Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1882-03-16
ATLANTIS.

Wgs IL % mytb y--Ur was IL DesfTsysA
Great ConvaIsisH Of satare y--AH a.
tempt to show All Civilization BRFaza
From IT,.
Mr.. Ignatius Donnelly has set out 70
prove very large case, and II in every
instance he does not succeed in con-
vincing his reader. he at least interests
and amuses him. He has published .
book in which he endeavors 10 rehabili-
tate the Atlantis of Plato, TO trace the
beginning OF all arts and sciences, to
explain the civilization Of the Central
American and South American States
found by the Europeans on their
arrival on this hemisphere; TO follow
the history OF the mound builders; to
explain the civilization OF old Egypt,
and to show from whom the Irish peo-
pie really sprang.
The voyage OF the British ship Chal-
lenger, he maintains, demonstrate that
there is sunken island In the Atlantic
off the entrance TO the Mediterranean,
which the soundings of the Challenger's
explorers show to have possessed the
salient features described by Plato.
The Azore Islands are al that remain
Of this lost country, and they, he
thinks, undoubtedly prove to be the
PERCEPTIONS rocks on the north referred
to by Plato which guarded the Allan
team plains below from the sea. This,
the island OF Atlantis, was destroyed
in a grand cataclysm between 1900 and
10000 years ago, and the enormous
powers which wrought this unparalleled
destruction yet manifest themselves to
the terror OF the world. The awful
earthquake in Lisbon In 1775, in which
$4,000 persons perished in six minutes,
was caused by power that started
from the same center from which that
that engulfed Atlantis ages before,
emerged. The author shows by the events
Of the last two centuries that nature is
capable Of such a work Of destruction
as that upon which he founds his
theory, and that Atlantis was peculiarly
exposed to gigantic forces that are not
yet exhausted.
he assumes that this island was stu
ated between the continents OF Europe
and America, and that it was the center
of the life and activity OF its time.
From its people all that has resulted in
our present civilization radiAted. When
population increased, colonists went to
the West and founded the empires in
Central and South America, whose
grandeur and magnihcence astonished
the European conquerors who followed
Columbus across the sea. Others as
cended the Mississippi valley, and
spread into the Valley Of the Ohio.
These did not reach the high culture
found in the South, and must have been
forced to leave what is now the United
States. What that reason was the
author seeks TO explain. In the
mounds Of these Americans are found
the only specimens of the copper age.
In Europe specimens of the bronze age
are plentiful, but no relics have been
discovered Of the age which preceded
the blending of copper and tin. The
mounds Of the Western States supply
them.
From Atlantis other colonists were
sent eastward through the Mediter-
ranean and founded Egypt, and north
east they found their way to ireland.
At length, when the people Of Attain
It's bad attained degree of civilization
which must, Mr.. Donnelly thinks, have
been something synonymous with that
We enjoy to-day, the great .convulsion
came, and in one day and night the
island sank beneath the waves, as Plato
described.
That the legends of the deluge had
one source Mr.. Donnelly is convinced.
The Noahian and Chaldean accounts,
as interpreted by the late George Smith
from the cuneiform inscriptions nov in
the British Museum, agree in all sal
lent particulars. Mr. Donnelly argues
that some few persons escaped from At
lantis, and carried the dreadful news
east and west (for the legend is one
known TO all peoplel, and the manner
in which they all agree he regards as
conclusive of the strength Of his argu-
ment. To build up his theory he has
collected great mass OF curious and
interesting knowledge, which he in
tersperses with some pretty violent as
sumptions. When he desires, as he
occasionally docs, to clinch an argu-
ment, but has not The necessary evi-
dence available at the moment he
simply takes for granted what he should
have proved. In the main, however,
he brings facts together with great in