Volume - The Clarence Darrow Collection

246 DEAD SEA LEGENDS TO COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY.
under cover of conventionalities ;
of the spirit of Quaresmio
he shows no trace.*
About 1760 came a striking evidence of the strength of
this new current. The Abate Mariti then published his
book upon the Holy Land ; and of this book, by an Italian
ecclesiastic, the most eminent of German bibliographers in
this field says that it first broke a path for critical study of
the Holy Land. Mariti is entirely sceptical as to the sink-
ing of the valley of Siddim and the overwhelming of the
cities. He speaks kindly of a Capuchin Father who saw
at the Dead Sea traces of the divine maledic-
everywhere
tion, while he himself could not see them, and says, " It is
because a Capuchin carries everywhere the five senses of
faith, while I only carry those of nature." He speaks of \
" the lies of Josephus," and makes merry over " the rude
and shapeless block" which the guide assured him was the
statue of Lot's wife, explaining the want of human form in
the salt pillar by telling him that this complete metamor-
phosis was part of her punishment.
About twenty years later, another remarkable man, Vol-
ney, broaches the subject in what was then known as the
" "
philosophic
spirit. Between the years 1783 and 1785 he ^^
made an extensive journey through the Holy Land and pub- ;
lished a volume of travels which by acuteness of thought
and vigour of style secured general attention. In these,
myth and legend were thrown aside, and we have an ac-|
count simply dictated by the love of truth as truth. He,
too, keeps the torch of science burning by applying his
geological knowledge to the regions which he traverses.
As we look back over the eighteenth century we see
mingled with the new current of thought, and strengthening
it, a constantly increasing stream of more strictly scientific
observation and reflection.
To review it briefly : in the very first years of the, century
Maraldi showed the Paris Academy of Sciences fossil fishes
found in the Lebanon region ;
a little later, Cornelius Bruyn,
in the French edition of his Eastern travels, gave well-drawn
* For Poole (Polus) see his Synopsis, 1669, p. 179 ; and for Tirinus, the Lyons
edition of his Commentary, 1 736, p. 10.