Edouard Manet, The Waitress, 1879, Musee d'Orsay (left)

Paul Gauguin, La Seine au Pont d'Iena, 1879, oil on canvas, Carnavalet (above). This bridge is on the down river side of Paris. Today the Eiffel Tower is on the left at the end of the bridge. Across on the other side of the river is the Tracadero. This is an interesting painting in that it shows one of Gauguin's palettes before he went off to Tahiti and did such colorful work.

The Seine freezes in Paris, an uncommon occurrence. (CHF)

Founding of the Museum of Pedagogy on rue Guy-Lussac (5th arrod.) (CHF)

Opening of the Theater of Nations. (CHF)

Paris becomes the first city in the world to have a telephone network. (AF)

Founding of La Nouvelle Revue by Juliette Adams. (AF)

Zola's L'Assommoir is performed as a play in Paris.

Anthroprometrics are used to identify criminals. Alphonse Bertillon gets the credit. (AF) (Today in Paris the name Bertillon conjures up images of wonderful ice creams and sorbets. Their outlets are spread throughout the city, but concentrated around Ile St. Louis.)

Jules Verne's science fiction novel this year is about microbiotic warfare. (AF)

More broadly:

La Marseillaise again becomes the national anthem.

France and England continue meddling in Egypt, replacing the  Khedive.

Pasteur discovers the principle of vaccine.