Summary of Symposium

The task I have would appear to be an impossible one. The assembled company is to be congratulated. In the ten years since the last WR Symposium, you have systematically investigated every correlation that appeared at that time to be emerging, and found most of them untrue: The WR spectra are no longer pure emission spectra (Conti et al., 1979); the WN sequence is not a simple sequence of ionisation (Leep, this symposium, session I, henceforward referred to by session number only) or of H abundance (Willis, II; Perry & Conti, II) or of mass loss rate (Barlow; Hogg; Abbott et al., III). The Of, WN and WC stars are no longer discrete classes but are bridged by intermediate types (Conti, I; Willis and Stickland, VI; Williams, IV) and there are now WO stars (Hummer & Barlow, I & V) and supermassive stars (Cassinelli et al., V) as well. The Ring Nebulae are no longer around only strong-line, single WN stars, but are found around any type of WN star, WC stars and binaries (Heckathorn et al.; Chu; Lortet et al., VI). At best, I can hope to highlight a few things about which the majority of us will agree and to point out a few contradictions.