ORDINARY MEETING, May 6, 1878. 
\ 
J. E. Howard, Esq., F.R.S., in the Chair. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the follow- 
ng Elections were announced : — 
Members : — The Right Rev. H. Cheetham, D.D., Bishop of Sierra Leone ; 
the Right Rev. J. R. Holly, D.D., Bishop of Haiti ; A. Duff Watson, 
Esq., Sidmouth. 
Associates The Right Rev. J. Mitchinson, D.D., Bishop of Barbados; 
the Right Rev. C. T. Quintard, D.D., Bishop of Tennessee. 
Also the presentation of the following Works for the Library : — 
“ Proceedings of the Royal Society,” Part 186. From the Society. 
“ Annual Address of the American Geographical Society” for 1878 Ditto. 
“ The Philosophy of Man.” By J. Coutts, Esq. From the A uthor. 
“ Some Sceptical Doubts.” By Rev. C. Bullock, B.D. Ditto. 
The following paper was then read by the author : — 
THE JORDAN VALLEY, IN THE LIGHT OF BIB- 
LIGAL HISTORY AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 
By Professor J. L. Porter, D.D., LL.D. 
OWN the centre of Syria, Palestine, and Arabia Petrosa, 
runs a great valley from north to south, through six 
and a half degrees of latitude. At its northern end, on the 
shore of the Mediterranean, lie the ruins of Seleucia, where 
St. Paul embarked on his first missionary journey (Acts xiii. 4); 
and at its southern end, on the Gulf of Akabah, are the ruins 
of Ezion-geber, where Solomon built his fleet for Ophir 
(1 Kings ix. 26). The northern section of the valley forms 
the bed of the river Orontes, near whose banks once stood the 
great cities of Antioch, Apatnea, Hamath, Emesa, Riblali, and 
Baalbek. The southern section is an arid desert, shut in on 
the east by the red cliffs of Edom, and on the west by the 
white calcareous ridges of the “Wilderness of Wandering.” 
Both these sections are of much interest to the classical and 
sacred geographer. East of the Orontes, between the parallels 
of Hamath and Aleppo, is a wide region of plain and moun- 
tain, studded with remarkable old towns and villages, to the 
existence of which I was among the first to call attention when 
