Dead Sea
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Dead Sea. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the usual name, dating from the time of Jerome, for a most remarkable lake in the S. E. of Palestine, called in the Old Testament The Salt Sea, Sea of the Plain, or East Sea; by Josephus, Lacus Asphaltites; and by the Arabs now, Bahr-Lút, "Sea of Lot." It is 46 miles long, with a breadth of from 5 to 9 miles. Its surface, which is lower than that of any water known, is 1,292 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. The depth of the greater part, the N. section, is about 1,300 feet. The shape is that of an elongated oval, interrupted by a promontory which projects into it from the S. E. The Dead Sea is fed by the Jordan from the N. and by many other streams, but has no apparent outlet. Along the E. and W. borders of the Dead Sea there are linese of bold, and in some cases perpendicular, cliffs. These cliffs are chiefly composed of limestone, and are destitute of vegetation except in the ravines traversed by fresh water streamlets. The N. shores of the lake form an extensive and desolat muddy flat, marked by the blackened tunks of trees, with salt. The S. shore s low, level, and marshy, desolate, and dreary. On this shore is the remarkable ridge of rock-salt, 7 miles long and 300 feet high, called Khashm Usdom (Ridge of Sodom). Lava-beds, pumice-stone, warm springs, sulphur, and volcanic slag prove the presence here of volcanic agencies at some period. The salinity of the waters is adverse to life, though some lower organizations are found in them. The water of the Dead Sea is characterized by the presence of a large quantity of magnesian and soda salts. Its specific gravity ranges from 1172 to 1227 (pure water being 1000). The proportion of saline matter is so great, that while sea-water contains only 3.5 per cent. of salts, the water of the Dead Sea contains upward of 26 per cent. The evaporation is great, as the heat is intense, and the sea rather contracts than increases. Rain hardly ever falls; the water is nearly as blue and clear as that of the Mediterranean. Owing to the great specific gravity of the water, it is almost impossible for the bather to sink in it, strive as he may. Several of those who have navigated and explored the sea have fallen victims to a fatal fever. For the story of the "Cities of the Plain," see Gen. xix.; but according to Captain generally agreed that Conder, "it is now gene the Dead Sea and Jordan were formed by a great fault or crack in the earth's surface long before the creation of man. It is vain, therefore, to suppose that the 'cities of the plain' were beneath the present sea."
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a celebrated lake of Palestine. It occupies a sunken valley at the eastern foot of the Lebanon Mountains. It is the deepest known inland depression in the earth's surface. The lake is forty-six miles in length and from five to nine miles in length and from five to nine miles wide. Its surface is 1,292 feet below the surface of the Mediterranean. The depth of the water varies from three feet to thirteen hundred feet at the center of the northern section. The River Jordan is the chief tributary. There is no outlet. The waters are charmingly blue, but bitter to the taste, and fetid. It is several times as salt as the ocean. People who go in bathing cannot sink. They require to use care, or else the body assumes an inconvenient position-feet up and head down. The only life in the water consists of a certain low animalcule. The east and the west shores are steep limestone cliffs. The northern shore is a brackish, muddy flat, with here and there a dead tree incrusted with salt. The southern shore is equally dreary and desolate. It is marked by a long ridge of rock salt , 300 feet high, called by the Arabs the ridge of Sodom. There are no present indications that the valley ever was inhabited; there is little life of any sort in the vicinity, though a few bird-inhabited thickets of oleander are found on the shore and in the valleys of tributaries. Twenty-five per cent of the water consists of solid matter; seven percent is salt. Divers bring up salt from the bottom of the sea, dry it in the sun, and carry it on camels to market at Jerusalem. This lake has been called also the Sea of Sodom and the Salt Sea. See Caspian; Death Valley ; Altitude