AMERICAN EXPLORERS. The United States has played a late but an honorable part in the work of Polar discovery. The names of Kane, Hayes, Hall and De Long recall memories of labors and sufferings in the cause which may be placed alongside the best achievements of the navigators of other nations. The stories of the adventures and hardships of these heroes and martyrs of the Arctic regions are not, however, easily accessible to the general public. They are either severally published in large and costly volumes, or are still only to be found in the official records of the United States Government. The scale, as well as the price, of these narratives makes them unsuitable for consultation, more especially by young readers. Professor Nourse has, therefore, done excellent service in preparing, chiefly from official sources, the records of _American Exploration in the Ice Zones_, and in giving them a popular form. The volume embraces notices of the expeditions sent out by Mr. Grinnell, under De Haven and Kane, for the relief of Sir John Franklin; the late Admiral Rodger's explorations in the seas north of Behring Strait; the voyages of Hayes and Hall up Smith Sound; Schwatka's remarkable sledge journey of three thousand miles in search of the records and journals of the Franklin Expedition; the disastrous cruise of the _Jeannette_, and the expeditions sent out by land and sea to the rescue of De Long and his crew. There are also short accounts of United States' explorations in the Antarctic regions, and a statement of the object, and position of the Arctic observers under the United States Signal Stations. One of these stations, as we know, has been placed at Lady Franklin Bay, Smith Sound, in the very forefront of the battle with the forces of the polar ice; for two seasons nothing has been heard of it, and relief ships are at this moment on their way to the north, in the hope of opening communications with Lieutenant Greeley and the other missing men. The history of American exploration in the ice zones is therefore still in course of being enacted. So far as it has already gone it is a record of which any nation might be proud. It could not well have been epitomized with greater skill and knowledge than has been shown by Professor Nourse; and his volume should have a popularity not confined to the United States.--_The Scotsman, Edinburgh, Scotland._ EVENING REST. By J.L. Pratt. Young Folks' Library. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price 25 cts.