942 REPORT — 1898. 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10. 

 This Section did not meet. 



MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12. 

 The following Papers were read : — 



1. Political Geography. By J. Scott Keltie, LL.D., Sec. R.G.S. 



Geography, like most other departments of science, is capable of practical 

 applications to human affairs, and the application of the data of physical geography 

 and anthropogeography to Communities, States, or Nations is Political Geography. 



Physical conditions, such as position on the Earth's surface, determining seasons 

 and climate, the surface characteristics of a region, such as its orography and 

 hydro"Taphy, and the dimensions of the tevritorj', all have direct hearings on the 

 State. The question of boundaries and their definition is of vital importance in 

 this respect, the natural limit of a neutral zone of desert, or at least waste land 

 between two nations, gave way to the defined frontier, as often as not an arbitrary 

 line not coincident with any natural feature, and of a validity depending on the 

 general acceptation of the treaties by which it is defined. 



The utilisation of natural resources and the amelioration of routes by land or 

 water do much to develop a country, and bring out the real relation between land 

 and people, which is the direct subject of political geography. The internal 

 conditions of a country are to some extent responsible even for the forms of its 

 o-overnment and its relations with other States. These are expressed peacefully 

 mainly by international commerce, which takes place in spite of barriers both 

 natural — such as seas, deserts, mountains — and artificial — such as Customs tariffs. 



Internal development leads in certain circumstances to colonial expansion, and 

 the relations of colonies to the mother country varies in accordance with the 

 character of land and people. The rapid acquisition of foreign territory in recent 

 years has given rise to certain new features of political geography — the sphere of 

 influence, the leased territory, and the military occupation being the more 

 important of these. 



2. The Prospects of Antarctic Research. By Hugh Robert Mill, 



D.Sc, F.R.S.E. 



The problem of Antarctic exploration has varied in the course of the centuries 

 from the purely theoretical discussion of the possibility of antipodes, to the search 

 for a vast Austral continent of value to colonists and commerce. Since the 

 A'Oj'age of Cook confined the limits of Antarctica to the south frigid zone, and the 

 efforts of the few whalers and sealers of the early part of the present century 

 proved that it could not rival the Arctic regions as a hunting-ground, the problem 

 has become purely a scientific one. 



As a field for scientific research the Antarctic has been kept before the public 

 by Dr. Neumayer, of Hamburg, for thirty years, and in recent years Sir John 

 Murray and Sir Clements Markham have been indefatigable in pressing upon suc- 

 cessive Governments the claims of this region for a national expedition. The Royal 

 Society, the Royal Geographical Society, and the British Association have given 

 their powerful interest to the movement, but in vain. 



The immediate prospects of research are more favourable than the action of 

 Government might imply. A small Belgian expedition with a band of scientific 

 enthusiasts is now in the field, and Sir George Newnes has sent out the Southern 

 Cross with iJr. Borchgrevink to make an attempt to traverse the ice-cap from 

 Cape Adare. The results of this expedition may be valuable, but they can only 

 be viewed as preliminary. A German Committee has completed arrangements 



