Yet even among theologians we note here and there a sceptical
spirit in natural science. Early in the same seventeenth century
Eugene Roger published his Travels in Palestine. As regards the
utterances of Scripture he is soundly orthodox: he prefaces his
work with a map showing, among other important points referred to
in biblical history, the place where Samson slew a thousand
Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, the cavern which Adam and
Eve inhabited after their expulsion from paradise, the spot where
Balaam's ass spoke, the place where Jacob wrestled with the
angel, the steep place down which the swine possessed of devils
plunged into the sea, the position of the salt statue which was
once Lot's wife, the place at sea where Jonah was swallowed by
the whale, and "the exact spot where St. Peter caught one
hundred and fifty-three fishes."
As to natural history, he describes and discusses with great
theological acuteness the basilisk. He tells us that the animal
is about a foot and a half long, is shaped like a crocodile, and
kills people with a single glance. The one which he saw was
dead, fortunately for him, since in the time of Pope Leo IV--as
he tells us--one appeared in Rome and killed many people by
merely looking at them; but the Pope destroyed it with his
prayers and the sign of the cross. He informs us that Providence
has wisely and mercifully protected man by requiring the monster
to cry aloud two or three times whenever it leaves its den, and
that the divine wisdom in creation is also shown by the fact that
the monster is obliged to look its victim in the eye, and at a
certain fixed distance, before its glance can penetrate the
victim's brain and so pass to his heart.
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