The natural history of the Bible ; or, A description of all the quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles, and insects, trees, plants, flowers, gums, and precious stones, mentioned in the sacred scriptures: Collected from the best authorities, and alphabetically arranged / by Thaddeus Mason Harris.

  • Thaddeus Mason Harris
Date:
1824
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The natural history of the Bible ; or, A description of all the quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles, and insects, trees, plants, flowers, gums, and precious stones, mentioned in the sacred scriptures: Collected from the best authorities, and alphabetically arranged / by Thaddeus Mason Harris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    great length. So Judges, xi. 40. ‘The daughters of Israel went yearly, four days in a year [MN LETANUTH], to prolong 'con- versation, kindness, visits, &c. with the daughter of Jepthah,’ * Should we transfer the preceding idea to animals, we shall. find it describes a class of creatures which are of lengthened. form; whose hinder parts at least are in some degree taper, and drawn out. . | “ These principles, if they are just, exclude the whole class of - amphibia which have short bodies ; such as frogs, toads, turtles, tortoises™, &c. for though some of these have an appendage, which forms a tail, yet they can hardly be called ‘ lengthened-out animals;' their shells, or bodies, being round, not oblong, or protracted to any degree deserving of notice: and l think the. general usage of scripture in reference to this word will justify. the inferences which I have drawn from such passages as have now been the subject of consideration. * | feel a reluctance also in admitting that dragons, 1. e. great serpents, are described by this word. But if the dragon was, as I believe it really was, a notion originally derived from the cro- codile, and if it be also ancient, then the «0rd dragon may be more nearly allied to the word £an than the usual acceptation of it should lead us to believe. | | | * | cannot quit this subject without wishing for some decisive character whereby to direct our application of these words to different creatures, though of the same class. Does tannin sig- nify precisely the same creature as tannim and tannutu? I should think not. But how to ascertain the distinction, or where» to point it out, or by what marks of dissimilarity to discern them, I acknowledge my ignorance.” In Deut. xxxii. 33, we read of “ the poison of dragons [TA- NINIM]; upon which the same author has several remarks, with an attempt to identify a venomous reptile, and applies it to the. Gecko; but Hurdis says, that “it is to be observed that nan CHEMET, though it is here rendered * poison,’ was so rendered in ver. 24 of this chapter, and is again so rendered Job, vi. 4, Psal. lvii. 4, and cxl, 3; yet in all other instances, and it occurs in very many, it 1s ‘fury’ or * wrath,’ either of which will apply as well to the crocodile as the dragon. The Greek renders it, in all the above instances but the last, Suyos, in the last only it 1s soc. I see, therefore, no impropriety in saying, Their wine is the Jury of crocodiles, and the cruel venom of asps. A figurative expression, I suppose, like that in Psal. xi. 6. * Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tem- pest; this shall be the portion of their cup.’” 9 In transcribing this article the idea struck me, that the notion of'drawn out has, however, some application to the tortoise, which has a remarkable faculty of projecting out his head and elongating the neck; as also of breathing hard, or pufins out thé breath; though indeed the other characteristics may not be ap- plicable.
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