176 
HUDLESTON: GEOLOGY OF PALESTINE. 
the year 1833. So that France led the way to geological research 
in Syria, and that lead she has since fully maintained. 
I must now say a word about an important discovery. This 
was no less than a recognition of the singular physical fact, that the 
Dead Sea Basin, for a length of 200 miles, lies at a considerable 
depth below the level of the sea. Not only were the writers of 
antiquity ignorant of this peculiar feature, but it had also escaped 
the notice of Burkhardt and the earlier travellers, so that five and 
forty years ago, the whole world, scientific and unscientific, were 
quite ignorant of it. Like many great discoveries, it seems to have 
dawned upon several people nearly about the same time. It is no^ 
easy to assign the credit of the first discovery, but in the year 1837, 
two Englishmen, Messrs. Moore and Beck, published an account in the 
journal of the Royal Geographical Society. There was a considerable 
difference then and subsequently, as to the actual amount of the 
depression, — but to anticipate, I may say that the Surveyors of the 
Palestine Exploration Fund have fixed the level of the Dead Sea 
surface at 1,292ft. That was a time of general activity in the way 
of Palestine research, as the well-known work of Dr. Robinson 
appeared in the following year, — viz. in 1838, — and it was at this 
period also, that the Austrian mining engineer, Russegger, travelled, 
though his work was not published until ten years afterwards. 
Encouraged by the success of their learned fellow-countryman, 
Dr. Robinson, the Americans entered into the investigation with 
great zeal, and the decade between 1840 and 1850 witnessed some 
important contributions from them. American missionaries have 
generally been observant men ; some of them in Syria had made 
certain notes and collections of specimens, and these were submitted 
to Professor Hitchcock, who wrote a most important paper, so valu- 
able indeed, that M. Lartet says, that Hitchcock, although never 
there, had a far better idea of the geology of Palestine than the 
majority of travellers, whether before or since his time ; but then 
Hitchcock is a geologist, whilst the majority of travellers are not. 
The efforts of the Americans culminated in the expedition 
undertaken by Lt. Lynch, in 1848, with Dr. Anderson as geologist. 
The party launched a couple of metal boats on the Lake of Tiberias, 
