36 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



plete. In this case the sun is reported to have stood 

 still for 'about a whole day' upon Gibeon, and the 

 moon in the valley of Ajalon. An Englishman of 

 average education at the present day would naturally 

 demand a greater amount of evidence to prove that 

 this occurrence took place, than would have satisfied 

 an Israelite in the age succeeding that of Joshua. For 

 to the one, the miracle probably consisted in the stop- 

 page of a fiery ball less than a yard in diameter, while 

 to the other it would be the stoppage of an orb fourteen 

 hundred thousand times the earth in size. And even 

 accepting the interpretation that Joshua dealt with 

 what was apparent merely, but that what really oc- 

 curred was the suspension of the earth's rotation, I 

 think the right to exercise a greater reserve in accept- 

 ing the miracle, and to demand stronger evidence in 

 support of it than that which would have satisfied an 

 ancient Israelite, will still be conceded to a man of 

 science. 



There is a scientific as well as an historic imagi- 

 nation; and when, by the exercise of the former, the 

 stoppage of the earth's rotation is clearly realised, the 

 event assumes proportions so vast, in comparison with 

 the result to be obtained by it, that belief reels under 

 the reflection. The energy here involved is equal to 

 that of six trillions of horses working for the whole of 

 the time employed by Joshua in the destruction of his 

 foes. The amount of power thus expended would be 

 sufficient to supply every individual of an army a thou- 

 sand times the strength of that of Joshua, with a thou- 

 sand times the fighting power of each of Joshua's 

 soldiers, not for the few hours necessary to the extinc- 

 tion of a handful of Amorites, but for millions of 

 years. All this wonder is silently passed over by the 

 sacred historian, manifestly because he knew nothing 



