332 proceedings: anthropological society 



"In 1886 I recommended colonization of Mesopotamia, construction 

 of the Euphrates Railway, and restoration of the ancient system of 

 irrigation. In 1887 I prepared a memorandum concerning a national 

 expedition to Mesopotamia under the auspices of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution. In 1892 I suggested settlement of the Russian Jews in 

 Mesopotamia. My plan was afterward advocated by Israel Zangwill.i 

 The restoration of the ancient system of irrigation, which would make 

 Babylonia again the chief granary of the world, was taken up in 1909 by 

 Sir William Willcocks. 



"The relations between Mesopotamia and Palestine are very close. 

 The ancestors of the Israelites came from Mesopotamia. The Israel- 

 ites were settled in Palestine when the Edomite ancestors of the Jews 

 were in Egypt. Judah was not a tribe but a religious association of 

 worshippers of Jahveh, including not only Edomites, but also Horites, 

 Canaanites, Ishmaehtes, Moabites, Hittites, Amorites, Philistines, 

 Egyptians, and Ethiopians, i.e., a mixture of Asiatic, African, and Euro- 

 pean elements. 



"It will perhaps be possible to solve the complicated ethnological 

 problems in Palestine with the help of the new sero-diagnostic methods 

 based on deviation of complement whereby the lytic action of a hemo- 

 lysing fluid is prevented. Hansemann made some experiments with 

 Egyptian mmnmies. Friedenthal tested the blood and flesh of a mam- 

 moth which had been found in 1902, imbedded in the ice of Siberia. 

 The reaction showed the near relation of the extinct mammoth to 

 the existing Indian elephant. 



"Palestine (both Western and Eastern) is nearly as large (9840 sq. 

 m.) as Sicily (9860 sq. m.), but it has only about 750,000 inhabitants, 

 (Mesopotamia about 1,500,000). Like Sicily, which was the bridge 

 between Europe and Africa, Palestine, the connecting link between 

 Mesopotamia and Egypt, never was the land of a single nation and 

 probably never will be. Certainly the Jews can claim only Judea, not 

 the northern districts, Samaria and Galilee, or the country east of the 

 Jordan. The majority of the colonists whom the Assyrian kings sent 

 to Gahlee were Aryans, i.e., Iranians, so that the founders of Chris- 

 tianity may not have been Jews by race. 



"With the passing away of anti-Semitism Jewish nationalism will dis- 

 appear. The Jews in this country will be Americans, the Jews in 

 France will be Frenchmen, but they will continue to regard Jerusalem 

 as their spiritual mother." 



The 39th annual meeting (526th regular meeting) of the Society was 

 held in the West Study Room of the Public Library, April 23, at 8 p.m.; 

 President Babcock in the chair. The following officers were elected 

 for the ensuing year: President, Mr. E. T. Williams; Vice-president, 

 Dr. Truman Michelson; Secretary, Mr. Felix Neumann; Treasurer, 

 Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt; Councillors, Mr. J. P, Harrington, Mr. Francis 



» See The American Hebrew, May 21, 1909. 



