Examples of such bodies are the Society for Elementary Instruction the Polytechnic Association, the Philotechnic Association and the French Union of the Young at Paris; the Philomathic Society of Bordeaux; the Popular Education Society at Havre; the Rhone Society of Pro-, fessional Instruction at Lyons; the Industrial Society of Amiens and others.
Besides the academy of sciences, which dates from 1584, there are several institutions of the same kind - a royal philomathic academy, a royal academy of arts and a public library of 50,000 volumes.
