New-York tribune., 1890-08-29
THE SHADOW on TIE Dial OF AHAZ.
CALCULATIONS og PROFESSOR ToTTEN FIXING
THE DATE OF THE LONG DAY OF uEzEKIAH.

CALCULATIONS OF PROFESSOR ToTTEN FIXING
THE DATE OF THE LONG DAY OF UEzEKIAH.
Ncw-Havcn, Aug % (SpeciaD. Lieutenant Charles
A. L. Totten, Of the Yale faculty, is still pursuing his
ingenious Biblical studies and now announces fresh
result OF his Investigations Some time ago nc ap-
piled his mathematical science to the identification Of
Joshuas "long day. This time his studies have been
directed to the only other stoppage OF time recorded
IN the Bible the reversOn Of the suns shadow on the
dial Of Ahaz This incident he regards as much more
notable than the stoppage Of time at the battle of
Beth Horon. There, according to the record the sun
stood STILL OF as our modern science would put IL
tho earth stopped its revolution The record IN this
case Is that the actually went back. tla' IS, Us
would be said now. the revolution of the earth was
reversed. Lieutenant Totten now announces That he
has fixed the exact time of this wonderful event, and
that II hts into the astronomical record. The story
of this event which occurred In the fifteenth year of
He1ekiah's reign, is told In Kings, Chronicles and
Isaiah. In the twentieth chapter of the lid Kings
In the eleven the account is found There
it Is related that King Hezekiah was told by the
Prophet Isaiah that his prayer had been answered
that he should be cured from his disease ard that if
teen years tho limit Of Jewish calendar should
be added 10 his lfe The sign that was asked for by
Hezekiah proof that his prayer was answered was
that the shadow should so back ten degrees on the
dial And Isaiah, the prophet reads the record IN
worse H. cried unto the Lord; and he brought the
shadow ten degrees backward by which It had gone
down IN the dial of Ahaz" Professor Totten identities
the day upon which this happened as the l2O2, 2,744th
from creation Wednesday, the eighteenth day OF tde
first civil Seventh sacred month of the year 32S3
A. NJ. He states that the Biblical elements fix the
sun dial Incident at the absolute instant OF the auna
equinox, 2,596 years ago. Reckoning from the APP
preaching autumnal equinox OF september -, loOo'
the event took place at high noon OF that day, OF
about seven and half minutes before IL O'CLOCK
that day.
This would be Just at the time when the dlai womb
be watched by great number OF the people ior 'hc
sutumnal equinox marked the beginning Of the new
year. and the exact instant that the stood squae
ct the zenith would be looked for with great interest IN
making the reckoning for the new year most inter
estng result of this computation in Professor Tottens
eyes is its connection with the long day OF Joshua az
the battle Of Beth Horon That, he figured out TO 90
exactly twenty three and one-thrd hours long; me
soppage of time at the dial OF Ahaz was forty minutes
The two together made exactly day, and, he CLAIMS
sets the calendar right.
Tho moon though involved in this latter incident;
her entrance into her fourth quarter and was there
fore at that moment below the eastern horizon.
There were thus no Palestine landmarks by when
to fix her place. That she. too, however, reversed
since her present place lin arc reverses through both
this event and that Of joshua and strikes creatons
frst hour without error. This could not have
happened, he claims, had she not been equally
and relatively Influenced in Hezeuahs day as wei as
Al Beh Horon The results Of both these calculations
are to be published in due time, and the Professor
PROMISES some Interesting chronologcal discoveries
Ee asserts that the calendar employed by Moses and
hk successors absolutely without any flaw, and
IS proved by every cycle OF the heavens.