COOK, Joseph, author, born in Ticonderoga, New York, 26 January, 1838. He is the son of a farmer. When he was nine years of age he attended an auction of a district-school library, and purchased every book of merit in the collection. As a reward for good scholarship he was offered his choice, between a watch and a cyclopedia, and chose the latter. He entered Yale in 1858, but, his health becoming impaired, he left early in 1861. In 1863 he entered Harvard as a junior, and was graduated in 1865, not only receiving high honors, but carrying off several prizes. Mr. Cook then studied three years at Andover, adding a fourth year for special study of advanced religious and philosophical thought. A license was granted to him, but he declined all invitations to any settlement as pastor. He preached in Andover during 1868-'70, and was acting pastor in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1870-'1. In 1871 he went to Europe and studied at Halle, Leipsic, Berlin, and Heidelberg, then travelled in Italy, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, and northern Africa. Returning to the United States near the close of 1873, he became a lecturer on the relations of religion, science, and current reform. His lectures in Tremont temple, Boston, soon became widely known as the " Boston Monday Lectures," and, although delivered at noonday, they drew audiences to the full capacity of the hall, which seats 3,000. The lectures were reported in many newspapers, and were afterward issued in book-form. Philosophy, science, and polities were discussed, and so great was their popularity that a series was prepared for general delivery. The following topics were selected, and, as occasion offered, the lectures were delivered in various cities of the United States: 1. "Does Death end All°t" 2. "Seven Modern Wonders." 3. "Ultimate America." 4. " Certainties in Religion." 5. "England and America as Competitors and Allies." 6. "Political Signs of the Times." 7. "Alcohol and the Human Brain." 8. "Law and Labor, Property and Poverty." 9. " God in Natural Law°" 10. "Religious Signs of the Times." 11. " What saves Men, and Why?" 12. "A Night on the Acropolis." During the winter of 1878-'9 Mr. Cook conducted a Boston Monday-noon lectureship and a New York Thursday-evening lectureship, besides filling a large number of engagements. In 1880, in answer to invitations from abroad, he decided to make a lecturing tour around the world. He was everywhere received with immense audiences. He made 135 public appearances in Great Britain, passed several months in Germany and Italy, and went to India by way of Greece, Palestine, and Egypt. From India his tour extended to China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the Sandwich islands, returning home by way of San Francisco. In Japan he gave twelve lectures--six in English and six through an interpreter--to audiences composed chiefly of Japanese students, teachers, and public men. Mr. Cook's popularity arises from the fact that he attempts to show that science is in harmony with religion and the Bible. His published works are "Biology" (Boston, 1877); " Transcendentalism "(1877); "Orthodoxy" (1877); "Conscience" (1878); "Heredity" (1878); "Marriage" (1878); "Labor" (1879); " Socialism" (1880); "Occident" (1884); "Orient" (1886).