ON THE METEOKOLOQY OF SYRIA AND PALESTINE. 291 



The Chairman (Mr. D. Howard, V. Pres. Chem, Soc.) — The paper just 

 read is a very valuable contribution to our knowledge of the meteorology 

 of Syria and Palestine. Our thanks are due to its author, and also to Mr. 

 H. Cadman Jones for reading it. It is now open for any present to 

 offer remarks upon it. 



Sir Joseph Fayrer, K.C.S.I., F.R.S. — I am sure that the Institute is 

 much indebted to Dr. Post for his valuable paper. It is a very interesting 

 and useful contribution to the meteorology of the part of the world with 

 which it deals, and we may hope that other observers will be able to add to 

 what Dr. Post has so ably recorded. It seems to me that it would be 

 ungracious to criticise, nor do I know that I am in a position to do so ; still, 

 there are one or two things that have struck me as somewhat remarkable. Dr. 

 Post speaks, in his paper, of the climate in Syria and Palestine as being an 

 equable one, and says that " such an even climate is peculiarly favourable to 

 pastoral labours, hence Syria and Palestine have always been noted for their 

 flocks and herds." When we recall the physical condition of the country, 

 with its numerous valleys and mountain ranges, the mountains rising 

 from plateaux of 2,000 and 2,500 feet, to 4,000 and 5,000 feet, and 

 even higher, with great deserts on the one side, and the sea on the other, 

 one would hardly expect to find a very equable climate. Nor does it 

 seem to me that Dr. Post's record shows it to be so. I could not help 

 thinking, while the paper was being read, of the beautiful story of Ahab 

 and the Prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel ; how the latter sent his servant 

 to look toward the sea, when the servant saw a little cloud arising out of 

 the sea, like a man's hand, and how Elijah then sent to Ahab, telling him 

 that he was to prepare his chariot and get down, that the rain stop him not. 

 Such must have been the condition spoken of in the paper. There is a 

 continuance of hot weather, and then the rain comes on, as one sees in 

 India and in the tropics. The last paragraph of the paper concerning 

 forest denudation is verj^ interesting. I should like to ask the Author 

 to tell us how the views entertained on this particular subject at the 

 present time compare with those of 1,500 or 1,800 years ago? that the 

 state of things in that part of the world has wonderfully altered under 

 Turkish and other rule there can be no doubt. Instead of a rich and 

 fertile tei'ritory, feeding and nourishing a large population, as was once the 

 case, we know that it is altogether different at the present da3\ But 

 what is the cause ? If it be true that there has been a great denudation of 

 the forests — that the trees have been cut down on the mountains — we 

 might expect, from what occurs in other parts of the world, that there would 

 be a considerable diminution of the rainfall. And we might hope that the 

 restoration of vegetation and the replanting of the hills and surface of the 

 soil would bring such an increase of rainfall as would restore the natural 

 equilibrium. I do not know whether the records that would give the 

 information we need, as to there having been a steady diminution of the 



