School has commenced in the Gates Canyon, with Miss Dolly as teacher. School will be taught in a private house for about three weeks until a school-house can be built.

The Green Valley School opened with a very good attendance. The teachers are Mr. H. Haile and Miss Frankie Davisson.

Miss Katie Higgins has gone to take charge of the Suisun District School.

SANTA CLARA COUNTY.

Owing to the unsafe condition of the Palo School-house, the Trustees have thought best to call an election on the 9th of April for erecting a new building. About this time last year an election was called, which ended in a failure, though some earnest work was done. Palo District is noted for its fine homes, nicely kept yards, thriving orchards and vineyards and beautiful roads; but the opinion expressed by strangers is that the school-house is a disgrace to the community. We sincerely hope that the vote will be carried, and a new and beautiful building will soon take the place of the old one. Mercury.

Miss Mary Eliza Young was married at San Jose the latter part of February to Edward North, son of Judge North, of Fresno. Miss Young spent some years in Chico, about fifteen years ago, and attended the public schools there, and afterwards the Normal School at San Jose, where she graduated and became a teacher. The wedding took place in Trinity Episcopal Church, and was a grand affair. The San Jose Mercury says "the bride looked lovely in an elegant dress of ashes of roses of rhadame satin, with bonnet to match."

BUTTE COUNTY.

The Oroville Mercury says: Miss Mattie Elliott has gone to Forest Ranch to take charge of the school there for the second or third time.

Prof. C. H. McGrew, of Chico, conducted the Teachers' Institute in Shasta county recently. The Redding Free Press says that he " did much truly valuable work, and he is to be commended as a faithful, progressive and zealous educator."

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.

Miss Broadhurst, a schoolteacher of San Luis Obispo, while out for a drive recently, a few miles from town, was thrown from the carriage by the horse becoming frightened and severely injured about the head.

NEVADA COUNTY.

The Nevada City Board of Education will not allow any dancing in any school-house under control of the Board. The Selby Flatters wanted to dance in their school-house, but if any break in and do so they will be prosecuted,

The County Teachers' Institute will convene at Washington School-house, in Nevada City, at 9 o'clock on the morning of May 2d and continue in session five days. Each forenoon will be devoted to section work, and the afternoons to exhibit and general institute work.

Grass Valley District had remaining in her School Fund on the first instant the sum of $11,312.23. It was less than six months ago that Grass Valley had an election to decide whether or not to levy a special tax by which $10,000 might be raised to build a school-house. If Grass Valley wants a school-house very bad she might go down into her stocking and take out enough of the money on hand to build it with.-Nevada Transcript.

Grass Valley doesn't want a school-house badly, or otherwise, and if she did she would not be allowed to take that money for building purposes. Our esteemed contemporary ought to encourage its own school district to increase the number of those drawing school money and let Grass Valley alone, for the latter is doing very well.-Grass Valley Tidings.

TULARE COUNTY.

One more step in the path of progress must be placed to the credit of Pixley, in this county. A large and commodious two-story school-house is in process of erection, The lower room will be used for school purposes, the upper for a town hall.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

Mrs. L. L. Jackson, recently of Indianapolis, Ind., and author of a work on the science and geometry of dress, is in Los Angeles, and hopes to make arrangements with the Board of Education to deliver a series of lectures on dress-cutting before the girls of the public schools.

A brick school building is being erected at Colton at a cost of $13,000, which will be quite an ornament to the city.

The friends of the State Normal School in Los Angeles, and particularly the earnest workers who have made its name a wide synonym for faithful and thorough training, have been long and inexpressibly annoyed by the dependent position in which the school has been kept. It has been tied down with red tape and tagged with the belittling title of "Branch" State Normal School. Long protests against this state of things have been in waiting until the present; but now the friends of the school can · sing:

"Believing, we rejoice

To see the curse removed."

Prof. Ira More, the principal of the school, had a bill prepared and introduced by Assemblyman Brierly into the Legislature which has just closed its labors. This bill, numbered 450, was introduced February 5th. Its provisions, in brief, are as follows: The Normal Schools at San Jose and Los Angeles-and any others hereafter established -shall be known as State Normal Schools [without any "branch" business about it.] Each will be an independent institution, governed by its own board of trustees. Each board shall shall consist of five trustees, appointed by the Governor for five years; but the present trustees shall hold office until their terms expire; and afterward the boards shall be so arranged that the term of one trustee in each will expire annually. These boards will hold a joint session once a year. Prof. More and Gen. Brierly have had several skirmishes-by mail and telegraph-during the pendency of the bill. The war is now over, however, as shown by the following telegram:

"SACRAMENTO, Cal., March 12. Prof. Ira More, State Normal School: No more "Branch" Normal School. Bill delivered to Governor. Let us have peace.

SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY.

"JOHN R. BRIERLY."

There have been some very important changes in this department since the issue of the March JOURNAL.

During the Spring vacation Miss Kate Kennedy, Principal of the North Cosmopolitan Grammar School, was transferred to one of the outside schools, and Miss H. M. Fairchild, of the Fairmount School, was sent to the North Cosmopolitan.

Mr. T. B. White, first grade teacher at the South San Francisco School, was promoted to the principalship of the Washington Grammar. Mr. Sturges, of that school, was transferred to the vice-principalship of the Valencia Grammar, and Mr. L. W. Read, of the latter school, made vice-principal of the Franklin Grammar.

Miss Johnson, of the Ocean View School, was promoted into town as principal of the Fairmount School.

Mrs. Belle Flaherty and Miss Emma F. Garness were transferred from lower grades in the South San Francisco School to the Washington Grammar, the former to a third, the latter to a fifth grade.

For the first time in more than ten years the San Francisco Board of Education has complied with the law in regard to library books.

Though the finances of the Department are still in a straitened condition, Director Stone found about $400, with which Supplementary Readers were purchased and distributed to the school libraries. The results are already apparent in renewed interest in reading.

Principal Philip Prior, of the Bernal Heights School, and Principal Davidson, of the Noe and Temple School, were, by order of the Board, exchanged in their places. This is a promotion for Mr. Prior, who is an excellent teacher.

Director C. B. Stone offered the following resolutions, which were adopted at the meeting of the San Francisco Board of Education, last week, inviting the National Education Association to meet in that city in 1888:

WHEREAS, The California Teachers' Association has, by unanimous vote, invited the National Educational Association to hold its session for 1888 in this city; aud

Whereas, We, believing the educational interests, not only of this city and State, but of the entire Pacific Coast, would be greatly enhanced by said meeting; therefore, Resolved, That we cordially endorse the action of the California Association. Resolved, That we appoint a committee of this Board to obtain guarantees of reduced transportation rates and hotel charges for the members of the National Educational Association, in case they should decide to honor us by selecting San Francisco as their next place of meeting.

Resolved. That a committee of three educators be appointed by the President to represent this Coast and to act for the Board in extending the invitation and presenting the merits of San Francisco as a suitable place for holding said meeting of the National Educational Association.

GENERAL NOTES.

THE BIGGEST THINGS.

The largest theatre in the world is the new Opera House in Paris. It covers nearly three acres of ground. Its cubic mass is 4,287,000 feet; it cost about 100,000,000 francs.

The largest suspension bridge is the one between New York City and Brooklyn; the length of the main span is 1,595 feet 6 inches; the entire length of the bridge is 5,890 feet.

The loftiest active volcano is Popocatapetl" smoking mountain "-thirty-five miles southwest of Pueblo, Mexico; it is 17,748 feet above the sea level, and has a crater three miles in circumference and one thousand feet deep.

The longest span of wire in the world is used for a telegraph in India over the river Kistnah; it is more than 6,000 in length and 1,200 feet high.

The largest ship in the world is the Great Eastern. She is 680 feet long, 83 feet broad, 60 feet deep, 28,627 tons burden, 18,915 gross, and 13,344 tons register.

The greatest fortress, from a strategical point of view, is the famous stronghold of Gibraltar. It occupies a rock peninsula jutting out in the sea, about three miles long and three quarters of a mile wide. One central rock rises to a height of 1,435 feet above the sea level. Its northern face is almost perpendicular, while its east side is full of tremendous precipices. On the south side it terminates in what is called Europa Point. The west side is less steep than the east, and between its base and the sea is the narrow almost level span on which the town of Gibraltar is built. The fortress is considered impregnable to military assault. The regular garrison in time of peace numbers about seven thousand.

The biggest cavern is the Mammoth Cave in Edmonson county, Kentucky. It is near Green river, about six miles from Cave City, and twenty-eight miles from Bowling Green. The cave consists of a succession of irregular chambers, some of which are large, situated on different levels. Some of these are traversed by navigable branches of the subterranean Echo river. Blind fish are found in its waters.

The longest tunnel in the world is that of the St. Gothard, on the line of railroad

between Lucerne and Milan. The summit of the tunnel is 900 feet below the surface at Andermatt, and 6,600 feet beneath the peak of Kastlehorn of the St. Gothard group. The tunnel is 26% feet wide, and is 18 feet 10 inches from the floor to the crown of the arched roof. It is 9 miles longer than the Mt. Cenis tunnel.

The biggest trees in the world are the mammoth trees of California. One of a grove in Tulare county, according to measurement made by members of the Geological Survey, was shown to be 276 feet in height, 108 feet in circumference at the base, and 76 feet at a point 12 feet above ground. Some of the trees are 376 feet high and 34 feet in diameter. Some of the largest that have been felled indicate an age of from 2,000 to 2,500 years.

The largest library is the Bibliotheque National in Paris, founded by Louis XIV. It contains 1,400,000 pamphlets, 175,000 manuscripts, 300,000 maps and charts, and 150,000 coins and medals. The collection of engravings exceeds 1,300,000, contained in some 10,000 volumes. The portraits number about 10,000.

The largest desert is that of Sahara, a vast region of northern Africa, extending from the Atlantic ocean on the west to the valley of the Nile on the east. The length from east to west is about 3,000 miles, its average breadth about 900 miles, its area about 2,000,000 square miles. Rain falls in torrents in the Sahara at intervals of five, ten and twenty years. In summer the heat during the day is excessive, but the nights are often cold. In winter the temperature is sometimes below freezing point.

The greatest pyramid is that of Cheops, one of the three pyramids forming the Memphis group, situated on a plateau about 137 feet above the level of the highest rise in the Nile. Its dimensions have been reduced by the removal of the outer portion to furnish stone for the city of Cairo. Its masonry consisted originally of 80,028,000 cubic feet. The vertical height is 450 feet, against 479 feet originally. The total weight of the stone is estimated at 6,316,000 tons.

The largest bell in the world is the great bell of Moscow at the foot of the Kremlin. Its circumference at the bottom is nearly 68 feet and its height more than 21 feet. In its stoutest part it is 23 inches thick, and its weight has been computed to be 443,722 pounds. It has never been hung.- [Philadelphia Times.

The superficial area of the Swiss glaciers has been measured and found to be 209,609 hectares (say 500,000 acres), or more than half the area of the Federal Republic. Half of these again (103,726) belong to the basin of the Rhone, while but 75,050 go to feed the Rhine, 18,251 the Inn (or Danube), and 12,581 the Po. The Upper Rhine is fed from other sources (the Austrian Vorarlberg), but below Basle the river receives no glacier-fed stream.

Charles Sumner used to relate a talk in a company where Daniel Webiter was present. The question under discussion was, what were the best means of culture. Webster was silent until all had spoken. He then said: "Gentlemen, you have overlooked one of the means of culture which I consider of the first importance, and from which I have gained the most; that is, good conversation."

It has been supposed that the name "Columbia" was first used in America in 1775, but Colonel Albert H. Hovt has found it in a volume of poems composed in 1761, mostly by Harvard graduates, in commemoration of George II. and congratulations of George III., and in poems printed in the Massachusetts Gazette of April 26, 1764.

The revolution of the earth and the inclination of its axis can be shown by a top, which while spinning, goes in a circle and assumes an oblique direction.

OLD CALIFORNIA.

The following is from the lecture of Amos Bowman, of the Geological Survey, published in the Pacific Rural Press. The pliocene sea once occupied the region now known as the Sacramento Valley, and extended from near Shasta on the north to the extreme southern limit of the Tulare Valley on the south: Standing upon the top of some jutting rock, about midway up the slope of the Sierra Nevada, and looking westward, before you lies this vast departed sea of the period of the ancient rivers, embraced in one grand sweep of vision, extending some 300 miles in length, and covering about 30,000 miles of area, with a depth of over a thousand feet below the present bed of the Sacramento river, as is shown by the Stockton artesian well, which yielded golden sand near its bottom. The Marysville Buttes were then a fiery island, like Stromboli, of the Mediterranean. Farther to the north was Mount Shasta, built up to a height of 11,000 feet by its erupting lavas. Still further north, Mounts Hood and Baker-twin brothers of Shasta-presented their lofty summits, belching forth fire and smoke. Directly in front of the observer were Mounts Diablo and Tamalpais, between which were the straits which connected this sea or gulf with the ocean. In the rear and not far distant might have been seen a long line of volcanoes flaming up from far into Oregon, and following the present summit of the Sierras as far south as Silver Mountain, Mono, and beyond. This ancient sea was separated from the ocean by a low range of hills or islands, along what is now known as the Coast Range. The waters stood on the flanks of the Sierra Nevada at an altitude of about 600 feet above the present base of the foothills-near the level of where is now Shasta City; above Horse Town; not far from Oroville and Timbuctoo; somewhere between Pino and Auburn; above Knight's Ferry, and not far below the base of the Tuolumne and Calaveras Table Mountain. The shores of this ancient pliocene sea, the adjacent islands and the gentle slopes of the Sierras (not then as high as now) were clothed with forests, differing materially from those now in that locality, and embracing countless numbers of palms. Huge turtles wallowed in the shallow bay, and strange antediluvian animals-huge elephants, twice as large as any now in existence; oxen of proportionate size, and mastadons, tapirs and camels roamed through the forests. Horses were then natives of this continent, and primeval man, differing materially from any present races, was then existing, and with the animals joint possessors of the soil, and a witness of the great physical phenomena to be described. He alone, however, of the animals named, was enabled to survive the convulsions of nature and changes of climate; and this he did by his well known independence of geographical range and condition, and his superior capacity for guarding against the vicissitudes of time and change. At this time those famous rivers, the gravel-filled beds of which are now affording such abundant harvests of gold mines, were pouring their waters into the pliocene sea. Such was the physical and topographical condition of things in this portion of the world in the pliocene era-a hundred thousand years ago, more or less. But a change is Nature's law, this State of things could not exist forever.

Princeton has established a chair of pedagogics, under Professor West, and Dr. McCosh thinks it is time to follow Yale's example, and be known as Princeton University.