THE SUBMERGED ATLANTIS. 413 these wild men were monkeys. Until our present century, the statement was considered an idle story, and Dodwell rejected altogether the authenticity of the manuscript and its contents.* The celebrated Atlantis is attributed by the latest modern commentator and translator of Plato's works to one of Plato's "noble lies." Even the frank admission of the philosopher, in the Timæus, that "they say, that in their time . . . the inhabitants of this island (Poseidon) preserved a tradition handed down by their ancestors concerning the existence of the Atlantic island of a prodigious magnitude . . . etc." does not save the great teacher from the imputation of falsehood, by the "infallible modern school." Among the great mass of peoples plunged deep in the superstitious ignorance of the mediæval ages, there were but a few students of the Hermetic philosophy of old, who, profiting by what it had taught them, were enabled to forecast discoveries which are the boast of our present age; while at the same time the ancestors of our modern high-priests of the temple of the Holy Molecule, were yet discovering the hoof-tracks of Satan in the simplest natural phenomenon. Says Professor A. Wilder: "Roger Bacon (sixteenth century), in his treatise on the Admirable Force of Art and Nature, devotes the first part of his work to natural facts. He gives us hints of gunpowder and predicts the use of steam as a propelling power. The hydraulic press, the diving bell and kaleidoscope are all described." § The ancients speak of waters metamorphosed into blood; of bloodrain, of snow-storms during which the earth was covered to the extent of many miles with snow of blood. This fall of crimson particles has been proved, like everything else, to be but a natural phenomenon. It has occurred at different epochs, but the cause of it remains a puzzle until the present day. De Candolle, one of the most distinguished botanists of this century, sought to prove in 1825, at the time when the waters of the lake of Morat had apparently turned into a thick blood, that the phenomenon could be easily accounted for. He attributed it to the development of myriads of those half-vegetable, half-infusory animals which he terms Oscellatoria rubescens, and which form the link between animal and vegetable organisms. Elsewhere we give an account of the red snow *The original was suspended in the temple of Saturn, at Carthage. Falconer gave two dissertations on it, and agrees with Bougainville in referring it to the sixth century before the Christian era. See Cory's "Ancient Fragments." + Professor Jowett. "On the Atlantic Island (from Marcellus) Ethiopic History." | See "Revue Encyclopédique," vol. xxxiii., p. 676. which Captain Ross observed in the Arctic regions. Many memoirs have been written on the subject by the most eminent naturalists, bat no two of them agree in their hypotheses. Some call it "pollen powder of a species of pire;" others, small insects; and Professor Agardt confesses very frankly that he is at a loss to either account for the cause of such phenomena, or to explain the nature of the red substance.* The unanimous testimony of mankind is said to be an irrefutable proof of truth; and about what was ever testimony more unanimous than that for thousands of ages among civilized people as among the most barbarous, there has existed a firm and unwavering belief in magic? The latter implies a contravention of the laws of nature only in the minds of the ignorant; and if such ignorance is to be deplored in the ancient uneducated nations, why do not our civilized and highly-educated classes of fervent Christians, deplore it also in themselves? The mysteries of the Christian religion have been no more able to stand a crucial test than biblical miracles. Magic alone, in the true sense of the word, affords a clew to the wonders of Aaron's rod, and the feats of the magi of Pharaoh, who opposed Moses; and it does that without either impairing the general truthfulness of the authors of the Exodus, or claiming more for the prophet of Israel than for others, or allowing the possibility of a single instance in which a "miracle" can happen in contravention of the laws of nature. Out of many "miracles," we may select for our illustration that of the "river turned into blood." The text says: "Take thy rod and stretch out thine hand (with the rod in it) upon the waters, streams, etc.... that they may become blood." We do not hesitate to say that we have seen the same thing repeatedly done on a small scale, the experiment not having been applied to a river in these cases. From the time of Van Helmont, who, in the seventeenth century, despite the ridicule to which he exposed himself, was willing to give the true directions for the so-called production of eels, frogs, and infusoria of various kinds, down to the champions of spontaneous generation of our own century, it has been known that such a quickening of germs is possible without calling in the aid of miracle to contravene natural law. The experiments of Pasteur and Spallanzani, and the controversy of the panspermists with the heterogenists-disciples of Buffon, among them Needham-have too long occupied public attention to permit us to doubt that beings may be called into existence whenever there is air and favorable conditions of moisture and temperature. The records of the official meetings of the Academy of Sciences of Paris + *"Bulletin de la Soc. Geograph," vol. vi., pp. 209–220. See "Revue Encyclopédique," vo's xxxiii. and xxxiv., pp. 676-395 TURNING WATER TO BLOOD. 415 contain accounts of frequent appearances of such showers of blood-red snow and water. These blood-spots were called lepra vestuum, ard were but these lichen-infusoria. They were first observed in 786 and 959, in both of which years occurred great plagues. Whether these vōcarps were plants or animals is undetermined to this day, and no naturalist would risk stating as a certainty to what division of the organic kingdom of nature they belong. No more can modern chemists deny that such germs can be quickened, in a congenial element, in an incredibly short space of time. Now, if chemistry has, on the one hand, found means of depriving the air of its floating germs, and under opposite conditions can develop, or allow these organisms to develop, why could not the magicians of Egypt do so "with their enchantments?" It is far easier to imagine that Moses, who, on the authority of Manetho, had been an Egyptian priest, and had learned all the secrets of the land of Chemia, produced "miracles" according to natural laws, than that God Himself violated the established order of His universe. We repeat that we have seen this sanguification of water produced by Eastern adepts. It can be done in either of two ways: In one case the experimenter employed a magnetic rod strongly electrified, which he passed over a quantity of water in a metallic basin, following a prescribed process, which we have no right to describe more fully at present; the water threw up in about ten hours a sort of reddish froth, which after two hours more became a kind of lichen, like the lepraria kermasina of Baron Wrangel. It then changed into a blood-red jelly, which made of the water a crimson liquid that, twenty-four hours later, swarmed with living organisms. The second experiment consisted in thickly strowing the surface of a sluggish brook, having a muddy bottom, with the powder of a plant that had been dried in the sun and subsequently pulverized. Although this powder was seemingly carried off by the stream, some of it must have settled to the bottom, for on the following morning the water thickened at the surface and appeared covered with what de Candolle describes as Oscellatoria rubescens, of a crimsonred color, and which he believes to be the connecting link between vegetable and animal life. Taking the above into consideration, we do not see why the learned alchemists and physicists-physicists, we say—of the Mosaic period should not also have possessed the natural secret of developing in a few hours myriads of a kind of these bacteria, whose spores are found in the air, the water, and most vegetable and animal tissues. The rod plays as important a part in the hands of Aaron and Moses as it did in all so-called "magic mummeries" of kabalist-magicians in the middle ages, that are now considered superstitious foolery and charlatanism. The rod of Paracelsus (his kabalistic trident) and the famous wands of Albertus Magnas, Roger Bacon, and Henry Kunrath, are no inore to be ridiculed than the graduating-rod of our electro-magnetic physicians. Things which appeared preposterous and impossible to the ignorant quacks and even learned scientists of the last century, now begin to assume the shadowy outlines of probability, and in many cases are accomplished facts. Nay, some learned quacks and ignorant scientists even begin to admit this truth. In a fragment preserved by Eusebius, Porphyry, in his Letter to Anebo, appeals to Choremon, the "hierogrammatist," to prove that the doctrine of the magic arts, whose adepts "could terrify even the gods," was really countenanced by Egyptian sages.* Now, bearing in mind the rule of historical evidence propounded by Mr. Huxley, in his Nashville address, two conclusions present themselves with irresistible force: First, Porphyry, being in such unquestioned repute as a highly moral and honorable man, not given to exaggeration in his statements, was incapable of telling a lie about this matter, and did not lie; and second, that being so learned in every department of human knowledge about which he treats, f† it was most unlikely that he should be imposed upon as regards the magic "arts," and he was not imposed upon. Therefore, the doctrine of chances supporting the theory of Professor Huxley, compels us to believe, 1, That there was really such a thing as magic "arts ;" and, 2, That they were known and practiced by the Egyptian magicians and priests, whom even Sir David Brewster concedes to have been men of profound scientific attainments. 66 Porphyry:" Epistola ad Anebo., ap. Euseb. Præp. Evangel," v. 10; Iamblichus: "De Mysteriis Ægypt. ;" Porphyrii: "Epistola ad Anebonem Ægyptium." "Porphyry," says the "Classical Dictionary" of Lemprière, was a man of universal information, and, according to the testimony of the ancients, he excelled his con temporaries in the knowledge of history, mathematics, music, and philosophy." CHAPTER XII. "You never hear the really philosophical defenders of the doctrine of uniformity speakly of imposså bilities in nature. They never say what they are constantly charged with saying, that he is Lapossible for the Builder of the universe to alter his work. ... .. No theory upsets them (the English clergy). ... Let the most destructive hypothesis be stated only in the language current among gentlemen, and they look it in the face."-TYNDALL: Lecture on the Scientific Use of the Imagination. "The world will have a religion of some kind, even though it should fly for it to the intellectual whoredom of Spiritualism.”—TYNDALL: Fragments of Science, "But first on earth as vampire sent WE E are now approaching the hallowed precincts of that Janus-god -the molecular Tyndall. Let us enter them barefoot. As we pass the sacred adyta of the temple of learning, we are nearing the blazing sun of the Huxleyocentric system. Let us cast down our eyes, lest we be blinded. We have discussed the various matters contained in this book, with such moderation as we could command in view of the attitude which the scientific and theological world have maintained for centuries toward those from whom they have inherited the broad foundations of all the actual knowledge which they possess. When we stand at one side, and, as a spectator, see how much the ancients knew, and how much the moderns think they know, we are amazed that the unfairness of our contemporary schoolmen should pass undetected. Every day brings new admissions of scientists themselves, and the criticisms of well-informed lay observers. We find the following illustrative paragraph in a daily paper: "It is curious to note the various opinions which prevail among scientific men in regard to some of the most ordinary natural phenomena. The aurora is a notable case in point. Descartes considered it a meteor falling from the upper regions of the atmosphere. Halley attributed it to the magnetism of the terrestrial globe, and Dalton agreed with this opinion. Coates supposed that the aurora was derived from the fermentation of a matter emanating from the earth. Marion held it to be a consequence of a contact between the bright atmosphere of the sun and the atmosphere of our planet. Euler thought the aurora proceeded from the vibrations of the ether among the particles of the terrestrial atmosphere. Canton and Franklin regarded it as a purely electrical phenome. |