The Republican., 1895-11-07
ANOTHER DEAD SEA FORMING
Sea of Galilee Becoming Like That Which
Covers the Site of Sodom.

Sea of Galilee Becoming Like That Which
Covers the Site of Sodom
VIII there be another Sea of Sodomf
Lieut.. Lynch, of the United States
navy, has established the fact, pre-
vlously not known with consummate
accuracy, that the depression of the
Dead sea talso known as the Sea of Lot
and in the Scriptures as the Salt sea- is
over thirteen hundred feet below the
level of the Mediterranean, while that
OF Lake Genesaret is eight hundred feet
lower than the ocean The measure.
ments were made twenty years ago, a
long period in a semi-volcanic region.
Lake GeneSaret is connected with the
Dead sea by the Jordan flowing through
1t from north to south, and engineers
and scientists are satisfied that the bed
of the Jordan is gradually sinking. Nv
observations of the shores of Lake Cen
esaret and those of the inhabitants of
the neigh boring towns and villages in
dlcate that the lake is continuously fall
ing toward the bottom. while the water
Is becon ing denser from year to year.
The salt strata in its neigh borhood are
growing constantly, it seems, and sui
phur springs are becoming frequent on
the plains surrounding it. In the north
and east of the lake the palm trees.
some of them alive, more of them dead
and barren, rise above the water. at a
distance OF from twenty to forty feet
from shore. That they should have
taken root in the water is impossible.
and the supposition is that originally
they stood on islands submerged with
the sinking of the lakes bottom
The catastrophe which resulted in
the destruction of the cities of Sodom
and GomOrrah and in the formation of
the Dead sea is computed to have oc-
CURED about nineteen hundred years
before Christ. The Dead sea has puz-
zled scientists ever since, and many of
its remarkable features have now been
explained. Its depression below the
level of the Mediterranean is the deep
est known on earth. The bottom of
Lake GeneSaret is on a much higher
level at present, but if it continues to
sink as 1t has done in the last twenty
years repetition of the events of four
y
AS the world has not been treated to
spectacle of terrestrial evolutions on a
grand scale within hundreds of wears.
the creation of second Dead sea with
IN the compass of ordinary travel would
surely attract the attention of all civil
Ilzed nations, and at the same time
help to solve many problems of scien-
tific nature.
Josephus, who was born in 81 b. c.,
reports that the water of Genesaret
was clear as crystal sweet and whole
some. | tried to drink of it, but found
1t putrid and nauseating. 1t left a
salty taste in the mouth. | asked the
plying their trade on the
lake as in Biblical days, whether the
water was always unfit for drinking
purposes, and received answer that it
grew more and more foul every year.
This seems to indicate that the sur
misses as to the change of conditions in
the lake are correct. The water of the
Dead sea, as is well known, is entirely
unit for use by man. The stencil aris-
ing from 1t creates pestilential atmos-
phere for many miles around. | have
never been able to approach the lake
in summer, but unc-na.i,,aa- -l...~-, i'm.
formed me that about this time of the
year the water, even a foot below the
surface, acquires a temperature of
ninety degrees. 1t has been observed
that past midnight the temperature of
the water on the surface measured in
the neighborhood of one hundred de-
grees. There is, however. one false i'm
preston in the public mind to be cor
rected. The Dead sea is not dead as
to animal life. Hawks, partridges,
frogs and pigeons are numerous upon
It's shores, and all sorts of crawling in
Sects abound there; the sluggish wa
terS, too, are covered with duckS-in
fact, the fauna is the same as that in
habiting the shores of Lake Genesaret,
with this difference, however: All
specimens of the animal world about
the Dead sea are slate colored, while !
those enlivening the shores and surface
Of Lake Genesaret wear their ordinary
plumage and scaly dress respectively.
The Lake Genesaret, also called the |
Sea of Tiberias or Galilee, is situated
sixty-five miles north of the Dead sea.
Its extreme length is fifteen miles, it's
greatest width six and three -fourths
miles. The water is very deep at the
shores. In some spots its depth meas
ures one hundred and sixty feet, in +,
others seven hundred and fifty and !
more. In the northeast and northwest |
the shores are fiat and swampy; the |
of Safed approach the lake
in the north; in the west we have the !
hills of El-Hamma and Hattin. The
plateau of Jaulan commences
in the east; it is distinguished for many
lead craters; its greatest height is
called Hermon, and it wears an eternal
snow cap. Palms that bring forth no
papyrus plants and oleander
flourish in the neighborhood of the
shore. The stones at the edge of the
water are literally covered with turtles,
some of which grow over a foot and a
lalf long. Ducks are plentiful in some
parts; in others the pelican holds forth .
II large numbers. Times.
How the Nose Works.
In ordinary respiration the nose
only pronounced odors,
since the filaments of the olfactory