■ircheology and Kihnolo> 



Cup markings 

 4. Presentation 



When Will the Earth be Entirely Peopled ?— In order to 

 answer this question M. Kaven-tein lias undertaken a series of 

 researches and calculations the results of which are published in the 

 Proceedings of the London Geographical Society, 491, p. 27. 



It appears from this work' that the population of the globe, 

 1,467,000,000 of people, is distributed over the surface of the islands 

 and continents, excluding the polar regions, in the proportion of 

 thirty-one inhabitants to the English square mile (2.51) kilometres). 

 The author divides the entire land surface, 40,o5u,i.H.»i) square miles, 

 into three regions; fertile land-, -tcppes. and deserts, winch contain 

 respectively, in round numbers, 28,000,000, 14,000,000, and 4,000,000 

 of square miles. He computes the maximum number of inhabitants 

 which each of these regions can sustain per square mile as follows: 

 fertile lands, 207 ; steppes, 10 : and desert, 1. The average for India 

 is 175, for China 295, for Japan 204. M. Ravenstein estimates the 



face at 5.994,000,000. 



At what date will this fatal number be reached ? The increase of 

 population in the different countries can be expressed, according to 

 the author, by the following figures : 



