May 9, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



721 



goods. In 1573, when the Earl of Worcester was 

 on his way to Prance to represent the Queen at the 

 christening of the French King's daughter, some 

 pirates swooped down on his ship and carried 

 away all valuables, including the christening pres- 

 ents for the little princess. 



The punishment of pirates was very difficult. 

 The usual criminal courts would not act beyond 

 the confines of their own countries and pirates ' 

 crimes were usually committed on the high seas. 

 Therefore special courts had to be constructed for 

 •their trial. Nine hundred and sixty men were in- 

 dicted in the special admiralty courts for piracy 

 lietween 156S and 1600. When convicted, pirates 

 were usually executed on Wapping on the Thames, 

 a mile or two below London. Twenty-eight were 

 hung there in the year 1575 and fourteen in 1579. 

 A narrative still remains of a pirate named Wal- 

 ton, being led from Southwark to Wapping to be 

 hung, tearing strips from his breeches of crimson 

 taffeta and handing thera as keepsakes to his 

 friends who followed him. The government also 

 made strenuous efforts to put down piracy by the 

 appointment of special commissions to hunt out 

 pirates and their confederates and by sending 

 fleets to sea to capture them. 



There was, therefore, no lack of actual piracy, 

 TDut probably not more on the part of the English- 

 men than of men of other nationalities. The rea- 

 son for the especial reputation of the English in this 

 regard was that in addition to piracy of the usual 

 kind they were held responsible for the seizures 

 lay letters of reprisal and by privateers and for 

 carrying out the practise of capture of eontra- 

 Ijand goods, to which England was naturally led 

 ty the economic dependence of Spain and her own 

 advantageous geographical location. 



JSome Commereml Transactions in Babylonia dur- 

 ing the Period of Greek S^lprem■a^•y : Albert T. 

 Clat, A.m., Ph.D. 

 The Historical Value of the Patriarchal Narra- 

 tives: George A. Barton, A.M., Ph.D. 

 The science of history has revolutionized our 

 knowledge with reference to the early history of 

 all peoples, showing that the traditions of nations 

 usually begin with mythical stories, which give 

 place gradually to legends, and later emerge into 

 history that is attested by approximately contem- 

 porary documents. Inevitably in the progress of 

 tnowledge scientific methods have been applied to 

 ■sacred' history. To-day scholars are divided, so 

 far as the patriarchal narratives are concerned, 

 into three groups. (1) The sincere, open-minded, 

 reverent scholars, who believe that the scientific 



methods must be applied to the beginnings of the 

 history of Israel as to those of other nations. 

 (2) The reactionaries, who resent the application 

 of scientific methods to ancient history. (3) The 

 mythological, or pseudo-scientific school, which has 

 become enamored of the scientific method from 

 afar, but has never undergone real historical 

 training. This school would regard most of the 

 Biblical characters as mythical. 



The tenth chapter of Genesis personifies Egypt, 

 Elam, Assyria and many other nations as men. 

 We know that these nations were not descended 

 from one man. Whenever, then, we find a patri- 

 arch and a nation or tribe bearing the same name, 

 it is scientific to assume that the patriarch is a 

 personification of the nation or tribe. Arabian 

 tribal traditions afford similar analogies. The 

 twelve sons of Jacob are, then, the personification 

 of the twelve tribes, and their history is tribal 

 history. This was shown to apply to all but 

 Joseph. There never was a tribe Joseph, but two 

 tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. The marriages of 

 Jacob represent tribal alliances. Neither Joseph, 

 Jacob nor Abraham can be accounted for in that 

 way, as there were no tribes bearing these names. 

 Are these three patriarchs, accordingly, nothing 

 but myths? Is Abraham a moon -god as the 

 pseudo-scientific school holds? Jacob-el, Joseph-el 

 and Abraham were shown from Babylonian in- 

 scriptions to have been personal names in Baby- 

 lonia before 2000 B.C., Jacob-el being sometimes 

 even there shortened to Jacob. Records of Egyp- 

 tian conquests of Palestine show that there were 

 cities in Palestine named for a Jacob-el, a 

 Joseph-el and an Abram. Many sources point to 

 migrations from Babylonia to Palestine. Prob- 

 ably such men, heading migrations of Amorites, 

 settled in Palestine and cities were named after 

 them, just as we have our Jonesvilles, BiUings, 

 etc., in this country. When later Hebrews settled 

 in these cities they gradually took over the names 

 of the men from whom the cities were named, and 

 wove them into their traditions. Around these 

 names traditions gathered from many quarters 

 were crystallized. These traditions can often be 

 shown to embody real history, though history of a 

 different sort from that supposed by the unscien- 

 tific student of the Bible. Historical study thus 

 makes it more probable that real men stand be- 

 hind the stories of Joseph, Jacob and Abraham 

 and that they are mythological personages. Many 

 documents were quoted to substantiate the posi- 

 tions taken. One of the most interesting is a con- 

 tract in which Abraham took part. It reads : 



