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application to grass, which, alone can receive it the year round, though it may 
be occasionally applied with advantage to other crops within easy reach of 
the line or area laid down for the continuous application to grass. 5th. That 
the direct result of the general application of town sewage to grass land 
would be an enormous increase in the production of milk (butter and cheese) 
and meat, whilst by the consumption of the grass a large amount of solid 
manure, applicable to arable land and crops generally, would be produced. 
6th. That the cost or profit to a town, of arrangements for the removal and 
utilization of its sewage must vary greatly, according to its position and to 
the character of the land to be irrigated ; where the sewage can be conveyed 
by gravitation and a sufficient tract of suitable land is available, the town 
may realize a profit ; but, under contrary conditions, it may have to submit 
to a pecuniary loss to secure the necessary sanitary advantages. 
ASTRONOMY. 
The anniversary meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society, held on the 
9th ult., claims our first attention ; and first to be mentioned among the 
things done on that day is the award of the gold medal to Professor Adams — 
Neptune Adams — for his contributions to the Theory of the Moon. Mr. 
De la Rue’s address, in which he details the many claims of the recipient, 
is one of the most masterly astronomical essays which we have read for a 
long time, and many who peruse it will probably leam for the first time how 
much important work has been done of late years by one of the two whose 
names — teste Sir John Herschel — “ genius and destiny have joined,” “to be 
pronounced together so long as language shall celebrate the triumphs of 
science in her sublimest works.” The following pregnant note is given as an 
appendix to the address, — it is from M. Hansen, who has been quoted by 
some as by no means indorsing Mr. Adams’s work. 
“ I have never disputed the theory of the secular equation of the moon’s 
longitude, such as Mr. Adams was the first to propound As the 
co-efficient which results from Mr. Adams’s theory does not accord with 
observations, it could not be employed for the lunar tables, for in the con- 
struction of tables, either planetary or lunar, the first condition to be fulfilled 
is to construct them in such a manner that they represent observations 
as closely as possible ; for without this they would be of no practical value, 
and therefore useless.” 
The Rev. C. Pritchard, who has for so long so ably fulfilled the office of 
secretary, in which post his high mathematical attainments have been of the 
greatest assistance to the Society, succeeds Mr. De la Rue as president ; and, 
if we mistake not, his year of office promises to be a useful one. Mr. Stone 
takes the post of secretary, and the Council has been recruited by Captain 
Noble and Mr. Lockyer. 
It should be a subject of congratulation to all interested in the science, that 
the Society is so rapidly increasing its members and becoming rich ; we trust 
