by which a conference may be held on this day between the Congress and the Anthropological Institute, to settle the relative spheres of inquiry between Folk-lore and Anthropology. Also it is anticipated that a detailed account of the Helsingfors Folk-lore Collection will be forthcoming, as well as descriptions of the Folk-lore subjects of interest at the Ashmolean and the British Museum."
This report thus brought before all the readers of Folk-Lore, including, of course, all members of the Folk-lore Society, the scientific aims of the Congress organisers. Numerous papers were promised by intending members. But the Committee were not content to appeal solely to professed folk-lorists. Recognising that the problems of Folk-lore are in large measure those of anthropologists, of comparative mythologists, and of students of literary history, direct application was made to many scholars at home, on the Continent, and in America, to whom the Congress would otherwise probably have remained unknown. A selection was made of the papers sent in, and the programme on the opposite page was drawn up.
When the brief space allowed for the preparation of papers is considered, it will, we think, be conceded that the scheme of discussion and research embodied in the Committee's Report was realised in as full a measure as possible, and it will also, we trust, be recognised that the papers brought together in this volume form a valuable contribution to the elucidation of the problems enumerated in the report. The most serious omission is that of any study upon the ballad poetry of Western Europe. The Committee can only express its unfeigned regret that the application made to M. Gaston Paris and to his distinguished pupil, M. Jeanroy, to expound the theory of the origin and diffusion of ballads, due to the former, was, though through no lack of sympathy on the part of either scholar, unsuccessful. The editors venture to hope that the ballad-question may receive due attention at the next
