This little book will certainly elicit commendation from all who consider the subject of dress within the pale of aesthetic treatment; and, what is still more fortunate, it will probably serve to elevate, in some degree, the standard of taste among that large class of persons for whom handy volumes are chiefly compiled.  Its statements and deductions are accurate, sensible, comprehensive and practical, and the style in which they are presented is simple and attractive.  The color, form and suitability of dress, as well as the best methods of economy in its purchase and manufacture, are intelligently treated.  We have only to regret the want of a chapter devoted to the hygiene of dress, which is a subject deserving the earnest attention of every friend of physical development.  Ten or a dozen pages given to this topic might have done a service to hundreds who are willing enough to gather knowledge in passing, but who are repelled from the separate consideration of any subject which seems to call for the exercise of serious thought.

* * * * *

A Sketch Map of the Nile Sources and Lake Region of Central Africa, showing Dr. Livingstone’s Discoveries and Mr. Stanley’s Route.  Folio, folded.  Philadelphia:  T. Elwood Zell.

A clear, well-executed polychrome map, evidently copied from the one recently published in England, if not actually printed there.  It exhibits not only the route of Dr. Livingstone during the period included between the years 1866 and 1872, and that taken by Mr. Stanley in his recent search, but also the course which the former proposes to follow in the prosecution of his discoveries.  The boundaries of lakes and the courses of rivers, where definitely known, are indicated by unbroken lines—­where still supposititious, by dotted ones.  The map, which is printed on heavy paper, is thirteen inches wide by eighteen inches long, and being folded within a stiff duodecimo cover, can be easily preserved and readily consulted.

Books Received.

Papers relating to the Transit of Venus in 1874.  Prepared under the Direction of the Commissioners authorized by Congress.  Washington, D.C.:  Government Printing-office.

Reports on Observations of Encke’s Comet during its Return in 1871.  By Asaph Hall and Wm. Harkness.  Washington, D.C.:  Government Printing-Office.

Harry Delaware; or, An American in Germany.  By Mathilde Estvan.  New
York:  G.P.  Putnam & Sons.

California for Health, Pleasure and Residence.  By Charles Nordhoff.  New
York:  Harper & Brothers.

The Lives of General U.S.  Grant and Henry Wilson.  Philadelphia:  T.B. 
Peterson & Brothers.

The Romance of American History.  By M. Schele de Vere.  New York:  G.P. 
Putnam & Sons.

Book of Ballads, Tales and Stories.  By Benjamin G. Herre.  Lancaster,
Pa.:  Wylie & Griest.

The Poet at the Breakfast Table.  By Oliver Wendell Holmes.  Boston:  James
R. Osgood & Co.