On the Waters of the Dead Sea. 315 
the waters is principally occasioned by the existence of simi- 
lar saline formations at the bottom of the sea. So deeply, in 
fact, is the surrounding soil impregnated with this ingredient, 
that few or no vegetables will grow there, and it is from this 
circumstance, combined with the absence of all animal life,* 
either in the waters or on the shore, that recent travellers 
have conferred upon the lake the name “‘ Mare Mortuum,” or 
the Dead Sea. 
The water, like that of the sea, is stated to be of a deep 
blue colour, shaded with green; but it is considerably more 
salt, and intolerably nauseous and bitter to the taste. Rae 
Wilson, who wrote some years ago, describes it to be not un- 
like the Harrowgate waters in taste and smell, but more dis- 
agreeable; although it approached more closely in character to 
bilge-water. Its specific gravity is so great, that it is almost 
impossible for a man to sink in it ; persons who are entirely 
unacquainted with swimming, can lie or swim in it with the 
greatest ease. Josephus relates that the Emperor Vespasian, 
for the sake of an experiment, caused certain men to be 
thrown into this sea, with their hands and feet bound with 
cords, and they floated on the surface. 
Bathers in this lake, however, experience a curious sensa- 
tion of the eyes, which has been described by Mr Legh as 
temporary blindness; and upon getting out of the water, 
evaporation proceeds only very slowly, leaving a thick, oily 
incrustation of salt adherent to the skin, which remains for 
many days, as it is impossible to remove it completely, even 
by repeated ablution. 
Notwithstanding, however, that the most obvious pecu- 
liarities of the waters of the Dead Sea have been known and 
recognised for many ages, it has only been in comparatively 
modern times that scientific men have attempted its chemical 
examination. Within the present century, Lavoisier, Marcet, 
Klaproth, Gay-Lussac, Gmelin, and Apjohn have each ana- 
lysed it. 
The celebrated Lavoisier experimented upon it in conjunc- 
* Ehrenberg, as stated at page 188 of this volume of the Philosophical Jour- 
nal, proves that living infusorial animals occur in the Dead Sea.—(Ldit. Ldin. 
Phil. Jowrnal.) 
