Gift to the Minnesota Historical Society.

The Minnesota Historical Society has just been presented by the Hon. L. D. Gilfillan with an ancient work on Geography, in three volumes. The books, which are printed in Latin and bound in parchment, are entitled "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive Atlus Novus." It was printed in 1645 at Amsterdam, and bears the name of a famous geographer of that time, Joannes Bloev, as author. The "Atlas Hovus is full of maps, all beautifully colored by hand and frequently surrounded by emblematic devices, together with scenes in the country represented. The unknown regions of the world are populated by horrid monsters creatures of the author's vivid imagination. On many of the maps animals are pictured supposed to show the species by which the region is especially characterized. On the plate representing New England, what is now Connecticut is occupied by two sickly rabbits, Western New York is given up to deer and on the St. Lawrence River, or "Magnus Fluvius Novi Belgae" as the Atlas calls it, a couple of pelicans stand gazing at each other in mute admiration. The author describes North America as being divided into "New France, New Spain, Virginia, Florida, New Granada and California, which are inhabited by copper-colored barbarians of horrid mien. The work cost 300 marks in Dresden, Germany.