Note 18 — Chapter II · 1844—1849

Polytechnician. A student of the Ecole Polytechnique, a military and engineering school under the jurisdiction of the Minister of War, founded in 1794. Candidates for admission must be older than sixteen and younger than twenty, but the limit of age is raised to twenty-five in the case of private soldiers and non-commissioned officers. They must also have passed their baccalauréat ès lettres or ès sciences—preferably the latter. After two years’ residence (compulsory) students pass a leaving examination, and are entered according to their list number as engineers of the Navy, Mines, or Civil Works, or as officers in the military Engineers or in the Artillery; the two last then have to go through one of the military training schools (Ecoles d’Application). [Trans.]