And not Paris, or France alone, reaps the advantage of this liberality--the whole civilized world does the same. Go into the university region, and you will always see great numbers of foreigners who have come to take advantage of the public institutions of Paris. The English go there to study certain branches of medicine, which are more skillfully treated in the French medical schools than anywhere else in the world. Many young Americans are in Paris, at the present time, studying physic or law. The difference between the cost of education in England and France is great. Three hundred dollars a year would carry a French student in good style through the best French universities. To go through an English college five times that sum would be necessary. [Illustration: Palais de l'Institut.] The _Institut de France_ lies upon the southern branch of the Seine, just opposite the Louvre, which is north of the river. The _Institute_ is divided into five academies, and the funds which support the institution are managed by a committee of ten members, two from an academy, and the minister of public instruction, who presides over the committee. The academies are--first the _Academie Francaise_; second, the _Academie Royale des Inscriptions et Belle-Lettres_; third, the _Academie Royale des Sciences_; fourth, the _Academie Royale des Beaux Arts_; and fifth, the _Academie Royale des Sciences Morales et Politiques_. Members of one academy are eligible to the other four, and each receives a salary of three hundred dollars. The Institute has a library common to the five academies, the whole number of members amounting to two hundred and seventeen. If a member does not attend the proceedings and discussions, and cannot give a good reason for his absence, he is liable to expulsion. The _Academie Francaise_ consists of forty members, who are devoted to the composition of the dictionary and the purification of the French language. An annual prize is awarded of two thousand francs for poetry, a prize of ten thousand francs for the best work of French history and fifteen hundred francs is given every other year to some deserving but poor student, for his attainments. The Belle-Lettres Academy is composed of forty members, and ten free academicians--the latter receive no salary. It has many foreign associates or honorary members. Its members pursue the study of the learned languages, antiquities, etc. etc. A yearly prize of ten thousand francs is awarded by it for memoirs, and another for medals.