In 1851 and 1852 Van de Velde made his journey.
He was a most devout man, but he confessed that the volcanic action
at the Dead Sea must have been far earlier than the catastrophe
mentioned in our sacred books, and that "the overthrow of Sodom and
Gomorrah had nothing to do with this." A few years later an eminent
dignitary of the English Church, Canon Tristram, doctor of divinity
and fellow of the Royal Society, who had explored the Holy Land
thoroughly, after some generalities about miracles, gave up the
whole attempt to make science agree with the myths, and used these
words: "It has been frequently assumed that the district of Usdum
and its sister cities was the result of some tremendous geological
catastrophe.... Now, careful examination by competent geologists,
such as Monsieur Lartet and others, has shown that the whole
district has assumed its present shape slowly and gradually through
a succession of ages, and that its peculiar phenomena are similar
to those of other lakes." So sank from view the whole mass of Dead
Sea myths and legends, and science gained a victory both for
geology and comparative mythology.
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