[27]. See preface to first edition of the Book of Mormon.
[28]. Words of Mormon, p. 158.
[29]. I quote from the first (1834) edition of Howe's work, page 22.
[30]. See pp. 77, 78 of part I, Y. M. M. I. A. Manual for 1903-4. It is unthinkable that this effort to publish a garbled edition of the Book of Mormon was unknown to Grandin and those employed in his establishment.
[31]. See chapter VIII, where this incident is treated and the fact pointed out that the Prophet's precautions had protected the work from the effects of such tricks as this described by Tucker.
CHAPTER XXIV.
INDIRECT EXTERNAL EVIDENCES—AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS.
In dealing with the indirect external evidences to the truth of the Book of Mormon supplied by American antiquities, embracing in that term archaeology, mythology, traditions, ethnology, languages, etc., it should be observed that the Book of Mormon is not a specific work upon any of these subjects. Nor is it a work on physical geography; nor even a history, in the modern sense of that term. Furthermore, while the purpose of the book is mainly religious, it is not a formal treatise even upon religion. But while the Book of Mormon has limitations in all the directions noted, it is a fact that American antiquities, mythologies, traditions, etc., may be of great importance in sustaining its truth. I therefore begin the consideration of this branch of evidence by inquiring what conditions respecting the location and nature of American monuments of civilization the Book of Mormon demands.