EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. The chief insti tutions connected with the University of France are situated in the Quartier Latin. The old Sorbonne (q.v.). a large building erected by Cardinal Richelieu for the faculties of the old University of Paris, has been replaced by a magnificent modern building, with fine lecture halls and class-rooms, and an extensive library open to the public. Near the Sorbonne is the College de France, where gratuitous public lec tures are also delivered by eminent scholars and men of letters. The Ecole Polytechnique, the School of :Medicine and the School of Law, the Observatory. and the Jardin des Plantes, with it- great museum of natural history, lecture rooms. and botanical and zoological gardens, are situated in the same quarter of Paris.
The principal of the public libraries is that of the Rue Richelieu, now called the Bibliotheque Nationale, which contains more than 2,600,000 volumes, 100,000 manuscripts, many portfolios or engravings, and a collection of 400.000 coins and medals, which originated in a small collec tion of books placed by Louis Xl. in the Louvre. In addition, the immicipality maintains many branch libraries. No city is richer than Paris in fine-art collections, and among these the museums at the Louvre stand preeminent. The Palais or Ecole des Beaux-Arts. one of the finest educational institutions in the world, dat ing from 1648, is a place for exhibiting art, manufactures, and architectural models. The Hotel Cluny. connected underground with the
Roman Palais des Thermes, besides being in itself a mo=t interesting monument of medheval art. contains curious relic's of the arts and usages of the French people from the earlier ages of their history to the Renaissance period. The mint deserves notice for the perfection of its machinery. The Gohelins, or tapestry manufae tory. may be included under the fine arts. as the productions of its looms are all manual and demand great artistic skill. The Conservatoire des Arts et Wtiers, in the Rue Saint Alartin, contains a great collection of models of ma chinery and class-rooms for the instruction of workmen in all departments of applied science. The spacious building in which the exposition of ISIS took place was named the Palace of the Troca&ro. and now forms a permanent exhibi tion. Among the numerous learned societies. as sociations. and institutions the chief are the de and the Institute of France (q.v.). the latter housed in the Palais de Flnsti tut on the Seine at the end of the Pont des Arts. and comprising five academies devoted re spectively to the supervision of the French lan guage and the publication of official dictionaries of the French language (the French Acadel iv) : to archaeology and ancient langmn•s; mail), maties and natural science; to painting. architec ture, sculpture. and music; and to philosophy, history, and political econcm.