Mr. Lawton's Lecture.

So much interest was shown by several of the students after Professor Norton's lecture on Delphi that the Classical club asked Mr. Lawton to tell what has been done since. In response to their invitation he lectured last evening in Sever hall.

As we look, said he, back upon the life of the ancient Venetians and Florentines in the times of their great progress in art we are apt to think of their life as particularly bright; perhaps even more so than our own. But they were greatly influenced by the Greeks and if we examine all art we find it more or less dependent upon the Greeks. The great features of the Greeks were simplicity, truth and beauty. And to this they added the ability to express the inward thought in visible form. We have more or less lost the spirit of the Greeks and our sentiments are mostly confined to christianity. As scholars have realized this they have turned to the work of the ancients and tried to bring the Greek spirit before us in innumerable books. The Archaeological Institute was founded to examine the monuments of all men but as they think they can do more service to man by excavating the works of the ancients they have confined themselves to that field.

Work began in Asos in 1881 and in consequence of the success of the adventure an American school was established at Athens. The students, thirty in number, come in direct contact with the work of the great masters and no more broadening influence can be exerted on men than being present with these ancient works of art. The French school is a marked example of this. The students returning thoroughly interested in their work have influenced the whole French system of education. The Athenian school is a centre from which men may start in their researches, and Athens itself has many advantages as a place for a school. The climate is good for at least eight months in the year, all the comforts of any European capital can be got there, the students are surroueded by classical objects, and it is a centre for students of other nations, thus bringing together a large number of intellectual men. Great advances have been made in excavations the past few years and Athens grows more and more sugg stive of its former self. Railroads are being built and soon traveling will be made much easier.

We are all pretty well acquainted with the descriptions of the beautiful situation of ancient Delphi but now the seat of the temple is covered with some two hundred huts of natives. A few remaining facts may not be out of place. The old temple was burned in 548. No one knows how long it had been built nor exactly how it was constructed. Only a single chamber, the one containing the oracle, was saved from the fire and this was built into the new temple. Apollo was the chief deity but there are some proofs that Bacchus was worshiped there before Apollo. People of all nations worshiped at the shrine and so many presents were given that in the time of Pliny, after Delphi had been plundered many times, there remained three thousand. The excavations so far have revealed a wall 13 feet high and 500 feet long which formed the upper terrace upon which the temple was built. The positions of the theatre, race course, council hall and several small temples have been located. But above all they have found that the floor of the temple remains whole. From this they can determine the structure of the temple, because as it was open to the weather, the places where the pillars stood will be clearly marked.

But no further work can be done until the treaty has been made with the government, and to accomplish this money is needed. Contributions have been sent in all the way from $500 to $1 both from individuals and colleges. Even the public schools of Boston are contributing. But Harvard College stands in a unique position and much interest is taken in what she will subscribe. In five years she has hadthree directors and one chairman in the society. The Ins itute is working hard to secure the required amount of some $80,000, and if they do not succeed in the next six weeks the United States will have lost a great opportunity to gain glory and respect.