Primary instruction is provided by the government, which maintains two kinds of schools in this class, elementary and superior. In the elementary, the alphabet, reading, writing, gymnastics, singing, and the first rules of arithmetic, geography and grammar are taught. In the superior, in addition to the branches taught in the primary grades, instructions are given in manual training, physical and natural science, and other general studies, which prepare the pupils for entrance into the secondary colleges, “liceos,” and other higher educational institutions. The number of pupils in attendance at these schools is about one hundred thousand. Teachers in the primary grades, masculine and feminine, are prepared in five normal schools, located in different parts of the country. When they have finished their studies and passed their examinations, they receive the title of “Professor” from the State as evidence of their qualification for teaching. Primary teachers receive a salary of 1,200 pesos per year. After ten years’ service they are entitled to a pension from the government, and after thirty years they can retire on full pay. UNIVERSITY OF CHILE. Previous to the formation of the Republic, the only institutions in Chile possessing facilities for instruction in the sciences and higher branches of education were the monasteries, the school at San Filipe being recognized as a national university. But the monastic education was not in harmony with the modern republican ideas of the progressive Chilenos, and the San Filipe institution was abolished by official decree in 1839, and in its place there was established a group of schools under the name of the University of Chile. The new institution which was formally opened in 1842, marked an era in the educational system of the country. The original building, in Santiago, fronting on the broad Alameda, with its rows of trees and wide park-way, adorned with statues of national heroes, is a fine architectural creation of the Spanish style, with interior patios and galleries. The University, which has an annual attendance of from 1,500 to 2,000 students has special and well equipped departments of Philosophy and Letters, Law and Political Science, Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Engineering, Architecture, Pedagogy and a Normal school. The State also maintains schools of secondary and superior instruction, the latter being under the direction of the University, which maintains thirty-six different colleges in the Republic, and gives courses in practical and special branches, and also industrial training. In the first six years of the course in these colleges the pupils are instructed in branches designated in the program prepared by the Council of Instruction, a corporation whose members are appointed by the government, and which is required to hold weekly sessions.