[74]. I have usually found in personal controversies on this point, that our opponents depended upon the statement in the Book of Mormon to the effect that these "barges" should be as a "whale in the midst of the sea." (Ether ii: 24). To which the answer is obvious; namely, it does not follow that they were to be like a "tailless," that is to say "redderless," whale.
[75]. I. Nephi xvi, II. Nephi v: 12.
[76]. I. Nephi xviii: 12-21.
[77]. "Story of the Mormons," (Linn) p. 97. This writer attributes the possession of the "compass" to the Jaredites. Whether it is the slip of a careless writer or an effort on his part to make the matter of the "compass" in the Book of Mormon more ancient, is a question for him or his friends to explain. Many other writers in their anxiety to find anachronisms in the Book of Mormon refer to this "compass." Lamb is positively dishonest in the matter, since he assumes the existence of two instruments. One he calls the "Director," and applies to it the description given above in the text, and the other he calls the "Compass," though clearly this latter word is used in an incidental way in describing the "Director." This is the only way he could create the longed for anachronism, and hence he adopted it. This may secure his fame for ingenuity, but what of his honesty? (See "The Golden Bible" Chapter III., Subdivisions "C" and "D").
[78]. "Universal Knowledge," (Chambers) p. 203.
[79]. Following is the method by which he arrives at this conclusion: "The plates of gold measure 7x8 inches, and six inches thick, and are fastened through the back edge with three rings. A box of tin, 10x14, and 3 inches deep, weighs about 125 lbs. gross. The box may weigh 10 lbs., leaving the net weight of tin 115 lbs. Now 10x14x3: 115 :: 7x8x6 : 92 lbs. Had these gold plates been tin, they would have weighed about 90 lbs. But the relative weight of tin and gold is as 19.25 to 7.58. So that 7.58 : 19.25 :: 92 : 220.44. Hence, this mass of gold plates, as they were not so compactly pressed as boxed tin, would have weighed nearly 200 lbs." (Hyde's "Mormonism," p. 244).
[80]. Hyde's "Mormonism," p. 244.
[81]. See this Work, Vol. II, ch. iv.
[82]. This Work, Vol. II, p. 281.
[83]. Ether xv: 30-31.