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SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—E. 409 
and pygmies.—Mountains of the Moon.—Navigability of the Nile.—Rejaf to 
Khartum and Sudan Sudd region.—El Obeid and Sudan Railway.—The Nile- 
Congo divide and the latest mineral milestone.-—Khartum to Cairo. 
19. Prof. P. M. Roxsy.—Distribution of Population in China. 
Distribution of population in relation to (a) physical geography and natural 
regions of China, (6) its economic and political significance.—Census returns.— 
Attempts to map distribution by Asiens.—Results only approximate, but give 
for first time essential geographical distribution.—Main and secondary regions 
of concentrated population.—Review of distribution in relation to natural 
divisions.—Large cities.—Over-population.—China as a whole can support more 
people.—Overflow of population.—An estimate of probable movements in the 
near future.—Present grouping of population presents obstacles to political 
consolidation.—The outlook and regional relations of main nuclei of population. 
—The role of the Lower Yang-tse and especially the Hupeh basin in political 
consolidation of the Chinese people, 
Tuesday, August 12. 
20. Miss E. C. Sempte.—The Influence of Geographic Conditions on 
the Ancient Mediterranean Religions. 
21. Mr. T. Apvams (Past-President of the Town-Planning Institutes of 
England and Canada) and Mr. H. L. Seymour. — Some Problems 
of Urban Growth in America. 
Concentration of population in large cities of the American continent similar 
to that which exists in European cities.—Includes industrial, business and 
housing as well as traffic congestion.—As modern cities grow larger the economic 
advantages of centralisation seem to diminish and a certain amount of decen- 
tralisation takes place.—Measures taken to relieve congestion by removing effects 
in central districts do not diminish its intensity beyond a krief period.—Decen- 
tralisation does not relieve congestion unless accompanied by the disposal of 
industries and the spreading of transport faeilities over wider areas.—The 
causes of congestion of business and traffic are inadequate space about buildings 
combined with defective highway and street systems.—A city an artificial 
growth.—Need to regulate that growth.—More regard needs to be paid to 
natural forces and to securing proper scale between the streets and buildings.— 
More sunlight and air space in central areas of cities.—Solution of these prob- 
lems by making comprehensive plans for metropolitan regions.—Such a plan must 
be based upon a full investigation of all the facts relating to physical, historical, 
social, and economic conditions. 
22. Dr. H. H. Laven (Eugenics Record Office, Carnegie Institu- 
tion).—Immigration from a Biological Point of View. 
23. Mr. W. L. G. Jozrra.—Human-Use versus Natural Regions, 
with Special Reference to North America. 
History of the development of the ‘ natural regions’ concept or its equivalent 
among American geographers. Early interest in subdivision into ‘ physiographic 
provinces,’ culminating in map of the United States by Fenneman, with exten- 
sions into Canada and Mexico by Thayer. Present emphasis on human and 
economic geography has caused some to raise question of desirability of estab- 
lishing regions reflecting human element more fully. Appointment of committee 
of Association of American Geographers to delimit ‘ geographic provinces’ of 
United States and Canada with this end in view. Analysis of the problem. 
24. Mr. O. H. T. Risuseta. — Some Geographical Consequences of 
the Geology of Australia. 
Australia owes its surface-cover to the circumstances of its geological struc- 
ture, to its age, and to a range of erosional processes appropriate to its his- 
torical climatic regimes.—Characteristic of this cover are regional and local 
