The Harpers have just commenced the issue of this beautiful work, which is to be completed in twenty numbers. The mechanical execution is very neat, and the wood engravings, from sketches by the author, are admirable. Mr. Lossing writes with ardor and elegance, his mind filled with his themes, and boiling over at times into passages of descriptive eloquence. The book, when completed, will contain an account of the localities and action of all the battles of the Revolution, illustrated by six hundred engravings. The enterprise deserves success. * * * * * _A Discourse on the Baconian Philosophy. By Samuel Tyler, of the Maryland Bar. Second Edition Enlarged. New York: Baker & Scribner. 1 vol. 12mo._ This work is very creditable to American literature as a careful and learned Discourse on a large subject, demanding a knowledge not only of Bacon but of Plato and Descartes. Mr. Tyler evinces a thorough comprehension of the externals of the subject, and few can read his book without an addition to their knowledge; but we think he misses Bacon’s method in his application of it to metaphysics and theology. The peculiar vitality of Bacon’s axioms he often overlooks in his admiration of their formal expression, and occasionally astonishes the reader by making Bacon commonplace, and then lauding the commonplace as the highest wisdom. * * * * * _The Unity of the Human Races Proved to be the Doctrine of Scripture, Reason, and Science. By the Rev. Thomas Smith, D. D. New York: Geo. P. Putnam. 1 vol._ It is well known that Professor Agassiz, at the last meeting in Charleston of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, startled the audience with an expression of disbelief in the doctrine that all mankind sprung from one original parent. The present book, in some degree the result of his remark, takes strong ground in favor of the common faith on the point. It is worthy of attentive consideration from all readers, especially as it popularises the important subject of Races—a subject generally monopolized by technical _savans_; in unreadable books. * * * * * Arthur’s Gazette.—We take great pleasure in calling the attention of our readers to the prospectus of Mr. Arthur’s newspaper, as set forth in full upon the cover of Graham for this month. Mr. Arthur’s name is a household word the Union over; his stories have penetrated every village of the country, and are read with delight for their high moral tone and eminently practical character. The title is therefore very fitly chosen, and we shall be much mistaken if the _Home_ Gazette is not welcomed from the start at thousands of firesides, as a chosen and familiar friend.