Before referring for information to the Book of Mormon, we will make a few comments on a paragraph which we have already quoted from "The North Americans of Antiquity,” as follows, "the copy is stated ambiguously to have been made to replace the original 'Popol Vuh'national book, which was lost. How a book that had been lost could be copied literally the Father (Ximinez) fails to tell us." Now, we have already shown by quotations from Baldwin (p. 193) that the "Popol Vuh" was written in the year 1558, as an "abridged reproduction" of a very ancient Quiché book. Francisco Ximinez made his translation about one hundred and sixty years later, and which may indeed have been a literal copy of the abridgment, but not of the original, to which he doubtless refers as having been lost. Again, Ximinez having written "about A. D. 1720 and subsequently," may have secured a literal copy of the "abridged reproduction," which may also have been afterwards lost. We have an account of other lost books, which were probably of greater value, and which would prove, by reason of their details, far more interesting, if we had them, than even the original unabridged"Popol Vuh" would be likely to do if we had it.

In the year 1735, the Countess Santibañy, who claimed to be a descendant of Montezuma, employed, as her agent, Chevalier Boturini, to go from Italy to America in her interest. He remained in Mexico and Central America eight

that time, the finest collection of ancient manuscripts known to have been gathered together on this continent; and the value of which, being intelligent and having antiquarian tastes, he fully understood. His diligence and years of labor were rewarded, when about to leave Mexico, by being thrown into prison and robbed of his treasure by the Spanish viceroy. Succeeding finally in leaving with a portion of his collection, he was captured by an English cruiser and again despoiled. Preserving from the wreck of his former magnificent collection only sufficient material from which to compile one small volume of less than three hundred pages, which was published at Madrid, by Juan de Zuruga, A. D. 1746. The manuscripts of which he had been despoiled in Mexico were sold some seventy years later, at auction. Humboldt, being present at the time, secured a portion of them. M. Aubin, having secured the remainder, made additions thereto, and took them to France; and it is believed that his is the best collection now in Europe. Désiré Charnay, in part five of "The Ruins of Central America," published in "The North American Review" of January 1881, says that the historian Veytia, who had the privilege of examining the Boturini collection, “bitterly bemoans the loss of the most precious of all these documents, the Teoamoxtli-Book of God, or of divine and sacred things-a work composed by Hueman, a sort of Toltec Bible, containing the laws, the religious precepts, the traditions, and all facts relating to Toltec history, from the remotest period."

We make the following quotation from the inspired historian Moses: "So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the

*Hueman, understood to be the same as Quetzalcoatl, to whose character and doings we shall hereafter refer in detail. Lord Kingsborough, in his "Mexican Antiquities," describes him as having been a white man, with strong formation, broad forehead, large eyes and long beard. His life was exceedingly chaste and pure.

name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." (Gen. xi, 8, 9.)

This historical item carries us back in our researches, according to Bible chronology, four thousand one hundred and twenty-seven years; a date beyond that which the scientists of our age have been able to definitely fix the first inhabiting of these continents. By it we not only learn that the Lord did confound the language of the people at the tower of Babel, but that he also seattered them abroad upon the face of all the earth." Now, how could this be accomplished without scattering some of them upon the Western Hemisphere, as well as others upon the Eastern? Was not the former, at that date of the world's histotory, a part of the face of all the earth," as well as the latter? A supposition that it was not, would be so weak and inconsistent, so utterly opposed to reason, as well as to the developments of science, that it must fail to find among the thoughtful either support or credence. That the people were "scattered" upon the face of the old world is a fact so well authenticated and so well understood, that we deem it unnecessary to adduce historical citations in relation thereto. We may, however, be, by some, considered not only presuming, but egotistical, in venturing the assertion that when the histories, pertaining to America, which have been preserved shall have been as carefully and diligently studied as those pertaining to the old world have been, the fact that a portion of the people who were at the tower of Babel, when the language of all the earth was confounded, were "scattered" from thence upon the face of the new world, will be equally well established; and, we trust, equally and generally as well understood. Thus the declaration of the historian Moses, that the Lord did scatter them "abroad upon the face of all the earth" shall be fully verified by the writings of those who were far removed from his

earthly stage of action. And thus,

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though dead, their words still magnify and praise and do continue to honor the name of Him that made the heavens and the earth, and all things that therein are. We will here make a few quotations from the Book of Mormon, bearing upon this subject:

"And now I, Moroni, proceed to give an account of those ancient inhabitants who were destroyed by the hand of the Lord upon the face of this north country (North America). And I take mine account from the twenty and four plates which were found by the people of Limhi, which is called the book of Ether. And as I suppose that the first part of this record, which speaks concerning the creation of the world, and also of Adam, and an account from that time even to the great tower" (Babel), "and whatsoever things transpired among the children of men until that time, is had among the Jews; therefore I do not write those things which transpired from the days of Adam until that time; but they are had upon the plates, and whoso findeth them, the same will have power that he may get the full account." (Book of Ether, i: 1-4; Book of Mormon, n. e., p.570-1.) "Which Jared came forth with his brother and their families, with some others and their families, from the great tower, at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, and sware in his wrath that they should be scattered upon all the face of the earth; and according to the word of the Lord the people were scattered." (Ib. p. 571, v. 33.)

Here, then, we find the inspired record of the historian Moses, written upon the Eastern Hemisphere, confirmed by the no less inspired writings of the historian Ether, who wrote nearly twenty-five hundred years ago upon the Western Hemisphere; bearing testimony, not only of the creation, but of the fact of his forefathers having been brought to America from the tower at the time the Lord confused the language of all the earth. Later we shall refer frequently to the book of Ether, as abridged by Moroni about A. D. 400. The latter was a descendant of Nephi, the youngest of four brothers, who, with their father's family

fusion is this; the temperature remains | the same, after so large a quantity of heat has been employed to produce the change, as before. Thus if we place a quantity of ice at 32° Fahrenheit, that is the freezing point, over a fire, and keep on constantly stirring, the whole will after a while become water, but the temperature will still be 32° F. as before, but if the heat be applied further, the temperature will then begin to rise. This truth may be proven by melting sulphur, or in fact any solid substance. The philosophers of former times, called the heat disposed of in such a way as not to be sensible to the touch, latent, that is lying hid, but the philosophers of the present time call it fusion heat, for instead of lying concealed, it is fully as evident as the heat that is used in raising temperature alone, for although not sensible to the touch, it has made itself very plainly manifest by changing the state of the solid into a liquid. The molecules or small particles that compose a solid are held together by a very powerful attractive force, but as soon as the solid becomes liquid this force is overcome, for in this last state the particles move very freely among each other, and there is but very little attractive force. But in order to accomplish this result, another force must be used, and this is heat, but now directed not to raising temperature, but to separate the molecules from each other, so that they may move with perfect freedom.

It may be interesting to know how much heat is thus used in producing fusion. It can be very easily shown by taking say one pound of ice at the temperature of 32° F. and one pound of water at 172° F. and mixing the two together until the ice is completely dissolved, when the temperature of the two pounds of water will be 32°, no more than the ice was before the mixing took place. Here we see plainly that 142° of heat were used up, wholly in changing the one pound of ice at 32° to one pound of water at 32°. But if instead of using ice we had used water at 32°, the temperature of the mixture would have been 103°, that is the cold water would have

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gained 71° and the warm water would lose the same amount, for in this case, no change of state takes place, and hence the heat is used solely to raise tempera

ture.

In one sense of the word we may say that ice is one of the most difficult solids to fuse, that is in order to reduce it to the liquid state, it takes a very large quantity of heat, after we have raised the temperature to the fusing point. With most other solids the fusing point is much higher, but after we reach it, but little more heat is required to produce the change of state. This difficulty of fusion of ice is very important, for if it were otherwise, the snow and ice packed away in our mountains during the winter season, would all melt away in the first few warm days of spring, and our little streams would become mighty rivers carrying away everything before them; even as it is, enough damage is done by high waters in the spring season. And as it requires so much heat to melt snow, another good result follows; our summers are much more temperate than they would be otherwise, as, in order to melt the snow in spring, a great deal of heat is used, thus making the change from winter to summer much less abrupt.

There is another process very similar to fusion, that should be explained; it is dissolution of some solid substance in a liquid, as salt, sugar, etc., in water. But in this case the temperature at which dissolution takes place is not fixed, for it may take place at almost any temperature, though it may be regarded as a rule, with few exceptions, that the warmer the liquid is the more readily will it dissolve the solid, and also in larger quantity compared with the amount of liquid. But in this case, as in the former, the change of state can not take place without a considerable expenditure of heat, as illustrated in various freezing mixtures for producing artificial cold, the most of which, made of ice and salt, is used in freezing ice cream. To dissolve the salt must alone take up a great deal of heat from surrounding objects, as for instance the cream in the freezer, and at the same time the ice itself is also dissolved. We

have already seen how much heat must be used in order to produce this last change.

Solidification is just the opposite of fusion, or it is the change that takes place in passing from the liquid to the solid state, as we see in the formation of ice in winter. As a general rule all substances can be reduced to the solid state, whether they exist ordinarily as gases or liquids, though some, like alcohol and the principal gases in the atmosphere, have not yet been reduced to this state, still it is believed this can be accomplished, when more powerful means are employed than any yet used.

As a great deal of heat is taken in to produce fusion, so a great deal of heat is given off to produce solidification, and still the temperature indicated by a thermometer would be the same.

To prove

this we may take a quantity of lead, and heat it until it is just at the point of melting, and then plunge it into water; we will notice of course that the water has become somewhat warmer. But if we take the same quantity of lead and melt it, when the temperature will be exactly the same as it was just before it was melted, and then plunge into the same quantity of water as before, we shall notice a much greater rise in the temperature of the water, showing conclusively that much more heat was given off when accompanied with a change from the liquid to the solid state, than without such change.

When a liquid becomes solid, the molecules attract each other with so much force as to become firmly attached to each other, and at the same time they tend to arrange themselves in regular order around each other, and thus produce that chrystalline structure that we very often notice in substances that have been allowed to cool off slowly, in order to give time to bring this arrangement about. The crystals of sulphur afford a very pretty illustration of this, as when we fill a small vessel with melted sulphur, and then allow it to stand long enough to form a thin, solid covering around the sides of the vessel, and on the upper surface. Then if we break

the covering above, and pour out the still molten sulphur, there will be left behind a circular, or needle-shaped crystal, radiating in all directions from the sides, and crossing and interlacing with each other, in a most interesting manner. This disposition to some regular arrangement of parts, is seen in the beautiful forms of snow crystals, and also in the fantastic and beautiful frost-work that appears on our windows after a very cold winter's night.

As a general thing when solidification takes place, it is accompanied with a decrease of volume, as we see in melting lead and making bullets, there is always a slight depression in the lead over the opening in the moulds, showing that contraction has taken place below. But with iron it is the contrary, and in former articles the great advantages of this have been shown. Ice is also another exception, and were it not for this it would be heavier than water, and would sink to the bottom of our streams and there remain most of the summer.

The force with which it expands is immense. Cannons have been filled with water and then placed in freezing mixtures, when the pressure from the inside became so great that they burst. Major Williams filled cannon balls at Quebec, and exposed them to intense cold. So great was the pressure that the plug in one of them was thrown to a great distance, the other burst into two almost equal parts. Quebec.

The childhood shows the man, as morning shows the day.-Milton.

It is a great happiness, a great fortune, to be born good.-Joubert.

Health and Money.—There is this difference between those two temporal blessings, health and money. Money is the most envied, but the least enjoyed; health is the most enjoyed, but the least envied: and this superiority of the latter is still more obvious when we reflect that the poorest man would not part with health for money, but that the richest would gladly part with all his money for health.