His work was worthily continued by a long succession of true
investigators,--among them such travellers or geographers as
Burckhardt, Irby, Mangles, Fallmerayer, and Carl von Raumer: by
men like these the atmosphere of myth and legend was steadily
cleared away; as a rule, they simply forgot Lot's wife altogether.
In this noble succession should be mentioned an American
theologian, Dr. Edward Robinson, professor at New York. Beginning
about 1826, he devoted himself for thirty years to the thorough
study of the geography of Palestine, and he found a worthy
coadjutor in another American divine, Dr. Eli Smith. Neither of
these men departed openly from the old traditions: that would have
cost a heart-breaking price--the loss of all further opportunity to
carry on their researches. Robinson did not even think it best to
call attention to the mythical character of much on which his
predecessors had insisted; he simply brought in, more and more, the
dry, clear atmosphere of the love of truth for truth's sake, and,
in this, myths and legends steadily disappeared.
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