It was not long before I myself felt inclined to emulate those enthusiasts. Seated in company with twenty or thirty Atlanteans before the long marble table that adorned the most modern of the galleries, I began to taste the contents of several books I had selected at random; and so delightful did they prove, that it was four or five hours before I had any thought of leaving. * * * * * While all the books which I inspected proved richly diverting, the one that interested me most was a little volume entitled “Social Life in the Thirty-first Century.” When I recall today the unusual size of the type and the extreme simplicity of the style, I feel sure that the book was designed for an immature audience; but this fact did not then occur to me, and I found the work admirably suited to my needs. Questions that had been perplexing me ever since my arrival in Atlantis were now explained, in a manner that dispersed all doubts; and I found myself possessed of a clearer conception than ever before of Atlantean ideas and institutions. I had been wondering, for example, about the statue-like palace wherein Rawson and I had been imprisoned; I was now informed that this, “The Temple of the Stars,” was among the oldest buildings in Atlantis, having been erected just before the Submergence so that the people might bring back to mind at will the aspect of the skies. I had been wondering, likewise, about the “Hall of Public Enlightenment,” that amber-hued and sapphire theatre in which I had lately witnessed several debates; I now read that such a building had been erected centuries before in each of the Atlantean cities as a place of popular assemblage, a sort of forum, wherein the people might decide upon public questions; and I also learned that any citizen might attend the meetings there, that any might take part in the discussions, and that it was at such popular gatherings that the few laws of the country were proposed and the most important problems weighed and settled. The discussion of the Halls of Public Enlightenment naturally paved the way for a description of the political system and government of the Sunken World. “The State of Atlantis,” I read, “is neither a monarchy, an oligarchy, nor a republic. It is a Commonality, which means that all things are possessed in common by the people and all activities shared among them. At the head of the Atlantean State is the High Chief Adviser, whose principle duty is by way of counseling the people, but who decides certain specified minor questions confronting the Atlantean State and is empowered to assume dictatorial authority in case of a national crisis (although such a crisis has never occurred since the riots of the second century A. S., following the passage of the Milares Compulsory Population Law).