372 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



ample materials for the cavils of the infidel, and for the specula- 

 tions of the philosopher and the critic. In the sacred text, the par- 

 ticular fish which was rendered the preserver of the disobedient 

 prophet, is not specified ; although the Septuagint translators have 

 inserted the whale, and the evangelists, in recording our Saviour's 

 words relative to the event and its typical character, have used the 

 same word. It by no means follows from this, however, that the 

 writers of the gospels designed to give their sanction to this inter- 

 pretation : the LXX being the version in common use among their 

 countrymen, they quoted it without alteration, where its deviation 

 from the original involved no serious consequences. 



Although the whale is the largest of all known fish, its gullet is 

 too small to permit the passage of a human body through it, and 

 therefore we cannot, without the supposition of an additional mira- 

 cle, admit this to be the fish intended. 



Our Lord observes (Luke xi. 30) that ' Jonas was a sign to the 

 Ninevites ; ' and it is remarkable that the event should have been 

 so widely spread and attracted so much notice, that among the few 

 fragments of antiquity remaining to us, this little history should re- 

 ceive from them larger confirmation than some others, of greater 

 extent and magnitude. The heathen have preserved the fact, but 

 applied it to Hercules. 



