4i6 A HISTORY OF CHILE There are twenty-five provincial lyceums, with a yearly attendance of from three thousand to four thousand stu- dents. A normal school for the preparation of teach- ers, an institute for the deaf and dumb, an agricultural' department and other special schools, have been long established. There are one thousand and twenty-nine primary schools, four hundred and seventy-seven of which are mixed and the rest about evenly divided be- tween the sexes, being either for males or females ex- clusively. These have a total yearly attendance of from eighty to eighty-five thousand. Beside there are over five hundred private schools, with an annual at- tendance of about twenty-five thousand. In 1890, con- gress appropriated over ^7, 000, 000 for educational pur- poses. In Santiago are a museum of natural sciences, an academy of fine arts, a conservatory of music and a botanical garden. There is a Methodist college where a good English course is given, and this stands in high estimation; the Presbyterians maintain an efficient seminary ; there are also other semi-missionary schools. * The national library contains some 70,000 volumes. Seven daily papers are published in Santiago, with a circulation of 30,000 copies, also several scientific and literary reviews. There are four daily papers in Val- paraiso, having a circulation above 20,000. Other cities also have dailies. Valparaiso has a museum of natural history, with sections devoted to the different branches. The museum at Santiago has branches devoted to min- eralogy, zoology, botany, geology, palaeontology, and ethnology, and has had in the past several eminent
- There are probably nearly three-quarters of a million children in Chile be-
tween the ages of six and fifteen who should be in school, so that only a small proportion — perhaps one-sixth of them — are availing themselves of the advan- tages of free schools. Of the three millions of people in Chile, it is a liberal es- timate to say that one million can read. But it requires time to bring about changes, in matters like these. As to the upper classes, they are well-educated, well-informed and in the highest degree cultured. They are a quick, imitative people and acquire foreign languages with great facility.
