The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Page 8 West Vancouver Historical Society April 2000 ^^taveilet s ^^^ales Many WVHS members travel to different parts of the world and it has been suggested that readers might like to hear what museums which they have visited have on show. Of course, we will hear about items of special interest to our "globetrotters", but we trust you will find these items to be of interest. Your editor was "encouraged" to share the first of what we hope will be many such articles. On a recent visit to Britain we visited many fascinating musuems and art galleries, especially in London. However the musuem of special interest to us was the newest one of all when in Edinburgh we found the lovely new Musuem of Scotland. The architects of the "New" Museum have constructed a very modem building of red sandstone which blends in well with the "Old" museum and its surrounding ancient buildings. The whole project wins much praise from its large volume of visitors. From the basement to the top of the tower the museum is full of vastly different items, from the smallest ancient oil lamp to some of the largest engines from the time of the industrial revolution. Each floor covers different centuries. It starts from the beginning of known time in the basement (did you know that the British Isles were once a part of South America?) to the latest productions of modem technology on the seventh floor - it is all there in one form or another. There were diaoramas of the widely differing climatic changes over the eons, from the equatorial to the ice age, with different plant and animal life forms pertinent to each stage; beautiful Celtic jewellery and artifacts; Roman architecture and armour, large hour-glasses (which were used in churches throughout the land) to ensure each minister preached a sermon for the requisite number of hours demanded by the session and congregation. The Reformation movement, which was very strong in Scotland, took itself very seriously in those days! There is so much of interest, and such a variety of different subjects, that one day gives the visitor hardly enough time to take it all in. However, one item which caught our fancy was "The Maiden", the Scottish forerunner of the French guiUotine. Used mainly as a threat, it executed approximately 70 people over 120 years -not as busy as the days of the French Revolution.. It certainly puts a different face on the phrase "The Auld Alliance" I Laureen Jones outside Gertrude Lawson House The "Maiden” Photo: Gladys Lee Photo: Gavin Vernon