Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1917-01-23
BY GARRETT p. SERVISS.

What is the attitude OF science re-
garding Atlantis? 1t do not mean
simply the submerged continent,
which is, believe, generally conced-
cd. but the Atlantis of Plato and Don
nelly, the seat and center OF a high
ciyilization.-C. {. NJ, Williamsport,
Pa"
1t is like the attitude Of science re-
garding any other tradition which has
no vcriflable facts to support it, To
conccde the former existence OF a
habitablc country in the midst Of the
Atlantic ocean demands no cxtraor-
binary or unjustifiable crcdulity, be-
cause it has been demonstrated not
only that broad regions of the earth 5
surface now submerged were once dry
land. but also that on the bottom OF
the Atlantic lie graphic features Of
what may fairly be called sunkcn
continents The exact position and
outlines OF this lost land are matters
still under discussion, but its existence
can hardly be disputed.
However, when we pass from this
general admission OF the former exist
ence of an Atlantic continent to the
particulars of Pato's legend of At
lantis we encounter something not &C
cordant with scientific knowledge.
Plato pictures Atlantis as land bril-
liant with a civilization and art sur
passing even those OF Greece.
He tells Of splendid cities, of wise
laws, OF admirable social and political
institutions. OF great mechanical
achievements. and other things utter
ly inconsistent with the physical and
mental characteristics of the human
race as archaeology has revealed that
race to US during its earliest known
existence upon the earth
Plato's Atlantis was kind of So
phisticated Eden, but science has
been unable to find any indications
of period in mans history when, he
was particularly suited to inhabit any
kind Of Eden except savage one.
The tremendous catastrophe which
the ancient legend avs caused the
sudden disappearance of Atlantis
must have occurred ages before the
chain Of recorded history began to be
linked up. Every fact gathered by
science concerning early man consis-
tently and persistently testihes that
the farther we go back the lower was
his condition, the more beastike his
form and the more animal-like his in
telligence.
How, then, is it possible for science
to accept the Platonic legend of At
lantis as the home of men superior
even to the Greeks of the golden age
of Athens? In view of all that
science knows at present about this
subject it would be more reasonable
to affirm that the inhabitants of At
lantis lived in caves, or in trees, and
possessed virtually no arts and but
low degree of intelligence.
If, on the contrary, they were what
Plato pictured them, whence did they
derive they civilization? This is a
question that lies outside the fence
of science, in the wild, fowery mead
ows of legend, where the butterflies
of the imagination dazzle the eyes
and confuse the reason with a maze
of scintillant fancies.
. And yet it is from just such I'M
cultivated wastes that the future
fields of science must be redeemed,
and some time we may get trust
worthy light on this very question,
which now seems SO insolvable. The
suggestions of the Imagination
should never be thrown aside I'M
tested.
1t has been suggested, for instance.
that the legend of Atlantis, which
Plato says he did not invent (and,
indeed, we know he did mott, was an
original form of the story of the
flood, and that the Eden which the
ancient scripture writers had dimly
before their minds was situated on
the island, or continent, of Atlantis.
With the submergence of Atlantis
in consequence of a great earth
throe, the race that had once inhabit-
ed Paradise disappeared, except
few survivors. who reached the