SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— E. 375 



these conditions the sun should be magnified rather than the terrestrial 

 features reduced in apparent size, but this question need not be Raised for a 

 different cause has been found, and verified by measurement. 



The author has made a series of drawings in sketchbooks of uniform size 

 of the sun's disc in close proximity to the crest line of the Bernese Alps, as 

 seen from very different distances. At the greater distances not only is the 

 sun's disc apparently enlarged but the apparent magnitude of the features 

 of the mountainous skyline is enlarged (relatively to their increased distance) 

 in about the same proportion. This was proved by comparison of sketches 

 with the distances on the map. It was the practice of the author to include 

 the whole field of attention, or conscious vision, in the page of the sketch 

 book, and it was found that the arc of the horizon so comprised diminished 

 with the increase of distance and that the exaggeration of each mountain 

 peak was in the same proportion as the exaggeration of sun. 



A singular but frequently verified fact attendant on these occurrences is 

 the unconsciousness of any reduction in the angle of the field of attention. 



The author has also found that the apparent enlargement of the setting 

 sun is not confined to cases where the skyline is distant. Thus, the disc is 

 often more enlarged when seen low down through the lattice of the branches 

 of a neighbouring tree than when approaching the distant horizon of the sea. 

 This is another instance of the unconscious narrowing of the field of 

 attention when the amount of visual detail is increased. 



Prof. P. M. RoxBY. — The terrain of early Chinese civilisation (12.0). 



I . — (i) The geographical factors affecting the rise of Chinese civilisation in 

 the basin of the Yellow River with special reference to the validity of 

 Mr. Arnold Toynbee's contention that it affords a strildng illustration of 

 civilisation developing under the pressure of a ' hard environment.' 



(2) The relations of the North China Plain and the North-Western 

 plateaux in the evolution of early Chinese civilisation. 



(3) The relative importance of the intrinsic conditions of the terrain 

 and of its geographical orientation as affecting the infiltration of cultural 

 influences from the West. 



2. — The distribution and character of the loess as a vital factor. The 

 Northern and Southern limits. The extension of loess in a modified form 

 into the central and higher portion of the Plain (Honan Water-parting) 

 between the alluvial Hopeh Basin and the Hwai marshes. 



The loess as a link between the Valleys of the Western plateaux and the 

 isolated Shantung Highlands. The character of the loess as affecting the 

 question of the existence of marshes and lakes in early times, and in relation 

 to primitive agriculture. The views of Dr. U. K. Ting. The contrast 

 of the Yellow River and Yang-tze Basins as terrains for early human 

 development. 



3. — Progress of knowledge, particularly through recent archaeological dis- 

 coveries, as to the stages in the development of early Chinese civilisation 

 and the relations between indigenous developments and external culture- 

 contacts by way of the Kansu Corridor and Turkestan. Cardinal import- 

 ance of a long West-East zone extending from Kansu through Northern 

 Shensi (Wei-ho Valley) and Southern Shansi into Northern Honan and 

 to the borders of the Shantung Highlands. Evidence for contrast in 

 cultural characteristics prior to the establishment of the Shang Dynasty 

 (2nd Mill. B.C.) between the Western (Kansu-Shensi) and the eastern 

 (Honan-Shantung) portions of this zone. The eastern region claimed as 

 the terrain of Middle and late Neolithic developments of a distinctively 



