Apbh, 2, 1894.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



89 



surface of the mercury and a i3at sheet of polished glass 

 placed at the bottom of the observing tube. Two sets of 

 readings were taken, the one on lowering the level of the 

 lake by about twenty inches and forty inches, the other on 

 raising the level through the same distances. The results 

 obtained are given in centimetres ; the displacement of 

 the columns for a change of level in the water of one 

 metre was -0000000126 centimetres. From this the 

 gravitation constant, K, i.e. the attractive force in dynes 

 produced by a mass of one gramme upon another equal 

 mass placed one centimetre from it in air was found to be 

 6'80 X 10-^ i.e. -000000068 dynes. The mass of the earth 

 was found to be 5-85 x 10-'' grammes, and its density 5-41, 

 which differs but little from previous results. 



The numbers above are deduced thus : — Put in the 



value of K = 6-80 x 10"' in the formula // ju. = K.-^s^-, 



in which M = mass of the earth in grammes. 



R = radius of the earth in centimetres = 



6-37 X 108. 

 f/ = intensity of gravity = 981. 

 Hence M is found to be 5-85 x 10"' grammes, and the 

 value of the density follows at once as 5-11 compared 

 with water. 



Another determination of the density has in recent 

 years been carried out by Von Sterneck at Freiberg. 

 These experiments were made in the years 1882 to 

 1885 and were similar in character to the pendulum 

 experiments of Airy. The times of swing of the pendulums 

 at the surface and at a depth within the earth were 

 obtained by observing the coincidences with the same 

 clock, which gave electrically, at the same instant, half- 

 second signals at the two stations. The results, however, 

 tend to confirm the opinion that the pit method is not a 

 suitable one for determining the mean density of the earth, 

 though it may throw light on the composition of the 

 strata near the surface. 



In conclusion, the different values found for the density 

 of the earth in the principal experiments made for deter- 

 mining it may be given. 



Plumb line at Sehiehallien (Maskelyne andPlayfair) 4-713 

 ,, at Arthur's Seat (-James) ... ... 5-316 



Pend-alum at Mont Cenis (Carlini and Giulio) ... 4-94 

 ,, at Harton Coal Pit (Airy) ... . 6-565 



Torsion balance (Cavendish, 1798) ... ... 5-48 



(Reich, 1838) 6-49 



(Daily, 1843) 5-66 



(Cornu and Bailie, 1872) ... 5-5— 5-56 



Method of Weighing (Von Jolly) 5-58 



(Poynting, 1891) 5-493 



(Wilsing, 1887-1888) ... 5-58 

 P.ise of Water Level (Berget, 1893) ... ... 5-41 



XoTE. — On page 30, column 1, fifth line from bottom, instead of 

 " the earth," rend " the latter." 



THE PHCENICIANS, OR PALM-TREE PEOPLE. 



By .J. H. MiTCHiNER, F.R.A.S. 



THE authorities at the British Museum have recently 

 completed an important re-arrangement that must 

 prove of the greatest interest to the student of 

 early civilizations. 



Some two thousand years before the Christian 

 era, a branch of the Semitic race, emigrating from the 

 direction of the Persian Gulf, settled on the eastern shores 

 of the Mediterranean Sea. The territory occupied was not 

 large, comprising a coast-line of some three hundred miles, 



with an average width of about fifteen. But if the area 

 was restricted in size, in character it was most diversified — 

 a land of mountain and flood, possessing a Lebanon 

 (white mountain) range, its highest peak rising ten 

 thousand two hundred feet above the level of the sea. 

 Seen from the Mediterranean, the distinctive feature of 

 the landscape was the luxuriant palms that everywhere 

 flourished indigenous to the soil. Hence the old pre- 

 Homeric mariners from the .Egean named the country 

 " Phoenicia," or " the Land of Palms," and to the people 

 who inhabited it they gave the name of " Phcenicians," or 

 " the Palm-tree People." Here, on this strip of Syrian 

 shore-land, on the slopes of its great southern headland 

 Mount Carmel, on the plains of Samaria and Sharon, 

 and on the banks of the Nahr-el-Litani (Lion River), 

 which rises a short distance fi'om the celebrated ruins of 

 Baalbek, collected, and prospered beyond precedent, this 

 remarkable branch of the Semitic race. 



In character, instincts, and prevailing habits the Phoe- 

 nicians seem to have been the very opposite of the militant 

 Semitic of ancient history, as the belligerent Babylonian, 

 the cruel Assyrian, or that " bitter and hasty nation " the 

 Chaldreans." Instead of prosecuting wars of conquest and 

 aggression, they were essentially an industrious and peace- 

 able people, everywhere pioneers of civilization, whose 

 whole genius and energy seemed absorbed in commercial 

 activity. Ships, colonies, and commerce formed the 

 ultimate aim of their political constitution, and their 

 cities. Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus, became centres for the 

 business of the then known world. Phcenician colonies mul- 

 tiplied, extending to Spain and Africa. The present city of 

 Cadiz constituted the ancient Gades of Phosnicia, while 

 Carthage, the daughter of Tyre, was founded on the African 

 coast about 800 b.o. The strength of Phoenicia lay in 

 her navy. " Ships of Tarshish " (ancient Indiamen) ex- 

 plored the Adriatic, /Egean, and Mediterranean Seas, 

 sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar, and facing the perils 

 of the Atlantic, effected the circumnavigation of Africa. 



According to general testimony it is to the Phoenicians 

 that the world is indebted for the invention of the alphabet ;t 

 but whether by them derived from the Egyptian hieratic 

 system or from monumental phonetic symbols remains at 

 present a debateable question. M. de Roug6 maintains 

 that the primitive form of almost every Semitic letter can 

 be deduced from its normal hieratic prototype. Doubtless 

 the exigencies of increasing commercial intercourse neces- 

 sitated some simplification of the imperfect and laboured 

 ideographic writing in vogue. A figurative method would 

 dispense with the use of a multitude of tedious phonetic 

 signs. Simplicity was the object to be attained, and we 

 may be quite sure that in the construction of the alphabetical 

 system necessity was the mother of its invention. In 

 common with other Semitic alphabets constructed sub- 

 sequently on the Phcenician model, it consisted of twenty- 

 two letters, all consonants, and it may be said to have 

 furnished the basis of nearly all other alphabets. The 

 Hebrew is more closely alUed to the Phcenician than 

 to any other language ; it might, indeed, almost be 

 considered as a dialect of the same tongue. Both alpha- 

 bets contain twenty-two letters, are without vowels, and 

 the writing reads from right to left. In religion the 

 Phoenicians acknowledged a single deity — one Supreme 

 Power — but the names by which he was known varied with 

 the locality of the temples. El (great) Ram or Eimmon 



# 'R's.ba.bkiik i 6. 



t Lttcan Pharsalia, iii., V., 220, 222. Pliny, H.N., Y ., 12, VII., 56. 



Lemornant, i , 84. Tacitue, Ann. XI., 14. 



Herod, V , 58. Eusebius, Chron. Can. 



Died. Sic, v., 24. 



