626 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Practical Cookery and Dinner -giving. 

 A Treatise containing Practical Instruc- 

 tions in Cooking ; in the Combination 

 and serving of Dishes ; and in the Fash- 

 ionable Modes of entertaining, at Break- 

 last, Lunch, and Dinner. Illustrated. 

 By Mrs. Mary F. Henderson. Harper 

 &"Brothers. Pp. 376. Price, $1.50. 



Notwithstanding the multitude of 

 books, good, bad, and indifferent, that treat 

 of cooking and eating in all their aspects, 

 the subject is yet far enough from being 

 exhausted the plenitude of its literature 

 serving chiefly to convince us of the impor- 

 tance of the subject. But there is evidently 

 an awakening in the culinary world, and a 

 growing sense that, although it may have 

 rained cook-books for a century, the work 

 of reforming the kitchen and dining-room, 

 and bringing them into some rational method 

 of management, remains still to be accom- 

 plished. The dissatisfaction with bad cook- 

 ing and barbarous eating is steadily spread- 

 ing, cooking-schools are multiplying, and 

 many are asking anxiously what can be 

 done to amend our imperfect and evil ways 

 in the preparation and serving of food. 



Mrs. Henderson has therefore chosen a 

 fitting time to put forth the results of her. 

 study, observation, and experience, on these 

 important matters, and her volume, we 

 think, will be widely welcomed and appre- 

 ciated, as an excellent contribution to the 

 literature of domestic economy, at the 

 present time. It is comprehensive and 

 practical, and meets the general wants 

 of families in a satisfactory way. It con- 

 tains much information in regard to culi- 

 nary implements, processes of cooking, and 

 the methodical operations of the kitchen, 

 which if made available will be certain in 

 most cases to improve that branch of the 

 domestic establishment. It is the merit of 

 Mrs. Henderson's book that it is something 

 more than a compilation ; it has grown out 

 of her own practical interest in kitchen- 

 work, much observation and correspond- 

 ence, and an enthusiasm for housekeeping 

 which ought to be more frequent among 

 ladies. She gives an excellent array of 

 selected receipts, many tested by herself, 

 and others by competent friends, while the 

 choice seems to have been made with dis- 

 crimination, such only being offered as have 

 " stood the test of time and experience." 



An important portion of Mrs. Hender- 



son's book, and which will meet a want in 

 many families, is the prominent attention 

 she gives to the art of serving meals. She 

 says, in her preface : " Care has been taken 

 to show how it is possible with moderate 

 means to keep a hospitable table, leaving 

 each reader for herself to consider the 

 manifold advantages of making home, so 

 far as good living is concerned, comfortable 

 and happy." Mrs. Henderson expatiates 

 on " the fashionable modes of entertaining 

 at breakfast, luncheon, and dinner," but 

 insists that, in this case, fashion is not the 

 equivalent of folly. There is a general im- 

 pression that the genteel mode of doing the 

 thing is expensive and extravagant. This 

 would, of course, be so in many cases 

 where ostentation is the object, but accord- 

 ing to Mrs. Henderson it is not necessarily 

 so. "Fortunately," she says, " the fashion- 

 able mode is the one calculated to give the 

 least anxiety and trouble to a hostess." 

 People will no doubt continue to dispense 

 breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, on a scale 

 proportioned to their means, but the author 

 of this book aims to point out how a fam- 

 ily can live well and in good style, and at 

 the same time with reasonable economy. 

 The book is written in a simple, direct, and 

 common-sense manner, that leaves nothing 

 wanting in the way of clearness. 



A Course of Practical Instruction in 

 Elementary Biology. By T. H. Hux- 

 ley, LL. D., etc., assisted by H. N. 

 Martin, B. A., etc. Macmillan & Co., 

 1876. Second edition, revised. 



Prof. Huxley has made himself remark- 

 able among the leading scientific lights of 

 the day, quite as much by the ease and as- 

 siduity with which he has simplified and 

 expounded to the unlearned the mysteries 

 of natural history as by the mental acu- 

 men and power which have enabled him to 

 discover so many of those mysteries. He 

 is known better, perhaps, in England to-day 

 as a teacher than as an investigator ; hence 

 it is not surprising that he has undertaken 

 to sketch out and supervise the little book, 

 costing only two dollars, of elementary bio- 

 logical lessons, which has been written by 

 Prof. Martin, his former assistant and now 

 Professor of Zoology at Hopkins University 

 in Baltimore. It has grown out of Prof. Hux- 

 ley's own experience as a teacher, and hence 



