The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1874-09-25
MISCELLANY.
ABOLISHING THE DESERT.
Suggestions for Introducing the Med
iterranean into Part Of the Saba
ra-PrObable Consequences in Az
rica and Europe.


Few engineering propositions of mod
ern times are more stupendous in their
plan, or likely to involve more momen-
tuous consequences, than that of con-
verting a portion of the great desert of
Northern Africa into an inland sea. The
idea has been entertained at various
times previously, but simply as an indef-
mite notion, without any special attempt
at determining the possibilities.
A line of levels made in 1873, by
Messrs. Roudaire and Noll, captains in
+ the French army, in connection with
certain geodetic operations required by
| the measurement of the meridian of Bis
kra, first gave weight to the project. This
/ operation enabled them to ascertain that
the lake, or Chott Melghigh, is at its
northeastern border p meters below the
i level of the Mediterranean, this deepen
| ing at the rate of one-fourth of a meter
/ to the kilometer to the westward. This
was the first indication of the absolute
elevation of any point around Lake
Melghigh, vast depression in the soil,
which formerly received the waters of
! Igharghar, a river at that time l 200 XII
lometers in length, which transported
of Ahaggar to the Algerian Sahara in
/ the Province of Constantine.
Captain Roudair, with this hint, be-
gan careful study of the topography of
Eastern Algeria, supplementing this by
an investigation into certain records
bearing upon this depression in Tunis,
as published by Guerin and embodied
in certain manuscript notes of Captain
Pricot de Sainte Marie, and he came to
the conclusion that about 450 years be-
fore the Christian era the Mediterranean
extended westward to a considerable dis
tance, and that the salt lakes of ,El-Djer-
id, El -Gharsa, Selim and Melghigh are
simply the remainder of the great bay,
which, in his opinion, became dry by
the formation of a sandy isthmus of
about twenty-six kilometers in extent to
the north of the Gulf Gabes, and of the
place where Trinto Bay connected with
the Mediterranean. He also found rea-
son to believe that the Wady of El Apo
ril represented the channel which form
ed the connection between the dried por-
tion of this bay and that which still ex-
lists under the modern name of Gulf of
Gabes.
The date of this change in the physi-
cal conditions of Northern Africa, in his
opinion, was scarcely anterior to the be-
ginning of the Christian era, and the
cause Of it he refers partly at least to the
action of the current of the sea in the
Gulf of Gabes, which by some change in
its physical conditions, deposited this
large amount of sand and mud, ulti-
mately ending in a permanent obstruc-
tion which prevented the connection of
this inland sea with the Mediterranean.
This separation once effected, it did not
require great length of time for the in
tense heat of Northern Africa to dry the
interior basin, leaving only few salt
ponds here and there.
Assuming, with Recluz, that the mean
annual evaporation from the surface of
the Mediterranean amounts to about
twenty inches per annum, it would not
be long before this result would be ac-
complished; and the annual filling up of
the bay with saline matters, while still
connected with the Mediterranean, was
only prevented by the immense volnme
of fresh water which was received from
the Aowras Mountains. The ancient
bay, according to Roudaire, was 320 XII
lometers long and go wide, and required
from the Mediterranean a supply of wa
ter equal to a current 1000 meters in
width, 5 in depth, and running at the
rate of II meters per minute.
For the purpose of re-establishing the
ancient communication between the
westernmost of these salt lakes, El DER
id, and the Mediterranean, it is appar-
emily only necessary to open an isthmus
of eighteen kilometers in length, re-
newing the ancient bay, and totally
changing the physical and commercial
conditions of the interior of Africa.
Already reference has been made to
the fact that the French Government has
authorized certain expenditure for addi-
tional observations looking towards this
work, and speculations have been pre-
sented as to its probable consequences.
According to some, the result suggested
of cooling the Sirocco winds of the des-
ert, which now cross the Mediterranean
and exercise very appreciable effect
upon the downward extension of the
glaciers of the Alps will be extremely
detrimental to the interests of Switzer-
land; while others ridicule the idea as
preposterous. Again, it is objected that
this evaporation of the water, (which
will necessarily occur to very great ex-
tent will thereby result in forming an
immense mass of salt, which will soon
fill the bed of the sea-
To this, however, the experiences Is
sulting from the construction of the Suez
Canal are brought forward in opposition
to show that in all probability the an
cient rainfall along the slopes of the
mountains will be restored, and that not
only will sufficient volume of fresh
water be brought down to supply the
waste by evaporation, but that large
extent of country now a barren desert
will be rendered fertile, and the whole
face of North Africa altered for the bet
ter.
A NOVEL INvENTIoN.-The Phila-
delphia, Wilmington and Baltimore
Railroad Company are now testing a
novel arrangement to secure greater safe
| ty to trains. The invention consists of
an iron pipe, one end of which extends
through the cab on thelocomotive, and
the other near where the engineer sits or
stands when on duty. In the upper end