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medals. The Huygens medal was conferred on Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, of whom the president said: "His preponderating share in the invention of the telephone, now so long ago as 1876, and his practical investigations in phonetics, have laid modern civilization under deep obligation to him, while his numerous other inventions and experiments show the fertility of his genius."

Chicago Academy of Sciences has appreciated the interest in astronomy and the difficulty met in trying to become familiar with even the brighter stars and more commonly known constellations. Various plans for promoting this study were considered by the academy. The flat star charts are confusing to the untrained observer, and the globes on the outside of which stars are sometimes represented are unsatisfactory. To avoid these difficulties the sphere now in the academy building and here shown in illustrations was invented by Dr. Wallace W. Atwood, secretary of the society and director of the