Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-09
Catholic U. Scholar
Studies Ancient MSS
Biblical Fragments Found
In Jordan 400 Years Old


A large number Of both Biblical and
secular manuscript fragments on leath-
er and papyrus now are being found
by BedouinS IN the Judean desert
around the Dead Sea. These fragments,
which may throw much light on OBJ
scure passages Of the Old Testament,
viii be studied intensively during the
next year by Msgr. Patrick w. Skehan,
professor Of Egyptian and Semitic Ian
guages at the Catholic University of
America. who has just arrived In
Jerusalem.
Before leaving Washington, the ORR
entail scholar had just completed his
studies Of the most famous Of these
finds, scroll containing q considerable
part Of the book Of Isaiah. found in a
cave near the Dead Sea by q Bedouin
shepherd In 1947. This was older by
thousand years than any Of the He
brew manuscripts from which present
editions Of the Old Testament were
compiled. There are significant differ
enceS.
Most Are Fragments.
The finding Of this manuscript start
ed a treasure hunt through the area
which has resulted in q vast amount
OF material. but few Of the finds have
received any publicity. Most OF the
finds are torn fragments A large pro-
portion have been identified tentative
~ as from Old Testament books in
Hebrew and in Greek dating from 100
B. c. to A. D. 200. All must be sub
jected to the tedious process of cleaning
and must be identified and photo
graphed. One, the Scroll Of Lamech,
thus far has defied unrolling.
DR.. Skehan will work with an inter-
national group Of scholars under the
direction Of the director Of antiquities
for the Kingdom Of Jordan.
Exploding bread. perfectly good and
harmless to eat, but capable Of being
used as deadly weapon, was among
the devices employed In the Far East
by the ONCE Of Strategic Services dur
ing the war.
The hitherto untold story is revealed
in the monthly report Of the Naval
Ordnance Laboratory here. Says the
report:
MRS. Russell c. Mcoill, wife Of the
chief Of our Explosive Properties Divi-
sion, found gentle amazement in the
information DR.. McGin asked her to
supply one morning at the breakfast
table. He wanted her recipes In COM
plete detail for pancakes. biscuits and
bread"
Some time later, associates in q
Bureau Of Mines research laboratory at
Bruceton, Pa. found DR.. McGill and
his stan hard at work baking pancakes
and bread and trying out their cook
cry on every one courageous enough to
eat 1t. DR.. McGill was in the midst Of
developing q new explosive material.
Looked, Tasted Like Flour.
1.-THE project called for an explosive
so closely resembling baking flour that
it could be shipped in quantity to Chi
nese guerrillas desperately battling be-
hind the Japanese lines. The material
was successfully developed. It looked
like -four. smelled like flour, tasted like
flour and was edible when baked in
various forms. s
I'm fact. 80 per cent Of the material
was flour. But even when baked into
bread it remained an explosive. This
simplified the job of the OSS-to get
bags labeled flour" through the Japa-
nese lines for eventual use on military
detectives by the Chinese saboteurs.
CDR. McGill Is a little unhappy at
not knowing how effective was his con-
tribution. He learned that a quantity
of the explosive was found in Burma
after the war. This proved that ex-
plosive bread may have been eaten by
japanese soldiers and that 1t did get
through their lines"