617th ordinary GENERAL MEETING, 



HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM B, THE CENTRAL HALL, 

 WESTMINSTER, ON MONDAY, MARCH 15th, 1920, 



AT 4.30 P.M. 



The Chair was taken by Professor Beresford Pite, M.A., 



F.R.I.B.A. 



The Minutes of the previous meeting were read, confirmed and signed 



The Hon. Secretary announced the following elections : Amand 

 Routh, Esq.; M.D., as a Member ; and Mrs. Herbert H. Harington, the 

 Rev. H. L. Jennins, L.Th., and Miss A. C. Dick, as Associates. 



The Chairman then introduced the Lecturer, Dr. Ernest W. G. 

 Masterman. 



The Chairman, Prof. Beresford Pite, in introducing Dr. Masterman, 

 the Lecturer, said : When I went to Palestine I had the pleasure — a 

 pleasure which you will measure better after Dr. Masterman's 

 lecture than before — of having his company for a very long week's 

 ride from Damascus through the Holy Land, back to Jerusalem. 



I expect few travellers in Palestine — I notice many here to-day — 

 have had the opportunity of making the tour with two such well- 

 instructed companions as Dr. Wheeler and Dr. Masterman, and 

 had the pleasure of seeing them welcomed at every spot by all 

 sorts of men. From that period onward Dr. Masterman has been 

 at work in Jerusalem until the period of the War, a long period of 

 more than twenty years, so that I am sure the information he has 

 to place before us this afternoon will be equally well appreciated 

 by you all. I may just remark that Dr. Masterman is one of the 

 medical men attached to the English Hospital in Jerusalem who 

 inherits a long train of deep interest in the antiquities of Palestine 

 and their Biblical importance and connection. He succeeded 

 Dr. Wheeler in Jerusalem (who is now back again), and he, in 

 turn, succeeded Dr. Chaplin, who for more than twenty-five years 

 (1860-1885) occupied the same post. 



I think we may claim that the work of medical men in Jerusalem 

 has provided a great source of scientific observation for the benefit 

 of the Christian Church for a period extending over fifty years. I 

 have now much pleasure in asking Dr. Masterman to give you his 

 lecture 



