El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-11-02
Scientists Discuss Atlantis
Missing Fading Memory
of a Tremendous Fact?
U q 1ItMtuuUuS 7 dCLs
By GARRETT P. SERVISS

III HE missing continent of Atlantis,
whose extraordinary story, as
told by the Greek philosopher,
Plato. is at once a fascinating romance
and the greatest Of geographical mys-
teries, has again become the subject Of
learned discussion
Was there or was there not formerly
a continent in the midst of the Atlantic
ocean? If it sank suddenly under the
waves, with all its splendid cities, as
the traditions gathered by Plato de-
clared. are any traces OF 1t now to be
found on the bottom of the sea- In the
light of modern science is it possible
to admit that a catastrophe of such IN
exampled ma gnitude as the swallowing
up of a whole continent could OccurE
These are some of the questions re-
awakened by the investigation OF the
subject which NJ. L. German has re-
Gently published in the -Annales de
Geographic"
main follows is that which is furnished
by the existence Of the island groups
of the Canaries, the Madeiras, Cape de
Verde and the Azores. These islands
lie in deep water near the place where
Plato said Atlantis existed. Although
they are widely separated, they possess
plants and animals of the same species,
and these. species are similar to those
northern Africa, but entirely different
from those Of-equatorial Africa
Stepping Stone Between Worlds.
This fact is regarded as indicating
that the islands in question once
formed part of a continuous continent
which was either directly connected
with southern Europe and northern Al
irca by a bridge of land, or lay so close
to them that animals. and plants could
easily cross over the intervening strip
of sea.
Moreover, there are living in these
islands specimens of plants and ami
mails which once existed, but now exist
no longer, in Europe, where their re-
mains are to be found in deposits of
the Tertiary age. The explanation
would seem to be that these plants
and animals lived contemporaneously
in Europe and the continent of Atlantis
during the Tertiary times, but have
since become extinct in Europe, al
though they continue to exist on the
islands which are the only visible re-
mains of Atlantis.
Extended Across the Ocean.
But there is another curious fact to
be considered. The living species in
habiting these mysterious islands not
only resemble those of southern Tu-
those of the West India islands and
Central America This suggests that
the continent Of Atlantis extended COM
pletely across the ocean and was con-
Atlantis, then, was as closely asso-
ciated with the new world as with the
old and formed means of cOmmunica-
ton between them. Here, perhaps is
the explanation of the singular resem-
blances of the arts and ideas of the
vanished people who built the ruined
cities of Central America and those
Of the ancient inhabitants around the
shores OF the Mediterranean Sea and
in the land of the Nile. Atlantis was
kind of common ground. or meeting
place. for the predecessors of these
various peoples.
The science of geology does not for
bid us to think that a continent might
sink.
Greenland May BE Fragment.
The ups and downs of the earths
crust have been many in the course OF
the geological ages, and one of the
greatest authorities of the present day,
the German professor. Suess. has de-
clared IN advance that he sees no rea-
son why parts Of the ocean, or even
the dry land, may not tomorrow sink
to form new depths. Suess even thinks