Br. R. F. 8char^—The Atlantis Problem. 455 



would grow by arresting the current of the Severn, whether the tide 

 were descending or ascending. 



I need hardly point out that my theory does not require an 

 affluent at every convex curve. If the current of a river is once 

 deflected, flexures may be produced indefinitely, in the manner 

 described in textbooks. Nor does my explanation apply to tidal 

 sections of rivers, since the alternations of current motion would 

 obviously produce effects differing widely from those I have 

 described. 



The textbooks tell us that a series of river curves may be 

 initiated by an obstruction, such as a tree or a fall of rock, pro- 

 ducing a deflection of the current to the opposite bank. Or the 

 curves may be caused by differential resistance in the materials 

 through which the river is flowing. I have no objection to these 

 explanations. They probably apply in some cases, but I think they 

 are much less important than the theory I have proposed. They 

 have been imagined rather than proved. 



How far the explanation I have offered will apply to rivers 

 which are now running in solid rock is a question into which I do 

 not here propose to enter. 



8 



v.— Some Eemarks on the Atlantis Problem. 

 By E. F. ScHARFF, Ph.D., B.Sc, F.Z.S.i 



INCE the dawn of early history the question of the existence 

 of a continent beyond the "pillars of Hercules" has occupied 

 the mind of man. Our very earliest records of this mythical land 

 were derived from a narrative which has been banded down to us 

 by Plato. According to it, Solon is said to have visited Sais in 

 Egypt, and there to have heard from priests of the ancient "Empire 

 of Atlantis " and of its overthrow by a convulsion of Nature. This 

 Atlantis was then spoken of as a vast land lying beyond what we 

 now call the Straits of Gibraltar, and it is supposed to have been 

 inhabited by a mighty race of people. Plato's story has called 

 forth quite a flood of literature, not only in ancient times ; even 

 within the last score of years many pamphlets and books have been 

 published dealing with this attractive problem. Some authors have 

 sought to discredit the veracity of Plato's assertions, while several, 

 and among them Humboldt and Sir Daniel Wilson, were of opinion 

 that the tale rests on some historic basis. Others, again, have utilised 

 the original story and connected it with their own ideas of a land- 

 bridge stretching right across the Atlantic from Europe to America. 



The Atlantis problem, however, was only raised to scientific 

 importance when modern research revealed the fact that the living 

 as well as the extinct flora and fauna of Europe have quite a number 

 of types in common with North America. linger was the first to 

 put forward the view, from a purely scientific reasoning, that the 

 Atlantic Islands, that is to say, the Azores, Madeira, and Canary 

 Islands, formed part of a laud-connection which stretched right 



1 A paper read before the British Association in Section D (Zoology), Belfast, 1902. 



