Peter
caught one hundred and fifty-three fishes."
As to the Dead Sea miracles generally, he does not dwell on them at
great length; he evidently felt that Quaresmio had exhausted the
subject; but he shows largely the fruits of Quaresmio's teaching in
other matters.
So, too, we find the thoughts and words of Quaresmio echoing afar
through the German universities, in public disquisitions,
dissertations, and sermons. The great Bible commentators, both
Catholic and Protestant, generally agreed in accepting them.
But, strong as this theological theory was, we find that, as time
went on, it required to be braced somewhat, and in 1692 Wedelius,
Professor of Medicine at Jena, chose as the subject of his
inaugural address _The Physiology of the Destruction of Sodom and
of the Statue of Salt_.
It is a masterly example of "sanctified science." At great length
he dwells on the characteristics of sulphur, salt, and
thunderbolts; mixes up scriptural texts, theology, and chemistry
after a most bewildering fashion; and finally comes to the
conclusion that a thunderbolt, flung by the Almighty, calcined the
body of Lot's wife, and at the same time vitrified its particles
into a glassy mass looking like salt.
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