educational measure being submitted to it or voted on. These efforts at improvement are now so frequent that complaints are even made, and not without some justification, that the changes in the curriculum of studies, following one another so rapidly as they do, are embarrassing, if not positively injurious. Inconvenient they often are, both to faculties and students; to the faculties, because they are often ill-timed, considering that the development of studies in the classes requires time and uninterrupted continuance; to the pupils, nay, to the parents and tutors, because they are thus forced into an expense for the changes of text-books, and see the old books, that used to pass from one child to another or be sold for a consideration, go to the wastebasket for kindling purposes.

These changes often cause great discontent and irritation among the students, who rise in protest, and receiving no satisfactory response from the powers that be, break out in riot, requiring the presence of the troops to quell the disturbance.

ORGANIZATION.

For administrative purposes the country is divided into communes and provinces. A commune is the smallest division of territory having a local government. A province is a large division of territory containing several communes. A commune is governed by a "sindaco (mayor) and a communal council (both elective). A province is governed by a "prefetto" (a kind of territorial governor) and a provincial council. The prefetto is appointed by the national Government. The functions of these two orders of governing authorities are distinct, except as to public instruction and police, which they have in common. The population of the country is about 32,000,000. The area is divided into 8,020 communes and 69 provinces.

The education department is organized throughout the Kingdom under one sole head and system, so that the grade of one student corresponds to the grade of another, though instructed in different schools or sections of the country. There is not such a thing as a suspicion that a school or university be not in good standing, or that students coming therefrom may require a special treatment in the examination for fitness. The students are all alike; they have been educated on the same plan, and hence no discrimination in favor of one or another on account of the alma mater being in good or bad repute is necessary or possible.

FUNCTIONS OF THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION.

The minister is a deputy in Parliament temporarily relieved to assume the functions of minister of instruction, and as such he is a cabinet officer. He is the appointed guardian of the primary school system of the Kingdom. For the administration of this system there is established a large department, whose officers are the overseers, the advisers, and the reporters on all matters connected with or pertaining to the primary schools.

The minister, as a cabinet officer, proposes to Parliament such laws or amendments to laws as he deems advisable for the good and advancement of the schools, and he is also the "executive" of all the laws on education enacted by Parliament. The minister issues rules and regulations for the direction of the schools, and annually announces the programme of studies that is to be carried out by the teachers.

He suggests to the communes the erection of new or the repairing and improving of old school buildings, and wherever the communes are too poor to conform to the recommendations of the minister he is authorized by the provisions of the national law to give such financial assistance, in the form of loans or gratuities, as he may deem proper.

The minister decides upon questions arising in the communes or school boards regarding the administration of the schools.

He deposits in the bank for the pensions of teachers 300,000 lire, which Parliament has appropriated annually for ten years to increase the pension fund and to encourage the communes to do the same, and the teachers to become contributing members. The success of this fund has been unprecedented; in a little over twenty years of its existence its principal has grown to 75,000,000 lire.

The minister has authority to grant special aid to teachers of both sexes who are in need on account of illness or domestic misfortunes; also to bestow premiums of money or honors upon those who distinguish themselves in the performance of their duty.

He is also empowered to assist all corporations or associations who promote night and holiday schools, circulating school libraries, and instruction in manual training.

OFFICERS ACTING UNDER THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION.

The "prefetto" (executive officer of the national Government in the provinces) is the general supervisor over all the schools of a province. He presides over the meetings of the provincial school council.

The "provveditore agli studi" is the immediate superintendent of the primary public schools of both grades. He is present at and may take part in the examination of pupils for diplomas, and presides over the provincial school council in absence of the prefect.

The "ispettori" (inspectors) generally, and often by direct order of the minister of instruction, visit the schools of the Kingdom and report whether the rules and regulations of the national Government are observed with fidelity, whether the hygienic conditions of the school buildings are satisfactory, and what changes are required for their amelioration; they see to it that the programme of instruction of the minister of public instruction is faithfully carried out. The "ispettitrici" (lady inspectors), chosen for their knowledge of women's work, are employed to visit and preside over the schools for the manual training of women.

HYGIENIC CONDITION OF THE SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

The condition of the schools even so late as 1897 was so deplorable that the minister of education issued an order, of which the following is a translation: ROME, January 23, 1898. The reports of the school inspectors show that in the most of the communes the primary schools [school buildings, of course] are deficient in room, ventilation, lighting, etc. In some localities these inconveniences and lack of

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sanitary necessities are so great as not to be tolerated a moment longer. There is no possible excuse for their existence. In those communes where indifference has so far prevailed as to locate schools in abandoned and unhealthy huts, in dark and cold chapels, in old stables, in damp cellars, in smoky kitchens, in attics, lofts, or granaries exposed to the weather, any further tolerance would be a crime, and the school councils or boards should without delay exercise their full authority to abate the nuisances and provide for appropriate localities and buildings.

As soon as proper buildings or rooms are provided where the greatest urgency exists, the officers who preside over primary instruction in the provinces or school districts shall procure all possible information regarding the other schools, and request the administrators of the communes to make such improvements as the hygienic condition of the same requires.

It is to be hoped that the communes thus solicited, with the good will of the teachers, school boards, and citizens in good standing, will not decline to execute the work already adjudged indispensable. Should they refuse, in disregard of those official recommendations, the prefect shall proceed to enforce the laws, either communal, provincial, or governmental, relating to hygiene and public sanitation.

For new constructions the technico-hygienic instructions of the circular of November 11, 1888, should be observed. For repairs. and alterations, and where one building is changed for another, the regulations accompanying this circular shall be followed.

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Where complications arise in technical or administrative questions, the matter in question shall be referred to this department for advice and counsel.

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GALLO, Minister.

The regulations referred to in the order as accompanying it are as follows: First. The building and every part of the same shall be absolutely dry. Humidity is easily detected by observing the damp spots on the walls or on the pavement of the floors. The floors of the room should not be on a level with the ground, and when possible a cellar should be constructed underneath.

Second. The buildings should be located as far as possible from contaminated streams, polluted lands, stagnant waters, collections of manure and offal, stables, markets, military barracks, noisy factories, and factories from which offensive odors or matter emanate.

Third. The ingress for male and female schools should be separate whenever possible, but, on no account, should school rooms or buildings be accessible by or through public offices or private dwellings.

Fourth. The access to the schoolrooms should not be directly from the outside; a vestibule should intervene to prevent sudden drafts of air of unequal temperature; and there should be corridors or rooms for the deposit of outer clothing, often wet, umbrellas, lunch baskets, overshoes, etc.

Fifth. The rooms should be rectangular in shape and square meter of space.

allow each pupil 1

Sixth. The height of the ceiling should be not less than 4 meters [142 feet] for new buildings, and not less than 4 [13 feet] in old ones, so as to allow 4 cubic meters of air space to each pupil.

The objections often made that in some regions the rigid climate during the cold season will not permit the proper heating of such large rooms can not be considered, from the fact that there are too many means for protection from the cold known to builders to hesitate a moment to secure to the occupants the necessary amount of air for the preservation of their health.

Seventh. The rooms should be thoroughly lighted, and care should be taken that the light be admitted through one side only of the rooms, the side which admits the rays on the left side of the pupils. The area of the windows should be at least one-eighth the surface of the floor in old buildings and not less than one-sixth in new ones. The windows should be so near each other that no cone can be formed by the shadow of the pilasters or intervening parts of wall upon a pupil. The windows should have sashes sliding up and down, and, whenever possible, they should be on the south side of the room.

Eighth. The size of the rooms should be such that no pupil is placed farther from the window than 64 meters.

Ninth. The floors should be on a perfectly horizontal plane, of compact material compactly applied, without grooves or interstices, so that it may be easily washed and scrubbed.

Tenth. All schools should be provided with water-closets exclusively for the use of the pupils, and in two sections, one for the males and one for the females. Eleventh. Their exposure should be northward of and in continuance with the building, with anterooms to the closets, as far as possible from the schoolrooms, with no direct access from one to the other.

Twelfth. The water-closets, as well as their vestibules or anterooms, should be supplied liberally with light and air, to secure which the building containing them should be exterior to though connected with the school building.

Thirteenth. It is highly important to see to it that all pipes leading from the water-closets to the sewers be properly trapped.

Fourteenth. In localities where sewers can not be laid the best systems known to sanitary engineering for the removal of night soil should be adopted. Fifteenth. No well or pump for drinking water should be located nearer than

10 meters to any sewer, tank, or cistern holding foul matter.

Sixteenth. Whenever in the opinion of the health officer the water of any well is of a quality that may induce disease, that well should be closed at once.

The MINISTER. These regulations have been enforced with great vigor by such enlightened ministers of instruction as Guido Baccelli and Nasi, and have produced a substan

tial improvement in the hygienic condition of all schools. The discreditable and unwholesome school buildings of old have disappeared, and new, cheery, healthful schools have taken their place.

Whenever and wherever the communes were too poor to make the improvements the National Government, most liberally, has gone to their assistance with loans or subsidies; under such wise policy of the Government the number of schools and the number of pupils have increased beyond precedent, as will be seen further on.

INFANT SCHOOLS, INFANT ASYLUMS, AND KINDERGARTENS.

These schools are established by the communes, by religious or lay corporations, by private associations, or by private individuals. The ministry of public instruction supervises them, and even assists them with subsidies whenever deserved. They are the first step in education, the prelude to formal schooling, so that the little pupil who has previously attended them will not start with amazement and fear when he enters the crowded rooms where teaching is systematic and discipline enforced. The Italians regard these infant schools with favor-witness the large number of them throughout the country.

At the end of the year 1898-99 there were in operation 3,205 of these schools, with an attendance of 346,837 pupils-176,545 males and 170,292 females-a gain over 1895-96 of 392 schools and 29,720 pupils. This remarkable gain could not be due to increase of population, which in Italy, in a period of three years, would scarcely be noticeable.

These asylums, however, are not all schools; a few of them are but waiting halls where children above years of age are received and cared for during the hours their parents are at work for their daily bread.

The children are admitted free of charge, except in cases where the parents are known to be quite able to pay fees.

As to the method of instruction, 537 of these institutes follow Froebel's method, 134 Aporti`s, and 2,534 a combination of the two.

Funds.-The funds for the support of these infant schools, etc., are derived from the State, the provinces, the communes, from private, lay, or religious corporations, individual subscriptions, gifts, bequests, etc.

The income from these sources last year amounted to 2,347,768 lire ($1,469,553), of which 6,870,306 lire ($1,374,061) were expended for support.

The average attendance is about 108 pupils to a school, and the annual expense to run the same about 2,491 lire ($490), or 19.81 lire ($3.98) for each individual pupil.

Charitable aid.-In order to secure the largest attendance in these schools a "patronage association" has been formed for the purpose of assisting the children whose parents are too poor to clothe them properly and supply them with books and food while at school.

Last year the contributions of this benevolent association were as follows: Four hundred and twenty pupils were assisted with books, copy books, pencils, pens, paper.

One hundred and forty pupils received gratuitously 120 grams of bread each, daily, a soup of vegetables, rice or dumplings, and a glass of ordinary wine diluted with water, now and then even a piece of chicken or beef. The pupils eat their lunch at stated hours under the direct supervision of their teachers.

Sixty-five pupils received necessary articles of clothing.

One hundred and sixty pupils, shoes and stockings, inade expressly.

The funds of this association are derived from the subscriptions of members, from private offerings, and from a small subsidy from the minister of public

instruction. The association, in order to further increase its funds, organizes fancy fairs, literary and musical entertainments, etc.

Out of the 8,260 communes, 2,051 have adopted these "scuole d'infanzia" (infant schools), or about 25 per cent of the whole, which is a large proportion when it is considered that in many of the communes the illiteracy previous to the unification and independence of the country in 1870 had reached 95 per cent. The number of directors and teachers of these schools amounts to 7,370 (108 males, 7,262 females).

ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION.

Primary schools.-By "primary school" is meant a school having a five years' course of elementary studies.

The course is divided into two sections. The first, named "inferior," is of three years and is obligatory by law upon every child after becoming 6 years

of age.

The second section is named "superior" and occupies two years. It is a progressive and complementary continuation of the former, but not compulsory.

The school programme of the two sections embraces the rudiments of the Italian tongue, practical arithmetic, rudiments of Italian history, geography, reading and writing, first principles of the rights and duties of a citizen, the metric system, and elementary gymnastics.

Since 1898-99 instruction in agriculture has been added to the course of the clementary schools of rural districts, to promote which, through the recommendation of the minister of instruction, many persons generously inclined, and even corporations, have offered small parcels of land for the practical instruction of pupils of these schools. These donations have become very important in the regular instruction in agriculture.

There were in 1898-99 45,745 schools of the “inferior” elementary grade and 6,003 of the "superior," or 51,748 in all, a gain over 1895-96 of 2,222 schools. The total force of teachers and assistants amounted to 52,688.

In 1871-72 the attendance at private primary schools averaged 6.43 per cent of that of public primary schools; in 1898-99 it had risen to 8.33 per cent.

Three years of schooling are compulsory by law. At the end of three years the pupil undergoes an examination, which, if passed successfully, entitles him or her to a certificate which relieves the holder from the obligation of continuing in the school, and admits him or her, if desired, to the superior section.

The pupils of the superior section become candidates for examination in two years more, and if successful are entitled to a certificate which admits them to higher schools, including the ginnasii, the technical schools, and the complementary school which prepares pupils for the normal school.

The percentage of successful pupils at the examinations of the first grade of the primary instruction, viz, the third year and end of the obligatory term, increased from 67 in 1891-92 to 73 in 1898-99.

The proportion as to sex of successful candidates at examination is largely in favor of the female.

In 1894-95 there were examined in the "primary inferior" 270,639 pupils, of whom 181,997 passed.

In 1898-99 there were examined 285,006 of the same class, of whom 201,924 passed successfully.

In 1894-95 there were examined in the superior section 19,048 pupils, of whom 13,736 passed.

In 1898-99 there were examined in the same section 28,284 pupils, of whom 21,883 passed successfully.