60 Royal Academies of London and Paris. 



tention. We have often been surprised to think what an im- 

 mense value is every year washed into the Thames from the wa- 

 ter-closets, &c. in London, through the common sewers ; but the 

 difficulty of obviating this loss, without great sacrifices in clean- 

 liness, comfort and health — blessings above all price in a large 

 community — always struck us so forcibly, that till we perused the 

 pamphlet before us, we never thought of the possibility of pre- 

 serving, nay, improving these, and at the same time preserving 

 separately, both the soil and the uririe for the purposes of agri- 

 culture. The object is so highly valuable as to be worthy of 

 Legislative interference ; and we recommend the subject to the 

 most serious consideration of all who take an interest in the wel- 

 fare of mankind. 



In the Press, 

 A third edition of Dr. Merriman's Synopsis of the various Kinds 

 of difficult Parturition ; with Additions, and an Appendix of 

 illustrative Cases, plates, &c. 



IX. Proceedings of Learned Socielies. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



A PAPER On the Polarization of Light, by J. F. W. Herschcl, 

 Esq. F.R.S. was commenced reading on the 9th, and continued 

 on the 16th and 23d December 1819, when the Society adjourned 

 for the Christmas vacation. 



HOYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, PARIS. 



This body has proposed the following prize subject: 

 To furnish a comparative description of the brain in the four 

 classes of vertebral animals ; particularly in reptiles and fishes : 

 endeavouring thence to ascertain the analogy of the different parts 

 of this organ, carefully marking the changes of form and propor- 

 tion which they present, and tracing out, as accurately as possi- 

 ble, the roots of the cerebral nerves. Observations on a certain 

 number of genera will be sufficient; but it is required that the 

 principal preparations be represented by drawings, so detailed 

 that they may thence be reproduced, and their accuracy deter- 

 mined. The prize is a gold medal of the value of 3000 francs, 

 to be adjudged in the Public Sitting of May 1821. The me- 

 moirs, written in French or in Latin, to be transmitted to the 

 Secretary of the Institute by tl^e 1st of January of that year. 



SOCIETY OF PRACTICAL MEDICINE, PARIS. 



This Society offers a gold medal, of the value of 200 francs. 



