588th OEDINARY GENERAL MEETING, 



HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM B, THE CENTKAL HALL, 

 WESTMINSTER, ON MONDAY, MAKCH 19th, 1917, 



AT 4.30 P.M. 



Mr. E. Walter Maunder, F.R.A.S., Lecture Secretary, 

 TOOK THE Chair. 



The Minutes of the preceding Meeting were read and confirmed. 



The Secretary announced the election of Mrs. Hayward Potter as an 

 Associate of the Institute. 



The Chairman, in introducing the Lecturer, reminded the Meeting of 

 the important part which Sir Charles Warren had taken in the work of 

 the Palestine Exploration Fund in the years 1867-1870. They would 

 therefore have the privilege that evening of listening to one who was 

 directly and personally an expert on the subject before them. 



THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GEOGRAPHY OF PALES- 

 TINE. By Gen. Sir Charles Waeren, G.C.M.G, F.R.S. 



MY address this evening is on the Geography of Palestine, 

 viewed in the light of its being the Land Promised of 

 God to His Chosen People : one aspect being the physical 

 features of the country adapting it to be the home of the Chosen 

 People, the other being the situation of the country relative to 

 the rest of the world, especially the great empires of antiquity. 



Of course there is a want of material for this purpose — 

 nothing can be laid down with great precision ; and my object 

 this evening is not so much to show the effect of the physical 

 features upon the actions of the Chosen People, as to call 

 attention to the possible effects of their environment, and to 

 emphasize the possibility — nay, the necessity — for each one of 

 us to judge for himself of the early days of Israel, by making a 

 study of the manners and customs of primitive peoples. These 

 manners and customs are much the same all the world over, 

 and can be studied in this country as amongst primitive tribes ; 

 and the most useful book for the study is the Bible. 



It is usual to suppose that in this quest it is necessary to 

 possess the power of acquiring languages readily, but though 

 this gift is most useful as an accessory, the chief requirement is 

 the power of observation, and the chief work to be done is the 



