PHYSICS comprises these topics: General properties of bodies; Hydrostatics and hydraulics; Densities of solids and liquids; Properties of gases; Heat; Steam; Electricity; Magnetism; Acoustics; Light. CHEMISTRY treats of Oxygen; Hydrogen; Combinations of hydrogen with oxygen; Azote or nitrogen; Combinations of azote with oxygen; Combination of azote with hydrogen, or ammonia; Sulphur; Chlorine; Phosphorus; Carbon. COSMOGRAPHY describes the Stars; the Earth; the Sun; the Moon; the Planets; Comets; the Tides. HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY treat of Europe from the Roman Empire to the accession of Louis XVI. GERMAN must be known sufficiently for it to be translated, spoken a little, and written in its own characters. DRAWING, besides the _épures_ of descriptive geometry, must have been acquired sufficiently for copying an academic study, and shading in pencil and in India ink. Will not our readers agree with M. Coriolis, that “_There are very few learned mathematicians who could answer perfectly well at an examination for admission to the Polytechnic School_”? SCHOOLS OF PREPARATION FOR THE POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL There are strictly speaking no Junior Military Schools preparatory to the Polytechnic School, or to the Special Military School at St. Cyr. These schools are recruited in general from the _Lycées_ and other schools for secondary instruction, upon which they exert a most powerful influence. Until 1852 there was no special provision made in the courses of instruction in the _Lycées_ for the mathematical preparation required for admission into the Polytechnic, and the Bachelor’s degree in science could not be obtained without being able to meet the requirements in Latin, rhetoric, and logic for graduation in the arts, which was necessary to the profession of law, medicine, and theology. In consequence, young men who prepared to be candidates for the preliminary examinations at the Polytechnic and the St. Cyr, left the _Lycées_ before graduation in order to acquire more geometry and less literature in the private schools, or under private tuition.