374 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vov. VIII. 
there are others, which though known to me, are not now available to me 
for reference. 
The ancient idea of a mass of land occupying a portion of the site of 
the Atlantic is derived from a solar myth, which is stated to have come 
from Egypt. This origin is admitted by Henry Davis, the Translator of 
Plato, who quotes Martin, “ Etudes sur le Timée de Platon.” From 
whence the Egyptians obtained this and some other myths we have no 
means of ascertaining ; and their characteristics seem to render it un- 
likely that they originated in Egypt. (See Cox, Aryan Mythology, 2nd 
Ed., page 248. This subject has not been worked out by Cox, who 
seems to have avoided Egyptian Mythology.) From any point on the 
eastern shores of the Western Ocean where a clear view over the sea 
can be obtained, the Atlantis may often be seen in the evening when the 
sun nears its setting. From the Atlantic Ocean I have frequently seen 
it, with every circumstance of mountains, capes, bays, &c. 
But what we have to deal with here is not mythical but real land, ~ 
which is supposed to have formerly occupied space now covered by the 
ocean. 
To the botanical Researches of Heer is due the fifst attempt to place 
the Atlantis Hypothesis on a basis of fact. His work is referred to in 
my papers in the Journal of the Geological Society of London, Vol. XXII, 
page 583 and Geological Magazine, 1867, page 497. So far the best 
summary of the question is to be found in Lyell’s Elements of Geology, 
sixth edition, page 265. I have in my possession a paper in Spanish 
which seems to be of a date anterior to Lyell’s work. This contains a 
list stated to be complete of all the writings on the subject, ten in num- 
ber, no one of which is subsequent to 1860. This work is entitled “La 
sumergida Isla de Atlantis,” and in it the arguments for the existence of 
an atlantic land are summed up. The paper was forwarded to me by 
the author, but as no name, place or date is mentioned on it, its origin 
has escaped me in the lapse of years. 
It has been suggested that a connexion existed between Europe and 
America by way of Greenland, Iceland and the Hebrides. And a very 
strong support has been given to this suggestion by zoologists and 
botanists. Newbery says (Later Extinct Floras: Ann. Lyc. N.H., New 
York, 1868, page 37) that the eocene tropical or subtropical flora of 
Europe was crowded off the stage by the temperate flora of the miocene 
which, accompanying a depression of temperature, had migrated from 
