At a meeting of the Society of Arts and Sciences in New York last night Harlow Shapley, Paine Professor of Practical Astronomy, was awarded the Society's gold medal for distinction in science. After the dinner Shapley made an acceptance speech in which he dealt with some of the many questions in cosmogony that are now puzzling scientists.

Dr. William Crocker of the Boyce Thompson institute was awarded the medal at the same time. This award is given for special merit in the field of science and Invention and such eminent scientists as Thomas A. Edison, Robert Andrews Millikan, Albert A. Michelson, James McKeen Catell, and Gilbert N. Lewis have won the prize.

In his talk Shapley pointed out that three things among the many that confuse astronomers are (1) The origin, nature, and persistence of Cosmic meteors, appearing in the earth's atmosphere, coming from interstellar space and wholly independent of the solar system; (2) The existence of vagabond stars, intergalactic tramps, at the borders of the galaxy; and (3) The groupings and streams of the galaxies throughout the metagalactic structure, where we should expect uniform individual distribution.