[811] =Acknowledgments.=--Many of the citations which follow, used in connection with the extra-scriptural evidence supporting the Book of Mormon, have been brought together by writers among our people, particularly by Elder George Reynolds (see his lectures as specified where quoted); also series of articles entitled "American Antiquities," in Millennial Star, Liverpool, vol. xxi, by Moses Thatcher (see a series of articles on "The Divine Origin of the Book of Mormon," in _Contributor_, Salt Lake City, vol. ii); and by Elder Edwin F. Parry (see tract, "A Prophet of Latter-days," Liverpool, 1898). =23. I. Concerning the very Ancient Period at which America was Inhabited.=--A recognized authority on American antiquities gives the following evidence and inference:--"One of the arts known to the builders of Babel was that of brick making. This art was also known to the people who built the works in the west. The knowledge of copper was known to the people of the plains of Shinar; for Noah must have communicated it, as he lived a hundred and fifty [350] years among them after the flood. Also copper was known to the ante-diluvians. Copper was also known to the authors of the western monuments. Iron was known to the ante-diluvians. It was also known to the ancients of the west. However, it is evident that very little iron was among them, as very few instances of its discovery in their works have occurred; and for this very reason we draw a conclusion that they came to this country soon after the dispersion."[812] [812] Priest, _American Antiquities_, 1834, p. 219. =24.= Lowry, in his "Reply to official inquiries respecting the Aborigines of America," concludes concerning the peopling of the western continent, "that the first settlement was made shortly after the confusion of tongues at the building of the Tower of Babel."[813] [813] Schoolcraft's _Ethnological Researches_, vol. iii (1853). =25.= Prof. Waterman of Boston says of the progenitors of the American Indians:--"When and whence did they come? Albert Galatin, one of the profoundest philologists of the age, concluded that, so far as language afforded any clue, the time of their arrival could not have been long after the dispersion of the human family."[814] [814] Extract from lecture by Prof. Waterman, delivered in Bristol, England, 1849; quoted in pamphlet by Edwin F. Parry, _A Prophet of Latter Days_ (Liverpool, 1898). =26.= Pritchard says of America's ancient inhabitants, that "the era of their existence as a distinct and isolated race must probably be dated as far back as that time which separated into nations the inhabitants of the old world, and gave to each branch of the human family its primitive language and individuality."[815] [815] Pritchard, _National History of Man_ (London, 1845).