Abstract
WE have only to do with politics in this journal in so far as they concern science; but without pronouncing any opinion on the wisdom of the action taken by our government in the Eastern question, it may not be amiss to say a few words from a scientific standpoint on the interesting territories which have just been brought into close relation with this country. To England the region included in Asiatic Turkey is in some respects the most interesting in the world. If not exactly the cradle of our family, there is good reason to believe that it is in close proximity to it; and no doubt it was one of the pathways by which the early Aryans sought their way to Europe. Historically and prehistorically, for the student of religion and the student of science, Turkey in Asia possesses features of the highest interest, and we may hope that one result of our new connection will be that our very imperfect knowledge of it in its various aspects will be rapidly filled up. Its shores—the Black Sea on the North, the Ægean on the west, the Mediterranean on the south, and, may we say, the Euphrates and Tigris rivers on the east—teem with historical associations. A careful investigation of its mountains and valleys, its rivers and numerous salt lakes, would doubtless yield the geologist a rich harvest of results, bearing everywhere as they do unmistakable evidence of former powerful volcanic action.
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OUR NEW PROTECTORATE . Nature 18, 302–306 (1878). https://doi.org/10.1038/018302d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/018302d0