But as regards the miracles, it is true that few of them have much scientific value as evidence of the intervention of supernatural powers in their occurrence. For instance, Matthew records nineteen specific miracles, of which only one is attested to by all the three other evangelists, five are attested to by one beside himself, twelve by two, and one by himself alone. Of the nineteen, five are events--stilling the tempest--walking on the waters, two feeding the multitude, and one the blasting of the unfortunate fig tree, which did not bear fruit out of season. Of the remaining fourteen, one is a lunatic, one has a withered hand, one is dumb, one is a leper, two have palsy, three are blind, one has fever, one an issue of blood, two are possessed of devils, and the ailment of Jairus' daughter is not specified. Without examining each in detail, it may be said generally that these accounts are very indefinite as to exact times and places, names of persons cured, or by friends or relatives, and other details, by which the story might be verified. From the insufficient data furnished, it would, for instance, have been almost impossible for a person, starting to investigate these miracles immediately after Jesus' death to have asserted that any particular miracle did not occur, although he could not find a single witness to any of them. Even the names of the disciples present are given only in a few instances. It is also to be regretted that practically all of the personal cures, as is the case with more modern miracle workers, fall within that class of afflictions where ignorance, suggestion, simulation, conscious or unconscious, etc., can so easily confuse the result. If some of these latter-day healers would only go to an old soldiers' home and supply some missing arms and legs, the "doubting Thomases" would be more ready to concede their possession of supernatural powers. But, notwithstanding all this, the four Gospels are so permeated with these miraculous doings that it would be almost denying them any credibility at all, to claim that Jesus and His apostles did not believe that He performed miracles, and that these miracles were proof of His claim to the Messiahship. It can only be said that Jesus, great as He was, could not entirely escape the influence of the times in which He lived.