| 1| 1
Montana |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..
Wyoming Ter. |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..
At large |..| 1| 1| 1|..|..|..| 2|..|..| 1| 2| 1| 3| 7
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---
Grand totals |16|16|14|16| 9|11|11| 8|13|13|15|14|36|23|70
---------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---

TABLE VIII--Continued.--SUMMARY OF EXAMINATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY DURING THE YEAR 1871.

----------------------+---+---+--------------------------------
| | | Rejected.
| | +---+----------------------------
| | | | On what account.
| | | +---+------------------------
| | | | | For deficiency in--
| | | | +---+---+---+---+---+----
STATES | C | A | T |PD | R | W | A |Ge |Gr | H
AND +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----
TERRITORIES. |No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.
----------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----
Alabama | 4| 1| 3| | | | 1| 3| 2| 3
Arkansas | 1| | 1| | | | 1| | 1| 1
California | | | | | | | | | |
Connecticut | 2| 1| 1| | | | 1| | 1|
Delaware | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Florida | | | | | | | | | |
Georgia | 4| | 4| 1| | | 2| 2| 2| 3
Illinois | 3| 2| 1| | | | 1| | |
Indiana | 4| 3| 1| | | | 1| 1| 1| 1
Iowa | 4| 2| 2| 1| | | | | 1|
Kansas | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Kentucky | 7| 4| 3| | 2| 3| 2| 2| 3| 2
Louisiana | 2| 2| | | | | | | |
Maine | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Maryland | | | | | | | | | |
Massachusetts | 4| 3| 1| 1| | | | | |
Michigan | | | | | | | | | |
Minnesota | | | | | | | | | |
Mississippi | 3| 3| | | | | | | |
Missouri | 4| 1| 3| | | 2| | | 1| 2
Nebraska | | | | | | | | | |
Nevada | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
New Hampshire | | | | | | | | | |
New Jersey | 2| 1| 1| | | | | | 1| 1
New York | 15| 10| 5| 2| | 1| | 2| 3| 2
North Carolina | | | | | | | | | |
Ohio | 9| 8| 1| | | 1| | 1| 1| 1
Oregon | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Pennsylvania | 13| 8| 5| 2| 1| 1| 1| 1| 3| 2
Rhode Island | 2| 1| 1| 1| | | | | 1|
South Carolina | | | | | | | | | |
Tennessee | 4| 3| 1| | | | 1| 1| | 1
Texas | 2| 2| | | | | | | |
Vermont | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Virginia | 5| 1| 4| 1| | 1| 2| 1| 2| 2
West Virginia | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Wisconsin | 2| 1| 1| | | 1| 1| | 1| 1
Arizona Ter. | | | | | | | | | |
Colorado Ter. | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Dakota Ter. | | | | | | | | | |
District of Columbia. | | | | | | | | | |
Idaho Ter. | | | | | | | | | |
Montana Ter. | | | | | | | | | |
New Mexico Ter. | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Utah Ter. | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Washington Ter. | | | | | | | | | |
Wyoming Ter. | | | | | | | | | |
Foreign | | | | | | | | | |
At Large | 13| 10| 3| 2| | | 1| | |
----------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---
Total |119| 77| 42| 11| 3| 10| 15| 14| 24| 22
----------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---

TABLE VIII--Continued.--SUMMARY OF EXAMINATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY DURING THE YEAR 1871.

----------------------+---+---+--------------------------------
| | | Rejected.
| | +---+----------------------------
| | | | On What account.
| | | +---+------------------------
| | | | | For deficiency in--
| | | | +---+---+---+---+---+----
STATES | C | A | T |PD | R | W | A |Ge |Gr | H
AND +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----
TERRITORIES. |No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.
----------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----
Alabama | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Arkansas | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
California | | | | | | | | | |
Connecticut | 1| | 1| | | | 1| | |
Delaware | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Florida | | | | | | | | | |
Georgia | 3| 3| | | | | | | |
Illinois | 5| 3| 2| | | 2| 2| 2| 1|
Indiana | 6| 4| 2| | | 2| 2| 1| 2|
Iowa | | | | | | | | | |
Kansas | | | | | | | | | |
Kentucky | 2| 1| 1| | | | 1| | |
Louisiana | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Maine | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Maryland | 4| 2| 2| | | 1| 1| 1| |
Massachusetts | 2| 2| | | | | | | |
Michigan | 1| | 1| | | | 1| 1| 1|
Minnesota | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Mississippi | 3| 2| 1| | | 1| 1| 1| 1|
Missouri | 3| 3| | | | | | | |
Nebraska | | | | | | | | | |
Nevada | | | | | | | | | |
New Hampshire | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
New Jersey | 2| 2| | | | | | | |
New York | 11| 9| 2| | | 2| 2| 1| 2|
North Carolina | 2| 1| 1| | | 1| 1| | |
Ohio | 5| 3| 2| | | 1| 2| | |
Oregon | | | | | | | | | |
Pennsylvania | 5| 1| 4| 1| | 3| 3| 3| 2|
Rhode Island | 1| | 1| 1| | | | | |
South Carolina | 2| 1| 1| | | | 1| | |
Tennessee | 5| 3| 2| 1| | | | | |
Texas | | | | | | | | | |
Vermont | 2| 1| 1| | | 1| 1| | |
Virginia | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
West Virginia | | | | | | | | | |
Wisconsin | 2| 2| | | | | | | |
Arizona Ter. | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Colorado Ter. | | | | | | | | | |
Dakota Ter. | | | | | | | | | |
District of Columbia. | | | | | | | | | |
Idaho Ter. | | | | | | | | | |
Montana Ter. | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
New Mexico Ter. | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Utah Ter. | | | | | | | | | |
Washington Ter. | 1| 1| | | | | | | |
Wyoming Ter. | | | | | | | | | |
Foreign | *1| 1| | | | | | | |
At Large | 17| 15| 2| | | 1| 2| 1| 1|
----------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---
Total | 97| 71| 26| 3| | 15| 21| 11| 10|
----------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---

[* A Japanese student.]

ARTILLERY SCHOOL AT FORTRESS MONROE

HISTORICAL NOTICE.

The Artillery School of the United States Army at Fortress Monroe, was organized and opened April 1, 1868, under a code of regulations and programme of instruction drawn up by Col. William F. Barry (who was placed in command from the start), and approved by the General of the Army. After two years of experience the code and programme were revised, and the present system established. The class of 1868 and of 1869, consisted, each, of twenty lieutenants of artillery, and of the whole number, thirty-eight were sent back to their regiments after having passed a satisfactory examination. To this number at the close of the school year (April) 1871, sixteen more out of the class of twenty were found qualified to return to their respective regiments; twenty more are now in the progress of instruction, constituting together one-half of all the officers of that grade belonging to the artillery.

COURSE OF INSTRUCTION.[16]

[Footnote 16: Report of Col. Barry, dated September 12, 1871.]

The course of theoretical instruction embraces the subjects of mathematics, ordnance, and gunnery, military engineering and surveying, military history, and military, constitutional, and international law. The method of pursuing these studies is very similar to that pursued at the Military Academy at West Point, viz., by recitations, questions, and demonstrations at the blackboard. In military history each officer is required, in addition to his regular recitations, to prepare and read before the class and staff of the school two essays or memoirs upon some battle, campaign, or the military events of some epoch of peculiar interest.

The topics for these essays are selected by the instructor in military history, with the approval of the commandant and superintendent of instruction, and are generally confined to events not prior to the last two decades of the eighteenth century.

The necessary maps, instruments, and apparatus for the elucidation or practical application of the various subjects of the entire range of the theoretical course have to a considerable extent been supplied to the school by requisitions upon the Engineer and Ordnance Departments of the Army. They are kept in active use, and are of the greatest value.

Instructions in the theoretical course is confined to the months of autumn, winter, and the early spring, except instruction in mathematics, which unavoidably has to be given during the months of May, June, July, and August.

The course of practical instruction is pursued, as the weather permits, throughout the entire year, but is more closely attended to during the months of summer and autumn. This course consists of the service of every species of gun, howitzer, or mortar in use in the United States military service; of the use of the various kinds of projectiles and fuses; the laying of platforms; the use of plane-tables, and telemeters, for ascertaining ranges; of mechanical manœuvres; transportation and other handling of all kinds of ordnance, and particularly of the 15-inch guns and their carriages, and of 13-inch mortars and their beds, and of other heavy material which has been adopted into the artillery of the United States.

The practical course also includes very full target practice with every description of ordnance; the duties of the laboratory, as far as they immediately concern officers of artillery; and the study of and recitation in the tactics for light and heavy artillery, and as much of the tactics for infantry as is essential for artillery officers.

Guns, carriages, ammunition, platforms, artillery machines, including hydraulic-jacks of greater or less power, and other appliances, are supplied by requisition on the Ordnance Department in such number and variety as may be desired. The school is compelled to be indebted to the Ordnance Department for the occasional use, when necessary, of some of its instruments and apparatus for determining initial velocities, pressures, densities, etc.

Instruction in the practical course is designed to be as thorough as possible, and no officer leaves the school who has not become practically familiar with the tools of his trade, and able to use them intelligently.

A school for non-commissioned officers, and for such other enlisted men as may desire to avail themselves of its advantages, is also established. Every non-commissioned officer belonging to the five instruction batteries is required to attend the school for one year’s full course of instruction; all other enlisted men are permitted to attend. But their attendance upon school is entirely voluntary. Enlisted men of good character, and belonging to batteries not stationed at the post where the Artillery School is established, are also permitted to enjoy the benefits of one year’s course of instruction at the school. Such men, on their own application, are nominated by their battery commanders to their regimental commanders, on whose approval they are detached from their batteries, by orders from the head-quarters of the Army, and directed to report themselves in person to the commanding officer of the school. Of this last-named class of men twenty-two have undergone or are now undergoing instruction at the school.

The course of instruction for the non-commissioned officers is both practical and theoretical. The practical course is pursued _pari passu_ with that of the commissioned officers, but is not carried to the same extent, being restricted to the scope of the necessary duties and requirements of non-commissioned officers of artillery, and to the average capacity of enlisted men of that grade in our Army.

The theoretical course of instruction for the non-commissioned officers embraces mathematics, history of the United States, geography, reading, and writing. The subject of mathematics includes the entire field of arithmetic, and, for the more advanced scholars, it is carried as far as equations of the second degree in algebra. The instruction in most of the branches is conducted as in the school for commissioned officers, by recitations at the blackboard, and by questions.

Since the commencement of the duties of the Artillery School one hundred and three enlisted men (chiefly non-commissioned officers) have gone through the entire course of practical and theoretical instruction for one year, and have been awarded by the staff of the school engraved certificates, signed by each of its members, setting forth that fact.

The following-named officers constitute the staff and instructors at the school at the present date, and, with the above-stated exceptions, have been thus on duty since its first establishment:

_Commandant._--Colonel W. F. Barry, Second Artillery.

_Superintendent of Theoretical Instruction._--Lieutenant-Colonel I. Roberts, Fourth Artillery.

_Superintendent of Practical Instruction._--Major G. A. De Russy, Third Artillery.

_Member of Staff._--Major T. G. Baylor, Ordnance Department.

_Adjutant of School and Secretary of Staff._--First Lieutenant I. C. Breckinridge, Second Artillery.

_Instructor in Mathematics, Ordnance, and Gunnery._--Captain R. Lodor, Fourth Artillery.

_Instructor in Military, International, and Constitutional Law, and in Tactics._--Captain S. S. Elder, First Artillery.

_Instructor in Mathematics and Military Engineering._--Captain S. N. Benjamin, Second Artillery.

_Instructor in Mathematics and Military History._--Captain E. R. Warner, Third Artillery.

_Instructor in Tactics._--Captain J. W. Piper, Fifth Artillery.

A library of books of reference, professional instruction and general reading, to the number of 2,050 volumes, belongs to the school, made up of duplicates from the libraries of the War Department and the Military Academy, and a bequest of Col. Archer.

A museum of field, siege, and sea-coast artillery; specimens of primers, fuses, and projectiles; different varieties of small arms of this and other countries; instruments for inspecting cannon and projectiles, has been commenced by the Superintendent, as a useful aid to the course of practical and theoretical instruction in the school. It now numbers over 4,000 articles.

The Artillery School has been organized and conducted thus far to the satisfaction of the Department, and favor, with this arm of the service, without any special pecuniary expense to the Government by the present Commandant, Col. William F. Barry--who closes his annual Report with the remarkable paragraph:--“No special appropriation (beyond the ordinary requirements of this Military Post) for the maintenance of this school are now needed, and none are required.”

VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE AT LEXINGTON.

HISTORICAL NOTICE.

The VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE at Lexington, was established in 1839, and was organized and conducted from the start on the plan of the Military Academy at West Point, by Col. Francis H. Smith, a graduate of that institution of the class of 1833, and professor there from 1834 to 1836.

The State makes an annual appropriation of $15,000 for its support, on the basis of which a certain number (usually 36) cadets are admitted without charge; in consideration of which they are required to teach in some school of the State for two years after graduation. In the selection of State cadets regard is had to their capacity to profit, and inability to pay the expenses of tuition and board, and an equal representation of each senatorial district. Any commissioned officer of the militia of the State can become a student for a period not exceeding ten months, and receive instruction in any or all departments of military science taught therein, without charge for tuition.

The course of instruction was from the start distinctly scientific, and since its return [from Richmond where it was removed after the destruction of its building and library, when Lexington was taken possession of by Gen. Hunter] in 1866, and its reorganization on its present basis of a general School of Applied Science, it has become even technic in reference to all the chief industries and natural resources of Virginia.

The origin and military character of the Institute are thus set forth by the Superintendent in an address to the Corps of Cadets, Sept. 10, 1866:

Peculiar circumstances gave to this Institution its distinctive military character. Here the State had a deposit of arms, in an arsenal, which had been established for many years before the organization of the Institution, and the annuity which had been formerly given to the public guard by the State, was transferred to the Virginia Military Institute, as the basis of its support. Upon this foundation the Virginia Military Institute was established, and as the duty imposed upon the cadet was military, so military discipline and military instruction became an essential and distinctive feature in the education it supplied. Besides daily exercises in the school of the soldier, company, and battalion in _infantry_, and of the piece and battery in _artillery_ tactics, minute instruction is given in the class-room, upon all the theoretic branches of the military art, embracing, in addition to those enumerated, _ordnance_ and _gunnery_, _military strategy_ and _military history_, and the principles and practice of field and permanent fortifications.

It is not necessary that I should say any thing, at this time, to vindicate the completeness of the arrangements made in this institution for theoretical and practical military education. The sanguinary conflict which has just closed has fully tested its efficiency. _One-tenth_ of the Confederate Armies was commanded by the éléves of this school, embracing three _major generals_, thirty _brigadier generals_, sixty _colonels_, fifty _lieutenant colonels_, thirty _majors_, one hundred and twenty-five _captains_, between two and three hundred _lieutenants_; and the terrible results of the battles, in numbering one hundred and twenty-five of these among the _killed_, and three hundred and fifty among the _wounded_, show that the éléves of this institution met the call of their country with an earnestness of devotion which places them in most honorable distinction for their heroic defense of what they believed to be right.[17]

[Footnote 17: Although no one institution contributed so large a
number of officers to the Confederate Armies, the Military
Institute at Frankfort, Ky., the Cadet Corps connected with the
arsenals in Norfolk, Richmond, and other Southern cities, and the
State Military Institutes in Alabama and Louisiana, furnished a
large number of subordinate officers, which facilitated the early
organization of the armed forces of the South.]

We give the organization and course of instruction from the latest Circular, issued by the Superintendent.

_Academic Staff._

_Superintendent, and Professor of Mathematics and Moral
Philosophy_--General Francis H. Smith, A.M.

_Professor of Latin, and, English Literature_--Col. John T. L.
Preston, A.M.

_Professor of Practical Engineering, Architecture, and Drawing_--Col.
Thomas H. Williamson.

_Professor of Agriculture_--Col. Wm. Gilham, A.M., (Philip St. George
Cocke).[18]

[Footnote 18: Gen. Cocke, in 1866, gave $20,000 to endow this
professorship.]

_Professor of Animal and Vegetable Physiology applied to
Agriculture_--Col. Robert L. Madison, M. D. (Mercer).[19]

[Footnote 19: Dr. Mercer of Louisiana, made a donation of $11,800
to this chair.]

_Commandant of Cadets, Instructor of Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery Tactics, and Professor of Military History and Strategy_--Col. Scott Ship.

_Professor of Mathematics_--Col. James W. Massie.

_Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy_--Col. William B.
Blair, (Jackson).

_Professor of Civil and Military Engineering and Applied
Mechanics_--General G. W. C. Lee.

_Professor of Practical Astronomy, Geology, Descriptive and Physical
Geography and Meteorology_--Col. John M. Brooke.

_Professor of Geology, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy_--Col. Marshall
McDonald.

_Professor of General and Applied Chemistry_--Col. M. B. Hardin.

_Professor of Modern Languages_--Col. Thomas M. Semmes.

_Professor of Physics and Superintendent of Physical Survey of
Virginia_--Commodore M. E. Maury, LL. D.

_Professor of Fine Arts_--Col. William D. Washington.

_Assistant Professors._

_Assistant in Physics_--Col. W. E. Cutshaw.

_Assistant Professor of French Language_--Capt. O. C. Henderson.

_Assistant Prof, of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology_--Capt. J. H.
Morrison.

_Assistant Professor of English, and Drawing_--Lieut. James H.
Waddell.

_Assistant Professor of Latin_--Capt. Win. M. Patton.

_Assistant Professor of Mathematics_--Lieut. R. H. Cousins.

_Assistant Prof. of Geography, Drawing and Tactics_--Capt. Wm. B.
Pritchard.

_Assistant Professor of Mineralogy, Latin, and Tactics_--Capt. W. H.
Butler.

_Assistant Professor of Natural Philosophy and Latin_--Lieut. R. E.
Nelson.

_Assistant Professor of Mathematics_--Lieut. W. C. Powell.

_Assistant Professor of Latin_--Lieut. James E. Heath.

_Assistant Professor of Drawing_--Lieut. M. Palmer.

_Assistant Professor of Tactics_--Capt. W. Denham.

_Assistant Professor of Mathematics, &c._,--Capt. G. K. Macon.

_Military Staff._

_Surgeon_--Col. R. L. Madison.

_Ass’t Surgeon_--H. T. Barton, M.D.

_Act’g Treasurer_--Capt. W. A. Deas.

_Com. and Steward_--Capt. J. T. Gibbs.

_Adjutant_--Capt. F. H. Smith, Jr.

III. SCHOOLS AND COURSES OF INSTRUCTION.

_Academic Schools._

_First Year_--_Fourth Class._--Arithmetic (Smith and Duke’s); Algebra (Smith’s); Geometry (Smith’s Legendre); Plane and Spherical Trigonometry (Smith’s); French (Levizac and La Porte’s Grammar, Gil Blas, Pinney No. 5, Fasquelle); Geography (Maury); Pencil and Pen Drawing: Composition and Declamation; Latin (Cæsar, Virgil, Cicero, Horace).

_Second Year_--_Third Class._--Descriptive Geometry (Smith’s); Analytical Geometry (Smith’s Biot); Shades, Shadows and Perspective (Lectures): Differential and Integral Calculus (Courternay and La Croix); Surveying (Field Exercise); French (Noel and Chapsal, Laporte and Collot, French Classics); Latin (Cæsar, Virgil, Livy, and Cicero); Mechanical Drawing, Composition, and Declamation; Physics (Ganot).

_Third Year_--_Second Class._--Natural Philosophy (Bartlett and Bouchalat’s Mechanics, Bartlett’s Optics and Acoustics, Bartlett and Gummere’s Astronomy); Latin (Terence and Horace); Chemistry (Fownes, and Practical Instruction in Laboratory); Physical Geography (Somerville); Infantry Tactics.

_Fourth Year_--_First Class._--Civil Engineering (Mahan, Rankine, and Lectures); Military Engineering (Laisne, aide memoire); Architecture (Lectures and Drawing); Human Physiology (Kirke); Military History and Strategy (Jomini); Rhetoric (Blair); Intellectual Philosophy (Wayland); Logic (Whately); Moral Philosophy (Paley and Butler); Constitution of United States (Kent); Mineralogy (Dana); Geology (Gray and Adams); Infantry tactics (Hardee); Artillery and Ordnance (Benton and United States Tactics).

_Special School of Applied Science._

The Special School of Applied Science, in the Virginia Military Institute, is arranged in seven _Courses_, which may be prosecuted separately or in combination: 1. Architecture; 2. Civil Engineering; 3. Machines; 4. Mining; 5. Analytical and Applied Chemistry; 6. Metallurgy; 7. Agriculture.

I. ARCHITECTURE.--1. _Drawing_--Including pen and colored topography, mechanical lettering and coloring. 2. _Materials_--Stone, brick, wood, mortar, mastics, glue, paints, &c. 3. _Masonry_--Retaining walls, walls of inclosure, edifices, ornaments, arches, stone-cutting. 4. _Carpentry_--Timbers, framing, beams, joints, floors, partitions, roofs, domes, centres, windows, stairways. 5. _Foundations_--In water, on land. 6. _Classical Architecture_--Orders, Egypt, Rome, Greece. 7. _Design._ 8. _Romanesque._ 9. _Gothic._

II. CIVIL ENGINEERING.--1. _Drawing_--Pen and colored topography, mechanical, etc. 2. _Materials_--Same as in Course of Architecture. 4. _Carpentry_--Same as in Course of Architecture. 5. _Foundation_--Same as in Course of Architecture. 6. _Surveying_--Running lines and curves for common and railroads, canals, leveling profiles, estimates, &c. 7. _Bridges_--Stone, Wooden, Iron. 8. _Common Roads._ 9. _Railroads._ 10. _Tunnels._ 11. _Locomotives._ 12. _Canals._ 13. Rivers, Docks, Harbors. 14. _Mining._

III.--MACHINES--GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF MACHINES.--_Muscular Power_--Power of men, Power of horses, etc. _Water Power and Wind Power_--Sources of water for Power. Water-Power Engines in general. Water-Bucket Engines. Water-Pressure Engines. Vertical Water-wheels. Turbines. Fluid-on-Fluid, Impulse-Engines, Windmills. _Steam and other Heat Engines_--Relations of the Phenomena of Heat. Combustion and Fuel. Principles of Thermodynamics, Furnaces and Boilers. Steam-Engines. Electro-Magnetic Engines.

IV.--MINING.-- _Course of Lectures on Mining_--Embracing prospecting, breaking ground, boring, blasting, tubing, sinking shafts, driving tunnels, ventilating and lighting; the different methods of working mines; mining machinery and motors, engines, horses, pumps, wagons, drums, etc.; dressing and concentration of Minerals, crushers, stamps, washers, amalgamators, etc.; quarrying and open workings; details of mining in this country and statistics.

_Drawing._--Geological maps and sections; coloring the same; and plans and sections of mines, quarries and other open workings; mining machinery and implements; plans of ventilation.

V.--METALLURGY.--_Geology_ of Coal, Iron, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Salt,
etc.

_Metallurgy_--Review of more important metals and their ores; Metallurgical implements, structures, and processes, crucibles, furnaces, blowing machines; details of the smelting and manufacture of Iron, Copper, Lead, Silver, Gold, etc.

_Drawing_--Coloring of maps and sections; drawing of furnaces,
refiners, cokeing ovens; Metallurgical apparatus.

VI.--ANALYTICAL AND APPLIED CHEMISTRY.--In the Laboratory facilities are afforded for prosecuting the various branches of practical Chemistry. Each student will work independently of the others, receiving personal guidance and instruction from the Professors. In the last year the course may be varied according to the special object the student has in view.

The following is an outline of _Systematic Course for Students in Mining and Metallurgy:_ 1. Qualitative Analysis. 2. Quantitative Analysis; (_a._) Analysis of substances of known composition; (_b._) Analysis of ores, slags, etc. 3. Assayers--Ores of Lead, Silver, Gold, Iron, Copper, etc.

VII.--AGRICULTURE.--1. _Chemistry_--General and applied to Agriculture. 2. _Mineralogy._ 3. _Histology._ 4. _Vegetable Physiology._ 5. _Agricultural Botany._ 6. _Zöology._ 7. _Civil Engineering_--Applied to farm bridges, roads, drainage. 8. _Rural Architecture._ 9. _Drawing._ 10. _Anatomy and Physiology of Sub-Kingdom_--Vertebrata. 11. _Human Physiology._ 12. _Hygiene and Dietetics._ 13. _General Botany._ 14. _Animal Toxicology._ 15. _Veterinary Practice._ 16. _General Principles._ _Chemistry, Geology, Mechanics, and Domestic Economy._

IV. SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION AND GOVERNMENT.

The System of Instruction and Government is founded upon that of the
United States Military Academy at West Point.

As soon as a young man enters the Institution, it assumes over him an entire control, and not only directs his moral and intellectual education, but provides every thing required for his personal wants or comfort. A Cadet, may, if his parents desire it, remain in charge of the Institution for the entire term of four years, as the system of government keeps it always in operation. The months of July and August, in each year, are devoted exclusively to Military Exercises. Furloughs are granted to those who may desire it, in turn, during this period. The Cadets are lodged and boarded in the Institution, their Clothing, Books, and other supplies, being provided by the Quartermaster of the Institute, _at cost_. The sick are under the special care of the Surgeon, with Hospital and other facilities for nursing.

The energy, system, subordination, and self-reliance which the military government of the Institute cultivates, give a practical character to the education which it supplies. The high reputation which its Alumni have established for the School is the evidence of its value.

V. DEGREES.