RAGNAROK. 
165 
RAGNAROK.* 
BY G. DEANE, D.SC. 
Whether this book should be regarded as a jeu d'esprit, or 
subjected to calm and judicial criticism, is a matter not easy 
to decide. To those unacquainted with the course of patient 
and careful investigation by which the present knowledge on 
the subjects here treated of has been gained, some of the 
arguments adduced will appear to possess a certain amount 
of plausibility, especially to readers predisposed to accept 
with slight or no proof the catastrophic and marvellous. 
Also the general character of the book makes it interesting 
reading. But, as a serious treatment of the subjects dealt 
with, it will certainly fail to commend itself to the judgment 
of experts either in Physical Science, Mythology, or Biblical 
Exegesis. 
The author advances a novel and ingenious but unsatis¬ 
factory theory as to the origin of the so-called Glacial or Drift 
deposits of Europe, Africa, and America. After examining 
the character of the Drift, and the various theories now held 
by leading geologists as being concerned in its production, he 
makes the astounding suggestion that all these deposits have 
been caused by a collision with a comet; and, inasmuch as 
they are said to occur only on the hemisphere of the earth 
which includes Europe, Africa, and Eastern America, the 
presumption is that the comet in whirling at enormous 
velocity round the sun lashed that hemisphere and that only 
with its tail. The result was an immense development of 
heat which vaporized the oceans, destroyed all life except a 
few men who obtained safety in caverns, melted rocks, vapor¬ 
ized metals, and burnt and hardened the underlying Till or 
Lowest Boulder Clay, whilst the immense impact of dust, 
sand, pebbles, and boulders forming the comet’s tail furrowed 
and scratched the earth’s surface, produced chasms and 
crumpling in the rocks, and caused the fiords of the sea coast. 
After this delightful catastrophe condensation occurred 
accompanied by extreme cold, and immense torrents of 
primeval rain which partially re-arranged the boulders, 
stones, and clay, left by the comet’s tail. After this the few 
saved men came forth from their caverns to inhabit the 
mythical island of Atlantis in the centre of the Atlantic 
Ocean ; and from this point they radiated again to overspread 
* Ragnarok : the Age of Fire and Gravel. By Ignatius Donnelly, 
Author of “ Atlantis : the Antediluvian World.” London : Sampson 
Low and Co. 
