which occurred at Canon on the 21st of September 1874. His academic lectures for 1843-1844 were published in 2 vols., 1845-1849, under the title _Leçons de géologie pratique_. A list of his works was published in the _Ann. des Mines_, vol. vii. 1875. P. 259. ELIJAH (a Hebrew name meaning "Yah[weh] is God"), in the Bible, the greatest and sternest of the Hebrew prophets, makes his appearance in the narrative of the Old Testament with an abruptness not out of keeping with his character and work (1 Kings xvii. 1).[1] The first and most important part of his career lay in the reign of Ahab, i.e. during the first half of the 9th century B.C. He is introduced as predicting the drought[2] God was to send upon Israel as a punishment for the apostasy into which Ahab had been led by his heathen wife Jezebel. During the first portion of this period Elijah found a refuge by the brook Cherith, "before the Jordan." This description leaves it uncertain whether the brook was to the east of Jordan in Elijah's native Gilead, or--less probably--to the west in Samaria. Here he drank of the brook and was fed by ravens, who night and morning brought him bread and flesh.[3] When this had dried up, the prophet betook himself to Zarephath, a Phoenician town near Sidon. At the gate of the town he met the widow to whom he had been sent, gathering sticks for the preparation of what she believed was to be her last meal. She received the prophet with hospitality, sharing with him her all but exhausted store, in faith of his promise in the name of the God of Israel that the supply would not fail so long as the drought lasted. During this period her son died and was miraculously restored to life in answer to the prayers of the prophet (1 Kings xvii. 8-24). Elijah emerged from his retirement in the third year, when, the famine having reached its worst, Ahab and his minister Obadiah had themselves to search the land for provender for the royal stables. To the latter Elijah suddenly appeared, and announced his intention of showing himself to Ahab. The king met Elijah with the reproach that he was "the troubler of Israel," which the prophet boldly flung back upon him who had forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baalim.[4] The retort was accompanied by a challenge--or rather a command--to the king to assemble on Mount Carmel "all Israel" and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. (The four hundred prophets of Asherah have been added later.) From the allusion to an "altar of Jehovah that was broken down" (1 Kings xviii. 30) it has been inferred that Carmel was an ancient sacred place. (On Mount Carmel and Elijah's connexion with it in history and tradition see CARMEL.)