Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/43

Rh incidents, and, more particularly when an apparently alien incident occupies in all the variants a fixed place in the sequence, we agree that the tale, as a whole, was imported from some single original centre, wherever that may be. If the new theory of transmission ultimately prevails, it may help us to substitute for the doctrine of the race transmission a different conception, that of local evolution controlled by the clash and contact of peoples, if we recognise that such clash and contact is the true seed-bed of folklore. The meeting of two groups, each with its own stock of beliefs and tradition, necessitates, if one is to understand the other, the creation of myth and legend. Thus, the clash of Christianity on paganism in western Europe has proved one of the most fertile sources from which our existing folklore has originated.

I have dwelt this evening specially upon folklore in its scientific aspect. It remains for us to endeavour to establish anthropology on its psychical side as the central unifying science which will systematize those with which it is most intimately associated. We start on our early middle age with bright hopes for the future. We have done much to improve our methods. We are learning to generalize with more caution, to practise what a great writer on sociology called "animated moderation," to admit that the laws of evidence control our Proceedings no less than those of the Courts of Justice. Folklore, in short, is gradually coming into its kingdom, and it is no longer compelled, like the priest-king of the Arician grove, to fight periodically for its life. We trust that in the new quarters which we have obtained through the generosity of the Provost and Committee of University College we may enter on a new career of prosperity. We have now secured excellent accommodation for our library, accessions to which will be gratefully received. Our association with a great educational centre will, we trust, bring the study of the folk beliefs and usages of mankind more prominently