LITERARY NOTICES. 



373 



The Cooking Manual ; or, Practical Direc- 

 tions for Economical Every Day Cook- 

 ery. By Juliet Corson, Superintendent 

 of the New York Cooking School. New 

 York : Dodd, Mead & Co. Pp. 144. 

 Price, 50 cents. 



easily read. We believe it will be found 

 eminently trustworthy as a kitchen hand- 

 book. 



Miss Corson has done well to give the 

 public this result of her experience in culi- 

 nary teaching, in a form so cheap that it 

 may have the widest possible usefulness. 

 She is a common-sense woman, and takes 

 up the subject from a point of view that is 

 thoroughly practical. The motto of her 

 book is the following significant question, 

 " How well can we live if we are moderately 

 poor ? " and it is the object of her little vol- 

 ume, as it has been the object of her school, 

 so to present the subject of cooking and 

 household management as to answer this 

 question. Her object in preparing it is 

 thus stated : " This book is intended for the 

 use of those housekeepers and cooks who 

 wish to know how to make the most whole- 

 some and palatable dishes, at the least pos- 

 sible cost. In cookery, this fact should be 

 remembered above all others a good cook 

 never wastes. It is her pride to make the 

 most of everything in the shape of food 

 intrusted to her care, and her pleasure to 

 serve it in the most appetizing form. In no 

 other way can she prove her excellence, for 

 poor cooks are always wasteful and extrava- 

 gant." To the prejudice against foreign 

 ways of cooking Miss Corson replies very 

 effectually, pointing out that the two great 

 objects to be ever secured in the kitchen 

 the art of utilizing every part of food, and 

 of making food the most palatable and en- 

 joyable are eminently French. 



Miss Corson says, " The day has passed 

 for regarding cooking as a menial and vul- 

 gar labor." She is very sanguine ; we wish 

 we could believe it. We wish we could see 

 some more decisive signs that it is passing 

 away ; we wish we could see some faint in- 

 dications that it will have passed away in a 

 hundred years! Our school system stands 

 in the way of it, and where are the symp- 

 toms of its decline? 



Miss Corson's book is full of excellent 

 information, scientific hints, practical sug- 

 gestions, and plain receipts, descriptive of 

 the preparation of many important dishes, 

 and the publishers have got it up. in a neat 

 form, with good, clear type, that can be 



The Best Reading : Hints on the Selection 

 of Books ; on the Formation of Libra- 

 ries, Public and Private ; on Courses of 

 Reading, etc., with a Classified Bibliog- 

 raphy for Easy Reference. Fourth re- 

 vised and enlarged edition, continued to 

 August, 18V6, with the Addition of Se- 

 lect Lists of the best French, German, 

 Spanish, and Italian Literature. Edited 

 by Frederick Beecher Perkins. New 

 York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 343. 

 Price, $1.75. 



This guide will be valuable to all who 

 buy books for private libraries or public 

 collections. It has been tried and found 

 successful. It names the best books now 

 usually in the market in the chief depart- 

 ments, and on the leading topics of current 

 and general literature, with their editions 

 and retail prices. It is conveniently ar- 

 ranged for ready use, and will give the book- 

 buyer a large amount of valuable informa- 

 tion, that will help him in making judicious 

 selections, either on the small or the large 

 scale. 



The Milton Anthology : Selected from the 

 Prose Writings. New York : Henry Holt 

 & Co. Pp. 486. Price, $2. 

 Milton's prose works have been so 

 eclipsed by his poetry that they are popu- 

 larly known only by hearsay ; yet so great 

 is their merit, both in a literary point of 

 view and as containing the most able and 

 eloquent defense of civil and religious lib- 

 erty which had been given to the world up 

 to his time, that the plan of collecting some 

 of his best papers in a handy volume like 

 this deserves to be commended, and will 

 no doubt be well appreciated. Though 

 there is much in these writings that reflects 

 the spirit and circumstances of the times 

 which produced them, there is much also 

 of permanent interest, and which will have 

 an enduring place in English literature. 



The Geometrid Moths of the United 

 States. By A. S. Packard, Jr., M. D. 

 Pp. 607. With numerous Plates. Wash- 

 ington : Government Printing-Ofiice. 



This elaborate work forms Volume X. 

 of Dr. Hayden's "Report of the Geological 

 Survey of the Territories." The author 



