ACCIDENTAL CAUSES OF CORRUPTION. III. From Writing in Uncials. Sec. 1. Corrupt readings have occasionally resulted from the ancient practice of writing Scripture in the uncial character, without accents, punctuation, or indeed any division of the text. Especially are they found in places where there is something unusual in the structure of the sentence. St. John iv. 35-6 ([Greek: leukai eisi pros therismon ede]) has suffered in this way,--owing to the unusual position of [Greek: ede]. Certain of the scribes who imagined that [Greek: ede] might belong to ver. 36, rejected the [Greek: kai] as superfluous; though no Father is known to have been guilty of such a solecism. Others, aware that [Greek: ede] can only belong to ver. 35, were not unwilling to part with the copula at the beginning of ver. 36. A few, considering both words of doubtful authority, retained neither[61]. In this way it has come to pass that there are four ways of exhibiting this place:--(_a_) [Greek: pros therismon ede. Kai ho therizon]:--(_b_) [Greek: pros therismon. Ede ho th.]:--(_c_) [Greek: pros therismon ede. Ho therizon]:--(_d_) [Greek: pros therismon. Ho therizon, k.t.l.] The only point of importance however is the position of [Greek: ede]: which is claimed for ver. 35 by the great mass of the copies: as well as by Origen[62], Eusebius[63], Chrysostom[64], Cyril[65], the Vulgate, Jerome of course, and the Syriac. The Italic copies are hopelessly divided here[66]: and Codd. [Symbol: Aleph]BM[Symbol: Pi] do not help us. But [Greek: ede] is claimed for ver. 36 by CDEL, 33, and by the Curetonian and Lewis (= [Greek: kai ede ho therizon]): while Codex A is singular in beginning ver. 36, [Greek: ede kai],--which shews that some early copyist, with the correct text before him, adopted a vicious punctuation. For there can be no manner of doubt that the commonly received text and the usual punctuation is the true one: as, on a careful review of the evidence, every unprejudiced reader will allow. But recent critics are for leaving out [Greek: kai] (with [Symbol: Aleph]BCDL): while Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort, Tregelles (_marg._), are for putting the full stop after [Greek: pros therismon] and (with ACDL) making [Greek: ede] begin the next sentence,--which (as Alford finds out) is clearly inadmissible. Sec. 2.