Chapter I: Front Matter

[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 In this edition the illustrations and figures have been replaced by the glyph "###".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.]

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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]

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THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE DRIFT.

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

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