interval remains in the possession of its part owner, at his own cost. He may work the animal, but it cannot be let out for hire or lent, and he is responsible for its care and good condition. If the horse dies in the service, one-half of the value of the recruit’s share is refunded to him; if, on the other hand, the horse dies when not in the service, the recruit pays the government a corresponding amount, unless he can show that the death was in no way occasioned by carelessness or culpable negligence. The same liability is incurred in case of injury to the animal, unless it occurred from ordinary fair usage. In either case, if the recruit be found in fault he is compelled to provide himself with another horse. These horses are inspected at least once a year by military veterinary surgeons. Mounted officers must provide their own horses. In time of war the _Piketstellung_ can be declared by the Federal Council, by which the sale of horses throughout the Confederation is forbidden. The strength of the several lines of the army in 1888, as obtained from an official of the military department, was--_Élite_, 117,179, _Landwehr_, 84,046, which, with the _Landsturm_, reckoned at 200,000, gave in case of extreme emergency an available force of 401,225. The _Landsturm_ has recently been divided into two classes, the _armed Landsturm_ and the _auxiliary forces_; the latter is composed of pioneers, administrative troops, guides, and velocipedists: both of these classes, under a federal law of 1887, when called out, are placed on the same footing, with reference to the rights of combatants, as the _Élite_ or the _Landwehr_. The first line, or _Élite_, must be regarded as the only active force homogeneous in its parts and complete in its equipment. Preference for infantry is still preserved among the Swiss, the cavalry representing only one twenty-seventh of the force. This disproportion may be somewhat ascribed to two facts: first, on account of the expense involved in the advance payment to be made on the purchase of a horse, and then that in Switzerland cavalry would hardly ever be required except for reconnoitring or vedette duties. The election on the part of recruits to join the cavalry is voluntary; but having selected that branch they must remain in it. The Vetterli rifle, with a magazine containing eleven cartridges, has been used by the army; but after long and thorough experiments under government expert commissions with the Rubin rifle, a later and improved patent, in June, 1889, it was accepted, and is being rapidly substituted. The budget for 1890 contains an appropriation of 5,734,600 francs for the purchase of these rifles and 3,000,000 francs for ammunition.