University of Virginia Library

25. Institut de France.

This singular looking edifice is situated on the Quai Conti
on the l. bank of the Seine, at the S. extremity of the Pont des
Arts and opposite to the Louvre. It has two lateral projecting
pavilions with arcades and is surmounted by a dome; the approach
is adorned with a fountain and two figures of lions. The institution
was originally founded by Cardinal Mazarin for the education
of youths from the newly acquired provinces of Roussillon, Pignerol,
Flanders and Alsace. It was erected in the latter half of
the 17th cent. and occupies the site of the Tour de Nesle, the
traditional scene of many a dark tragedy.

Though originally called the Collége Mazarine, it was popularly
known as the Collége des Quatre Nations. During the revolution
it was converted into a prison, but was in 1795 ceded by the
Convention to the Académies, or societies of savants, who had
hitherto held their sessions in the Louvre, and its appellation
changed.

The Institut de France consists of five departments:

1. The Académie Française, the principal labour of which is
the supervision of the French language and its orthography and
the publication of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie. The annual
session takes place on the first Thursday in May, the weekly
meetings every Thursday at 3 o'clock

2. The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres is devoted
to the study of the ancient languages and to archæological research.
Annual session on the first Friday in July, weekly meetings
every Friday at 3 o'clock.

3. The Académie des Sciences (mathematics and natural science)
holds its meetings, to which the public are admitted, every
Monday at 3 o'clock; annual session on the last Monday in January.

4. The Académie des Beaux Arts (painting, sculpture, architecture,
musical composition) holds its annual session on the
first Saturday in October, its weekly meetings every Saturday
at 3 o'clock.

5. The Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques (philosophy,
history, political economy) meets every Saturday at 12 o'clock;
annual session on the first Saturday in January.

The Institut numbers upwards of 200 members, whose complement
is replenished by election when necessary. Each member
receives an annual sum of 1500 fr. The title of "Membre de
l'Institut" is the object of the highest aspirations of every literary
and scientific Frenchman.

Strangers, and especially the learned, will therefore find a
visit to some of these meetings of the highest interest. They
will here in the Palais de l'Institut have an admirable opportunity
of hearing discussions in which the most eminent French

savants take part. The grand session of the five departments
combined is held on Aug. 15th (Napoleon's Day) in what was
formerly the church, when the annual distribution of prizes takes
place. By a decree of April, 1855, the period of the annual
session of each academy separately is determined by the minister
of instruction.

Strangers obtain access to these meetings by addressing a
written application to the secretary of the department they desire
to visit[2] .

Strangers are not admitted to the valuable and admirably
arranged Library of the Institut unless accompanied by a member.
A second library, the Bibliothèque Mazarine (in the first court,
to the l. of the entrance), contains 120,000 vols., 50,000 MSS.
and many valuable antiquities and curiosities. Admission daily
from 10 to 3 o'clock. Vacation from Sept. 15th to Nov. 1st.