346 



American Almanac for 1856. 12mo. Boston. 



Annals and Magazine of Natural History. Nos. 97 and 98. London. 



Andrews's Latin-English Lexicon. 8vo. New York, 1855. 



The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. By J. J. Audubon and J. 

 Bachman. Vols. IL and IIL 8vo. New York, 1851. Received from the Courtis 

 Fund. 



Encycloptedia Britannica. Vol. IX. 4to. Boston, 1855. 



Dealings with the Dead. By a Sexton of the Old School. 2 Vols. 8vo. 

 Boston, 1856. 



Life of Nathan Hale. By J. M. Stuart. 12mo. Hartford, 1856. 



Biographical and Critical Miscellanies. By Wm. H. Prescott. 8vo. New 

 York, 1845. 



History of England. By T. B. Macaulay. Vols. HI. and IV. 12mo. Boston, 

 1856. 



History of Massachusetts. By J. S. Barry. 8vo. Boston, 1855. Deposited by 

 the Republican Institution. 



April 2, 1856. 



The President in the Chair. 



The following communication from Prof. Edward 

 Daniels, of Illinois, Corresponding Member, addressed 

 to Dr. C. T. Jackson, was, at the request of Prof. Daniels, 

 read to the Society : — 



Some three years since, in the town of Spring Prairie, about 

 thirty miles west of Racine, Wisconsin, a woman of low standing 

 was delivered of a dead child. It was in midwinter, when the 

 ground was frozen and covered with deep snow. There being 

 no spade, shovel, or other digging implement on the premises, 

 the husband of the'woman threw the corpse of the dead child 

 into the vault, and covered it with snow. Accumulations of fecal 

 matter soon buried the whole to some depth. This burial was 

 known only to the family, and to one or two others in the 

 vicinity. 



During the past winter, the premises having changed hands, 

 the old privy was removed, and the vault cleared out. While 



