Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1910-04-16
lost ATLANTIS As
PLATO TELLS THE STORY
was Continent Faee or liable Of An
eienfe.

cienfe.
In the Atlantic ocean, just west OF
the Straits Of Gibraltar. once lay
continent as large as Libya and Asia
combined" Its name was Atlantis.
So runs an ancient story. And
Plato adds to It:
"But afterward came day and
night of great floods and earthquakes
and Atlantis disappeared; swallowed
by the waves; hence 1t Is that the sea
il no longer navIgable from the vast
mud shoals fromed by the vanished
island"
Some historians think the whole
story Of Atlantis was a fable. Others
believe there was such continent
and that it sank into the sea as the
result Of some terrific earthquake.
Biologists have found In those waters
mass Of shoals. mud banks and
rocks that seem to bear out the
theory of a sunken land, and that
the European coast once extended
much nearer toward America than
1t now does.
tt has even been thought by GER
tain scientists that Atlantis stretch
ed almost wholly across the ocean
to America, and that the Mediter-
ranean in those days was a land
locked island sea. 1t has been con-
jectured by such students that the
first inhabitants of America crossed
from Europe or from the Orient by
way OF Atlantis, and that their de-
scendants became savages we now
know as Indians (Indeed, there
are hints, all through ancient his
tory and tradition that the wise men
of early centuries knew there was a
western hemisphere.)
Scion, the great Athenian states
man, heard and believed the story
(told him, not as a legend, but as
fact) that Atlantis once existed, and
that 1t was inhabited by flourishing
civilized nation. greater by far than
the Athenians Of aeter days. Here
is the quaint description OF Atlantis
given to Scion by an Egyptian priest,
Egypt at that time being the store
house of all the worlds history and
ancient learning:
Scion, you Greeks know Of but
one Deluge; whereas there have been
many distinctions of mankind both
by flood and fire. Egypt alone has
escaped them, and in Egypt alone is
history recorded. You are ignorant
of your own past" The priest went
on to say that once there lay OPP
posite the Pillars OF Hercules Cthe
Rock Of Gibraltar, in Spain. and
Mount Abylae, in Africa, in the At
lantic, which was at that time naYi-
gable there, an island larger than
Libya and Asia, from whence sailors
might pass to other Islands and so
to the continent In this island, At
lantis. had grown race of mighty
power that held sway over much OF
the great continent; even Libya up
to the gates of Egypt. and large
part of Europe.
The Atlantans, according to the
priest. waxed at last too aggressive
and were for that reason overwhelm-
ed by divine wrath in the shape of a
monstrous upheaval of land and wa
ter which submerged the whole con-
tinent. There is in the folklore
and early beliefs of nearly every
country tale of deluge and of q
submerged, destroyed race. 1t has
been thought that such Of these leg
ends as are not founded on the scrip
tural deluge refer to the fate of At
lantis.
Whether the mighty continent of
Atlantis ever really existed and was
sunk into the ocean by an earth
quake. or whether Gin spite of the
evidence provided by ancient writers,
and by the discoveries of geologists)
it was all a fable. it had one tremen-
. dous effect on the world at large and
on America in particular. For the
stories gave rise to belief that there
was-or had heen--a wonder coun-
try OF some sort in the western
ocean. Mariners of the middle ages
used to repeat such tales. Columbus
heard the rumors and fell under their
spell. The great discoveries atten-
tion was thus turned toward explor-
ing the Atlantic ocean to westward.
And as an indirect result Of the At
lantis traditions America was dis
covered.
Was there ever huge island OF
continent between Europe and Amer
lea? Amid the thousands Of legends
of Atlantis and its race Of civilized