Some Educational Institutions, Part I [pp. 74-77]

SOME EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
arbors of grape-vines, among which grow
rare plants and flowers and some very large
palm-trees. In the adjoining vineyard are
seen olive trees planted in the year 1805.
There are eighteen class rooms and two
study halls, all of which are large and well
ventilated and well furnished.
The scientific department has a separate
building, the main front extending 110 feet
and two wings running 82 feet deep. The
roof is a floored walk, protected by a balustrade. The tower, or belvedere, is ninetythree feet high to the base of the flagstaff.
The building contains science lecture rooms,
chemical laboratory, philosophical cabinets,
museum, and libraries. There are seven
sectional or branch libraries located in the
various departments and selected severally
with a special view to the particular wants
of the professors, the science room, the
Philalethic, the Philhistorians, the Sodalities, the Dramatic and the Musical societies.
The principal library of the College possesses one of the choicest collections of
books in the State. Many of the works are
very rare, some nearly four centuries old
and in an excellent state of preservation.
Among the numerous works worthy of notice is a collection of three hundred and
fifty volumes, reproducing in their original
text the most prominent historical and polemical writings of antiquity from the first
century of the Christian era to the ninth;
a manual of asceticism in thirty-three lan
guages and a manuscript choir book on
parchment, bound in wood and massive
bronze.
The Exhibition hall is a building 113 by
143 and 76 feet high, and is provided with
a stage and has a seating capacity of about
1500. The stage is provided with all necessary appurtenances, sets of scenery, and a
handsome drop curtain. This building, as
well as all the others, is supplied with ample means of egress. The stairs at each of
its four corners are enclosed in independent
turrets, thus adding much to the safety of
the building.
The literary and commercial departments
are lodged in a building 184 by 43 feet.
This building contains on the first floor classrooms of rhetoric, grammar, and languages.
The second floor is occupied by the coirmercial rooms which are subdivided into offices
representing the more important lines of
business.
A spacious room is allotted to the school
of design, where architectural and mechanical drawing are taught.
There are ten music rooms and the pupils
have a College brass band and a College orchestra.
The printing office is furnished with two
presses worked by steam.
There are gymnasiums, play grounds, and
a swimming tank, and many a long shady
walk for quieter recreation.
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SANTA CLARA COLLEGE FROM THE ALAMEDA
77