=Administration.=--France, like Germany, has a minister of education who sits in the cabinet of the president. The work of his office is divided into three departments, _higher_, _secondary_, and _primary_, and at the head of each there is a director. There are two advisory bodies in charge of education. One has general oversight of all the school interests of France. The other is divided into three boards, appointed by the minister himself, for supervision of the three departments above mentioned. The general board consists of sixty members, fifteen appointed by the president of the republic, and the others appointed by the board itself whenever vacancies occur. This body meets once a year to hear reports, to pass upon the general school policy, and to legislate for the schools. Out of its membership is chosen an executive committee that meets once a week, and upon which devolves the chief management of educational affairs. This committee is answerable to the general board, to which it renders an annual report. Men of the highest character and intelligence constitute this board. The whole of France is divided into seventeen parts called _academies_. These divisions do not coincide with the political divisions, but are made merely for convenience in school administration. Each _academie_ has a school board to which is committed the general oversight of all educational interests within its territory, and particularly the care of the higher schools. A narrower division is into _departements_. There are ninety of these in France and Algiers. Each is governed by an educational council which has charge of the elementary schools. The principal officer of a _departement_ is a school inspector, a trained educator who devotes all his time to the schools. In each _departement_ there is a normal school for each sex, though in a few instances two _departements_ combine to maintain one normal school. The _departement_ is subdivided into _arrondissements_. Each has an executive officer and a council in close touch with the schools. Lastly there are the _cantons_, whose school board has direct control of each individual school. In this manner from the highest to the lowest division there are executive officers with well-defined duties--all working together in perfect harmony and with great efficiency. Trained teachers often sit in these councils as members and advisers. Thus the highest pedagogical training of the republic is utilized to obtain the best administration of the school interests.