An Unknown Land

1942 Samuel, Viscount [Herbert Louis] (1870-1963). An Unknown Land. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd. 221 pp. There is a foldout map of Bensalem and Adjacent Islands between page 68 and 69. L, MoU-St, NcD, PSt

An explorer comes to believe that Belsalem, the country described in Bacon’s New Atlantis (1627) must exist and searches for, and discovers, it. Here the basis for the utopia is a treatment that enlarges the brain, and in addition to the science and technology central to the New Atlantis, there is great stress on health and mental activity. All knowledge had been sifted for truth. Work consists mostly of overseeing machines. No money. The family is sacrosanct and birth control produces a stable population. Little government need; some administration. The book concludes with two appendices. The first is “A Note on the Changing Shape of the Skull” (215-216) that consists of abstracts from Sir Janes Frazer’s the Golden Bough. Vol. 2 The Magic Art, 297. The second is “Scientific Discoveries” (217-221) and presents more information on three points in the book, the Nature of Light, Positive and negative electricity, and the Mental Ambience. The author was an M.P from 1902 to 1918 and 1929 to 1935, served in various Cabinet positions, and was Leader of the Liberal Parliamentary Party from 1931 to 1935.