Page:Atlantis - The Antediluvian World (1882).djvu/448

430 race. "Fuh-hi, who is regarded as a demi-god, founded the Chinese Empire 2852 B.C. He introduced cattle, taught the people how to raise them, and taught the art of writing." ("American Cyclopædia," art. China.) He might have invented his alphabet, but he did not invent the cattle; he must have got them from some nation who, during many centuries of civilization, had domesticated them; and from what nation was he more likely to have obtained them than from the Atlanteans, whose colonies we have seen reached his borders, and whose armies invaded his territory? "He instituted the ceremony of marriage." (Ibid.) This also was an importation from a civilized land. "His successor, Shin-nung, during a reign of one hundred and forty years, introduced agriculture and medical science. The next emperor, Hwang-ti, is believed to have invented weapons, wagons, ships, clocks, and musical instruments, and to have introduced coins, weights, and measures." (Ibid.) As these various inventions in all other countries have been the result of slow development, running through many centuries, or are borrowed from some other more civilized people, it is certain that no emperor of China ever invented them all during a period of one hundred and sixty-four