566 The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, 



logous instance, in which the sun is said to have stood still at the 

 command of Joshua. 



That the individuals, who witnessed the destruction of these 

 places might have been impressed with this notion, will be more 

 readily believed, when we reflect, that in most eruptions the greater 

 part of the mischief occasioned proceeds from the matters eject- 

 ed, which are often perceived only to fall from above ; and those 

 who recollect the description given by the younger Pliny of that 

 from Vesuvius, will admit, that a person who had fled from the 

 neighbourhood of that volcano, as Lot is stated to have done 

 from the one near the Dead Sea, at the commencement of the 

 eruption, would probably have formed the same idea of what 

 was taking place ; for it appears from the Roman writer, that it 

 was long before he was enabled, even at Misenum, to determine, 

 in the midst of the general obscurity, that the cloud of unusual 

 appearance, which was the precursor of the volcanic phenomena, 

 proceeded from the mountain itself. 



When Livy mentions the shower of stones, which, according 

 to common report, fell from heaven on Mount Albano, there can 

 be little doubt, that the phenomenon that gave rise to such an 

 idea was of an analogous description, and we shall see hereafter, 

 that the volcanic action, of which there are such decided evi- 

 dences in Phrygia, was attributed by some to heavenly meteors. 



As, therefore, we have no authority for supposing Moses a 

 natural historian, or for imagining that he possessed a know- 

 ledge of physics beyond that of the age in which he lived, we 

 may venture to apply to his narrative of the destruction of these 

 cities the same remark which Strabo has made respecting the 

 indications of igneous action, presented by the country round 



Laodicea : '^ ovk tvXoyov vtto roiovruv TTccdioy tjjv toixvtviv ^co^uv itcTT^w^nvui 

 et6^0£i/g, ecXXoc fZoiXXov vtto yytyivcv? Trv^og.''^ 



Volney's description of the present state of this country fully 

 coincides with this view. 



The south of Syria, (he remarks) that is, the hollow through 

 which the Jordan flows, is a country of volcanoes : the bitumi- 

 nous and sulphureous sources of the lake Asphaltites, the lava, 

 the pumice stones thrown upon its banks, and the hot-baths of 

 Tabaria, demonstate, that this valley has been the seat of a sub- 

 terraneous fire, which is not yet extinguished. 

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