Introduction
Object of the work. Data of the Question.
A. PROJECTILE.
First Section.--Substance, Forms, and Dimensions.
1. Choice of the metal employed in the manufacture of this projectile.
2. Forms of the projectile.
3. Internal diameter.
4. External diameter.
5. Dimensions of the vent.
6. Diameters of the high and low gauges.
7. Densities of the projectile empty and filled with powder.
8. Weight of the cast-iron ball of the same calibre as the howitzer shell.
Second Section.--Minimum Bursting Charge.
9. Theoretical bursting charge for the hollow sphere.
10. Effect of the shock of the gases, and of their loss through the vent.
11. Résumé of the results arrived at in this chapter.
B. ORDNANCE.
First Section.--Metal, Calibre, and Length of Bore.
12. Choice of the metal of which the piece is to be formed.
13. Windage of the projectile and diameter of the bore.
14. Effect of the windage on the velocity of the projectile.
15. Length of the bore and charge of powder which satisfy the data of the programme.
16. Résumé of the results arrived at in this section.
Second Section.--Thickness of Metal necessary in order that the Piece may resist the Expansion of the Gases.
17. Explanation of the method employed to resolve the question of the thicknesses of metal.
18. First propulsion of the projectile, mean density of the gases after this propulsion.
19. Second propulsion of the projectile, mean density of the gases after this propulsion.
20. Third, fourth, &c., propulsions of the projectile, mean density of the gases after each of them.
21. Density and position of the strata (of gas) at the moment of the maximum of mean density.
22. Density of the last stratum for the positions which come after that of the maximum of mean density.
23. Tensions which result from the densities found.
24. Corresponding thicknesses of metal.
25. Résumé of the results obtained.
Third Section.--Profile of the Piece.
26. Inclosing curve, resulting from the calculations of the second section.
27. Modification rendered necessary by the form of the posterior part of the projectile.
28. Utility of the chamber and its dimensions.
29. Tracing of the chamber and of its junction with the bore.
30. Thickness of metal around the chamber.
31. Chase and reinforce.
32. Determination of the angle of sight.
33. Vent and base ring.
34. Minimum weight of the piece for the resistance of the carriage.
35. Approximate calculation of the weight given by the profile previously obtained. Modification of this profile, if there is any.
Fourth Section.--Trunnions, Breech, and Handles.
36. Dimensions of the trunnions and of the shoulders.
37. Tracing of the breech.
38. Base rings and other moldings.
39. Object and fixing of the preponderance of the breech.
40. Exact settlement of the position of the trunnions, definitive length of the reinforce.
41. Center of gravity of the piece; dimensions and position of the handles.
42. Means of executing the calculations indicated in the two preceding articles.
43. Table of the dimensions of the piece.
C. FIRE OF THE HOWITZER. EFFECTS OF THE PROJECTILE.
First Section.--Elements of the Charging of a Howitzer.
44. Tracing of the shot bottom.
45. Tracing of the fuse.
46. Diameter of the cartridge (or of the bag.)
47. Charge of powder for firing with ball.
Second Section.--Laws of the Motion of the Projectile. Establishment of Practice Tables.
48. Preliminary calculations.
49. Trajectory.
50. Curve of the inclinations.
51. Curve of the remaining velocities.
52. Curve of the durations of the passage.
53. Determination of the elevations for the fire at different distances.
54. Angle of fire, corresponding to the different distances of the object aimed at.
55. Angles of descent.
56. Résumé of the laws of the motion and of the practice tables.
Third Section.--Effects of the Projectile.
57. Depth of penetration in the media indicated by the programme.
58. Effects of explosion in earth.
59. Résumé of the results relating to the effects of the projectile.
NOTE.--The formulas cited in the memoir need not be accompanied by their demonstration, except in the case of the latter not having been already developed in the lessons of the artillery course. It will be sufficient to insert in this notice only the final result of the calculation relating to each formula, without entering into the details of such calculations.
The study of the design for ordnance is preceded by four lessons intended to make the students acquainted with all the details of its execution, and the substance of which is indicated in the programme of the memoir.
III. APPLICATION OF THE THEORIES OF THE ARTILLERY COURSE (6 DAYS.)
This study is intended to apply to the students those theories of the course which have not found their application in the design for ordnance. It comprises the solution by arithmetical calculations of certain questions on the effects of powder, the balistic pendulum, the effects of recoil, the science of projectiles, the draught of carriages, &c. The number of the questions may vary according to their nature and the time which their solution requires. The stating of the questions and the results of the calculations are inscribed on separate papers. This study is preceded by a lesson in which the students have recalled to them the formulas which they have to employ.
IV. DRAWING OF ARTILLERY MATERIAL (26 DAYS.)
The drawing of artillery material has for its object the representation by figured sketches of a gun-carriage, carriage, or other furniture of artillery material. The sketches, on paper put together in the form of a book, and headed by a special programme for the object to be drawn, consist of plans, sections, or elevations of the object, executed on certain scales, and of detailed projections of the principal iron-work and joints. The whole fixed by the special programme in question.
All the simultaneous projections of any one part of the object drawn (fore part or hind part for carriages) must be completely figured; they are accompanied by explanatory inscriptions, with letters of reference to show the names of the pieces in wood or metal which they comprise.
Each collection of sketches must contain as well a notice in confirmation of the drawing, giving the complete description and the properties of the object to which it refers.
The students make two surveys of the same kind; eight days are allowed for each of these surveys, including the composition of the confirmatory notice.
The first survey is followed by the execution of an unfigured drawing, containing a complete representation of the object surveyed (elevation and plan,) obtained by the combination of the partial projections contained in the sketch. The drawing should be colored in the conventional uniform tints, and accompanied by an explanatory inscription, with letters of reference. Ten days are devoted to this work of composition.
V. TRACING OF BATTERIES (4 DAYS.)
This work consists in executing sketches showing, each in accordance with a separate programme, the complete plan of a battery and the essential data having reference to its construction and to its armament. The sketches, made by scale and completely figured, must comprise in the case of each battery to be represented--
1. The general plan of the battery, on the scale of 1/200.
2. The sections or elevations necessary for the understanding of this plan, including the detail of the powder magazines, lines of communication, &c., on the scale of 1/100.
3. An inscription giving the object of the battery, its armament, its general arrangement (terre-plein, embrasures, revetment, communications, magazines, &c.,) the workmen, materials, and tools necessary for its construction, and finally the duration of the labor and its distribution by day and night.
Four days are devoted to this work, which must be executed on a half sheet of colombier paper. The separate programmes relating to each of these batteries are shown on the study orders of the rooms.
RECAPITULATIVE TABLE.--ARTILLERY STUDENTS.
[KEY] NL Number of the Lectures. CG Credits given for the Lectures. +A With application at 1h 50m. -A Without application at 3h. TC Total Credits. Q Number of the Questions.
---------------------------------+----+------------+--------+---- LECTURES | | CG | | | +-------+----+ | | NL | +A | -A | TC | Q ---------------------------------+----+-------+----+--------+---- Division of the Course-- | | | | | First Part. Theory, | | | | | Sections 1, 2, 3, | 26 | 18 | 42 | 60 | 4 Second Part. Description of the | | | | | Material, Sections | | | | | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, | 20 | 30 | .. | 30 | 3 Third Part. Fire of Ordnance, | 4 | .. | 12 | 12 | 1 Fourth Part. Construction | | | | | of Batteries, | 6 | 9 | .. | 9 | 2 Fifth Part. Organization and | | | | | Service of the Artillery, | | | | | Sections 1, 2, 3, | 8 | .. | 24 | 24 | 1 Sham Siege, | 2 | 3 | .. | 3 | .. Lectures in preparation | | | | | for the Studies, | 9 | 13 50 | .. | 13 50 | .. +----+-------+----+--------+---- Totals, | 75 | 73 50 | 78 | 151 50 | 10 ---------------------------------+----+-------+----+--------+----
[KEY] S Sketches D Drawings. M Memoirs. Inv Inventories. ID In-door Attendance. 1½ hours. OD Out-door Attendance. 1½ hours. C Credits in round Numbers.
---------------------------+----------------------------------- STUDIES. | Number of +----+----+----+----+----+----+----- | S | D | M | Inv| ID | OD | C ---------------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----- Survey of Ordnance, | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | 5 Tracing of Ordnance, | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 11 | .. | 50 Design for Ordnance-- | | | | | | | Calculations, | .. | .. | .. | 1 | 10 | .. | 45 Drawings, | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 8 | .. | 35 Memoir, | .. | .. | 1 | .. | 6 | .. | 55* Application of Theories-- | | | | | | | (Artillery Question) | .. | .. | 1 | .. | 6 | .. | 55† First Survey of Material-- | | | | | | | Sketch, | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 8 | 35 Composition of Notice, | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 10 | .. | 45 Second Survey-- | | | | | | | Sketch, | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 8 | 35 Sketch of Batteries, | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 4 | .. | 20 +----+----+----+----+----+----+----- Totals, | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 55 | 17 | .. ---------------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----
[* The time is doubled for the memoirs.]
[† Ditto.]
RECAPITULATION.
Lectures, 150} Studies, 380} 530
RECAPITULATIVE TABLE.--ENGINEER STUDENTS.
[KEY] Cr Credits given for the Lectures. L Number of the Lectures. +A With application at 1h 50m. -A Without application at 3h. T Total Credits. Q Number of the Questions. ---------------------------------+----+----------+--------+---- LECTURES | | Cr | | | +-----+----+ | | L | A | -A | T | Q ---------------------------------+----+-----+----+--------+---- Division of the Course-- | | | | | | | | | | First Part. Theories, | | | | | Sections 1, 2, 3, | 24 | ... | 72 | 72 | 4 Second Part. Description | | | | | of the Material, | | | | | Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, | 14 | ... | 42 | 42 | 2 Third Part. Fire of Ordnance, | 4 | ... | 12 | 12 | 1 Fourth Part. Construction | | | | | of Batteries, | 6 | 9 | .. | 9 | 1 Fifth Part. Organization | | | | | and Service of the | | | | | Artillery, Sections 1, 2, 3, | 8 | ... | 24 | 24 | 1 Mock Siege, | 2 | 3 | .. | 3 | .. +----+-----+----+--------+---- Totals, | 58 | 12 |150 | 162 | 9 ---------------------------------+----+-----+----+--------+----
------------------------+------------------------+--------+ | Number of | | +-----------+------------+ | STUDIES | Sketches. | In-door | Credit | | | Attendance | | ------------------------+-----------+------------+--------+ Sketches of Batteries, | 1 | 4 | 20 | ------------------------+-----------+------------+--------+
RECAPITULATION
Lectures, 162 } Studies, 20 } 182. Round number, 180.
IV. PROGRAMME OF THE COURSE OF MILITARY ART AND FIELD FORTIFICATION.
The course is divided into six parts, and is made up of lectures and works of Application in the Halls of Study and on the ground.
I. LECTURES.
The 1st part contains sundry historical notices on the Organization of Armies, 6 Lectures. 2d part is on Tactics, 3 “ 3d “ Castrametation, 2 “ 4th “ Field Fortification, 16 “ 5th “ Military Communication, 10 “ 6th “ Strategy, 6 “ ---- Total 43
FIRST PART.--HISTORICAL NOTICES ON THE ORGANIZATION OF ARMIES.
The first lecture commences with explanations relating to the Greek and Roman armies; their order of battle, mode of marching; comparison of the Roman Legion with the Greek Phalanx, and of the Roman Legion under Marius and under the Emperors.
2. Military organization of the Franks under the Kings of the first race. Consequences of the feudal system, acting on the military organization. Feudal armies. Chivalry. Crusades, and war against England. Establishment of the first standing armies. Results dependent on the introduction of fire-arms. Progress made in the Art of War and in the organization of armies, from the sixteenth century to the present time.
3. Necessity for standing armies. Their proper character. Recruiting. Promotion. Degrees of rank. Station of the officers. Various positions of military men. On the composition of armies, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Engineers. Corps d’Etat-Major. Composition of the army during the Revolution and during the Empire. Actual formation of a French army.
General Staff. Commissariat. (Intendance.)--Different services dependent on it.
Relations between the strength of each of the arms that make up an army. On other corps which are not classed among the principal arms.
4, 5, 6. Summary relating to the military organization of the principal Powers of Europe.
SECOND PART--ON TACTICS.
1. Definitions. Formations. Manœuvers; character of a good manœuver. Order of battle: first, of the Infantry; second, of Cavalry; third, of the Artillery; relating to Sharpshooters (tirailleurs.)
2. Brief summary of the principal movements in battalion drill to pass from line to the order in columns and reciprocally. Movements in column. Movements in battle. Dispositions to be made against Cavalry.
3. Of the principal movements in line. Order of battle. Line of battle. Formation of Infantry to advance against the enemy. Action of Cavalry. Principal formations. Charges of Artillery. Use of the Three Arms.
THIRD PART.--CASTRAMETATION.
1. General principles of castrametation. Situation. Construction and disposition of barracks. Camp of a Regiment of Infantry, of Cavalry, and of a Battery of Artillery.
2. Manner of tracing a camp on the ground. Huts; details relating to their construction. Tents. Bivouacs. Screens. Kitchens and camp ovens. Choice of the site of a camp; precautions to be taken for its security. Main guards. Advanced posts. Patrols and sentinels.
FOURTH PART.--FIELD FORTIFICATION.
1. Definition of fortification in general. Object and character of field fortification; its utility demonstrated by historical examples. Napoleon’s opinion. Essential principle of field fortification. Discussion on the ordinary profile of earthen entrenchments; on the dimensions to be given to the ditch in level ground.
2. Definitions relating to the trace; general principles. Redoubts.
3. On the elements of lines. Relation that should exist between the crest and the internal size of a closed work. Maximum and minimum of the sides of a square redoubt. Defects inherent to the trace of this kind of redoubt. Circular redoubts. Redoubts en crémaillères. Star forts. Lines with bastions.
4. Revetments of various kinds; case in which the slope of the ditch should be reveted; choice to be made of the different kinds of revetments.
5. Exterior dispositions; accessories to the defense; abattis; trous de loups; palisades; chevaux de frise, &c. Precautions to be adopted with reference to such accessories.
6. Interior dispositions; armament of musketry, artillery, barbettes, and embrasures; their advantages and disadvantages; construction of.
7. Powder magazines of different kinds. Small earthen entrenchments; palisades, carpentry, or blockhouses; advantages and disadvantages of blockhouses. African blockhouse. Closing of field-works.
8. Artificial inundations; under what circumstances they can be considered as obstacles. Positions and dimensions of dikes. Details of their execution; what advantage can be drawn from an inundation having less than five feet depth of water.
9. What is understood by the defilading of a work. The defilading of fieldworks should, above all things, be made to depend on their trace and situation. Definitions: dangerous ground; dangerous points. Defilement of an isolated and closed work; in what case it is practicable. Use of traverses. A partial defilement may sometimes be sufficient.
10. Continuous lines. Broken lines. Traces of redan, tenailles, cromailleres. Bastioned lines. Comparison between continuous and broken lines. Principal objections to their use. Utility of each demonstrated under certain circumstances.
11. Lines in broken ground: their form should depend on the nature of the ground. On the manner of fortifying a table-land. Expedients for defilading portions of lines. On the manner of making use of the natural obstacles of the ground; forests, scarps, marshes, water-courses, &c. Method of fortifying a house, village, an open town. Defense of a bridge or road.
12. Têtes de pont. Utility of small earthen entrenchments in these cases to facilitate the passage of a retreating army. Traces of a large tête de pont. Principal circumstances relating to the use of lines in war. Lines of circumvallation and countervallation. Frontier lines. Retrenchments against a descent. Lines that an army should make in an enemy’s country, far from its base of operations. Entrenchment on the field of battle. Lines, mixed, proposed by General Rogniat.
13. Attack and defense of entrenchments, of a continuous line; of a line at intervals; of an isolated work, &c. Examples of the attack and defense of lines.
14. Instruction relating to the operations for profiling and defilading on the ground.
15. Instruction on the project of field fortification. Calculation of the dimensions of a ditch corresponding to the face of a work of a variable relief, and to be constructed in level or other ground. Details relating to traverses, small entrenchments; defensive caponnieres, and accessories to defense, &c.
16. On the construction of entrenchments. Practical operations and organization of workshops to obtain durable and solid work. Necessity, in most cases, for accelerating the construction of entrenchments. Vauban’s precepts. In what manner the work must proceed to obtain a useful result; and, in the event of plenty of hands, how to finish it promptly.
FIFTH PART.--ON MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS.
1. On roads. 1 and 2, Classification of roads. Section and trace of roads in level and mountain country. Details connected with the study of a project for a road. Particular conditions relating to military roads. Execution of paved and macadamized roads. Roads for passing difficult places by the use of fascines, logs, &c. Maintenance and destruction of roads.
2. On military bridges.
3. Observations on the currents and change of form in the bed of rivers. Fords. Transverse sections, &c. Reconnaissances of rivers. Properties essential to military bridges. Relation between the buoyancy and the load in the case of floating supports. Anchorage. Construction of the abutments. Means of rendering bridges stable.
4. Construction of a bridge of boats in different ways. Bridges made of ordinary boats. Method of withdrawing a bridge of boats.
5. Raft bridge. Relation between the weight and the extrinsic load of a raft. Number of trunks of trees required for a raft bridge on a river of given dimensions. Weight of the trunk of a tree. Number and space between rafts. Construction of a raft and a bridge of rafts. Bridges of casks and trestles.
6. Rope bridges; their use. Calculations respecting the tension and diameters of ropes. Construction of a suspension bridge, and calculations relating to it.
7. Bridges on piles, carriages, gabions, &c.
8. Measures to be taken for the preservation of military bridges. Destruction of military bridges; also of masonry bridges. Reëstablishment of bridges.
9. Flying bridges. Ferry-boats, tubs, passage by fords, on the ice, by swimming.
10. Execution of the passage of rivers. Advancing and in retreating. Examples.
SIXTH PART.--STRATEGY.
1. Definition. Fundamental principles of all operations in war. In all cases there are--first, the base of operations; second, the point to be arrived at; third, the line of operations. Strategetical points and lines.
2. On marching. Preparatory and manœuvering marches. Advanced and rear guard. On provisions. System of magazines. Requisitions. Invasions. Battle. Examples.
3. On positions. War in a mountainous district. Retreats. Pursuit. Convoys. Partizans.
4. Winter quarters. Cantonments. War against irregular bands. Military reconnaissances.
5. Precis of the campaigns of the French armies.
6. Analysis of the principal campaigns of great captains.
II. PROGRAMME OF THE WORKS OF APPLICATION EXECUTED IN THE HALLS OF STUDY.
These works consist of four Plates of Drawings, two Memoirs, and a Project, of Field Fortification. Of the four Plates of Drawings, two relate to Field Fortification, and two, accompanied by Memoirs, relate to Military Communications.
Plate 1--Elements of lines. Tracing, on the scale of 1/1000 of the interior crest (only) of a redan, lunette, redoubt, star fort, bastioned fort, according to particular data given to each Sous-Lieutenant. Construction on the scale of 1/200 of a complete profile for each of these works, supposed to be established on level ground. Complete calculation of the deblais and remblais for one of the preceding works, according to the instructions of the Professor.
Plate 2.--Details of a field-work. Trace on the scale of 1/200 of a portion of the work of which the deblais and remblais has been calculated. Graphic construction of a barbette and of a direct or oblique embrasure. Details of revetments in fascines, hurdles, turf. Pisé. Drawing of a blockhouse.
Plate 3.--Accompanied by a Memoir. Project of a portion of road on ground represented by certain lines, according to certain data.
Plate 4.--Accompanied by a Memoir. Military bridges.
1. Drawing of a portion of a bridge of boats, three openings being shown; the two first relating to the successive construction of the bridge, and the third, of the construction by portions.
2. Project for establishing a raft bridge; the width of the river; the kind of troops to pass over the bridge; the length; mean diameter of the available trunks of trees and the length and scantling of the joints being given. The drawing to exhibit a plan of two openings of the bridge, and a transverse section.
3. Tressel bridge. To draw a longitudinal elevation and a transverse section of a tressel bridge, being given the length of the top and of the feet of the tressels up and down the stream.
4. Project for the repair of a broken arch; being given the opening of the head, the elevation of the roadway of the bridge above the level of the water; the depth of the water, the rapidity of the current, the kind of troops to pass over the bridge, and the available time and the resources as regards men and materials which can be had recourse to.
Programme of the Project of Field Fortification.
This project is made by the Sub-Lieutenants, according to certain data given to each of them. It has for its object to cause them to study:--1st. The trace. 2d. The complete organization necessary for its defense. 3d. The details of construction of a field-work. In consequence, the work comprises three Plates of Drawings and a Memoir divided into three parts.
Programme of the Drawings.
Plate 1.--Plan of the whole. This plate has for its object the research of a trace and of a combination of suitable works for the fortification of a certain portion of ground under certain circumstances of war defined by particular data. Each Sub-Lieutenant receives a lithographed sheet representing the ground to be fortified, and he has to exhibit on this sheet the works he proposes, in tracing in plain lines the horizontal projections of the interior crests and superior limits of the ditch, and in dotted lines the stockades or palisades; to show in black figures at the angles of the works the relief of the interior crests; the sites of barbettes, embrasures, traverses, barriers, &c., being indicated by reference letters and explanatory notes, the lines in red showing the directions and objects of the line of fire.
Plate 2.--Organization of a work.
This plate has for its object the study of the details of the interior and exterior organization of a work of a certain form, in order to render it susceptible of making a good defense.
Each Sub-Lieutenant will draw a complete plan of such one of the works shown on Plate 1, as may be pointed out by the Professor. He will represent the ditches, parapets, embrasures, accessory defenses, small entrenchments, descents into the ditch, &c., according to the particular data furnished to him; the figures of the relief of the crests of all kinds, the deblais and remblais being marked at all the angles. The figures of the natural ground will be underlined. The same plate will contain figured profiles which have served for the determination of the complete projection of the work. Scale 1/250.
Plate 3.--Details of construction.
The object of this plate is to show the composition of workshops and the manner that should be adopted in the construction of field-works, according to circumstances, for the execution of the deblais and remblais.
Each Sub-Lieutenant will indicate the manner in which the work drawn on Plate 2 should be constructed:--1st. To render it durable and solid. 2d. To arrive rapidly at a useful result, even with limited resources of workmen and tools. 3d. To finish the work in the shortest possible time, by making use of all the necessary means. A plan will show the composition of the workshops under each of these hypotheses, and the successive advancement of the work will be represented by certain profiles supposed to be made at certain periods of the construction through the center of one of the faces of the work. In these profiles a firm trace, figured with altitudes, will show the limits of the deblais and remblais at the period represented by the profiles; and in addition by dotted lines, the final results proposed to be obtained. All these projects must be accompanied by a figured plan, showing the principal altitudes in meters. The remblais will be colored with gamboge, the undisturbed earth in bistre, and the deblais will be left white.
Programme of the Memoir.
Each Sub-Lieutenant will write at the head of his Memoir the text of the particular programme, to which he is obliged to conform in the preparation of his project, and he should add to the text of the Memoir all the sketches properly figured, which are necessary for the proper appreciation of the dispositions which are not sufficiently detailed on the Drawings.
The Memoir is divided into three parts, corresponding to the three Plates of Drawings.
FIRST PART.--CONSIDERATIONS RESPECTING THE WHOLE PROJECT.
1st. General principles, according to which it would be proper to trace the works indicated in the particular programme, such as lines at intervals, continuous lines, têtes de pont, &c.
2d. Description of the tracing in Plate 1. Reasons deduced from the form of the ground or the nature of the military operations that led to the adoption of the trace. Object of the works, and their connection with each other.
3d. Number, description, and position of the pieces of artillery composing the armament.
4th. Maximum and minimum of troops that could be employed in the defense of these works.
5th. Dispositions which should be adopted (relatively to the necessary preparations in materials and to the separation and movement of troops) for the attack and for the defense.
SECOND PART.--COMPLETE ORGANIZATION OF A WORK.
1st. Particular object of the work shown in Plate 2. Trace of the complete projections of the parapets, barbettes, ramps, embrasures, traverses, &c.
2d. Conditions that should be fulfilled by the ditch. Approximate calculation of dimensions which should be given to it, taking into account the increased means of providing for an excess or defect of the deblais.
3d. Discussion on the site and the part which might be expected from small entrenchments, accessory defenses, shutters, descents of ditches, &c.
4th. Site of powder magazines; capacity that should be given to them, suitable to the state of the munitions necessary for the armament of the work.
THIRD PART.--DETAILS OF CONSTRUCTIONS.
1st. Means of ascertaining the nature of the earth; considerations respecting relays for the transport of earth with the shovel.
2d. Description, number and disposition of the workmen in a shed for deblai and remblai, according to the nature of the ground and number of relays.
3d. Explanation of Plate 3. Organization of the sheds and conduct of the work where the duration and solidity of the work are the greatest essentials; where, on the other hand, rapidity of execution is the principal thing to be fulfilled.
4th. Which of the modes of construction exhibited in Plate 3 it would be desirable to employ for the proposed works, according to the circumstance specified in the particular programme. Calculation for this mode of construction, of the time and of the numbers of men and tools necessary for the execution of the deblais and remblais of the work given in the plate.
5th. Details of construction of the revetments, magazines, shutters, accessory defenses, artillery platforms, &c.
III. PROGRAMME OF EXTERIOR WORKS.
These works consist of an exercise in tracing out a camp, and an exercise on the profiling and defilement of field-works.
The exercise on tracing camps has no particular programme, but is preceded by a lecture given by the Professor.
Programme of Practical Exercises on the Defilement and Profiling of Field Works.
This exercise comprehends: 1st, work on the ground; 2d, a Memoir.
The work on the ground has for its object: 1st, the trace of the projections of the interior crest of a work, whose position and form are known; 2d, the determination of the relief of the interior crest; 3d, the profiling of the different parts, so that the relief of the different parts of the parapet, barbettes, traverses, &c., may all be fixed.
The Sub-Lieutenants for this kind of work are divided into groups of six or eight, employed together on the same work, each group being divided into two squads. The work may be a lunette or a redan of given dimensions, having a parapet of three meters thick, and a natural slope of one to one.
1st. The direction of the capital will be marked out in front by two numbered pickets.
2d. The tracing will be executed by means of poles or pickets placed at all the angles, and at the extremities of the gorge; the relief will be determined by the practical methods of defilement adverted to in the lecture which preceded the work.
3d. The relief obtained by the defilement will be marked on all the poles or pickets placed at the angles, and at the extremities of the sides of the work.
4th. On each face two vertical profiles will be executed, perpendicular to the horizontal projections of its interior crest. In order that these profiles shall not interfere with those placed at the angles, they must be established at several meters distant from the extremity of each face.
5th. The profiles of the angles will be deducted by simple prolongations, and the same for the profiles of the gorge. If the homologous crests of two contiguous faces do not meet each other, they should be reconciled by joining two points taken on each of them at half a meter from the intersection of their projections.
6th. On the traverse, designed to secure the defenders from a reverse fire, two profiles are constructed, near to its extremities if its crest is a right line, but if it is bent, another profile must be set up at the junction.
7th. The data of all these profiles are, the relief of the interior crest at the point where it is encountered by the profile, the thickness of the parapet, the constant parts of every profile, and the natural slope of the ground; the portion of the slope of the traverses exposed to the view of the dominant heights should not be reveted, the others should be.
8th. At the points of intersection of the profiles with the projections of the ridges of the works, as well as at the points used for adjusting, poles or pickets are placed, on which the points belonging to the ridges are marked. These points will be joined together in each profile by twine, indicating the different planes of the work.
9th. The form and dimensions of the batteries, either of barbettes or embrasures, will be equally determined by poles or pickets placed at all their angles, and united together by twine in the manner that will be subsequently explained.
10th. For the barbette batteries, the first thing to be done is to establish and to construct the front coupé of the salient of the interior crest, and substitute an interior horizontal crest throughout the extent of the barbette for that situated in the plane of defilement. The necessary adjustments are then made between the slope of the parapet of the barbette and that of the rest of the face, and indicate by means of twine the intersections of the terre-plein of the barbette and of its slope with the different planes of the work.
11th. For the embrasures, after having determined their direction, the intersections of the cheeks and bottom, with the interior and exterior slope of the parapet, and with its slope; also the slope which terminates the interruption of the banquette throughout the extent of the battery. In the case where the platform is formed more than 0^m 4 elevated above the soil, a ramp is constructed with its slope, and the intersections with the slope from the platform are shown.
12th. After the batteries, the slope of the ends of the traverses and of the passages for entry and exit are constructed.
13th. The traverse will be finished by adjusting its different planes with those of the parapet. In the particular case, where it was interfered with to make a passage over the banquette, it is finished by reveting the slope passing by the crest of the banquette of the work.
14th. At the passages of entry and exit from the work, the parapets will be finished by the slope of the revetment, whose intersections with the different planes of the parapets must be determined.
15th. For each squad of workmen, the distance of the salient of the work to the point on which it will be defiladed must be determined.
MEMOIR.
1st. Object of defilement--which is considered to be dangerous ground, dangerous point, plane of defilement.
2d. Position of the dangerous point relatively to the work which is to be defiladed. Practical method on the ground. Results to which it leads.
3d. On the field this method is not always applicable to an isolated work, and never is so to entrenchments of a great development, such as lines, large têtes-de-pont, &c. By what proceeding is it generally expedient to attempt to fulfill in war the indisputable condition of defilement.
RECAPITULATION FOR THE SUB-LIEUTENANTS OF ARTILLERY AND ENGINEERS.
[KEY] NL Number of the Lectures. +A With application. -A Without application. I No. of Interrogations.
---------------------------------+----+---------------------- First Lectures.-- | |Credits for Lectures. | +----+----+-------+--- Parts of the Course. | NL | +A | -A | Total | I ---------------------------------+----+----+----+-------+--- 1st Part. Historical notions | | | | | on the Organization of Armies | 6 | | 18 | 18 }| 2nd Part. Tactics | 3 | | 9 | 9 }| 1 3rd “ Castrametation | 2 | | 6 | 6 }| 4th “ Field Fortification | 16 | 24 | | 24 | 2 5th “ Military Communications | 10 | 15 | | 15 | 1 6th “ Strategy | 6 | | 18 | 18 | 1 +----+----+----+-------+--- Totals | 43 39 51 90* 5 ------------------------------------------------------------
[* The number 90 is applied to the interrogations and to the obligations of the notes.]
[KEY] D Drawings M Memoirs I In the Halls O Outside C Credits
-------------------------------------+-------------------------- | Number of +--+---+------------+------ EXECUTION OF WORK. |D | M |Attendances | C | | +-----+------+ | | | I | O | -------------------------------------+--+---+-----+------+------ Drawings of Military Art,-- | | | | | Plate 1. Elements of Lines | 1|.. | 4 | .. | 20 Plate 2. Details of a Field-work | 1|.. | 8 | .. | 35 Plate 3. Project of a Road | 1|.. | 8 | .. | 35 Memoir |..| 1 | 2 | .. | 20 Plate 4. Military Bridges | 1|.. | 8 | .. | 35 Memoir |..| 1 | 2 | .. | 20 Project of Field Fortification,-- | | | | | Plate 1. Plan of the whole | 1|.. | 3 | .. | 15 Plate 2. Organization of a work | 1|.. | 8 | .. | 35 Plate 3. Details of Construction | 1|.. | 5 | .. | 20 Memoir |..| 1 | .. | 3 | 30 Tracing of Camps |..|.. | .. | 1 | 5 Tracing on the Ground |..|.. | .. | 2 | 10 Memoir |..| 1 | 1 | .. | 10 +--+---+-----+------+------ Totals | 7| 4 | 51 | 3 | 280 -------------------------------------+--+---+-----+------+------
RECAPITULATION OF THE CREDITS OF INFLUENCE.
Lectures, 90 Execution of Work, 280 ----------------------- Totals 370
4th. Methods of defilement employed. Determination of the different planes of barbettes, of their ramps, of the profiles of the gorge, &c. Construction of embrasures.
5th. Means made use of in practice for determining the distance of the salient of the work to the dangerous point on which it is defiladed.
V.--PROGRAMME OF PERMANENT FORTIFICATION, AND THE ATTACK AND DEFENSE OF PLACES.
The course of instruction in Permanent Fortification and the Attack and Defense of Places, is divided into three parts, viz:--
[KEY] Art. Artillery. Eng. Engineers.
----------------------------------------------------+------------- | No. of | lectures to +------+------ | Art. | Eng. ----------------------------------------------------+------+------ The first part consists of the study of the | | Construction of existing Fortifications, | | and it is common to the two services; | | it comprises, | 10 | 10 The second part contains principles | | of the Art of Fortification, divided into | | three sections, of which the | | {1st section relates to | | Fortification on level ground | 19 | 19 {2nd section relates to | | Fortification on hilly ground | 19 | 26 {3rd section relates to general | | questions of Fortifications | 4 | 5 Third part relates to the Attack | | and Defense of Places, | 24 | 24 +------+------ Total number of Lectures, | 76 | 84 ----------------------------------------------------+------+------
The first part contains a description of the various works of permanent fortification, their respective uses, and the changes that have been successively made in them, together with a short history of ancient fortification prior to the invention of powder, and the changes introduced by the use of fire-arms.
The systems of Errard, Beville, Pagan, Vauban, Cochorn, and Cormontaigne.
The first section of the second part describes the principles on which the various parts of a front of fortification on level ground, and according to Cormontaigne’s system, are regulated, such as the command, relief, defilement, form, length, and material of which the various parts should be constructed; the modifications required by the absence or presence of water; the changes which are necessary as regards exterior or advanced works, and ending with a comparison of a front of fortification according to Cormontaigne, with a modification of the same system introduced by the French engineers.
The second section commences with the principles of defilement and its application under various given circumstances, proceeds with the description of an imaginary work founded on certain given data, and furnishes the data of its proposed construction. It then supplies the theory relating to mines, and their use in the attack, defense, and destruction of places, and points out the particular duties of engineers in fortified places, and the proper and most efficient manner of carrying them on.
The third section relates to the preparation of projects for the improvement of inefficiently fortified places, and to the utility, particular organization, and proper position of fortified places on a frontier line. It then explains the necessity for military law in providing for the security of fortified places and districts along the frontiers of a state.
The third part describes the various operations connected with the attack and defense of a bastioned fortification, commencing with the operations preliminary to the siege and investment of the place, and continuing to describe the several processes to be employed in the attack of the place, with the corresponding efforts that should be made during its defense, and ending with an historical account of certain sieges.
This course requires the practical completion of the following:
Nature of the Work; Time allowed for its completion. Subject of the Work. Scale
1st Part.--On existing fortifications.
Single Plate, 20 days, Complete projection of the front of Cormontaigne without counterguard or cavalier, 1/1000 Three profiles of the front, 1/500
2d Part.--Principles of the Art of Fortification.
Plate, No. 1, 8 “ 1st Section: Fortifications on level ground.--Principal graphical constructions of the front on level ground according to particular data given to each Student 1/1000 Plate, No. 2, 28 “ Complete projection of the whole of the visible and underground parts of the same front, 1/1000 Three profiles of the front, 1/500 Memoir, 6 “ Description of the principles of the Fortification, with a detailed discussion of the dispositions adopted in the particular case treated by the Students. Plate 3, 20 “ 2d Section: Fortification on hilly ground.--Drawing of the ideal fortress and of its Tête-du-pont, with the interior entrenchments, inundation, sluices, and all necessary details to enable a proper comprehension to be had of the action of the water. Drawing complete of one of the fronts of the place and its outworks, described by a particular programme. Defilement of all the works of this front and of the masonry of one of its faces, 1/5000 Memoir, 3 “ On the situation of the fortification; description of the imaginary fortress, and of the management of the water; explanation of the operations of defilement drawn on Plate 3. Plate 4, (Artillerie.) 10 “ Plan and profile of a full revetment of the escarp with its counterforts, 1/200 Plan, profiles, and elevation of a revetment “en décharge.” 1/200 Detail of a gallery and small chamber of a mine, of its tamping and mode of firing, 1/50 Plate 4, (Engineers.) 20 “ Detailed project of one of the parts of the front of fortification defiladed in Plate 3. Plans at different height; disposition of the galleries and small chambers of mines required for blowing up the whole of the ground between two listening galleries. 1/250 Plate 5, 10 “ Sections and elevations of the preceding project. Foundations, coping of vaults, dressing of cut stones, &c., 1/125 Detail of a small gallery and chamber of a mine, comprised in the dispositions of Plate 4. Tamping and mode of firing. Avant, 3 “ Abstractions of measurement of a part of the preceding project, .... Plate 6, 11 “ Study of the alterations in the earth of the same part of the projects, representing the four principal periods of the work, by a plan and section, with an elevation of the 4th period, 1/250 Memoir, 2 “ General theory of the removal of earth. Application to a particular project, .... Register, 3 “ Register of the removal of earth as represented in Plate 6. Estimate, 1 “ Estimate of the part of the project to which the abstraction of measurements has been applied. 3d Section: Projection of the improvement of an existing fortified place. Plate 7, 30 “ Complete projection of the project for improving an existing fortified place, 1/1000 Plate 8, 6 “ Details of the most interesting parts of the project, in plans, sections, and elevations, 1/250 Memoir, 2 “ Marginal notes on the defects presented by the existing system, and on the means employed for correcting them. Calculation, 5 “ Balance of the “deblais” and “remblais” of the project.
3d Part.--Attack and Defense of Places. Single Plate, 30 “ Project of attack of a front of fortification on level ground, 1/2000 Details of the attack, Journal, 4 “ Journal of the siege. Details relating to the composition of the garrison and of the besieging army; also on the material for the Artillery and Engineers required for the attack and defense. Pen sketch of the most elementary works of attack. 1/200
[Transcriber’s Note: The “Observations” column is divided into four sections: Through Plate 3: Common to Students of Both Services. Plate 4: Artillery. Plate 4 (Engineers), through end of 2nd Part: Special to Engineer Students. 3d Part: Common.]
RECAPITULATION FOR THE ARTILLERY.
[KEY] NL Number of Lectures. Cr Credits for the Lectures. +A With application (a.) -A Without application (b.) T Total. I Number of Interrogations.
-------------------------------+----+-------------------+----- I. LECTURES. | | Cr | PARTS OF THE COURSE. | +------+------+-----+ | NL | +A | -A | T | I -------------------------------+----+------+------+-----+----- First Part. Study of | | | | | existing Fortifications, | 10 | 4.5 | 21 | 26 | 1 Second Part. Principles | | | | | of the Art of Fortification, |....| .... | .... | ....| ... First Section. Fortification | | | | | on level ground, | 19 | 24.0 | 9 | 33 | 2 Second Section. Fortification | | | | | on hilly ground, | 19 | 19.5 | 18 | 38 | 2 Third Section. General | | | | | questions of Fortification, | 4 | .... | 12 | 12 | .... Third Part. Attack and | | | | | Defence of Places, | 24 | 24 | 24 | 48 | 2 +----+------+------+-----+----- Totals, | 76 | 72 | 84 | 157 | 7 -------------------------------+----+------+------+-----+-----
[(a.) The lectures with application count for 1 hour 5 minutes.]
[(b.) Those without application for 3 hours.]
[KEY] D Drawings. M Memoirs. V Various. S Sitting in the Halls of Study. Cr Credits.
------------------------------------+------------------+------- II. EXECUTION OF WORK. | Number of | +----+---+---+-----+ | D | M | V | S | Cr ------------------------------------+----+---+---+-----+------- First Part. | | | | | Front of Cormontaigne | 1 | | | 20 | 90 Second Part. | | | | | Plate 1. Construction of Project | | | | | on Level Ground | 1 | | | 8 | 35 Plate 2. Project on Level Ground | 1 | | | 28 | 125 Memoir on ditto | | 1 | | 6 | 55 Plate 3. Project on Hilly Ground | 1 | | | 20 | 90 Memoir on ditto | | 1 | | 3 | 30 Plate 4. Project of Details. Plan | 1 | | | 20 | 90 Plate 5. Project of Section. Plan | 1 | | | 10 | 45 Abstraction of Measurements | | | 1 | 3 | 25 Plate 6. Removal of Earth | 1 | | | 11 | 50 Memoir on ditto | | 1 | | 2 | 20 Register of ditto | | | 1 | 3 | 25 Estimate of the Project | | | 1 | 1 | 10 Plate 7. Project of Improvements | 1 | | | 30 | 135 Plate 8. Details of ditto, | 1 | | | 6 | 25 Memoir on ditto | | 1 | | 2 | 20 Balance of Deblais and Remblais | | | 1 | 5 | 45 Third Part. | | | | | Project of Attack | 1 | | | 30 | 135 Journal of the Siege | | 1 | | 4 | 35 +----+---+---+-----+------- Totals | 10 | 5 | 4 | 212 | 1,085 ------------------------------------+----+---+---+-----+-------
RECAPITULATION OF THE CREDITS OF INFLUENCE.
Lectures, 165 } Execution of Works, 1,085 } 1,250
------------------------------------+--------------+----- II. STUDIES AND EXECUTION | Number of | OF WORK. +----+---+-----+ | D | M | V | Cr ------------------------------------+----+---+-----+----- First Part. | | | | Front of Cormontaigne, | 1 | | 20 | 90 Second Part. | | | | Plate 1. Construction of the | | | | Project on Level Ground, | 1 | | 8 | 35 Plate 2. Project on Level Ground, | 1 | | 28 | 125 Memoir, | | 1 | 6 | 55 Plate 3. Project on Hilly Ground, | 1 | | 20 | 90 Plate 4. Details of the Project, | 1 | | 10 | 45 Memoir, | | 1 | 3 | 30 Third Part. | | | | Plate. Project of Attack, | 1 | | 30 | 135 Journal of Attack, | | 1 | 4 | 35 +----+---+-----+----- Totals | 6 | 3 | 129 | 640 ------------------------------------+----+---+-----+-----
RECAPITULATION OF THE CREDITS OF INFLUENCE.
Lectures, 160 } Studies and Execution of Work, 640 } 800.
RECAPITULATION FOR THE ENGINEERS.
[KEY] Cr Credits for Lectures. NL Number of Lectures. +A With application. -A Without application. T Total Credits. I Number of Interrogations.
------------------------------------+----+-----------------+--- | | Cr | I. LECTURES. | +-----------------+ | NL | +A | -A | T | I ------------------------------------+----+------+----+-----+--- First Part. | | | | | Study of Existing Fortification, | 10 | 4.5 | 21 | 26 | 1 | | | | | Second Part. | | | | | Principles of the Art | | | | | of Fortification, | | | | | First Section. Fortification | | | | | on Level Ground, | 19 | 24.0 | 9 | 33 | 2 Second Section. Fortification | | | | | on Hilly Ground, | 26 | 36.0 | 6 | 42 | 2 Third Section. General Questions | | | | | on Fortification, | 5 | 1.5 | 12 | 13 | Third Part. | | | | | Attack and Defense Places, | 24 | 24.0 | 24 | 48 | 2 +----+------+----+-----+--- Totals | 84 | 90.0 | 72 | 162*| 7 ------------------------------------+----+------+----+-----+---
[* The number 162 is applicable to the Interrogations.]
VI. PROGRAMME OF THE COURSE OF TOPOGRAPHY.
The course of Topography comprehends two parts.
The first relates to the art of topographical drawing, and the second to the art of making topographical surveys. Both parts are carried on pari passu; but as the order in which the different branches of the instruction can be given depends very much on the other works carried on in the School, it will be more convenient to give the programme for each separately.
FIRST PART.--INSTRUCTION IN TOPOGRAPHICAL DRAWING.
The instruction in topographical drawing comprehends lectures and exercises in graphical representation. It is based on a complete exposition of the conventional principles of this species of drawing, and it is illustrated by engraved examples of the characteristics adopted for the representation of the various details.
First Section.--Lectures.
The lectures have for their object the explanation of the general principles of the instruction in topographical drawing, and the geometrical conditions which should regulate the shading of maps and their reduction. They immediately precede the exercise to which they relate.
Lecture 1 relates to small maps, copies, and reductions of these; and it explains the object of topographical maps, the various kinds and the different scales generally used. The manner in which the form of the ground is represented by equi-distant contour or level lines is also explained, and mention is made of the conventional tints used, and the species of writing and value of the scale employed.
Lectures 2 and 3 relate to the execution of shaded plans by the brush and the pen, under different circumstances of light and shade.
Lecture 4 explains the different methods for reducing topographical maps, also the description, mode of using, and verification of pentagraphs.
Second Section.--Exercises.
These exercises are intended to teach the students the conventional signs used in topographical drawing, and to give them facilities with the pencil and brush for producing shaded maps, and in reducing them from one scale to another.
SECOND PART.--INSTRUCTION IN TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEYING.
This instruction comprises:
1st. Lectures given in amphitheatre. 2d. Practical lectures or exercises. 3d. The execution of topographical surveys.
First Section.--Oral Lectures.
These lectures are divided in two classes, which comprehend:--
1st. Those relating to the description of the instruments, and of the methods used in topography.
2d. Those which have reference to the manner in which the students should proceed in the execution of the work, and principally of surveys of limited extent.
Eight lectures are devoted to the description of the various instruments, the method of adjusting their errors, and the manner of using them, as well as to the different ways of proceeding in topography; touching also on the various modes of measuring distances, with descriptions of the compass, plane table, and instruments used for leveling, and on the taking observations for and preparation of sections, and the orientation of maps.
Four preparatory lectures are given, showing the manner in which the students should proceed when on the ground to make a survey of small extent.
Two lectures relate to the methods that should be employed in making a survey of considerable extent, and on the appropriate scales.
Two lectures on military reconnaissance plans; instruments and scales employed.
Two preparatory lectures relate to the execution of a reconnaissance plan, in which the operations of a sham siege are intended to be recorded.
Second Section.--Practical Lectures or Exercises.
The object of these lectures, which take place on the glacis of the fortification, is to show the students the practical modes of using the instruments, and the precautions which must be taken, together with the most elementary proceedings in topography. They are given to ten or twelve students at the same time, and the Professor is assisted by an officer of the staff. Each lecture lasts two and a half hours.
Third Section.--On the Execution of Topographical Surveys.
The object is to familiarize the students with the use of the principal instruments and the principal operations, and they comprehend out-of-door work, of which the results are sketches, registers, and minutes made in pencil, and in the construction of plans, and inking in of the minutes in the Halls of Study.
The out-of-door work is performed under the superintendence of officers of the staff, who assist the students in their work. The construction of the plans is not commenced until the pencil minutes have been examined by the Professor.
These exercises comprise:--
1st and 2d. Construction of plans by the aid of the compass. 3d. The plan of a fortification made with the plane table. 4th. The determination of the variation of the compass. 5th. The execution of a second survey by the aid of the compass. 6th. “ “ rapid survey by pacing the distances. 7th. “ “ reconnaissance survey. 8th. “ “ an itinerary and reconnaissance sketch. 9th. The preparation of a plan on which the whole of the operations of a sham siege may be laid down, as the works of attack and defense proceed.
RECAPITULATION FOR THE ARTILLERY AND ENGINEERS.
[KEY] Cr Credits for Lectures. NL Number of Lectures. +A With application. -A Without application. T Total Credits. I Number of Interrogations.
------------------------------------+----+------------------+--- | | Cr | | +------------------+ I. LECTURES. | NL | +A | -A | T | I ------------------------------------+----+------+----+------+--- 1st part: | | | | | Topographical drawing, | 4 | 6 |....| } | Art of Surveying-- | | | | } 36 | On the instruments and | | | | | Topographical processes, | 8 | 12 |....| } | On Surveys of considerable | | | | | magnitude, | 2 | .... | 6 | } | 2 On Reconnaissance Plans, | 2 | 1.5 | 3 | } | Preparatory to out-of-door work, | 5 | 7.5 |....| } | +----+------+----+------+--- Total, |21 | 27 | 9 | 30* | 2 ------------------------------------+----+------+----+------+---
[* The credit is diminished here and carried forward to the exercises, which serve for the interrogations of many lectures. These lectures have therefore really three series of interrogations.]
[KEY] D Drawings. M Memoirs. V Various. +H In the halls. -H Out of the halls. O Out of doors. C Credits.
------------------------------+----+----+----+--------------+----- | | | | Attendances | EXECUTION OF WORK. | | | +----+----+----+ | D | M | V | +H | -H | O | C ------------------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----- 1st Part:-- | | | | | | | Topographical Drawing: | | | | | | | Conventional Tints, | 1 |....|....| 3 |....|....| 10 Study of Maps, | 4 |....|....| 26 |....|....| 120 Reduction, | 1 |....|....| 2 |....|....| 10 Construction of a | | | | | | | Triangulation with the | | | | | | | Compass, | 1 |....|....| 3 |....|....| 15 1st Survey with the Compass:| | | | | | | Out-of-door work, |....|....| 1 |....|....| 6 | 50 Laying down, | 1 |....|....| 4 |....|....| 20 Survey of Fortifications | | | | | | | with the Plane-Table: | | | | | | | Out-of-door work, |} 1 |....| 1 |....|....| 10 | 80 Laying Down, |} | 1 |....| 4 |....|....| 25 Determination of the | | | | | | | Variation of the Compass, | 1 |....|....| 1 | 1h |....| 5 2d Survey with the Compass: | | | | | | | Out-of-door work, | 1 |....| 1 |....|....| 8 | 65 Laying down, | 1 |....|....| 2 |....| 10 | Rapid Survey: | | | | | | | Out-of-door work, |} 1 |....| 1 |....|....| 6 | 50 Laying down, |} | 1 |....| 4 |....|....| 25 Reconnaisance survey: | | | | | | | Out-of-door work, |} 1 |....| 1 |....|....| 4 | 30 Laying down, |} | 1 |....| 3 |....|....| 20 Itinerary and | | | | | | | Reconnaissance,* | 1 |....|....|....|....| 1 | 10 Topographical operations | | | | | | | relative to sham siege† |....|....|....|....|....|....| .... Topographical exercises, | | | | | | | 4 each of 2½ hours | | | | | | | duration, |....|....|....|....| 6 |....| 20‡ +----+----+----+----+----+----+----- Total | 15 | 3 | 5 | 52 | 7 | 35| 565 ------------------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----
[* The description Itinerary is reckoned with the simulated siege operations.]
[† For a memoir.]
[‡ This number is formed with 5 taken from it for the credit of the interrogations because the exercises serve for the interrogations of several lectures.]
RECAPITULATION OF THE CREDITS OF INFLUENCE.
Lectures, 30} Execution of work, 565} 595.
VII. PROGRAMME OF THE COURSE OF GEODESY AND DIALLING.
This course is divided into two parts--the one part special for the engineers, and the other common to the artillery and engineers.
The first comprises:--
1st. The study of the execution of a triangulation of some extent, and of its connection with the general triangulation of France, executed under the superintendence of the Dépôt de la Guerre, and
2d. Leveling with the barometer.
The second contains:--
1st. The study of reflecting instruments.
2d. The principles of dialling.
Each of these parts comprehend:--
1st. Lectures given in the amphitheatre.
2d. Practical lectures or exercises.
3d. An application.
FIRST PART.--SPECIAL FOR ENGINEERS.
1st Section--Lectures.
These Lectures include:--
1st. A description of the principal geodesical instruments.
2d. The establishment of the triangulation.
3d. The survey and the calculations connected with it.
4th. The orientation of the triangulation.
5th. The calculation of the co-ordinates of the points and their construction from the minutes of the survey.
6th. The geodesical and barometrical leveling.
The first lecture is devoted to the explanation of the different kind of signals used under various circumstances; on the method of measuring bases and angles, and the principles on which these operations are performed; and concluding with the description and mode of using certain instruments for measuring angles.
The second lecture continues and enlarges on the subject of the measurement of angles, horizontal and vertical, with different kinds of instruments.
The third lecture relates to the corrections and reductions which must be made to observed angles, such as the correction for the eccentricity of the instruments, to the reduction of the angles to the horizon, and to the center of the station, and also on the adjustments of the instruments, or the application of corrections for certain errors.
The fourth lecture discusses the calculation of the triangles and their errors, and points out the best organization that can be given to the triangulation, and the exactitude which can be expected from it.
The fifth lecture also relates to the calculation and the development of the triangulation, and explains the nature of the geodesical operations for the map of France.
The sixth lecture explains the manner of observing for, and determination of the azimuthal bearing, for the orientation of the triangulation.
The seventh lecture has reference to the convergence of meridians, calculation of rectangular co-ordinates, sundry problems, and geodesical leveling.
The eighth lecture shows in what manner the barometer is made use of for the determination of differences of altitude, the nature of the corrections to be applied to the instrument, and the degree of exactitude to be found in the results of this process.
The ninth lecture points out the order in which geodesical calculations should be performed and the verifications which should be exacted.
The Second Section contains five lectures or exercises, and they have for their object to familiarize the students with the use of the various kinds of instruments employed in carrying on the operations which have been shortly described in the first section.
The Third Section relates to the practical application of the preceding principles, and mostly consists of geodesical applications.
SECOND PART.--COMMON TO THE ARTILLERY AND ENGINEERS.
The First Section consists of lectures given in the amphitheatre, and relates to reflecting instruments, such as the sextant, reflecting circle, and the method of using them, and also on the principles of dialling, and its connection with various problems in astronomy; describes also the different kinds of dials.
SECOND SECTION.--PRACTICAL EXERCISES.
In which the students are called upon, in the presence of the Professor, to adjust the sextant, and to use it in connection with an artificial horizon for the measurement of the angle between any two objects of the altitude of these objects above the horizon, and also the same altitude.
Third Section contains the practical application of the principles enunciated in the preceding sections, in the preparation by the students of two drawings, in which they will exhibit the graphical representation of the hour in terms of the altitude of the sun previously observed, and show the various constructions of a sun-dial, according to the specified conditions based on the observation of the hour angle.
RECAPITULATION FOR THE ENGINEERS.
[KEY] Cr Credits for Lectures. L Number of Lectures. +A With application. -A Without application. I Number of Interrogations. ---------------------------------+----+-------------------+--- LECTURES. | | Cr | | +------+----+-------+--- | L | +A | -A | Total | I ---------------------------------+----+------+----+-------+--- First Part:--Geodesy: | | | | | Lectures with application, | 4 | 6 |....|} 21 | 1 Lectures without application, | 5 | .... | 15 |} | Second Part: | | | | | Reflecting Instruments, | 1 | 1.5 |}...| | Dialling, | 2 | 3 |} | 4.5 | 1 +----+------+----+-------+--- Total, | 12 | 10.5 | 15 | 25.5 | 2 ---------------------------------+----+------+----+-------+---
[KEY] Att Attendances D Drawings. M Memoirs. V Etats Divers. +H In the halls. -H Out of the halls. C Credits.
------------------------------+----+----+----+---------+---- | | | | Att | EXECUTION OF WORK. | | | +----+----+ | D | M | V | +H | -H | C ------------------------------+----+----+----+----+----+---- First Part: | | | | | | Geodesical calculations, |....|....| 1 | 4 |....| 20 Exercises of 2½ hours, |....|....| 1 |....| 5 | 10 | | | | | | Second Part: | | | | | | Drawings of Dialling, | 2 |....|....| 4 |....| 20 Exercises of 2½ hours, |....|....|....|....| 1 | 5 +----+----+----+----+----+---- Total | 2 |....| 2 | 8 | 6 | 55 ------------------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----
RECAPITULATION OF THE CREDITS OF IMPORTANCE.
Lectures, 25 } Execution of Work, 55 } 80.
RECAPITULATION FOR THE ARTILLERY.
[KEY] Cr Credits for Lectures. L Number of Lectures. +A With application. -A Without application. I Number of Interrogations. ---------------------------------+-----+-------------------+--- LECTURES. | | Cr | | +------+----+-------+ | L | +A | -A | Total | I ---------------------------------+-----+------+----+-------+--- Reflecting Instruments, | 1} | 4.5 |....| 5 | 1 Dialling, | 2} | | | | +-----+------+----+-------+--- Total, | 3 | 4.5 |....| 5 | 1 ---------------------------------+-----+------+----+-------+---
[KEY] D Drawings. M Memoirs. +H In the halls. -H Out of the halls. C Credits.
------------------------------+-------------------+---- | Number of | ------------------------------+----+---------+----+ | | Days | | EXECUTION OF WORK. | +----+----+ | | D | +H | -H | M | C ------------------------------+----+----+----+----+---- Drawings of Dialling, | 2 | 4 |....|....| 20 Exercises of 2½ hours, |....|....| 1 |....| 5 +----+----+----+----+---- Total, | 2 | 4 | 1 |....| 25 ------------------------------+----+----+----+----+----
RECAPITULATION OF THE CREDITS OF IMPORTANCE.
Lectures, 5 } Execution of Works, 25 } 30.
VIII.--PROGRAMME OF THE COURSE OF SCIENCES APPLIED TO THE MILITARY ARTS.
Lectures. 1st part--Geology, 12 2d “ On the Metallurgy of Iron, on Working in Iron, 6 3d “ Applications of the Working in Iron, 3 4th “ On the Manufacture of Small-arms, 4 5th “ “ “ of Ordnance, 5 6th “ “ “ of Powder, 5 7th “ On Pyrotechny, 2 -- Total, 37 --
FIRST PART.--GEOLOGY.
Lecture 1.--Preliminary notions. Definition of geology expressed from its applications. Division in four sections:--1st. Mineralogy. 2d. Paleontology. 3d. Geognosy. 4th. Geogeny. (Only the three first are here treated of.)
First Section.--Mineralogy. Generalities. Distinctive characters of minerals. Fundamental principle of a mineralogical classification. Minerals are distinguished as having characters either exterior, crystalline, chemical, or physical; classification of minerals.
Lecture 2.--First class: Simple bodies forming one of the essential principles of minerals. Genus silica, quartz, sulphur. Second class: Alkali and alkaline salts, potass, soda, &c. Third class: Alkaline earths, and earths. Genus lime. Fourth class: Metals. Iron of various kinds; copper, lead, tin, zinc.
Lecture 3.--Fifth class: Silicates of various kinds. Sixth class: Combustibles, minerals.
Lecture 4.--Description of various rocks. Classification of rocks.
Lecture 5.--Use of rock and stone in the arts, and particularly in the art of construction.
Lecture 6.--On the calcination of calcareous stones, lime-kilns.
Lecture 7.--Manufacture of artificial hydraulic lime, manufacture of bricks, stucco, or cements.
Lecture 8.--Second Section: Paleontology. General division established in zoology and botany. General notions relating to the different kinds of animals and vegetables, of which the remains are found in various geological formations. Third section: Geognosy. Lectures 9, 10, 11, 12, occupied with the explanation of the various formations.
SECOND PART.--ON WORKING IN IRON.
Lecture 13.--Preliminary notions. Definitions and general considerations. Characteristics of iron, steel, cast-iron, &c.
Lecture 14.--On iron ore and the various kinds of fluxes.
Lecture 15.--On combustibles. Vegetable combustibles, mineral combustibles.
Lecture 16.--Manufacture of cast-iron. High furnaces, different modes of proceeding with vegetable and mineral combustibles.
Lecture 17.--Manufacture of iron and steel and the different kinds of iron.
THIRD PART.--APPLICATION OF THE WORKINGS OF IRON.
Lecture 19.--Making of projectiles, carriages for guns and mortars, axle-trees and anchors. Use of cast-iron for artillery. General notions in moulding. Use of wrought-iron and steel. Materials first made use of for the making of projectiles, and in the casting of cannon-balls, &c.
Lecture 20.--On the manufacture of hollow projectiles and the carriages for guns and mortars.
Lecture 31.--On the manufacture of axles and anchors.
FOURTH PART.--ON THE MANUFACTURE OF SMALL-ARMS.
Lecture 22.--Preliminary considerations. Assay of metals. Fire-arms, manufacture of gun-barrels, describing the various details.
Lecture 23.--Bayonets, locks, &c.
Lecture 24.--On the making of stocks. Finishing. Rifling small-arms.
Lecture 25.--Manufacture of sabres, swords, lances, hatchets, cuirasses, and on the preservation, maintenance, and repair of arms.
FIFTH PART.--ON THE MANUFACTURE OF ORDNANCE.
Lecture 26.--Preliminary notions. Metals proper for the manufacture of ordnance. Composition and properties of gun-metal. Wrought and cast-iron ordnance. Moulding generally. Moulding of cannons.
Lecture 27.--Moulding of howitzers. Foundries. Fusion of the metals.
Lectures 28, 29.--Boring. Turning. Carving. Turning of the trunnions, &c. Manufacture and reception of bushes. Insertion and replacement of bushes.
Lecture 30.--Last operations. Proofs and reception of cannon. Chemical operations. Assay and analysis of the metals employed in the casting of gun-metal; proportion of the several ingredients.
SIXTH PART.--ON THE MANUFACTURE OF POWDER.
Lecture 31.--General notions. Various kinds of powder, &c. On saltpetre and sulphur.
Lecture 32.--Charcoal; wood employed; various kinds of charcoal; proceeding followed in making powder in various ways by the pestle.
Lecture 33.--Manufacture by mills, &c.
Lecture 34.--Influence of the proportion of the several ingredients, and of the manner of making it on its various properties. Preservation, inflammation, and combustion.
Lecture 35.--Proofs and reception of powder. Proof of its projectile force. Mortar proof, and various kinds of other proofs to which it is subject. Reception and analysis of powder.
SEVENTH PART.--PYROTECHNY.
Lecture 36.--Preliminary ideas. Objects of the course. Precautions that should be adopted to prevent accident. Mixture of the materials. Manufacture of leaden balls of various kinds. Caps. Fireworks for warlike purposes, used for setting buildings, &c., on fire. Firing cannon and exploding mines.
Lecture 37.--Fireworks employed under various circumstances in war. Signal rockets. For illuminating or setting on fire. For explosions. Petards. On ordinary fireworks.
Works of Application.--The works of application which are connected with the course of science applied to the military arts are as follows:--
1st. Study of samples of mineralogical specimens. 2d. Study of geological maps to be followed by a memoir. 3d. Memoirs on: 1st. Iron and its applications. 2d. Manufacture of cannon. 3d. Manufacture of small-arms and powder. 4th. Out-of-door geological excursions to be followed by memoirs. 5th. Manipulations relative to moulding in earth or sand. 6th. Chemical manipulations. 7th. Pyrotechnic manipulations.
First.--Study of Samples of Mineralogical Specimens.
This study has for its object the determination of the kind of minerals described in the course. It is made in sections of ten or twelve Sub-Lieutenants and by attendances of one hour, each Sub-Lieutenant being called upon to reply at least three times.
Second.--Study of Geological Maps, followed by a Memoir.
The study of geological maps will consist in indicating, by conventional colors, the different geological formations of a lithographical map, and to make a section in a particular direction. The map will be the same for all, and it will be conceived so as to correspond with the geological formation of France, but the sections will differ for each student.
An explanatory memoir will have for its object to call the attention of the Sub-Lieutenants to the most salient facts which will be placed in relief by this study.
One attendance in the halls of study will be devoted to this work.
Third.--Three Memoirs.
Three memoirs on different parts of the course, other than the geological, will be made immediately after the interrogations relative to each section. Particular data will be furnished to each Sub-Lieutenant. Three attendances in the halls of study will be allowed for these memoirs.
Fourth.--Geological Excursions.
Three geological excursions will be made in the environs of Metz by groups of ten or twelve Sub-Lieutenants under the direction of the Professor, and at the period of the out-of-door work, so as not to interfere with the current work in the halls. The first excursion will have for its object the study of the lias and lower oolite, met with in the vicinity of Metz. If the time will admit of it, a reconnaissance will be made to the great oolite at Taumont or at Amanvillers.
The second excursion will be made in the direction of Gorze for the study of the lower oolitic formation and to trace it up to Bradford clay, where an important fault occurs in this direction near to Metz. The study of this fault will be the great object of this excursion.
The third excursion will be made in the direction of Forbach, meeting with the lias, chalk-colored freestone, &c.
Three entire days will be devoted to these excursions, and each Sub-Lieutenant will enter his observations in a note-book, and make a certain number of sections, and report the results of these excursions in three memoirs in a specified time.
Fifth.--Manipulations relative to Moulding in Earth or Sand.
These mouldings of projectiles will be made by sections of ten or twelve Sub-Lieutenants, two attendances of three hours each being devoted to them, one for ordinary and the other for hollow projectiles.
The manipulations for the moulding of cannon will be executed by the Professor.
All the Sub-Lieutenants will be successively called by sections a certain number of times, in order that they may be enabled to render an account of the different states of advancement of the work.
Programme of practical instruction for the casting of projectiles.
1st attendance. Making shot, &c. 2d attendance. Making hollow projectiles.
Programme of the moulds to be executed by the Professor.
Manufacture of cannon; moulding in earth and the various processes to be carried on.
Sixth.--Chemical Manipulations.
The chemical manipulations are made by sections of ten or twelve Sub-Lieutenants.
Nine attendances of three hours each are employed.
1st. To the determination of the specific gravity and real density of gunpowder and to its analysis. 2d. To two other analyses of gun-metal, iron-ore, &c.
Seventh.--Manipulations in Pyrotechny.
The manipulations in pyrotechny will be made by the whole division, divided into three brigades. Each brigade will be assembled in one of the halls at the School of Pyrotechny, and will execute the different manipulations indicated in the following programme, under the direction of the Professor, and with the assistance of the master artificers of the School of Pyrotechny. Five attendances of three hours will be employed at these manipulations.
PROGRAMME OF THE PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS ON MUNITIONS AND FIREWORKS.
1st Attendance. Munitions for small-arms. {Construction of bullets. Infantry cartridges, { “ of pouches and caps. { “ of cartridges. Cartridges with oblong bullets. 2d Attendance. Ammunition for field guns. Construction and filling of pouches, packing in wood, &c. 3d Attendance. Ammunition for siege artillery, &c. Construction and filling of cartridges, &c. Charging hollow projectiles. 4th Attendance. Fireworks for war purposes. Construction of matches, quick matches, tubes, fusees for shells and grenades. Construction of signal rockets. 5th Attendance. Carriage of field ammunition. Loading and unloading field ammunition chests for cannons, howitzers, and infantry wagons. Construction of ornamental lances and Roman candles.
RECAPITULATION FOR THE ARTILLERY AND ENGINEERS.
[KEY] NL No. of Lectures. +A With Application, 1h. 5m. -A Without Application, 3h. 0m. T Total Credits I No. of Interrogations
------------------------------------+----+---------------+---- Lectures.-- | | Credits for | | | Lectures. | | +-----+----+ | Parts of the Course. | NL | +A | -A | T | I ------------------------------------+----+-----+----+----+---- 1st Part, Geology, | 12 | 15 | 6 | 20 | 2 2d “ on Working in Iron, | 6 | | 18 | 20}| 1 * 3d “ Applications of | | | | | working in Iron, | 3 | 15 | 6 | 10}| † 4th “ Manufacture of Small Arms, | 4 | | 12 | 10 | 1 5th “ Manufacture of Cannon, | 5 | | 15 | 15 | 1 6th “ Manufacture of Powder, | 5 | | 15 | 15}| 1 7th “ Pyrotechny, | 2 | 3 | | 5}| | -- +-----+----+----+---- | 37 |19.50| 72 | 95 | 6 ------------------------------------+----+-----+----+----+----
[* The first series of interrogations relates to mineralogy.] [† The second to geognosy.]
[Transcriber’s Note: The printed Observations column (shown here as footnotes) is ambiguous; the best guess is that both items refer to Geology.]
[KEY] St Studies. Sk Sketches. M Memoirs. E Exercises. Mp Manipulations. H Attendances in halls, 4h. 5m. OD Attendances out of doors, 6h. Attendances at the Laboratory: L1 1h. to 2h. L3 of 3h. P Attendance at the School of Pyrotechny 3h. Cr Credits.
----------------------------------+-----------------------------+---- Works of | Number of | +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ Application. |St|Sk|M |E |Mp|H |OD|L1|L3|P | Cr ----------------------------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---- Study of Mineralogical Specimens, | 3|..|..|..|..|..|..| 3|..|..| 5 Study of Geological Map, |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| .. followed by a Memoir Map, |..| 1|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..| 5 Memoir, |..|..| 1|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..| 10 Memoirs on the Metallurgy |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| .. of Iron, and its-- |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| .. 1. Application, |..|..| 1|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..| 10 2. Manufacture of cannon, |..|..| 1|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..| 10 3. Manufacture of small arms |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| .. or powder, |..|..| 1|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..| 10 Geological Excursions, |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| .. followed by Memoirs: |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| .. Excursions, |..|..|..| 3|..|..| 3|..|..|..| 20 Memoirs, |..|..| 3|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 20 Manipulations in-- |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| .. Moulding, |..|..|..|..| 2|..|..|..| 2|..| 5 Chemistry, |..|..|..|..| 9|..|..|..| 9|..| 25 Pyrotechny, |..|..|..|..| 5|..|..|..|..| 5| 15 +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---- Total, | 3| 1| 7| 3|16| 4| 3| 3|12| 5|135 ----------------------------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+----
RECAPITULATION OF THE CREDITS OF INFLUENCE.
Lectures, 95 } } 230. Works of Application, 135 }
IX. PROGRAMME OF THE COURSE OF APPLIED MECHANICS.
FIRST SECTION.--GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
Lectures 1 and 2.--Short account of the general principles which serve as a base for the application of mechanics to machines, under the compound ratio of their establishment and of the calculation of their effects.
Lecture 3.--General composition of a factory; power, recipient, transmission of movement, tools. General method of calculating the effect of forces in a complete factory.
Lectures 4, 5, and 6.--Theoretical rules and the results of experiments concerning the flow of liquids. (Particular reference is made to the principles which relate to the large orifices of machines moved by water.)
Lecture 7.--Gauging of the volumes and valuation of the dynamical power of water-courses which feed machines.
SECOND SECTION.--MOTOR MACHINES.
Lecture 8.--Theory of the effect of water on hydraulic wheels. Determination of the elements of the calculation.
Lectures 9 to 13.--Application of the general theories to the principal hydraulic recipients. Conditions of the maximum, relative to the useful effect of each kind. Results of experiments, &c. (With reference to turbines, those which are most generally employed in the artillery workshops must be adverted to.)
Lecture 14.--Comparative abstract of the usual properties of various hydraulic “recepteurs.” Operations that must be carried on in order to arrive at their results and to their reception in manufactories.
Lecture 15.--Physical ideas relative to the use of the vapor of water as a motive power. Theoretical bases of the calculation of the effects of steam-engines. Force exerted by the compression and expansion of elastic fluids.
Lectures 16 to 18.--Practical notions and results of experiments relating to the effects and to the usual properties of the principal systems of steam-engines in use, as to the employment, reception, and maintenance in workshops.
THIRD SECTION.--RESISTANCE OF MATERIALS.
Lecture 19.--Resistance to compression: 1st, by gradual pressure; 2d, by shock. Results of experience. Application to wooden and cast-iron supports, and to the foundations of machines. Stocks of hammers.
Lecture 20.--Resistance to traction. Application to the shank of a piston, to bolts, chains, cordage, and leather straps. Resistance to flexure. Practical formulæ for calculating the transverse dimensions of the wooden or cast-iron arms of hydraulic wheels, of the catches or sails.
Lecture 21.--Continuation of the resistance to flexure. Practical formula for calculating the dimensions of the several parts of such machines. Cranks, winches, and handles in wood or in metal.
Lecture 22.--Resistance to torsion. Practical formulas. Results of experiments relative to the resistance of wood and metals to boring and turning. Resistance of cast-iron plates to clipping.
FOURTH SECTION.--WORKING MACHINES
Lectures 23 and 24.--Of blowing machines. General expression of their useful effect. Conditions of the maximum effect. Ventilators; their use in workshops and galleries of mines. Practical bases of their construction. Blowing machines with a piston. Description. Calculation of the effects and results of experiment.
Lectures 25 and 26.--Description and properties of alternative and circular sawing machines. Practical rules for their establishment. Results of experiments concerning the motive power they require, the useful effect obtained, and the resistance of various kinds of wood to the action of the tool. Results of observation relative to the work in shops by hand-saws.
Lectures 27 and 28.--Machines which act by shocks. Practical formula for the calculation of the loss of acting force in the shock. Description and usual properties of various kinds of hammers employed in workshops. Results of experiments proper for serving as the base for the establishment of lever hammers and pestles in powder manufactories. Results of calculation and observation relative to hammers and pestles moved directly or by the transmission of a movement by steam.
Lecture 29.--Grindstones for powder manufactories. Rapidity suitable to the different parts of the work. Means of obtaining it. Calculation of the necessary motive power. Sharpening grindstones for the manufacture of arms. Ventilation.
Lecture 30.--Lathes and drilling bits. Description. Rapidity of movement and form of the tools, according to the nature of the matter and kind of work. Results of experiments concerning the motive force required, and its relation to the useful effect obtained. Composition of a workshop of turning-lathes for an arsenal of artillery.
Lecture 31.--Boring. Machines for cutting and boring. The form of the tool and the rapidity of its action must depend on the nature of the material and the kind of work. Results of experience concerning the motive power required, and its relation to the useful effect obtained, principally for the boring machines of the manufactories of arms and of foundries. Boring machines, disposal of them in an arsenal.
Lecture 32.--Flatteners. Machines for centering, for making screw holes. Descriptions. Different rapidity of the work, dependent on its nature and that of the material. Results of experiments concerning the amount of the motive power and its relation to the useful effect obtained.
FIFTH SECTION.--LECTURES PREPARATORY TO THE WORKS OF APPLICATION.
Lecture 33.--Proceeding to be followed in the preparation of the sketches of a machine. Observations on the effects of machines, their duration, original cost, and cost of maintenance, mode of making, &c. Indications of the difficulties which are met with, and means which should be employed.
Lecture 34.--Project of a factory (specially for the sub-lieutenants of artillery.) Legal conditions respecting the erection of factories. General mode of proceeding with the project. Choice of motor machines dependent on local circumstances and the nature of the work to be performed.
Lecture 35.--(Special for the sub-lieutenants of artillery.) Determination of the effects supported by the pieces, whose dimensions should be calculated in applying the practical formula of the resistance of materials. Selection of materials.
Lecture 36.--(Special for the sub-lieutenants of artillery.) Principal assemblages of various pieces of machines. Building, foundations, supports of trunnions and pivots.
SECTION SECOND.--WORKS OF APPLICATION.
Survey of Workshops.
This survey of workshops comprehends:--
1st. Figured sketches and observations made on the ground.
2d. Drawing of the whole and of details shaded.
3d. A memoir containing an accurate description of the machines and workshops, the calculation of the dynamical effect, the exposition of the mode of fabrication, and, in general, the results and consequences of the observations made on the spot. It must be executed by each, conformably with the particular programme, and to the instruction which will be given to him. He is allowed for this work thirty-four days.
Project of Machines.
This work, executed immediately following the preceding, by the sub-lieutenants of artillery only, has exclusively for its object the establishment of a workshop for the service of the artillery, comprehending the driving machines and the principal operators; or, if there be time, the improvement of the workshops of the same arm, described in the preceding work. This project must be executed conformably to the particular programme given to each sub-lieutenant. It comprehends; 1, sheet of drawings: 2, a memoir. Twenty-six days are allowed for this work,
RECAPITULATION.
NL No. of Lectures. CL Credits for Lectures. +A With application. -A Without application. C Total Credits. I No. of Interrogations.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- | Artillery. | Engineers. Oral Instruction +----+----+----+----+---+----+-----+----+-----+--- --Parts of | | CL | C | D | A | CL | | D the Course. | +----+----+ | | +-----+----+ | | NL | +A | -A | TC | I | NL | +A | -A | TC | I ------------------+----+----+----+----+---+----+-----+----+-----+--- 1st Section--General Principles, | | | | | | | | 7 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 1 2d Sec.--Driving Machines, | | | | | | | | | 11 | 12 | 9 | 21 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 21 | 1 3d Sec.--Resistance of materials,| | | | | | | | 4 | 5 | 3 | 8 |...| 4 | 5 | 3 | 8 |... 4th Sec.--Working Machines, | | | | | | | | | 10 | 15 |....| 15 | 1 | 10 | 15 | | 15 | 1 5th Sec.--Lectures preparatory to the works of application, | | 4 | 6 |....| 6 | | 1 | 1.50|....| 1.50|... +----+----+----+----+---+----+-----+----+-----+--- Total | 36 | 44 | 21 | 65 | 3 | 33 |39.50| 21 |60.50| 3 ------------------+----+----+----+----+---+----+-----+----+-----+---
RECAPITULATION.
D Sheets of drawings. M Memoirs. Att Attendances. H In the halls. O Out-of-doors. C Credits.
---------------------+----------------------+---------------------- | Number of | Number of +---+---+--------+-----+---+---+---------+---- Works of application | | | Att | | | | Att | | | +----+---+ | | +----+----+ | D | M | H | O | C | D | M | H | O | C ---------------------+---+---+----+---+-----+---+---+----+----+---- Survey of workshops: | | | | | | | | | | Figured sketches | | | | | | | | | | and observations,| * |...|....| 8 | 65 | 1 |...|....| 8 | 65 Shaded drawings, | 1 |...| 22 |...| 100 | 1 |...| 22 |....| 100 Memoir, |...| 1 | 4 |...| 40 |...| 1 | 4 |....| 40 Project of machines: | | | | | | | | | | Calculations | | | | | | | | | | and drawings, | 1 |...| 20 |...| 90 |...|...|....|....|.... Preparation | | | | | | | | | | of memoir |...| 1 | 6 |...| 60 |...|...|....|....|.... +---+---+----+---+-----+---+---+----+----+----- Total, | † | 2 | 52 | 8 | 355 | † | 1 | 26 | 8 | 205 ---------------------+---+---+----+---+-----+---+---+----+----+-----
[* 1 note book.]
[† 1 note book 2 sheets]
RECAPITULATION.
Artillery. Engineers. Credits for lectures assigned to the interrogations, 65 60 Credits for works of application, 355 205 --- --- 420 265
X.--PROGRAMME OF THE COURSE ON CONSTRUCTION.
The course on construction is divided into four parts.
The first part relates to the elements of masonry and the principles which should regulate the form, dimensions, and the construction of walls, and the different parts of buildings; it contains eighteen lectures.
The second part is devoted to the architecture of military buildings--twelve lectures.
The third part supplies the theory of the stability of construction, and is divided into--
1st section, relating to the resistance of materials--six lectures.
2d “ to the stability of walls of revetments and arches--nine lectures.
The fourth part applies to constructions in water--twenty lectures.
The course is very nearly the same for the Artillery as for the Engineers.
ELEMENTS OF MASONRY, ETC.
Lectures 1, 2, and 3.--Relate to the elements of which masonry is composed, such as the different kinds of stones, usual dimensions, manner in which good stone may be known; bricks, lime, cement, sand, mortar, stucco, mastic plaster, asphalte, &c., and to the general considerations relating to foundations, and the different kinds of walls under various circumstances.
Lecture 4.--Treats of sustaining walls and the probable effects of the pressure of the earth. Of the conditions which must be fulfilled to insure stability. Various formulæ on the subject. Details of construction and on the proper material to be used.
Lecture 5.--Refers to the manner of facing masonry. Openings in walls, windows. Partition-walls.
Lecture 6.--On cylindrical arches, vaults, key-stones. Formulæ for the calculation of the thickness of piers of an arch or vault. Construction and use of tables for the calculation of the thickness. Construction of arches and vaults in different materials.
Lecture 7.--Arches continued, flat arches, plate bands, &c.
Lecture 8.--On the woods used in construction. On the influence of the soil on its quality. Characteristics of good wood. Preservation of wood. Proper wood for constructions.
Lecture 9.--Flooring. Beams. Girders. Joists. Ceilings.
Lecture 10.--Staircases, conditions respecting. Construction of different kinds of staircases, part of masonry, wood, &c.; steps. Construction of landing-places, &c.
Lectures 11 and 12.--Roofs in carpentry. Conditions which should be satisfied. Composition of the roof of a building. On the different kinds of roofs.
Lecture 13.--On the different ways of joining pieces of wood or timber together.
Lecture 14.--On permanent kinds of roofing. Conditions which should be fulfilled by good roofing. Composition of roofing. Tiles, lathing, cut slates, ridge tiles, hollow tiles, Dutch tiles. On slate roofing. Metallic roofing. Metal mostly used. Precautions to be taken with reference to all metal roofing.
Lecture 15.--Details relating to inhabited buildings. Cellars. Privies. Drainage. Chimneys; cause of their smoking. Most favorable forms of the flues, pipes. Bake-house, hearth.
Lecture 16.--On joinery and locksmiths’ work. Flooring of different kinds. Doors. Camp-beds. Racks and mangers in stables. Shutters.
Lecture 17.--Apparatus for heating and for cooking food. Hearth, ash-pan. Grate-flues. Amount of surface to be given to heating apparatus. Furnace of kitchens in barracks. Summary notions on the heating and ventilating of buildings. Calorifiéres with hot air, steam, and hot water.
Lecture 18.--Plan of a building. Projections adopted for the representation of a building. Plans, sections, and elevations. Order in which the measurements should be made, and the sketch prepared. Height at which the horizontal plane of projections should pass, &c.
SECOND PART.--ARCHITECTURE OF MILITARY BUILDINGS.
Lecture 1.--Decoration, without making use of the orders of architecture. Principal conditions relating to decoration. Symmetry, regularity, simplicity, unity, and apparent soliditity. Proper character. Proportions of the façades. Height of the stories. Basements. Horizontal chains or fillets. Vertical chains and pilasters. Proportions of the doors and windows. Arcades and arched windows. Cornices, pediments.
Lecture 2.--Distribution of buildings. Considerations that should have weight in the distribution. Number composing the edifice. Circumstances that guide in the disposal of masses. Conditions that should be satisfied in placing a building. Locality and suitable dimensions. Relations that should exist between them. Interior and exterior communications. Stories on the same floor. Position of the large rooms. Separation of the rooms. Position and arrangement of staircases. Verification of stability.
Lecture 3.--Conditions to be fulfilled in the distribution of the principal military establishments. Arsenals. Polygons for drill. Military establishments to the School of Bridges.
Lecture 4.--Foundries. Manufacture of arms.
Lecture 5.--Refining saltpetre. Powder. Powder magazines. Details relative to the construction of lightning conductors.
Lecture 6.--Infantry and cavalry barracks.
Lecture 7.--Hospitals. Military prisons and penitentiaries.
Lecture 8.--Storehouse for corn. Store-pits. Storehouse for fodder. Preserving houses.
Lecture 9.--Cisterns. Filtration.
Lecture 10.--Military tribunals. Guard-house. Gates of cities. Hotels and dwelling-houses. Officers’ quarters.
Lecture 11.--Preparatory to the execution of a project for a building. Method of proceeding. Composition of the sketch; approximate surface of all the locality; separation into symmetrical groups in the case of several buildings; number of stories; surface of the ground floor; length and breadth of the building between its walls; distribution of each story; verification of the relation between the stories. Elevation of the building. Sketches. Memoir. General details, and details of execution.
Lecture 12.--Discussion before the abstraction of the measurements and the preparation of the estimate of the building.
THIRD PART.--FIRST SECTION: ON THE RESISTANCE OF MATERIALS.
1. Resistance of prismatic bodies to extension and compression. Elasticity of bodies. Modulus of elasticity. Limits of permanent efforts. Resistance to extension and compression of stone, bricks, and analogous materials; also of wood and metals. Applications.
2. Transverse resistance. Some cases in which it is brought into play. Results of experience. Resistance of bodies submitted to the effects of transversal flexure. Results of experience and conventions. Conditions of equilibrium of bodies submitted to efforts directly transversal to their length. Direction and value of molecular efforts. Equation of the axis of the body. Equation of the squaring. Discussion of these equations.
3. Geometrical method for determining the inertia. Application to the research for the inertia of various sections. Applications of general equations of equilibrium and of squaring to straight pieces.
1st. A horizontal piece set in a frame at one extremity, and subjected to a weight acting at the other extremity, with a uniform vertical effect.
2d. Horizontal beam placed upon two supports, and subjected to a weight acting at its center, and with a uniform vertical effect.
3d. Beam placed horizontally on two supports, and having two equal weights symmetrically placed with respect to its center.
4th. Beam placed horizontally on two supports, and subjected to a weight acting at any point whatever throughout its length.
5th. Horizontal beam fixed at both its extremities, and subjected to a weight acting at its center with an equal vertical effect.
6th. Horizontal beam placed on three points of support, at unequal distances, and weighted with two weights acting at the middle of the intervals between the supports.
7th. Vertical beam fixed at the foot, and charged with a weight acting at a certain distance from the axis of the beam.
5. Solids of equal resistances. Most suitable form for cast girders. Applications of the formula of equilibrium and squaring to various kinds of carpentry.
6. On polygonal roofs. Conditions respecting them. Arched roofs, pressure, &c. On the stability of walls required to resist the pressure of roofs.
SECOND SECTION: ON THE STABILITY OF REVETMENT WALLS AND ARCHES.
7. On the pressure of earth. Explanation of the theory on Coulomb’s system. Investigation of the pressure of earth by analysis. Hypothesis necessary in order to simplify the calculations. General formula of the value of the pressure, &c. Equations of stability and equilibrium under the hypothesis of slipping and rolling.
8. Simplification of the general equations of equilibrium in three particular cases. Determination of the co-efficient of stability in Vauban’s profile. M. Poncelet’s formula for calculating the thickness of revetment walls with perpendicular face. Transformation of the profile of a revetment to another of equal stability. Vauban’s counterforts, &c.
9. Geometrical method for determining the pressure of earth, whatever may be the profile of the wall and of the earth, taking into account the friction of the earth on masonry. Geometrical determination of the amount of the pressure. Proceeding for the determination, by geometry, of the thickness of a revetment wall at the level of the exterior ground.
10. On buttresses. Geometrical determination of the buttressing of earth, and of its momentum. Simplification of the geometrical constructions of the pressure, of the buttressing, and of their momenta under certain hypotheses.
11. Points of application of the pressure and of the buttress. 1st. In the case of a terrace sloping less than the natural slope of the ground. 2d. In the case of the ordinary revetments of fortification.
On the stability of the foundations of revetment walls.
Compressible soil. The resultant of all the forces should pass through the center of the base. Size of the footing of the wall or depth of the foundations to arrive at the result. Possibility of the wall slipping over the base of the foundations. Use of the buttress to prevent this movement. Graphical method to determine the depth of the foundations. Depth of the foundations in unstable soil.
12. Pressure of arches. Case of cylindrical arches. Explanation of the theory of the pressure of arches. Point of application of the pressure in the five modes of possible rupture. Expression for the pressures and resistances by rolling or slipping. Proceeding to be followed to find by calculation the pressures and resistances.
13. Geometrical determination of the pressures and resistances by rolling. Explanation of the solution of this question. Construction of lines proportional to the surfaces of the voussoirs. 1st. In the case of an arch. Extrados without coping or additional weight. 2d. In that of an arch with extrados in the form of coping, and with or without additional weight. Construction of the verticals passing through the center of gravity of the voussoirs. Abstract of the operations to be performed. Determination by geometrical means of the pressure and resistance against slipping.
14. Co-efficient of stability of arches from the springing. Manner of finding the outline of an arch for a certain given co-efficient. Stability of a cylindrical arch on its piers. Thickness of the piers. Considerations relative to the value of the co-efficient of stability. Stability of an arch on the base of its foundations. Filling in and depth of the foundations of piers.
Extension of the geometrical methods serving for the determinations of the pressures and thicknesses of piers in case of cross vaulting, arcades, and spherical vaulting.
15. Investigation by analysis of the pressures and resistances of an arch.
1st. Hypothesis of a plat-band; stability at the springing charge necessary on the coussinet; stability of the plat-band on its piers; thickness of the piers. Squaring of a tie-beam of iron which annihilates the pressure.
2d. Hypothesis of a semicircular vaulting with arched extrados. Pressures and resistances. In similar arches the pressure is proportional to the square of the radius.
FOURTH PART.--HYDRAULIC CONSTRUCTION.
1st. Classification of ground on which it may be necessary to place a foundation. Soundings. Their object. Various kinds of sounding line. Dams in earth, and in wood and earth combined. Case of an unstable foundation. Construction on rock. Thickness of dams and of the clay work. General disposition of a dam. Bottom-springs. Means of choking or smothering them or of diverting them. Use of sunk dams. Service bridges. Their height and disposition. Railways in great constructions. Their disposition.
2d. Summary review of draining or pumping machines. Choice between the different methods of draining. Table of the useful effect of such machines.
Pile driving. Pile driving machine with band ropes. Preparation of the pile and operation of driving. Pile driving machine with catch. Choice between the two kinds of pile driving machines. Precautions to be taken in the driving of piles. Distribution of piles, the space to be left between them, and the squaring of them. Disposition and driving of planks. Method of drawing up piles and planking. Execution of a foundation on piles. Driving stakes out of water. Machine for squaring piles.
3d. Parafouilles. Their object and construction.
Foundations in mortar under water. Preparation and immersion of the mortar. Examples.
Thickness of sunk dams with the enceint in mortar.
4th. Foundation frames and platforms. Their object and their construction. Preparation of the foundation frames in masonry.
Foundation by packing.
Foundation by coffer-dams. Details of a coffer-dam.
5th. Foundations on solid gravel. Properties of gravel. Case where it is advantageous to make use of gravel. Examples.
Foundations on sunk wooden piles, in gravel, and in gravel and mortar.
Foundation on pillars built in masonry.
Foundations on quicksand.
Species of foundation to adopt according to the nature of the ground.
6th. Banks of reservoirs. Conditions which should be fulfilled in their establishment. Banks in earth; their profile; revetments to protect them; the wet slope; sort of remblai; precautions which exact a large remblai. Banks in remblai and sustaining walls combined. Banks entirely in masonry; movements observed in walls; most suitable profile. Comparison between banks in earth and masonry. Works which are employed in connection with banks of reservoirs. Dikes of inundations. Their profile; defense of their slope against the action of water; their establishment and works in connection with them.
7th. Batardeaux in the ditches of strong places. Situation; profile; details of construction. Weirs. Their object; effect of a weir in a current. Advantages of the wedge or circular form. Height to give to a weir; and longitudinal form of the swelling occasioned by a horizontal dam. Construction of weirs with vertical walls, with a long slope down the stream. Injuries to which weirs are liable. Profile to adopt according to the nature of the ground.
8th. Sluice-dams, their object; form of the piles; distance apart, and dimensions. Details of construction. Various kinds of apparatus for opening and shutting sluice-dams. Play of a revolving gate. Calculation of the dimensions of the two half sluice gates and of the wicket. Carpentry of a revolving gate. Movable dams with iron wickets. Modifications to render them applicable to the retention of water at a greater height than 2.80 meters.
9th. Navigable locks. Canal lock; its management; form of the chamber; profile of the cheeks. Trace of the pier on which the gates work. Means of filling and emptying the chambers. Means of raising the paddle-valves. Wood-work of the gates sheathed in timber. Planes. Details of the pivots, collars and rollers. Arrangements for the management of the sheathed gates.
10th. Gates sheathed in wood; curves. Ties of cast-iron, and lining in wood or sheet-iron. Cast-iron gates.
River Navigation.--Advantages and disadvantages of water transit. Conditions of a navigable river. Works for the improvement of the navigation on a river.
Artificial Navigation.--Classification of canals. Conditions which determine the best position for a summit level. Search after a minimum of elevation. Expenditure of water at the summit level.
11th. Principal processes employed to economise the water in passing through a lock. Profile of a navigable canal.
Deep cuttings; their profile. Great landslips and means of remedying them.
Tunnels; their profile. Piercing of a tunnel.
12th. Bridges in masonry. Position; breadth of the roadway; outlet to be left for the water; size and form of the arches; trace of the surbased arches on more than five centers. Expansion of the bridge-heads. Profile of the arch. Thickness of the piles and abutments. Apparatus for the arches and bridge-heads. Parts above the arches. Leveling with the banks. Fixed and movable centerings. Removal of the centerings of arches.
13th. Wooden Bridges composed of straight pieces. Arrangement of the stakes and starlings. Different construction of the openings according to their span. Arrangement of the platform.
American Bridges.--Arrangement of the earliest form of bridge on Town’s system. Height of the trusses constructed in the form of trellis-work. Modifications introduced to increase the resistance of the bridge. Calculation of the resistance of the trusses.
Arched frame-work of bridges. Composition of the arches. Junction of the straight beams with the arches.
Cast-iron Bridges.--Different systems. General principles of their construction.
Aqueducts in masonry; in cast-iron.
14th. Suspension Bridges.--Equation of the curve of the chains and construction of this curve. Tension supported by the suspension cables, their thickness. Influence of the length of the flèche upon the tension of the cables. Inconveniences resulting from a long flèche. Vibrations and means of diminishing them. Limits of length of the flèche. Length of the curve of suspension. Causes operating to vary this length; means of obviating the effects produced by them. Length of the suspension rods. Number of supports to be adopted. Thickness of the piles. Points at which the fixing cables are to be attached. Advantages and disadvantages of chains composed of bars and of cables of iron wire. Some details of construction.
15th. Drawbridges.--Conditions which they must satisfy. General principle of their balance.
Drawbridges with Plyers.--Special theory of this bridge. Reduction of it to practice. Alteration of equilibrium and means of remedying it.
Disadvantages of the drawbridge with plyers.
16th. Spiral drawbridge of Captain Berché. Trace of the spiral. Determination of the radius of the chain-roller, and of the greatest radius of the spiral.
17th. Drawbridges with variable counterbalances, invented by M. Poncelet. Construction of the chains of the counterbalance. Establishment of the leverage. Calculation of the counterbalances for the special case of the pulleys in front corresponding to the axis of the platform. Influence of the nature of the chains. Method of allowing for the weight of the small chains. Definitive construction of the chains of the counterbalance. Provision of loose cords.
18th. Succinct ideas upon the motion of the sea, and its action on the shore.
Undulating movement. Height of the waves, and depth at which the agitation is perceptible. Effects of the waves on the coasts. Tides; spring-tides; neap-tides. Height of tides and hour of flood. General currents. Action of the sea on its shores. Protection of level and steep shores.
19th. Sea-ports. Requisites of a good port. Ports in the Mediterranean. Conditions of a good roadstead. Moles and breakwaters. Ocean ports, channel tide-dock, floating dock, and sluice of floating dock, laying-up dock, and sluice for the ditch of fortifications. General arrangement of a harbor.
20th. Construction of moles. Stones dropped for foundations. Profile of a loose heap. Volume of the materials which insure their stability. Settling of masonry resting on a heap. Instances of masonry constructed at sea. 1. Wall of Cherbourg. 2. Fort Boyard.
Piers.--Direction, length, form of interval between, and profile of piers. Their construction. Passages reserved through piers.
RECAPITULATION.
First Part.--Parts of Buildings 18 Second Part.--Architecture of Military Buildings 12 { First Section. Resistance of Materials, 6} Third Part.--{ } 15 { Second Section. Stability of } { Constructions, 9} Fourth Part.--Hydraulic Constructions, 20 -- Total 65
WORKS OF APPLICATION.
Name of work. No. Days allowed for execution of work to Students of Artillery. / Engineers. Subject employed on. Observations.
Survey of a Building: 31 // 31 Sketch (out-of-door work,) 8 / 8 Drawing, 21 / 21 Memoir, 2 / 2 Representation of an existing building or a part of a building by means of plans, sections, and elevations. The memoir contains an accurate and critical description of the distribution, construction, and decoration of the building. Each day is equivalent to 4½ hours’ work. The sketches are executed to scales approximating to one-fiftieth for the whole drawing, of one-twentieth for the large details, and of ¼ to ½ for the minute details. The drawing prepared from the sketches is made on the scale of 1-100th.
Project for a Building: 42 // 42 Sketch, (first study in pencil.) 12 / 12 Drawing, (fair copy) 18 / 18 Details, 4 / 4 Memoir, 4 / 4 Abstraction of Measurements and Estimates 4 / 4 Study and preparation of a project of a building, in accordance with certain given data. The sketches, the result of the first study, are made in pencil; the drawing is the fair copy of the sketch, modified as may be necessary. The memoir contains an explanation of the rules and principles which must be observed in the construction of buildings, and the grounds on which the dispositions contained in the building have been adopted. The abstraction of the measurements and their reduction to the proper elements, and the estimates, are prepared in conformity to the instructions laid down for the Engineer Service in towns: these supply the estimated cost of the construction of the building according to the project. This work, common to the students of the two arms, is an application of the first part of the course. The scale for the drawing is in general 1-200th for the plans and elevations, and 1-100th for the sections. It is restricted by the condition that the whole of the drawings should be given on a single sheet of paper. The details need only occupy half a sheet of paper, and its scales must depend on the size of the objects to be represented. The details need only occupy half a sheet of paper, and its scales must depend on the size of the objects to be represented. The project for a building is an application of the first two parts of the course, as well as of the 1st section of the 3d part.
Diagram of the Stability: 9 // 9 Drawing, 6 / 6 Memoir, 3 / 3 Determination of the profile for a revetment wall, according to certain conditions. Verification of the stability of an arch, and calculation of the pier supporting this arch. In the memoir a short explanation is given of the theory relating to the strength of the revetment walls and arches, as well as the results of the application of these principles to the particular case. The drawing is executed to the scale of 1-100th. This work is an application of the 2d section of the 3rd part.
Project for an Hydraulic construction: 28 // 34 Sketches, 10 / 12 Drawing, 15 / 18 Memoir, 3 / 4 Study and composition of a project for a great work of art on certain given data. In the memoir an explanation is given of the principles and the results of the theories which are to be applied in making this project. The arrangements adopted in the project are discussed for the foundation and all other parts of the construction. The scale of the drawing is chosen in such a manner that the project may be placed on a single sheet; generally it is 1-200th, or smaller. The project of a hydraulic construction is an application of the 1st section of the 3rd part as well as of the 4th part of the course.
Total, 110 // 116
[KEY] NL No. Lectures CL Credits for Lectures +A With application -A Without application T Total I No. Interrogations
------------------+-----------------------++------------------------ 1st. Lectures.-- | Artillery. || Engineers. +---+---------------+---++---+---------------+--- Parts of | | CL | || | CL | the Course. | +------+---+----+ || +------+---+----+ |NL | +A |-A | T | I || NL| +A | -A| T | I ------------------+---+------+---+----+---++---+------+---+----+--- 1st Part: | | | | | || | | | | Elements of Masonry, form and dimensions of | | | | the different parts of buildings, | || | | | | | 18| 24*| 6| 30| 2|| 18| 24*| 6| 30| 2 2d Part: | | | | | || | | | | Architecture of military buildings, | || | | | | | 12| 18 |...| 18| 1|| 12| 18 |...| 18| 1 3d Part: | | | | | || | | | | Theory respecting stability: | | || | | | | 1st section--Resistance of materials, || | | | | | 6| 6 | 6| 12| 1|| 6| 6 | 6| 12| 1 2d section--Stability of revetment walls and arches,| | | | 9| 10.5 | 6|16.5| 1|| 9| 10.5 | 6|16.5| 1 4th Part: | | | | | || | | | | Hydraulic Constructions, | | | || | | | | | 20| 24 | 12| 36| 1|| 20| 24 | 12| 36| 1 +---+------+---+----+---++---+------+---+----+--- Total, | 65| 82 | 30| 112| 6|| 65| 82 | 30| 112| 6
[* A lecture with application is equivalent to 1½ hours of work, and a lecture without application is equal to 3 hours.]
[KEY] D Drawings and Sketches. M Memoirs. V Various. H Attendances in halls 4½ hours. O Attendances out of doors, 6 h. C Credits.
------------------+-----------------------++------------------------ 2d. Execution of | Artillery. Number of || Engineers. Number of the Work. +---+---+---+---+---+---++---+---+---+---+---+---- | D | M | V | H | O | C || D | M | V | H | O | C ------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---++---+---+---+---+---+---- Plan of a Building: | | | | | || | | | | | Sketches (pen,) | 1 |...|...|...| 8| 50|| 1 |...|...|...| 8| 50* Drawing, | 1 |...|...| 21|...| 95|| 1 |...|...| 21|...| 95 Memoirs, |...| 1 |...| 2|...| 20||...| 1 |...| 2|...| 20† Project of a Building:| | | | | || | | | | | Sketch, | 1 |...|...| 12|...| 55|| 1 |...|...| 12|...| 55 Drawing, | 1 |...|...| 18|...| 80|| 1 |...|...| 18|...| 80 Detail, | 1 |...|...| 4|...| 20|| 1 |...|...| 4|...| 20 Memoir, |...| 1 |...| 4|...| 35||...| 1 |...| 4|...| 35 Abstraction of quantities and estimates,|| | | | | | |...|...| 1 | 4|...| 20||...|...| 1| 4|...| 20 Diagram of Stability. | | | | | || | | | | | Drawing, | 1 |...|...| 6|...| 25|| 1 |...|...| 6|...| 25 Memoir, |...| 1 |...| 3|...| 25||...| 1 |...| 3|...| 25 Project of an Hydraulic construction. | || | | | | | Sketch, | 1 |...|...| 10|...| 45|| 1 |...|...| 12|...| 55 Drawing, | 1 |...|...| 15|...| 70|| 1 |...|...| 18|...| 80 Memoir, |...| 1 |...| 3|...| 25||...| 1 |...| 4|...| 35 +---+---+---+---+---+---++---+---+---+---+---+---- Total, | 8 | 4 | 1 |102| 8 |565|| 8 | 4 | 1 |108| 8 |595
[* Of which 20 is for the out-of-door work, and 30 for the sketch.]
[† The time allowed for the preparation of the memoirs in the halls should be doubled, in order to take an account of the correction out of the halls of study.]
RECAPITULATION OF THE CREDITS OF INFLUENCE FOR THE COURSE.
Artillery, {Lectures, 112} 677, or about 680. {Execution of Work, 565}
Engineers, {Lectures, 112} 707, or about 710. {Execution of Work, 595}
XI.--PROGRAMME OF THE COURSE IN THE GERMAN LANGUAGE.
SECOND DIVISION.--FIRST YEAR’S STUDY.
Number of Lectures, 50.
Grammar and composition during the 25 Lectures forming the odd numbers.
Oral translations of German authors. Phraseology. Lecture on idioms, founded on the passages which have been translated and given in the form of conversation during the first half of the 25 Lectures forming the even numbers.
Dialogues and conversations, on various subjects of every-day life, such as are particularly useful to an officer traveling in Germany, carried on during the second half of the Lectures of the even numbers.
FIRST DIVISION.--SECOND YEAR’S STUDY.
Number of Lectures, 100.
Translations of German authors, and conversations in German on the passages translated, during fifty Lectures, reckoning the odd numbers.
Military reconnaissances, in the form of a dialogue in German and in French, during the first half of the fifty Lectures, even numbers.
Translation of French into German: 1st, Narratives; 2d, Historical and descriptive fragments; 3d, Dramatic scenes; 4th, Epistolary style, during the second half of the fifty Lectures, even numbers.
At the close of the second year, the Sub-Lieutenants give in a composition on a certain subject.
The Sub-Lieutenants most advanced are not obliged to follow the course in German, but they should make translations of articles taken from German military works. These translations, after having been corrected, are deposited in the Library of the School.
Abstract of the course in German:--
1st year’s study, 50 Lectures. 2d “ “ 100 “ --- Total, 150 at ½ hour each--112. 3 0. Credits of influence, 110.
XII.--PROGRAMME OF A SHAM SIEGE.--(Common to the Artillery and Engineers.)
FIRST SECTION.--PRELIMINARY MEASURES.
ART. I.--Commission charged to study the Project for a Sham Siege.
A Commission is charged with drawing up and presenting to the General commanding the School a project for a sham siege. This is composed of:--
The Colonel second in command of the School, President. The Major of Artillery, } The Major of Engineers, } Members. The Professor of Artillery, } The Professor of Fortification, } Clerk.
The Professors of Artillery and Fortification may be replaced by the Assistant Professors.
The General Commandant of the School decides in a Council of Instruction on the dispositions to be adopted for the project of a sham siege.
ART. II.--Preparatory Lectures.
By the Professor of Military Art, 2 1st. Considerations relating to the fortress of Metz. Circumstances which might bring on a siege of it. Force of the garrison and of the besieging army. Investment. 2d. Trace of the lines of circumvallation and of countervallation. By the Professor of Topography, 1 Execution of the second reconnaissance plan (memoire,) (1 lecture.) 1st. Measure of the base. Plan of the ground of the attack. Construction of the plans. Plans of the work executed. By the Professor of Permanent Fortification, 2 1st. Discussion on the points of attack. Organization of the personnel and matériel of the Engineers of the besieging army and of the garrison. 2d. General progress of attack, and general dispositions of defense. By the Professor of Artillery, 2 1st. Composition of the personnel and matériel of the Artillery of the besieging army. Transport of the siege equipage. 2d. General dispositions of the artillery in the attack and defense.
SECOND SECTION.--COMPOSITION OF THE PERSONNEL.
Director of the Siege.--The General Commandant of the School.
Chief of the Staff.--The Colonel second in command of the School.
Chief of the Artillery Service.--The Major of Artillery attached to the Staff.
Director of the Park of Artillery.--This may be given to the preceding.
Chief of the Engineer Service.--The Major of the Engineers attached to the Staff of the School.
Director of the Engineer Park.--This may be given to the preceding.
Major of the Trenches.--A Captain. Chiefs of Attacks. Captains.
Chiefs of Brigades.--Named by the General Commandant of the Siege.
THIRD SECTION.--CONFERENCES.
Before proceeding to the ground, the sub-lieutenants assist at conferences which are held for the purpose of explaining to them the successions of the several operations of the siege, as well as upon the traces which they have to execute. These conferences, eight in number, are divided as follows:--
The Chief of the Artillery Service will hold 4 conferences, and The Chief of the Engineer Service “ 4 “
FOURTH SECTION.--TRACING OF LINES AND TOPOGRAPHICAL WORK.
1st. The second reconnaissance survey (comprised in the course of topography.) Tracing of lines; one day is allowed for this work.
2d. “Director” plan. The execution of this plan comprises out-of-door work and drawing. The out-of-door work includes the measurement of one or many bases, the observation of the angles which are formed by this base, and the direction of certain remarkable points in the city and fortification, and the formation of a net-work of triangulation, intended to co-ordinate the surveys of the details.
The work of constructing the plan consists in laying down, day by day, the surveys of the details of the ground, as well as of the traces executed. Five days are allowed for the execution of the topographical work, which precedes the opening of the trenches. The Director Plan is kept close up during the whole duration of the siege.
3d. Itineraries and sketches (comprised in the course of topography.)
The Professor of Topography directs the whole of the surveys and the execution of the Director Plan.
FIFTH SECTION.--TRACING OF THE WORKS OF ATTACK, AND ACTUAL EXECUTION IN FULL RELIEF OF CERTAIN WORKS.
The sub-lieutenants, divided into brigades, trace the works of the siege, under the direction of the officers of the staff, and take part in the superintendence of the works executed in full relief when the exigencies of the service will permit the chief of the Artillery Service and the Colonel of the Regiment of Engineers to place workmen at the disposal of the General Commandant of the School. Six days are appropriated to this work.
SIXTH SECTION.--WORK IN THE HALLS OF STUDY.
The work in the Halls of Study consists of:--
1st. A memoir on the sham siege, which memoir must be approved by the General Commandant of the School.
2d. Of a sketch representing one of the works traced or executed in full relief. These works in the Halls are performed during the interval of the attendances devoted to out-of-door work. Two days are appropriated to the preparation of the memoir, and two to the execution of the sketch. This time is included in the eleven days allowed to the sham siege.
RECAPITULATION FOR THE ARTILLERY AND ENGINEERS.
[KEY] NL No. of Lectures or Conferences. CL Credits for Lectures or Conferences. L Lectures. Cf Conferences. T Total. Q No. of Questions.
----------------------+----+----------------+----+--- | | CL | | Lectures and | +-----+----+-----+ | Conferences. | | | | | | | NL | L | Cf | T | Q | ----------------------+----+-----+----+-----+----+--- By the Professor | | | | | | * of Military Art, | 2 | 3 |....| 3 |} | “ Topography, | 1 | 1½ |....| 1½ |} | “ Permanent | | | | | | Fortification, | 2 | 3 |....| 3 |} | “ Artillery, | 2 | 3 |....| 3 |} 2 | Conferences by the Chief of the Service, | | } of Artillery, | 4 | ... | 6 | 6 |} | } of Engineers, | 4 | ... | 6 | 6 |} | +----+-----+----+-----+----+--- Total, | 15 | 10½ | 12 | 22½ | 2 | ----------------------+----+-----+----+-----+----+---
[* One series of questions by the Chief of the Artillery Service, as to what relates to that arm.
One series of questions by the Chief of the Engineer Service, as to what relates to that arm.
A Credit of 11 is assigned to each series of questions.]
[KEY] D Drawings. M Memoirs. H Attendances in the Halls. I Credits.
--------------------+--------------------------------+--- | Number of | +---+---+------------+------+----+--- | | |Attendances | | | | | | out of | | | | | | doors. | | | | | +-----+------+ | | Works of | | | of | of | | | Application. | D | M |4½ h.| 8 h.| H | I | --------------------+---+---+-----+------+------+----+--- 2nd Reconnaissance Plan (Memoir.) | | | | Topographical Work, | | | 4 | | | 20}| * Itinerary and Sketch (Memoir,) | | | }| Plan “Director,” | | | | | 1 | 5}| Tracing of Lines, | | | | 1 | |{10 | † Tracing of Works of Attack and of Defense, | | | | | 6 | | |{25 | Sketch, | 1 | | | | 2 | 1}| ‡ Memoir, | | 1 | | | 2 | 2}| +---+---+-----+------+------+ 90 | Total, | 1 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 5 |----| --------------------+---+---+-----+------+------+----+---
[* Credits given by the Professor of Topography.]
[† Credits given by the Captains of the Staff, Chiefs of Brigades.]
[‡ Credits given by the Chiefs of the Service of the Artillery and Engineers.]
XIII.--PROGRAMME OF THE COURSE ON THE VETERINARY ART.
FIRST PART.--INTERIOR OF THE HORSE.
Lecture 1.--Classification and nomenclature of the various matters which constitute the horse. Skeleton (head and body.)
Lecture 2.--Skeleton (limbs.) Mechanical importance of the skeleton. Nomenclature and use of the muscles. Cellular and fatty tissues, grease, skin. Insensible perspiration.
Lecture 3.--Functions for maintenance. Arteries of the nerves. Animal heat.
Lecture 4.--On various functions.
SECOND PART.--EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE.
Lecture 5.--Proportions. Equilibrium. Description and importance of the natural beauties and defects of the head and region of the throat.
Lecture 6.--Description and importance of the other parts of the horse. Blemishes. Soft tumors.
Lecture 7.--Osseous tumors. Various accidents. Temperaments. Description of clothing, &c.
Lecture 8.--Data respecting horses.
Lecture 9.--To know the age. On various bad habits. Examination of the eyes; their diseases.
Lecture 10.--Defective paces, &c. Draught and pack horses. Mules.
Lecture 11.--Stud and remounts. Races.
Lecture 12.--Vicious horses, and different bits. Manner of bitting a horse. On grooms and punishment.
THIRD PART.--ON THE HEALTH OF THE HORSE.
Lecture 13.--Examination of the foot, and shoeing with the hot shoe.
Lecture 14.--Shoeing with the cold shoe. Different kinds of horse-shoe, &c.
Lecture 15.--On stables. Food. Rations.
Lecture 16.--Description and nomenclature of the saddle. Harness and pack. Various saddles.
Lecture 17.--On work and rest. Horse and mule on the road and in bivouac. On diseases and accidents.
Abstract of the course:--
Interior of the horse, 4 } 17 lectures at 1½ hours. Exterior, 6 } Total time, 25½ hours. Health, 7 } Credits, 25.
The instruction on horseback can, under certain circumstances, be considered as connected with this course; and questions are asked during the time when the sub-lieutenants are not engaged in actual riding exercise. This instruction is described under the head of Practical Military Instruction; it comprises at the maximum 272 attendances, and its credit of influence is valued at 240.
ARTILLERY AND ENGINEERS’ REGIMENTAL SCHOOLS.
I. ARTILLERY REGIMENTAL SCHOOLS.
These are intended for the theoretical and practical instruction of officers, sous-officiers, and gunners.
Each School is under the orders of the General of Brigade commanding the Artillery in the military division in which it is situated.
Independent of the general officer, the school has the following staff:--
A Lieutenant (associated assistant to the General.) A Professor of Sciences, applying more particularly to the Artillery. A Professor of Fortification, of drawing, and construction of buildings. Two Gardes of Artillery (one of the first, and the other of the second class.)
There are, in addition, attached to each school the number of inferior officers (captains, lieutenants, or sous-lieutenants) required for carrying on the theoretical courses, which are not placed under the direction of the professors.
A captain of the first class, assisted by two first lieutenants, is the director of the park of the school. Another captain, also of the first class, but taken from the regiment of Pontooneers, has the direction of that portion of the bridge equipage necessary for the special instruction of this corps, as well as of the material of the artillery properly belonging to this instruction.
The lieutenant-colonel, assistant to the general, fulfills, independent of every other detail of supervision with which he may be charged, the functions of ordonnateur secondaire, in what concerns the expenses of the school and their propriety (justification.) He corresponds with the minister of war for this part of the service.
The instruction is divided into theoretical and practical, and the annual course is divided into half-yearly periods, or into summer and winter instructions.
The summer instruction commences, according to different localities, from the 1st of April to the 1st of May, and that of the winter from the 1st of October to the 1st of November.
The winter and summer instruction is subdivided into school and regimental instruction.
The school instruction comprehends all the theoretical and practical instruction common to the different corps which require the assistance of the particular means of the school, the employment of its professors, locality, and material, as that of the practical instruction in which the troops belonging to the different corps of the army are united to take part.
The regimental instruction is that which exists in the interior of the regiments and the various bodies of the artillery. It is directed by the chiefs of these corps, who are responsible for it, with the means placed at their disposal, under the general surveillance of the commandant of the school.
The special instruction of the Pontooneers not admitting of their following the same instruction as the other regiments of artillery, the chief of this corps directs the special instruction according to certain bases prescribed by the regulations.
There are for the captains of artillery, each year during the winter half-year, six conferences for the purposes of considering and discussing projects for the organization of different equipages and armaments for the field service, and for attack and defense of places.
In a building belonging to each school of artillery, under the name of the hotel of the school, are united the halls and establishments necessary for the theoretical instruction of the officers and sous-officers, such as halls for théorique drill and drawing, library, depots of maps and plans, halls for machines, instruments and models, &c.
Each school is provided with a physical cabinet and a chemical laboratory. There is also a piece of ground, called a polygon, for exercising artillerymen to the manœuvers of cannon and other firearms of great range. Its extent is sufficient in length to furnish a range of 1,200 meters, and in breadth of 600 meters.
Permanent and temporary batteries are established on this ground, and they seem not only for practice, but also to accustom the men to the construction of fascines, field batteries, &c.
The administration of each school, and the accounts relating to it, are directed by an administrative council, consisting of--
The General Officer commanding the Artillery (President.)
The Colonels of the regiments of Artillery in the towns where two regiments of the Artillery are quartered, and in other towns, the Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment.
The Colonel of the regiment of Pontooneers in the town where the principal part of the corps may be stationed, and in any other town the Lieutenant-Colonel or the Major.
The Lieutenant-Colonel associated assistant with the General Commandant.
The functions of secretary of the council are intrusted to a grade of the first class.
The functionaries of the corps of intendants fulfill, in connection with the administrative councils of the artillery schools, the same duties as are assigned by the regulations relating to the interior administration of bodies of troops. They will exercise over the accounts, both of money and material of the said schools, the same control as over the administration connected with the military interests of the state.
II. ENGINEER REGIMENTAL SCHOOLS.
The colonel of each regiment has the superior direction of the instruction.
The lieutenant-colonel directs and superintends, under his orders, the whole of the details of the regimental instruction.
A major, selected from among the officers of this rank belonging to the état-major of this arm, directs and superintends, under the orders of the colonel, the whole of the details of the special instruction.
The complete instruction consists of--
General instruction, or that of the regiment, by which a man is made a soldier.
Special or school instruction, having for its object the training of the miner or sapper.
The instructions are each separated into theoretical and practical instruction.
The theoretical instruction of the regiment comprehends the theories:--
On the exercises and manœuvers of infantry. On the interior service. On the service of the place. On field service. On the maintenance of arms. On military administration. On military penal legislation.
The practical instruction of the regiment comprises:--
The exercises and manœuvers of infantry. Practice with the musket. Military Marches. Fencing.
The teaching of these various duties is confided to officers, sous-officiers, and corporals of the regiments, as pointed out by the regulation, and the orders of the colonel.
The fencing school is organized in a similar manner to those of the infantry, and the military marches are also made in the same way as in those corps.
The special and theoretical instruction consists of:--
Primary instruction. Mathematics. Drawing. Geography. Military history of France. Fortification and the various branches of the engineering work.
Three civil professors (appointed by competition) are attached to each regimental school, for the special theoretical instruction, as regards the primary instruction, drawing, and mathematics.
The courses are distributed and taught in the following manner:
Primary instruction for the Soldiers. } French grammar for the Corporals. } Book-keeping for the Sous-Officiers. } By the Professor of Primary Instruction.
Elementary arithmetic for the Corporals. } Complete arithmetic } } Elementary geometry } } for the Serjeants. } Complete geometry } } Trigonometry } } for the Serjeant-Major. } Surveys for the Sous-Officiers. } Special mathematics for the Officers. } By the Prof. of Mathematics.
Drawing for the Corporals and Sous-Officers. By the Professor of Drawing, who is also charged with completing the collection of models which relate to it.
The elements of fortification for the Serjeant-Majors. } Construction, and theories on practical schools } for the Sous-Officiers. } Permanent fortification } } The attack and defense of places } } Mines } } Bridges } } Ovens } } Topography } } for the Officers. } Geography } } Military history of France } } for the Sous-Officiers. } By the Officers of the regiment, named by the Colonel, independently of those appointed by the regulations
At the end of each course the colonel of the regiment causes a general examination to be made in his presence of the whole of the men who have followed this course, and has a list made out in the order of merit, with notes of the capacity and aptitude of each.
These lists are consulted in the formation of tables of promotion, and placed with the said tables before the inspector-general.
Each captain and lieutenant are obliged to give in at least a single treatise on five different projects, consisting of a memoir discussing or the journal of a siege, with drawing of the whole, and of details in sufficient number to render them perfectly intelligible.
The special practical instruction is composed of seven distinct schools, relating to:--
Field Fortification. Saps. Mines and Fireworks. Bridges. Ovens. Topography. Gymnastics.
And they comprehend, in addition, sham sieges, and underground war. Each of these seven schools is taught in accordance with the special instructions annexed to the regulation, which, however, are not published.
Winter is more especially devoted to the course of special theoretical instruction, which commences on the 1st November, and usually finishes on the 15th March, and the course of special practical instruction is carried on during the summer from the 15th March to the 15th September. The second fortnight of September and the month of October are devoted to sham sieges and underground war, to the leveling of the works executed, and to the arrangement of magazines.
SCHOOL FOR INFANTRY AND CAVALRY
AT ST. CYR.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION. CONDITIONS OF ADMISSION. STAFF.
It will have been seen in the accounts of the Polytechnic School and the School of Application at Metz, in what manner young men destined for commissions in the artillery and engineers receive their previous education, and under what conditions appointments as officers in these two services are made in France. The regulations for the infantry, the cavalry, and the marines are of the same description. There are in these also the same two ways of obtaining a commission. One, and in these services the more usual one, is to rise from the ranks. The other is to pass successfully through the school at St. Cyr. Young men who do not enter as privates prove their fitness for the rank of officers by going through the course of instruction given, and by passing the examinations conducted in this, the principal, and putting aside the School of Application at Metz, the one Special Military School of the country.
The earliest foundation of the kind in France was the Ecole Royale Militaire of 1751. Like most other similar institutions of the time, it was intended for the young nobility. No one was to be admitted who could not prove four generations of Noblesse. The pupils were taught free of charge, and might enter at eight years old. Already, however, some marks of competition are to be discerned, as the best mathematicians were to be taken for the Artillery and Engineers. Buildings on the Plain of Grenelle (the same which still stand, occupying one end of the present Champs de Mars, and retaining, though only used as barracks, their ancient name,) were erected for the purpose. The school continued in this form till 1776, when it was dissolved (apparently owing to faults of discipline,) and replaced by ten Colleges, at Sorrèze, Brienne, Vendôme, and other places, all superintended by ecclesiastics. A new Ecole Royale Militaire, occupying the same buildings as the former, was added in 1777.
This came to an end in 1787; and the ten colleges were suppressed under the Republic. A sort of Camp School on the plain of Sablons took their place, when the war had broken out, and lasted about a year under the name of the Ecole de Mars.
Under the Consulate in 1800, the Prytanée Français was founded, consisting of four separate Colleges. The name was not long after changed to the Prytanée Militaire; and after some time the number was diminished, and La Flèche, which had in 1764 received the youngest pupils of the old Royal Military School, became the seat of the sole remaining establishment; which subsequently sunk to the proportions of a mere junior preparatory school, and became, in fine, the present establishment for military orphans, which still retains the title, and is called the Prytanée Militaire de la Flèche.
A special Military School, in the meantime, had been set up at Fontainebleau in 1803, transferred in 1808 to St. Cyr, and thus taking the place of the Prytanée Militaire and of its predecessor, the original Ecole Royale Militaire, gradually assumed its present form.[15]
[Footnote 15: Founded the Ecole Royale Militaire, 1751. Junior pupils transferred to La Flèche, 1764.
Suppression of the Ecole Royale Militaire and establishment of ten Colleges, 1776.
New Ecole Royale Militaire, for the best pupils of the Colleges, 1777.
Suppression of the Colleges and of the Ecole Royale Militaire, 1787.
Foundation of the Ecole de Mars, May 1794.
Foundation of the Prytanée Français at Paris, Versailles, St. Germain, Fontainebleau, 1800.
Foundation of the Ecole Spéciale Militaire at Fountainebleau, 1803.
The four Schools of the Prytanée Français are converted into the Prytanée Militaire, 1806; and are transferred to La Flèche, 1808.
The Ecole Spéciale Militaire is transferred to St. Cyr, also in 1808.]
The course of study lasts two years; the usual number of cadets in time of peace is five, or at the utmost six hundred; the admission is by competitive examination, open to all youths, French by birth or by naturalization, who on the first of January preceding their candidature were not less than sixteen and not more than twenty years old. To this examination are also admitted soldiers in the ranks between twenty and twenty-five years of age, who, at the date of its commencement, have been actually in service in their regiments for two years.
The general conditions and formalities are the same as those already stated for the Polytechnic. It may be repeated that all the candidates, in accordance with a recent enactment, must have taken the usual degree which terminates the task at the lycées--the baccalaureate in sciences.
Those who succeed in the examination and are admitted, take an engagement to serve seven years either in the cavalry or infantry, and are thus under the obligation, if they are judged incompetent at the close of their two years’ stay at the school to receive a commission, to enter and serve as common soldiers. The two years of their stay at the school counts as a part of their service. It is only in the special case of loss of time caused by illness, that permission is given to remain a third year.
The ordinary payment is 60_l._ (1,500 francs) per annum. All whose inability to pay this amount is satisfactorily established, may claim, as at the Polytechnic, an allowance of the whole or of half of the expenses from the State, to which may be added an allowance for the whole or for a portion of the outfit (from 24_l._ to 28_l._) These bourses or demi-bourses, with the trousseau, or demi-trousseau, have during the last few years been granted unsparingly. One-third of the 800 young men at the school in February 1856 were boursiers or demi-boursiers. Candidates admitted from the Orphan School of La Flèche, where the sons of officers wounded or killed in service receive a gratuitous education, are maintained in the same manner here.[16]
[Footnote 16: About twenty-five are sent every year from La Flèche. The admissions from the army (i.e., of soldiers between twenty and twenty-five years old) do not amount to more than four or at the utmost five per cent. They are very frequently young men who have previously failed for St. Cyr, and who then enter the army as privates, and come in as such. They have to pass the same examination.]
It was the rule till lately that cadets appointed, on leaving St. Cyr, to the cavalry should be placed for two years at the Cavalry School at Saumur. This, however, has recently been changed; on entering St. Cyr those who desire appointments in the cavalry declare their wishes, and are put at once through a course of training in horsemanship. Those who are found unfit are quickly withdrawn; the remainder, if their place on the final examination allows of their appointment to the cavalry, are by that time sufficiently well practiced to be able to join their regiments at once.
Twenty-seven, or sometimes a greater number, are annually at the close of their second year of study placed in competition with twenty-five candidates from the second lieutenants belonging to the army,[17] if so many are forthcoming, for admission to the Staff School at Paris. This advantage is one object which serves as a stimulus to exertion, the permission being given according to rank in the classification by order of merit.
[Footnote 17: Few usually present themselves; and these also, it is said, are very generally old élèves of St. Cyr, who had not succeeded in obtaining admission to the Staff School before. They are not examined with the pupils of St. Cyr, but are intercalated in the list according to their merit.]
The school consists of two divisions, the upper and the lower, corresponding to the two years of the course. Each division is divided again into four companies. In each of these eight companies there are sub-officers chosen from the élèves themselves, with the titles of Sergent, Sergent Fourrier, and Caporal; those appointed to the companies of the junior division are selected from the second year cadets, and their superiority in standing appears to give these latter some considerable authority, exercised occasionally well, occasionally ill. The whole school, thus divided into eight companies, constitutes one battalion.
The establishment for conducting the school consists of--
A General as Commandant.
A Second in Command (a Colonel of Infantry.)
A Major, 4 Captains, 12 Lieutenants, and 5 Second Lieutenants of Infantry; the Major holding the office of Commandant of the Battalion.
A Major, 1 Captain, 34 Lieutenants, and 3 Second Lieutenants of Cavalry to superintend the exercises, the riding, &c.
A Director of Studies (at present a Lieutenant-Colonel of Engineers.)
Two Assistant Directors.
Six Examiners for Admission.
One Professor of Artillery.
One Assistant ditto.
One Professor of Topography and Mathematics.
One Professor of Military Administration, Military Art, and Military History.
One Professor of Fortification.
One Professor of Military Literature.
Two Professors of History and Geography.
One Professor of Descriptive Geometry.
One Professor of Physics and Chemistry.
Three Professors of Drawing,
One Professor of German.
Eleven Military and six Civilian Assistant Teachers (Répétiteurs.)
There is also a Quartermaster, a Treasurer, a Steward, a Secretary of the Archives, who is also Librarian, an Almoner (a clergyman,) four or five Surgeons, a Veterinary Surgeon, who gives lessons on the subject, and twelve Fencing Masters.
The professors and teachers are almost entirely military men. Some difficulty appears to be found by civilians in keeping sufficient order in the large classes; and it has been found useful to have as répétiteurs persons who could also be employed in maintaining discipline in the house. Among the professors at present there are several officers of the engineers and of the artillery, and of the staff corps.
There is a board or council of instruction, composed of the commandant, the second in command, one of the field officers of the school staff, the director of studies, one of the assistant directors, and four professors.
So, again, the commandant, the second in command, one of the field officers, two captains, and two lieutenants, the last four changing every year, compose the board or council of discipline.
St. Cyr is a little village about three miles beyond the town of Versailles, and but a short distance from the boundary of the park. The buildings occupied by the school are those formerly used by Madame de Maintenon, and the school which she superintended. Her garden has given place for the parade and exercise grounds; the chapel still remains in use; and her portrait is preserved in the apartments of the commandant. The buildings form several courts or quadrangles; the Court of Rivoli, occupied chiefly by the apartments and bureaux of the officers of the establishment, and terminated by the chapel; the Courts of Austerlitz, and Marengo, more particularly devoted to the young soldiers themselves; and that of Wagram, which is incomplete, and opens into the parade grounds. These, with the large stables, the new riding school, the exercising ground for the cavalry, and the polygon for artillery practice, extend to some little distance beyond the limit of the old gardens into the open arable land which descends northwards from the school, the small village of St. Cyr lying adjacent to it on the south.
The ground floor of the buildings forming the Courts of Marengo, Austerlitz, and Wagram appeared to be occupied by the two refectories, by the lecture-rooms or amphitheaters, each holding two hundred pupils, and by the chambers in which the ordinary questionings, similar to those already described in the account of the Polytechnic School, under the name of interrogations particulières, are conducted.
On the first floor are the salles d’étude and the salle des collections the museum or repertory of plans, instruments, models and machines, and the library; on the second floor the ordinary dormitories; and on the third (the attics,) supplementary dormitories to accommodate the extra number of pupils who have been admitted since the commencement of the war.
The commission, when visiting the school, was conducted on leaving the apartments of the commandant to the nearest of the two refectories. It was after one o’clock, and the long room was in the full possession of the whole first or junior division. A crowd of active and spirited-looking young soldiers, four hundred at least in number, were ranged at two long rows of small tables, each large enough, perhaps, for twelve; while in the narrow passage extending up and down the room, between the two rows, stood the officers on duty for the maintenance of order. On passing back to the corridor, the stream of the second year cadets was issuing from their opposite refectory. In the adjoining buttery, the loaf was produced, one kilogramme in weight, which constitutes the daily allowance. It is divided into four parts, eaten at breakfast, dinner, the afternoon lunch or gouter, and the supper. The daily cost of each pupil’s food is estimated at 1f. 80c.
The lecture rooms and museums offer nothing for special remark. In the library containing 12,000 books and a fine collection of maps, there were a few of the young men, who are admitted during one hour every day.
The salles d’étude on the first floor are, in contrast to those at the Polytechnic, large rooms, containing, under the present circumstances of the school, no less than two hundred young men. There are, in all, four such rooms, furnished with rows of desks on each side and overlooked in time of study by an officer posted in each to preserve order, and, so far as possible, prevent any idleness.
From these another staircase conducts to the dormitories, containing one hundred each, and named after the battles of the present war--Alma, Inkerman, Balaclava, Bomarsund. They were much in the style of those in ordinary barracks, occupied by rows of small iron beds, each with a shelf over it, and a box at the side. The young men make their own beds, clean their own boots, and sweep out the dormitories themselves. Their clothing, some portions of which we here had the opportunity of noticing, is that of the common soldier, the cloth being merely a little finer.
Above these ordinary dormitories are the attics, now applied to the use of the additional three hundred whom the school has latterly received.
The young men, who had been seen hurrying with their muskets to the parade ground, were now visible from the upper windows, assembled, and commencing their exercises. And when, after passing downwards and visiting the stables, which contain three hundred and sixty horses, attended to by two hundred cavalry soldiers, we found ourselves on the exercising ground, the cavalry cadets were at drill, part mounted, the others going through the lance exercise on foot. In the riding-school a squad of infantry cadets were receiving their weekly riding lesson. The cavalry cadets ride three hours a-day; those of the infantry about one hour a week. The exercising ground communicates with the parade ground; here the greater number of the young men were at infantry drill, under arms. A small squad was at field-gun drill in an adjoining square. Beyond this and the exercising ground is the practice ground, where musket and artillery practice is carried on during the summer. Returning to the parade ground we found the cadets united into a battalion; they formed line and went through the manual exercise, and afterwards marched past; they did their exercise remarkably well. Some had been only three months at the school. The marching past was satisfactory; it was in three ranks, in the usual French manner.
Young men intended for the cavalry are instructed in infantry and artillery movements and drill; just as those intended for the infantry are taught riding, and receive instruction in cavalry, as well as artillery drill and movements.
It is during the second year of their stay they receive most instruction in the arms of the service to which they are not destined, and this, it is said, is a most important part of their instruction. “It is this,” said the General Commandant, “that made it practicable, for example, in the Crimea, to find among the old élèves of St. Cyr, officers fit for the artillery, the engineers, the staff; and for general officers, of course, it is of the greatest advantage to have known from actual study something of every branch.”
The ordinary school vacation last six or seven weeks in the year. The young men are not allowed to quit the grounds except on Sundays. On that day there is mass for the young men.
The routine of the day varies considerably with the season. In winter it is much as follows:--At 5 A.M. the drum beats, the young men quit their beds; in twelve minutes they are all dressed and out, and the dormitories are cleared. The rappel sounds on the grand carré; they form in their companies, enter their salles, and prepare for the lecture of the day until a quarter to 7. At 7 o’clock the officers on duty for the week enter the dormitories, to which the pupils now return, at a quarter to 8 the whole body passes muster in the dormitories, in which they have apparently by this time made their beds and restored cleanliness and order. Breakfast is taken at one time or other during the interval between a quarter to 7 and 8 o’clock.
They march to their lecture rooms at 8, the lecture lasts till a quarter past 9, when they are in like manner marched out, and are allowed a quarter of an hour of amusement. They then enter the halls of study, make up their notes on the lecture they have come from, and after an hour and a half employed in this way, for another hour and a half are set to drawing.
Dinner at 1 is followed by recreation till 2. Two hours from 2 to a quarter past 4 are devoted to military services.
From 4 to 6 P.M. part are occupied in study of the drill-book (théorie,) part in riding or fencing: a quarter of an hour’s recreation follows, and from 6¼ to 8½ there are two hours of study in the salles. At half-past 8 the day concludes with the supper.
The following table gives a view of the routine in summer:--
4½ A.M. to 4¾ A.M. Dressing. 4¾ “ to 7¼ “ Military exercises. 7¼ “ to 8¼ “ Breakfast, cleaning, inspection. 8¼ “ to 9½ “ Lecture. 9½ “ to 9¾ “ Recreation. 9¾ “ to 11¼ “ Study. 11¼ “ to 1 P.M. Drawing. 1 P.M. to 2 “ Dinner and recreation. 2 “ to 4 “ Study of drill-book (théorie) or fencing. 4 “ to 6 “ Study for some, riding for others. 6 “ to 6¼ “ Recreation. 6¼ “ to 8 “ Riding for some, study for others, 8 “ to 8½ “ Supper.
The entrance examination is much less severe than that for the Polytechnic; but a moderate amount of mathematical knowledge is demanded, and is obtained. The candidates are numerous; and if it be true that some young men of fortune shrink from a test, which, even in the easiest times, exacts a knowledge of the elements of trigonometry, and not unfrequently seek their commissions by entering the ranks, their place is supplied by youths who have their fortunes to make, and who have intelligence, industry, and opportunity enough to acquire in the ordinary lycées, the needful amount of knowledge.
Under present circumstances it is, perhaps, more especially in the preparatory studies that the intellectual training is given, and for the examination of admission that theoretical attainments are demanded. The state of the school in a time of war can not exactly be regarded as a normal or usual one. The time of stay has been sometimes shortened from two years to fifteen months; the excessive numbers render it difficult to adjust the lectures and general instruction so as to meet the needs of all; the lecture rooms and the studying rooms are all insufficient for the emergency; and what is yet more than all, the stimulus for exertion, which is given by the fear of being excluded upon the final examination, and sent to serve in the ranks, is removed at a time when almost every one may feel sure that a commission which must be filled up will be vacant for him. Yet even in time of peace, if general report may be trusted, it is more the drill, exercises, and discipline, than the theory of military operations, that excite the interest and command the attention of the young men. When they leave, they will take their places as second lieutenants with the troops, and they naturally do not wish to be put to shame by showing ignorance of the common things with which common soldiers are familiar. Their chief incentive is the fear of being found deficient when they join their regiments, and, with the exception of those who desire to enter the staff corps, their great object is the practical knowledge of the ordinary matters of military duty. “Physical exercises,” said the Director of Studies, “predominate here as much as intellectual studies do at the Polytechnic.”
But the competition for entrance sustains the general standard of knowledge. Even when there is the greatest demand for admissible candidates, the standard of admission has not, we are told, been much reduced. No one comes in who does not know the first elements of trigonometry. And the time allotted by the rules of the school to lectures and indoor study is far from inconsiderable.
EXAMINATIONS FOR ADMISSION--STUDIES AT THE SCHOOL.
The examinations for admission are conducted almost precisely upon the same system which is now used in those for the Polytechnic School.[18] There is a preliminary or pass examination (du premier degré), and for those who pass this a second or class examination (du second degré.) For the former there are three examiners, two for mathematics, physics, and chemistry, and a third for history, geography, and German. The second examination, which follows a few days after, is conducted in like manner by three examiners. A jury of admission decides. The examination is for the most part oral; and the principal difference between it and the examination for the Polytechnic is merely that the written papers are worked some considerable time before the first oral examination (du premier degré,) and are looked over with a view to assist the decision as to admissibility to the second (du second degré.) Thus the compositions écrites are completed on the 14th and 15th of June; the preliminary examination commences at Paris on the 10th of July; the second examination on the 13th.
[Footnote 18: The system was, in fact, first tried at St. Cyr, and adopted, on the representation of the Mixed Commission, at the Polytechnic. The previous method, by which different sets of examiners took different districts, had created distrust and dissatisfaction.]
The subjects of examination are the following:--
Arithmetic, including vulgar and decimal fractions, weights and measures, square and cube root, ratios and proportions, interest and discount, use of logarithmic tables and the sliding rule.
Algebra, to quadratic equations with one unknown quantity, maxima and minima, arithmetical and geometrical progressions, logarithms and their application to questions of compound interest and annuities.
Geometry, plane and solid, including the measurement of areas, surfaces, and volumes; sections of the cone, cylinder, and sphere.
Plane Trigonometry: construction of trigonometrical tables and the solution of triangles; application to problems required in surveying.
Geometrical representations of bodies by projections.
French compositions.
German exercises.
Drawing, including elementary geometrical drawing and projections; plan, section, and elevation of a building; geographical maps.
Physical Science (purely descriptive:) cosmography; physics, including elementary knowledge of the equilibrium of fluids; weight, gravity, atmospheric pressure, heat, electricity, magnetism, acoustics, optics, refraction, microscope, telescope.
Chemistry, elementary principles of; on matter, cohesion, affinity; simple and compound bodies, acids, bases, salts, oxygen, combustion, azote, atmospheric air, hydrogen, water; respecting equivalents and their use, carbon, carbonic acid, production and decomposition of ammonia, sulphur, sulphuric acid, phosphorus, chlorine; classification of non-metallic bodies into four families.
History: History of France from the time of Charles VII. to that of the Emperor Napoleon I. and the treaties of 1815.
Geography, relating entirely to France and its colonies, both physical and statistical.
German: the candidates must be able to read fluently both the written and printed German character, and to reply in German to simple questions addressed to them in the same language.
The general system of instruction at St. Cyr is similar to that of the Polytechnic; the lectures are given by the professors, notes are taken and completed afterwards, and progress is tested in occasional interrogations by the répétiteurs. One distinction is the different size of the salles d’étude (containing two hundred instead of eight or ten;) but, above all, is the great and predominant attention paid to the practical part of military teaching and training. It is evident at the first sight that this is essentially a military school, and that especial importance is attached both by teachers and pupils to the drill, exercise, and manœuvers of the various arms of the service.
The course of study is completed in two years; that of the first year consists of:--
27 lectures in descriptive geometry. 35 “ physical science. 20 “ military literature. 35 “ history. 21 “ geography and military statistics. 30 “ German. --- Total, 174
In addition to the above, there is a course of drawing between the time when the students join the school early in November and the 15th of August.
The course of drawing consists in progressive studies of landscape drawing with the pencil and brush, having special application to military subjects, to the shading of some simple body or dress, and to enable the students to apply the knowledge which has been communicated to them on the subject of shadows and perspective. This course is followed by the second or junior division during the first year’s residence.
The course of lectures in descriptive geometry commences with certain preliminary notions on the subject; refers to the representation of lines on curved surfaces, cylindrical and conical, surfaces of revolutions, regular surfaces, intersection of surfaces, shadows, perspective, vanishing points, &c., construction of geographical maps, and plan côté.
The lectures in physical science embrace nine lectures on the general properties of bodies; heat, climate, electricity, magnetism, galvanism, electro-magnetism, acoustics.
There are twelve lectures in chemistry; on water, atmospheric air, combustibles, gas, principal salts, saltpetre, metallurgy, organic chemistry.
There are fourteen lectures in mechanics applied to machines; motion, rest, gravity, composition and resolution of forces, mechanical labor, uniform motion, rectilinear and rotatory, projectiles in space, mechanical powers, drawbridges, Archimedean principle, military bridges, pumps, reservoirs, over and under-shot wheels, turbines, corn mills, steam-engines, locomotives, transport of troops, materials, and munitions on railways.
The twenty lectures in military literature refer to military history and biography, memoirs of military historians, battles and sieges, the art of war, military correspondence, proclamations, bulletins, orders of the day, instructions, circulars, reports and military considerations, special memoirs, reconnaissance and reports, military and periodical collections, military justice.
The thirty-five lectures in history principally relate to France and its wars, commencing with the Treaty of Westphalia and ending with the Treaty of Vienna.
The twenty-seven lectures in geography and military statistics are subdivided into different parts; the first eight lectures are devoted to Europe and France, including the physical geography and statistics of the same; the second six lectures are devoted to the frontiers of France; and the third part of thirteen lectures to foreign states and Algeria, including Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, and Russia.
The studies for the first division during the second year of their residence consist of--
10 lectures in topography. 27 “ fortification. 15 “ artillery. 10 “ military legislation. 12 “ military administration. 27 “ military art and history. 20 “ German. --- Total, 121
One lesson weekly is given in drawing, in order to render the students expert in landscape and military drawing with the pencil, pen, and brash.
We must not omit to call attention to the fact that mathematics are not taught in either yearly course at St. Cyr.
The course in topography, of ten lectures, has reference to the construction of maps, copies of drawings, theory, description, and use of instruments for measuring angles and leveling, the execution for a regular survey on the different systems of military drawing, drawing from models of ground, on the construction of topographical drawing and reconnaissance surveys, with accompanying memoirs.
Twenty-seven lectures are devoted to fortification; the first thirteen relate principally to field fortification, statement of the general principles, definitions, intrenchments, lines, redoubts, armament, defilement, execution of works on the ground, means necessary for the defense, application of field fortification to the defenses of têtes de pont and inhabited places, attack and defense of intrenchments, &c., castramentation; six lectures have reference to permanent fortification, on ancient fortifications, Cormontaigne’s system, exterior and detached works, considerations respecting the accessories of defense to fortified places; eight lectures relate to the attack and defense of places, preparations for attack and defense, details of the construction of siege works from the opening of the trenches to the taking of the place, exterior works, as auxiliaries, sketches, and details of the different works in fortifications, plans, and profile, &c.
The students also execute certain works, such as the making of fascines, gabions, saucissons, repair of revetments of batteries, platform, setting the profiles, defilement, and construction of a fieldwork, different kinds of sap, plan and establishment of a camp for a battalion of infantry, &c.
Under the head of artillery, fifteen lectures are given, commencing with the resistance of fluids, movement of projectiles, solution of problems with the balistic pendulum, deviation of projectiles, pointing and firing guns; small arms, cannon, materials of artillery, powder, munition, fireworks for military purposes; range of cannon, artillery for the attack or defense of places or coasts, field artillery, military bridges.
The students are practically taught artillery drill with field and siege guns, practice with artillery, repair of siege batteries, bridges of boats or rafts.
The ten lectures allowed for the course of military legislation have for their object the explanation of the principles, practice, and regulations relating to military law, and the connection with the civil laws that affect military men.
The twelve lectures on what is called military administration relate to the interior economy of a company, and to the various matters appertaining to the soldier’s messing, mode of payment, necessaries, equipment, lodging, &c.
Military art and history is divided into three parts. The first, of five lectures, relates to the history of military institutions and organization. The second, of fifteen lectures, refers to the composition of armies and to considerations respecting the various arms, infantry, cavalry, état-major, artillery and engineers, and the minor operations of war. The third part, of seven lectures, gives the history of some of the most celebrated campaigns in modern times. In the practical exercises, the students make an attack or defense of a work or of a system of fieldworks during their course of fortification, or of a house, farm, village, in the immediate vicinity of the school, or make the passage of a river.
The students receive twenty lectures in German, and are required to keep up a knowledge of German writing.
EXAMINATIONS AT THE SCHOOL.
The examinations at the end of the first year take place under the superintendence of the director and assistant director of studies. They are conducted by the professor of each branch of study, assisted by a répétiteur, each of whom assigns a credit to the student under examination, and the mean, expressed as a whole number, represents the result of the student’s examination in that particular branch of study. The examination in military instruction for training (in drill and exercises) is carried on by the officers attached to companies, under the superintendence of the commandant of the battalion, and that relating to practical artillery by the officer in charge of that duty.
The pupils’ position is determined, as at the Polytechnic, partly by the marks gained at the examination, partly by those he has obtained during his previous studies. In other words, the half of the credit obtained by a student at this examination in each subject is added to the half of the mean of all the credits assigned to him, in the same subject, for the manner in which he has replied to the questions of the professor and répétiteur during the year; and the sum of these two items represents his total credit at the end of the year. The scale of credit is from 0 to 20, as at the Polytechnic.
Every year, before the examinations commence, the commandant and second in command, in concert with the director and assistant director, and in concurrence with the superior officer commanding the battalion for military instruction, are formed into a board to determine the amount of the minimum credit which should be exacted from the students in every branch of study. This minimum is not usually allowed to fall below eight for the scientific, and ten for the military instruction.
Any student whose general mean credit is less than eight for the scientific, or ten for the military instruction, or who has a less credit than four for any particular study in the general instruction, or of six for the military instruction, is retained at the school to work during the vacation, and re-examined about eight days before the re-commencement of the course, by a commission composed of the director and assistant director of studies for the general instruction, and of the second in command and the commandant of the battalion, and of one captain for the military instruction. A statement of this second examination is submitted to the minister of war, and those students who pass it in a satisfactory manner are permitted by him to proceed into the first division. Those who do not pass it are reported to the minister of war as deserving of being excluded from the school, unless there be any special grounds for excusing them, such as sickness, in which case, when the fact is properly established before the council of instruction, they are permitted to repeat the year’s studies.
Irregularity of conduct is also made a ground for exclusion from the school. In order to estimate the credit to be attached to the conduct of a student, all the punishments to which he can be subjected are converted into a specific number of days of punishment drill. Thus,
For each day confined in the police chamber, 4 days’ punishment drill.
For each day confined in the prison, 8 days’ punishment drill.
The statement is made out under the presidency of the commandant of the school, by the second in command, and the officer in command of the battalion. The credits for conduct are expressed in whole numbers in terms of the scale of 0 to 20, in which the 20 signifies that the student has not been subjected to any punishment whatever, and the 0, that the student’s punishments have amounted to 200 or more days of punishment drill. The number 20 is diminished by deducting 1 for every 10 days of punishment drill.
The classification in the order of merit depends upon the total amount of the sum of the numerical marks or credits obtained by each student in every branch of study or instruction. The numerical credit in each subject is found by multiplying the credit awarded in each subject by the co-efficient of influence belonging to it.
The co-efficients, representing the influence allowed to each particular kind of examination, in the various branches of study are as follows:--
Second Division, or First Year’s Course of Study.
General Instruction. { Descriptive Geometry, 6 } { { Course, 6 } { { Drawing and Sketches, 2 } { Physical Science applied to the Military Arts, 6 } { { Course, 6 } { { Sketch and Memoir, 2 } { History, 6 } { Geography and Statistical Memoirs, 5 } { { Course, 5 } { { Sketch and Memoir, 2 } { Literature, Memoir on 4 } { German, 4 } { Drawing, 3 } 40 Special Instruction:--Drill, Practice, Manœuvers (Infantry and Cavalry,) 7 Conduct, 3 -- 50
First Division, or Second Year’s Course of Study
General Instruction. Infantry. Cavalry. { Topography { { Course, 3 } 3 } { { Maps, Memoirs, and Practical Exercises, 3 } 2 } { Fortification, { { Course, 4 } 4 } { { Drawings, Memoirs, and } } { { Practical Exercises, 3 } 2 } { Artillery and Balistic Pendulum, { { Course, 4 } 4 } { { Practical Exercises, School of Musketry 2 } 1 } { Military Legislation, 2 } 2 } { Military Administration, { { Course, 3 } 3 } { { Sheets of Accounts, 1 } 1 } { Military History and Art, { { Course, 4 } 4 } { { Memoirs and applications, 1 } 1 } { German, 4 } 4 } { Drawing, 1 } 35 1 } 32 Special instruction for { Infantry { { Theory of Drill, Manœuvers--3 Schools, 4 } { { Practical Instruction 3 } { { Regulations, 2 } 9 { Cavalry, { { Riding, 3 } { { Theoretical and Practical Instruction 7 } { { Veterinary Art, 2 } 12 Conduct 6 6 -- -- Total, 50 50
To facilitate this classification in order of merit, three distinct tables are prepared,--
The first relating to the general instruction; The second relating to the military instruction; and The third relating to the conduct;
and they respectively contain, one column in which the names of the students are arranged by companies in the order in which they have been examined; followed by as many columns as there are subjects of examination, for the insertion of their individual credit and the co-efficient of influence, by which each credit is multiplied; and lastly by a column containing the sum of the various products belonging to, and placed opposite each student’s name.
These tables are respectively completed by the aid of the existing documents, the first for the general instruction, by the director of studies; the second for the military instruction, by the officer commanding the battalion; the third for conduct, under the direction of the commandant of the school, assisted by the second in command.
A jury formed within the school, composed of the general commandant, president, the second in command, the director of studies, and the officer commanding the battalion, is charged with the classification of the students in the order of merit.
To effect it, after having verified and established the accuracy of the above tables, the numbers appertaining to each student in the three tables are extracted and inserted in another table, containing the name of each student, and, in three separate columns, the numbers obtained by each in general instruction, military instruction, and conduct, and the sum of these credits in another column.
By the aid of this last table, the jury cause another to be compiled, in which the students are arranged in the order of merit as established by the numerical amount of their credits, the highest in the list having the greatest number.
If there should be any two or more having the same number of total credits, the priority is determined by giving it to the student who has obtained a superiority of credits in military instruction, conduct, general instruction, notes for the year; and if these prove insufficient, they are finally classed in the same order as they were admitted into the school.
A list for passing from the second to the first division is forwarded to the minister at war, with a report in which the results for the year are compared with the results of the preceding year; and the minister at war, with these reports before him, decides who are ineligible from incompetency, or by reason of their conduct, to pass to the other division.
The period when the final examinations before leaving the school are to commence, is fixed by the president of the jury, specially appointed to carry on this final examination, in concert with the general commandant of the school.
The president of the jury directs and superintends the whole of the arrangements for conducting the examination; and during each kind of examination, a member of the corps, upon the science of which the student is being questioned, assists the examiner, and, as regards the military instruction, each examiner is aided by a captain belonging to the battalion.
The examination is carried on in precisely the same manner as that already described for the end of the first year’s course of study. And the final classification is ascertained by adding to the numerical credits obtained by each student during his second year’s course of study, in the manner already fully explained, one-tenth of the numerical credits obtained at the examinations at the end of the first year.
The same regulations as to the minimum credit which a student must obtain in order to pass from one division to the other, at the end of the first year, which are stated in page 160, are equally applicable to his passing from the school to become a second lieutenant in the army.
A list of the names of those students who are found qualified for the rank of second lieutenant is sent to the minister at war, and a second list is also sent, containing the names of those students that have, when subjected to a second or revised examination, been pronounced by the jury before whom they were re-examined as qualified.
Those whose names appear in the first list are permitted to choose according to their position in the order of merit, the staff corps or infantry, according to the number required for the first named service, and to name the regiments of infantry in which they desire to serve.
Those intended for the cavalry are placed at the disposal of the officer commanding the regiment which they wish to enter.
Those whose names appear in the second list are not permitted to choose their corps, but are placed by the minister at war in such corps as may have vacancies in it, or where he may think proper.
The students who are selected to enter the staff corps, after competing successfully with the second lieutenants of the army, proceed as second lieutenants to the staff school at Paris. Those who fail pass into the army as privates, according to the terms of the engagement made on entering the school.
THE CAVALRY SCHOOL AT SAUMUR.
This school was established in 1826, and is considered[19] the most perfect and extensive institution of the kind in Europe,--perhaps the only one really deserving the title, the others being more properly mere schools of equitation.
[Footnote 19: “Report of Observations in Europe during the Crimean War,” by Major Gen. McClellan.]
It is under the control of the Minister of War, and was established for the purpose of perfecting the officers of the cavalry corps in all the branches of knowledge necessary to their efficiency, and especially in the principles of equitation,--and to diffuse through the corps a uniform system of instruction, by training up a body of instructors and classes of recruits intended for the cavalry service.
The instruction is entirely military, and is based upon the laws and regulations in force with regard to the mounted troops. It includes; 1st. The regulations for interior service; 2nd. The cavalry tactics; 3rd. The regulations for garrison service; 4th. The regulations for field service applied, as far as possible, on the ground, especially with regard to reconnaissances; 5th. A military and didactic course of equitation, comprising all the theoretical and practical knowledge required for the proper and useful employment of the horse, his breaking, application to the purposes of war, and various civil exercises; 6th. A course of hippology, having for its object practical instruction, by means of the model breeding-stud attached to the school, in the principles which should serve as rules in crossing breeds and in raising colts, to explain the phases of dentition, to point out the conformation of the colt which indicates that he will become a good and solid horse, the method to be pursued to bring the colt under subjection without resistance, and, finally, to familiarize the officers and pupils with all the knowledge indispensable to an officer charged with the purchase and care of remount horses. This course includes also a knowledge of horse-equipment, illustrated in the saddle factory connected with the school; 7th. Vaulting, fencing, and swimming. The non-commissioned officers are also instructed in the theory of administration and accountability. The course of instruction continues one year, commencing in the month of October. The pupils at the school are:--
1st. A division of lieutenants, (lieutenants instructeurs.) 2nd. “ of sub-lieutenants, (sous-lieutenants d’instruction.) 3rd. “ of sub-officers, (sous-officiers élèves instructeurs.) 4th. “ of non-commissioned officers, (brigadiers élèves.) 5th. “ of cavalry recruits, (cavaliers élèves.)
The lieutenants are chosen out of the regiments of cavalry and artillery, as well as from the squadrons of the park-trains and military equipages, from the lieutenants who voluntarily present themselves for the appointment to the General Board of Inspectors. Their age must not exceed thirty-six years.
The sub-lieutenants are appointed from the cavalry regiments, must be graduates of the Special Military School, not above thirty-four years of age, and have served at least one year with the regiment.
The sub-officers are selected from the cavalry corps--one from every two regiments of cavalry and artillery, and every two squadrons of the park-trains and military equipages.
The non-commissioned officers are chosen annually by the inspectors-general--one from each regiment of cavalry:--from among those that show a peculiar aptness for equitation and are distinguished by good conduct, information, zeal, and intelligence; those who are recommended for promotion in their corps are selected in preference. Their age must not exceed twenty-five years, and they must have served at least one year in the ranks.
These pupils, numbering about four hundred, are sent to the school by order of the Minister of War. They continue connected with their corps, from which they are regarded as detached while they remain at the school. They receive additional pay. Those who after due trial are found deficient in the necessary qualifications, are sent back to their regiments.
Upon the recommendation of the inspector-general of the school, the officers who are serving as pupils, compete for promotion by choice with the officers of the corps from which they are detached.
The cavalry lieutenant, who graduates first in his class, is presented for the first vacancy as captain-instructor that occurs in the cavalry, provided he has the seniority of rank required by law. The lieutenant who graduates second obtains, under the same condition, the second vacancy of captain-instructor, provided his division consisted of more than thirty members. The sub-lieutenant graduating first, provided he is not lower than the tenth in the general classification of the officers of both grades, is presented for promotion to the first vacant lieutenancy that occurs in his regiment.
The non-commissioned officers who pass a satisfactory final examination, are immediately promoted to vacancies that have been preserved for them in their regiments--those who have graduated among the first ten of the class, being presented for promotion as sub-lieutenants, as soon as they have completed their required term of service as non-commissioned officers. Those who attend the school as non-commissioned officers, frequently return as officers for instruction, and again in a higher grade on the staff of the school.
Officers transferred from the infantry to the cavalry are generally sent to this school for a short time at least. The captains-instructor of the cavalry regiments, and the instructors of equitation in the artillery regiments, are mostly selected from the graduates.
The school also receives by voluntary enlistment, such young men, not above the age of twenty-one years, as desire to enter the cavalry service. They are not admitted until they have been subjected to an examination before a committee, by whom they are classified according to their fitness. These volunteer enlistments for the cavalry school are made at Saumur, at least a month before the commencement of the course, on presentation of the certificate of classification and of approval by the commandant of the school. The number is limited to fifty each year.
Such of these cavalry pupils as are distinguished for diligence and good conduct and pass a satisfactory final examination are transferred to the regiments of cavalry, for promotion to the rank of noncommissioned officers by their respective colonels. Those who have not been found fit for admission are sent back simply as privates.
A council of instruction is charged with the direction of the studies. They propose useful changes, and direct the progress of the studies. They are also charged with the examinations.
The recitations are by sections of about thirty each. In reciting upon the general principles of tactics, equitation, hippology, &c., the manner is as in our Military Academy; when reciting upon the movements in tactics, all the commands and explanations of the instructor to the troops are repeated “verbatim et literatim,” and in the tone and pitch of voice used in the field. Perfect uniformity of tone and manner is required. The object of thus reciting is to teach the pupils the proper tone and pitch of voice, to accustom them to hear their own voices, and to enable them to repeat the text literally at this pitch of voice, without hesitation or mistake.
The course of hippology includes the structure of the horse, the circulation of the blood, organs of respiration, &c., food, working powers, actions, breeds, manner of taking care of him, ordinary ailments and remedies, shoeing, lameness, saddling, sore backs, sanitary police, &c., but does not comprise a complete veterinary course.
The practical exercises consist of:--the ordinary riding-hall drill, including vaulting, the “kickers,” &c.; the carrière, or out-door riding at speed, over hurdles, ditches, &c.; cutting at head; target-practice; fencing; swimming; the usual military drills; skeleton squadron and regimental drills; rides in the country; finally, in the summer, frequent “carousels” or tilts are held.
The veterinary surgeons of the lowest grade are sent here upon their first appointment to receive instruction in equitation, to profit by the study of the model stud, and to learn the routine of their duties with the regiments. They form a distinct class.
In the Model Stud, the number of animals varies. There are usually two stallions and about twenty mares, (Arabs, English, Norman, &c.,) in addition to those selected from time to time from among the riding-animals. Attached to it is a botanical garden, more especially for useful and noxious grasses and plants.
School for Breaking Young Horses.--The best horses purchased at the remount dépôts are selected for the officers, and sent to this place to be trained. The number is fixed at 100 as a minimum. These, as soon as their education is complete, are sold or given, according to the orders of the Minister of War, to those officers who need a remount--in preference, to officers of the general staff and staff corps, those of the artillery, and mounted officers of infantry. These officers may also select from among the other horses of the school, with the approval of the commandant.
School of Farriers.--This is attached to the cavalry school, and is under the direction of the commandant. It is composed of private soldiers who have served at least six months with their regiments, and are blacksmiths or horse-shoers by trade. There are usually two men from each mounted regiment. The course lasts two years; it comprises reading, writing, arithmetic, equitation, the anatomy of the horse, thorough instruction as to all diseases, injuries, and deformities of the foot, something of the veterinary art in general, the selection of metals, making shoes, nails, tools, &c., shoeing horses. The establishment has a large shoeing shop and yard, a recitation-room, museum, and store-rooms. In the recitation-room there are skeletons of horses, men, &c., as well as some admirable specimens of natural preparations in comparative anatomy, a complete collection of shoeing-tools, specimens of many kinds of shoes, &c.--Annuaire de l’Instruction 1861, and “Observations.”
THE SCHOOL OF APPLICATION FOR THE STAFF.
AT PARIS.
DUTIES OF THE FRENCH STAFF.
The staff is the center from which issue and to which are addressed all orders and military correspondence.
The officers of the staff are divided into chiefs of the staff, sub-chiefs, staff-officers, and aides-de-camp.
The colonels and lieutenant-colonels are employed as chiefs of the staff in the different military districts of France, and in the divisions of the army on active service. The ordinary posts of the majors and captains is that of aides-de-camp to general officers.
When several armies are united together under a commander-in-chief, the chief of the general staff takes temporarily the title of Major-Général, the general officers employed under him that of Aide-Major-Général.
The duties of the chief of the staff are to transmit the orders of the general; to execute those which he receives from him personally, for field-works, pitching camps, reconnaissances, visits of posts, &c.; to correspond with the commanding officers of the artillery and the engineers, and with the commissariat, in order to keep the general exactly informed of the state of the different branches of the service; to be constantly in communication with the different corps, so as to be perfectly master of everything relating to them; to prepare for the commander-in-chief and for the minister of war, returns of the strength and position of the different corps and detachments, reports on marches and operations, and, in short, every necessary information.
The distribution of the other officers of different ranks, when it has not been made by the minister of war, is regulated by the chief of the general staff.
In every division of the army an officer of the staff is specially charged with the office work; the others assist him when necessary, but they are more usually employed in general staff duties, in reconnaissances, drawing plans of ground, missions, the arrangement of camps and cantonments, superintending the distribution of the rations, &c.
The officers of the staff may further be charged with the direction of field-works thrown up to cover camps and cantonments.
Staff officers of all ranks may be employed on posts and detachments. On special missions they command all other officers of the same rank employed with them. When a staff officer is charged with the direction of an expedition or a reconnaissance, without having the command of the troops, the officer in command concerts with him in all the dispositions it may be necessary to make to ensure the success of the operation.
The staff of generals of artillery and of engineers is composed of officers of their respective arms.
The war depot (Dépôt de la Guerre) was founded for the purpose of collecting and preserving military historical papers, reconnaissances, memoirs, and plans of battles; to preserve plans and MSS. maps useful for military purposes, and to have them copied and published.
It is divided into two sections--one charged with trigonometrical surveying, topography, plan drawing, and engraving; the other with historical composition, military statistics, the care of the library, the archives, plans, and maps. Each of these sections is under the direction of a colonel of the staff corps, who has under his orders several officers of his corps.
The war depot has taken a large share in the preparation of the map of France. The first idea of undertaking this important work dates from 1808. After various delays and difficulties, the trigonometrical survey, which had been for a time suspended, was recommenced in 1818. The work was placed under the war depot, intrusted to the corps of geographical engineers. Since this period the geographical engineers have been incorporated in the staff corps, by the officers of which the work has been continued. The primary triangulation was finished in 1845; the secondary is now finished; the filling in the details will occupy several years to come. The number of officers of the staff corps employed on the survey has varied from twenty-six to ninety.
THE STAFF CORPS.
The officers of the French staff constitute a distinct and separate corps, numbering thirty-five colonels, thirty-five lieutenant-colonels, one hundred and ten majors, three hundred and thirty captains, and one hundred lieutenants. None but officers of this corps can be employed on the staff. When, by accident, there is not a sufficient number present, regimental officers may be temporarily employed, but they return to their regiments as soon as officers of the staff corps arrive to replace them. The division of the staff into adjutant-general’s and quartermaster-general’s department does not exist in the French service.
The only means of entering the staff corps is through the Staff School of Application. Of the fifty student-officers which the School of Application usually contains, twenty-five leave annually to enter the staff corps, and are replaced by an equal number. Three of these come from the Polytechnic, the remaining twenty-two are selected from thirty pupils of the Military School of St. Cyr, who compete with thirty second lieutenants of the army, if so many present themselves; but, in general, the number of the latter does not exceed four or five.
The course of study in the Staff School of Application lasts two years. The students have the rank of second lieutenant. On passing the final examination they are promoted to the rank of lieutenant; they are then sent to the infantry to do duty for two years, at the expiration of which time they are attached for an equal period to the cavalry. They may finally be sent for a year to the artillery or engineers.
This routine can not be interrupted except in time of war, and even then the lieutenant can not be employed on staff duty until he has completed his two years with the infantry. However, officers who have a special aptitude for the science of geodesy or topography, may even earlier be employed on the map of France or other similar duty; and, further, two of the lieutenants, immediately on quitting the Staff School of Application, are sent to the war depot (Dépôt de la Guerre) to gain a familiarity with trigonometrical operations.
The General Officers at their Inspections are required to report specially to the Minister of War on the captains and lieutenants of the staff corps doing duty with the regiments in their districts, both as to their knowledge of drill and manœuvres, and their acquaintance with the duties of the staff. They are to require these officers to execute a military reconnaissance, never allowing more than forty-eight hours for the field sketch and its accompanying report.
Officers of all arms of the rank of captain or under, are permitted to exchange with officers of equal rank in the staff corps; but they must previously satisfy the conditions of the final examinations of the Staff College.
THE BUILDINGS AND ESTABLISHMENT.
The Staff School of Application is situated in Paris, in the Rue de Grenelle, close to the Invalides. Of the ninety officers attending it, sixty lodge in the building and thirty out of it, but all take their meals in the town. Each has, in general, a room to himself. Servants are provided in the proportion of one to about eight rooms. The officers are forbidden to have private servants.
The staff of the school is composed as follows:--
The Commandant, a General of Brigade.
The Second in Command, Director of the Studies, a Colonel or Lieutenant-Colonel of the Staff Corps.
A Major of the Staff Corps, charged with the superintendence of the interior economy and the drills and exercises.
Three Captains of the same Corps, charged with the details of the interior economy of the School, and to assist the Major in the instruction of the Officers in their military duties. The Captains are required to take the direction of a portion of the topographical works on the ground.
A Medical Officer.
Thirteen Military Professors, or Assistant Professors, viz.:--
A Major or Captain, Professor of Applied Descriptive Geometry.
A Major or Captain, Professor of Astronomy, Physical Geography, and Statistics.
A Major or Captain, Professor of Geodesy and Topography.
A Major or Captain of Engineers, Professor of Fortification.
A Major or Captain of Artillery, Professor of the instruction relative to this arm.
A Military Sub-Intendant, Professor of Military Legislation and Administration.
A Major or Captain, Professor of Military Art.
A Captain, Assistant Professor of Descriptive Geography; charged also to assist the Professor of Fortification.
A Captain, Assistant Professor of Topography; charged also to assist the Professor of Geography.
A Major or Captain of Cavalry, Professor of Equitation; he acts under the immediate orders of the Major of the College.
Two Lieutenants or Second Lieutenants of Cavalry, Assistant Professors of Equitation.
An Officer of Cavalry of the same rank, acting as Paymaster to the Riding Detachment.
The Non-Military Professors are:--
Two Professors of Drawing.
Two Professors of German.
A Professor of Fencing.
One hundred and forty-five horses are kept for the use of the student-officers, and eighty-two men belonging to the cavalry to look after them.
Both the studies and examinations at the Staff School hold an intermediate place between those of the Polytechnic and St. Cyr, being less abstract than the former, and higher and more difficult than the latter.
CONDITIONS OF ADMISSION.--ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS.
The entrance to the Staff School of Application in France is, as is the case in all the French military schools, by means of a competitive examination, or, rather, by the results of three distinct examinations, and by the selection of different sets of successful candidates. Three are taken from the students leaving the Polytechnic, who have an absolute right to the three first places in the Staff School, and twenty-two are selected from the thirty best students leaving St. Cyr, and an equal number of sub-lieutenants of the line under twenty-five years of age, if so many present themselves. The sub-lieutenants must have one year of service in that rank, and they must make known their request to be allowed to compete for admission to the Staff School to the Inspector General, and, through him, to the Minister of War. It should be added, that their number is generally extremely small.
The usual number of young officers admitted yearly to the school in time of peace is twenty-five, but this number is sometimes considerably exceeded, and we found no less than ninety present. The three Polytechnic students select the Staff School after their final examination, and the St. Cyr students make known their desire when the whole are examined by a Board of Examiners, and the thirty best are then selected as competitors for admission into the Staff School of Application.
The sub-lieutenants also repair to St. Cyr, where they are examined separately by the same examiners who have just conducted the examination of the St. Cyr students, and in the same subjects.
Their marks or credits are then compared with those of the St. Cyr pupils; and the relative position of the two sets of candidates is ascertained, and the list of those to be admitted to the School of Application determined accordingly.
These examinations take place before a Commission of Officers, composed of,--
A Lieutenant-General President, appointed by the Minister of War.
The Director or Chief of the Dépôt de la Guerre.
The Commandant of the School of Application.
Four Colonels or Lieutenant-Colonels of the Staff, appointed by the Minister of War.
A Field Officer chosen from among the Officers employed at the Dépôt de la Guerre, as permanent Secretary.
This Commission is also charged with drawing up and proposing regulations for the approval of the Minister of War concerning the interior organization and the course of study to be followed in the school, and to make changes in the programmes for admission and for leaving the school.
A very detailed account of the subjects of the entrance examination is drawn out, and inserted in the Journal Militaire, and the Moniteur every year. The following are the subjects:--
(1.) Trigonometry and Topography.
(2.) Regular Topography--the measuring of plane surfaces and leveling.
(3.) Irregular Topography, Plane Trigonometry.
(4.) Military Art and History, including--
(a.) History of Military Institutions at the chief periods.
(b.) Present composition of the French army.
(c.) Organization of an army in the field.
(d.) History of some of the most memorable campaigns, as those of 1796-97 in Italy, and of 1805 and 1809, in Germany.
(5.) Artillery and Science of Projectiles.
(6.) Field Fortification and Castremetation.
(7.) Permanent Fortification.
(8.) Military Legislation.
(9.) Military Administration.
(10.) Manœuvres.
(11.) German Language.
(12.) Drawing.
The marks assigned and the influence allowed to each of these subjects are the same as those given in the final examination at St. Cyr. The entrance examination places the students in order of merit.
THE STUDIES.
All the details of the teaching are in the hands of a Council of Instruction, similar to that of the Polytechnic, and consisting of the General Commandant (President,) the Director of Studies, and three Military Professors, appointed yearly by rotation. Other professors and assistant professors, or officers of the staff of the school, may be called in to assist the Council, but (except in deciding the list at an examination) they have no votes.
This council does not interfere directly with the administration, the common work of the school. It draws up, indeed, the list of lectures, making any alterations in them, or in the books to be used which may seem from time to time desirable. But the officer accountable for the daily working of the school is the Director of Studies. His functions appeared to us to bring him into more constant connection with the pupils than was the case with the director of the Polytechnique. In all the schools the General Commandant and the Director of Studies live in the establishment; but at the Ecole d’Application and at St. Cyr the director “examines the methods of teaching, and proposes to the Council of Instruction any modifications or improvements which may raise or quicken the instruction. He inspects the work of the student-officers, both in and out of the school. He keeps a register of the marks given by the professors, and at the end of every three months brings the sum of them before the General Commandant in a detailed report.” In fact, his school functions are not modified, as at the Polytechnic, by a body of able professors.
As already stated, there are fifteen professors, without reckoning those of equitation, and thirteen of them are officers; but the system of Répétiteurs, which we have seen so influential at the Polytechnic, does not exist here.
The hours of work are, in summer, i.e. from May to November, from six to five, and in winter from eight to five, with the exception of one hour for breakfast and one hour for étude libre, which appears to mean very little indeed. From seven to nine hours daily may be taken as the amount, but (as is the case with most French schools) there is a constant change, not only in the subjects taught but in part of the work being out and part in doors, some really head work, much purely manual. There does not appear to be the same intense application as at the Polytechnic; indeed, the work for three months in the year is almost entirely in the open air, consisting in making plans and military sketches, either in the neighborhood of Paris or in the more distant parts of the country; eight months are devoted to the in-door studies, one month to the examinations.
The in-door studies are entirely conducted in the halls of study (Salles d’étude), in each of which we found parties of twelve or fifteen students seated. They are inspected constantly by the director or some of the professors. None of the regular work may be done in private. It seems everywhere a fixed belief in the French Military Schools that very much would be done idly and ill if done in private. This presents a striking contrast to the feeling on the subject in England.
The severer and preparatory studies of mathematics are supposed to have been completed prior to entrance into the Polytechnic or St. Cyr. Some, however, of the studies of applied science occupy considerable time at the School of Application.
The following analysis will show the time assigned to each branch:--
1. Astronomy occupies 1½ hours weekly for the pupils of the first year; afterwards it ceases entirely.
2. To Applied Descriptive Geometry a good deal of time is given, but still only by the pupils of the first year. 12 hours a week are spent upon it in the first half year, 10 in the second.
3. Military Topography occupies about 10½ hours in the first year, 6 in the second.
4. A good deal of time is devoted to Field Fortifications. The junior division, it is true, only begin it in their second half year of study, and then only work at it for 1½ hours weekly. But the senior division are occupied 4½ hours weekly in their first half year, and 7½ hours in their second.
5. The Study of Military Administration and Legislation is begun immediately upon entrance. It occupies during both years 1½ hours weekly.
6. Lectures on Military Art and Tactics are also given for 1½ hours weekly during both years, and after hearing these lectures the students are occasionally required to write a military memoir on a campaign, descriptions of reconnaissances, or of fields of battle, and to make sketches of ground with accompanying reports. This course was noted by General Foltz, the director of the school, as defective, on the ground that it was too difficult to find a teacher for, or indeed to teach military art; and he thought that lectures on military history, or such works as Napoleon’s Memoirs, would be more useful to the pupils.
7. Drawing occupies throughout 4½ hours weekly, and great attention is bestowed upon it. “We were shown a large number of works done by the young officers of the school. To enumerate some of the most important--there were specimens of objects, with shadows; perspective of the exterior and interior of buildings, with shadows; perspective views of country; machinery drawings, plan, section, and elevation; in fortification, a plan of comparison of a portion of ground with proposed field-works for defense; military bridges; reconnaissance, and memoir of a route, with accompanying notes and sketches, done both on foot and on horseback; plan of a portion of country made with a compass by parties of ten, under the direction of a Captain (for this the trigonometrical points and distances were furnished, and it was filled up by a minor triangulation;) plan of a field of battle, made without points; and a description of the battle.”
These drawings were mostly executed with great care, and we were told that the course was fully as much as the student could accomplish in two years. Some parts of it are done entirely in the Salle d’étude; sketches are made on horseback in the neighborhood of Paris, always under the direction of the professors, others again at great distances, such as one at Biarritz last year, and the one on which the pupils are to be engaged this year, is the line of operations of Wellington from the Spanish frontier to Toulouse. The two last kinds of work are roughly sketched, and finished at Paris. These summer occupations seem to stand in place of vacations, of which there are none.
(1.) To Fencing, three hours a week are given throughout.
(2.) To the Cavalry Drill two hours weekly in the first division. It is replaced by Infantry Drill in the second.
The studies which none but the senior division pursue are,--
(1.) Artillery studies, which occupy 4½ hours weekly.
(2.) Geography, meaning chiefly the military geography of a country, with a few lectures on statistics and political economy; these take 1½ hours weekly.
(3.) Geodesy, or trigonometrical surveying, also for 1½ hours.
The only strictly literary occupation is the study of German for about three hours per week during the whole time. We were told that a large proportion of the pupils unite among themselves to learn English privately, but no public course is given.
THE EXAMINATIONS.
The students have two examinations to go through in each year; the first commencing about the first of June, the last in November, and each of the first year’s examinations is held before a jury consisting of--
(1.) The General Commandant, or the Director of Studies; President.
(2.) The Professor of the Course examined in.
(3.) Two Officers appointed by the Council of Instruction.
The last examination in each year is, of course, the most important, inasmuch as the passage from the Second or Junior to the First or Senior Division, and in part from the Senior into the Staff Corps, is regulated by the results of these examinations; and the value allowed to the last examination in each year is just double of that assigned for the examinations in June.
The examinations of the first year are confined to the subjects of study followed during that year, viz.:--
Descriptive Geometry, Astronomy, Topography, Artillery, Fortification, Military Art and Administration, German, Drawing, Register of Notes and Memoranda.
The professors and members of the jury are directed rigorously to conform themselves to the following scale as regards the marks or credits they award for the oral answers, graphical representations, &c.
0 to 4 bad. 5 to 10 passable. 10 to 13 fair. 14 to 18 good. 19 to 20 very good.
The Co-efficients of influence of the various studies of the first year are as follows:--
Descriptive Geometry, { Theory, 4 } { Geographical Representation, 3 } { Drawing of Machines, 1 } { { Memoir, 1 } { { Drawing, 1 } 9 Astronomy { Theory, 4 } { Graphical Representation, 1 } 5 Topography { Theory, 4 } { Graphical Representation, *6 } 10 Artillery, 4 Fortification { Theory, 4 } { Graphical Representation, 2 } 8 { Memoirs, 2 } Military Art { Theory, 4 } { Memoirs, } { { On various questions, 1 } { { On surveys, 2 } 7 Military Administration, { Theory, 4 } { Memoirs, 1 } 5 Manœuvres, 2 German, 4 Drawing, 2 Keeping of Memorandum Books, 1 Conduct and Discipline, 1 Riding and Knowledge of the Horse, 2 { Riding, { Hippology, -- Total, 60
* Subdivision of the Co-efficients of the Graphical Representations.
Survey with compass, 1 } Rapid sketch, 1½ } Itinery of the first survey, } 1½ } Itinery of the second survey, } } First Topographical Drawing, ½ } { Second, with relief, ¾ } { Third, on the scale of 1/20000 ¾ } 6
As soon as the examinations are concluded, the Council of Instruction, prepares a provisory classified list of the students, made out in order of merit from the credits or marks awarded by the Examining Jury in connection with the above-mentioned co-efficients of influence, in a similar manner to that already explained in the account of the Polytechnic School, the student with the largest numerical credit being placed at the head of the list.
This provisory list is submitted to the Consulting Committee of the Staff Corps for transmission to the Minister of War.
In order to pass from the Second or Junior into the First or Senior Division, every Student Officer must have obtained the following marks or credits from the Jury, viz.:--
In Astronomy and Geometry, six out of twenty in each.
In all other branches of theoretical instruction, four out of twenty.
In the classification of the graphical representations in topography, a mean of eight out of twenty, and in each of the other courses a mean of six out of twenty; and as the general result of his various works and of his examinations (the mean of the year being combined with the number obtained before the jury in the proportion adopted by the Council of Instruction,) he must have obtained a number of credits equal to one-half of the maximum (1,200.)[20]
[Footnote 20: There must be some error in the printed regulations on the subject.]
Every Student Officer who in his oral examination before the Jury has failed in obtaining the minimum stated above is subjected to a fresh proof before the Consulting Committee of the Staff Corps, and if this is not favorable to him he ceases to belong to the school, and must return to his regiment, unless such failure can be attributed to an illness of forty-five days, in which case he may be permitted to double his first year’s course of study.
If the second proof be favorable he is retained at the school, but placed at the bottom of the classified lists prepared by the Council of Instruction.
The co-efficients of influence for the second year are--
Subdivision of the Co-efficients of the Graphical Representations, &c.
Geography and Statistics, { Theory, 4 } 5 { Memoir, 1 } Geodesy and Topography, { Theory 4 } { Geographical Representation, 6 } 10 { Survey with the Compass, 1 } { Reconnaissance, 1½ } { Itinerary of the first survey, } } { Itinerary of the reconnaissance } 1½ } { Drawing of a Fortress and its Environs, 1½ } { Reduction of the Drawings, ½ } 6
Artillery, { Theory, 4 } { Graphical Representation, 3 } { Memoirs, 1 } 8 { First Drawing of a Military Bridge, 1 } { Second ditto, ½ } { Breaching Battery ½ } { Drawing of Artillery Carriage, 1 } 3
Fortification, { Theory, 4 } { Graphical Representation, 3 } { Memoir on a Fortified place, 2½ } { Memoir on a Project of Field { Fortification, 1½ } 11 { Defilement, 1 } { Project of Fortification, 2 } 3
Military Administration, { Theory 4 } 4
Military Art { Theory 4 } { Memoir on various questions comprised { in drawing up a memoir, 2 } { Memoir on the survey with a Compass, { or sketch reconnaissance 2 } 8
Manœuvres, 3 German, 4 Drawing, 2 Keeping of Note Books, 1 Conduct and Discipline, 1
Riding and Knowledge of the Horse, 3 { Riding, 2 } { Veterinary Art, 1 } 3 -- Total 60
The examinations of the students of the Senior or First Division is made in a similar manner to that already described for the Junior Division, but after they are concluded, and prior to these students being admitted into the Staff Corps, they are subjected to another examination before the Consulting Committee of the Staff Corps, consisting of--
3 Generals of Division on the Staff. 3 Generals of Brigade. 3 Colonels of the Staff. 5 Lieutenant-Colonels, including the Secretary.
The professors belonging to the school may be called in to assist at this examination, and when it is concluded the Consulting Committee proceeds to the definitive classification of the Student Officers of the First Division by causing the following documents to be placed before them, viz.:--
The register of the notes of each Student Officer.
Tables of the value of their work; the classified list of passage to the First Division, and the provisionary list for leaving, recently prepared by the Council of Instruction. The numerical credits obtained in these two classifications are added (each sum being halved) to the definitive classification prepared by the committee. The total is divided by two, in order not to exceed the regulated limit of 1,200 credits for the maximum.
Every Student Officer who, in this examination for leaving, has not obtained the half of the maximum number of numerical credits is considered to be inadmissible to the Staff Corps.
This classified list, prepared by the Consulting Committee of the Staff Corps, fixes the position of the Student Officers in order of merit, and according to this order of merit they enter the Staff Corps. The committee reports to the Minister of War the names of the Student Officers that are not eligible for the Staff Corps.
The first two or three places, we were told, are always remembered as marks of distinction, but the honor does not descend lower, as in the intense competition of the Polytechnic.
Students belonging to the First Division may also be permitted to double the second year’s course of study on account of illness; but in no case can an officer be permitted to remain more than three years at the school.
MILITARY ORPHAN SCHOOL
AT LA FLECHE.
The Collége or Prytanée Militaire appears, in point of studies, to differ from the schools that have just been described, chiefly in its having only one department for the elder pupils, the scientific, with merely occasional subsidiary lessons in grammar and literature.
The institution is a school for boys between the ages of ten and eighteen; no one under ten or above twelve years old can be admitted: and no one can commence a new course at the school after completing his eighteenth year.
The prescribed instruction comprises the following courses:--
Humanities (Latin, &c.) History and Geography. German. Mathematics. Physical Sciences. Natural History. Figure Drawing. Linear Drawing.
And the general object of the courses is to qualify the pupils to pass the examination for the degree of Bachelor of Science.
The pupils also go through military and gymnastic exercises, and learn to swim.
The school is under military discipline, is governed by a general officer of the staff corps or a colonel in active service, as commandant and director of studies, and by a lieutenant-colonel or major, with the title and functions of second in command and sub-director. In addition there are four officers, twenty-three professors and teachers, and eighteen répétiteurs.
The yearly charge for paying pupils is 850 francs, and the cost of outfit about 500 francs; but there are 400 free and 100 half-free places (400 bourses and 100 demi-bourses) granted by the state in favor of the sons of officers, the order of preference being regulated as follows, those who are orphans on both sides having the first claim, and those who have lost their father, the next:--
1. Those whose fathers have been killed, or have died of wounds received in action.
2. Those whose fathers have died in the service, or after retiring on a pension.
3. Sons of fathers who have been disabled in consequence of wounds received in action.
Sons of non-commissioned officers or of private soldiers who have been killed or have been disabled in action, who have been placed on the retired list, or have been discharged after twenty years’ service, may also be admitted, as a special mark of favor.
The candidates undergo an examination, not, however, for the purpose of competition, but merely to show that they are qualified to enter the classes.
The school is inspected annually by a general officer sent by the war department, as also by an officer of the commissariat. There is no sort of engagement or expectation that the pupils should enter the military service. The nature of the studies holds out some inducement to them to compete for admission at St. Cyr or the Polytechnic; and in the examination for entrance at St. Cyr, it is stated that the sons of military men have the privilege of being raised fifteen places in the list of the order of merit. An officer’s or soldier’s son from La Flèche would, in case of 300 candidates being admitted to St. Cyr, be able to claim admission, if he came 315th on the list, to the exclusion of the candidate who stood 300th.
SCHOOL OF MUSKETRY
The School of Musketry, formed by the Ministerial Order of 29th March, 1842, was only intended at first to supply instructors to the ten battalions of Chasseurs who were armed with rifles. The results of its establishment were, however, found so valuable, that the benefits of the instruction it afforded were by degrees extended to the whole army.
In 1845, the Duc d’Aumale, who had taken a special interest in the improvement of fire-arms and the better instruction of the soldier in their use, was nominated Inspector-General of Schools of Musketry. Besides the chief school at Vincennes, others were formed in the principal garrisons; and eventually a regimental School of Musketry was established in every regiment of infantry.
Some changes have been made in the system established under the Duke. The School of Musketry at Vincennes has only been regularly organized on its present footing since 1852. A portion of the fortress affords the accommodation required for the theoretical instruction, while the Polygon offers admirable facilities for practical instruction and target practice.
The Staff of the School consists of,--
A Commandant, a Lieut.-Colonel of Infantry. An Instructor in Musketry, a Major of Infantry. A Professor, a Captain of Artillery. An Assistant Professor, a Captain of Artillery. A Sub-Instructor in Musketry, a Captain of Infantry.
Each regiment sends an Officer (a Sub-Lieutenant or a Lieutenant) to Vincennes, to go through the course of instruction. The course commences on the 1st of March, and lasts four months. Two hours a day three times a week are devoted to lectures on the construction and use of fire-arms, and the theory of projectiles. Each officer is required to complete a certain number of drawings of the separate parts of arms. At the termination of the course, certificates are given, and, if favorable, go towards the officer’s claim to be promoted “au choix.”
We were conducted over the rooms of the fortress set apart for the school by the officer charged with the Theoretical Instruction (Captain Févre, of the Artillery.) They consist of a large paved room, where the officers perform their small-arm exercise in bad weather; of the study-room, in which the drawings are executed; of a lecture-room or amphitheater; of the library, chiefly supplied with technical works on arms; and of a model-room, containing a very good collection of French and foreign arms, and of portions of arms, to illustrate the lectures. There are, besides, private rooms for the instructors, and a room for the orderlies. On the ground floor a small forge has been fitted up for the purpose of giving practical instruction in some of the details of the manufacture of arms.
To produce accurate marksmen is not the only object of the School of Musketry. Its staff may be considered a description of standing committee, to whom inventions in arms and ammunition are submitted, to have their qualities practically tested. On the day of our visits experiments on the relative merits of three forms of balls were being carried on, which we witnessed.
Quitting the fortress by a bridge over the ditch, in an angle of which the Duc d’Enghien was shot, we entered on the Polygon or practice ground. In a few minutes two detachments of troops, one from the Chasseurs de Vincennes, the other from the 20th regiment of the line, arrived and took up their ground in front of the practice butts. Of the balls between which comparisons were to be made, one was proposed by M. Minié, who was himself present, another by M. Nessler, the third was named the ball “de la garde.” There were six targets in line in front of the butt; the Chasseurs fired at three of them, and the 20th regiment at the other three. A trench runs along parallel to the butts, and at a few yards in front of them. The line of targets is in the space between the trench and the butts. The trench gives cover to the range party, one of whom is stationed opposite to each target, in a rude recess cut into the side of the trench, to afford shelter in wet weather. Each time a target is struck, the man opposite to it raises his banderol, which is then seen by the firing party, and acknowledged.
The trench is continued to some distance beyond the butts, and is there met by another trench at right angles to it; so that one may go up from the firing party to the range party without any risk.
On the cessation of the firing, the officer in command of the range party numbered the hits in each target. He marked separately the hits where the balls had arrived sideways (shown by the form of the perforation,) a very important consideration in comparative experiments with oblong balls.
Prizes and honorable mentions are bestowed annually on the best shots. The number of the regiment and the names of the men thus distinguished are inserted in the official military journal.
MILITARY AND NAVAL SCHOOLS OF MEDICINE AND PHARMACY
I. IMPERIAL MILITARY SCHOOL OF APPLICATION OF MEDICINE AND PHARMACY AT PARIS.
This school, which is located at Paris, at the military hospital of Val-de-Grâce, is under the control of the Minister of War. Its design is to introduce the pupils in the medical service of the army to an actual exercise of their skill, to complete their practical education, and make them acquainted with the regulations, which govern the army in its relation to the sanitary service.
Admission to the School of Application as resident physicians and pharmaceutists, is gained by passing successfully a competitive examination. These examinations are held at Paris, Strasburg, and Montpelier, at uncertain periods, as the wants of the service may require.
For admission to the examination, the candidate for employment as resident physician must have his name enrolled in a bureau of military superintendence, and satisfy the following conditions:--1st. Be a native of France; 2nd. Be not above thirty years of age at the time of the examination; 3rd. Have received the degree of doctor of medicine from one of the medical faculties of the Empire; 4th. Be free from any infirmity that disables from military service; and 6th. Subscribe a pledge of honor that he will devote at least five years to the military sanitary service. The candidates are subjected to an examination in pathology, medical therapeutics, anatomy, and practical surgery. Candidates for the office of resident pharmaceutist must also be natives of France, be not above thirty years of age, have a diploma of pharmacy of the first class, be free from every disabling infirmity, pledge themselves to at least five years service, and pass an examination upon the materia medica, chemistry, and pharmacy.
During their continuance at the School, they receive a fixed annual salary of 2,160 francs, and an allowance of 500 francs for the first expense of uniform. After spending one year at the school and passing a satisfactory final examination, they receive the brevet rank of medical or pharmaceutical aid-major of the second class.
There is at Strasburg, in connection with the Medical School, a Preparatory School, designed to prepare for the degree of doctor of medicine the pupils belonging to the sanitary service of the army. It is annually supplied with pupils, who, without having passed the usual course of matriculation, are enabled to satisfy the conditions requisite for admission to the first grade of a doctorate. Every pupil of the preparatory school, has the right of admission to the Imperial Military School of Application.--Decrees of 13th of Nov., 1852, and 28th of July, 1860; Acts of 18th of June, and 15th of October, 1859, and 4th of August, 1860.
II. IMPERIAL NAVAL SCHOOLS OF MEDICINE AND PHARMACY.
These schools, located at Brest, Toulon, and Rochefort, are under the control of the Minister of the Marine; their design is to prepare sanitary officers for service in the vessels of the imperial marine.
The posts of surgeon, or pharmaceutist, of the third, second and first classes are assigned on examination, according to order of priority determined by a medical jury. For admission as student in these schools, after attaining to the first grade of the third class, it is necessary to be at least sixteen years of age, and not above twenty three, to produce a diploma as bachelor of sciences, to prove French nationality, and to be exempt from every infirmity that can cause unfitness for the marine service. Examinations for filling the vacancies in each school commence on the 1st of April, and 1st of October, annually.
The instruction is continuous. The libraries, cabinets of natural history, the botanical gardens, anatomical theaters, chemical laboratories, cabinets of natural philosophy, are at the disposition of the students. The candidates admitted, receive cards of membership. They are required to pay the treasurer of the library a sum of 50 francs, which is devoted to its maintenance.--Ordinance of 17th July, 1835, and 15th May. 1842.
THE IMPERIAL NAVAL SCHOOL AT BREST.
This school, located at the Road of Brest, on board the ship “La Borda,” and under the control of the Minister of the Marine, is designed for the instruction of youth destined for the corps of state naval officers. Candidates are admitted to this school after a public examination, which occurs annually. For admission to the examination, they must prove; 1st. By the production of the records, that they are French by birth or naturalization, and that on the 1st of January of the year of the examination, they were at least fourteen years of age, and had not passed the maximum of seventeen years; 2d. By the certificate of a physician, that they have been vaccinated, or have had the small-pox, and that they have no infirmity that disables them from the performance of marine duty.
The matriculation of the candidate is effected between the 1st and 24th of April, at the prefecture of the department in which the domicil of the family is located. The examination is made at the principal office for examination nearest to that domicil, or to the college where he has been educated; the choice as regards the place of examination must be made known at the time of matriculation.
There is required for admission into the school, a knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, plane trigonometry, applied mathematics, natural philosophy, chemistry, geography, the English language, and drawing, in conformity with the course of study pursued at the lyceums. The candidates must prepare a French composition, a translation from the Latin, an exercise in English, a numerical calculation in plane trigonometry, a geometrical drawing, and the off-hand sketch of a head. These compositions are done at Paris, and the principal towns of the departments simultaneously, on the 2nd and 3rd of July. The oral examinations are commenced at Paris on the 2nd of July, and repeated at the other towns in succession as previously announced. The oral examinations are of two grades; the lowest serving to determine whether the candidates are sufficiently well prepared for admission, the higher--to which only those are subjected, who have successfully passed the first--being the decisive one, and together with the compositions, determining the final classification in accordance with the order of merit.
The course of study continues two years, which are passed at the Board of Brest on the ship “La Borda.” The expense of board is 700 francs, and of the outfit, about 500 francs. A grant of the whole or half of the amount of the expense, may be made to young men without fortune. The insufficiency of the resources of a family for the maintenance of a pupil in the school, must be authenticated by a resolution of the municipal council, approved by the prefect. There may also be allowed to each beneficiary, at his entrance into the school, the whole or the half of his outfit. Application for this assistance must be made to the Minister of the Marine at the matriculation of the candidate.
The pupils that have passed the examinations of the second year in a satisfactory manner, are known as naval candidates of the second class.--Law of 5th June, 1850--Decree of 19th January, 1856--Acts of Sept., 1852, and 1st January, 1861.
SCHOOL OF MILITARY GYMNASTICS NEAR VINCENNES.
The practice of gymnastics is an essential part of the training both of officers and men in the French army, and constitutes a portion of the regular exercise in every military school. There are also several schools specially devoted to this department of physical education, and one styled the Imperial School of Military Gymnastics at the Redoute de la Faisanderie, part of the fortifications near Vincennes, may be regarded as the Normal School for training both officers and privates in order to act as monitors or instructors in their respective regiments and battalions. The following account of the instruction given, is abridged from an article in the New York Tribune, under the heading, “How the French and the English make their Soldiers.” The writer says that Military Gymnastics, in the form and to the extent taught in this school, is exclusively French, and is thought to have an important bearing on the more frequent and deadly use of the bayonet in future warfare.
About three hundred privates and officers compose the School of Military Gymnastics near Vincennes, where three professors of the science and art of gymnastics give a course of practical instruction for about six months each year. The school is under the same regulations as the School of Musketry--each colonel being responsible for the instruction of his regiment, and the lieutenant-colonel directs the application of the rules and regulations.
I. ELEMENTARY GYMNASTICS.
The gymnastic exercises are divided into “elementary gymnastics,” and “gymnastics applied,” that is, applied to special military purposes. A general progression regulates all the exercises.
The men are divided into three classes. The third class comprises all the recruits. These are exclusively practiced in the first lessons of elementary gymnastics during the first fortnight of their enlistment, and before they proceed to regimental drill. The first class consists of those who are proficient in the first four lessons of the general progression; and the second class, of those who are preparing for the first. The first class practices twice a week; the second, three times a week; the third class twice a day, until the men have commenced their regimental drill, and then once a week. Each practice lasts one hour and a half. “Returns” are drawn up recording the zeal and progress of the men, as in musketry instruction; and the captain instructor of gymnastics has to send in, every month, to the lieutenant-colonel, similar returns as to the general progress of the instruction, so that the number of effectives of each company may be accurately known.
None but the prescribed exercises are permitted by the instructor. He must never allow the men to attempt any extraordinary or exaggerated feats, that might cause accidents. His aim must be to develop the strength, agility and dexterity of the soldier by a wisely regulated exertion, and inspire him with that self-reliance which the various occasions of his military life may demand. He must strive to rouse his pluck and emulation by rendering the exercises as agreeable and as easy as possible, taking all necessary precautions to prevent him from injuring himself or becoming discouraged. He must never forget that the perfect safety of the soldier under training, the pleasure of the various exercises, and, above all, the soldier’s own desire to excel, are the first and secret elements of success in gymnastics. Harsh treatment must be carefully avoided, much more anything like turning his efforts into ridicule when he fails, or punishing him for involuntary awkwardness. In conclusion, he must not expect more than regularity, precision, and relative perfection in these exercises, to which a military form has been given merely to facilitate their study and their application to the whole army.
The men practice in their fatigue dress, in squads of ten or fifteen, and are provided with belts.
The first exercises are intended to make the body supple from head to foot, turning the head from right to left, forward and backward, or merely toward right and left, bending the body, raising the arms vertically, with and without bending them; flinging out the right or left arm, fists clenched, and describing a circle of which the arm is the radius.
No soldier marches so easily as the French. It is the result of his method of learning to march. In the moderate and quick cadence the foot comes flat to the ground, the point of the foot touching it first; in the running cadence the movement is an alternate hopping on the points of the feet. It is obvious that this mode of teaching to march must enable the soldier to avoid the great cause of universal bad marching and walking, namely, bringing the heel to the ground, thus shaking the whole body, especially the spine, and consequently distressing the brain and lungs. By the great elevation of the legs the soldier must habituate himself to bringing the toes first to the ground, instinctively, to avoid the shock, especially in the running cadence. During the practice the soldier repeats the words “one--two,” as each foot comes to the ground, in order to practice the lungs at the same time, and also to give a rhythm to the performance.
In order still more to direct locomotion to the fore-part of the foot, so essential to good and easy marching, there is the following practice:--1. Attention. 2. Flexion of the lower limbs. 3. Commence. 4. Cease. At the second command the soldier brings both feet together, throwing the weight of the body forward. At the word commence, he slowly lowers his body by bending his hams, so that the thighs touch the calves of the leg, the arms falling beside the body, the weight of the body being entirely thrown on the points of the feet. He then gradually rises to the erect position.
There is also what is called the “gymnastic chain.” Circles are traced on the ground contiguously; the men are posted in these circles, in a single rank, three paces apart. The instructor commands:--1. Squad will advance. 2. Double. 3. March. 4. Halt. At the first word the soldier throws the whole weight of his body on the right leg. At the word march, he throws the left foot smartly forward, the leg slightly bent, bringing the point of the foot to the ground, thirty-nine inches from the right, and so in like manner with the right, always keeping the weight of the body on the leg which feels the ground, allowing the arms to take their natural motion for equilibrium. The first man (a monitor, one of the best trained) runs successively through all the windings of the chain of contiguous circles without stopping; the others follow, preserving the distance. When the men meet each other at the intersections of the circles, they shorten or lengthen the pace, so as not to jostle each other, and so that two men shall not pass by the same interval.
To deliver a thrust or a blow with the bayonet, sword, or fist to the best advantage, requires training of the subsidiary muscles, and such scientific practice as places the body in the best position to aid and intensify the effect. This is done by the “Pyrrhic Exercise.” The command is:--1. Pyrrhic Exercise (right or left limb forward.) 2. Ready. 3. March. 4. Halt. At the word ready, the soldier faces to the left, carries the right foot forward, the heel sixteen inches from the hollow of the left foot, the right knee bent, the left leg stretched, the right arm extended forward, the fist clenched, on a line with the shoulder, the nails slightly upward, the left arm in a line with the left side and but little bent, fist clenched, and about six inches from the thigh, the nails toward the thigh, the upper part of the body inclined forward, the head erect, the eyes looking to the front, the left shoulder lowered. At the word march, the soldier straitens his body, bringing the right heel near the hollow of the left foot without touching the ground, turns at the same time his right forearm, so that describing a circle from below upward, the fist lightly touches the right breast, then flinging the fist smartly forward, the nails a little upward, and advancing the right leg to about twenty-five inches, the foot striking the ground with force, or an “attack,” as we call it in sword exercise, the upper part of the body inclining forward, the left leg stretched, the foot flat, the left arm turned outward and along the thigh as before. These movements are continued until the words “company--halt” are given, when the soldier faces to the right and comes to attention. The left arms are practiced in like manner, and a rhythm is given to the performance by the repetition of the numbers 1, 2, 3, by the soldier.
A soldier must not be easily knocked off his legs; so there are six positions for the practice devised to teach the soldier how to maintain his equilibrium. He stands alternately on the right or left leg, bending the other against the body with his locked fingers, or he stands on one leg, the other bent behind, or he comes slowly to the kneeling position and springs up smartly, flinging his arms suddenly above his head, the nails turned inward, and then comes to attention, or he bends forward on one foot, or backward in like manner, and to the right or left, all on one foot.
The elementary development of the muscles forms a most important part of the training. By word of command the soldiers strike their breasts with the right or left fist--strike out with the right and left as in boxing--support cannon balls in the hand, one or both arms extended, and hurl the balls to a distance. They fling an iron bar, held by the middle; they support a heavy club in every possible position, at the shoulder, behind the back, one with the left hand, another with the right, at right-angles, or two together, one in each hand. They swing the club horizontally and overhead, or vertically and behind, or round and round the body.
Preparatory to leaping, the proper muscles must be taught their necessary contractions, and this is done to the words of command--“Simultaneous flexion of the legs,” “Simultaneous flexion of the thighs and legs,” whereat they hop on the right or the left leg singly, and then on both together. They are practiced in advancing on the position of kneeling on one leg alternately, obviously a very useful mode of progression for a skirmisher in stealthily changing position behind a low wall or a hedge.
They are taught to walk systematically on the heels alone and on tiptoe, and to fling a cannon ball with the foot by means of a strap attached to it. As practice alone can habituate us to the proper inclination of the body in ascending and descending, both these modes of marching are carefully taught, attention being fixed to throwing the weight of the body on the point of the feet in the former, and on the heels in the latter.
Their wrestling takes every shape and mode of contest. With extended arms, the fingers interlocked, the left leg advanced, they push against each other; or, holding each other by the hands or by the wrists, they pull against each other; or, each man holding his left wrist with his right hand, the thumb underneath, seizes with his left hand the wrist of his antagonist, and then at the word “wrestle,” he pulls or pushes uniformly or by jerks, to the right, to the left, forward, to the rear, upward and downward, striving to displace his antagonist.
Furnished with appropriate handles, with a short cord attached, they pull against each other, each striving to drag his antagonist with one hand, then with both hands; and then three wrestle together in like manner, the central man pulling or resisting the outer two, or both of these pulling against him in opposite directions.
Then two wrestle in a sitting posture. They sit, closing the legs, feet to feet, and sole to sole, with the aforesaid handle and cord between their feet, and at the word of command pull away, striving to raise each other. As soon as one is raised the contest ends, and the victor holds the handle in his left hand. The instructor then makes all those wrestle together successively who have won the handle, until only two remain, and then ascertains the strength of these two by a dynamometer, and makes a note of it.
The last of the elementary exercises are those of traction, or drawing against each other, holding on by a rope, either in pairs, or several together pulling against a fixed point, which may be a dynamometer, indicating the force of the combined pull resulting, or the men are divided into two squads and pull against each other.
As most of these exercises admit of a rhythm or cadenced sound emitted by the men themselves, this vocal accompaniment is strongly recommended. It certainly gives additional animation to the scene. Indeed the cultivation of the voice is considered eminently essential in the course of gymnastics. Singing exerts a salutary influence on the chest, and, moreover, it is incontestable that it will be the means of powerfully acting on the morale of the French soldier, by teaching him songs of patriotic and martial import. The singing-lesson at which I was present was particularly interesting. The system is one recently invented, wherein the ordinary notes are represented by arithmetical numbers--thus occupying about one-third of the usual space. Pointing by means of two canes to each representative number is all that is required by the instructor. The pupils, about 300 men and officers, intoned the notes with admirable precision. When the instructor opened out the canes they made a crescendo--swelling to the loudest--and when he closed them gradually it was a beautiful diminuendo, “in linked sweetness long drawn out.” There was then sung a concerted piece in two parts, extemporized by the highly-gifted Commandant, who figured it on the blackboard. It was at once most accurately sung--first and second so admirably concerted that the whole seemed as it were an organ of human stops--alto, tenor, and bass most harmoniously blending.
Such are the elementary gymnastics of the course.
II. APPLIED GYMNASTICS.
The exercises of applied gymnastics must be directed with extreme prudence. Care must be taken by the instructor that the emulation of the pupils should not degenerate into a spirit of rivalry, instigating them to dangerous efforts.
During cold weather they must abstain from executing leaps that require violent efforts; at all times those who are not perfectly disposed should not be required to leap at all. Carelessness and inattention to the rules can alone cause those accidents apprehended in these exercises.
The dimensions of the obstacles to be leaped over must be gradually increased; but no downward leap must ever exceed sixteen feet--five meters. Such is the regulation; but really to leap down sixteen feet seems no small matter, considering that the height of an ordinary room--some ten or twelve feet--would make the nerves tingle if we had to leap down that height; however, the French soldiers perform such leaps with ease, and therefore we must conclude that all Anglo-Saxons here or elsewhere can “go and do likewise.”
The words of command are: 1. Attention. 2. Forward--leap--one, two, three. At the second word, the man closes the points of the feet; at the word one, he stoops on his lower extremities, slightly raising the heels and stretching his arms to the rear, the fists clenched; he then rises again, the arms hanging naturally down. At the word two, he repeats the movement; at three, he recommences the same movement, stretches the hams vigorously, throwing his arms forward, leaps the distance, or over the obstacle, falls on the point of his feet, stooping down, and then comes to attention.
The same principle is observed in all leaping, whether to a height, downward, or forward and downward--the only difference being in the position of the arms. In leaping upward, the arms are flung overhead to aid the ascent--the same in a downward leap; but if the leap be forward and downward, the soldier begins with his arms in advance, and then places them perpendicularly for the fall. The reverse takes place when in leaping forward and upward.
Thus they practice leaping in every possible direction--upward and downward combined--upward, forward, and downward--to the right or to the left--to the right and to the left and downward combined--the arms being directed accordingly. They leap backward precisely in the same directions, and according to the same rules. In leaping backward from the top of a wall, the man first takes a glance at the descent, turns, closes his feet--the heels projecting over the wall, stoops--the upper part of the body being forward, places his hands outside his feet and seizes the edge of the wall, the four fingers above, the thumb underneath, and thus flings himself backward, his arms overhead. When there is width as well as depth in the backward leap, the body and the legs are flung off almost horizontally.
The running leap is performed in a similar manner--the run being quickened more and more up to the moment of springing forward. Some of the leaps I saw performed were from fifteen to twenty feet. As a complement to these leaping exercises, the ground may be prepared with various objects to leap over, such as benches, tables, heaps of stones, &c.
The men are also progressively practiced in all these leaps, carrying their arms and baggage. In such cases the downward leap must be restricted to thirteen feet. The soldier holds his rifle balanced at the trail with the right hand, the muzzle slightly raised, so as to prevent it from touching the ground; he holds his sword (as the French soldier has a sword) with his left hand. When the soldiers have become familiar with leaping, the difficulty is increased by rendering movable first the point of departure, and then the point of the fall, and, finally, both these points are made movable. To leap from a body in oscillation, the soldier leaps at the moment when the body is sinking. There is great danger in leaping from an object in rapid motion. In case of necessity, the soldier must face in the direction of the motion, and at the moment of quitting it he must lay hold of it, shortening his arms, and so push himself backward, lengthening his arms.
It is a general principle that in leaping from a height of any extent, the soldier should avail himself of anything at hand to diminish the shock of the fall.
The circumstances in which leaping must be resorted to are often unforeseen, and require prompt decision; it is therefore important that the men should be taught the following principles--useful to everybody--to apply them spontaneously on all occasions:--
First. To form a rapid judgment of the obstacle, and also of the ground on either side. We scan the ground in advance of the obstacle, in order to make a good choice of a footing for the leap; if the ground is too smooth the foot may slip; on soft ground there can not be a good footing for the leap. By scanning the ground beyond the obstacle, we select our landing-place, and we foresee what difficulties we shall meet with. A difference of level between the point of departure and the fall modifies considerably the extent of the leap.
Second. During the leap the breathing must be restrained, and the air with which the lungs have been previously filled must be expired the moment the man reaches the ground.
Third. In leaps in width and height, fling out the clenched fists in the direction the body is to take, so as to augment the impulse given by the legs.
To prove the utility of this principle, the men, in leaping, sometimes hold in each hand a grenade of two-pounds weight, or a four-pound shot; with this auxiliary the width of the leap is augmented.
Fourth. In downward leaps, raise the arms vertically as soon as the body begins to descend, in order that the body, reaching the ground on the point of the feet, may sink vertically without losing its equilibrium. If a man leaps into water, he places his arms at his side, his hands on his hips, the feet close together, the points of the feet lowered, the body stiff and rigid.
Fifth. During the whole time of the leap keep the arms in the parallel position they have at its commencement, in order to preserve the equilibrium of the body.
Sixth. In forward or wide leaps incline the body forward, in order that the oblique action of the legs on the body may be more efficient.
The recommendation to precipitate the last movements of the run preceding the leap, has the important advantage of enabling the soldier to incline his body as much as possible.
Seventh. Fall on the point of the feet, the legs being close together, bending all the articulations of the body from above downward, in order that the shock be not transmitted to the head without being lessened and attenuated by numerous decompositions of the force. The articulations of the feet concur efficaciously with this result, and it would be dangerous not to avail ourselves of them by falling on the soles of the feet, especially the heels, as previously explained.
Eighth. Avoid too rough a fall by giving to all the articulations a general and supple “setting up,” so as to make a light bound on landing.
Ninth. On landing avoid all useless motion, allow the muscles to relax; their continued contraction and rigidity would interfere with the body’s equilibrium.
They also practice leaping with poles. These are of different dimensions, beginning with the smallest--not longer than the rifle--and finished with long ones from nine to twelve feet in length. He then seizes the pole higher or lower, according to the distance of the leap. Of course perfect success in this exercise depends greatly upon the energy of the effort, and the long and rapid run by which it is preceded. They also leap with two poles together from a height, the poles being planted parallel and about two feet apart.
Suspension-bars are made subservient to the training of the French soldier. This exercise enables him to use his body as he pleases, in any possible position, provided he can get hold of anything. Its beautiful and splendid result is extraordinary strength of arms, legs, hands, and fingers. Indeed, these suspensions of the body by the hands, the elbow, the legs, by one hand, one leg, one finger, in every possible position, show how the men are prepared for the thousand casualties of the assault.
They climb ropes after the manner of sailors, and horizontal beams are raised at various heights from the ground, in which they learn to preserve a perfect equilibrium--sitting, moving along them by the hands, supporting the body, which is free to fall, and, finally, walking erect upon them like a rope-dancer without his balance-pole! In these ticklish positions they meet and pass each other--simulate a fall and recover; the beams may be inclined or even set in motion, it matters not--they hold on and do their work equally well--and drop to the ground without injury.
They are taught to pick their way over scattered stones or stakes driven into the ground; and it has even been thought expedient to teach them how to walk systematically on stilts.
They are taught swimming--all its necessary movements before they go into the water; and many, I was told, strike out at once, at the first trial, thus proving the physiological or anatomical efficacy of the well-considered mode of tuition. In the water they are practiced in performing the feats required in actual warfare, carrying their arms and accoutrements in a variety of ways, according to the supposed circumstances of the campaign.
Of course, if the men are taught to swim they must be sent regularly into the water. This regulation, therefore, insures personal cleanliness--the first rule of health, which is much needed in all armies. The morality of most armies is generally above the average; it should naturally be less--as nothing conduces more to long life than exercise, regular hours, and a rational discipline. But cleanliness, personal cleanliness is wanting, and we have to deplore the consequences.
With a view to escalading, the French soldier is assiduously trained in all the shifts of ladder-mounting--with ladders of wood and ladders of rope--and he becomes as good as a sailor in pulling himself up a rope, either looped, knotted, or smooth, from the ground to any reasonable or unreasonable height. If a scaling-ladder be not at hand, a tent-pole or any pole will do to enable him to get to the top of a wall or the crest of a parapet. He is actually taught nine different modes of performing this achievement so flattering to the ambition of the French soldier.
The scaling of a represented turret was something beautiful to see. “In the twinkling of an eye” or “done in no time,” can alone describe the rapidity of the exploit.
Every appliance may, however, be wanting on certain occasions in war--it matters not--the French soldiers are taught how to mount a wall without any instrument whatever--with their feet and the hands and the fingers alone. Bullets and cannon balls leave holes and indentations in the hardest walls--these are represented on the walls of the Gymnasium--and thus they practice this last resort of the resolute and determined besiegers. If there be no holes--no points d’appui for the ascent--what then? Why, then they build a pyramid of men--four men stand as a base, two or four more perch themselves on the shoulders of these, and then one mounts to the top on the shoulders of the latter by way of apex!
They have adopted all the fetes of the trapèze, as performed by acrobats. These tend to strengthen the arms and promote that self-reliance and confidence which are the prime elements of a good soldier. Some of their swinging leaps with the trapèze were prodigious, from one end of the long gymnasium to the other, where they alighted, and caught on the top of the wall, and descended to the ground, with hands and fingers, by mimic bullet holes, as before described.
Flying leaps on and over a wooden horse are practiced in every possible direction, and the French cavalry are required to be able to leap on their horses from the rear while galloping, and to leap over a hedge or barrier together with the horses, but on foot, holding the reins! It is impossible to believe that very many can do this; but that is the aim, and the higher the aim the greater the effort, and something worth having is sure to be done, even if we fail of the highest attainment.
The most laborious of the practices is probably that of carrying, at the top of their speed, all the implements of war, fascines, sand-bags, gabions, projectiles, &c., whose weight is progressively increased from twenty to fifty pounds. They must also practice carrying ladders, beams, caissons, dragging gun-carriages, &c., and they are equally habituated to carry rapidly and skillfully the wounded from the field of battle, by placing men on litters, or any substitute at hand, in the gymnasium.
Sword exercise, bayonet exercise, boxing and fencing are also taught, but only the rudiments. In the regiments and battalions they have more opportunities of perfecting themselves in these accomplishments.
Such is a succinct account of the military gymnastics of the French. The 300 various fetes and practices have only one object in view, preparation for the possible and probable casualties of war, but they have, meanwhile, the positive and immediate effect of giving the men the utmost freedom of motion, aplomb, self-reliance, and that very useful self-estimate in the soldier, namely, that he is superior to every other in the world. It will take a vast deal to knock that conceit out of him.
REMARKS ON FRENCH MILITARY EDUCATION.
The English Commissioners in their Report on “The best Mode of Reorganizing the [English] System of Training Officers for the Scientific Corps, together with an Account of Foreign and other Military Education,” close with the following general remarks on French Military Education:--
The following summary may close our account of French Military Education.
1. The French army combines a considerable proportion of officers professionally educated, with others, who form the majority, whose claims to promotion consist in their service, proved ability, and conduct. One-third of the officers in the line, two-thirds of those in the scientific corps, and the whole of the staff, receive a careful professional education; the remainder are taken upon the recommendation of their superior officers, from the ranks. But it was stated to us expressly that such officers do not often rise above the rank of captain.
2. There are no junior military schools in France, and no military education commences earlier than sixteen. This is the very earliest age at which pupils can be received at the Polytechnic or at St. Cyr, and the usual age is later; whilst in the case of the Special Corps, strictly professional education does not begin till twenty or twenty-one. The best preparation for the military schools is found to be that general (in France chiefly mathematical) education which is supplied by the ordinary schools of the country, directed as these are and stimulated by the open examinations for admission to St. Cyr and the Polytechnic.
3. The professional education for commissions in the line is that given at the school of St. Cyr. A fair amount of mathematics is required at entrance, but the chief instruction given at the school is of a professional character. Active competition, however, which is the principle of all French military education, is kept up amongst young men educating for the line by the competitive entrance to the school, by the system of examinations pursued in it, and in particular, by the twenty-five or thirty places in the Staff School which are practically reserved for the best pupils on leaving.
4. In the Staff School itself the competitive system is acted upon; there are strict examinations, and the pupils are ranged in the order of merit on leaving the College.
5. The officers of artillery and engineers may be said to be in quite a peculiar position in France, owing to the high education given at the Polytechnic School. The consequence is, that the preparatory education of French artillery and engineer officers is of the highest scientific character. We have already spoken largely on this point, and need do no more than allude to it.
6. We may remark, that preparatory military education in France is mainly mathematical--at the Polytechnic almost wholly so. The literary and classical elements, which enter so largely into all education in England and Prussia, are in French military education very much thrown aside. Lectures in military history and literature are said, however, to succeed at St. Cyr.
7. The system of State foundations (Bourses) existing in the Polytechnic and St. Cyr, and affording a curious parallel to the military foundations in the Austrian schools, requires some notice. Every pupil, in both the Polytechnic and St. Cyr, who can prove poverty, is entitled to State support, either entire or partial. At the present time, not less than one-third of the students in each of these schools receive such maintenance. The system of civil Bourses is of old standing in France; most of these were destroyed at the Revolution. They were renewed and greatly devoted to military purposes by Napoleon. The extent to which they are given may seem excessive, but it must prove a powerful incentive and assistance to talent.
8. It has been remarked that there is comparatively little practical teaching in the School of Application for Artillery and Engineers at Metz. But a very extensive practical training is in fact supplied to these officers after they enter the service, remaining as they must do with the troops until promoted to the rank of second captain, and subsequently being employed in the arsenals, workshops, fortified places, &c.
9. The French have no “senior departments” for military education. In this respect their practice differs from that of England and Germany.
FRENCH MILITARY EDUCATION IN 1869.
The following remarks on French Military Education are from the Report of the English Military Education Commission submitted to Parliament, and printed in 1870:
1. The proportion of professionally educated officers in the line is greater now than in 1856, when it was stated by the Commissioners in their report to be one-third.
2. The professional education for commissions in the line is given by a two years’ course at St. Cyr, admission to the school being dependent on competitive examination. Admission to the Artillery and Engineers is obtained through the Polytechnic, where young men intended for commissions in those arms receive a preparatory education of a highly scientific character, in common with candidates for many other branches of the public service. Admission to the school is obtained by competition, and the choice of services is dependent on the results of another competitive examination at the end of the two years’ course. Commissions are then obtained in the respective corps, and the young officers go for a further period of two years to the School of Application at Metz, there to receive their strictly professional instruction. The course of teaching at Metz is still mainly of a theoretical character, and the main portion of the practical training of the officers is deferred until they join their regiments. The Staff Corps is recruited entirely from the Staff School; a very small number of pupils from the Polytechnic have a claim to admission to the school, but the great majority of the students are admitted by competitive examination, open nominally to the sub-lieutenants of the army and to the best students of St. Cyr, but in practice almost entirely confined to the latter. The students join the school with commissions as officers; at the end of the two years’ course they are definitely appointed to the Staff Corps in the order in which they stand in a competitive examination, but before being employed upon the staff they are sent to do duty for five years with the various arms.
3. The military schools in France are not, as in England and in Prussia, placed under the control of a special department. They are all under the immediate management of the Minister of War. There is, however, for each branch of the service in the French army a consulting committee (comité consultatif), or board of general officers, attached to the War Department, for the purpose of giving advice to the Minister, and in matters affecting the individual schools the Minister generally consults the comité consultatif of that branch of the service for which the school is specially preparatory.
4. Each school has its own conseil d’instruction, composed of officers and professors of the establishment, which exercises a general supervision over the course of instruction, and has the power of suggesting alterations or improvements in it. The financial business of the school is managed by another board (conseil d’administration); and there is generally also a similar board (conseil de discipline), which exercises more or less authority in questions of discipline. The effect of this arrangement is to give the various officers and professors of each school to some extent a voice in the general management of the institution.
5. The staff of officers and instructors employed appears, in most cases, very large in proportion to the number of the students; 48 for 270 in the Polytechnic; 33 for 170 in the school at Metz; 62 for 600 in St. Cyr, &c.
Though there is in all the schools a military staff separate from the staff of professors and instructors, and more especially charged with the maintenance of discipline, the line of separation between the two bodies is not, except at the Polytechnic, so distinctly drawn as in the English military schools. The military professors exercise disciplinary powers; while, on the other hand, the members of the strictly military staff in almost all cases take some part in instruction. The latter appear to be more utilized for this purpose than is the case either at Sandhurst or Woolwich.
6. Considerable care is exercised in the appointment of professors; at the Polytechnic the candidates are selected by the Conseil de Perfectionnement; at La Flèche they are recommended to the Minister of War by the Minister of Public Instruction; at the Staff School and St. Cyr the appointments are thrown open to competition.
7. The discipline maintained at all the schools is of a very strict nature; except for the youngest pupils at La Flèche it is entirely military; the punishments are similar to those inflicted in the army, and even include imprisonment. The maintenance of discipline is considerably facilitated by the fact that the pupils at most of the schools are actually subject to military law; and those of St. Cyr, if dismissed from the school, are sent into the ranks as private soldiers. There appears, however, in all the schools to be an absence of the moral control over the young men which is exercised in the Prussian schools. The Commandant of each school has very extensive powers in regard to discipline, but in no case has he authority to dismiss a student from the school without the sanction of the Minister of War.
8. The principle carried out in France is that special military education should not be begun until a comparatively late age, and should be founded upon a groundwork of good general education in civil schools. The only approach to a junior military school in France is that of La Flèche, and this is mainly a charitable institution; the pupils, it is true, learn drill, but beyond this no special military instruction is given them. The course of study is the same as that at the Lycées or ordinary civil schools, and the pupils are under no obligation to enter the military service. Nor can the Polytechnic be called an exclusively military school; even those who enter the Artillery and Engineers from it have their education in common with civilians at the very least until the age of 18, and in the great majority of cases their strictly professional instruction at Metz does not begin till 20 or 21. The very earliest age at which a special military education commences in France is 17, which is the age of admission to St. Cyr, and comparatively few enter the school before 18 or 19. The knowledge required for admission to St. Cyr is entirely such as is acquired at civil schools, and so much importance is attached to a good general education that the degree of either bachelier ès sciences or bachelier ès lettres is made a necessary qualification for admission to the examination, while the possession of both degrees gives considerable advantage to a candidate. The principle of deferring the commencement of special instruction has even received extension since 1856; the age of admission to St. Cyr, which was then 16, has been now increased to 17, and the junior school of La Flèche has been made even less military in its character than it was at that time.
9. When a professional education has once commenced, the principle appears to be that it should be almost entirely confined to subjects which have a practical bearing on military duties. Mathematics, as a subject by themselves, do not form part of the ordinary course of instruction at any of the special schools. The previous course at the Polytechnic secures of course very high mathematical attainments in the candidates for the Artillery and Engineers who enter Metz; but at Metz itself the study of mathematics is no longer continued. In the same way at the Staff School a knowledge of mathematics as far as trigonometry is required for admission, and their practical applications to operations of surveying enter into the school course; but no part of the time spent at the school is devoted to mere theoretical instruction in pure mathematics; yet the officers of the Staff Corps are intrusted with the execution of those scientific surveys which in our service are in the hands of the Engineers.
St. Cyr offers to some extent an exception to the rule that the course of study at the special schools should be of an exclusively professional character, as the instruction given there during the first year is partly of a general nature, embracing history and literature. This, however, arises from the fact that the students from the Lycées generally show a deficiency in the more literary subjects of a liberal education, and a portion of the time at the school is therefore spent in completing and improving their general acquirements. A knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, and plane trigonometry is required as a qualification for admission, but beyond a very brief revision of these subjects, and a voluntary course for candidates for the Staff Corps, mathematics are not taught at the school. It would seem indeed that, except in the case of candidates for admission to the Artillery and Engineers, mathematics do not hold so prominent a position in French military education as is generally supposed in England to be the case. For staff and regimental officers the main requisite demanded seems to be a practical knowledge of trigonometry as required for surveying.
10. Much time is devoted in all the French schools to drawing in its various branches; some hours daily are invariably given up to the subject; indeed the time spent upon purely geometrical drawing appears almost to be excessive. The great importance attached to the drawing of machinery is a peculiar feature in all the schools. Landscape drawing is one of the regular subjects taught to candidates both for the line and the Staff Corps.
The theoretical instruction given at every school is supplemented by visits to numerous military establishments, manufacturing departments, and fortresses. This is also a feature in the system of military education in Prussia; in both countries it seems to be thought desirable to afford young officers a practical insight into the working of the various establishments connected with the army. In the case of officers of the Artillery and Engineers it appears in France to be made a special object to cultivate a mechanical genius, and to secure a thorough acquaintance with manufacturing departments with which their professional duties bring them into contact.
Military law and administration (comprising financial and other regulations connected with the army), and drill, riding, and fencing in the way of practical exercises, form part of the education of officers of all branches of the service; in drill, lectures explanatory of the drill-book are invariably given in addition to the practical instruction.
11. The system of instruction in all the French military schools is more or less that of the Polytechnic. Lectures attended by large numbers, enforced study of fixed subjects, the execution of all work under close supervision of the instructors, and frequent periodical examinations, are everywhere found. Active competition is the leading feature of the system; the students are perpetually being “kept up to the mark.” A fixed period of two years is in all cases assigned to the course of study; the course can not be completed in a shorter time, and the regulated period can not (unless under quite exceptional circumstances) be exceeded.
It seems also to be thought that, as a necessary consequence of the strictly competitive system, the subjects upon which the competition depends should be exactly the same for every student. No choice of studies is allowed; those which enter into the examination are equally obligatory for all. The only exception to this rule is at St. Cyr, where in languages a choice between German and English is given.
No pecuniary rewards are offered to the students at any of the schools. The bestowal of the numerous bourses which are granted to those admitted to the Polytechnic and St. Cyr is regulated entirely by the poverty of the candidates, without any regard to their ability.
12. The education of officers in France is entirely concluded before any regimental duty has been done. The French system is in this respect the exact opposite of that pursued in Prussia, where no professional instruction, as a rule, is given until a certain amount of service with the troops has been performed. There are in France no establishments for the instruction of officers of some years’ service, like the Staff College in England, or the Artillery and Engineer School and the War Academy in Prussia.
13. The chief changes which have taken place in the military schools of France since the publication of the Report of the Commissioners of 1856 may be summarized as follows:--
(a.) The modifications in the course of instruction at the Polytechnic; the abridgement of the studies previously pursued; and the slightly increased importance now attached to literary subjects.
(b.) At Metz, the introduction of an examination at the end of the first years’ course of study.
(c.) At St. Cyr, the alteration of the age for admission to the school from 16 to 17; the extension of the subjects of the entrance examination; the modifications in the course of instruction, and the postponement of the commencement of strictly military studies almost entirely until the second year; the introduction of a stricter system of discipline, combined with additional encouragements to good conduct and industry; and the increased advantages offered with the view of attracting to the school a higher class of professors and officers.
(d.) At La Flèche, the complete reorganization of the institution with the object of more closely assimilating its general arrangements to those of a purely civil school.
(e.) At the Staff School some modifications in the course of study and in the mode of admission to the school have been made; but the most important alterations are those adopted in July 1869, by which the number of students admitted annually to the school is increased considerably beyond the number of vacancies likely to occur in the Staff Corps, and the novel principle is introduced that admission to the school does not carry with it the certainty of permanent employment on the staff.
It may be added that there seems a tendency to diminish the importance of mathematics as an element of preparatory military education, and to attach slightly more weight to studies of a literary character. This is more particularly seen at St. Cyr and at La Flèche, and to a less extent at the Polytechnic. There is also a growing disposition to increase, in the case of the cavalry and infantry, the proportion of officers who have received a professional education.
EXPENSE OF MILITARY SCHOOLS IN 1869.
SC Sums charged to the Schools Estimate. MP Military pay charged to other Estimates. T Total. CS Cost to the State.‡ EP Each pupil.
Name of School. SC MP T CS EP Frs. Frs. Frs. Frs. £. Polytechnic 719,673 85,515 805,188 568,188 78 Artil’y and Eng’er school at Metz 99,500 416,350* 515,850 515,850 50 St. Cyr 1,348,792 15,000 1,363,792 741,292 49 Staff school 99,000 214,870* 313,870 313,870 168 La Flèche 539,868 15,000 554,868 457,868 45 Medical school 659,300 † 659,300 -- -- Cavalry school at Saumur 227,000 18,500 245,500 -- -- Gymnastics, musketry schools 36,270 “ 36,270 -- -- Regimental schools 173,600 “ 173,600 -- -- ---------- -------- --------- --------- --- Total 3,903,003 765,235 4,668,238 2,597,068 390
[* These sums include the pay of the officer students at these establishments, amounting to 288,000 frs. at Metz, and 103,000 frs. at the Staff School.]
[† The estimate for the Medical School appears to be exclusive of the pay of all military medical officers employed at the school, but the amount of this additional sum is not stated.]
[‡ For 1,520 pupils, who repaid 956,500 francs.]
[Errata for Part I (France): In the section on Mathematics, the form “assymplotes” is used several times alongside “asymptote(s)”. The spelling “assymptotic” occurs once at line break. Accents on French words are printed as shown; missing accents have not been supplied.
I. GENERAL MILITARY ORGANIZATION OF FRANCE. ORGANIZATON [Footnote 4] Footnote tag missing; position conjectural the chief scientific creation of the first French Revolution scientic patriotism and courage can not always supply “always returned to Paris in the reign of terror, “to see from his lodgings quotation mark in original are obliged to re-enter the army. abliged chosen from former pupils of the school “the” missing and the life that is led in them. lead work heartily and zealously together togethen [TABLE FOR THE SECOND OR LOWER DIVISION] Geodesy Goedesy Schools of Application for Artillery and Engineers hyphen in “En-/gineers” invisible at line break LESSONS--10-13. Derivatives and Differentials ... LESSONS--10-13. LESSONS 24-27. Geometrical Applications continued ... LESSONS 14-17. Geometrical demonstration of the formula. demostration LESSON 3. Integration of Differentials ... LESSONS 3. [DESCRIPTIVE GEOMETRY.--GEOMETRICAL DRAWING.] LESSONS 1-3. Revision and Completion... . missing not enough in themselves to define objects completely._ final . missing or invisible LESSONS 3-6. Composition of the Velocities of a Point. period . after “3-6” invisible three movements of translation with respect to three axes tranlation of invariable form, but also in motion. motion, Suspendors spelling unchanged LESSONS 1-2. / Chemical sources of electricity. period . after “1-2” missing or invisible LESSON 3. 1. Chemical Actions. LESSON 3.--1. Straight and curved rods. Staight the general direction of the vibrating motion communicated. commuicated. [Footnote 12] recently introduced at the school. introdued Clerks and draughtsmen are provided as required. clerks EXAMINATION AND CLASSIFICATION. header supplied from Table of Contents REGIMENTAL SCHOOLS. header supplied from Table of Contents Fifty-eighth Lecture.--(2.) ... artillery commands. missing . after “commands” which is indicated in the programme of the memoir. final . missing [RECAPITULATIVE TABLE.--ARTILLERY STUDENTS.] | 75 | 73 50 | 78 | 151 50 | 10 totals printed as shown: error for 11? 1st. The direction ... / 2d. The tracing ... paragraph breaks added by transcriber for consistency Lecture 7.--Gauging of the volumes and valuation Guaging Lecture 22.--Resistance to torsion. 21. 1st. Composition of the personnel and matériel of the Artillery matéreil At 5 A.M. the drum beats, the young men quit their beds; theis made without points; and a description of the battle.” final ” missing { Geographical Representation, 6 } 10 text unchanged: error for “Graphical”? The prescribed instruction comprises the following courses:-- comprise MILITARY AND NAVAL SCHOOLS OF MEDICINE AND PHARMACY word AND supplied from Table of Contents They leap backward precisely in the same directions in the some First. To form a rapid judgment of the obstacle, obstable regular hours, and a rational discipline. discipline, but beyond a very brief revision of these subjects, and a voluntary course for candidates for the Staff Corps very beief ... condidates the execution of all work under close supervision of the instructors, instrutors]
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