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CHAPTER IV.

FISHES.

THERE are but few references to the subject of Ichthyology in the inspired writings. The reasons are obvious: the Jews being an agricultural people, fish formed no considerable part of their food; nor could they furnish any striking objects of comparison or illustration to the sacred writers, as in the case of quadrupeds and birds.

The well-known biblical appellations are two words expressive of their amazing fecundity:* and the latter of their rapid motion. In Gen. i. 21, the word taninin, rendered in our English Bibles, great whales,' seems used to describe fish of the largest description, without being restricted to any particular species.

There seems to be four divisions of the aquatic tribes, strongly marked in nature, which are usually called the spinous or bony kind; -the cartilaginous, or those which have gristles instead of bones; -the cetaceous tribe, or those of the whale kind;-and the crustaceous, or shell fish.

Fish was the common food of the Egyptians. Hence we may see how distressing was the infliction which turned the waters of the river into blood, and occasioned the death of the fish, Exod. vii. 18-21. Their sacred stream became so polluted as to be unfit for drink, for bathing, and for other uses of water to which they were superstitiously devoted, (ch. ii. 5; vii. 15; viii. 20;) and themselves obliged to nauseate what was the usual food of the common people, and held sacred by the priests.

From Neh. xiii. 16, we learn, that in the time of Nehemiah, the Tyrians brought fish in considerable quantities to Jerusalem, for purchasing which on the Sabbath-day, that zealous patriot reproved the elders of the Jews. As the people of Tyre were remarkable for their skill in maritime affairs, it is impossible to say how far their fisheries might extend; but from Le Bruyn we ascertain, that fish in large numbers, and of excellent quality, were to be procured in the neighborhood of their own city. Nor should we omit to notice, in justification of John xxi. 11, that the sea of Tiberias was well stocked with fish of a very large size.

The narrative of Jonah's extraordinary preservation from death, when thrown overboard by the terrified mariners, has furnished

*The Abbe Pluche shows, from Leuwenhoek, that a single cod, though not of the largest size, contained 9,334,000 eggs; and observes, that though a common carp is far from having such a number of eggs, yet the quantity of them is so amazing, even at the first glance, that it contributes very much to justify the above calculation.-Nature Displayed, vol. i. p. 230, 231.

ample materials for the cavils of the infidel, and for the speculations of the philosopher and the critic. In the sacred text, the particular 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 interpretation: 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 miracle, 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 receive from them larger confirmation than some others, of greater extent and magnitude. The heathen have preserved the fact, but applied it to Hercules,

CHAPTER V.

REPTILES.

THIS numerous and liversified class of being is distinguished by two appellations in the sacred writings, (Gen. i. 24, 25; vii. 21;) the one being expressive of its motion, that is, crawling; and the other of its abundant production or increase. Reptiles of all sorts, except those furnished with wings, were unclean, Lev. xi. 41. We shall notice them under three divisions: LIZARDS-SERPENTSWORMS.

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DR. SHAW has shown, that the tzab or tjab of Lev. xi. 29, which we call the tortoise, is a lizard, called in Arabic, with a near approach to the Hebrew name, dhab or dab, agreeing nearly in shape, and in the hard pointed annule or scales of the tail, with the candiverbera or shake-tail, as it is represented in Gesner, and Johnson. 'The dab, or Saharawan lizard, is about eighteen inches long, and three or four inches broad across the back. I not poisonous. It lays eggs like the tortoise. It is very swift, and, if hunted, will hide itself in the earth, which it penetrates with its nose, and nothing will extricate it but digging up the ground.'

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