added to schools for general education, and courses preparing teachers of needlework in St. Petersburg. Most of these institutions are supported by private gifts, the State furnishing them only 10,000 rubles yearly.

A private "society for encouraging the professional education of women" formerly played the leading part in matters concerning the programmes and regulations of such schools. But in the year 1900 the ministry of public instruction formed in the scientific committee a division of professional education for women, the office of which is to elaborate and publish new programmes and rules, and to discuss all special questions concerning girls' professional schools.

To the group of technical schools belong the intermediate and lower institutions controlled by the ministry of railroads. They train the personnel serving on the rail and river roads, and are of three classes: (1) One middle-graded, the so-called school of railway conductors, preparing assistant engineers; (2) 34 lower technical railway schools; (3) three so-called river schools. The two last groups train employees for subordinate service on the railway and river central systems.

The 6 mining schools also belong to the group of technical schools, as well as the 20 rural workshops under the direction of the ministry of finance; the aim of these latter is to prepare workmen to take care of agricultural machines and to make the simplest instruments.

COMMERCIAL SCHOOLS.

The ministry of finance, however, manifests a far greater interest in the supervi sion and construction of the commercial educational establishments, the development of which is quite recent. In 1894 there were only 9 commercial schools, with 2,500 students; their present number is 105, attended by 18,400 students.

The commercial schools are divided into three classes:

1. The intermediate commercial institutions, 42 in number, with a general course of seven years, a secondary school, or only a special course of three years. Their aim is to prepare agents for large commercial or industrial enterprises.

2. The so-called trade schools, with a course of one or of three years, preparing employees of lower grade for the same enterprises. There are 30 trade schools founded by private persons or by the State.

3. The 33 commercial courses and classes, the object of which is to impart knowledge in commercial sciences to persons of all ages, from 12 years upward, already employed in industrial or commercial institutions, or having the intention to enter such.

The income of commercial schools has been almost exclusively derived from private or local sources, such as local institutions, associations, and private gifts. (The State gives only 25,000 rubles yearly.) The yearly expenditures are 2,382,000 rubles, a middle-grade school, attended on an average by 380 pupils, costing nearly 35,000 rubles, while the minimum cost of a class in the commercial sciences, with 15 to 20 students, is 300 rubles a year. Nearly 32 "real" secondary schools, commercial sections, with a course of three years, have been founded.

Departments of higher commercial education exist in the Riga and St. Petersburg polytechnical schools and in the Oriental Institute in Vladivostok. The commercial education of women is still in private hands. We can only mention two girls' public commercial schools, in St. Petersburg (asylum of Demidoff) and in Odessa, but commercial courses and classes are, as a general rule, often for both sexes.

ART SCHOOLS.

A special type of professional schools, under the jurisdiction of the ministry of finance, is yet to be mentioned, viz, the schools of art and of art industry. Besides the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, a higher school of sculpture exists in Moscow. Four large schools of art industry form a second category: (1) The Central School of Drawing of Streglitz; (2) the School of Technical Drawing of Strogonoff in Moscow;

(3) a school conducted by the Imperial Society of Art Instruction; (4) one of the same of the Poet Gogol in Mirgorod. A degree lower are drawing schools in all large cities, and a series of evening drawing classes for artisans and workmen. 1901 a school of industrial art is to be opened in Ekaterinburg in the Ural, with divisions for gold, silver, and stone industries.

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

In

Agricultural education is of great importance in Russia, where the greater proportion of the population derives its living from agriculture. Nevertheless it was introduced only twenty years ago. Since then the number of schools has increased every year, and the ministry of agriculture, which has the direction of this branch of education, could present to the last Paris exhibition the most remarkable statistics, that speak for themselves:

All agricultural and forestry educational institutions, like the other technical ones, are of three grades. To the higher grade belong four of them, namely: (1) The New Alexandria higher agronomical and forestry institute (province of Lublin, Poland); (2) the agronomic institute in Moscow; (3) the forestry institute in St. Petersburg; (4) the higher courses of œnology near the Imperial Garden Nikitsky in the Crimea. Besides these, the two polytechnical institutes in Riga and Kief have agronomic departments. All high-grade agricultural schools are designed to give their students good, superior instruction in forestry and agronomy.

The middle-grade schools, which prepare young men theoretically and practically to be overseers of properties with regular rural economy, are 13 in number, with 1,599 students in them. All these schools have a general secondary course of six years, besides the agricultural sciences. Some prepare vinedressers, others sheep breeders, others again land surveyors. In Gorki, province of Mogilef, has been founded almost the best and the most noteworthy of the middle-grade schools, where, in an artisan section, boys are taught to take care of agricultural machines and to make the simplest parts of them. In order to prepare teachers for the middle-grade schools normal agricultural courses are added to the same school and to another middle-grade establishment (in Kharkof).

The schools of the lower grade may be subdivided into eight groups, according to the branches taught in them, as follows: (1) Eighty-two general agricultural lower schools; (2) 83 horticultural schools; (3) 15 dairy schools; (4) 1 school of sheep breeding; (5) 1 agricultural-artisan school; (6) 4 women's schools of rural economy and dairying; (7) 13 practical schools for gardeners; (8) 28 schools for foresters.

The general aim of all these schools, attended by nearly 4,000 students, is to spread among the rural population elementary knowledge of the agricultural sciences and to teach the peasants different trades and handicrafts useful in their life.

To complete the picture of the actual state of agricultural education in Russia, the measuring and land-surveying schools must be mentioned, viz, the Constantin Measuring Institute in Moscow, and the five intermediate land-surveying schools.

ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION.

Before entering any of the preceding schools most of the boys, as a preparatory grade, pass through the village or city elementary school. This side of education, which exercises so much influence on the general welfare of a nation, is in Russia in

part under the direction and supervision of the ministry of public instruction, a certain number of schools being attached to the other departments.

Under elementary instruction are included (1) elementary schools of one class, with a course of four years; (2) higher elementary schools, to which belong the district schools, the town schools of five classes, and the ministerial two-class model schools, with a course of five years. The same grade occupies the second graded school of the department of the holy synod.

The elementary school occupies itself with the immediate surroundings of the pupils, the first religious instruction, the mother tongue, reading printed and written matter, arithmetic, and church singing.

The higher grade elementary programme includes geography, Russian history, geometry, drawing, drafting, and singing. If possible a trade or school gardening is added for the boys and needlework for the girls.

In the course arranged by the holy synod great stress is laid on religious instruction. Children of both sexes may attend elementary schools; the education of this grade is gratuitous.

The elementary schools of the ministry of public instruction are generally founded by cities, zemstvos, communes, or private individuals. The local direction belongs to the district and provincial school councils, composed of representatives of the ministries, the clergy, and the local authorities, which provide means for supporting the schools; the presidency belongs to the local president of the nobility. The immediate supervision depends upon inspectors of public schools in the districts and directors of public schools in the provinces.

The so-called reading schools where pupils are simply taught to read, write, and cipher, and parochial schools of the same grade as the elementary ones above mentioned, are supervised by special school councils depending upon local bishops and directed by the school council connected with the holy synod.

To the elementary schools must be added the evening and Sunday schools for adults, founded for the most part by private persons. These complete the list of elementary schools, attendance at which is far from being obligatory, except in the provinces of the Baltic Sea, Finland, and the domain of the Cossacks, where compulsory school laws are in force. Schools are not yet everywhere accessible to all children of school age, owing to the great distances. The actual aim of the ministry of public instruction and of the local institutions is to provide the country with a sufficient number of rural schools.

The best results are attained by the province of Moscow, where elementary schools are within reach of all children of suitable age, and the result shows that under these circumstances no compulsory measures are needed to force the children to go to school.

The latest statistics published by the department of public instruction show that in 1898 the total number of elementary schools was 78,724, with 2,801,133 pupils of both sexes (the 30,000 professed Hebrew and Mussulman schools are not included in this list); 32,708 of them, with 2,339,934 pupils, were attached to the ministry of public instruction (counting in 1,114 Sunday schools). The holy synod directed 34,836 schools with 1,116,492 pupils. The expenditure for elementary instruction is now nearly 80,000,000 rubles a year-58,000,000 furnished by the State, the remainder by local authorities and private persons.

This total of elementary schools can not be sufficient for a population of 120,000,000, but it should be remembered that the development of popular education in Russia has taken place under very unfavorable conditions. Progress began with the abolition of serfdom in 1861 and the introduction of local self-government in 1865. A comparison between the actual statistics and the figures of the year preceding the reforms of the Emperor Alexander II testifies to the result of the efforts made by Russia in this direction. In 1856 in the whole country there were only 8,227 elementary schools, with 45,000 pupils in them.

SECONDARY EDUCATION.

Secondary education is open to both boys and girls of all social classes. The girls' gymnasiums and progymnasiums which have a complete secondary course— 376 in number, according to the latest statistics—are often public secondary schools, with almost the same course as the masculine one except the ancient tongues. The course of study is seven years. To some of the gymnasiums an eighth normal class is added to prepare those wishing to embrace the teacher's career. For graduates of a gymnasium without an eighth class a pedagogical course is formed for the same end. Besides these schools, 346 of which are attached to the ministry of public instruction and 30 are directed by the Society of the Empress Maria, this society founded and is now supporting 32 secondary boarding schools for girls. To complete the number of secondary schools for girls we must add to the establishments mentioned above 69 secondary parochial schools, the general object of which is the education of the daughters of the orthodox clergy. These 477 secondary establishments were attended in 1899 by 129,000 girls.

The secondary schools for the general instruction of boys are on the point of being radically reformed in their programmes and methods. Till the year 1900 they were divided into (1) classical gymnasiums and progymnasiums and (2) "real schools." The former (191 gymnasiums and 53 progymnasiums) had a course of eight years preparing for the university, and based their educational system on the study of the classical tongues. The second type of schools (115 in number) consisted of 7 classes and prepared for all higher technical schools.

The expected reform of secondary education (recognized defective and unsatisfactory in Russia) was first made by the last minister of public instruction, Mr. Bogolepof, who assembled in 1899 a special commission to discuss the matter. But the final execution of the change will devolve upon the present minister, the general adjutant, Mr. Vannovsky, called to this responsible post by the memorable imperial decree of March 25, 1901, as follows:

The experience of recent years has shown such important defects in our educational system that I believe it is time to begin without delay its radical examination and correction.

Fully appreciating your experience as a statesman and your highly cultivated mind, I choose you as my companion in the work of renewing and reconstructing the Russian school.

INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION.

It seems evident that not only the secondary system was meant by these last words, but that they also have in view the immediate reform of the organization of educational institutions of higher grade, namely, the universities.

There are 10 universities in Russia, in the towns of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kief, Kharkof, Odessa, Warsaw, Kazan, Yurjef, Tomsk, and Helsingfors.

Each university is composed of four faculties, viz, history and philology, law, medicine, science and mathematics. The university of St. Petersburg forms an exception to this general rule, where, instead of the medical faculty, is the department of oriental tongues; also the university of Yurjef, where to the four usual faculties is added a theological one (preparing Protestant clergymen), and the university of Tomsk, which has only two faculties, those of law and medicine.

The admission of graduates of secondary classical schools takes place every autumn without special examination. The course of study is four years, after which a state examination is held for university graduates wishing to enter the Government service.

The interior organization is expected to be so thoroughly changed before the next semester that it is not considered desirable to give a description of it now.

Besides the 13 technical institutes, the 4 agricultural schools, and the 10 universities, there are 18 higher grade educational establishments in Russia, namely: two

special medical schools, the Imperial Military Medical Academy, in St. Petersburg, and the Clinical Institute of the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna; 3 historic-philological institutes, in St. Petersburg and Niegine, 2 higher schools of oriental tongues, in Moscow; the so-called Institute Lezaref; in St. Petersburg, 3 lyceums and 1 higher school of law; the Alexander Lyceum and the school of law, in St. Petersburg; the Lyceum Demidof, in Yaroslaf; the Nicolas Lyceum, in Moscow; 4 higher veterinary institutes, in Kharkof, Warsaw, Kazan, and Yurjef; 1 academy of arts, in St. Petersburg, and 3 higher establishments for women.

These last deserve especial attention, having been founded and being supported exclusively by private societies. The oldest of them, the Superior Courses for Women, in St. Petersburg, has, like the universities, a course of four years and two faculties, the historic-philological and the mathematical. Quite lately there was a question of adding an agronomical section to these two. The number of women attending the courses is nearly 1,000, and the expenditure of the society supporting them is 144,000 rubles yearly.

The second institution, founded five years ago under similar conditions, is the Women's Medical Institute in St. Petersburg, with a five-years' course of study, attended also by nearly 1,000 women students. The third school is the Higher Course in Moscow, to which next year a medical institute will be added.

The total number of superior educational institutions in Russia, including the higher military, naval, and ecclesiastical schools, is 55, with more than 30,000 students attending them, which number is three times larger than in the year 1878, when there were only 10,000 students of this grade.

MILITARY, NAVAL, AND THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS.

The system of military schools includes 4 schools of higher grade, or academies, viz, the Nicholas Military Academy, the Military Jurisdiction Academy, the Military Engineering Academy, and the Artillery Academy.

A grade lower are the 8 officers' schools. The secondary educational institutions are all boarding schools, designed for the children of officers; the higher classes, which the cadets must pass before being qualified as officers, are called the “junkers' schools."

For the superior instruction of naval officers an academy and a naval engineering school in Kronstadt have been founded. Intermediate education is given in the naval corps in St. Petersburg, including a three years' general course and three years of special sciences. The lower naval education is given in the 44 sailors' classes.

The ecclesiastical schools, of 3 grades, prepare the orthodox clergy. There are 3 orthodox academies, 1 for Roman Catholics, and 1 faculty (in the university of Yurjef) for Protestants. The system of secondary schools consists of 65 seminaries; the lower grade includes 55 ecclesiastical schools, both serving for the education of the children of the orthodox clergy. All these schools are attached to the Holy Synod.

Russia is generally looked upon as a country which remains far behind in regard to public instruction; but it must be taken into consideration that the commencement of public instruction is very recent and that the Russian State and society have been working at it only for the last thirty-five years. The efforts made during the last twenty years have been most remarkable, as was testified to by the experts and visitors of the educational section of the last Paris Exhibition, where more than 60 documents dealing with all aspects of public instruction were published and distributed by the Russian division. This division was next to the French one in the number of schools exhibited and in printed matter. Besides organizing it the Russian Government provided 50,000 rubles for the transportation of 600 Russian educators to Paris during the summer of 1900, to enable them to study the different methods and systems of instruction.