How Mr. Decou Won His Fellowship

As showing how high were the houors attained by two of the graduates of Michigan University and how much credit is thereby reflected on the University the following froin the New York Evening Post will prove of interest: The two fellowships in classical archaeology offered for the year 1895-6 by the managing committee of the American School of Clasical Studies at Athens have just Deen awarded. The successful applicants were Frank C. Babbitt, A. B.(1890) and Ph. D. (1895) at Harvard, and Herbert F. DeCou, A. B. (1888) and A. M. (1890) at the University of Michigan. Mr. DeCou was a student at the school at Athens in 88-92, and for the last three years has been an instructor in the University of Michigan. These fellowships, each of the value of $600, were awarded by a special corumittee, on the basis of such written evidence of fitness as the candidates were albe to furnish The showing made by the applicants was unexpectedly strong. This was gratifying, but it made the decisión of the cornmittee difficult. There were seventeen applicants, two of themwomen. These candidates had taken their first degee at thirteen different American colleges; four had received the degree of doctor of philosopby by examination six had studied abroad. Fifteen were teachers, five holding the rank of professor er assistant professor. Twenty-four fellowships or scholarships had been held by them. Their studies had been carried on in twentyone different colleges and universities, five in Germany included. The applicants had previously been students at the school at Athens. All the applicants except four had done gradúate work in some university of good reputaiton. When a student at the school iu 8992, Mr. DeCou made an important discovery which furnishes another ainusing instance of the disposition of the makers of books to draw on their decessors for facts without careful veriflcation. While making a carefnl smdy of the frieze of the choregic monument of Lysicrates, he discovered that the frieze would uot square with the representations of it in books. The original frieze natuarlly seemed to him to have the greater authority. He traced the error back througli seven different works by authorsof reputation,pnblished between 1825 and 1890, and discovered that its source was the original publicación of Stuart and Revett, in whioh two of the sheets containing the drawings had been misplaced, thus reversing the proper order of the figures ! This set the originaJ composition sadly askew, but the learned authors of the books never twigged the blunder - one of thein, indeed, especially commended the symmetry shown in the composition of this portion of the relief. The deductions which Mr. DeCou was himself able to draw froru a correct knowledge of the relief are of great imnortance.