) were superseded by that of P.C.F.
Daunou (October 1795), which divided the pupils of the "central schools"
into three groups, according to age, with corresponding subjects of
study: (1) twelve to fourteen,--drawing, natural history, Greek and
Latin, and a choice of modern languages; (2) fourteen to
sixteen,--mathematics, physics, chemistry; (3) over sixteen,--general
grammar, literature, history and constitutional law..

Consulate.

In July 1801, under the consulate, there were two courses, (1) nine to
twelve,--elementary knowledge, including elements of Latin; (2) above
twelve,--a higher course, with two alternatives, "humanistic" studies
for the "civil," and purely practical studies for the "military"
section. The law of the 1st of May 1802 brought the _lycees_ into
existence, the subjects being, in Napoleon's own phrase, "mainly Latin
and mathematics."

Restoration.

At the Restoration (1814) the military discipline of the lycees was
replaced by the ecclesiastical discipline of the "Royal Colleges." The
reaction of 1815-1821 in favour of classics was followed by the more
liberal programme of Vatimesnil (1829), including, for those who had no
taste for a classical education, certain "special courses" (1830), which
were the germ of the _enseignement special_ and the _enseignement
moderne_.

Third Republic.

Under Louis Philippe (1830-1848), amid all varieties of administration
there was a consistent desire to hold the balance fairly between all the
conflicting subjects of study. After the revolution of 1848 the
difficulties raised by the excessive number of subjects were solved by
H.N.H. Fortoul's expedient of "bifurcation," the alternatives being
letters and science. In 1863, under Napoleon III., Victor Duruy
encouraged the study of history, and also did much for classical
learning by founding the Ecole des Hautes Etudes. In 1872, under the
Third Republic, Jules Simon found time for hygiene, geography and modern
languages by abolishing Latin verse composition and reducing the number
of exercises in Latin prose, while he insisted on the importance of
studying the inner meaning of the ancient classics. The same principles
were carried out by Jules Ferry (1880) and Paul Bert (1881-1882). In the
scheme of 1890 the Latin course of six years began with ten hours a week
and ended with four; Greek was begun a year later with two hours,
increasing to six and ending with four.

The commission of 1899, un