Undoubtedly, the system has its defects; very few of the pupils can expect to obtain the first place; others lack the spur and are moreover neglected by the master.

But the elite make extraordinary efforts and, with this, there is success.

"During the war times," says again another German, "I lodged a good many French officers who knew one half of Virgil and Horace by heart." Similarly, in mathematics, young people of eighteen, pupils of the Polytechnic School, understand very well the differential and integral calculus, and, according to the testimony of an Englishman,[6161] "they know it better than many of the English professors." V.Military preparation and the cult of the Emperor.
This general preparation is specified and directed by Napoleon as a policy, and, as he specially needs soldiers, the school, in his hands, becomes the vestibule of the barracks.

Right away the institution received a military turn and spirit, and this form, which is essential to him, becomes more and more restricted.

In 1805, during four months,[6162] Fourcroy, ordered by the Emperor, visits the new lycees "with an inspector of reviews and a captain or adjutant-major, who everywhere gives instruction in drill and discipline." The young have been already broke in; "almost everywhere," he says on his return, "I saw young people without a murmur or reflection obey even younger and weaker corporals and sergeants who had been raised to a merited rank through their good behavior and progress.