24 
earth, as it were, moving slowly over an envelope, would account for almost 
all the motions in question. If you put one globe over another, you could, 
without having this dipping down of the actual earth through the medium 
of the axis, and circulation from pole to pole, account in a great measure for 
the changes which are mentioned by Mr. Hopkins, without that great crushing 
and crumpling which Mr. Warington has pointed out must take place if 10 
or 12 miles are squeezed into nothing, owing to the difference of area and 
surface at the Polar regions. But there would be crushing owing to another 
cause. There would be no crushing if the earth was a sphere ; but if a pro- 
late or oblate spheroid you would have a great deal of crushing. Now, 
with regard to what Mr. Warington has stated respecting the Holy Land, 
I do not think he has made out so strong a case against Mr. Hopkins’s 
hypotheses, as at first sight may seem. The temperature of any place on the 
earth’s surface, I believe, depends upon two things ; it depends upon the height 
above the level of the sea, as well as the latitude and longitude. It also 
depends on such causes as the Gulf Stream and proximity to the coast, so 
that there are many things which modify the effect of latitude. Isothermal 
lines are very different lines even for places at the same height on the earth s 
surface; they are irregular in their character and very different from the lines 
of latitude, so that we cannot always calculate the heat of a country by merely 
knowing the latitude and longitude. (Hear, hear.) Again, height has a very 
considerable influence. We know that in the Himalayas you may, within an 
hour or two’s journey, pass from all the tropical plants up to those almost 
of Siberian character. The same can be done in the Andes. You may in 
the morning breakfast amid sugar-canes, in a tropical climate, and in the 
region of rice. A few hours may transfer you into the region of the grape 
and wheat, and you may go on until you actually come into the frozen 
regions. Now I think Mr. Warington has pointed out that there has been 
not altogether a fixed climate in the Holy Land, but that a considerable 
change has taken place. Unfortunately the change is not what Mr. Hopkins 
would have, because it has been a change rather from cold to heat. But there 
is another thing which might account for that. Has there been any very 
great depression of this country ? W ell, I do not think that in the Biblical 
times there were any accurate trigonometrical surveys, or astronomical data, 
but I think Mr. Warington differs slightly from Mr. Tristram in one particular. 
I think he considers that the greater portion of the Dead Sea has been 
formed since the days of Abraham, or since the destruction of the cities of 
the plain — 
Mr. Warington. — About one-third. But I do not think Mr. Tristram 
holds that opinion. 
Bev. W. Mitchell. — Now, there is something remarkable about the 
position of the Dead Sea. I suppose it is about the most depressed part of 
the earth’s surface. I think the rapid trigonometrical observations were 
made and taken under extreme difficulty by Lieutenant Lynch and the 
American surveying party (but I think their conclusions have been verified 
and carried out by the survey of our own engineers) ; and what have they 
