lie KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



Atlantis, the Antkdiluvian World. By Ignatius Donnelly. Illustrated; 



i2mo. pp. 490. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1882. For sale by M. H. 



Dickinson, $2.00. 



Whether we adopt the conclusions of the author or not, we must certainly 

 give him credit for sustaining them creditably with facts, arguments and plausible 

 theories, and no one who commences to read it will fail to finish it and to be 

 surprised at the number of authors drawn upon and the wide scope of research 

 manifested, as well as the cumulative evidence thus secured. 



To give an adequate idea of the purpose of the work, we quote from the 

 first chapter : " This book is an attempt to prove several distinct and novel 

 propositions. These are, (i) That there once existed in the Atlantic Ocean, op- 

 posite the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea, a large island, which was the remnant 

 of an Atlantic continent and known to the ancient world as Atlantis. (2) That 

 the description of this island given by Plato is not, as has long been supposed, 

 fable, but veritable history. {3) That Atlantis was the region where man first rose 

 from a state of barbarism to civilization. (4) That it became, in the course of 

 ages, a populous and mighty nation, from whose overflowing the shores of the 

 Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River, the Amazon, the Pacific coast of South 

 America, the Mediterranean, the West coast of Europe and Africa, the Baltic, 

 the Black Sea and the Caspian were populated by civiUzed nations. (5) That it 

 was the true Antediluvian World, the Garden of Eden, the Gardens of the Hes- 

 perides, the Elysian Fields, the Gardens of Alcinous, the Mesomphalos, the 

 Olympos, the Asgard of the traditions of ancient nations, representing a univer- 

 sal memory of a great land where early mankind dwelt for ages in peace and 

 happiness. (6) That the gods and goddesses of the Ancient Greeks, the Phoeni- 

 cians, the Hindoos and the Scandinavians, were simply the kings, queens and 

 heroes of Atlantis ; and the acts attributed to them in Mythology are a confused 

 recollection of real historical events. (7) That the Mythology of Egypt and 

 Peru represented the original language of Atlantis, which was sun-worship. (8) 

 That the oldest colony formed by the Atlanteans was probably in Egypt, whose 

 civilization was a reproduction of the Atlantic island. (9) That the implements 

 of the Bronze Age of Europe were derived from Atlantis. The Atlanteans were 

 also the first manufacturers of iron. (10) That the Phoenician alphabet, purest 

 of all the European alphabets, was derived from an Atlantean alphabet, which 

 was also conveyed from Atlantis to the Mayas of Central America. (11) That 

 Atlantis was the original seat of the Aryan or Indo-European family of nations 

 as well as the Semitic peoples, and possibly also of the Turanian races. (12) 

 That Atlantis perished in a terrible convulsion of nature in which the whole 

 island sunk into the ocean with nearly all its inhabitants. (13) That a few per- 

 sons escaped in ships and on rafts and carried to the nations east and west the 

 tidings of the appalling catastrophe, which has survived to our own time in 

 the Flood and Deluge legends of the different nations of the Old and New 

 Worlds." 



