in consequence of a grave nervous defect, and we owe the diagnostic to Seguin. It is very remarkable how writers who scribble about idiocy, without ever having had an opportunity of spending days and weeks with the unfortunates, and who display such arrogant ignorance of their subject when they review the labours of practical observers, invariably neglect to notice this great physiological defect. The idiot hears, but as a rule cannot enunciate a syllable correctly, and there is always a defect in the voice. Yet he may open and shut his mouth well, move his tongue properly, expand his chest, and cause some vibration of his vocal cords. But the complex association of movements to the common end of the production of voice is impossible from defective co-ordination. Again, no idiot walks or runs perfectly. The defective combination of the great number of muscles employed to produce graceful locomotion is evident. The greater the idiot, the more defective is the coordination of his muscles.

Automatic movements are also common to all the cases, and they bear a direct relation to the profundity of the idiocy. Such are balancing the body and waving the hands to and fro, moving the head from side to side, see-sawing with the body, moving like a pair of open compasses, first on one foot, then on the other, and going through all these unintentional gymnastics, one after the other, with fidgety regularity. The movements will go on hour after hour, and even for days. Fixity and wandering of the eyes and of vision are common. The child stares, in the first instance, upon vacancy, and the attention is not to be attracted; but in the last, the child moves its eyes listlessly hour after hour. The mental defects, want of regard of consequences, and want of foresight, are as evident as the absence of imagination and of all notion about abstract ideas. In idiocy there is not a weakened condition of a perfect mind, but many of the mental phenomena are not possible. The children have ears, and hear, but they do not listen. The memory of things is slight, but the recollection of events, and of time in respect to events, is rarely observed.

Sometimes one faculty is brighter than the others, and, dim as it is, it strikes the superficial thinker; but really the most brilliant gift of an idiot is far below the corresponding average of the perfect man of the same age.

The phenomena of idiocy are occasionally developed, in consequence of disease of the brain, in children and adolescents who were born in perfect possession of their faculties; but an amount of inanity is usually superadded, and of wild, odd wit also.

VI. THE FRENCH IMPERIAL SCHOOL OF FORESTRY.

By ALFRED PENGELLY, B.A. Cambridge.

Ar a time when we see fully recognized the importance of the maintenance of forests, both for commercial purposes and also for the great influence which they exert on climate, especially in tropical countries, it may not be uninteresting to the public to have set before them the steps which have been taken by the British Government for placing our Indian forests under careful and efficient management.

We learn from the Report of the British Association for 1868,* that at the meeting of this body in Edinburgh in 1850 a committee was appointed to consider "the probable effects, in an economical and physical point of view, of the destruction of tropical forests." Their Report was presented in 1851 at Ipswich, and is printed in the volume for that year. "Attention was thus directed in India to the importance of preserving every influence which tends to maintain an equilibrium of temperature and humidity, of preventing the waste of valuable material, and the special application to their various uses of the indigenous timbers of the country. A few years later forest establishments were sanctioned in British Burmah (1855), and in the Madras Presidency (1856); and in 1864 Government laid the foundation of an improved general system of forest administration for the whole Indian empire, having for its object the conservation of state forests, and the development of this source of national wealth. The appointment of Inspector-General of Forests was made, and it is now held by Dr. D. Brandis, formerly the able conservator in British Burmah.'

It is through the combined exertions of Dr. Brandis and Dr. Cleghorn, the latter the author of the paper just quoted, that the plan of sending young men to France and Germany to undergo a special training in forestry has been adopted.

About the year 1866 Dr. Brandis visited the forests of England, Germany, and France, and the Forest Schools of the latter two countries, and, as the result of his observations, advised the Government to pursue the course just mentioned. In conjunction with the French and German authorities, he drew up regulations respecting the studies of the English pupils whilst at the Forest Schools.

At the end of 1866 our Government announced their intention of sending out five young men, duly qualified, for the Forest Department of India.

*On the Distribution of the Principal Timber Trees of India, and the Progress of Forest Conservancy,' by Dr. Hugh Cleghorn: Brit. Assoc. Rep.,' p. 91.

1868.

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Candidates for these appointments were to undergo a preliminary examination in London in Arithmetic, Algebra, Trigonometry, English Dictation and Composition, the Natural Sciences, and Drawing. A knowledge of French or German was also required, and all the candidates had to pass a strict medical examination. Those who were successful were then sent either to France or Germany to study the science of Forestry, as taught in the old established schools there. It is to the course of instruction in the Ecole Impériale Forestière, established at Nancy, in the department of the Meurthe, that the present article will be devoted.

This establishment is an offspring of the German schools, having been founded in 1824, when M. Lorentz, who had studied Forestry in Germany, was made Director. It is not to be supposed, however, that the French and German systems are identical. Any one, reflecting on the characters of the two nations, would be prepared to find that the German system was more artificial, and entered much more into minutiae than that pursued in France. At all events such is the fact.

Before the establishment of the Forest School in France the administration of the forests was carried on by officers of the army, detached for the purpose, but who had received no special training for the service. This is pretty much the state of things that has obtained in India up to the present time, such officers, however, being selected as were specially fitted for the service by their botanical or scientific knowledge.

Those candidates who were sent to France had to spend eight months at Haguenau, near Strasbourg, before entering the school at Nancy, partly to ensure such a knowledge of French as would enable them to follow, with facility, the lectures of the French professors, and to take copious notes of them; and partly to give them a practical knowledge of the operations which are carried on in a large forest, such as that of Haguenau. In Novemberthe commencement of the scholastic year-they proceeded to the Ecole Impériale Forestiere at Nancy, where, with the single exception of lodging in the town instead of at the school, they were submitted to the same regulations as the pupils of the French Government.

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We shall now proceed to give a brief account of the course of study during the two years over which it extends. In each, the winter season is devoted entirely to lectures and study connected with them a portion of each day is also devoted to drawing, either for the purposes of surveying, or the construction of bridges, saw-mills, &c. After Easter commences what may be called the practical or out-door part of the course, when the whole School goes out to see the forests, and generally to apply what has been taught in the lectures. During this time, in order to prevent

confusion, the School is divided into sections, each consisting of six or seven pupils, who work together, and are responsible only for that part of the task allotted to them. In some cases, as for instance in the Triangulation to be hereafter mentioned, the results obtained by the six or seven sections are combined on the return to Nancy, so as to form one whole.

The subjects treated of in the lectures may be classed under four heads: Sylviculture, Applied Mathematics, Natural History, and Law. These lectures are carried on simultaneously, two subjects being taken on each alternate day. The Sylviculture treats first of climates, soils, and the different kinds of trees, giving their requirements, their natures, and the qualities of their timber. Then follow a description and discussion of the different methods which have been, or are still applied to the treatment of forests; in fact, a kind of introduction to the whole subject, giving a good general view, without entering into details. It must be remembered that many of the students have never seen a forest, and that therefore it is of importance to give at the outset a correct general idea of what a forest ought to be.

Under the head Mathematics is included all that is necessary for land-surveying, levelling, &c., the construction of houses for forest guards, and road-making.

The Natural History is confined to a course on Botany and Vegetable Physiology.

The Law treated of is an introduction to general principles, with a short course on the code respecting the chase.

For each of the four kinds of subjects there is a professor and an assistant-professor.

The following table shows the distribution of the work for the students of one year :

For those of the other year the arrangement is exactly the same, except that the days are interchanged.

In order to ensure attention to the lectures, any student is liable to be examined during the afternoon study time on any subject treated of in the last ten lectures. The list of those to be examined is posted up every day at 12.10, so that a short time is granted for revision. These examinations occur irregularly; hence there is nothing to warn a student when he is likely to be examined. All

that he knows is, that, come when it may, it will be on one of the subjects to which the lectures for the day are devoted.

At the end of the lecture session, generally before Easter, there are examinations on the whole of each course. These, as well as those already spoken of, are vivá voce, and in order to prevent partiality the questions are chosen in the following manner :-A book is published before the examinations commence, giving for each subject thirty sets of four or five questions, numbered from one upwards.

The student on arriving draws one of thirty numbers placed in a bag, and he is then examined on the set of questions indicated by the number drawn. The professors, however, reserve the right to. ask a question not indicated in the set drawn. These examinations last from half to three quarters of an hour. For each there are three professors; one acting as president and the others as assistants. Each gives marks, and the average of the three estimates determines the final mark for each examinee. Every student has three clear days to prepare for each examination.

Marks are given also for all the drawings executed during the year. These, like those for the smaller examinations, count only for a proportion of their value, and are added to those given for the final examination in order to the determination of the class list.

The studies after Easter form the most enjoyable portion of the whole course. In the first year a month is spent at some place, such, for instance, as Gérardmer in the Vosges, where there are forests, portions of which are surveyed by the students, who are divided into sections, as already intimated. Immediately on the completion of the observation of angles and of the chaining, rough plans are made in order to detect and correct any grave error before leaving that part of the country, and more finished plans, combining the results of all the sections, are executed on returning to Nancy.

In this district, too, a road is planned out, each section taking a part of the work.

These practical operations are of very great importance, as they serve to elucidate what has been said in the lectures, and to impress each point more firmly on the mind.

After this comes the very best of the whole year, the time spent in making a tour to see some of the principal forests of France. The parts visited are the Vosges and the Jura, and, of course, in this manner the school passes through some of the finest scenery of the country.

The object is twofold: first, to see the forests themselves; and secondly, to study general natural history, and to make a collection of plants for an herbarium.

The Professors of Sylviculture, who accompany the school,