CURRENT LITERATURE.
The Universe/ At/as. (Cassell and Co.)—An admirable atlas, probably the beet for its price yet published. It is based upon a German Hand-A.tlas," which has been popular both in Germany and France ; but it has been completely translated and adapted in every respect but one to the wants of British pur- chasers. They will miss their old friend, the map of "the world on Mercator's Projection," which may be full of faults, but shows at a glance the relation of all countries to each other. The Atlas contains 117 maps, each printed with really won- derful clearness, and with a certain brutality of colouring as to boundaries which, to our feeling, makes a map infinitely easier to read. The reader, for example, can in the maps of Africa perceive at a glance how much the British own, and what the relation of their provinces is to those of their neighbours. The rivers, too, are most clearly marked, though we shall always maintain that their geographical importance entitles them to still bolder—which means broader—delineation. The Indian maps—and, indeed, all maps of the British Empire—are admirably full, though we miss the map of India as a whole, which, to our minds, gives the most complete idea of the vastness of our possession and of the share in it played by our direct administration. We congratulate Messrs. Cassell on a great work successfully achieved.
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