EGYPT AND GEEECE. 143 



morass, and that no part of the land that now exists below Lake Mjris was 

 then above water ' ? "* 



Mr. Adams, farther on, remarks, in reference to the constant encroachment 

 of the desert sands on the arable lands of Eg^-pt : " Already many arable 

 plains are covered over; indeed the gradual desertion of entire villages, and 

 the partial evacuation of others, are just in proportion to the steady en- 

 croachment of the desert. The struggle between man and nature is here 

 remarkable, for, should the present order of things be continued, it must 

 finally eventuate in a complete victory to the latter whenever the odds are 

 favorable." f 



Professor Unger, in his interesting work describing his scientific journeys 

 in Greece, t has a chapter headed, "Is the Orient capable, so far as its 

 physical nature is concerned, of regeneration?" ["1st der Orient, von Seite 

 seiner physischen Natur, einer Wiedergeburt fahig?"] The views which the 

 author sets forth in this chapter, in reference to changes of climate in the 

 vicinity of the Mediterranean, will be noticed farther on ; at present, only 

 one quotation will be made, for the purpose of introducing the views of 

 Fallraerayer, an eminent Oriental traveller and historian whom Unger thus 

 cites: "As to what especially relates to Greece, Fallmerayer has already 

 called attention to the fiict that, together with an entire change in the 

 races inhabiting ancient Hellas, its capacity for production has changed 

 with the climatic conditions; that, instead of the former fruitful and well 

 watered meadows and pastures, now only dry fields and bosky hills devoid 

 of forests are to be found, and that, in consequence of this, it is impos- 

 sible that Greene should ever be again drawn within the circle of Western 

 culture. Fraas has brought forward the same idea, and supported it by 

 additional proofs." § It may be added that Fraas extends these views so 

 as to embrace the whole region adjacent to the " lands of the ancient home 

 of culture," including Persia, Asia Minor, Syria, Greece, and Egypt. 



Professor 0. Fraas, 1| in his investigations of the physical geogiaphy of 



» In Notes of a Naturalist iu the Nile Valley and Malta. Edinburgh, 1870, p. 66. 



t 1. c, p. 70. 



t Dr. Fr. Unger : Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse einer Eeise in Griechenland nnd in deu lonischen lusela. 

 Wien, 1S62, p. 18S. 



§ See, Gesammelte Werke von Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer. 3 vols. Leipzig, 1861, Vol. II. p. 468 ; also the 

 preface to Geschichte der Halbinsel Mores, wahrend des Mittelalters, by the same. 2 vols. Stuttgart, 1830. 



II Dr. C. Fraas, " Inspector und Lehrer der Chemie und Teuhnologie an der konigl. Centrallandwirthschafts- 

 Schule zu Schleissheim," is not to be confounded with Dr. Oscar Fraas, "Conservator an der konigl. Naturalien- 

 Cabinet zu Stuttgart." 



