502 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—E. 
from alluvial deposits and the workings, though widely scattered, were 
situated in relation to the forests and streams. Furnaces and forges were 
often far apart, and coal and coke were not in general use until after 1865. 
The working of the minette ore in the southern extremity of the Grand 
Duchy caused a striking change in the location and character of the industry. 
The delay in this development was due almost as much to the lack of trans- 
port facilities as to the fact that the ore demanded special treatment. ‘The 
interesting sequence of changes accompanying the evolution of the industry 
is shown by a study of the works at Fischbach (1768), Eich (1845), and 
Esch-sur-Alzette (1870). 
The progress of the modern iron and steel industry has exercised important 
effects upon the distribution of population, emigration and immigration, 
agriculture, and upon economic relations with the neighbouring countries. 
Mr. R. E. Dicktnson.—The metropolitan regions of the United States of 
America (10.30). 
(1) The distinctive characteristics of a metropolitan city. The criteria 
to be adopted in selecting cities which have attained some degree of metro- 
politan development (population, per capita sales of manufactures, 
wholesale and retail goods, distribution of merchandising space, markets, 
Federal Reserve banks). 
(2) On the basis of these criteria, the selection and classification of those 
cities which have attained metropolitan proportions. 
(3) The character and extent of the ‘ zones of influence ’ of a metropolitan 
city, illustrated with specific examples from the United States (twin cities, 
Chicago, Philadelphia). 
(4) The areas served by the metropolitan cities of the United States in 
some of their distinctive functional capacities, based on an examination of 
maps showing areas of supply of live stock and grain markets, wholesale 
trade areas, areas served by district branch houses of representative com- 
panies, Federal Reserve districts, newspaper circulation areas, etc. 
(5) The delimitation of composite metropolitan regions, and an attempt 
to classify the metropolitan centres, on the basis of function and growth, 
in relation to the extent and character of the regions they serve. 
Miss H. G. WaNKLYN.—The Niemen River: a neglected waterway 
(11.15). 
The Niemen River rises in the marshes of White Russia and flows into 
the Kurisches Haff just south of the Baltic port of Memel. It could be made 
navigable as far as the Russian village of Naujas Svierzenes, about 892 kilo- 
metres from its mouth, but as yet only the lower reaches have been regulated. 
Before the war the Niemen basin was the natural hinterland of the 
German port of Memel, as wood, the main export from Memel, was 
floated down the Niemen from the forests of White Russia and Russian 
Poland. 
By the re-alignment of frontiers after the war, the transit trade of the 
Niemen River was interrupted by two frontiers : that between Soviet Russia 
and Poland, and that between Poland and Lithuania. ‘The river also forms 
the boundary between Germany and Lithuania. The multiplication of 
frontiers in this area has been especially disastrous, as owing to the dispute 
between Poland and Lithuania over the Vilna region there has been a com- 
plete severance of relations between the two countries for the last fourteen 
years. 
Passenger traffic between Poland and Lithuania is diverted through Latvia, 
