'224 POOLE ON THE SHORES OF THE DEAD SEA. [Dec. 8, 1856. 



at Teneriffe, I have thought if similar observations could be made 

 on the shore of the Dead Sea (which is upwards of 1300 feet below 

 the level of the Mediterranean), they would considerably enlarge the 

 scale of observations ; and data could be obtained to that depth for 

 proving or correcting, in a descending scale, the formula respecting 

 radiation, specific gravity, and other subjects of observation recorded 

 by Professor Piazzi Smyth. 



The President called attention to one or two points in tBe memoir, par- 

 ticularly to the one with respect to the species of fish mentioned — a remarkable 

 little fish, which Mr. Poole had caught in a marshy spot on the shore of the 

 Dead Sea. It had been submitted to Sir John Eichardson, whom everybody 

 knew was a high authority on ichthyology, and he had determined that it was 

 a species which existed in the Eed Sea, and also in all the fresh Avaters of 

 Syria. The question of establishing a communication between the Mediter- 

 ranean and the Red Sea was thus once more brought before them, and this 

 little fish seemed to confirm the theory that there had formerly been a com- 

 munication. 



Sir John Richardson said the fish in question was described by Ruppell, 

 and was known to Cuvier. It was a species of Cyprinodon, and was at 

 one time confounded with the carps.. He did not know 'how far the fish 

 would go to prove the theory alluded to by the President. This species, now 

 known as the Cyprinodon Hammonis^ was first discovered in the oasis of 

 Jupiter Ammon. It exists all over Syria in almost every pool, and Mr. Poole 

 found it on the supposed site of Sodom, close to the Dead Sea, witliin a few feet 

 of the shore, where the sea at certain times rose. Mr. Poole at first thought 

 it came out of the Dead Sea ; but it was found in a marsh fed by a salt spring. 

 He had deposited specimens of the water of that salt spring, and also of the 

 marsh in which he found the fish, in the Museum of Practical Geology; and if 

 that office were to ascertain the specific gravity of these specimens, they might 

 at once determine whether the water of the marsh approached to the Dead Sea 

 in the quantity of salt it contained.* It was a fish which lived both in fresh 

 and salt water, and it was abundantly found in the Red Sea. With respect to 

 the ducks seen by Mr. Poole in the Dead Sea, it did not appear that he had 

 shot any, or he would, probably, have found what they were feeding upon. It 

 was an old notion that birds could not fly over the Dead Sea ; but Mr. Poole 

 had shown that they could not only fly over it, but live upon it. 



In reply to Colonel Sykes, Sir John Richardson said that the specific gravity 

 of the Dead Sea had been determined; it was about 1'227 to distilled water at 

 1-000. 



* Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn-street.. 

 Goi^y of a Note from Dr, Hofmann to Sir Eoderick MurcMson. 

 No. 1. Brine spring near Usdum with Fish. Temp.^ 



90° Fahr., Spec. Grav. 1-035. 

 No. 2. North end of Dead Sea, near Jordan. Temp. 



&3° Fahr., Spec. Grav. 1-196. 

 No. 3. Dead Sea, Usdum, South end. Temp. 83° 



Fahr., Spec. Grav. 1*204. 

 No. 4. Peninsula, EI Lisan, North end, Spec. Grav. 



1-200, 



According to Lynch — The specific gravity of the Dead Sea, at a temperature of 

 60° Fahr., and at a depth of 185 fathoms, is 1-2274, and that of the River Jordan 

 is r00183w 



Mean of Dead Sea at sur- 

 face, Spec. Grav. 1-200. 



