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E. WALTER MAUNDER, F.R.A.S., ON 



and shook it at the declining sun, which straightway went backward 

 in the sky to the extent of three zodiacal signs ! " (six hours). 



While the Indian account, which is equally striking, is preserved in 

 Hamilton's Key to the Chronology of the Hindoos, vol. ii, p. 224, 

 as follows : — 



It is recorded in the life of Chrishnu (the black shepherd prophet 

 of the Hindoos), that in the Cali year 1651 (which corresponds with 

 our 1451 B.C., the very year in which Joshua entered Canaan), the 

 sun delayed setting, to hear the pious ejaculations of Akroon, who 

 descanted on the virtues of Chrishnu, as he journeyed to Bindreben ; 

 and that on his arrival in safety, that planet went down, making a 

 difference of about twelve hours." 



Now, it is not difficult to trace in all these strange stories the 

 corrupted record of an event of which the true account is found in 

 the Bible, each country, however, substituting the name of some 

 national hero in the place of Joshua, while the stories themselves 

 are naturally coloured with the necessary local conditions which the 

 particular country required. 



Mr. W. HosTE ventured to criticize the interpretation of the reader 

 of the paper, in spite of its originality and interesting character. 

 '* Sun, stand still," would mean nothing more than Cease piercing 

 us with thy vertical rays," and the answer of the Lord would be 

 nothing more than the veiling of the sun, which so refreshed the 

 Israelites that they could do in seven hours the work of a whole day. 

 Certainly this would be in itself a miraculous result from so inade- 

 quate a cause ; but we must note that the moon also was com- 

 manded to " stand still." We have heard of people being ** moon- 

 struck," but otherwise the rays of the moon hardly need to be 

 moderated. However, the Hebrew Cipi^ of course, does mean 

 " be silent," or perhaps " cease doing what you are doing." But 

 sun and moon were not only shining, they were on the move, so 



ceasing to move " is equally admissible as an interpretation. Of 

 course, when we say the heavenly bodies ceased to move, we refer 

 to results gradually experienced, not immediately detected In verse 

 13 we read, The sun stood still (same word, Q??!) and the moon 

 stayed " C^V — ordinary word for standing). But at the close of 

 the verse it is recorded, " So the sun stood still (this time the word 

 is "Tpy too) in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about 



