PORTER, JOSIAS LESLIE: English Presbyterian; b. at Burt, County Donegal, Ireland, Oct. 4, 1823; d. at Belfast Mar. 16, 1889. He graduated at Glasgow (B.A., 1841; M.A., 1842); was ordained, 1846; studied theology at the Free Church College and University, both Edinburgh, 1842-44; pastor at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1846-49; missionary of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland in Damascus, 1849-59; professor of Biblical criticism in the Presbyterian College, Belfast, Ireland, 1860-77. He was especially prominent by reason of his connection with Irish educational institutions and interests. He was the author of Five Years in Damascus (2 vols., London, 1855; 2d ed., 1870); Hand-book for Syria and Palestine (2 vols., 1858; 3d ed., 1875); The Pentateuch and the Gospels (1864); The Giant Cities of Bashan, and Holy Places of Syria (1865); The Life and Times of Henry Cooke, D.D., LL.D. (London, 1871); The Pew and Study Bible (1876); Jerusalem, Bethany and Bethlehem (1887); and Through Samaria to Galilee and the Jordan (1888). He edited J. Kitto's Daily Bible Illustrations (Edinburgh, 1867) and J. Brown's Self-Interpreting Bible (1871).