It is hardly necessary to say to any of our readers interested in the history or analysis of the English language, that the author of this learned and able volume is the latest and the best authority in the matter of which it treats. The preface to the present American edition asserts but the simple truth, when it declares that “Dr. Latham now takes rank among the ablest Ethnologists of the age, and that few have been more successful in unraveling the difficulties that involve the origin and formation of the English tongue, in its connection with our early history as a people. He has brought the labors of all who have written upon the various ramifications of the Indo-European languages, to bear upon the elucidation of our mother tongue, with an acuteness of criticism and a breadth of view, that distances all his predecessors or contemporaries in the same field.” It may be added also that Dr. Latham’s method and style are in pleasing contrast to the wavering, uncertain, choose-for-yourself-between-two-ways manner, characteristic of many philologists. His analysis penetrates to the core of the matter, and processes and results are stated with an austere condensation of language, which is jealous of one useless word. As a work wherein to obtain definite ideas of the history and grammatical structure of our language, we do not know its equal. * * * * * _Arctic Searching Expedition: a Journal of a Boat-Voyage through Rupert’s Land and the Arctic Sea, in Search of the Discovery Ships under command of Sir John Franklin. By Sir John Richardson, C. B., F.R.S. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1 vol. 12mo._ The interest, so general all over the civilized world, felt in every thing which relates to Franklin’s Expedition, will command for this volume an extensive circulation. Sir John Richardson’s account of his long voyage is especially valuable for the large amount of information it gives respecting the climate, the physical geography, the plants, and the Indians of the regions he visited. He has the accurate observation of the man of science, with something of a humorist’s eye for character, and his details of his winter quarters among the Chepewyans is quite amusing as well as instructive. Throughout the volume there is an entire absence of pretension and exaggeration, and every page adds to the reader’s first favorable impression of the author’s modesty, energy, and intelligence. * * * * * _Essays from the London Times. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1 vol. 16mo._