Professor Pickering Honored.

The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of England was awarded to Professor E. C. Pickering, of the Harvard Observatory, on the occasion of the society's annual meeting, held February 8. Mr. Choate received the medal in behalf of Professor Pickering, who was unable to be present in person, owing to the pressure of his duties here.

The medal is annually awarded by the society in recognition of notable astronomical investigations and is regarded as a mark of the highest distinction. It was given to Professor Pickering for his research in regard to variable stars, and his valuable work in astronomical photography. He received the award once before, in 1866, and therefore shares with Le Verier, the French astronomer, the distinction of being one of the two foreign scientists whom the Royal Society has thus twice honored.