, 1882-05-13
LITERATURE.
A Curious Book ON the Fabled
Island Of Atlanta
Was n the nsne Of Ctvili, .iI...

nave oeen ISSUED ior some TIME IA At
lansis the Antediluyian World" by l.,
natius Donnelly. The author was rep.
resentive IN the United States Congress
from Minnesota for several years. He
evidently has no special fitness for the
work, except great industry il gathering
materials and decided taste FIR archol-
ogy. The deep-ses soundIngs of TIE Brit
ish ship Challenger showed that the Azores
were the peaks Of a great submerged
continent, and it was limited in the reports
that this might be the Fahled Atlantis of
the ancien,s. Mr.. Donnelly undertakes
to prove that their surinises are correct,
and that what has always been regarded
as fable is al actual fact. as undoubted
as the existence of ancients Carthage or
Troy. Starting with these soundinys, q
map of which he gives as a frontispiece,
he shows that the island existed Us Plato
! descrrbedit, and that its origin extended
back fully nine thousand years before
Christ that IT was the home of the
primeval race of men, descended from the
gods, who spread their colvnies along the
shores Of the Mediterranean, the Gulf Of
Mexico, the Mississippi, the Amazon and
IN Perm that implements of III. bronze
age Of Europe we're derived from Atlantis;
that the island perished in terrible con-
vulslon of Natue, in which it sank into
the ocean, with nearly all its inhabitants,
and that the tales of the few survivors
have come down To our time in the Flood
and Deluge legends Of the different
nations
The author begins with Platos descrip-
ton, and IN several succeeding chapters
shows that the events narrated by Critlas
were not improbable He develops the
Poseldon LEGENDS, arguing that the resi-
dents of Atlantis We're descendants Of the |
sea-god, and that it was on the favored |
island that he first bred the horse, Of |
which he WAS regarded as the patron.
From geology and the historical accounts |
Of the sinking Of the Libson quay and the |
rising Of the Graham island, he argues
that the sudden distraction of a great |
continent was possible. The fauna and |
fora Of America bear out this theory, for
1t is only on the assumption Of the exis-
tence Of a chain of islands extending be
yond Atlantis toward the West Indies
that We can account satisfactorily for the
presence Of large number Of animals and |
plants on this continent closely allied To
those OF Europe. The Deluse, also, is
impressed into service by Mr. Donnelly
He holds that the Biblical account must |
he taken with many allowances, for there
are no geological evidences in America Of |
any such catastrophe. All the legends of !
the Chaldeans, Egyptians, Brahmins, and
of the Indian tribes of North and South |
America show that some great continent |
was suddenly overtaken by food, and |
that this calamity WAS due to the corrup- |
ton Of the people, who were decended |
from the gods, but lost their heavenly at
tributes by intermarriage with the grosser
creatures of the earth. The author makes |
another strong point when he shows that
the Egyptians must have derived their
civilization and art from some older H.
ton. The earliest historical records ex-
hlbit the Egyptians in the MONDAY of
ancient civilization. In regard to the
subject IF civilization as an inheritance,
the author says: In 600 years the
world made no advance on the civilization
which it received from Atlantis Ph9ni-
cia, Egypt, Chaldea, India, Greece, and
Rome passed the torch of civilization from
one to the other but in all that lapse of
time they added nothing TO the'arts which
existed at tie earliest period Of Egyptian
history.
A mass If facts draw n frsm the legends,
the ethnology and the alphabets OF the
various races are gwen To bolster up the
authors theory. They are all applied
with much ingenuity and will repay read
ING. The author research seems TO have
extended over wide field, and he has
neglected no opportunity to strengthen
his position His best chapter Is on
:" The Bronze Age in Europe" in which
he shows that Sir John Lubiock's asser-
ton that the absence OF implements OF
copper or tin seems 10 indicate that the
art of making bronze was introduced INTO,
not invented in Europe, is eorroborated
BY the testimony OF the mounds IN the
Mississippi valley, which contain many
beautifully executed copper implements
and weapons. Among the Ch,ppeways
Of the shore Of Lake Superior Is found the
tradition Of the manufacture OF copper
implements, and here also are found
traces OF the ancient mines worked thOus-
ands OF years ago. A great epoch OF time
must have elapsed. before it was found
that, by adding one-tenth part OF TIN,
! finer metal VITA a harder edge Is pro-
| duced.
In the concluding chapter, entitled,
:. Atlantis Reconstructed. the logical re-
suit of all the theories advanced IN this
book is pictured. The concluding para
graph is worth quoting, as 1t helps to bear
out the authors proposition
We are but beginning 20 understand
the east one hundred years ago the
world knew nothing Of Pompeii or Her
culaneum nothing of the lngual tie that
binds together the lndo- European nA-
tions; nothing Of the significance OF the
vast volume of inscriptions upon the
tombs and temples of Egypt; nothing OF
the marvellous civilizations revealed IN
the remains of Yucatan, Mexico and Peru
We are on the threshold. Scientific in
yestigation is advancing with giant strides.
Who shall say that one hundred years
from now the great museum OF the world
may not be adorned with gems, statues,