It was in the first place necessary to insure the aptitude of those to
whom education should be confided; but as the systems were various, the
best methods and a unity of doctrine were to be determined. It was not
enough to interrogate the masters, they were to be formed, new ones were
to be created, and for that purpose a school was opened in 1794, wherein
the celebrity of the professors promised new instruction even to the
best informed. This was not, as was objected, beginning the edifice at
the roof, but creating architects, who were to superintend all the arts
requisite for constructing the building.

The more difficult their functions were, the greater care was to be
taken in the choice of the professors; but France, though then accused
of being plunged in barbarism, possessed men of transcendent talents,
already enjoying the esteem of all Europe, and we may be bold to say,
that by their labors, our literary glory had likewise extended its
conquests. Their names were proclaimed by the public voice, and Volney's
was associated with those of the men most illustrious in science and in
literature.*

* Lagrange, Laplace, Berthollet, Garat, Bernardin de Saint-
Pierre, Daubenton, Hauy, Volney, Sicard, Monge, Thouin, La
Harpe, Buache Mentelle.

This institution, however, did not answer the expectations that had been
formed of it, because the two thousand students that assembled from all
parts of France were not equally prepared to receive these transcendent
lessons, and because it had not been sufficiently ascertained how far
the theory of education should be kept distinct from education itself.