By Yolen, Scribe of Atlantis

Notes on Atlantean History during the Reign of Emperor Atlas:

Another marvelous invention evolved by Atlantean genius during the first decade of the reign of Atlas is the Water-Shoen. It is a queer looking pair of small boats that fit to the feet of one who wishes to skim over the water. They are readily adjusted by slipping the feet into the toy-like boats and fastening the straps and snaps. The top is then covered by a folding radial roof, which closes snugly about the ankle. Once the radial lid is locked no water or air can gain admission inside the Shoen. The wearer is then ready to start his journey. He strikes out with the feet just as a skater glides upon the ice. But a voyageur upon Water-Shoen can travel faster than a skater upon the ice. The motors used to provide power for the Shoen are constructed similarly to the motor of the Bird-Wings. The batteries are automatic also, as in the Bird-Wings.

Inventions such as described must have scientists that understand mechanics, electricity, the principles of water, air and fire, as well as the great forces and power forever pouring forth from the sun. If our inventors knew nothing about the laws governing gravitation and levitation their devices would be harmful and useless for man. But the Templars of Atlantis do understand these laws, because for ages past they have understood the Law of One! Whence issues all sciences, all ideas, all laws for the welfare of its communicants. The Law of One, which is the Light radiating in the Inner Shrine of man’s consciousness, is the only Source of Inspiration, revelation and demonstration in the world, because It is the one Source of all Substance.

Our Atlantean scientists understand and apply the power coming from the sun. Because of this knowledge solar heat is harnessed for our use. This imprisoned power is converted into various ways of supplying the needs of man. It is sent through huge conduits to central reservoirs, to be distributed to houses and other buildings. It is used to run machinery of all kinds, hence there is no smoke or dirt from fuel. It is used to heat the Avenues of the City of Paradise, and this makes walking agreeable even in coldest winter weather, since the feet are seldom chilled by the ground, under which the warm pipes are placed.

As we use solar heat for our needs, so also we capture and apply zero temperature from the snow-clad peaks of the mountain. This supply of refrigerated air is sent through great pipes to the towns and cities within a reasonable distance of the mountain range. Thus cool air is provided for all buildings, and also for cooling streets and parks in summer weather.

The advanced knowledge of electricity gives the Atlanteans the ability to apply it in every conceivable way for the comfort and good of man. So safe-guarded and simple are the controls and devices used for this mystical power that a child may handle them without danger to itself or its environment. In recent years many families prefer electricity for refrigerating and for heating their houses.

Nature has but few secrets from our scientists. The laws of chemistry are so well known that artificial jewels are manufactured, which defy detection by any but the most expert geologists. We manufacture rare metals by means of chemistry. Purest gold mined from the earth is no finer or better than the Irigold manufactured by Atlantis. Moreover Irigold is much cheaper and can be made without risk to life, loss of money, or hard labor for miners in lonesome places of the world.

Our bronze has been received by all civilized nations, and Atlantean bronzes are in demand everywhere by refined people.

The formulas of our valuable chemical products are the sole property of the Government, and are not exploited for the greed of any one individual. Because of the laws governing scientific discoveries, it avails a man little, or nothing, to try to swindle the Government. And it has been proved that little is to be gained by having other nations try to buy the formula, because their products cost so much more to manufacture that they have no market for the finished goods.

A most valuable product is made by using chemicals with the raw material found along the rocky coast line of the Gulf of Neptune and its environing shores. This form of seaweed, which grows prolifically under water in the crevices and amongst the reefs of the Gulf, is boiled down into a thick fluid somewhat like glue. It is mixed with certain chemicals and poured into pipes which feed a machine that spins it into threads. The threads are then wound upon great spools, from which they are run into the machines that spin the material called ‘kelpyn’.

This product can be combined with other products to provide various forms of textiles and materials. But the main use of kelpyn is for printing paper. It is so inexpensive that posters, pamphlets, and other common needs of paper are supplied by kelpyn. Because it is found only along the coast of the Gulf of Neptune, the City of Paradise holds the monopoly of the material. Again and again have eager and earnest companies taken the seed of kelpyn and carefully planted it in places deemed encouraging for it to grow, but failure inevitably attended such trials. It is claimed that the secret of its flourishing so bountifully along the Gulf shore is due to the peculiar formation of porous reefs and rocks and the chemical properties of the soil and water, which are the result of the Third Deluge so many thousands of years ago.

Kelpyn can be rolled into compact space, folded in close forms, or stretched upon frames without damage to the material. It is most receptive to all inks and colors, and does not blot or fade. Because of its generous production—the mass of weed sprouts to full growth within a week of a harvest—it is universally demanded for the printing of such text as calls for inexpensive paper. With the exporting of kelpyn alone, Atlantis has munificent trade with other lands.

More important literature, such as histories, poetry, textbooks, and other high-grade publications, are printed upon a product made of blended Irigold and other chemicals. The sheets produced are as indestructible as gold itself, but have the advantage over that metal by being impervious to fire or friction. The sheets do not corrode, and they take inks as readily as a blotter absorbs moisture.

We have diverse methods of printing and writing in Atlantis. There are transparent pens and pencils that show the ink being used. By pressing lightly upon the point when writing the ink is released. These holders are made of radial and are unbreakable, and cannot leak.

For printing upon Irigold we follow this method:

Sheets of waxed material specially made for this purpose are placed in a press, whose type has had a bath of chemicals that eats out the superfluous wax, leaving the type only standing up in relief. These sheets of wax type soon harden to a degree as near to steel as can be chemically produced. This form of stereotyped text matter can readily run over the sheets of Irigold which have had a chemical bath also. The upstanding type eats away the fluid covering the Irigold, and leaves a clearly engraved surface which remains so for all time.

If a great mass of circular matter must be hastened and sent out to the public, the type is made the same as for Irigold printing; but it stops there. To print the text, many sheets of kelpyn are stacked together and the chemical type sheet is placed on top of them. Then a powerful light used specially for this work is reflected close over the metallic type. The penetrating rays of this peculiar light photograph the text upon the kelpyn beneath the type, the first top sheet being the heavier print, while the last sheet is generally fainter though perfectly distinct for reading.

Another valuable product manufactured exclusively by Atlantis is chrystalyn. It is used for glazing windows, and for requirements that call for transparent, yet flexible material. It is a nonconductor of heat and cold, and is almost unbreakable. It can be rolled up without creasing or damage, and can be stretched as taut as desired, if it is kept stretched as taut as desired, if it is kept stretched by means of frames. By blending radial with chrystalyn an inventor recently discovered the way to secure a wonderful result. This product is splendid for covering roofs, walls and other places that require transparency in a fireproof and waterproof material.

All marts, universities, institutes, museums, forums, arenas, auditoriums, libraries, temples and other public places and buildings are government owned, and are not taxed, but are free to the public. All learning, amusements, music and religion, also eugenics and athletics, may be enjoyed by every citizen in the empire without cost. Only the aliens who come to Atlantis for education and improvement are made to pay a nominal fee for entrance.

Of all the arts and sciences for which Atlantis is so famous the most important is music. Being the natural expression for emotion and inspiration it harmonizes the different bodies of man, the physical, astral, ethereal, psychic, mental and spiritual. Because of this valuable effect of music, young folks are taught the principle and rules of all music, vocal and instrumental. Few are found who cannot elucidate the technique, composition, harmony and melody of music.

Conditions of insanity, criminology, and other mental diseases—including drunkenness and the nicotine, or other vice habits—are treated successfully by means of music. Not alone for the diseased and discouraged is music the panacea, but it is used in the Temples of the Law of One; in all public places for the people; in homes; and even onboard our vessels for transportation in air, water or under sea.

Atlantis first invented the apparatus by means of which it is possible to waft music to any required distance. Vocal or instrumental music may be enjoyed at any time by turning a button that opens a valve in the disk which broadcasts tones.

These sensitive disks are chemically prepared, then placed in the rooms where the music is to be heard. The disk receives and transmits every note, every cadence, every tone as accurately as though the music and the musician were present—though the centers which send forth the sound may be hundreds, yes, thousands of miles distant.

The sound waves coming from a music center go forth after this manner: a marvelous instrument, circular in form and having large and small golden pipes rising from a central table, release the music which is produced by singers or instrumental masters. These performers stand, or are seated around this circular table, each having a small disk before him. These disks catch the tones of voice or instrument, and vibrate accurately to correspond with the flexible mechanism inside the pipes, which are of the different lengths, with many corrugations to create changeable colors in shaft-like radiations. These shafts of colored lights, streaming from the top of the pipes in various degrees of color tone, heavy or light, long or short, low or high, shades and tints, instantly pierce the atmosphere and affect the individual disks placed in homes or public buildings, and these disks reproduce the music thus carried on the shafts of colored light.

In music scientists are thoroughly acquainted with the laws and uses of colors, even as they affect tone and sound waves, hence there is no static inharmony in this perfect system of broadcasting sound in the world. There is no wearing out of parts, or cost of instruments and batteries for the individual receiving stations. The disks for use in homes, or other receiving places, are furnished free by the government, hence there is no incentive for speculators to make or sell inferior apparatus.

Beauty, grace, harmony and progress are sought after by Atlanteans in all arts—music, colors, designs and other cultivated forms of genius. The higher and more perfect the attainment of one in developing a talent and gift, the more is one encouraged and rewarded by the government. Abortive and retrogressive results due to laziness, procrastination and limitation are considered next to criminal.

Atlantean architecture and decorations are known to be the highest standard ever reached in the world. All nations copy our plans for public buildings, which are elegant and beautiful beyond compare. Homes, as well as Courts, Temples and other buildings, delineate culture and beauty in every line and detail. Having an abundance of rare and exquisite materials with which to construct and perfect our buildings, we can present the finished result in a way that might seem costly and extravagant, were it not for the fact that we monopolize the vast output of gold, precious stones and rare metals.

The materials used by us are marble, stone, and a composite product made of melted minerals and sand poured into molds and made harder than rock. It is variegated in colors and dazzling in brightness. For decorating and ornamentation there are all styles of carving, sculpturing, painting; radial for plating; chrystalyn for glazing; enamels, and cut and polished stones for coloring; artificial jewels and Irigold for mosaics, silver and brass for lining; and bronze for figuring.

Our architects and engineers understand perfectly the laws governing gravitation and levitation. Tons of huge material are quickly moved and placed by the intelligent application of such laws. Massive blocks of stone are as lightly lifted and neatly placed as though they were straws, because of our knowledge of levitation. This advanced science acquired by our engineers made it possible for the famous reservoir of the City of Paradise to be built upon the distant mountain range. It also tells the tale of how other nations, and our territories have their monolithic temples and structures to prove our marvelous civilization.

Having many foreigners visiting the great empire and its people, as well as students of all races in our institutions of learning, it stands to reason that we must have a universal language for the needs of all peoples. Also there must be a general tender, of a sort, in value, to meet general needs of the world. Consequently the Toltec speech is the recognized language of Atlantis, and it is in general use by all merchants and marts of the world. This accounts for certain sounds, or letters, being recognized in lands where the people never visited Atlantis—in fact, never left their native area of country. They acquired such sounds and letters from their people who traded with, or dealt with those who had to understand this speech.

The convenient tender of exchange for values, not only in Atlantis, but with all commerce, export and import the world over, is the coin of different metals and stamps. Each coin minted by Atlantis has upon the one side a symbol of an eye, surrounded by a circular radiance of light, produced by minute rays etched into the metal. Upon the other side of the coin is its denomination and purchasing value.

To evolve and establish a universal language, which would comply with the commercial, social and ethical requirements of the entire world, the Sages and Seers, and the Scientists of the empire devoted all their time and study for centuries, before the almost perfect phonetic method now in use could be applied generally. Today we have a euphonious speech, apt and expressive, short and readily grasped by the mind, withal dulcet and pleasant in tones, that cannot be scorned by any race or nation.

Excerpt from The Prince of Atlantis by Lillian Elizabeth Roy

For the other parts to this series, see here.