1906-1907.] 509 



investigations ; and his methods for sealing the bottles to make 

 them watertight and floating adjustments were both ingenious 

 and clever. Altogether he may be heartily congratulated on 

 the results of his labours. 



" WHO WERE THE FAIRIES ?" 



At the close of the above lecture Mr. E. J. M'Kean, 

 B.A., B.L., favoured the members with a short lecture on " Who 

 Were the Fairies," and in dealing with his subject said that the 

 study of folk-lore in modern fashion was only fifty years old, 

 but many interesting problems had arisen — one of these being 

 connected with the fairies. At first tradition associated the 

 fairies with pagan gods and spirits, but against this theory is 

 the well-known fondness of fairies for social gatherings, whereas 

 the gods were the reverse of social. Another and most favoured 

 theor)^ is that the fairies are a tradition of a pagan ghost-world. 

 Most pagan nations believed in fairies, and the ghosts of savages 

 were supposed tO' be among the living and to be very powerful. 

 Fairies were often found in close association with ghosts. 

 Again, it was thought that the fairies were a tradition of a 

 vanished dwarf race ; this theory appealed especially to Scotch 

 and Welsh folk-lorists. The woman-stealing propensities of the 

 fairies is simply a tradition of bride-capture, not altogether 

 confined to the little people, however. Probably it is safer to 

 look upon the fairies as a traditional people, the elements of 

 whose being are made up partly of descendants of pagan deities, 

 partly of ghosts, and partly of vanished peoples, or at any rate 

 of earlier stages of civilisation. Both lectures were highly 

 interesting, and were listened to with attention and enjoyment. 

 The usual discussion took place at the close, in which the fol- 

 lowing members took a prominent part: — Messrs. Nevin H. 

 Foster, M.B.O.U., Robert Patterson, M.R.I. A., Robert Welch, 

 M.R.I.A., Robert May, and Professor Gregg Wilson. 



MOUNTING MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS. 



Mr. Hugh L. Orr presided over a meeting in the Museum 

 on the evening of 27th Februar}-. when Mr. William Gray, 



