Of similar importance are the college de France, where lectures are delivered on the highest topics of science and literature; the museum of natural history, an admirable collection of animal, vegetable, and mineral wealth, connected with the jardin des plantes; and the lectures on oriental languages delivered at the national library. Above all these learned institutions stand the French academy, the academies of inscription, of science, of the fine arts, and of moral and political sciences, which compose the five classes of the institute of France.-The charitable institutions of France are very numerous. Hospitals and asylums exist in nearly every town of importance. These establishments, some of which hold considerable property, are supported by the state, the department, or the commune. The largest and wealthiest are at Paris, Lyons, Bordeaux, Rouen, Marseilles, Lille, and Nantes. There are military and marine hospitals under the control of the secretaries of war and the navy. The former are established in the principal fortified places, about 40 in number. The four marine hospitals at the great seaports of Cherbourg, Brest, Rochefort, and Toulon can accommodate more than 5,000 patients, and are taken care of by sisters of charity and male overseers.

Of several asylums for disabled soldiers and sailors who have served their country for a period of years, the most celebrated is the hotel des invalided at Paris, having a marshal of France for its governor, a large staff of officers, and liberal revenues. It contains nearly 3,000 old soldiers. Among the other institutions are the blind asylum, known as the hospice des quinze-vingt, and the institution for the education of the blind at Paris; the institutions for deaf and dumb there and at Bordeaux; over 40 lunatic asylums, the most important of which is at Charenton, near Paris; foundling hospitals, etc. Poor-relief boards (bureaux de bien-faisance) give indoor and outdoor relief to the paupers of the various communes. Various societies for the assistance of prisoners or the sick, and a vast number of philanthropic associations of all kinds, are dispersed throughout the country. There are 46 monts de piete (pawnbroking establishments), with a capital of nearly 50,000,000 fr., making yearly loans to the amount of about 60,000,000 fr. Such loans are gratuitous in five of the establishments; interest in the others varies greatly. The first savings bank (caisse d'epargne) was established in 1818 at Paris; and on Jan. 1, 1870, there were 525 in all parts of the country.

The aggregate number of depositors was 1,968,-007; the aggregate amount of deposits about 632,000,000 fr.-A double system of taxation exists in France. The direct taxes are those laid on land (contribution fonciere), on houses (contribution des portes et fenetres), on persons (contribution personnelle et mobiliere), and on licenses (impot des patented). The indirect taxes, besides the import and export duties, comprise excise charges upon wines, brandies, salt, gunpowder, tobacco, postage, public stages and coaches, stamped paper, registry of deeds and sales, etc. This complicated system requires an army of public officers and collectors of every rank, private and general receivers, payers, etc. These are under the control of the minister of finance, who is assisted by numerous finance inspectors and the court of accounts. Besides the government taxes, there are many local ones, mostly established in the towns of importance to defray local expenditures; they are generally known under the name of octrois. The yearly estimate of receipts and expenditures is called the budget, which is proposed by the minister of finance and voted upon by the national assembly.

The following table presents the expenditures as estimated in the budgets at different periods:

This list gives the expenditures as estimated in the budgets to be voted on by the legislative bodies; the actual expenditures generally exceeded these estimates by a large amount. This accounts for the increase of the public debt, which.has been much larger than the aggregate of differences between receipts and expenditures given in the several budgets. The accounts of actual revenue and expenditure, known as the comptes definitifs, have generally not been published before the end of the fifth or sixth year after the vote on the estimates. Thus when the budget of 1872 was voted by the national assembly, the last compte definitif made public was that for 1867. As had been usual with financial statements throughout the second empire, this compte definitif showed a large deficit actually existing at the end of the fiscal year 1867, although the budget when voted upon had shown a small surplus. The following tables give summaries of the budget for 1872 as voted upon by the assembly, and that of 1873 as projected by the government:

Revenue

Expenditures

The following table gives in detail the items of the budget for 1872: