Paul McGrath, age 11, of Fredericton, N,B., for his question:

How was the Atlantic Ocean named?

The name of the Atlantic Ocean is buried deep in the distant past. Its story includes a god of ancient Greece, a range of desert mountains and a race of island warriors. The ancient tale is full of legends and half­ truths, which show us what men of old. thought about our planet.

In early days few people knew that the earth was a round globe. Most believed that the earth was flat until just a few hundred years ago. Try to imagine the earth as a huge, flat platform. Naturally you would wonder what propped it up. And so did the ancients.

In our Age of Science when we do not know the answer to a question we say so. This leaves our minds free to go about finding.‑ and proving ‑the true answer. This was not so before the Age of Science. When the ancients could not solve a problem they made up an answer. They did not­ know who or what was propping up their flat earth. So they invented a man for the job.

This imaginary strong man, whose imaginary job wars to hold up an,' imaginary flat earth, was Atlas, son of Titan. Since the ancient Greeks did not know that their earth was round they believed it was a huge platform supported by this demigod, Atlas.

  Atlas, the strong man, was supposed, to stand in the sea with the world upon his shoulders. The Greeks  even imagined the place where Atlas stood. They were Mediterranean  people and their gentle sea connected to a wild ocean beyond a narrow  strait. To us, this is the Strait of Gibraltar. To them, it was the  Pillars of Hercules, Mighty Atlas, said the Greeks, stood in the ocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules.

Later, a range of mountains. in northwest Africa was named Atlas. These mountains swoop up from the sandy Sahara and down to the blue Mediterranean. This region was called the Atlantic Kingdom.

Beyond the Pillars of Hercules, out in the wild ocean, was the legendary island of Atlantis.

About 9,000 years ago the people of Atlantis are said to have conquered most of the Mediterranean countries. There is  a legend that Atlantis sank beneath the sea and. all its warriors wore   drowned.

Meantime, the ocean, its islands, mountains and. legends had become thoroughly identified with the name Atlas and Atlantis. It was natural to call it the Atlantlc Ocean. At the time of Columbus most people thought that the Atlantic Ocean reached to the edge of the flat earth.

When Columbus set sail the wild Atlantic was known as the Sea of Darkness. His sailors were terrified lest they should reach the end. Of it and plunge off into a bottomless pit.

Now we know that the Atlantic is merely an ocean on the surface of our round globe. It is largo and it is stormy. But the great Pacific Ocean could. swallow it up twice end still have room to spare.