[Proc. B.N.F.C., 



WINTER SESSION. 



Note. — The Authors of the various papers, of which abstracts are here 

 appended, are alone responsible for the views expressed in them. 



HE opening meeting of the Session was held on 22nd 

 November, the Rev. W. M'llwaine, D.D., as President, 

 occupying the chair. There was a large attendance 

 both of ladies and gentlemen, it having been pretty generally 

 known among the members, though not by public advertisement, 

 that the chairman was about to discuss the subject of spiritualism, 

 and to give his opinions thereon, in the address inaugurating the 

 session. The paper read by him commenced with a graphic 

 sketch of the proceedings of the British Association at Glasgow, 

 in the month of August last, in which the address of the president 

 (Dr. Andrews) was highly commended, and reference made to the 

 various subjects discussed in the sections of the Association. Dr. 

 Macllwaine mentioned with approbation the fact that no topic 

 had been introduced by any of the principal speakers calculated 

 to wound the feelings of any member, with the single exception 

 of that which was read in the Anthropological Section by Pro- 

 fessor Barrett, of the Royal College of Science, Dublin, on the 

 subject of spiritualism. Dr. Macllwaine considered that the in- 

 troduction of such a subject there was wholly unsuitable, and 



