The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-07-05
BIBLE PROOF IN TREES.

Biblical history has been recalled by the
forestry bureau of the government to as
slst In advertising new pamphlet 1t mas
just issued on the giant trees of Cali
fornia. The tree scientists have discov-
cred in the grains of the California trees
what they claim to be unmistakable proof
that the great drouth and famine in Pal
estine, in the days of the prophet Elijah,
$40 years before Christ was equally felt
on the Pacific coast of the United States.
However, the press agent of the bureau
of forestry tells his own story in the fol-
lowing language:
In the days of the Prophet Elijah sore
famine afflicted the land of Palestine. No
rain fell, the brooks ran dry and dire dis
aster prevailed. Go through the land,
unto all the fountains of water and unto
all the brooks; peradventure we may find
grass and save the horses and the mules
alive, that we lose not all the beasts
when Obadiah went forth in search OF
forage he fell in with his chief, Elijah,
and brought him to Ahab, who greeted
prayed for rain, according to the Bible
story. and the famine was stayed From
this famine in Palestine. some $40 years
before Christ, to the forests of the Sierra
Nevadas, in the twentieth century, is a
far cry, but the connecting link between
the past and the present, between the
ancient east and the modern west, is
found in the big trees of California, the
huge species known as Sequoia Washing
toniana.
I'm a publication entitled The Secret
of the Big Trees by Ellsworth Hunting
ton, just placed on sale by the superin-
tendent of documents, Washington, d. c.,
it is shown that the growth rings in the
big trees of California indicate that in
general the same sequence of climatic
changes took place in California and Asia
Minor. Curves indicating climatic condi-
lions in California and Asia Minor show a
remarkable resemblance between the two
regions.
1.-The curves begin with the epoch of
the Trojan War, about 200 B. c. There
both curves dip very low, indicating an
Of end md
That particular period, historians tell US.
was one of the most chaotic in all his
tory.
THE famine in the days of Elijah ap-
pears in both curves. Apparently at that
time the climate did not become extreme
ly dry, nothing like so bad as it had been
few hundred years earlier during the
twelfth century, but there was rather a
distinct falling off in the amount of rain
fall as compared with the uncommonly
good conditions of the preceding century.
About 700 years before Christ both curves
stand high in the day when the Greeks
were laying the foundation of their fu-
ture greatness and the empires of Meso-
potamia were at their height. Then
comes a pronounced falling off, with a
another decline eliminating about 200 b
G. and recovery reaching high point
about so B. c.
1.-The time of Christ. the great era of
universal peace under the sway of Rome,
was apparently epoch of favorable
climate, time of abundant rain and
tries around the Mediterranean Sea and
eastward in Asia, as well as in California
Next comes long period of decline Gull
minating six or seven centuries after the
time of Christ. No period in all history,
save that which centers about 1900 B. c.,
was more chaotic, and that early period
also appears to have been a time of great
ly diminished rainfall"
This publication, which may be pur-
cased from the superintendent of docu-
ments, government printing office, for
cents, gives a detailed account of the
reasons and the work that led to the
conclusions given above. 1t also contains
13 illustrations, showing the big trees in
the Yosemite, Sequoia and General Grant
National Parks.-Washington correspond
ent Chicago News.