INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, The, official name for a group of learned societies in France, having for object the fostering of some branch in art, literature, science or philosophy. At present it consists of five sections, the official names of which are: (1) L'Academie Fran caise; (2) L'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres; (3) L'Academie des Beaux Arts; (4) L'Academie des Sciences; (5) L'Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. The creation of the Institute of France was decided on by the Convention in the Constitu tion of the year III (1795) ; Section 298 of that Constitutional Law reads as follows: "There is, for the Republic, a national Institute en trusted with the care of collecting all discov eries, and furthering the progress of arts and sciences.° The Charter of Foundation, how ever, admitted only . three sections: (1) °Sciences Physiques et MathiStriatiques; (2) Sciences Morales et Politiques; (3) Litterature et Beaux Arts," avoiding the denomination of Academy, which was considered as reaction ary .by the new-born republic. Among the 144 members of the Institute, 66 lielonged to the first section, which, at that timt, was deemed the most important of the three.', One-third of the members were appointed by a decision of the Directory; these first 48 members chose themselves a new contingent of 48; and finally these 96 elected the third and last contingent, also of 48 members. The Directory granted to each of these an annuity of 1,500 francs ($300) which was then deemed sufficient to keep a man above the poverty line. To-day, although it is no longer deemed sufficient, as every visitor to Paris must know, this annuity has not been raised, although Napoleon wished to increase it to 5,000 francs; in fact, it amounts only to 1,200 francs, as 300 francs are deducted every year in 'order to create a fund which is redis tributed, under the form of jetons de presence (attendance fees), to the members who attend sittings of their respective academies. The Institute of France was introduced to the pub lic in the Salle des Cariatides, of the Louvre, which was splendidly decorated for the cere mony, which took place on the 15th Germinal of the year IV (4 April 1796) and was attended in great solemnity by the State Ministers, the Diplomatic Corps and a magnificent crowd; from the speeches which were delivered, from the grandiose ceremony of inauguration, the impression was created,;' said M. Raymond Poincare, in his address, on the Commemora tion Day of the Centenary of the Institute (in 1895), Day a great thing had been achieved, and public homage was paid to the Unity of Sciences by a rejuvenated nation.° In 1805 Napoleon, who, as First Consul, had already given a special costume to the members of the Institute, decided that the latter should have their own palace; the Institute was therefore transferred to the palace which faces the Louvre over the Pont-des-Arts, and which bears the name of Palais de l'Institut. Its library (which must not be mistaken for the Bibliotheque Mazarine, in another portion of the same building), consists of 500,000 volumes.
The name Academy which had been suppressed by the convention was revived by Louis XVIII in 1816; and the Academies were restored to their own former charters; since 1870, the five of them meet together every year in a solemn public assembly, on the 25th of October. On that occasion some of the prizes granted by the Institute are delivered to the winners. In its present condition, the Institute has 231 ordinary members (nsembres titulaires) to whom must be added 296 correspondents; some of the lat ter are foreigners, and we may mention among the Americans who are Correspondants de linstitut: Edward Charles Pickering, George Ellery Hale, William Morris Davis, Albert A. Michelson, Paul Wayland Bartlett, James Mark Baldwin, Charles William Eliot. The most im portant of all the prizes which are given by the Institute is the Prix Osiris (triennial), which amounts to 100,000 francs. This prize was es tablished by Baron Osiris, "for the purpose of rewarding the most remarkable work in science, or in letters, or in industry and generally in whatever concerns public welfare.° The Prix Osiris was granted in 1903 to Dr. Roux in consideration of his researches on serums and transferred immediately by him to the Institut Pasteur of which he is the director; in 1906 the prize was awarded to M. Albert Sorel in consideration of his historical researches. Many other prizes have been offered to the Institute by rich individuals: the oldest of these liberal ities was made as far back as 1819 when Baron de Montyon bequeathed an annuity of 37,000 francs for the purpose of rewarding "the most virtuous actions and the hooks which may best further the progress of morality.° In 1886 the Château de Chantilly with its very valuable library (Musk Conde), was given to the stitute by the Duc d'Aumale; in 1897 the Château de Langeois, one of the finest types of French architecture, was given by M. Jules Siegfried; in 1906 the private house of M. Thiers, first President of the 3d Republic, was bequeathed by Mlle. Dosne, his niece; in 1900 M. Jean Debrousse bequeathed 1,000,000 francs "to be used by the Institute as it will deem most proper.° Many other donations and legacies have been made to the Institute and to each of the five Academies. Every year numerous prizes for hundreds of thousands of francs are distributed to men of letters, artists, men and women in difficult circumstances, etc., so that the Institute acquires further prestige every year. To be eMembre de l'Institute° is a great honor of which Napoleon himself was very proud; the foreign correspondents may be struck off the list when the Institute considers that they have failed in any particular circum stance: the most prominent case of such elim ination was that of the German professors who, at the beginning of the European War, tried, in their 'Address to the Civilized World) to justify the invasion of Belgium, etc. Among the German correspondents who were struck off the list, we may mention Herren Vilomowitz Moellendorf, Dorpfeld, Harnack, de Groot, Karl Robert, Wundt Riehl, Liebermann.