d's progress during a period which must have occupied at
least as great a stretch of years as that above referred to, it must
be realized how slight a sketch this must inevitably be.

A record of the world's progress during the period of the Fourth or
Atlantean Race must embrace the history of many nations, and register
the rise and fall of many civilizations.

Catastrophes, too, on a scale such as have not yet been experienced
during the life of our present Fifth Race, took place on more than one
occasion during the progress of the Fourth. The destruction of
Atlantis was accomplished by a series of catastrophes varying in
character from great cataclysms in which whole territories and
populations perished, to comparatively unimportant landslips such as
occur on our own coasts to-day. When the destruction was once
inaugurated by the first great catastrophe there was no intermission
of the minor landslips which continued slowly but steadily to eat
away the continent. Four of the great catastrophes stand out above the
rest in magnitude. The first took place in the Miocene age, about
800,000 years ago. The second, which was of minor importance, occurred
about 200,000 years ago. The third--about 80,000 years ago--was a very
great one. It destroyed all that remained of the Atlantean continent,
with the exception of the island to which Plato gave the name of
Poseidonis, which in its turn was submerged in the fourth and final
great catastrophe of 9,564 B.C.

Now the testimony of the oldest writers and of modern scientific
research alike bear witness to the existence of an ancient continent
occupying the site of the lost Atlantis.

Before proceeding to the consideration of the subject itself, it is
proposed cursorily to glance at the generally known sources which
supply corroborative evidence. These may be grouped into the five
following classes:

First, the testimony of the deep-sea soundings.

Second, the distribution of fauna and flora.

Third, the similarity of language and of ethnological type.

Fourth, the similarity of religious belief, ritual, and architecture.

Fifth, the testimony of ancient writers, of early race traditions, and
of archaic flood-legends.

In the first place, then, the testimony of the deep-sea soundings may
be summarized in a few words. Thanks chiefly to the expeditions of the
British and American gunboats, "Challenger" and "Dolphin" (though
Germany also was associated in this scientific e