Researches into the Lost Histories of America (1883 book)

Researches into the Lost Histories of America: Or, The Zodiac Shown to be an Old Terrestrial Map in which the Atlantic Isle is Delineated; So that Light Can be Thrown Upon the Obscure Histories of the Earthworks and Ruined Cities of America is a book, authored by William Stephens Blacket and published in 1883, which details a range of hypotheses about the history and peoples of the American continents, North and South, and the existence of Atlantis.

The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer (5:25, Jan. 1884)
"Researches into the Lost Histories of America. By W. S. BLACKET. London: Trubner & Co., 1883. The wit who defined history to be 'a lie with a circumstance,' probably little suspected how much truth was in his sharp-edged saying. Certainly if the theories enunciated in the book before us will stand the test of learned investigation we must cast our preconceived notions, as to a great portion of the annals of the ancient world, to the winds. It is sufficiently startling, at the outset, to be told that the ancients figuratively embodied their knowledge of the geography of the world, including America, in the names of the signs of the zodiac, and we should have been inclined to condemn the book as a mere quasi-historical romance, were it not for the vraisemblance with which the author contrives to invest the evidence in favour of his extraordinary theory. That America, or rather the extreme north of that continent, was known to the Scandinavians long before the date of the voyage of Columbus has long been the opinion of many, but this work attempts to prove that not only many of the myths of Iceland and Norway, but also a great part of the Greek mythology allegorically refers to the Atlantic Isle which our author identifies with America. For instance, Mr. Blacket makes the Titan Oceanus identical with North America personified. After that, it is comparatively a small thing to make South America the land of the demons, and to find the River Styx in the Gulf of Mexico. Very ingenious are some of the arguments with which the author supports the claims of his restoration of lost history, and if he does not absolutely prove his hypotheses, he at any rate shows great perceptive power and breadth of vision in the process of reasoning. A remarkable element in the writer's character is his patriotism, which is shown not only in his quietly appropriating to Yankeedom the myths of the Greeks and Hindoos, but also in his concluding words: 'One thing is certain; it will add another star to the banner of the Stars and Stripes when the literati of the United States shall produce a record of the world's past existence, in which America and the American people shall be put into their proper place in History,' on which we shall make no other comment than the words of the Western preacher celebrated by Jules Verve, 'In the beginning was America.'"