4 
PROCEEDINGS  OE  THE  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY.  [Feb.  1 893, 
question.  Canon  Tristram  had  shown  that  the  fishes  of  the  Jordan 
waters  presented  some  curious  analogies  with  the  fish  fauna  of 
those  of  Africa,  and  Giinther,  after  studying  his  specimens,  had 
confirmed  this  view.  He  (the  speaker)  believed  that  this  connexion 
was  not  over  the  saddle  of  the  Arabah,  but  might  have  been  the 
285-foot  pass  of  the  gorge  of  Jezreel.  If  the  Pliocene  depression, 
which  the  Author  thought  was  at  least  200  feet,  was  a  little  greater, 
it  would  at  least  cause  an  outflow  in  this  direction. 
As  to  the  date  of  the  basaltic  eruptions,  he  thought  the  Author’s 
explanation  was  not  unreasonable.  He  remarked  that  the  Jordan- 
Arabah  valley  must  have  been  of  considerable  antiquity,  and  had 
many  lateral  valleys  of  erosion  more  or  less  pointing  towards  the 
central  hollow  of  the  Dead  Sea,  whether  from  the  Jordan  or  the 
Arabah  end.  Whither  had  the  material  thus  eroded  gone?  It 
could  not  have  passed  over  the  saddle  into  the  Eed  Sea,  for  the 
drainage  had  evidently  been  towards  the  Dead  Sea  for  ages. 
He  allowed  that  much  was  soluble  limestone ;  but  that  must  be 
precipitated  somewhere,  and  the  only  conclusion  he  could  come  to 
was  the  somewhat  heretical  belief  that  the  bottom  of  the  Dead  Sea 
had  been  an  unsound  one. 
Dr.  Irving  referred  to  the  characterless  facies  of  the  Nubian 
Sandstone  in  the  Wady  Haifa  region  as  recently  observed  by  Capt. 
H.  G.  Lyons,  F.G.S. ;  also  to  the  remarkable  density  of  the  waters 
of  the  Dead  Sea,  as  showing  evaporation  to  be  the  true  cause  of  the 
low  level  of  its  waters,  while  the  non-felspathic  character  of  the 
volcanic  rocks  of  the  Jordan  basin,  and  the  consequent  deficiency  of 
alkaline  carbonates  in  the  surface-waters,  seemed  fully  to  account 
for  the  abnormally  large  amount  of  chlorides  of  lime  and  magnesia 
which  the  Dead  Sea  waters  hold  in  solution,  salts  which  by  reactions 
with  alkaline  carbonates  would  otherwise  be  precipitated  as  dolo¬ 
mite.  He  agreed  with  the  President  that  the  former  connexion  of 
the  J ordan  basin  with  the  sea  was  probably  by  the  valley  and  plain 
of  J ezreel. .  He  thought  the  unmetamorphosed  condition  of  the 
pre-Carboniferous  volcanic  rocks  described  by  the  Author  of  great 
interest,  as  bearing  upon  theories  as  to  metamorphism.  He  also 
thought  that  students  of  Biblical  literature  owed  a  debt  of  gratitude 
to  the  Author  for  his  researches. 
Mr.  J.  Bridges  Lee  said  that  in  the  North-western  Himalayas  he 
had  traced  extensive  deposits  of  volcanic  trap,  of  undoubtedly  pre- 
Carboniferous  age,  the  whole  way  from  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Baralacha  Pass,  at  the  north-western  corner  of  Spiti,  through  Zanskar, 
Suru,  Dras,  and  a  large  part  of  Cashmere.  Every  appearance  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  these  volcanic  rocks  extended  originally  in 
continuous  sheets  over  immense  tracts  of  country.  On  the  south 
side  of  the  great  central  chain  of  the  Himalayas  they  are  found  now 
in  more  or  less  scattered  and  detached  masses ;  but  on  the  north, 
throughout  the  whole  length  of  Zanskar  and  Suru  (where  there  has 
boon  loss  denudation  than  to  the  south),  there  is  an  almost  conti¬ 
nuous  outcrop  visible.  It  might  be  interesting  to  ascertain  whether 
ihe  pre-Carboniferous  rocks  of  Palestine  are  contemporaneous  with 
