both of natives of French colonies and of colonial functionaries, on
the ministry of the colonies. The École nationale des ponts et
chaussées for the training of government engineers, and the École
nationale supérieure des mines for mining engineers, are under the
minister of public works. Of free institutions of higher education
the most prominent are the Catholic institute, with faculties of law
and theology and schools of advanced literary and scientific studies,
the Pasteur institute, founded by Pasteur in 1886 and famous for the
treatment of hydrophobia and for its research-laboratories, and the
school of political science which prepares candidates for political
and governmental careers. The two latter receive state subvention.
There are numerous private associations giving courses of instruction,
the more important being the Philotechnic Association, the Polytechnic
Association and the Union française de la jeunesse.
Among the numerous learned societies of Paris the first in importance is the Institut de France (see Academies). The French Association for the advancement of the sciences, founded in 1872, is based on the model of the older British society, and, like it, meets every year in a different town.
In art Paris has long held a leading place. The Société des Artistes français holds an annual salon or exhibition in May and June at the Palais d’Industrie. It is open to artists of all nationalities. Works are selected and awards (including the Prix de Rome) made by a jury of experts selected by the exhibitors. The society was founded in 1872, but the salon takes its name from the academy exhibitions, which, first held in the Palais Royal in 1667, were transferred to the Salon Carre in the Louvre in 1669. As a result of dissension over the awards of 1889, the society of fine arts (Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts) established a separate salon, in the Champ de Mars, in May, June and July. There is also a Société du Salon d’Automne.
Charity.—The administration of public charity is entrusted to a responsible director, under the authority of the Seine prefect, and assisted by a board of supervision, the members of which are nominated by the president. The funds at his disposal are derived (1) from the revenue of certain estates, houses, farms, woods, stocks, shares; (2) from taxes on seats in the theatres (one-tenth of the price), balls, concerts, the mont de piété, and allotments in the cemeteries; (3) from the municipal subsidy; (4) from other sources (including voluntary donations). The charges on the administration consist of (1) the treatment of the sick in the hospitals; (2) the lodging of old men and of incurables in the hospices; (3) the support of charity children; (4) the distribution of out-door relief (secours à domicile) by the bureaux de bienfaisance; (5) the dispensation of medical assistance à domicile.
The doctors, surgeons, chemists, both resident and non-resident, connected with the numerous hospitals, are all admitted by competitive examination. They are assisted by three grades of students, internes (who receive a salary), externes and stagiaires (probationers).
Of the hospices and similar institutions, the following are the chief: Bicêtre (men), less than a mile south of the fortifications; La Salpétrière (women), Ivry (both sexes); maisons de retraite (for persons not without resources) Issy, La Rochefoucauld, Ste Périne; fondations (privately endowed institutions)—Brézins at Garches (for ironworkers), Devillas, Chardon-Lagache, Lenoir-Jousseran, Galignani (booksellers, printers, &c.), Alquier-Debrousse; and sections for the insane—Bicêtre (men), Salpétrière (women), these being distinct from the ordinary departmental asylums controlled by the prefect.
Foundlings and orphans are sent to the Hospice des enfants assistés, which also receives children whose parents are patients in the hospitals or undergoing imprisonment. This institution is not intended as a permanent home. Infants are not kept in the institution, but are boarded out with nurses in the country; the older ones are boarded out with families or placed in technical schools. Up to thirteen years of age the children are kept at the expense of the department of Seine, after which they are apprenticed.
The following establishments in or near Paris belong to the nation and are dependent on the ministry of the interior: The Quinze-Vingts gives shelter to the 300 blind for whom it was founded by St Louis, and gives outdoor assistance besides. The blind asylum for the young (Institution des jeunes aveugles) has 250 pupils of both sexes. The deaf-mute institution (Institution nationale des sourds-muets) is for boys only, and they are generally paid for by the state, the departments and the communes. The Charenton asylum is for the insane. Those of Vincennes (for male patients) and Le Vesinet (for female patients) take in convalescents from the hospitals. The Vacassy asylum at Charenton is for workmen incapacitated by accident. The Hôtel des invalides is for old and infirm soldiers. Private bodies also maintain a great number of institutions.
Religion.—Some 75% of the population of Paris is Roman Catholic. The department of Seine forms the diocese of the archbishop of Paris, and the city is divided into 70 parishes. It has the important higher ecclesiastical seminary of St Sulpice, two lower seminaries and others for training the clergy for missionary and colonial work. Paris is also the seat of the central council of the Reformed Church and of the executive committee of the General Synod of the Lutheran Church, and forms a consistory of both these churches, whose adherents together number about 90,000. There are also some 50,000 Jews, Paris being the seat of the Grand Rabbinate of France and of the central consistory.
Industries.—The larger manufacturing establishments of Paris comprise engineering and repairing works connected with the railways, similar private works, foundries and sugar refineries. Government works are the tobacco factories of Gros Caillou and Reuilly, depending on the ministry of finance; the national printing establishment, under the ministry of justice; the mint (with a collection of medals and coins), established in an 18th century building close to the Pont Neuf and under the control of the ministry of finance; and the famous tapestry factory and dye-works (with a tapestry museum) of the Gobelins, under the minister of education. The list of minor establishments is varied, most of them being devoted to the production of the so-called articles de Paris (feathers, artificial flowers, dolls, toys and fancy goods in general), and carrying the principle of the division of labour to an extreme. The establishments which rank next to those above mentioned in the number of workmen are the pharmaceutical factories, the gasworks, the printing-offices, cabinet-makers’ workshops, tailoring and dressmaking establishments (very numerous) and hat factories.
The textile industries hardly exist in Paris; there are a few tanneries on the Bièvre, but the leather industry is chiefly represented by the production of morocco leather goods classed as articles de Paris. Mention may be made here of the bureaux de placement gratuit, maintained by the municipality, where those in search of work or workers are put in touch with one another.
Markets.—The slaughter-houses, cattle-yards, and with few exceptions the markets of Paris, belong to the municipality. The chief slaughter-house is the abattoir général of La Villette, covering a space of 47 acres in the extreme north-east of the city on the bank of the Canal de l’Ourcq; adjoining it, with an area of about 55 acres, on the opposite bank of the canal, are the municipal cattle-yards and markets, which have accommodation for many thousands of animals, and are connected with the Ceinture railway so that the cattle-trucks are brought straight into the market. Cattle-traders and butchers pay dues for the use of these establishments. There are other less extensive slaughter-yards at Vaugirard. Most of the cattle come from Calvados, Maine-et-Loire, Vaucluse, Nièvre, Loire-Inférieure and Orne; sheep from Seine-et-Marne, Aveyron, Aisne, Seine-et-Oise, Lot and Cantal; pigs from Loire-Inférieure and other western departments; calves from Loiret, Eure-et-Loir and others of the northern departments. Dead meat, game, poultry, fruit, vegetables, fish and the other food-supplies have their centre of wholesale distribution at the Halles Centrales, close to the Louvre, which comprise besides a large uncovered space a number of pavilions of iron and glass covering some 10 acres. Close to the Halles is the Bourse de Commerce, which is a centre for transactions in alcohol, wheat, rye and oats, flour, oil and sugar; and a market for flour, the trade in which is more important than that in wheat, is held in the Place St Germain l’Auxerrois, sales being effected chiefly by the medium of samples. Most of the wines and spirits consumed in Paris pass through the entrepôts of Bercy and the wine-market on the Quai St Bernard, the first specially connected with the wine-trade, the second with the brandy-trade. In addition, there are other provision markets in various quarters of the city, owned and supervised by the municipality, as well as numerous flower-markets, bird-markets, a market for horses, carriages, bicycles and dogs, &c. Two fairs are still held in Paris—the foire aux jambons in the Boulevard Richard Lenoir during Holy week, and the foire au pain d’épices in the Place de la Nation and its vicinity at Easter time. Market and market-places are placed under the double supervision of the prefect of Seine and the prefect of police. The former official has to do with the authorization, removal, suppression, and holding of the markets, the fixing and collecting of the dues, the choice of sites, the erection and maintenance of buildings, and the location of vehicles. The latter maintains order, keeps the roads clear, and watches against fraud. There is a municipal laboratory, where any purchaser can have the provisions he has bought analysed, and can obtain precise information as to their quality. Spoiled provisions are seized by the agents of the prefecture.
The Chamber of Commerce occupies a building close to the Bourse.
Bibliography.—P. Joanne, Dictionnaire géographique et administratif de la France, vol. v. (Paris, 1899,), s.v. “Paris,” a comprehensive and detailed account from the topographical, administrative and historical points of view; M. Block, Dictionnaire de l’administration française, vol. ii. (Paris, 1905), s.v. “Paris”; Annuaire statistique de la ville de Paris, issued by the Service de la statistique municipale, Baedeker’s Paris; T. Okey, The Story of Paris (London, 1906); W. F. Lonergen, Historic Churches of Paris (London, 1896); G. Pessard, Nouveau dictionnaire historique de Paris (Paris, 1904); E. Fournier, Paris à travers les âges (Paris, 1876–1882); C. Normand, Nouvel itinéraire-guide artistique et archéologique de Paris (Paris, 1889), &c. (R. Tr.)
History.—At its first appearance in history there was nothing to foreshow the important part which Paris was to play in Europe and in the world. An island in the Seine, now almost lost in the modern city, and then much smaller than at present, was for centuries the entire site. The sole importance of the town lay in its being the capital of a similarly insignificant Gallic people, which navigated the lower course of the Seine, and doubtless
