Very similar to the accounts of the saving
of Philemon and Baucis are those of the saving of Lot and his family.
But the myth-making and miracle-mongering by no means ceased in
ancient times; they continued to grow through the medieval and
modern period until they have quietly withered away in the light of
modern scientific investigation, leaving to us the religious and
moral truths they inclose.
It would be interesting to trace this whole group of myths: their
origin in times prehistoric, their development in Greece and Rome,
their culmination during the ages of faith, and their disappearance
in the age of science. It would be especially instructive to note
the conscientious efforts to prolong their life by making futile
compromises between science and theology regarding them; but I
shall mention this main group only incidentally, confining my self
almost entirely to the one above named--the most remarkable of
all--the myth which grew about the salt pillars of Usdum.
I select this mainly because it involves only elementary
principles, requires no abstruse reasoning, and because all
controversy regarding it is ended.
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