P A K I S 283 formally enrolled among the en/ants assistes, or charity children. There are in the hospice 102 resident wet-nurses ; infants, however, are not kept in the institution, but are boarded out with nurses in the country, of whom 1707 were engaged under the supervision of 361 matrons. Up to twelve years of age these children are kept at the expense of the department of Seine, and they remain under the guardianship of the poor-board till twenty-one years of age. On December 31, 1882, there were 13,861 children of the first class and 12,135 of the second distributed among 32 agencies and 257 medical circuits situated in Nivernais, Burgundy, Bourbonnais, Normandy, Artois, Picardy, and Brittany. The Quinze-Vingts still gives shelter to the 300 (fifteen score) blind for whom it was founded by St Louis, and gives outdoor assist ance to 1550 besides. The blind asylum for the young (Institution des Jeunes Aveugles) has 250 pupils (one-third girls, two-thirds boys) ; the course of study lasts for eight years ; most of the pupils are bursars of the state or the departments ; some pay a small i ec ; suitable trades are taught. The deaf-mute institution is for boys only, and they arc generally paid for by the state, the departments, and the communes. During a course of seven years they are taught articulation and lip-reading. The Charenton asylum for the insane receives 300 male and 280 female patients, most of them paying for their board, and classed according to their means. Those of Vinccnnes (522 beds for male patients) and Lc A r esinet (300 beds for female patients) take in convalescents from the hospitals sent by the charity boards or friendly societies which subscribe to the institution. The Hotel des Invalides is for old and infirm soldiers. The pensioners, who have numbered at times as many as 5000, are now only a few hundred, and their immense edifice accommodates the Ecole Superieure dc Guerre, the artillery museum, the galleries for plans in relief of fortified posts, and numerous storehouses of the war department. Under the dome of the Invalides is the tomb of Napoleon I., and in the church the funeral obsequies of distinguished soldiers are performed. There arc four military hospitals in Paris Val de Grace (960 beds for all ranks), Gros Cail- lou (630 beds), Saint Martin (425 beds), and Vinccnnes (630). rivate Private beneficence maintains a great variety of institutions in >enefi- Paris. There are 30 creches or day-nurseries in the city and 14
- ence. in the suburbs (capable of accommodating respectively 1093 and
393 infants), where mothers who have to go out to work may leave their infants under two years ; they are under the direction of the sisterhood of St Vincent de Paul. The Society of St Vincent de Paul, which must not be confounded with the sisterhood, is a society of Hymen founded in 1833 and divided into as many conferences as there are parishes, for the purpose of visiting the poor and giving them advice and assistance. The Societe Philanthropique distributes food rations in its "kitchens" by means of a system of cheap tickets. The Societe de Charite Matcrnelle devotes its attention to women in childbed; the Petites Scours des Pauvres have five houses for poor old men, for whom they collect scraps from the restaurants. The Freres St Jean de Dicu take care of children suffering from incurable diseases. A large number of institutions known as ourroirs or workrooms bring up orphan and destitute girls and fit them for various industrial occupations, especially the use of the needle. The night asylums offer shelter to the homeless. The Society for the Protection of the Alsace-Lorraincrs, and the charity office of the British embassy, are naturally limited to special nationalities. Friendly societies, supported by ordinary subscrip tions, donations from honorary members, and state subsidies, arc numerous ; they give assistance to their members when they are sick or out of work, and pay their funeral expenses. An evangelistic mission, commenced in 1872 by the Rev. Pi. W. M All in the district of Belleville has met with remarkable success. By 1884 it had b3tween thirty and forty stations in Paris and the suburbs, and had extended its activity to various towns in the provinces, to Corsica, and to Algiers. Its income in 1883-4 was 10,607. Homes for English girls were established in 1872 by Miss Ada Leigh, and the association to which they have since been transferred has been presented with an orphanage by M. Galignani. Wontde The Mont de Piete is a national pawnbroking establishment. Piete. Charging 9 per cent, for working expenses, it hands over all its proceeds to the public charity funds. The average number of articles pawned per day is 5205, of which 5 only are of suspicious origin (theft); the average sum lent on each was 23 francs in 1881. When the depositor does not redeem his pledge or purchase a renewal the article is sold. In 1882 there were 1,669,582 new transactions and 664,617 renewals, while 1,401,944 articles were redeemed, and 214,340 sold, the loans amounting respectively to 1,619,621, 676,671, 1,320,888, and 144,315. If the sale involves a loss this falls on the agent who overestimated the value when the article was deposited; any profit, on the con trary, is divided between the administration and the person con cerned. Savings The Caisse d l^pargne, or savings bank, the natural complement Jank. of the Mont de Piete, was founded in Paris in 1818. It began that year with 351 depositors, and deposits to the amount of 2153; in 1882 it had 440,728 depositors, and owed them 3,513,432. The new deposits for the year reached a sum of 1,874,697, and the repayments 1,236,060. The number of new pass-books issued was 63,146, of accounts closed 24,228. Three per cent, interest was paid to the depositors. The maximum deposit is 80. Law and Justice. Paris is the seat of four courts having juris- Justice, diction over all France : (1) the Tribunal des Conflits, for settling disputes between the judicial and administrative authorities on questions as to their respective jurisdiction; (2) the Council of State, for litigations between private persons and public departments ; (3) the Cour des Comptes ; and (4) the Cour de Cassation. The first three sit in the Palais Royal, the fourth in the Palais de Justice, which is also the seat of (1) a cour d appel for seven departments (five civil chambers, one chamber of appeal for the correctional police, one chamber for preliminary proceedings), (2) a cour d assises (members nominated for a term of three months ; two sessions per month), (3) a tribunal of first instance for the depart ment of Seine (seven civil chambers for civil affairs, sequestration of real estate, and sale of personal property; four chambers of correc tional police), (4) a police court where each juge de paix presides in his turn assisted by a commissairc de police. Litigations between the departmental or municipal administrations and private persons are decided by the conseil de prefecture. The prefect of police, charged with the maintenance of public safety, has the prison department under his supervision. There are eight prisons in Paris Mazas, La Sante, Ste Pelagie, St Lazare (for females), the depot (police station) of the prefecture of police, the Conciergerie or lock-up at the Palais de Justice, the Grande Eoquette (for condemned criminals), and the Petite Roqtiette reformatory. In 1882 there passed through these prisons 108,231 prisoners (83,022 men, 25,209 women), the daily average being 5529. Out of the total number, 30,990 were kept in solitary confinement, and 2905 (males) worked in company by day and were placed in separate cells at night. The prisons also received 1067 young children who accompanied their mothers, and 732 children lost in the streets. The mendicity-station at Villers-Cotterets (Aisne) has besides a daily roll of 919 prisoners (male and female). In the so- called House of repression at St Denis are confined those mendi cants who cannot be removed to A T illers-Cotterets, or those dis charged prisoners who have not acquired a sufficiency for their im. mediate necessities ; 3240 persons passed through St Denis in 1882. The same year 46,457 persons were arrested in Paris, 44,955 being taken fiagrantc delicto or arrested as vagabonds ; 41,207 were brought before the judges. Of the whole number eight-ninths were males. Against five-ninths no previous charge had been made : 899 were ticket-of-leave men, 3291 were foreigners (959 Belgians, 759 Italians, 376 Swiss, 379 Germans, and 126 English). The most frequent causes of arrest were vagabondism and begging, 16,985 ; theft in its various forms, 8604 ; rioting, 5619 ; assaults and acts of violence, 1338; offences against morals, 825; breach of certificate by ticket-of-leave men, 899 ; murders, assassinations, and assault by night, 330 ; drunkenness. 312. The prefect of police has the control of the locating, discharg ing, or maintaining of the insane in the six public asylums of Ste Anne, La Salpetriere, Bicutre, Charenton, Vaucluse, and La Ville Evrard, the last two situated in the department of Scine-et- Oise. The financial and administrative management of these establishments is entrusted to the prefect of Seine. At the 1st of January 1882 there were in the different asylums 8260 lunatics, and during 1882 3670 were admitted, while 3938 left or died. Private asylums for the insane cannot be opened within his pre fecture without the permission of the prefect of police. Children put out to nurse, and women wishing to be engaged as wet- nurses, are also under his supervision. In 1881 18,527 infants were registered by their parents as requiring to be put to nurse in the various departments; on December 31, 1881, 4398 infants under three years of age were out at nurse within the prefecture ; 407 died during the year. An institution of a reformatory character commenced operations on January 1, 1881. In 1881 and 1882 it received 1644 children 1131 brought by their parents, 262 by the magistrates, and 251 by the prefect of police. On December 1882 there remained 1330 children boarded out in the country. The expense for the two years was 18,160. Establishments which are dangerous or unhealthy are of three classes, according as they have to be kept absolutely at a distance from dwelling-houses or simply subjected to certain precautions. They can be opened only with the permission and under the surveillance of the prefect of police. The first class comprises slaughter-houses, nightsoil reservoirs, vitriol works, &c. In 1882 there were of all the three classes 3049 establishments within the city of Paris ; in 1881 there were 2922 in the suburban communes. The shops for mineral oils (3615) and those for mineral waters (1133) are also subject to inspection, and the groceries, drug-stores, and chemists shops in which medicines are sold (9224) are under the supervision of the upper school of pharmacy. Steam machin ery, (3317 machines, of 29,529 horse-power) which must be regis tered, is inspected by the engineers.
