Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. W 



bours, which was evidently not accurate enough for such a pur- 

 pose. Of these measurements, the following have the greatest 

 interest : — 



Boiling point. Temp, of the air. 



April 3. Southern extremity of the Dead Sea, 100°.6 32^6 Cent. 



6. Water-shed, el Sateh, . . . 98.0 25 



8. Akaba, on the Bed Sea, . . . 99.9 29 



May 1. Jerusalem 96.0 20 



The boiling point at 100°.6 0. corresponds to a height of 

 the barometer of 776'""™.45 (at 0°), and gives for the Dead Sea 

 a depression = 166 metres = 510 Parisian feet (upwards of 

 540 English feet), a result which, if either of the previous ones 

 be at all correct, must be much under the truth. 



But the result obtained by thermo-barometric means, by 

 Messrs Moore and Beek, differs still more from the other de- 

 terminations. According to M. Callier (Comptes Bendus, vol. 

 vii. p. 798) these observers found the boiling point on the 

 banks of the Dead Sea = 216°.5 F. = 102°.5 Cent. This tern- 

 perature would indicate, according to him, an atmospheric 

 pressure of 815"^™.6, and assuming a mean height of the baro- 

 meter of 760"^™.O at the level of the sea, would give for the 

 depression of the Dead Sea 608 metres = 1872 Parisian feet 

 (nearly 2000 English feet),* an estimate three times as great 

 as that by Professor Schubert. 



From these data it is clear, that although there can be no 



* The amount of depression deduced by Messrs Moore and Beek them* 

 selves, from their own observations, is very different from the result of th«ir 

 experiments given by M. Callier, as appears from the following extract from 

 Mr W. R. Hamilton's address delivered to the Royal Geographical Society 

 of London, on the 27th May 1839. " The exact level of the surface of the 

 Dead Sea, is a point of increasing interest not yet satisfactorily cleared up. 

 Mr Moore, by thermometric obserN'ations, has estimated it at about 500 feet 

 below the level of the Mediten-anean ; Professor Schubert, by barometric 

 observations, at GOO feet ; whilst Mr Russegger, an Austrian naturalist, has, 

 also from barometric obserATitions, recently stated it to be at a depression of 

 no less than 1400 feet below the Mediterranean ; but we trust that this point 

 will not long remain a stumbling-block for geographers, as I am happy to 

 acquaint you that more than a month since, your Secretary, not unmindful 

 of the interest attached to what appears to be one of the most remarkable 

 features in the physical geography of the globe, placed an excellent barometer, 

 made by Newman, and compared with the Royal Society's standard, in the 

 hands of two young Englishmen about to visit Palestine, with a special re- 

 quest that they would endeavour to settle the point in question.''— Editor* 



