xiv. Proceedings. [February jrd, 1920. 



Mediterranean lay the greatest route in history, leading from 

 the Persian Gulf to the Levant, generally called the Cilician 

 Gates route. This route had western extensions which, passing 

 through the body of Greece, had raised to importance the cities 

 of Athens and Corinth, but which later, with the development 

 of sea-craft, left Greece alone, and passed straight from the 

 Levant to Italy and the West. 



With the growth of European civilisation, the western exten- 

 sion of this route has swung round towards Western and Central 

 Europe, and it has recently caused the world a considerable 

 amount of trouble in the guise of the Berlin-Baghdad Railway. 

 A railway running from Central Europe to the Persian Gulf is 

 enormously important in itself, and its importance is increased 

 by the vast areas which will one day be " tapped " by its 

 extensions. Near Aleppo there already exists a railway junc- 

 tion whose political importance staggers the imagination, the 

 junction of the future for London, Berlin, Calcutta, Cairo, and 

 Cape Town. " Rail power " may one day restore the Levant 

 to its ancient pride of place as the centre of communications of 

 the Old World. 



General Meeting, February 3rd, 1920. 



Sir Henry A. Miers, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S. (President), 



in the Chair. 



Mr. Albert Alfred Buss, F.R.A.S., Engineer, " Barrowdale" 22, 

 Egerton Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, was elected an 

 Ordinary Member of the Society. 



Mr. Charles W. Sutton, M.A. Chief Librarian of the Manchester 

 Public Libraries, 323, Great Clowes Street, Higher Broughton, 

 Manchester; Mr. William Salvador Curphey, F.I.C., Chief Alkali 

 Inspector, 87, Canfield Gardens, Hampstead, London, N.W.6.; and 

 Mr. J. T. F. Bishop, Retired Engineer, Honorary Secretary of the 

 Manchester Chemical Club, 1890 — 1916, Byways, Ayres End, Harpenden; 

 were elected Corresponding Members of the Society. 



Ordinary Meeting, February 3rd, 1920. 



Sir Henry A. Miers, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S. (President), 



in the Chair. 

 Professor Edmund Knecht, M.Sc.Tech., Ph.D., F.I.C., read 

 a paper entitled "Alpine Insolation Effects on Unprotected 

 Wood." 



The author described a number of observations which he had 

 made on the effect of direct sunshine on the wood of the Alpine 

 log-huts or chalets, particularly in the vicinity of Villars sur 



