NEW CHAPTERS IN THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE. 597 



great church of St. Peter at Zurich, gave to the world a book of 

 travels reverent and thoughtful, and, in this, honestly acknowl- 

 edged that the needles of salt at the southern end of the Dead Sea 

 " in primitive times gave rise to the tradition that Lot's wife was 

 transformed into a statue of salt." Thus was the mythical char- 

 acter of this story at last openly confessed by leading churchmen 

 on both continents. 



Plain statements like these from such sources left the high 

 theological position more difficult than ever, and now a new com- 

 promise was attempted. As the Siberian mother tried to save her 

 best-beloved child from the pursuing wolves by throwing over to 

 them her less favored children, so an effort was now made in a 

 leading commentary to save the legends of the valley of Siddim 

 and the miraculous destruction of the cities by throwing over- 

 board the legend of Lot's wife.* 



But even this utterly failed, for there soon followed the worst 

 blows of all. First, from Van de Velde, who made his journey in 

 1851 and 1852. He is a most devout man, but he confesses that 

 the volcanic action at the Dead Sea must have been far earlier 

 than the catastrophe mentioned in our sacred books, and that 

 " the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah had nothing to do with 

 this." A few years later a very eminent dignitary of the English 

 Church, Canon Tristram, doctor of divinity and fellow of the 

 Royal Society, who had explored the Holy Land thoroughly, 

 after some generalities about miracles, gave up the whole attempt 

 to make science agree with the myths, and used these words : " It 

 has been frequently assumed that the district of Usdum and its 

 sister cities was the result of some tremendous geological ca- 

 tastrophe. . . . Now, careful examination by competent geologists, 

 such as Monsieur Lartet and others, has shown that the whole 

 district has assumed its present shape slowly and gradually 

 through a succession of ages, and that its peculiar phenomena are 

 similar to those of other lakes." So sank from view the whole 

 mass of Dead Sea myths and legends, and science gained a victory 

 both for geology and comparative mythology. 



An amusing result has followed this development of opinion. 

 As we have already seen, traveler after traveler, Catholic and 

 Protestant, now visits the Dead Sea, and hardly one of them 

 follows the New Testament injunction to " remember Lot's wife." 

 Nearly every one of them seems to think it best to forget her. 



* For Mislin, see his " Les Saints Lieux," Paris, 1876, vol. iii, pp. 290-29S, especially note 

 at foot of page 292. For Schaff, see his " Through Bible Lands," especially chapter xxix. 

 See also Rev. H. S. Osborne, M. A., " Travels," etc., pp. 267 et seq. ; also Stanley's " Sinai 

 and Palestine," London, 1887, especially pp. 290-293. For Furrer, see his "En Palestine," 

 Qeneva, 1886, vol. i, p. 246. For the attempt to save one legend by throwing overboard 

 the other, see Keil und Delitsch, " Biblischer Commentar ueber das Alte Testament," vol. 

 i, pp. 155, 156. For Van de Velde, see his "Syria and Palestine," vol. ii, p. 120. 



