Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1905-05-11
SYMPTOM TUNNEL.
Was ParalIeled by King Hezekiah,
$500 Years AGO.

The recent successful achievement
of The piercing uf the Simplon has re.
called parallel feat of engineering
Skill, although on Il comparatively
very significant scale. yet carried out
more than % centuries ago. DR..
l'ertholet, of Basic University; has
drawn attention to this remarkable
work. which seems to be the first re-
corded Instance of tunncling in the
! rock. or King Ilczckiah. who Is sup
posed to have reigncd In Jerusalem
| from 727 To COZ before the Christian
era. we are tuld-II. Kings M, 20
that he made pool. and conduit,
and brought water into the city" a
statement confirmed by Jesus Sirach-
Xviii. l7-who wrote: "TIeZeiiah fortf-
fled this city by leading water into 1t,
and he bored through the rocks with
bronze ANA damned the the water into
a pool" This boring through the rocks
with bronze, in the opinion of modern
! scholars. refers 10 the Shiloah Tunnel
through which the water of Mary's
Spring, lying to the east of Jerusa.
lem, was brought to the city into the
pool of Sloan, mentioned in the
Fourth Gospel. Hezekiah's purpose
seems To have been twofold-to sup
ply Jerusalem with good water in case
of siege, and, at the same time, to
cut off the water supply of the enemy
The latter reason is clear from pas.
sage in Chruniclcs--xxii., 4-where
ii Is related how the people "stopped
all the fountains and the brook that
ran through the midst of the land" to
forestall the Kings of Assyria, should
they come TO beleaguer the city. In
the same chaptcr-XXii., 30--it is said
more explicitly that Hezekiah stopped
the watercourse of Gihon and brought
II straight down TO the west side of
the city of David" The surface canal
reIiscoYered in 1890. was constructed
III the reign of 'HcZekiah's predecessor
and is probably referred to by Isaiah
as the waters of Shiloah that 20 soft.
~" 1t was thus replaced by much
more efficient device, namely, al un.
dcrgronnd conduit
So far, then, the at present existing
Shiloah Tunnel had been identified
with the work of the old jewish King
hut 1t was reserved for n mere chance
to reveal the technical details of this
ancient example of rock piercing. In
the year 1880 some boys, while bathing
in the Slliloah Tunnel, noticed an in
scription, which, on examination, prov.
| ch 10 ne Ill Otu hebrew charaCt erS,
only slightly less primitive in form
than those of the M0abite stone, while
further investigation showed that tic
writing must be regarded as contcm-
porary with the construction of the tun-
mel itself In spite of few lacunae,
the Inscription has been read and
runs to the following effect: "(Com-
pleted Isl the piercing. And this was
the manner Of the piercing. When yet
the pick of the one against the other
and when there were still three ellis
Ito picrce), then Zone could hcar) the
voice Of the one. who called to the
other; for there was "a cleft in the
rock on the south side. and on the
day OF the final piercing the rock hew.
ers struck against each other, picl;
against pick Then flowed the waters
from the outlet into the pool 1900 ellis
distant. And 100 ellis was the height
Of the rock above the heads of the
howcrs." This description leaves nc
doubt as to the boring Of the tunnel
having been commenced from both
ends simultaneously. A curious con
lirmation of the fact is. however, nj
forded by the circumstances that the
marks of the tools run in opposite di
rections in the northern and southern
halves-Cassier's Magazine.