NEW CHAPTERS IN THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE. 589 



The other myths fared no better. As to the appearance of the 

 sea, he found its waters not "black and sticky," but blue and 

 transparent; he found no smoke rising from the abyss, but tells 

 us that sunlight and cloud and shore were pleasantly reflected 

 from the surface. As to Lot's wife, he found no salt pillar which 

 had been a careless woman, but the Arabs showed him many 

 bowlders which had once been wicked men. 



His work was worthily continued by a long succession of true 

 and reverent men, among them such travelers or geographers as 

 Burckhardt, Irby, Mangles, Fallmerayer, and Carl von Raumer : 

 by men like these the atmosphere of myth and legend was stead- 

 ily cleared away ; as a rule, they simply forgot Lot's wife alto- 

 gether. 



Greatest of all in this noble succession was an American theo- 

 logian, Dr. Edward Robinson, professor at New York, a man of 

 whom his country and humanity may well be proud. 



Beginning about 1826, he devoted himself for thirty years to 

 the thorough study of the geography of Palestine, and he found 

 a worthy coadjutor in another American divine, Dr. Eli Smith. 

 Neither of these men departed openly from the old traditions; 

 that would have cost a heart-breaking price, the loss of all further 

 opportunity to carry on their researches. Robinson did not even 

 think it best to call attention to the mythical character of much 

 on which his predecessors had insisted ; he simply brought in, 

 more and more, the dry, clear atmosphere of the love of truth for 

 truth's sake, and, in this, myths and legends steadily disappeared. 



By doing this he rendered a far greater service to real Chris- 

 tianity than any other theologian had ever done in this field. 



Very characteristic is his dealing with the myth of Lot's wife. 

 Though more than once at Usdum, though giving valuable in- 

 formation regarding the sea, shore, and mountains there, he care- 

 fully avoids all mention of the salt pillar and of the legend which 

 arose from it. In this he set an example followed by most of 

 the more thoughtful religious travelers since his time. Very 

 significant is it to see the New Testament injunction, " Remem- 

 ber Lot's wife," so utterly forgotten. These later investigators 

 seem never to have heard of it, and this constant forgetfulness 

 shows the change which had taken place in the enlightened 

 thinking of the world. 



But in the year 1848 came an episode very striking in its 

 character and effect. 



At that time, the war between the United States and Mexico 

 having closed, Lieutenant Lynch, of the United States Navy, 

 found himself in the port of Vera Cruz, commanding an old hulk, 

 the Supply. Looking about for something to do, it occurred to 

 him to write to the Secretary of the Navy asking permission to 



