It is in proportion to these numbers that the relief is given, but it is greater in winter than the other parts of the year. As to the medicines and broth, whenever there are sick in these families a sufficiency is given. Physicians are attached to each auxiliary bureau of every district, who visit the sick, prescribe the remedies, &c., all of which are distributed by the _Sœurs de Charité_ (Sisters of Charity, an order of nuns who devote themselves to the care of the poor and sick, and who undertake, gratuitously, the elementary education of their children). It is a most respectable and praiseworthy institution. The same Sisters receive in their houses the little girls of these families who are old enough to read. Books are supplied by the instructors. In extraordinary cases, recourse is had to subscriptions and collections, which increase the means of the _Bureaux de Charité_; so that during long and hard winters, more clothing, &c. is distributed. It seldom happens that money is given. There are, however, no positive regulations on these points. The whole is in the hands of the directors of this establishment. A responsible receiver is attached to it, whose accounts are submitted to the examination of the _Cours des Comptes_ (audit office). Thus, though the distributions are left to the judgment of the directors, they are subjected to control. The above details relate to the city of Bourdeaux. There are, however, proportionate institutions in most of the larger towns of the department, but in the poorer parishes and rural districts the _Bureaux de Charité_ are merely nominal. These parishes being without a revenue, are unable to assist their poor, who subsist on the alms they may receive at the different dwelling-houses, and who when ill, if possible, come to the nearest hospital, generally to that of Bourdeaux. In this department there are no schools in which indigent children are received to be fed and clothed gratuitously, but there are those in which they receive a certain degree of instruction. For Boys.--The institution of _Freres des Ecoles Chrétiennes_ (Brothers of the Christian Schools), and two Lancasterian schools, which have been lately instituted. For Girls.--A Lancasterian school, a few boarding schools, in which a certain number of indigent girls are taught gratuitously; and also the Sisters of Charity attached to the administration of the _Bureaux de Charité_.