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- Lucifer, vol. 4, no. 22, June 1889, pp. 346-347
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Title for references: Blake C.C. - Existing Atlanteans
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346
The subjects discussed in the Secret Doctrine bring anthropologists face to face with the sources of their scientific knowledge. There is much which, though proceeding from a high source of Eastern intelligence, yet is found, on examination, to accord, in every respect, with the teachings of erudite and careful Western reasoners from purely inductive methods of thought. The extinction of the immediate predecessors of our fifth race, either by sudden or gradual processes, is a fact which tends very closely to the speculation of the more advanced anthropologists of England.
What if the Atlantean race still survives among us? The researches of Professor Rhys [1] have shown that the Welsh were a divided nation. Professor Rudler [2] has supported this opinion. Mr. Bonwick, [3] in his investigations, “Who are the Irish?” has shown that the waves of successive invasion have destroyed all hope of being able to predicate of a given individual, “This is a pure-blooded Irishman, with such and such cranial characters.” Dr. Beddoe [4] has pointed out the problems that we have to solve. He says, “I thing some reason can be shown for suspecting the existence of some Mongoloid race in the modern population of Wales and the West of England.” He gives as a proof the “Chinese eye,” and other characters. This type seems to be common in Wales, in West Somerset, and especially in Cornwall. No instances of this type have turned up among the heads from the East of England, and very few from Ireland. Dr. Beddoe believes, however, that specimens of it might easily be found in the mountainous parts of Connaught, especially on the borders of Sligo and Roscommon. There is an Irish type, known to Mr. Hector Maclean, and described by him,[5] which Dr. Beddoe derives from the race of Cro-magnon, and that none the less because, like some other Irish types, it is evidently common in Spain. It is said to be pretty common in the Hebrides, but rare in the Highlands. Beddoe has frequently observed it in the West of Ireland, but it is curious, psychologically, that the most exquisite examples of it never would submit to measurement. Though the head is large, the intelligence is low, and there is a great deal of cunning and suspicion. While Ireland is apparently its present centre, most of its lineaments are such as lead us to think of Africa as its possible birth-place; and it may be well, provisionally, to call it Africanoid, applying the name Atlantean, which has been suggested, to the widely-diffused Negro-Berber race type. Though Beddoe believes this Africanoid type to be of very high antiquity, it must be acknowledged that we have no evidence carrying back its presence in the British Isles, beyond the polished stone period.
347
Speaking generally of Ireland, we may say that the “index of nigrescence” [6] oscillates between 14 and 78. A population akin to that of England occurs in the east, while the Western, and more especially the Southern counties are especially dark. Three localities, however, are ipsis Hiberniis Hibernior. These are Mallow, county Cork, with an index of nigrescence of 80·6, Castlemaine, county Kerry (I. N. 81·7), and Clifden, county Galway (I. N. 89·5). We have in this an exceptional population existing in the British Isles.
It behoves me, therefore, to ask you:
1. Is it not possible that this race may be the descendants of the old Atlanteans, and, like them, of diverse origin from the populations of the rest of Ireland?
2. On the theory that these people existed at a former time in greater number, may such a fact in any way account for the legends of great magicians having lived in the West of Ireland?
The sources of knowledge possessed by the respondent to these questions is greater than that which modern anthropology can bring to bear. Davus sum, non Œdipus.
Footnotes
- ↑ Lectures on Welsh Philology. 2nd Edition. 8vo., London, 1879.
- ↑ Address to Department Anthropology. Report, British Association, 1880, p. 615.
- ↑ Who are the Irish? 8vo., London, 1880.
- ↑ The Races of Britain. 8vo. Bristol and London, 1885.
- ↑ Anthropological Review, vol. iv., p. 218.
- ↑ It is, perhaps, necessary to say that this ready means of comparing the colours of two peoples or localities is obtained by subtracting the number of red and fair-haired persons from that of the dark-haired, together with twice the black-haired. Thus, D + 2 N – (R + F)= Index.