In 1791 Condorcet passionately defended "common education for both sexes in mixed schools" as a democratic measure - but his words fell on deaf ears. Nine decades later, the Republicans opted for single-sex schools when they created state secondary education for girls.

This volume is the result of a collaboration between Tunisian and French climatologists, hydrologists and biogeographers who have engaged in a dialogue from one shore of the Mediterranean to the other. In terms of content it concentrates on quantitative data and figures rather than Bachelard's cherished dream.