It is due to the late Col. Samuel Colt, the inventor of the Colt Revolver, and the founder of the Colt Patent Fire-Arms Factory--two enterprises which have changed the character and the mode of constructing fire-arms in every country--to state that the information contained in the first edition of this Treatise, was collected and prepared at his request, to assist him in maturing the plan of a School of Mechanical Engineering, which he proposed to establish on his estate at Hartford, and on which, after the breaking out of the War of Secession, he decided to engraft both military drill, and military history, and to give that scientific instruction which every graduate of our national Military and Naval Academies ought to possess. Soon after Col. Colt’s death (Jan. 10, 1862), Mrs. Elizabeth Jarvis Colt, learning what had been done in the direction of her husband’s wishes, authorized the use which has been made, of the material already collected, in the preparation of this treatise, and of the volume already published on Technical Schools in different countries, and of any more which might be collected and prepared at her expense, to illustrate any department of his plan of a scientific school at Hartford. HENRY BARNARD. HARTFORD, CONN., March, 1872. CONTENTS. PAGE. INTRODUCTION, 3 I. FRANCE. OUTLINE OF MILITARY SYSTEM, 9 System of Military Instruction, 10 I. Polytechnic School at Paris, 11 1. Subject and Methods of Instruction prescribed for Admission, 13 2. Scientific Course in _Lycées_ and other Schools in reference to, 49 3. History, Management, Studies, Examinations, 55 4. Public Services, Legal and Military, provided for by, 88 5. Programmes of Lectures and Courses of Instruction, 91 II. The Artillery and Engineer School of Application at Metz, 133 III. The Regimental Schools of Practice for Artillery and Engineers, 221 IV. The Infantry and Cavalry School at St. Cyr, 225 V. The Cavalry School of Practice at Saumur, 241 VI. The Staff School at Paris, 245 VII. The Military Orphan School at La Fleche, 257 VIII. The School of Musketry at Vincennes, 259 IX. The Military and Naval Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy, 261 X. The Naval School at Brest, 263 XI.