Footnotes
[1]. History of the Church, vol. I, p. 18.
[2]. This upon the authority of Samuel M. Smucker, author of a "History of the Mormons," p. 37.—Hurst & Co., N. Y.
[3]. This fac simile of Nephite characters is copied from "The Prophet" of December 21, 1844 (vol. I, no. 31).
[4]. Stevenson's Reminiscences, p. 33.
[5]. The writer is of the opinion that there is in this statement too wide a scope given to what Professor Anthon said of the translation of the Egyptian-Nephite characters. Of course, in the transcripts the professor would doubtless recognize some Egyptian characters of the hieratic Egyptian, and in the translation would also find a right interpretation of those characters, as it will be seen by his letters, quoted later in the body of the work. He may have acknowledged that the characters submitted to him were true characters, but beyond this I do not think he could give confirmation as to the correctness of the translation; for, according to the writers of the Book of Mormon, they had changed somewhat the characters in both languages in which they made records, both in the Egyptian, and also in the Hebrew (See Mormon 9:32, 43); and Moroni adds: "The Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also that none other people knoweth our language, therefore he hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof" (Mormon 9:34), referring to the Urim and Thummim or "Interpreters," as the Nephites call that instrument. It follows from this that neither Professor Anthon nor any one else could have confirmed the translation beyond perhaps saying that some one or more of the Egyptian characters, which he recognized in the transcript, had been assigned their true significance.
[6]. History of the Church, vol. I, p. 20
[7]. To this point the Letter of Professor Anthon is copied from Early Days of Mormonism, by J. H. Kennedy, Scribners & Sons, 1888, p. 268. The remainder of the letter is copied from Gregg's Prophet of Palmyra, pp. 60-62.
[8]. "Prophet of Palmyra", (Gregg) pp. 60-62.
[9]. History of the Church, vol. I, p. 21.