"A book on Archæology by a Mormon elder is a curiosity and a surprise. A surprise because of the extent of the reading which is exhibited by it, and a curiosity because of the position the author takes. The position reached is that the lost tribes of Israel came to America, and the descendants of Abraham and of Noah are to be found in this country as the prehistoric inhabitants. Of course the conclusion which a Mormon would draw would be that the tablets and other tokens, which have come down to us from prehistoric times, contain not only history but revelation. It is a singular fact that Proffessor Seyffarth, who was not a Mormon, interpreted the Davenport tablets as representing Noah and his family; and others who do not believe in their genuineness have maintained that these tablets were planted by Mormons. The author of this book is not responsible for these coincidences, for he seems to be sincere and no doubt believes what he has written; at least there is an air of candor about the book which would lead one to that conclusion; still there is a lack of discriminating and critical judgment that might result in self-deception. Wyrick a number of years ago exhumed a stone from a mound in Ohio, covered with Hebrew letters. Archæologists have universally pronounced the the stone a fraud. The author of this book considers it genuine. He says the science of archæology is not complete without this "keystone." Wyrick builded better than he knew. The author says also that "the flood legend is sculptured on the great calendar stone in the City of Mexico," and quotes Delafield and Kingsborough to show the similarity between the bible stories and ancient Mexican picture writing. He also quotes Brasseur de Bourbourg, Ignatius Donnelly, Rafinesqe and Dr. Le Plongeon, who says "the Maya is not devoid of words from the Assyrian." Rudolph Falb, a German professor, says that the Aymara language, spoken by eight villages in Peru, bears near affinity to the Semitic tongue. A chapter is given to the wanderings of the lost tribes. He says we are compelled to try to trace the covenant race through all its vicissitudes to see what shall befall them in the latter day. He speaks in another chapter of a chart of the wanderings of the Aztecs, furnished by Delafield,

and refers to a kneeling figure in the chart with tears rolling from his eyes, and says this proves that the leader was guided by inspiration, the old world imagery, the leaning mountain, the tree of knowledge, etc., the cross and the pyramid he recognizes in America. These are the conclusions of the book, filling up six chapters, from the twelfth to the eighteenth. In all the previous chapters the author is gradually approaching the subject, and he does so in a very adroit manner, as will be seen by the table of contents, which is as follows: First, origin of all things; second, world's history; next, the cradle land, the winter of the world, which means the glacial era; the deluge tablets, Ararat, Babel, Beni Noah, the Noachidae in America. In some things the author has taken the scientific view, as for instance, when he says that the tower of Babel was built for worship, was a reproduction of the mystical mountain of the assembly of the stars, the Hormandz of the Isaiah. He quotes also the opinion of learned writers and says the weightier part of the world of learning is in favor of Pamir's high plain, Central Asia, as the only starting place of the nations; but he quotes Prof. Valentini to show the similarity of the names of five cities of Ararat to five names of ancient places in Mexico. He says: "If the traditions of the flood, had all been obliterated a nearly full account could have been made up from American sources." He maintains that Melchizedec had the true faith, but he quotes Lenormant as holding the opinion that man existed in the miocene age, not as a savage, but as a gifted being, and that the savagery of later races was the result of a divine curse. It is plain that the author's views of the legend have given a tinge to his views, and that he wears blue spectacles in all his wanderings through the fields of science. There is a lesson in all this. In the first place, those who think they know all about science and are sure that it confirms the preconceived view will be surprised when they look at this travesty; but those who think, on the other hand, that Mormonism is nothing but a system of willful imposture will find out the various ways by which certain persons may deceive themselves."

"A book on Archæology by a Mormon elder is a curiosity and a surprise. A surprise because of the extent of the reading which is exhibited by it, and a curiosity because of the position the author takes. The position reached is that the lost tribes of Israel came to America, and the descendants of Abraham and of Noah are to be found in this country as the prehistoric inhabitants. Of course the conclusion which a Mormon would draw would be that the tablets and other tokens, which have come down to us from prehistoric times, contain not only history but revelation. It is a singular fact that Proffessor Seyffarth, who was not a Mormon, interpreted the Davenport tablets as representing Noah and his family; and others who do not believe in their genuineness have maintained that these tablets were planted by Mormons. The author of this book is not responsible for these coincidences, for he seems to be sincere and no doubt believes what he has written; at least there is an air of candor about the book which would lead one to that conclusion; still there is a lack of discriminating and critical judgment that might result in self-deception. Wyrick a number of years ago exhumed a stone from a mound in Ohio, covered with Hebrew letters. Archæologists have universally pronounced the the stone a fraud. The author of this book considers it genuine. He says the science of archæology is not complete without this "keystone." Wyrick builded better than he knew. The author says also that "the flood legend is sculptured on the great calendar stone in the City of Mexico," and quotes Delafield and Kingsborough to show the similarity between the bible stories and ancient Mexican picture writing. He also quotes Brasseur de Bourbourg, Ignatius Donnelly, Rafinesqe and Dr. Le Plongeon, who says "the Maya is not devoid of words from the Assyrian." Rudolph Falb, a German professor, says that the Aymara language, spoken by eight villages in Peru, bears near affinity to the Semitic tongue. A chapter is given to the wanderings of the lost tribes. He says we are compelled to try to trace the covenant race through all its vicissitudes to see what shall befall them in the latter day. He speaks in another chapter of a chart of the wanderings of the Aztecs, furnished by Delafield,

and refers to a kneeling figure in the chart with tears rolling from his eyes, and says this proves that the leader was guided by inspiration, the old world imagery, the leaning mountain, the tree of knowledge, etc., the cross and the pyramid he recognizes in America. These are the conclusions of the book, filling up six chapters, from the twelfth to the eighteenth. In all the previous chapters the author is gradually approaching the subject, and he does so in a very adroit manner, as will be seen by the table of contents, which is as follows: First, origin of all things; second, world's history; next, the cradle land, the winter of the world, which means the glacial era; the deluge tablets, Ararat, Babel, Beni Noah, the Noachidae in America. In some things the author has taken the scientific view, as for instance, when he says that the tower of Babel was built for worship, was a reproduction of the mystical mountain of the assembly of the stars, the Hormandz of the Isaiah. He quotes also the opinion of learned writers and says the weightier part of the world of learning is in favor of Pamir's high plain, Central Asia, as the only starting place of the nations; but he quotes Prof. Valentini to show the similarity of the names of five cities of Ararat to five names of ancient places in Mexico. He says: "If the traditions of the flood, had all been obliterated a nearly full account could have been made up from American sources." He maintains that Melchizedec had the true faith, but he quotes Lenormant as holding the opinion that man existed in the miocene age, not as a savage, but as a gifted being, and that the savagery of later races was the result of a divine curse. It is plain that the author's views of the legend have given a tinge to his views, and that he wears blue spectacles in all his wanderings through the fields of science. There is a lesson in all this. In the first place, those who think they know all about science and are sure that it confirms the preconceived view will be surprised when they look at this travesty; but those who think, on the other hand, that Mormonism is nothing but a system of willful imposture will find out the various ways by which certain persons may deceive themselves."