Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel

Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and
Gravel

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Gravel
by Ignatius Donnelly (#2 in our series by Ignatius Donnelly)
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Title: Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
Author: Ignatius Donnelly

Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5109] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 29,
2002] [Most recently updated on May 5, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK,
RAGNAROK: THE AGE OF FIRE AND GRAVEL ***

Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
Ragnarok: the Age of Fire and Gravel
[Redactor's Notes: "Ragnarok" is a sequel to "Atlantis" but goes far
beyond presaging the pseudo-science of Velikovsky's "Worlds in
Collision". The original scans and HTML were provided by Mr. J.B.
Hare. In this edition the illustrations and figures have been replaced by
the glyph "###". Because of the numerous notes, they have been
retained on the original page. Searching on "[" will reveal the set of
notes for the current page. The page numbers of the original have been
retained as {p.117} for example. The HTML is plain vanilla with no
illustrations. For a fully illustrated version the reader is referred to the
website http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/rag/index.htm where other
explanatory material prepared by Mr. Hare is available.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
RAGNAROK:
THE AGE OF FIRE AND GRAVEL.
BY
IGNATIUS DONNELLY,
AUTHOR OF "ATLANTIS: THE ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD."
_"I am not inclined to conclude that man had no existence at all before
the epoch of the great revolutions of the earth. He might have inhabited
certain districts of no great extent, whence, after these terrible events,
he repeopled the world. Perhaps, also, the spots where he abode were

swallowed up, and the bones lie buried under the beds of the present
seas."--CUVIER._
[1883]
{scanned at sacred-texts.com, December, 2001}
###
THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE DRIFT.
{p. iii}
CONTENTS.


PART I.
THE DRIFT. I. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DRIFT 1 II. THE
ORIGIN OF THE DRIFT NOT KNOWN 8 III. THE ACTION OF
WAVES 10 IV. WAS IT CAUSED BY ICEBERGS? 13 V. WAS IT
CAUSED By GLACIERS? 17 VI. WAS IT CAUSED BY A
CONTINENTAL ICE-SHEET? 23 VII. THE DRIFT A GIGANTIC
CATASTROPHE 43 VIII. GREAT HEAT A PREREQUISITE 58

PART II.
THE COMET. I. A COMET CAUSED THE DRIFT 63 II. WHAT IS
A COMET? 65 III. COULD A COMET STRIKE THE EARTH? 82 IV.
THE CONSEQUENCES TO THE EARTH 91 {p. iii}

PART III.
THE LEGENDS. I. THE NATURE OF MYTHS 113 II. DID MAN
EXIST BEFORE THE DRIFT? 121 III. LEGENDS OF THE COMING
OF THE COMET 132 IV. RAGNAROK 141 V. THE
CONFLAGRATION OF PHAËTON 154 VI. OTHER LEGENDS OF
THE CONFLAGRATION 166 VII. LEGENDS OF THE CAVE-LIFE
195 VIII. LEGENDS OF THE AGE OF DARKNESS 208 IX. THE
TRIUMPH OF THE SUN 233 X. THE FALL OF THE CLAY AND
GRAVEL 251 XI. THE ARABIAN MYTHS 268 XII. THE BOOK OF

JOB 276 XIII. GENESIS READ BY THE LIGHT OF THE COMET
316

PART IV.
CONCLUSIONS. I. WAS PRE-GLACIAL MAN CIVILIZED? 341 II.
THE SCENE OF MAN'S SURVIVAL 366 III. THE BRIDGE 376 IV.
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED 389 V. BIELA'S COMET 408 VI. THE
UNIVERSAL BELIEF OF MANKIND 424 VII. THE EARTH
STRUCK BY COMETS MANY TIMES 431 VIII. THE
AFTER-WORD 437 {p. iv}
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE DRIFT Frontispiece.
TILL OVERLAID WITH BOWLDER-CLAY 5 SCRATCHED
STONE, FROM THE TILL 6 RIVER ISSUING FROM A SWISS
GLACIER 19 TERMINAL MORAINE 20 GLACIER-FURROWS
AND SCRATCHES AT STONY POINT, 26 LAKE ERIE
DRIFT-DEPOSITS IN THE TROPICS 38 STRATIFIED BEDS IN
TILL, LEITHEN WATER, 54 PEEBLESSHIRE, SCOTLAND
SECTION AT JOINVILLE 54 ORBITS OF THE PERIODIC
COMETS 83 ORBIT OF EARTH AND COMET 88 THE EARTH'S
ORBIT 89 THE COMET SWEEPING PAST THE EARTH 92 THE
SIDE OF THE EARTH STRUCK BY THE COMET 93 THE SIDE