in Scots Law. When by disposition or deed of entail a number of persons are called to the succession of an estate one after another, the person first named is called the institute, the others subinstitutes.

National Institute of France, was founded by a decree of the new constitution, and opened on the 7th of December 1795. The abolition of royalty naturally suggested to the new rulers of France, that it would likewise be proper to abolish every thing which had the remotest connexion with it. Condorcet therefore proposed that the seven old academies, such as those of sciences, of inscriptions, &c. which had the term royal prefixed to the whole of them, should give way to the establishment of one new academy of arts and sciences, under the title of the National Institute.

The academy, or institute, is to consist of 283 members, the half of whom are to have their residence in Paris, and the rest in the different departments, with 24 foreign members.

This academy is divided into three classes; these are divided each into three sections, and each of these again is to consist of 12 members.

The first class consists of 10 sections, which are to preside over mathematics, mechanical arts, astronomy, experimental philosophy, chemistry, natural history, botany, anatomy and animal history, medicine and surgery, animal economy, and the veterinary sciences.

The second class has morality and politics for its department, and consists of six sections, viz. analysis of sensations and ideas, morals, legislature, political economy, history, and geography.

The third class presides over literature and the fine arts, consisting of eight sections, viz. universal grammar, ancient languages, poetry, antiquities, painting, sculpture, architecture, and music.—Several volumes of memoirs have been published by each of the classes.

The hall in which the whole classes hold their meetings four times a year, forms part of the west wing of the old Louvre, which was erected about the year 1528. It measures 144 feet by 40, and is capable of accommodating upwards of 1000 persons.

The schools of national instruction may be considered as forming a part of the same institution. These are,

1. The primary schools, one of which is established in every district, where children are taught the arts of reading and writing, the elements of French grammar, of arithmetic and geometry, &c. 2. The central schools, situated in the capital of every department, and one is allowed for every 300,000 inhabitants. 3. The schools of health, which are three in number, where medicine and surgery are studied. 4. Two schools for oriental languages. 5. The polytechnic school in Paris for the direction of public works, an establishment which is generally admired. 6. The national institute, of which we have already given some account.

The executive department of all these is vested in a supreme council at Paris. For the commodious execution of so many complicated branches, there is an extensive office called Le Secretariat, which is divided into three departments, for the regulation of the different kinds of instruction, for weights and measures, and for theatres, national feasts, the erection of monuments, &c.

By means of a permanent committee of instruction, under the authority of government, many improvements of a literary and scientific nature have been made, such as the National Bibliography, or complete catalogue of books of all descriptions; the annihilation of all dialects, which were incredibly numerous in France; the establishment of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers; of the board of longitude, the general school of the oriental languages, the national museum of antiquities, the new-modelling of the grand national library, the augmentation of the museum of natural history, the école des mines, and the society of natural history in Paris.