220 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1915. 



according to the lofty phrase of Leon Bloy, "ne sont siirs que de ce 

 qu'ils devinent " [are sure of only what they dream] ; the poets, who 

 would never be satisfied with an Atlantic Ocean Avhich had no drama 

 in its past, and who would not be resigned to the belief that the 

 divine Plato might have deceived them, or that he might himself 

 have been entirely mistaken.^ 



It may be, indeed, that the poets were once more right. After a 

 long period of disdainful indifference, observe how in the last few 

 years science is returning to the study of Atlantis. How many 

 naturalists, geologists, zoologists, or botanists, are asking one another, 

 to-day whether Plato has not transmitted to us, \\iih slight amplifica- 

 tion, a page from the actual history of mankind. No affirmation is 

 yet permissible; but it seems more and more evident that a vast 

 region, continental or made up of great islands, has collapsed west 

 of the Pillars of Hercules, otherwise called the Strait of Gibraltar, 

 and that its collapse occurred in the not far distant past. In any 

 event, the question of Atlantis is placed anew before men of science ; 

 and since I do not believe that it can ever be solved without the aid 

 of oceanography, I have thought it natural to discuss it here, in this 

 temple of maritime science, and to call to such a problem, long 

 scorned but now being revived, the attention of oceanographers, as 

 well as the attention of those who, though immersed in the tumult 

 of cities, lend an ear to the distant murmur of the sea. 



Let us first, if you please, again read Plato's narrative. It is in the 

 dialogue called " Timteus," or " Concerning Nature." There are four 

 speakers: Timoeus, Socrates, Ilermocrates, and Critias. Critias has 

 the floor ; he is speaking of Solon, and of a journey that this wise law- 

 giver made to Sai's, in the delta of Egypt. An old Egyptian priest 

 profoundly amazes Solon by revealing to him the history of the begin- 

 ning of Athens, all but forgotten by the Athenians. 



I will make no seci-et of it with you, Solon [says the priest], I agree to 

 satisfy your curiosity, out of respect for you and for your country, and, above 

 all, in order to honor the goddess, our common patroness, who reared and estab- 

 lished your city, Athens, offspring of the Earth and Vulcan, and a thousand years 

 later our own city, Sai's. Since the foundation of the latter our sacred books 

 tell of a lapse of 8,000 years. I will then entertain you briefly with the laws 

 and the finest exploits of the Athenians during the 9,000 years which have 

 elapsed since Athens began to live. Among so many great deeds of your citi- 

 zens there is one which must be placed above all else. The recoi-ds inform us 

 of the destruction by Athens of a singularly powerful army, an army which 

 came from the Atlantic Ocean and which had the effrontery to invade Europe 

 and Asia; for this sea was then navigable, and beyond the strait which you 

 call the Pillars of Hercules there was an island larger than Libya and even 

 Asia. From this island one could easily pass to other islands, and from them 



iThe latest comer of these poets of Atlantis is a young girl, Emilie de Villers (Les 

 Ames de la Mer [The Sonls of the Sea], Paris, 1911, puh. Eng. Figui6re). 



