748 Atlantis not a Myth. [Novembe 
terrible Lisbon earthquake of 1755, and the later American 
shock, created a commotion throughout the whole Atlantic 
area. 
That Atlantis possessed great facilities for making a sud- 
den exit cannot be doubted. Its very situation gives good 
colour to the narratives of ancient Grecian historians and 
Toltecian traditions, that “it disappeared by earthquakes 
and inundations.” 
Not only is it within the bounds of possibility that it might 
have occurred, but if traditions so clear and distincft as to be 
almost authentic history are to be believed, then it did occur. 
Listen to what one of the most cautious of ancient writers, 
Plato, says : — “ Among the great deeds of Athens, of which 
recolledlion is preserved in our books, there is one that 
should be placed above all others. Our book tells us that 
the Athenians destroyed an army that came across the 
Atlantic Seas, and insolently invaded Europe and Asia, for 
this sea was then navigable ; and beyond the straits where 
you place the Pillars of Hercules was an immense island, 
larger than Asia and Libya combined. From this island 
one could pass easily to the other islands, and from these to 
the continent beyond. The sea on this side of the straits 
resembled a harbour with a narrow entrance ; but there is a 
veritable sea, and the land which surrounds it is a veritable 
continent. On this island of Atlantis there reigned three 
kings with great and marvellous power. They had under 
their domain the whole of Atlantis, several of the other 
islands, and part of the continent. At one time their power 
extended into Europe as far as Tyrrhenia, and uniting their 
whole force they sought to destroy our country at a blow, 
but their defeat stopped the invasion and gave entire freedom 
to the countries this side of the Pillars of Hercules. After- 
ward, in one day and one fatal night, there came mighty 
earthquakes and inundations, that engulfed that warlike 
people. Atlantis disappeared, and then that sea became 
inaccessible, on account of the vast quantities of mud that 
the engulfed island left in its place.” It is possible that the 
debris said to have been left by this catastrophe might be 
identical with, or the nuclei of, the sargazo fields that, many 
centuries later, Columbus found almost impenetrable. 
Again, Plato, in an extract from Proclus, speaks of an island 
in the Atlantic whose inhabitants preserved knowledge from 
their ancestors of a large island in the Atlantic, which had 
dominion over all other islands of this sea. 
Plutarch, in his Life of the philosopher Solon, Herodotus, 
and other ancient writers, speak of this island as a known 
