Bowdoin Prize Dissertation.

Mr. Corey read his dissertation on the Dionysiac Theatre last night before an appreciative audience. The first excavations on the site of the theatre which had been covered, for nobody knows how many years were made by the Archaeological Association of Athens. But they were attended by little or no success.

Before the erection of the Dionysiac Theatre in the fifth century before Christ, a wooden scaffolding was used for the performance of the early dramas. The exact arrangement of stage and orchestra in the theatre is not fully understood, and archaeologists still differ widely in their views about essential features. False notions have sprung up about the appearance of the theatre through the descriptions which late Roman writers made of it. To dwell carefully on the details of this grand structure, in which the greatest of the world's dramas were performed, is one of the most grateful tasks for the modern student of archaeology.