%4: THE SUNKEN ISLAND OF ATLANTIS. 
entitled * Timseus/ Here direct mention is made of a great island of 
Atlantis, situated beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and the seat of a 
pov^erful nation. A priest of Sais made this singular communication to 
Solon, who had gone to Egypt to become acquainted with the wisdom 
of that caste.* It is mixed with a great deal that must appear unhistorical, 
and it puzzles us to know how an Egyptian priest could have come by 
this tradition, or how Plato could arrive at so singular a conception. 
Let us hear Phito himself: — "After the said priest has pointed out 
that Egypt is the only country where traces of the oldest history of 
man could be preserved, he informs Solon that Greece, and especially 
Athens, had a very ancient history, which, however, had been lost 
there; he draws his attention to the fact that that countiy was settled 
earlier even than Sais by the goddess Neith (Athenaei), enjoyed at re- 
mote times a well-regulated political organization, and possessed a 
great intellectua] and strategic power. As the goddess loves war as 
much as wisdom/' he continued, *' she selected a country which would 
produce men closely resembling herself. Under such laws and excellent 
political institutions did your nation then live, exceeding all others 
in virtue, as was fit for a people descended from the gods, and educated 
by them. Many of the great deeds of your nation^ preserved in onr 
writings, cause surprise. But one of tbem exceeds all others in magni- 
tude and splendour. It is recorded how your country once opposed 
a power, wdiich with great arrogauce pushed its way into Europe and 
Asia from the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days that sea was navigable. 
Beyond the entrance, which you call the Pillars of Hercules, there 
was an island larger than Libya and Asia together, ^'rom it naviga- 
m 
The hypothesis of a foniier connection between Europe and America is 
supported by additional evidence. Here I merely mention the correspondence 
observable in the cliaracter of the littoral faunas of the two continents, which 
can be explained only by a former connection of the two countries. The insect 
fauna of the Tertiary period also presents greater analogies with that of America 
tlian any other part of tiie world. For instance, Heer mentions a Belosiomum 
fi-om CEningen, tlie neare.^fc aUj of which is the Brazilian B. giganteum. The 
Bame remark applies to the indigenous population of America, closely connected 
as it is with that of the Canary Islands and Africa. Retzius (Archiv fiir Phys, 
1858, p. 134) thinks it probable that the dolichocephalous natives of America 
(Guaranis, Caribs, etc.) are closely related to the Guanclies of the Canary Islands 
and the Atlantic people of Africa (Moors, Berhersj Tuariks, Copts, etc.) ; and 
he draws attention to the striking resemblance there is in the skull of the Gua- 
ranis of Brazil, the Gnanches, and the Copts. 
[Professor Unger has overlooked the many striking character which the 
fiarvk^ of Brazil and western tropical Africa have in commou, — Eu.] 
