describe the soil, climate, and position of each forest, the treatment to which it has been subjected, and the effects of the operations performed therein, praising the good and condemning the bad. The students take notes, which are to aid them in writing a memoir on returning to Nancy.

For the second object, the Professor of Natural History accompanies the school, and gives notes on all the geological formations which present themselves, and also on the different plants which he directs the students to collect. These are such as are found in forests generally, or which denote the presence of some particular soil. The effects of the ravages of different insects, with their modes of life, &c., are also pointed out.

On returning to the Forest School, a general memoir of this tour is made, and each student arranges his herbarium, labels being affixed to the specimens, denoting the place and date of finding, together with the class, family, genus, and species.

After all this has been finished, come the examinations for the end of the year. In these, questions can be put on any part of the course of lectures as well as of the practical course; or the student may be required to give a description of any forest visited, or to state where he has seen any particular fact illustrated. Marks are given for the examination itself. To these are added a proportion of those gained in the examination at the close of the lecture session, as well as of those for the exercises done in the practical course, and thus the place in the class-list for the year is determined.

The examinations are finished by the middle or end of August, when the vacation, which lasts until the commencement of November, begins.

In the second year, lectures are delivered on the same four classes of subjects.

Those on Sylviculture commence with a revision of the first year's course, and go on to describe the "Aménagement" of a forest. The "Aménagement" forms the basis of the management of each forest, giving, in fact, the plan on which it is worked, regulating the thinnings and clearings to be applied to it, the age at which the wood should be cut, and the amount that can be cut yearly without endangering the existence of the forest.

Perhaps the best idea of the meaning of the word “ aménagement," of which there is probably no exact equivalent in English, will be gathered from the following definition given in the course at the Forest School:

"L'aménagement d'une forêt est une opération qui consiste à régler le mode de traitement et les exploitations de cette forêt en vue des besoins du propriétaire et de la consommation," which may be anglicised thus :-The aménagement of a forest is an operation which consists in regulating the mode of treatment and the cuttings

in this forest, in view of the necessities of the owner and of the general consumption.

The Mathematical lectures consist of a course on Mechanics, with special reference to the different kinds of saw-mills, and a short course on Triangulation and the use of the Theodolite.

Those on Natural History embrace three courses: one on Mineralogy, one on Geology, and one on Zoology. Of the last, perhaps the most important part regarding the forests is that which treats of insects and their ravages, and the higher animals by which they are kept in check.

The legal studies are restricted to forest law, treating specially of the French Code Forestiere.

As in the former year, examinations are held constantly on the last ten lectures, as well as at the end of the lecture session and at the end of the year. They are conducted in the manner already described.

After Easter the school commences its travels, but there is now no real tour. The students go to some locality where the different kinds of saw-mills can be seen in action. Drawings of the machinery are made from actual measurements, and are coloured so as to indicate the material of which each part is composed. General directions are given to the students, and each is at liberty to take what sections he thinks most necessary. They are also to obtain all the information needful to determine the efficiency of each machine and the probable cost of construction, so as to be able to deduce its value as a commercial speculation.

The School is also required to make a triangulation of a tract of country, and for this purpose they adopt as a "base some line which has been calculated by the Ordnance Survey of France, which would, of course, be more exact than one measured by the aid of ordinary instruments. In this triangulation the method of sections is again adopted, each having a certain number of signals assigned to it, and being responsible for the exactitude of the results obtained.

The practical application of the course on the "Aménagement of Forests" is generally made in the forest of Haguenau, which in one part consists of "hard wood," oak, hornbeam, and beech, the first being often remarkably fine; whilst the other part is almost exclusively composed of Scotch fir. The students have to form a plan for the "aménagement" of the portion of forest which is allotted to them, generally from 1500 to 2000 acres. Of course, before proposing any scheme, it is necessary to know the contents and condition of the forest. In order to this, it is divided into parcels, homogeneous as to climate, soil, aspect, and also as to the kinds and ages of the trees found in them. Each of these is described, and they are then grouped so as to form masses which may as

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much as possible be cut at the same period, and in such a manner as to satisfy the rules laid down for the good management of forests. Two of these "aménagements" are executed here; one in the "hard wood" and the other in the Scotch fir. Another had before been effected in the forest of Haye, near Nancy, which has hitherto been treated as coppice, but is now gradually being changed into a real timber forest, in which the reproduction is to be effected by natural seeding. This "aménagement" had for its object to show how the change might be completely effected with as little loss and as much regularity as possible. These "aménagements include the principal cases likely to occur in France.

In the principal Examinations of the second year the professors give specimens of rocks, plants, and wood to be determined. Respecting the plants the student is required to state the class, family, genus, and species to which each belongs.

For the final class-list a proportion of the marks gained in the first year counts with those of the final examination, which itself forms about half of the total, the other half being supplied by the marks of the first year, the marks at Easter of the second year, and those for the different exercises during that year.

These examinations bring the course at the Ecole Forestière to a close; and those who have satisfied the examiners have invariably been found perfectly competent for all their professional duties. Whether the system inculcated at the Ecole Impériale Forestière, with the modifications necessitated by the differences of climate, can be successfully applied to the forests of India, is the problem now awaiting solution.

The students who enter under the auspices of the French Government, must be between the ages of eighteen and twentytwo, thus resembling the majority of the undergraduates at our English universities. The contrast as to the discipline maintained in the two cases is very striking. From the table given above it will be seen that the whole day, from eight in the morning until five in the evening, is necessarily spent at the Forest School, for the students are not allowed to leave the premises, except during the hour devoted to breakfast. From five o'clock until ten in the evening they are at liberty to employ their time as they think fit, provided they do not infringe any regulation of the School.

The police of the establishment is carried on by three "Adjutants," one of whom is always in the room allotted to the men of each year during the study time; acting, in fact, as an usher, and reporting to one of the professors who holds the post of "Inspector of the School." The third has nothing to do in the School, but parades the town in plain clothes during the evening when the students are allowed to be out. The latter are obliged to return

to the School at or before ten o'clock, and to sign their names on entering. If the signature is not in the customary handwriting of the student, he is liable to be put under arrest, that is to say, he is not allowed to leave the School during a certain number of days.

Arrived on the premises, they are allowed to be in each other's rooms until eleven o'clock, but after that hour each must go to his own room and remain there. To ensure this, and for the maintenance of order generally, an adjutant makes his rounds on the staircases, and has the power to enter any room, after having knocked. At midnight he retires to his room at the foot of the staircase. The other adjutants do not lodge at the School. buildings have, however, been recently erected; and in future they will all be lodged on the premises. The supervision is thus very complete; in fact, seen from an English point of view, the students are treated rather as boys, than as men responsible for their own conduct.

New

In order to represent the School on any public occasion, to maintain internal good order, and to decide differences which may arise among the students, a "Commission" of seven members is elected. It consists of a " President" chosen from and by the students of the Second Year, together with a "Papa" and two "Commissioners" chosen by the men of each year from their own number. The President has only a casting vote. The commission is recognized by the authorities, and through it hints are sometimes given to the students in a semi-official manner, which to some extent mitigates the pressure of the School regulations.

An hour on alternate days is devoted to regular instruction in horsemanship, but beyond this there is no athletic exercise, a fact which contrasts strongly, and perhaps disadvantageously, with English public schools and universities.

The English students speak most highly of the uniformly kind manner in which they have been received by the French with whom they have come in contact, whether professors or pupils; and it is to be hoped that the kindly feeling thus commenced will be constantly maintained.

VII. THE FULLER'S-EARTH IN THE SOUTH-WEST OF ENGLAND.

By RALPH TATE, Assoc. Lin. Soc., F.G.S., &c.

IN the early part of this year my honoured correspondent, M. Terquem, of Metz, applied to me for information respecting our Fuller's-Earth, as he was desirous to know the relations subsisting between the formation as developed in the province of the Moselle and in England. The account given of the Fuller's-Earth in our geological manuals is very meagre, and could serve very little my friend's purpose; but fully aware that such description did not embrace all that is known respecting the formation in this country, I had compiled the summary that here follows: and in addition supplemented our knowledge of the fossiliferous contents of the terrain by the determination of a large suite of fossils in the collection of the Geological Society. These new materials render no longer tenable the inferences that have been drawn on the affinity of the fossils.

The geological reader is aware of the great lithological and in part palæontological differences which exist in the Lower Oolitic strata at the opposite extremities of their range in England. In the belief that the present communication, brief though it be, is the fullest exposition of the history of the Fuller's-Earth in the southwest of England, I trust it will prove of service in future attempts to correlate satisfactorily some one of the members of the Lower Oolite of Yorkshire with that of the typical Fuller's-Earth.

I may state in passing that the Fuller's-Earth in the department of the Moselle has yielded more than 300 species of fossils, not including microscopic forms, which number nearly one hundred; M. Terquem has divided the formation into three zones of life-the inferior characterized by Ammonites Niortensis; the median, by Ammonites Parkinsoni; and the superior, by Ammonites Backeriæ. No such divisions have been made out in the English beds.

Extent and Thickness of the Fuller's-Earth in the South-west of England. With the other members of the Lower Oolite, the Fuller'sEarth has more or less of uniformity as regards its constitution and fossil contents from Dorsetshire to the borders of Oxfordshire. Throughout this tract, it presents an argillaceous character with thin beds of limestone and calcareous nodules. The underlying formation is, in every instance, the Inferior Oolite; but from the Dorsetshire coast to near Hinton, on the borders of Somersetshire and Wiltshire, it is overlain by the uppermost members of the Lower Oolitic series, and to the north of that locality the Great Oolite appears, and throughout the further extension of the Fuller's-Earth is the overlying formation.

*In litteris.