Under present circumstances it is, perhaps, more especially in the preparatory studies that the intellectual training is given, and for the examination of admission that theoretical attainments are demanded. The state of the school in a time of war can not exactly be regarded as a normal or usual one. The time of stay has been sometimes shortened from two years to fifteen months; the excessive numbers render it difficult to adjust the lectures and general instruction so as to meet the needs of all; the lecture rooms and the studying rooms are all insufficient for the emergency; and what is yet more than all, the stimulus for exertion, which is given by the fear of being excluded upon the final examination, and sent to serve in the ranks, is removed at a time when almost every one may feel sure that a commission which must be filled up will be vacant for him. Yet even in time of peace, if general report may be trusted, it is more the drill, exercises, and discipline, than the theory of military operations, that excite the interest and command the attention of the young men. When they leave, they will take their places as second lieutenants with the troops, and they naturally do not wish to be put to shame by showing ignorance of the common things with which common soldiers are familiar. Their chief incentive is the fear of being found deficient when they join their regiments, and, with the exception of those who desire to enter the staff corps, their great object is the practical knowledge of the ordinary matters of military duty. “Physical exercises,” said the Director of Studies, “predominate here as much as intellectual studies do at the Polytechnic.” But the competition for entrance sustains the general standard of knowledge. Even when there is the greatest demand for admissible candidates, the standard of admission has not, we are told, been much reduced. No one comes in who does not know the first elements of trigonometry. And the time allotted by the rules of the school to lectures and indoor study is far from inconsiderable. EXAMINATIONS FOR ADMISSION--STUDIES AT THE SCHOOL.