work on the Tribes of Bengal, and his valuable report on the Census of India completed in 1901 under his superintendence; and W. Irvine, the historian of the later Moghul Empire, for his admirable edition of the Storia do Mogor by Niccolao Manucci, in which he made an important contribution to our knowledge of Indian beliefs and usage. Mr. W. G. Aston, a valued contributor to our Proceedings, was the author of standard works on the Shintoism of Japan; Dr. J. Beddoe devoted a long life to investigating the ethnology of Great Britain and Ireland; and Professor A. H. Keane did much to popularise the study of anthropology.
It is with much pleasure that we congratulate Sir E. B. Tylor, the leader of the English school of folklore, Sir Laurence Gomme, Sir A. J. Evans, and Sir B. C. A. Windle on the honour which has been conferred upon them; and we address a message of hearty goodwill to our German colleagues on the celebration of the centenary of the first publications of those classical works on the folklore, tradition, custom, and ritual of the Teutonic people which entitle the brothers Grimm to rank as the founders of this branch of research in Europe.
Since the foundation of our Society we have steadily advanced our frontiers. It is perhaps fortunate that in the earlier stages of its career we hesitated to restrict its studies by a precise definition of aims and methods. It was certainly a happy inspiration when in 1846 Mr. Thoms invented the term Folklore to designate "that department of the study of antiquities and archaeology which embraces everything relating to ancient observances and customs, to the notions, beliefs, traditions, superstitions, and prejudices of the common people." But in the stage which we have now reached this definition is inadequate, and in popular estimation gives an imperfect idea of the work on which we are engaged. In the first place, it limited our enquiries to the people of these islands; secondly, it connotes the stage
