458 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—E. 
sea-way does not result from the main structure of the region, but interrupts it, 
giving to the shores exceptional control over the channel, while the channel pene- 
trates a district otherwise not maritime. Consequently, while its place in history 
mainly results from events in the four iarger regions interacting through it, 
the peculiarities of the Marmora itself modify this interaction, sometimes pro- 
foundly. Seldom populous or productive enough for political independence, it 
has repeatedly offered exceptional facilities for imperial administration over 
adjacent and even distant provinces; and for mercantile exploitation of wide 
areas. Possession of it has been, and is, contested by States which experience 
its geographical control; but hitherto its political, no less than its economic, 
relations have been so varied as to be irreconcilable. It is the site for a great 
capital without commensurate provinces. 
5. Joint Discussion with Section H on The Place of Man and his 
Environment in the Study of the Social Sciences. Opened by 
Prof. J. L. Myrzs. 
Doubts on this matter arise partly from defective nomenclature of these 
branches of knowledge, partly from accidents of personality and convenience 
in the growth of existing organisations for the study of them. Recent con- 
ferences between sociologists and representatives of kindred studies went far 
to define the frontiers, but left it uncertain whether social science itself as it 
actually exists is a pure science, tracing biological development in human 
behaviour; an applied science, employing criteria of value to select modes 
of behaviour for imitation in practice; or a branch of philosophy, standing 
in the same relation to Anthropology, Psychology, and History as Meta- 
physics to Physics or Astronomy. As a branch of natural science, sociology would 
appear to merge in the ‘social’ or ‘ cultural’ aspect of Anthropology; as a 
study in correlations between men’s behaviour and their environment it overlaps 
the human department of Geography ; as an aspect of Philosophy, it is difficult 
to distinguish from what was formerly called the ‘ Philosophy of History.’ 
In the afternoon an excursion to the Wirral Peninsula took place. 
Monday, September 17. 
6. Mr. O. H. T. Risupera.—Australian Railway Development: a 
Study in Political Geography. 
The great continental new-lands offer striking human contrasts with the 
more individualised home-lands of Western civilisation. Australian railway 
development symbolises Dominion as contrasted with European social and 
political life. North-Western Europe, owing to physical and racial characters 
and history, intensely individualised; progress of social and economic synthesis 
slow and painful: railway development refiects this. Australia, starting with 
European traditions but with more homogeneous physical and human conditions, 
is rapidly discarding its essentially artificial pclitical and social conditions ; 
railway development reflects rapid growth of spirit of Commonwealth. Outline 
forecast of future of Australian railway system. 
7. Mr. R. R. Watus.—The High Plateau of Brazil. 
Geological structure. The evolution of the plateau. Physical features. 
Climate. Resources. Inhabitants and social conditions. Development and 
future. 
8. Prof. J. W. Grecory, F.R.S.—To the Aips of Chinese Tibet. 
Problems of the mountain system of South-eastern Asia. The plateau of 
Yunnan. The three views of Chinese Tibet. The Alps of Chinese Tibet and 
the glaciers past and present. 
9. Rev. W. Weston.—The Influence of Environment on the 
Characters of the Japanese. 
Japan’s position as advanced frontier of East Asia; influence of that con- 
tiguity on national character, religion, art, and history. Three-quarters of 
