1848, and 64,000 in 1865;[6324] many branches of study,
especially history,[6325] are introduced into secondary instruction
and bear good fruit.--Even in superior instruction which, through
organization, remains languid, for parade, or in a rut, there are
ameliorations; the State adds chairs to its Paris establishments and
founds new Faculties in the provinces. In sum, an inquisitive mind
capable of self-direction can, at least in Paris, acquire full
information and obtain a comprehensive education on all subjects by
turning the diverse university institutions to account.--If there
are very serious objections to the system, for example, regarding the
boarding part of it (internat), the fathers who had been subject to it
accept it for their sons. If there were very great defects in it, for
example, the lack of veritable universities, the public which had not
been abroad and ignores history did not perceive them. In vain does M.
Cousin, in relation to public instruction in Germany, in his eloquent
report of 1834, as formerly Cuvier in his discreet report of 1811, point
out this defect; in vain does M. Guizot, the minister, propose to remove
it:

"I did not find," says he,[6326] "any strong public opinion which
induced me to carry out any general and urgent measure in higher
instruction. In the matter of superior instruction the public, at
this time,... was not interested in any great idea, or prompted by
any impatient want.... Higher education as it was organized and given,
sufficed for the practical needs of society, which regarded it with a
mixture of satisfaction and indifference."

In the matter of education, not only at this third stage but again for
the first two stages, public opinion so far as aims, results, methods
and limitations is concerned, was apathetic. That wonderful science
which, in the eighteenth century, with Jean-Jacques, Condillac,
Valentin, Hally, Abbe de l'Epee and so many others, sent forth such
powerful and fruitful jets, had dried up and died out; transplanted to
Switzerland and Germany, pedagogy yet lives but it is dead on its native
soil.[6327] There is no longer in France any persistent research nor are
there any fecund theories on the aims, means, methods, degrees and forms
of mental and moral culture, no doctrine in process of formation and
application, no controversies, no dictionaries and special manuals, not
one well-informed and important Review, and no public lectures. Now
an experim