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 tated to the secretary or amanuensis, and by him transcribed and delivered to the people, to be either read or committed to memory, and afterwards it was carefully deposited in a wooden chest, after the manner of Moses' law.

Two years alter the death of Mohammed, Abu-beker collected the copies, written or traditional, and confided them to the care of Heph-za, one of the Prophet's wives. Othman, who succeeded him, in the 30th year of the Hegira, ordered in all the copies that were in circulation; and published a corrected one, for a perpetual standard, which is in substance the same as that now used by the Musulmans, in which the chapters are placed promiscuously, without regard to the order of time of the revelation, generally the longest first; so that great and deserved suspicion attaches to the authenticity of the Koran,