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NEWS October 2024
OCTOBER 2024 The recent cyber attack on the Internet Archive is deplorable and can be reasonably compared with the repeated burning of the Great Library of Alexandria. I have used the Wayback Machine extensively, but, until the full extent of the permanent damage is clear, I am unable to assess its effect on Atlantipedia. At […]Read More »
Joining The Dots
I have now published my new book, Joining The Dots, which offers a fresh look at the Atlantis mystery. I have addressed the critical questions of when, where and who, using Plato’s own words, tempered with some critical thinking and a modicum of common sense.Read More »
Edward Forbes
Darwin, Charles
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) is reported in Wikipedia (a) to have been “dismissive of the ideas that others had put forward of sunken continents like Atlantis.” This opinion is dated to around 1855.
Edward Forbes was one of the first, in 1846 [1471], to hypothesise the existence of a continent in the Atlantic linking Ireland, the Azores and the Iberian Peninsula, which was popularly called ‘Atlantis’. Charles Darwin described his idea as ‘speculative’.
This would appear to conflict with Marco Ciardi, who claimed that Darwin had accepted the existence of Atlantis, I presume later, but did so “under the influence of, among others, the botanist J. D. Hooker” and “reverted to the hypothesis of a lost continent to which the Atlantic islands testified since they constituted the tips of its highest mountains.” This information was cited by Pierre Vidal-Naquet in The Atlantis Story [580.xxii].
Ignatius Donnelly sent a copy of his Atlantis to Darwin, but received a less than enthusiastic response(b).
(a) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Darwin%27s_theory
(b) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/friday-odds-and-ends-on-aliens-atlantis-and-more
Forbes, Edward
Edward Forbes (1815-1854) was a naturalist from the Isle of Man who became president of the
Geological Society of London in 1853 and the following year was appointed professor of natural history at the University of Edinburgh. Unfortunately, his tenure was short lived as he died within less than a year.
Forbes was one of the first, in 1846[1471], to hypothesise the existence of a continent in the Atlantic linking Ireland, the Azores and the Iberian Peninsula, and that this was popularly called ‘Atlantis’. Charles Darwin described Forbes’ idea as ‘speculative’.