Retrospective Criticism. li^ 



The patriarch Job is describing the former miserable lives of those who, in 

 his affliction, had become his deriders ; he says of them, " They cut up mal- 

 lows by the bushes," &c. That is, such had been the wickedness of their 

 lives, that they had been driven from society to dwell in caves of the earth, 

 and were obliged to subsist upon roots and herbs, which were scarcely fitted 

 to sustain life. That such is the meaning of the passage, appears from the 

 marginal reference to Luke, chap.xv. v. 16., " And he would fain have filled 

 his belly with the husks that the swine did eat." I am not, however, igno- 

 i*ant, that it has been doubted by many excellent commentators, whether 

 the Hebrew word in the above passage from Job be rightly translated by 

 our word Mallow : still 1 can see no reason why it should not be so. If 

 there be, I should be very glad to be informed of it. The original word, 

 according to Parkhurst, signifies " an herb of a brackish or saltish taste." 

 Now I would enquire whether some of this extensive order of plants will 

 not answer the above description. You, Sir, will know whether any of the 

 Mallows grow in Arabia, and if so, whether they may not be impregnated 

 with saline particles. It may here be observed, that the Hebrew word is 

 very similar in sound to the Latin word Malva, which we translate Mallow. 



What I have written is, I must confess, but little more than mere con- 

 jecture ; and I shall be glad if any one of your numerous correspondents 

 will strengthen my opinions. It is very important that the correctness of 

 our venerable translation of the Bible should be called in question as sel- 

 dom as possible, and certainly never unnecessarily so. The tendency to this 

 evil has always been much too great : long ago, Bochart endeavoured to 

 prove that the whale which swallowed up Jonah was a shark.* Dr. Adam 

 Clarke has shown us that the serpent which tempted Eve was an ape ; and 

 many other fanciful opinions might be cited, which have been supported 

 with more learning, I fear, than judgment. 



To Miss Kent, I am sure, every reader of your Magazine, as well as my- 

 self, must feel obliged for the useful and interesting matter she has fur- 

 nished us with. And if, on one point (which does not in the least call in 

 question her knowledge of the subject before her), I have ventured to dif- 

 fer, she will, I hope, excuse me, when I assure her it is more with the wish 

 of gaining information, than of expressing any confidence in my own opinion. 

 I am. Sir, yours, &c. — G. M. Lynn Regis, Sept. 29. 1828. 



Rhodhla millegrhna (Vol. I. p. 437.) should be Radiola millegrana : it is 

 a very different genus. — R. S. 



The New Holland Anonaceous Plant (Vol. I. p. 438.) is proved by Mr. 

 Brown, in the Appendix to Captain Tuckey's Voyage, not to belong to 

 AnonacecB, and is therefore left out of Decandolle's Pr6dromu&: it is a 

 species of Cargilh'a. — R. S. 



■>■ Geology of Palestine. — Sir, In your valuable Magazine of Natural His- 

 tory (Vol. I. p. 390.) I observe a notice of a paper on the geology of Pales- 

 tine, in which it is stated that there are no volcanic rocks on the borders 

 of the Dead Sea. Though these may not have been observed, yet there 

 are traces of a volcanic neighbourhood in the sulphur found near the 

 southern extremity of it, and in the hot springs and sulphur in the valley of 

 Calirrhoe, near the north end ; for a notice of which see the interesting 

 Travels of Captains Irby and Mangles (printed for private distribution in 

 1823), p. 453. and 467., and at p. 375. and 577. Distinct volcanoes, some 

 miles south of the Dead Sea, are described and laid down in the map accom- 

 panying that work, which it is to be regretted that the authors do not pub- 

 lish. See also a curious dissertation on the Dead Sea in Dr. Daubeny's 

 important work on volcanoes, p. 279. — W. C. T. Jan. 1829> 



* So that the Rev. Dr. Scot's paper read before the Wernerian Society 

 contained no new thing. — See Mag. Nat. Hist., Vol.1, p. 291. 



