Skip to main content

Full text of "Our inheritance in the Great Pyramid : including all the most important discoveries up to the present time"

See other formats


(ft 


^ 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 

THE  GREAT  PYRAMID 

NEW  AND  ENLARGED  EDITION 

INCLUDING  ALL  THE  MOST  IMPORTANT  DISCOVERIES  UP  TO 
THE  PRESENT  TIME 


\i:-  BY 

C^'^PIAZZI  SMYTH,  F.R.S.E.,  f.r.a.s. 

ASTRONOMER  ROYAL  FOR  SCOTLAND 


"because  that  which  may  bk  known  of  god  is  manifest  in  them; 

FOR  GOD  hath  SHEWKD  IT  UNTO  THEM.  FOR  THE  INVISIBLE  THINGS  OF  HIM 
FROM  THE  CREATION  OF  THE  WORLD  ARE  CLEARLY  SEEN,  BEING  UNDERSTOOD 
BY   THE   THINGS  THAT  ARE   MADE.  " 

Romans  i.,  19,  20 


W.  ISBISTER  &  CO. 
56,    LUDGATE    HILL,    LONDON 

1874 


"  David,  in  a  choice  of  evils  similar  to  these,  said,  '  Let  me  .^all  into  the  hands  of 
the  Lord,  for  very  great  are  his  mercies ;  but  let  me  not  fall  into  the  hand  of  man' 
(1  Chron.  xxi.  13).  The  people  of  England  know  what  it  is  to  experience  somewhat 
of  the  latter  calamity ;  and  though  they  are  bound  to  acknowledge  that  their  long- 
protracted  griefs  are  to  be  preferred  to  the  short  but  severe  sufferings  which  the 
nations  of  the  Continent  had  to  endure,  they  must  feel,  after  all,  that  it  is  a  deep 
afliiction  which  many  have  had  to  bear.  But  let  them  with  Faith  and  Patience  endure 
their  troubles  a  little  longer.     Their  redemption  draweth  nigh." 

John  Tayloe's  Wealth  the  Name  and  Number  of  the  Beast,  p.  149. 


TO    THE    MEMORY    OF    THE    LATE 

JOHN  TAYLOE, 

GOWER    STREET,    LONDON, 

(departed  JULY,    1864) 

AUTHOR    OF 

' '  THE    GREAT   PYRAMID  ;    WHY  WAS   IT  BUILT,  AND  WHO   BUII.T  IT  '?  ' 

THIS    FURTHER    ATTEMPT    TO    APPLY   ACTUAL 

SCIENTIFIC    EXAMINATION 

TO    TEST   HIS 

MOST    MOMENTOUS    THEORY, 

AND    MOST    PRECIOUS    DISCOVERY    OF    THE    AGE    FOR   ALL    MANKIND 

IF    TRUE, 

IS    DEDICATED    BY 

THE    FRIEND    OF    HIS    FEW    LAST    YEARS, 

BUT    ADMIRER    OF    ALL    HIS    LONG    AND    EARNEST    CHRISTIAN    LIFE, 

PIAZZI  SMYTH. 

Edinburgh,  187^. 


) 


"  THE  GREAT,  THE  MIGHTY  GOD,  THE  LORD  OF  HOSTS,  IS  HIS  XAME, 
GREAT  IN  COUNSEL,  AND  MIGHTY  IN  WORK  :  .  .  .  .  WHICH  HAPT  SET  SIGNS 
AN3   WONDERS   IN   THE    LAND     OF    EGYPT,    EVKN    UNTO    THIS    DAY." 

JEREMIAH  xxxii.  18 — 20. 


PREFACE. 


TX7HEN  the  late  worthy  John  Taylor,  of  Gower  Street, 
London  (originally  of  Bakewell,  Derbyshire)  pub- 
lished, first  his  larger  work  entitled  "  The  Great  Pyra- 
mid;  why  was  it  built,  and  who  built  it  ?"  in  1859  ; 
and  afterwards,  in  1864,  his  smaller  pamphlet  which 
he  called  "  The  Battle  of  the  Standards  (of  Linear 
Measure)  :  the  ancient  of  four  thousand  years,  against 
the  modern  of  the  last  fifty  years — the  less  perfect  of 
the  two," — he  opened  up  for  archaeology  a  purer, 
nobler,  more  important  pathway  to  light  than  that 
study  had  ever  enjoyed  before. 

But  Academic  Archaeology  did  not  accept  it ;  and 
meanwhile  some  portions  of  the  new  pathway  were  so 
little  removed  from  much  of  my  own  scientific  profes- 
sional occupations,  that  I  felt  it  something  like  a  public 
duty  to  examine  into  the  foundation  of  Mr.  Taylor's 
theory  as  rigidly  and  extensively  as  I  could,  though  by 
home  work  only,  at  first ;  and  my  publication  of  18G4 
{i.e.,  the  first  edition  of  the  present  book)  contained 
the  findings  so  arrived  at.      Findings,  in  many  points 


viii  PREFACE. 

confirmatory  of  the  principal  thread  of  Mr.  Taylor's 
chief  discovery  ;  but  exhibiting  in  the  general  literature 
of  the  subject  a  lamentable  deficiency  in  the  numerical 
data  required  for  solid  investigation ;  and  which  data 
of  measure,  nothing  but  practical  examination  at  the 
place  could  hope  to  supply. 

How,  when  no  one  else  would  volunteer,  for  the 
sake  of  Great  Pyramid  knowledge  alone,  and  only  one 
gentleman*  in  all  the  kingdom,  throughout  official  and 
private  circles  alike,  kindly  tendered  a  subscription 
(£50)  towards  the  expenses, — how,  I  say,  my  Wife 
and  self  determined  to  sail  for  Egypt ;  and  did,  very 
soon  after  Mr.  Taylor's  death,  through  four  months  of 
residence  on  the  Pyramid  hill  itself,  employ  a  large 
variety  of  scientific  instruments,  in  obtaining  many 
measures  of  the  mighty  monument,  some  of  them  to 
far  more  accuracy  than  had  ever  been  attempted  before, 
and  others  descending  to  numerous  details  unnoticed 
by  former  observers, — all  this  was  described  by  me, 
first  in  abstract  to  the  Roj^al  Society,  Edinburgh,  in 
April,  1866  ;  and  afterwards  (in  1867)  at  much  more 
length  to  the  Avorld  in  general  in  my  three-volume 
book,  "  Life  and  Work  at  the  Great  Pyramid  in  1865."  f 

That  last  publication  undoubtedly  helped  to  spread 
a  knowledge  both  of  the  importance  of  the  question  at 
issue,  and  the  only  means  for  solving  it :  especially 
as    against    the    modern    hieroglyphic    scholars ;    who, 

*  Andrew  Coventry,  Esq.,  of  27,  Moray  Place,  Edinburgh. 

t  Pages  1,653;  plateaSG.  PublisJ.ei  by  Edmonston  &  Douglas,  Edinburgh. 


PREFACE.  ix 

whatever  their  learning  may  be  concerning  other  Egyp- 
tian buildings,  have  never  troubled  themselves  to 
examine  the  Great  Pyramid  in  the  manner  now 
required,  and  remain  singularly  and  perseveringly 
ignorant  of  its  mathematical  proportions  and  mecha- 
nical features.  Indeed,  these  literary  Egyptologists  are 
rather  angered  than  otherwise  to  hear  that  such  exact 
data  of  scientific  measure,  when  collected  by  others 
than  themselves,  tend  to  establish  that  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid, though  in  Egypt  is  not  of  Egypt ;  and  though . 
built  in  the  earliest  ages  of  man  upon  earth,  far  before 
all  histor}^,  was  yet  prophetically  intended  to  subserve 
a  high  purpose  for  these  days  in  which  we  live  and  the 
coming  days.  That  it,  the  Great  Pyramid,  has  never 
been  oven  remotely  understood  yet  by  any  race  of  men, 
though  it  has  been  a  standing  riddle  guessed  at  by  all  • 
of  them  in  their  successive  ages;  but  that  it  is  able 
nevertheless  to  tell  its  own  story  and  explain  its  mission 
most  unmistakably  :  not  indeed  by  reference  to,  or  use 
of,  any  written  language,  whether  hieroglyphic  or  vulgar, 
— but  by  aid  of  the  mathematical  and  physical  science 
of  TRodern  times :  a  means  fore-ordained  both  for  pre- 
venting the  parable  being  read  too  soon  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  and  for  insuring  its  being  correctly  read  by 
all  nations  when  the  fulness  of  time  shall  have  arrived. 
This  spread  of  purely-obtained  Great  Pyramid  infor- 
mation, unalloyed  by  the  Cainite  profanities  of  Pha- 
raonic  Egyj^t,  or  the  interested  errors  and  perversions 
of  the  classic  Greeks,  brought  by  degrees  several  able 


X  PREFACE. 

intellectualists  into  the  field  ;  and  tliey  have,  during 
the  last  six  years,  applied  so  many  of  my  own  obser- 
vations at  the  place  to  Mr.  Taylors  theory,  with  a 
success  beyond  anything  that  he  had  ever  hoped  for, — 
that  the  matter  has  now  completely  outgrown  its  first 
book,  and  produced  this  publication  as  the  best  answer 
that  I,  with  the  assistance  of  the  original  publishers, 
can  make  to  frequent  demands  from  various  quarters 
for  more  information.  And  there  are  even  some  most 
interesting  and  hopeful  circumstances  in  the  evolution 
of  the  scientific  contents  of  the  Great  Pyramid  just  now, 
causing  the  present  time  to  be  almost  the  beginning 
of  a  new  era  of  increased  certainty  and  more  precise 
knowledge  regarding  all  that  that  ancient  building  was 
originally  intended  for ;  and  which  certainly  includes 
much  of  the  sacred,  as  well  as  the  secular. 

And  although  some  well-meaning  persons  may  have 
too  hastily  concluded,  merely  because  they  do  not  find 
the  very  name  of  Pyramid  written  down  in  Scripture, 
that  therefore  there  is  nothing  about  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid in  the  Bible, — yet  they  may  rest  perfectly  assured 
that  there  is  a  great  deal  about  the  Bible  subject,  in  the 
Great  Pyramid.  Which  building  is  moreover  an  earlier 
"^locument  in  the  history  of  the  human  race  ;  while  the 
putting  together  of  its  stones  into  the  vocal  and  deeply- 
meaning  shapes  we  see  them  in  now,  was  absolutely 
contemforary  Avith  the  first  of  the  primeval  events  to 
which  it  was  destined  to  bear  indubitable  witness  in 
these  latter  days,  and  not  sooner. 


CONTENTS. 


PART   I. 

GEOGRAPHY  AND  THE  EXTERIOR. 

CHAPTEB  PAGE 

T.    INTRODUCTORY   STATEMENT   TOUCHING   THE    GREAT   PYRAMID 


3 
12 

27 
40 
bo 


II.  GEOMETRICAL   PROPORTIONS 

III.  STANDARD    OF   LENGTH   EMPLOYED    IN    THE    GREAT   PYRAMID 

IV.  FIGURE    OF   THE   EARTH    AND    THE   SUN-DISTANCE 
V.  GEOGRAPHICAL    INDICATIONS    IN    THE    GREAT   PYRAMID 

PART   11. 

HISTORY  AND  THE  INTERIOR. 

VI.    STRUCTURAL     ISOLATION      OF     THE     GREAT     PYRAMID     AMONGST 

ALL   PYRAMIDS 73 

VII.    THE   PYRAMID    COFFER        . 99 

VIII.    WHY    OF   THAT   SIZE?  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .118 

IX.    DENSITY   AND   TEMPERATURE 146 

X.    CONFIRMATIONS   BY   THE   NEW    SCHOOL       .  .  .  .  .174 

PART   III. 

NATIONAL  WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES. 


XI.  BRITISH   METROLOGY,  PAST   AND   PRESENT 

XII.  PYRAMID   CAPACITY   MEASURE    . 

XIII.  PYRAMID   WEIGHT   MEASURE       . 

XIV.  LINEAR   AND    SUPERFICIAL   MEASURE 

XV,  HEAT   AND    PRESSURE,    ANGLE,    MONEY,    TIME 


199 
225 

231 
244 

257 


Xll 


CONTENTS. 


PART    IV. 

MORE  THAN   SCIENCE. 

CIIAPl'KR 
XVI.    THE   SACRED   CUBIT   OF   THE   HEBREWS       . 
XVII.    "time   MEASURES    IN   THE    GREAT   PYRAMID" 
XVIII.    MOSES    AND   THE   WISDOM    OF   THE    EGYPTIANS 

XIX.    MECHANICAL   DATA 

XX.    SACRED,    AND    PROPHETIC,    TIME 


PAGE 

281 
304 
328 
348 
874 


PART  y. 

INEVITABLE  CONCLUSIONS. 

XXI.    HIEROLOGISTS   AND    CHRONOLOGISTS 
XXII.    THE    SHEPHERD   KINGS      .... 

XXIII.  SUPERIOR   TESTIMONY        .... 

XXIV.  PREPARATIONS    FOR   UNIVERSAL   METROLOGY 
XXV.    GENERAL    SUMMATION  :    SECULAR   AND    SACRED 


405 

418 
435 
444 
460 


APPENDICES. 

Appendix  I.  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon's  Casing-stone  .  .  .  489 
„  11.  Dr.  Grant's  crucial  Pyramid  investigations  .  .  493 
„  III.  Dr.  Leider's  supposed  Pyramid  ....  497 
,,  IV.  Mr.  James  Simpson's  further  Pyramid  calculations.  499 
„  V.  Rude  stone  monuments  versus  the  Great  Pyramid  .  505 
„  VI.  Recent  attempts  to  shorten  both  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid's base-side  and  the  profane  cubit  of  Egypt   .  511 


INDEX 


519 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

(ENGRAVED  BY  ALEX.  RITCHIE,  EDINBURGH.) 


I 


PLATE 

I.  General  Sectional  View  of  G-reat  Pyramid  [Frontispiece). 

Alluded  to  in  Chapters  I.  and  VI. ;  but  of  more  or  less  ser- 
viceable reference  throughout  the  book;  and  of  especial  use  in 
showing  the  respective  places  of  several  particular  parts  of  the 
monument  which  appear  separately  in  subsequent  plates. 


II,  Casing-stone  Testimony  to  Great  Pyramid's  it  Construction. 

Alluded  to  in  Chapter  II.  The  upper  figure  gives  an  illustra- 
tion of  John  Taylor's  tt  theory,  requiring  a  particular  side  angle 
for  the  Pyramid ;  and  the  lower  figures  give  the  angle  found  by 
Colonel  Vyse. 


III.  Diameter  and  Circumference  Eelations. 

Alluded  to  in  Chapters  II.,  IV.,  and  X.  Certain  useful  com- 
putation numbers,  both  in  angular  and  linear  measure,  are  entered 
in  their  appropriate  places  on  the  several  Pyramidal  figures,  and 
will  be  found  of  frequent  service. 


IV.  Diameter  and  Areal  Relations. 

The  upper  figures  alluded  to  in  Chapters  IV.  and  X.,  and  the 
lower  figure  in  Chapter  XXV.,  where  they  are  shown  to  confirm 
the  numbers  in  Plate  III.  most  remarkably. 


V.  Great  Pyramid's  Place  in  Egypt,  and  Egypt's  in  the  World. 

See  Chapter  V.    This  is  a  reduction  and  concentration  of  the 
several  plates  in  my  "Equal  Surface  Projection." 


xiv  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PLATK 

VI.  All  the  Pyramids  or  Jeezeh. 


See.  Chapter  VI.  All  these  figures  heing  on  the  same  scale,  show 
the  Great  Pyramid  to  be  absolutely  the  largest  of  the  Jeezeh 
group ;  and  the  only  one  with  an  ascending  system  of  passages : 
and  it  enjoys  the  same  superiority  over  all  the  Pyramids  of 
Egypt. 

VII.  Placing  of  the  Passages  in  Great  Pyramid. 

See  Chapter  X.  These  two  figures  illustrate  a  simple  geo- 
metrical arrangement,  which  comes  exceedingly  close  to  the  actual 
lengths  and  angles  of  the  passages  in  the  Great  Pyramid. 

VIII.  The  Chamber  and  Passage   Systems  in  Great  Pyramid. 

See  Chapter  VI.  This  is  a  generally  useful  plate  to  refer  to, 
for  the  more  interesting  parts  of  the  interior ;  when  the  frontis- 
piece fails  from  the  smallness  of  its  size. 


IX.  The  Queen's  Chamber. 

See  Chapters  X.,  XIX.,  and  XX.  A  chamber  of  important  sym- 
bolisms, beginning  with  the  excentricity  of  the  niche  by  the 
amount,  apparently,  of  the  length  of  the  sacred  cubit. 


X.  The  Ante-Chamber. 

See  Chapters  IX.  and  X.  A  small  chamber  fuU  of  sym- 
bolisms, especially  of  the  subdivision  of  the  sacred  cubit  into 
inches  ;  and  the  equal  area  equation  of  squares  and  circles. 


XI.  The  King's  Chamber. 

See  Chapters  VI.,  IX.,  X.,  XIX.,  and  XXV.  The  final  cham- 
ber of  the  ascending  series  of  passages  in  the  Great  Pyramid, 
the  most  exquisitely  constructed  of  all  the  chambers,  and  with 
the  noblest  symbolisms. 


XII.  The  Grand  Gallery:  ascending  and  descending. 

See  Chapters  VI.,  XVIL,  and  XX.  The  grandest  interior 
feature  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  unknown  in  any  other  Pyramid, 
and  with  supposed  prophetic  Christian  symbolisms. 


XIII.  Mouth  or  the  Well,  in  Lower  Corner  of  Great  Pyramid. 

See  Chapters  VI.,  XVIL,  and  XX.  Two  views,  one  elevational, 
and  the  other  in  perspective,  of  the  exit  from  the  Grand  Gal- 
lery to  the  symbolism  of  the  bottomless  pit. 


ILLUSTRATIONS.  xv 


XIV.  Star-Map  for  Site  of  Great  Pyramid  in  Antediluvian  Times. 

See  Chapter  XVII.  Exhibiting  the  constellations  of  hostile 
attributes  to  man,  occupying  the  mid-heaven  at  the  night  begin- 
ning of  the  primeval  autumnal  year  before  the  Flood. 

XV.  Star-Map    for    Site    of    Great    Pyramid   at  Epoch   of    its 
Foundation. 

See  Chapter  XVII.  Representing  the  constellations  of  friendly 
attributes  to  man,  at  the  night  beginning  of  the  year  of  the  Great 
Pyramid's  foundation  ;  after  both  the  Flood  and  the  Dispersion. 

XVI.  Star-Map  for  Site  of  Great  Pyramid  at  the  Present  Time. 

See  Chapter  XVII.  Eepresenting  the  portion  of  time  elapsed 
since  the  foundation  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  as  now  indicated  on 
the  processional  dial  of  the  Pyramid  and  the  heavens. 

XVII.  The  Numbers   measured   in   the  Entrance   Passage   of  the 
Great  Pyramid. 

See  Chapter  XX.  The  numbers  entered  here  are  PjTamid 
inches  of  distance  from  the  north  beginning  of  the  Grand  Gal- 
lery ;  and  are  supposed  to  represent  years  b.c. 


THE  KEY  OF  ENTRANCE  INTO  THE  DESIGN  OF  THE 
GREAT  PYRAMID, 


AS    INVOLUNTARILY    PllEPARED,  YEARS  AGO,  RY    MODERN    MATHEMATICS  ; 

viz. : — 


■tt; 
i.e., 

When  a  Circle's  diameter  =  (?=—=  —  =  2  -J  -  '■, 

4  n 
And  its  circumference  ■=.  c  ■===.  tt  cl  z=.  — -  =  2  ^  tz  a  ; 

_d  c 

Tlien 

c 4« c"^ 

'^  ~  ^  ~  ^  —  i^a  ' 

=  3-14159  I  26535  |  89793  |  23846  1  +  &c.,  &(\,  &c. 

n^  log.  0-49714  I  98726  I  94133  |  85435  |  +  &c.,  &c.,  &c. 
And 

^  -  0-785  39816  +  &c.  =  log.  9-895  0899  +  &c. 

^  =  0-523  59878  -|-  &c.  =  log.  9-718  9986  -f  &c. 

}  -  =  0-079  57747  +  &c.  =  log.  8900  7902  4-  &c.' 

4   TT  I  o 

-,-A_  -  0-016  88687  +  &c.  =  log.  8-227  5490  4-  &c. 
^  w  =  1-772  45385  4-  &c.  =  log.  0-248  5749  -f  &c. 
?^  z:  57-295  77951  +  &c.  =  log.  1-758  1226  -f  &c. 

TT 


PL.ITK     11 


Fuj  / 


GROUND      PLAN     OF    GREAT     PYRAMID. 

ITS    SQUARE     BASt.  AND    A    HYPOTHETICAL    CIRCLE.    HAVING   RADIUS   EQUAL 
TO   VERTICAL     HEIGHT   OF    BUILDING: 

l.>.j,lli,-i    »■///,    .Irxn/toiis  of//u-  dirr^l     rt////  (Untjo/rul  vcrdrai  stcUon.s  of  Uu-  sarin 

nslored  to    a/iruft/  ciiniplcU-iiess 

of  ou///rir  . 


CROSS  SECTION  OF  VYSES  GREAT  PYRAMID  CASING  STONE    IN  SITU. 
whtti  still  nlln,l,.;{  l,>  ihr /;itri,„  nl  .    iii   miJ.I/,    of  YorlJi  .sn/r   >>/ 


c\ 

/v.V 

^ 

-V' 

B 

l-S 

a\ 

/'/wi'iO/fi/  / riiiiiii/i ■  f'i>r<\>iiif>iifiiti,, 


i'^ee  Ch . 


I'LATi-:  in 


J? '  ■}^ 


91 31  ■  05  P.  I.  or 
365  -242    5'.  C. 


DIRECT    VERTICAL    SECTION    OF 
GREAT     PYRAMID. 


12  013  ■  34  T.  I.  or- 
nl6-  534     S.  C. 


DrAGONAL    VERTICAL    SECTION      OF 
GREAT     PYRAMID. 


EQUALITY    OF     BOUNDARIES. 


X 

\;-'"'^ 

^■/ 

•oV 

'oy  ^■ 

'. 

\-Q^^ 

1 

S^' 

#'"' 

^\        91  31  ■  05    P.    I. 

^18   S'^^.^ 


TTaNCLES     of    casing    STONES    OF 

GREAT     PYRAMID; 

As  td't'e^t&cL   by  its  ^JXte^rTruxL  slope 

caxxL  JiorizorvCcd/  rrvasoruy   courses. 

TT    =3    14159   26535  -Y  &o. 

=  l^yrj.  O  ■  4:9714   98726  4-  &o 


EQUALITY     OF      AREAS      N9     I. 


EQUALITY   OF     AREAS     N9    2 


9131- O  5   P.  1. 


Ari'^i,  of  squ^jj-e^  Tta^e.  of  (rrt>^ji^  FyrnrnAxJy= 
=  tn-eciy  of  a.  Girder  whose^  dxcuneter'  i^  qtx-^h 
~i-100  in.   the^  Ante^-ch.£trnher. 


Ar-ext.  of  Cir-<Ji>,  withy  CrPyr:^  hett^liJ.  for  rcifizuti'' 

ofsqiturv.  whose.  lerujtK  of  sulif'  vs  ywe^v 

-i-100  in   the  ^nte -chnmher. 


'Area, 


P I -PTRA  MID     INCHES 


S.  a  -  SA  CR  ED     C  LB  IT. 


8ee  Ch^    2.  4-.  &  10. 


PLATE  IV. 


EQUALITY      OF     AREAS     N:  3 


.v/.3/f'5    P.I. 
Dtr,',-tVcrti,'al  S.u'lioii  ofGrPvit 


CyireUi  with  Diamete-r 
Vrrt' HeUpU of  aiW:' 


Squxire   wUJi   sidi 
ccmpitJeil  hy  IT. 


&c   X       2 


EQUATION   OF  BOUNDARIES  AND  AREAS. 

CIRCLES     AND     SQU  A  R  E  S  .   I  N  C  H  E  S     INSID^     AND    SACRED    CUBITS 
OUTSIDE     GREAT     PYRAMID.    .S't-c  (7i  r  2  .">. 


See  Ch^  10  K: 


PLATE    V. 


lal. 
XortU 


Lat 

N'oitli 


T.on  .fitutie    E<ist      f. 
50 


■.iisi      rriJi 


O  r'cf  71  tfi  c  h  . 


Vf  K  1 )  T  T  E  \l  K  A  N  -  < 


DESERT 


!•:  AN       S  E  A 


rvr;nuul      S^ 
ANCIENT    MEMPHllsol      **" 


THE  GREAT   PYRAMID  IN  THE   CENTRE, 

AND    ATTHE     SAME    TIME    ATTHE     BORDER, OF    THE 
SECTOR-SHAPED     LAND    OF     LOWER     EGYPT. 


Noi-tl. 


I.at 


Lat 
North! 
90* 


AV 


Lont/i lurit'     iy-orn      (i reenwi^cJi  .      ^  o      H      • 

120  90  GO  30  0°  5.0  60  90  120         150         18  0 


Lat 
Noi-tlil 


£0. 


LOWER     EGYPT    IN    THE     GEOGRAPHICAL     CENTRE     OF 

THE        LAND       SURFACE      OF     THE       WHOLE       WORLD 
inn   Ihf    Ell  14 111    Surt\t<-f    I'rrit-iti4>n  J 


I,sit 
Sdiilli 


See  Ch?    5   &  25. 


J 'LA '/I':  I'j 


THE     GREAT     PYRAMID. 


THE      SECOND     PYRAMID. 


GROUND  PLAN  OF  THIS 
PYRAMID     WHEN    COMPLETE, 


.GROUND    PLAN    OF   THIS 
PYRAMID     WHEN  COMPLETE 


THE     TH  I  RD     PYRAMI  D 


THE     FOURTH     PYRAMID. 


TH  E    FIFTH     PYRAMI  D. 


tk-^ 


JS. 


THE    SIXTH    PYRAMID.        THE  SEVENTH   PYRAMID.       THE   EIGHTM  PYRAMID.      THE    NINTH     PYRAMID 


ALLTHE  PYRAMIDS  OF  JEEZEH    IN  VERTICAL   AND    MERIDIAN  SECTION. 

THEIR    ANCIENT  SIZE  AND  SHAPE  BEING  SHOWN    BY  THE  DOTTED  TRIANGLES  OVERTHEM. 
-S''v//^-  f^ono    of  \'<iJuri-. 


Sef5Chn,'ic6. 


PL.'ITE  VII 


GENERAL 
PASSAGE 
ANGLE 

ofgrT 
pyr' 


A  D  B  =  Durtt, or  rifjltl . I trtitaJ 
Section  of  Great  rrrntnui 
from  North  to  south  . 

E  F  OH  =  Square  and  CinJ'ortqiuil 
aira-  to  above  . 

.Irujle   B  C  S     = 


LENGTHS     AND 

PLACES     OF 

PASSAGES 

IN   GREAT 

PYR° 


Y  .hid  to  1'i.j.  / ,      1   C 

/»(■  horizontal    tiiirs, 
then 

Z  Y     paraHel  to   C  S.  ftuul,'. 
entJ-ance   fki.-iso</e  ■ 

W  T  tit  an.  equ^l  hut  opfM.site 
a/iff/e  mo/t.s  Unit  d.see/idifu/ 
//isMtitfe  aiiitthe  flnind  t^ollerv. 

hu,le  B  CP/;>//m  0  P-.sv///'  o/n/ual 
una  .v^/«/^/»v  "  ''^ '    ~ 
Latitiuie ,  apprvayi' 


m 


I'Ljy/-:  vni 


-^ 


% 


platj:  jx. 


\ 

■•->    1 

/ 

1 

o: 

i 

/ 

_j 

5         ui 

/ 

_i 
■< 

is 

/ 

^ 

i ' 

\ 

1— 

\          "a= 

^\ 

\ 

LU 

< 

\ 

^ 

^^ 

'% 

\ 

u      bJ 

.^ 

\ 

t-    <                        9~ 

s. 

\ 

° : 

iv; 

X 

s 

5 

UJ     H 

t^*^ 

-     "= 

^ 

—1 

5  $ 

1                  «>     ° 

z    2 

1$ 

■< 

1=^ 

UJ    a                             o  — 

■^ 

^ 

^ 

>    o 

31 
1— 

r 

1      ^^             s- 

ZD 

)              H- 

O 

^ 

/                                       ^^^~\ 

CO 

< 

/    "'",        \. 

/                   '^0                    \. 

( 

\\7 

\ 

__ 

i^!j!.l|j  Irlllli'lt-Nll'liiM 

^\/f  ^ 

^j  ""ij 

1  Si'  '  -'i .' 

Ml    'M   1 

111) 

1  1  = 

1-   -J 

CO     -J 

H  0  1 

"  Ilif 

m 

■  i 

■    1'  1 

1  '  ,'■  1 M 

<c    < 

!'■• 

II 1 1 

r  u 

'      i;l 

L 

U      3 



li 

jjji 

1  I 

Mi 

Th 

i  11 

\    *          X 

_i 

< 

5: 

' 

iii 

'<; 

3: 
1- 
q: 
o 

21 

I 
> 

1 

1; 

1 

S    Si     ^ 

^  ~  ^' 

J^ 

s  1 

•02'?9sU0  9SS 


.t 


AUBnvo  QNvao 

J  o 
QNl    Ny 3  HiUON 

HO    y 3M01 

J  o 

■LS3M   0N1M001 


,fffvs-sn/j    jvruox- 1. to  11 


jux  :'ixvid 


■05'^Z.T    9    s^D  ass 


;3H3NI     HSIJ.IUe    iO    3i«as 


n  ■31MDXIM 


9NiaN3as3a   savav  hum 

N0liD3S     3SHlASNVMi  1V01iy3A 


gUAdua   Ausnvg  qnvuo  3Hi 

3NiaN33SV    SaVbV     HilM 
N0Ii33S    3SU3ASNVai  TV3UH3A 


//\  ;/.//   7/ 


spzf:)u/  ysijiufi JO  ^^^r^rti,' 


■3iiNVM0    axvoioNi   s3Nn  oissoao    asa  wvho  s,oniv(   3  AoevNoiionaxsNoo 

JO    SAAO-nOH     S,3SAA     aNV      AbSTTVO     ONVaO     JO    aN3      HinOS  'a39  WVH0-31NV 

30  osiv'y  3g|^vH3  S9NIM  J0^7s>?^.^^^/^^^''«'ryN0li0  3s  nvoiiaaA 


ZT  Jir'i<r 


t-      ni      , 
•■        o    O 


.,lJUuulLll.....ulKaUu)mi.Uu».U..., 


X  :i.i:v7ci 


j'x^TJTjrir 


GROUND     PLAN    OF    THE 

CIRCLES    OF    THE     HEAVENS    ABOVE    THE    SITE    OF    THE     THEN 

UNBUILT   GREAT    PYRAMID.ATTHE    ANTED  I  LUV  IAN    DATE    OF 

3440      B.  C. 

a    DRACONIS    ON    MERIDIAN    BELOW   POLE, AT   ENTRANCE    PASSAGE    ANCLE; 

PLEIADES    AND     VERNAL    EQUINOX    NOWHERE     VISIBLE. 

See     Ch.  17 


GROUND    PLAN    OF    THE 

CIRCLES    OF    THE    HEAVENS    ABOVE    THE    GREAT    PYRAMID,  AT     ITS     EPOCH 

OF     FOUNDATION,  AT     MIDNIGHT     OF    AUTUMNAL     EQUINOX 

2  170     B.C. 

CXDRACONIS   ON    M  ER  I  D  I  AN,  BELO  W   POLE, AT  ENTRANCE    PASSAGE   ANCLE; 

AND     PLEIADES    ON     MERIDIAN     ABOVE    POLE     IN    O'^R.A.; 

OR    COINCIDENT LY    WITH     VERNAL    EQUINOX. 


I 


PLATE  Jm. 


o 

z 

1- 

<. 

< 

Q 

UJ 

CC 

$ 

LU 

o 

._^__ 

S 

—1 

UJ 

CD 

^,£ol/ 

TH      HOR* 

GROUND      PLAN     OF     THE 

CIRCLES      OF     THE     HEAVENS     ABOVE    THE 
PRESENTCREATPYRAMID 

IN     THE     AUTUMN     OF 

1881      A.  D. 

a  DRACONIS     ON    MERIDIAN.    BELOW    POLE,    BUT  AT   SEVEN    TIMES      EN.   PASS.   ANCLE; 
PLEIADES     FAR     FROM    MERIDIAN.    EASTWARD; 
VERNAL    EQUINOX     FAR    from    MERIDIAN.     WESTWARD; 
lUT   THE    DISTANCE    OF    THEIR     MERIDIANS    APART.  INDICATING    ON    THE    PRECESSIONAL    DIAL 
THE     ACE     OF     THE     GREAT     PYRAMID. 
See     Ch.  17. 


FLAT£  jcra. 


VERTICAL     SECTION     hooking  Wesu  OF 

UPPER    OR    NORTH     END    OF     E  N  T  R  A  N  C  E  -  P  AS  S  A  G  E 

OF       GREAT       PYRAMID. 

as  it,  iti  noH':  (nuialso  by  cLoUadL  lintui,  as  itLs  suppose.iL  to  have  been. 

when  orujfi/uiJly  ti'n/shiutfuid  cJosrctup. 


SCALE       OF       BR'TIS 
lOO  200 


INCHES 


Chap.  L]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  5 

and  in,  and  tlirougliout,  that  mighty  builded  mass,  which 
all  history  and  all  tradition,  both  ancient  and  modern, 
agree  in  representing  as  the  first  in  point  of  date  of  the 
whole  Jeezeh  group,  the  earliest  stone  building  also  posi- 
tively known  to  have  been  erected  in  any*  country, — we 
find  in  all  its  finished  parts  not  a  vestige  of  heathenism, 
nor  the  smallest  indulgence  in  anything  approaching  to 
idolatry ;  not  even  the  most  distant  allusion  to  Sabaism,  7 
or  to  the  worship  of  sun  or  moon,  or  any  of  the  starry  J 
host  of  heaven.  ...—^ 

I  have  specified  "  finished  parts,"  because  in  certain 
unfinished,  internal  portions  of  the  constructive  masonry 
discovered  by  Colonel  Howard- Vyse  in  1837,  there  are 
some  rude  markings  for  a  temporary  purpose  to  be  pre- 
sently explained  ;  and  I  also  except,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  any  inscriptions  inflicted  on  the  Pyramid  by 
modern  travellers,  even  though  they  have  attempted  to 
cut  their  nantes  in  the  ancient  hieroglyphics  of  the  old 
Egyptians.  But  with  these  simple  exceptions  we  can 
most  positively  say,  that  both  .exterior  and  interior  are] 
absolutely  free  from  all  engraved  or  sculptured  work,  asv^ 
well  as  from  everything  relating  to  idolatry  or  erring  f 
man's  theotechnic  devices.  From  all  those  hieratic 
emblems,  therefore,  which  from  the  first  have  utterly 
overlaid  every  Egyptian  temple  proper,  as  well  as  all 
their  obelisks,  sphinxes,  statues,  tombs,  and  whatev'er 
other  monuments  they,  the  Egyptians,  did  build  up  at 
any  known  historical  epoch  in  connection  with  their 
peculiar,  and,  alas  !  degrading  religion. 

Was  the  Great  Pyramid,  then,  erected  before  the  in- 
vention of  hieroglyphics,  and  previous  to  the  birth  of 
the  Egyptian  religion  ? 

No  !  for  there,  both  history,  tradition,  and  recent  ex- 
ploratory discoveries,  testified  to  by  many  travellers  and 
antiquaries,  are  perfectly  in  accord  ;  and  assure  us  that 
the  Egyptian  nation  was  established,  was  powerful,  and  its 


6  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  L 

spiritually  vile  hieratic  system  largely  developed,  though 
not  arrived  at  its  full  proportions,  at  the  time  of  the 
erection  of  the  Great  Pyramid  ;  that  that  structure  was 
even  raised  by  the  labour  of  the  Egyptian  population ; '''' 
but  under  sorne  remarkable  compulsion  and  constraint, 
which  prevented  them  from  putting  their  unmistakeable 
and  accustomed  decorations  on  the  finished  building,  and 
from  identifying  it  in  any  manner,  direct  or  indirect, 
with  their  impure  and  even  bestial  form  of  worship. 

According  to  Manetho,  Herodotus,  and  other  ancient 
authorities,  the  Egyptians  hated,  and  yet  implicitly 
obeyed,  the  power  that  made  them  work  on  the  Great 
Pyramid  ;  and  when  that  power  was  again  relaxed  or 

*  This  very  important  conclusion  results  from  the  "  quarry  marks  "  of 
Ihe  workmen  (see  Colonel  Howard-Vyse's  volumes,  "  Pyramids  of  Gizeh," 
London,  1840),  being  found  in  red  paint  on  parts  of  the  stones  left 
rough,  and  in  places  not  intended  to  be  seen.  The  marks  are  evidently 
in  the  Egyptian  language  or  manner  freely  handled  ;  and  in  so  far  prove 
that  they  were  put  in  by  Egyptians.  They  are  excessively  rude,  no 
doubt,  but  quite  sufficient  as  checks  for  workmen,  whereby  to  recognise 
a  stone  duly  prepared  at  the  quarry,  and  to  see  it  properly  placed  in  its 
intended  position  in  the  building. 

That  these  marks  were  not  meant  as  ornaments  in  the  building,  or  put 
on  when  there,  is  abundantly  evidenced  by  some  of  them  being  upside  down, 
and  some  having  been  partly  pared  away  in  adjusting  the  stone  into  its 
position  (see  Colonel  Howard-Vyse's  plates  of  them)  ;  and,  finallj^,  by  the 
learned  JDr.  Birch's  interpretation  of  a  number  of  the  marks,  which  seem 
from  thence  to  be  mostly  short  dates,  and  directions  to  the  workmen  as  to 
which  stones  were  for  the  south,  and  which  for  the  north,  wall. 

/These  markings  have  only  been  discovered  in  those  dark  holes  or 
hollows,  the  so-called  "chauibers,"  but  much  rather  "hollows  of  con- 
struction," broken  into  by  Colonel  Howard- Vyse  above  the  "King's 
Chamber^'  of  the  Great  Pyramid.  There,  also,  you  see  the  square  holes 
in  the  stones,  by  which  the  heavy  blocks  were  doubtless  lifted  to  their 
places,  and  everything  is  left  periectly  rough  ;  for  these  void  spaces  were 
sealed  up,  or  had  been  built  up  outside  in  solid  masonry,  and  were  never 
intended  to  be  used  as  chambers  for  human  visitation  or  living  purposes. 
In  all  the  other  chambers  and  passages,  on  the  contrary,  intended  to  be 
visited,  the  masonry  was  finished  off  with  the  skill  and  polish  almost  of  a 
jewelhir;  and  in  them  neither  quarry  marks  nor  "bat  holes,"  nor  hiero- 
glyphics of  any  sort  or  kind,  are  to  be  seen  :  excepting  always  those 
modern  hieroglyphics  which  Dr.  Lepsius  in  1843  put  up  over  the  entrance 
into  the  Great  Pyramid,  "  on  a  space  five  feet  in  breadth  by  four  feet  in 
height,"  in  praise  of  the  then  sovereign  of  Prussia ;  and  which  have 
recently  misled  a  learned  Chinese  envoy,  by  name  Pin-ch'-un,  into 
claiming  a  connection  between  the  Great  Pyramid  and  the  early  monu- 
ments of  his  own  country.     (See  Athenteum,  May  21,  1870,  p.  677.) 


chap.l]  the  great  pyramid.  7 

removed,  thougli  they  still  hated  its  name  to  such  a 
degree  as  to  forbear  from  even  mentioning  it, — yet  with 
involuntary  bending  to  the  sway  of  a  superior  intelli- 
gence, they  took  to  imitating  as  well  as  they  could,  ^ 
though  without  any  understanding,  a  few  of  the  more  J 
ordinary  mechanical  features  of  that  great  work  on  which 
they  had  been  so  long  employed  ;  and  even  rejoiced  for 
a  time  to  adapt  them,  so  far  as  they  could  be  adapted, 
to  their  own  more  favourite  ends  and  occupations. 

Henc6  the  numerous  guasi-copies,  for  sepulchral  pur- 
poses, of  the  Great  Pyramid,  which  are  now  to  be 
observed  along  the  banks  of  the  Nile ;  always  betraying, 
though,  on  close  examination,  the  most  profound  igno- 
rance of  that  building's  chiefest  internal  features,  as  well 
as  of  all  its  niceties  of  proportion  and  exactness  of 
measurement ;  and  they  are  never  found  even  then  at 
any  very  great  number  of  miles  away  from  the  site,  nor 
any  great  number  of  years  behind  the  date,  of  the 
parent  work. 

The  architectural  idea,  indeed,  of  the  one  grand 
primeval  monument,  though  copied  during  a  few  cen- 
turies, yet  never  wholly  or  permanently  took  the  fancy  of 
the  Egyptians  ;  it  had  some  suitabilities  to  their  favourite 
employment  of  lasting  sepulture,  and  its  accompanying 
rites  ;  so,  with  their  inveterate  taste  for  imitation,  they 
tried  what  they  knew  of  it,  for  that  purpose  ;  but  it  did 
not  admit  of  their  troops  of  priests,  nor  the  seas  of 
abject  worshippers,  with  the  facility  of  their  own  temples  ; 
and  so,  on  the  whole,  they  preferred  them.  Those  more 
open  and  columned,  as  well  as  statued  and  inscribed 
structures,  accordingly,  of  their  own  entire  invention 
and  elaboration,  are  the  only  ones  which  we  now  find 
to  have  held,  from  their  first  invention,  an  uninterrupted 
reign  through  all  the  course  of  ancient  Egyptian  history  ; 
and  to  reflect  themselves  continuously  in  the  placid 
stream  of  Nile,  from  one  end  of  the  long-drawn  land  of 


8  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

Egypt    to    the    other.     They,    therefore,    are    Egypt.  ^ 
Thebes,  too,  with  its  hundred  adorned  Pylon  temple-^ 
gates,  is  intensely  Egypt.     But  the  Great  Pyramid  is  f 

/something  perfectly  different. 
Under  whose  direction,  then,  and  for  what  purpose,  was 
the  Great  Pyramid  built ;  and  under  what  sort  of  special 
compulsion  was  it  that  the  Egjrptians  laboured  in  a 
cause  which  they  appreciated  not,  and  gave  their  un- 
rivalled mechanical  skill  for  an  end  which  they  did  not 
at  the  time  understand ;  and  which  they  never  even 
came  to  understand,  much  less  to  like,  in  all  subsequent 
ages  ? 

This  has  been  indeed  a  mystery  of  mysteries,  but 
may  yet  prove  fruitful  in  the  present  advancing  stage 
of  knowledge  to  inquire  into  further ;  for  though 
theories  without  number  have  been  tried  by  ancient 
Greeks  and  mediseval  Arabians,  by  Italians,  French, 
English,  Germans,  and  Americans,  their  failures  partly 
pave  for  us  the  road  by  which  we  mast  set  out.  Pave 
it  poorly,  perhaps  ;  for  their  whole  result  has,  up  to  the 
present  time,  been  little  more  than  this,  that  the  authors 
of  these  attempts  are  either  found  to  be  repeating  idle  tales 
told  them  by  those  who  knew  no  more  about  the  subject 
than  themselves  ;  or  skipping  all  the  really  crucial  points 
of  application  for  their  theories  which  they  should  have 
attended  to ;  or,  finally,  like  some  of  the  best  and  ablest 
men  who  have  given  themselves  to  the  question,  fairly 
admitting  that  they  were  entirely  beaten. 

Hence  the  eaxilusive  notion  of  temples  to  the  sun 
'  and  moon,  or  for  sacred  fire,  or  holy  water,  or  burial- 
places,  and  nothing  but  burial  places,  of  kings,  or 
granaries  for  Joseph,  or  astronomical  observatories,  or 
defences  to  Egypt  against  being  invaded  by  the  sands  of 
the  African  desert,  or  places  of  resort  for  mankind  in 
a  second  deluge,  or  of  safety  when  the  heavens  should 
fall,  have  been  for  a  long  time  past  proved  untenable ; 


Chap.  I.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  9 

and  the  Great  Pyramid  stands  out  now,  far  more  clearly  ] 
than  it  did  in  the  time  of  Herodotus,  as  a  pre-historic  / 
monument  of  an  eminently  grand  and  pure  conception  ;  ^ 
and  which,  though  in  Egypt,  is  yet  not  of  Egypt,  and 
whose  true  and  full  explanation  is  still  to  come. 

Under'^  these  circumsStices  it  is,  tliat  a  new  idea, 
based  not  on  hieroglyphics,  profane  learning,  classic 
literature,  or  modern  Egyptology,  but  on  scientific 
measures  of  the  actual  facts  of  ancient  masonic  construc- 
tion, was  recently  given  to  the  world  by  the  late  Mr. 
John  Taylor,  of  London,  in  a  book  published  in  1859.*"* 
He  had  not  visited  the  Pyramid  himself,  but  had  been 
for  thirty  years  previously  collecting  and  comparing  all 
the  published  accounts,  and  specially  all  the  best  certified 
mensurations,  of  those  who  had  been  there  ;  and  while 
so  engaged,  gradually  and  quite  spontaneously  (as  he 
described  to  me  by  letter),  the  new  theory  opened  out 
before  him.  Though  mainly  a  rigid  induction  from 
tangible  facts  of  number,  weight,  and  measure,  Mr.  Tay- 
lor s  result  was  assisted  perhaps  by  means  of  the  mental 
and  spiritual  point  of  view  from  whence  he  commenced 
his  researches,  and  which  is  simply  this  : — 

That  whereas  other  writers  have  generally  esteemed 
that  the  mysterious  persons  who  directed  the  building 
of  the  Great  Pyramid  (and  to  whom  the  Egyptians,  in 
their  traditions  and  for  ages  afterwards,  gave  an  immoral 
and  even  abominable  character)  must,  therefore,  have 
been  very  bad  indeed, — so  that  the  world  at  large  has 
always  been  fond  of  standing  on,  kicking  and  insulting 
that  dead  lion  whom  they  really  knew  not, — he,  Mr.  John 
Taylor,  seeing  how  religiously  bad  the  Egyptians  them- 
selves were,  was  led  to  conclude,  on  the  contrary,  that 
those  they  hated  (and  could  never  sufficiently  abuse)  might 
perhaps  have  been  pre-eminently  good ;  or  were,  at  all 

*    "  The  Great  Pyramid.     Why  was  it  built  ?  and  who  built  it  ?  " 
(Longmans  and  Co.) 


10  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

events,  of  a  different  religious  faith  from  themselves. 
He  then,  remembering,  with  mutatis  mutandis,  what 
Christ  himself  says  respecting  the  suspicion  to  be 
attached  when  all  the  world  speaks  vjell  of  any  one, 
followed  up  this  idea  by  what  the  Old  Testament  records 
touching  the  most  vital  and  distinguishing  part  of  the 
Israelites'  religion ;  and  which  is  therein  described, 
some  centuries  after  the  building  of  the  Pyramid,  as 
notoriously  an  "  abomination  to  the  Egyptians."  And 
combining  this  with  certain  unmistakeable  historical 
facts,  Mr.  Taylor  deduced  sound  reasons  for  believing 
that  the  directors  of  the  building,  or  rather  the  authors^ 
of  its  design  and  those  who  controlled  the  actual  builders  1 
of  the  Great  Pyramid,  were  by  no  means  Egyptians,  but 
of  the  chosen  race,  and  in  the  line  of,  though  pre-  y 
ceding,  Abraham ;  so  early  indeed  as  to  be  closer  toj 
Noah  than  to  Abraham.  Men  who  had  been  enabledlSy 
divine  favour  to  appreciate  the  appointed  idea,  as  to  the 
necessity  of  a  sacrifice  for  a  sin-offering,  or  an  atonement 
by  blood  and  the  act  of  a  Mediator : — an  idea  coeval 
with  the  contest  between  Abel  and  Cain,  and  v/hich 
descended  through  the  Flood  to  certain  predestined 
families  of  mankind ;  but  which  no  one  of-  Egyptian 
born  would  ever  contemplate  with  a  moment's  patience  ; 
for  every  Egyptian,  from  first  to  last,  was  a  genuine 
Cainite  in  thought,  act,  feeling,  and  continual  open  pro- 
fession to  the  very  back-bone. 

On  this  ground  it  was  that  Mr.  Taylor  took  his  stand  ; 
and,  after  disobeying  the  public  opinion  of  profane 
Egyptian  tradition,  and  setting  at  nought  the  most  time- 
honoured  prejudices  of  the  pagan  world  so  far  as  to  give 
a  full,  fair,  and  impartial  examination  to  the  whole 
case,  announced  that  he  had  discovered  in  the  arrange- 
ments and  measures  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  then  recently 
made  upon  it,  or  as  it  now  exists,  and  on  these  again 
corrected  for  dilapidations  and  injuries  of  all  intervening 


Chap.L]  the  great  pyramid.  n 

time  so  as  to  arrive  at  its  original  condition — certain 
scientific  results,  which  speak  of  much  more  than,  or 
rather  something  quite  different  from,  human  intelligence. 
For,  besides  coming  forth  suddenly  in  primeval  history 
without  any  childhood,  or  known  preparation,  or  long- 
acknowledged  duration  and  slowly  growing  senility  after- 
wards— without  any  of  those  human  features,  I  say,  the 
actual  results  at  the  Great  Pyramid,  in  the  shape  of 
numerical  knowledge  of  grand  cosmical  phenomena  of 
both  earth  and  heavens,  not  only  rise  above,  and  far 
above,  the  extremely  limited  and  almost  infantine  know- 
ledge of  science  possessed  by  any  of  the  Gentile  nations 
of  4,000,  3,000,  2,000,  nay,  1,000  years  ago,  but 
they  are  also,  in  whatever  they  chiefly  apply  to,  very 
essentially  above  any  scientific  knowledge  of  any  man 
up  to  our  own  time  as  well. 

This  is  indeed  a  startling  assertion,  but  from  its  sub- 
ject admitting  of  the  completest  and  most  positive  refu- 
tation, if  untrue.  For  the  exact  science  of  the  present 
day,  compared  with  that  of  only  a  few  hundred  years 
ago,  is  a  marvel  of  development ;  and  capable  of  giving 
out  no  uncertain  sound,  both  in  asserting  itself,  and 
stating  not  only  the  fact,  but  the  order  and  time  of 
the  minutest  steps  of  separate  discoveries.  Much  more 
then  can  it  speak  with  positiveness,  when  comparing  our 
present  knowledge  against  the  little  that  was  known  to 
man  in  those  early  epochs  before  physical  science  had 
begun,  or  could  have  been  begun,  to  be  seriously  cul- 
tivated at  all. 


12  OCR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Paut  T. 


CHAPTER  11. 

GEOMETRICAL  PROPORTIONS. 

John  Taylor  s  First  Discovery. 

TI/TR.  TAYLOR'S  first  proposition  with  regard  to  the 
^■^  Great  Pyramid,  when  slightly  but  immaterially 
altered  to  suit  convenience  of  calculation,  is, — that  its 
height  in  the  original  condition  of  the  monument,  when 
every  one  of  its  four  sloping  triangular  sides  was  made 
into  a  perfect  plane  by  means  of  the  polished  outer, 
sloping,  surface  of  the  bevelled  casing-stones,  and  when 
those  sides,  being  continued  up  to  their  mutual  inter- 
sections, terminated  at,  and  formed  the  summit  in,  a 
point, — that  its  height  then  was,  to  twice  the  breadth  of 
its  base,  as  the  diameter  to  the  circumference  of  a  circle. 
Or,  as  the  case  is  graphically  represented  in  the 
diagram  (Plate  11. ,  Fig.  1),  where  the  square  E  F  G  H 
represents  the  square  base  of  the  Pyramid,  and  the 
.darkly-shaded  triangle  A  B  D  exhibits  a  vertical  section 
of  the  triangular  mass  of  the  building  taken  through 
the  middle  of  opposite  sides  ; — 

Then  A  c,  the  vertical  height  of  the  Pyramid,  is  to 
B  D,  the  side  or  breadth  of  its  base,  when  multiplied  by 
2,  as  the  diameter  to  the  circumference  of  a  circle  ;  or, 
A  c  :  2  B  D  :  :  I  :  3-14159  -h  &c.  ;  this  last  number, 
3*14159,  &c.,  being  the  quantity  known  amongst 
modern  mathematicians  under  the  convenient,  to  us 
now  doubly  convenient,  designation  tt. 


Chap.  IL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  15 

Or  again,  as  sho^vn  more  recently  by  Mr.  St.  Johi 
Day,  the  area  of  the  Pyramid's  right  section,  viz.,  A  D  b, 
is  to  the  area  of  tlie  base  e  f  h  g,  as  1  to  the  same 
3-14159,  &c. 

Or,  as  the  same  fact  admits  again  of  being  differently 
expressed,  the  vertical  height  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  A  c, 
is  the  radius  of  a  theoretical  circle,  A  i,  the  length  of 
whose  curved  circumference  is  exactly  equal  to  the  sum 
of  the  lengths  of  the  four  straight  sides  of  the  actual 
and  practical  square  base  of  the  building,  viz.  e  F,  F  G, 
G  H,  and  H  E. 

Now  this  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  that  cele- 
brated practical  problem  of  the  mediaeval  and  modem 
ages  of  Europe,  ''  the  squaring  of  the  circle :"  and  the 
thing  was  thus  done,  truly  and  properly  accomplished 
at  the  Great  Pyramid,  thousands  of  years  before  those 
mediaeval  days  of  our  forefathers.  For  it  was  accom-' 
plished  by  the  architect  who  designed  that  pyramid, 
when,  over  and  above  deciding  that  the  building  was  to 
be  a  square-based  pyramid,  — with  of  course  all  the 
necessary  mathematical  innate  relations  which  every 
square-based  pyramid  Tnust  have, — he  also  ordained 
that  its  height,  which  otherwise  might  have  been  any- 
thing, was  to  bear  such  a  particular  proportion  to  its 
breadth  of  Base,  as  should  bring  out  the  nearest  value  of 
TT  as  above  mentioned  :  and  which  proportion  not  one 
blit  of  millions,  or  of  any  number,  of  square-based  pyra- 
mids would  be  necessarily  endued  with  ;  and  not  one 
out  of  all  the  thirty-seven  other  measured  pyramids  in 
Egypt  has  been  proved  to  be  endowed  with. 

If,  therefore,  the  quantity  is  really  found  built  into 
fact  with  exactness  at  the  Great  Pyramid,  it  must  have 
been  the  result  either  of  some  most  marvellous  accident, 
or  of  some  deep  wisdom  not  less  than  3,000  years  in 
advance  of  the  world  in  its  own  time.  And  that 
wisdom  apparently  was  building  in  confidence,  not  for 


CJ^A 


t 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  I. 


-cs  contemporaries,  to  whom  it  explained  nothing  and 
showed  very  little,  but  for  distant  posterity ;  knowing 
well  that  a  fundamental  mathematical  truth  like  tt, 
would  be  understood  both  in  and  by  itself  alone,  and 
without  any  written  inscription,  in  that  distant  day 
when  mathematics  should  come  to  be  cultivated  amongst 
mankind,  even  as  they  are  now.  A  most  true  con- 
clusion too,  for  experience  has  shown  that  neither  mathe- 
matics nor  mechanics  can  progress  in  any  country  in 
modern  times  without  knowing  well  the  numerical  value 
and  calculational  quantity  of  tt.  In  testimony  whereof 
I  may  mention  that  in  Dr.  Olinthus  Gregory's  "  Mathe- 
matics for  Practical  Men,"  third  edition  thereof  by  H. 
Law,  C.E,,  at  ^d%<^  64  of  Appendix,  there  is  a  Table  5, 
of  "  useful  factors  in  calculation,"  and  consisting  of  that 
invaluable  number  or  proportion  tt,  or  3 '141 59,  &c.,  in 
no  less  than  fifty-four  different  mathematical  forms. 


Enquiry  into  the  Data. 

Now  of  this  scientific  value  of  tt  there  is,  and  can  be, 
in  the  present  day,  no  doubt  anywhere ;  neither  of  the 
Great  Pyramid's  immense  priority  over  all  the  existing 
architectural  monuments  raised,  and  much  more  over 
all  known  books  ever  written,  anywhere  by  any  of  the 
sons  of  men ;  nor  again  that  the  numbers  which  Mr. 
Taylor  gives  for  the  vertical  height  and  breadth  of 
base  of  the  Great  Pyramid  do  realise  the  tt  proportion 
very  closely.  But,  as  we  are  to  take  nothing  for  granted 
that  we  can  inquire  into  ourselves  in  this  book,  it 
becomes  our  duty  to  ask  what  foundation  John  Taylor 
may  have  had,  for  the  numbers  which  he  has  employed 
being  really  those  which  the  Great  Pyramid  was 
anciently  constructed  to  represent,  or  does  contain 
within  itself,  when  duly  measured  and  corrected  for 
modern  dilapidations. 


Chap.  II.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  15 

In  this  research  I  soon  found  it  necessary  to  read 
rather  extensively  in  a  particular  branch  of  literature, 
the  Egyptological ;  where  the  respective  authors  are  not 
only  numerous,  but  their  accounts,  as  a  rule,  most 
strangely  contradictory.  Colonel  Howard- Vyse,  in  the 
second  volume  of  his  important  work,*  published  in 
1840,  gives  either  extracts  from,  or  abstracts  made  with 
admirable  fairness  of,  no  less  than  seventy-one  Euroj)ean 
and  thirty-two  Asiatic  authors.  Several  more  are  now 
to  be  added  to  the  list,  and  it  is  extremely  instructive  to 
read  them  all.  Unless,  indeed,  a  very  great  number  be 
read,  no  sufficient  idea  can  be  formed  as  to  how  little 
faith  is  often  to  be  placed  in  the  narratives  even  of 
educated  men  on  a  very  simple  matter ;  and  when 
measures  are  given,  though  the}''  are  measures  which 
those  learned  authors  report  to  having  measured  them- 
seN-es,  why  then,  and  even  because  of  all  their  book- 
lore  and  classical  scholarship,  ought  we  to  feel  most 
mistrust,  according  to  the  experience  acquired  in  this 
looking  up  of  pyramid  literary  modern  authorities. 
Such  at  least  cannot  fail  to  be  the  unvarying  case, 
unless  there  are  other  means  of  proving  that  some 
exceptional  instance,  among  those  often  able  men  of 
letters  and  metaphysical  philosophy,  did  also  really 
understand  what  accurate  measurement  means,  and  is 
capable  of. 

It  would  be  easy  to  string  together  a  series  of  so- 
called  measures,  made  by  successive  travellers,  on  the 
same  parts  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  which  should  show  its 
blocks  of  solid  stone  expanding  and  contracting  be- 
tween different  visits  to  it,  like  elastic  india-rubber 
balls ;  but  it  will  suffice  for  the  present  to  indicate  the 
necessity  of  weighing  the  evidence  in  every  case  most 
scrupulously ;  to  have  a  large  quantity  of  evidence,  a 
great  variety  of  observers,  and  to  place  in  the  first  rank 

*  "  The  Pyramids  of  Gizeh."     (Fraser,  Regent  Street,  London.) 


1 6  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part 

of  authors  tq  be  studied  in  the  original,  closely  in  every 
word  they  have  written,  but  not  necessarily  to  be  always 
followed  therein: — 

Professor  John  Greaves  in  1638, 
The  French  or  Bonaparte  Expedition  in  1799, 
Colonel  Howard- Yyse  in  1837  ;  and 
Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  from  1840  to  1858. 
At  present  the  Great  Pyramid  is,  externally'  to  the 
sight,  a  huge  mass,  rudely  though  regularly  and  masterly 
built  of  rough  limestone  blocks,  in  great  horizontal 
sheets,  or  courses,  of  masonry ;  their  outer,  broken  off 
edges  necessarily  forming  a  sort  of  rectangular  steps  up 
the  sloping  sides  ;  and  with  a  platform  of  sensible  area, 
in  place  of  a  point,  on  the  top.  But  this  spurious  or 
adventitious  flattened  top,  as  well  as  the  spurious  and 
adventitious  steps  on  the  sides,  have  all  of  them  merely 
resulted  from  the  mediaeval  dilapidations  and  removal  of 
the  pyramid's  polished  white-stone  casing  (with  its  outer 
surface  bevelled  smoothly  to  the  general  slope,  see  Plate  II. 
Fig.  2),  which  had  stood  for  more  than  3,000  years,  and 
had  in  its  day  given  to  the  structure  almost  mathematical 
truth  and  perfection.  This  state  of  things  was  that  de- 
scribed by  Greek,  Eoman,  and  early  Arabian- writers,  and 
it  existed  until  the  Caliphs  of  Egypt,  about  the  year 
1,000  A.D.,  profiting  by  the  effects  of  a  severe,  and  for 
Egypt  very  unusual,  earthquake  recorded  to  have  hap- 
pened in  908  A.D.,  began  methodically  to  strip  off  the 
polished  casing-stone,  bevelled  blocks  ;  built  two  bridges 
to  convey  them  more  easily  to  the  river,  after  chipping  off 
the  prismoidal  angles  and  edges ;  and  then  employed  them 
in  building  mosques  and  palaces  ;  for  the  lining  of  the 
great  "Joseph"  well,  and  for  other  public  structures 
which  still  adorn  their  favourite  city  El  Kahireh,  or  the 
victorious — ^the  Cairo  of  vulgar  English.* 

*  Very  recently  my  friends  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon  and  Dr.  Grant  have 
visited  the  celebrated  Mosque  of  Sooltan  Hassan,  in  Cairo,  to  see  if  any 


Chap.IL]  the  great  pyramid,  17 

It  is  evidently  then  the  original,  not  the  present,  size 
which  we  require,  and  must  have,  for  testing  Mr. 
Taylor  s  proposition  ;  and  for  approximating,  by  the 
degree  of  exactitude  that  may  be  found,  to  whether  it 
was  accident  or  intention  which  decided  the  shape  of  the 
building ;  and  he  has  well  pointed  out,  that  no  one  had 
got  the  true  base- side  length  until  the  French  Acade- 
micians, in  1799,  cleared  away  the  hills  of  sand  and 
debris  at  the  north-east  and  north-west  corners,  and 
reached  the  levelled  surface  of  the  living  rock  itself  on 
which  the  Pyramid  was  originally  founded.  There, 
discovering  two  rectangular  hollows  carefully  and  truly 
cut  into  the  rock,  as  if  for  "  sockets "  for  the  basal 
corner-stones,  they  measured  the  distance  between  them 
with  much  geodesic  skill,  and  found  it  to  be  equal 
to  76 3 '6 2  English  feet.  The  same  distance  being 
measured  thirty-seven  years  afterwards  by  Colonel 
Howard- Yyse,  guided  by  another  equally  sure  direction 
of  the  original  building,  as  764'0  English  feet,  we  may 
take  for  the  'present  problem  where  a  proportion  is  all 
that  is  really  required,  the  mean,  or  76 3 '81  feet,  as 
close  enough  for  a  first  approximation  to  base-breadth. 

But  the  height  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  which  we  also 
need  to  have  for  the  solution  of  our  problem,  is  not  at 
all  easy  to  measure  directly  with  any  sort  of  approach 
to  exactness  ;  and  more  difficult  still,  to  reduce  from  its 
present  to  its  ancient  height  safely,  after  so  very  much 
of  the  original  top  has  actually  been  knocked  away,  as 
to  leave  a  platform  "  large  enough  for  eleven  camels  to 
lie  down  "  in,  or  beneath,  the  very  place  where  once  the 
four  triangular  sloping  sides  were  continued  up  to  a 

of  the  component  blocks  forming  its  walls  could  be  identified  as  having 
belonged  to  the  Great  Pyramid.  They  found  them  to  be  undoubtedly  of 
the  same  Mokattam  stone,  but  too  well  squared  to  retain  any  of  the 
outside  bevelled,  and,  perhaps,  inscribed  surface.  The  enquiry  was, 
however,  put  a  stop  to  by  the  Mohammedan  janitors,  before  it  had 
reached  some  of  the  most  likely  places  near  the  top  of  the  Mosque  to  meet ' 
with  an  accidentally  or  carelessly  left  oblique  surface  of  the  older  building. 


1 8  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

point ;  a  sharp  point  on  wliich  an  angel,  or,  as  tlie 
monkisli  writer  argued,  any  number  of  angels,  might 
stand,  but  not  one  man.  In  fact,  the  key-stone  of  the 
whole  theory  of  the  Great  Pyramid  would  have  been 
entirely  wanting,  even  up  to  the  present  day,  but  for 
Colonel  Howard-Yyse's  most  providential  finding  of  two 
of  the  "casing-stones"  in  situ,  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyramid; 
for  they  enable  the  problem  to  be  attacked  in  a  different 
manner ;  or  by  angular  as  contrasted  to  linear  measure. 
And  we  might  indeed  accomplish  the  solution  by 
reference  to  angle  only  ;  but  having  begun  with  linear 
measure,  we  may  as  well  on  the  present  occasion  employ 
the  angle  merely  in  a  subsidiary  manner ;  or  to  supply, 
when  used  in  connection  with  the  one  linear  datum  we 
have  measured,  the  other  linear  datum,  which  we  have 
not  been  able  to  measure  directly ;  and  both  of  them 
against  John  Taylor's  linear  numbers  also. 


Beginnings  of  Objections  by  Captious  Individuals  to 
the  Data  on  which  the  Modern  Scientific  Theory  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  rests. 

After  reading  my  first  paper  on  the  subject  to  the 
Eoyal  Society,  Edinburgh,  I  was  seriously  warned  that 
two  very  shrewd  and  experienced  members  there  had 
objected  to  this  part  of  the  Pyramid  research  ;  one  of 
them,  an  engineer,  saying  "  that  he  had  passed  through 
Egypt,  been  to  the  Pyramids,  saw  no  symptoms  of  casing- 
stones  bevelled  to  any  angle,  and  therefore  did  not  be- 
lieve in  them."  The  other,  an  Indian  naval  officer,  had 
also  been  to  the  Pyramids  on  a  visit,  and  "  found  such 
heaps  of  rubbish  about  the  great  one,  that  he  could  not 
see  how  any  man  could  measure  even  its  base  side  length 
with  any  degree  of  correctness,  much  less  casing-stones 
which  he  could  not  see." 


Chap.  II.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  19 

The  First  Objector. 

Both  these  speeches  are  only  too  faithful  examples 
of  the  small  extent  of  information  on  which  many  per- 
sons, of  commanding  social  rank,  will  even  yet  persist 
in   speaking  authoritatively  on  both   the   present,   and 
long    past,    state    of    the    Great   Pyramid.      The    first 
doubter  about  the  casing-stones,  should  at  least  have 
read  the  accounts  of  Herodotus,  Strabo,  Pliny,  and  many 
early  Arabian  authors  who    described    what    they  saw 
before  their  eyes  when  the  casing  was  still  complete, 
and  eminently  smooth  and  beautiful ;   and  then  should 
have  taken  up  Colonel  Howard-Vyse's  own  book,  de- 
scriptive, in  details  vocal  with  simple,  naive  truth,  both 
of  how  he  succeeded  in  digging  down  to,  finding  and 
measuring  probably  the  two  last  of  the  bevelled  blocks 
still  in  situ,  adhering  closely  by  their  original  cement  to 
the  pavement  base  of  the  building;  and  then  how  he 
failed,  though  he  covered  them  up  again  with  a  mound 
of  rubbish,  to  save  them  from  the  hammers  of  tourists 
and  the  axes  of  Mohammedan  Arabs,  doubly  and  deadly 
jealous  of  Christians  obtaining  anything  really  valuable 
from  the  country  they  rule  over.     Besides  which,  the 
large  amount  of  casing-stones,  bevelled  externally  to  the 
slope,  still  existing  upon  other  pyramids,  as  on  the  two 
large  ones  of  Dashoor ;  the  well-preserved  ones  of  the 
second  Jeezeh  Pyramid,  conspicuous  near  its  summit, 
and  on  a  bright   day  "  shining  resplendently  afar,"  as 
says   M.  Jomard  ;  and   the   granite   ones  of  the   third 
pyramid,    so    excessively  hard    that    modern   workmen 
have  not  cared  to  have  much  to  do  with  them — all  this, 
which  has  long  been  known,  and  more  which  I  have 
presently  to  relate,   should   effect  much  in  convincing 
unwilling  minds  as  to  what  was  the  original   state   of 
the    outside    of   the  Great  Pyramid.     While  a  similar 
case  of  spoUation  to  what  that  building  experienced  in 


20  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  1. 

A.D.  840,  was  perpetrated  only  a  few  years  ago,  on  the 
south  stone  pyramid  of  Dashoor  by  Defterdar  Mohammed 
Bey,  in  order  to  procure  blocks  of  ready-cut  stones  of 
extra  whiteness  wherewith  to  build  himself  a  palace 
near  Cairo.* 

The  SecoTid  Objector. 

Then  the  doubter  about  the  possibility  of  other  men 
succeeding  in  measuring  what  would  have  puzzled  him 
as  he  looked  on  idly,  should  have  read  the  whole  account 
of  the  French  academicians  in  Egypt,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing extract,  from  p.  63  of  "  Antiquites,  Description," 
Yol.  II. ,t  is  worthy  of  being  more  generally  known  than 
it  is  :  viz.,  that  after  digging  down  through  the  rubbish, 
not  merely  looking  on  with  their  hands  in  their  pockets, 
"  They  recognised  perfectly  the  esplanade  upon  which  the 
pyramid  had  been  established ;  and  discovered,  happily, 
at  the  north-east  angle,  a  large  hollow  socket  (encastre- 
ment)  worked  in  the  rock,  cut  rectangularly  and  unin- 
jured, where  the  corner-stone  had  been  placed ;  it  is 
an  irregular  square,  which  is  11 8  British  inches  broad  in 

*  There  is  even  a  large  consumption  of  ancient  'building-stones  in  the 
accidents  of  modern  Egyptian  life  ;  let  alone  the  oft  burning  of  limestone 
blocks  into  lime,  for  mortar  and  plaster-work.  Thus  I  was  astonished 
in  1864  at  the  massive  outside  stair  to  his  house  which  one  of  the 
Sheikhs  of  the  nearest  Pyramid  village  had  male,  evidently  with  stone 
blocks  from  the  tombs  on  the  Great  Pyramid  Hill.  But  in  1873  I  am 
informed  by  Mr.  "Waynman  Dixon  that  that  village  has  been  in  the 
interval  entirely  washed  away  by  a  high  Nile  inundation,  and  that  its 
inhabitants  have  since  then  built  themselves  a  new  village  much  closer 
to  the  Great  Pyramid  Hill,  and  in  so  far  nearer  to  their  inexhaustible 
quarry  of  stones,  cut  and  squared  to  their  hand. 

f  "lis  reconnurent  parfaitement  I'esplanade  surlaquelle  a  ete  etablie  la 
pyramide,  et  decouvrirent  heureusement  a  Tangle  nord-est  un  large 
encastrement,  creus6  dans  le  roc,  rectangulairement  dresse  et  intact,  oil 
avait  pose  la  pierre  angulaire ;  c'est  un  carre  irregulier  qui  a  3  metres 
dans  un  sens,  3'5'2  metres  dans  I'autre,  et  de  profondeur  0-207  metres ;  ils 
firent  les  memos  recherches  a  Tangle  nord-ouest,  et  ils  y  retrouverent 
aussi  un  encastrement  semblable  au  premiere  ;  tous  deux  etaient  bien  de 
niveau.  C'est  entre  les  deux  points  les  plus  exterieurs  de  ces  enforcements 
et  avec  beaucoup  de  soins  et  de  precautions  qu'ils  mesurerent  la  base.  Ils 
la  trouverent  de  232*747  metres." 


Chap.IL]  the  great  pyramid,  21 

one  direction,  137 '8  Britisli  inches  in  another,  and  7'9 
British  inches  deep "  (measures  since  then  tested  by 
myself,  but  only  after  several  days  spent  in  digging 
and  clearing  the  locality  by  a  civil  engineer  with  a  party 
of  Arabs).  "They  made  the  same  research  at  the 
north-west  angle,  and  there  also  discovered  a  hollow 
socket  {encastrement)  similar  to  the  former :  the  two 
were  on  the  same  level.  It  was  between  the  two 
exterior  points  of  these  hollows,  and  with  much  care 
and  precaution,  that  they  measured  the  base-side  length. 
They  found  it  763-62  British  feet." 

The  "  encastrement,"  so  discovered  in  the  basal  rock 
at  the  north-east  angle,  is  duly  figured  in  plan  amongst 
the  large  French  plates  ;  and,  as  I  have  since  verified 
at  the  place,  has  the  inner  corner  curiously  pared  away, 
evidently  indicating  the  well-shaped  rectangular  outer 
corner  to  be  the  true  starting-point  for  measure ;  be- 
cause, also,  it  was  originally  the  terminal  point  of  the 
Pyramid's  substance  at  that  lower  angle  or  foot.  From 
the  outer  corner  of  the  north-east  to  the  outer  corner  of 
the  north-west  "  encastrement s  "  of  their  happy  dis- 
covery it  therefore  was,  that  the  skilful  French  sur- 
veyors extended  their  measuring-bars,  and  with  the 
result  given  above. 

Mr.  Taylor  has  assisted  the  explanation  of,  or  pre- 
sented some  apology  for,  the  errors  of  the  better  class 
of  earlier  observers,  by  imagining  their  having  been 
really  measuring  along  some  of  the  elevated  steps  or 
ranges  of  stones,  at  a  height  up  the  sides  of  the  Pyra- 
mid ;  when,  from  the  sand  not  having  been  cleared 
away,  they  erroneously  thought  they  were  at  the  bottom 
of  the  pile.  But  the  apology  was  hardly  required  ;  for 
none  of  them  sufficiently  realised  the  importance  of 
accuracy  in  what  they  were  engaged  in  ;  and  if,  indeed, 
any  man  really  believed  the  Great  Pyramid  to  be  only 
a  tomb,  and  never  to  have  been  intended  for  anything 


22  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

but  a  tomb,  as  too  all  our  modern  Egyptologists  boastfully 
teach,  why  should  he  trouble  himself  to  measure  it  as 
carefully  as  he  would  a  scientific  standard  of  measure  ? 

For  the  length  of  the  real,  or  ancient,  base-side  of 
the  Great  Pyramid,  therefore,  no  measure  previous  to 
the  French  one  (which  is  the  first  socket  measure)  should 
or  need  be  used,  or  can  be  depended  on  to  within  a 
serious  number  of  feet.  And  as  the  French  measures 
cannot  now  be  repeated  or-  replaced  by  any  decidedly 
better,  without  previously  incurring  a  large  cost  in  re- 
covering the  sites  of  those  important  "  encastrements" 
ov  fittings-in  of  the  outer  corners  of  the  Pyramid's  base, 
and  still  more  in  clearing  and  levelling  the  much-encum- 
bered ground  between  them,  we  must  not  let  the  said 
French  measures  drop  out  of  sight. 

Colonel  Howard-Yyse,  indeed,  did  go  to  much  of  this 
remarkable  expense ;  and  not  only  procured  another 
measure  of  the  very  original  pyramid  base  breadth  of 
the  builders  on  the  north  side  from  end  to  end,  but,  as 
already  mentioned,  found  near  the  middle  thereof  two 
of  the  ancient  exterior  casing-stones  still  forming,  on 
the  rocky  platform,  both  a  firmly-cemented  part  of  the 
old  basal  line,  and  a  beginning  of  the  northern  upward- 
sloping  side  of  the  building. 

Howard-Yyse' s  Casing-stones. 

The  extreme  value  residing  in  these  angular  relics, 
was  not  only  because  they  were  of  the  number  of  the 
original  casing-stones  actually  in  situ  and  undisturbed, 
and  therefore  showing  what  was  once  the  veritable  out- 
side of  the  Great  Pyramid,  viz.,  smooth,  polished,  dense 
white  limestone  softer  than  marble  in  a  sloping  plane  ; 
but  because  they  exhibited  such  matchless  workmanship  : 
as  correct  and  true  almost  as  modern  work  by  optical 
instrument-makers,  but  exhibited  in  this  instance  on 


Chap.  II.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  23 

blocks  of  a  height  of  nearly  5  feet,  a  breadth  of  8  feet, 
and  a  length  perhaps  of  12  feet ;  with  joints,  including 
a  film  of  interstitial  cement,  no  thicker  than  "silver 
paper."  The  angle  of  the  inclined  or  bevelled  outer 
surface,  measured  very  carefully  by  Mr.  Brettell,  civil 
engineer,  for  the  Colonel,  came  out  51°  50' ;  and  being 
computed  from  linear  measures  of  the  sides,  made  for 
him  by  another  engineer,  came  out  51°  52'  15 •5''.'* 
Results  extremely  accordant  with  one  another,  as  com- 
pared with  the  French  determination  (before  there  was 
anything  on  which  to  determine  accurately,  other  than 
the  present  ruined  and  dilapidated  sides  of  the  edifice) 
of  51°  19'  4";  or  of  previous  modern  observers,  who 
are  found  anywhere  and  most  variously  between  40° 
and  60°. 

But  the  Colonel's  engineers,  though  good  men  and 
true,  were  not  accurate  enough  for  the  extraordinary 
accuracy  and  merits  of  the  unique  piece  of  ancient  work 
they  had  to  deal  with  ;  and  in  the  linear  measures 
which  he  gives  in  p.  261,  Vol.  I.,  of  his  great  book  (and 
the  length  measures  of  the  sides  of  a  triangle,  as  every 
practical  surveyor  knows,  are  capable  of  laying  down  its 
particulars  on  paper  much  more  accurately  than  can  be 
done  by  using  the  angles  through  means  of  an  angle- 
showing  protractor),  there  is  one  anomaly  which  seems 
to  have  escaped  remark  hitherto.  The  stone  itself,  in 
cross  section,  and  its  accompanying  numbers,  stand  as 
in  our  Fig.  2  of  Plate  II. 

The  lengths,  having  been  only  attempted  to  be  given 
to  the  nearest  inch,  are  lamentably  short  of  the  refine- 
ment to  which  they  might  have  been  taken ;  and  an 
accurate  measure  of  such  noble  sides,  would  have  given 
the  angle  by  calculation  far  closer  than  it  could  have 
been  observed  to,  by  any  clinometer  then  at  the  pyra- 
mids, or  indeed  in  all  Egypt,  and  perhaps  Europe. 
♦  Sir  John  Hferschel,  Athenceum,  April  23,  1860. 


24  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

By  subtracting  the  upper  from  the  lower  surface  length 
the  figure  is  reduced  to  a  triangle  for  calculation ;  and 
we  have  what  should  be  a  right-angled  triangle  at  B 
(Fig.  3),  where  a  =59,  6i=:75,  and  c:i=i48  inches  all 
by  measure.  But  the  value  of  the  angle  A  is  then 
found  to  be  so  very  different,  accordingly  as  it  is  com- 
puted from  h  c,  or  a  h,  that  we  may  soon  perceive 
*clearly  that  B  is  not  a  right  angle  ;  and  on  computing  what 
it  is  from  the  three  sides,  it  appears  to  be  88°  22'  52-6". 
This,  however,  is  such  an  egregious  error  for  workmen 
like  those  of  the  Great  Pyramid  to  have  committed,  and 
in  their  easiest  angle,  that  I  incline  to  think  Mr.  Perring 
must  have  made  a  mistake  of  an  inch  in  his  measure  of 
the  base  breadth  of  the  stone,  his  most  difficult  side  to 
measure.  Indeed  it  would  need  a  little  more  than  an 
inch  to  be  taken  off  his  number,  to  bring  the  angle  B 
up  to  90° ;  but  as  Mr.  Perring  does  not  deal  in  smaller 
quantities  than  an  inch,  and  as  none  of  the  sides  were 
likely  to  have  fallen  on  an  even  inch  exactly,  I  have 
not  ventured  to  make  so  strong  a  correction  upon  one 
of  them  only,  though  too  it  would  be  to  bring  it  up  to 
the  round  pyramid  number  of  100  inches  in  length; 
and  I  leave  the  twin  results  of  the  Vyse  casing-stones 
as  given  out  to  the  world  by  their  discoverer. 


John  Taylors  Proposition  supported  by  Howard-Vyses 
^  ^^^^^       Casing-stone  .4-'if^gle. 

~^xi  the  whole,  then,  taking  everything  into  practical 
consideration,  the  ancient  angle  of  the  Great  Pyramid's 
slope  may  be  considered  to  be  certainly  somewhere 
between  the  two  measured  quantities  of  51°  50'  and 
51°  52'  15  "5",  while  there  are  many  reasons  for  believ- 
that  it  must  have  been  51°  51'  and  some  seconds. 
V  many  seconds,  the  modern  observations  are  not 
conii^tent  altogether  to  decide  :  but  if  we  assume  for  the 


CHAP^Irf  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  ^"^S 

:ime  14-3",  and  employ  tlie  whole  angle,  viz.  51°  51'  14*3' 
Avith  the  length  of  the  base  side  as  already  given  from 
linear  measure  =  763*81  British  feet,  to  compute  the 
height,  we  have  for  that  element  4 86 '2 567  ;  and  from 
these  values  of  height  and  base-breadth,  computing  the 
proportion  of  diameter  to  circumference,  there  appears 
486-2567  :  76381  x  2  ::  1  :  3*14159,  &c.*  And  this 
result  in  so  far  shows  that  the  Great  Pyramid  does 
represent  the  value  of  tt  ;  a  quantity  which  men  in 
general,  and  all  human  science  too,  did  not  begin  to 
trouble  themselves  about  until  long,  long  ages,  languages, 
and  nations  had  passed  away  after  the  building  of  the 
Great  Pyramid ;  and  after  the  sealing  up,  too,  of  that 
:and  primeval  and  prehistoric  monument  of  the  patri- 
'chal  age  of  the  earth,  according  to  Script]xr©r" 

Furm^v-Bmffijmhations  of  John  Taylor^ s  Proposition. 

Hence  the  first  stage  of  our  trial  terminates  itself 
with  as  eminent  a  confirmation  as  the  case  can  possibly 
admit  of,  touching  the  truth  of  John  Taylor's  proposi- 
tion or  statement ;  and  I  am  even  in  a  position  now  to 
add  the  absolute  weight  of  personal  examination,  as  well 
as  of  inquiries  carried  on  at  the  place  for  a  longer  time 
and  with  better  measuring  instruments  than  any  of  my 
predecessors  had  at  their  command.  I  was  not  indeed 
so  fortunate  as  Colonel  Howard- Vyse  in  finding  such 
large,  entire,  unmoved,  and  well-preserved  casing-stones 
as  he  did ;  but  was  enabled  to  prove  that  the  enormous 
rubbish  mounds  now  formed  on  each  of  the  four  base 
sides  of  the  Pyramid  consist  mainly  of  innumerable 
fragments  of  the  old  casing-stones,  distinguishable  both 
by  the  superior  quality  of  their  component  stone  and 

*  John  Taylor's  numbers  for  the  vertical  height  and  the  base-breadth 
of  the  Great  Pyramid  were  486  and  764  feet :  evidently  the  nearest  pos- 
sible approximation  by  whole  feet. 


1 1 


26  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

their  prepared  angle  of  slope  always  conformable,  within 
very  narrow  limits,  to  Colonel  Howard -Yyse's  determi- 
nation. And  a  number  of  these  almost  "  vocal "  frag- 
ments are  now  deposited  in  the  museum  of  the  Eoyal 
Society,  Edinburgh. 

Also,  by  careful  measures  of  the  angle  of  the  whole 
Pyramid  along  all  four  of  its  corner  or  "  arris  "  lines 
from  top  to  bottom,  observed  with  a  powerful  astrono- 
mical circle  and  telescope,  as  more  particularly  described 
in  my  larger  book,  "Life  and  Work  at  the  Great 
Pyramid,"  in  1865,  the  same  result  came  out.  For 
that  corner  angle  so  measured  (see  the  outer  triangle 
A  d^  6  in  Fig.  1,  Plate  II.,  and  compare  also  Figs.  1  and  2 
of  Plate  III.)  was  found  to  be  41°  59'  45''  nearly  :  and 
that  gives  by  computation,  according  to  the  necessary 
innate  relations  of  the  parts  of  a  square-based  pyramid, 
for  the  side  slope  of  this  "Great"  one,  51°  51'  and  some 
seconds  ;  or  without  any  doubt  the  representative  of  the 
angle  Colonel  Howard- Vyse  did  observe  on  the  side ; 
and  the  one  which,  if  it  is  there,  necessarily  makes  the 
Great  Pyramid  express  the  value  of  tt,  or  the  squaring 
of  the  circle,  whatever  the  absolute  linear  size  of  the 
whole  building  may  be. 

But  that  feature  of  linear  size  contains  other  pro- 
blems within  itself,  the  nature  of  whose  origination  is 
even  still  more  mysterious  than  this  one,  now  prac- 
tically solved,  touching  the  angle  of  rise  of  each  of  the 
four  inclined  sides  and  the  object  thereof. 


CHAP.m.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


CHAPTER  III. 

STANDAED  OF  LENGTH  EMPLOYED  IN  THE  GREAT 
PYRAMID. 

A  Foot  Standard  unsuitable  for  tt  on  the  Great  Pyramids 

Scale. 

TN  the  process  of  recomputing  Mr.  Taylor's  circum- 
-^  ferential  analogy  of  the  Great  Pyramid  on  p.  25,  after 
his  own  manner  by  linear  vertical  height  and  horizontal 
base-breadth,  the  quantities  which  we  employed*  were 
expressed  in  English  feet ;  but  it  does  not  therefore 
follow  that  they,  or  indeed  any  foot-measures,  were 
employed  by  the  ancient  builders. 

Certainly  the  length,  want  of  meaning,  and  incon- 
•venience  of  the  fractions  obliged  to  be  introduced  in 
order  to  represent  the  true,  or  tt,  proportion  of  the  one 
Pyramid  element  to  the  other,  in  these  particular,  abso- 
lute, linear  terms,  tend  to  forbid  the  idea.  No  doubt 
that  a  foot  is  something  of  a  natural  and  very  common 
measure,t  and  may  have  been  (I  do  not  say  that  it  was) 
extensively  used  in  Egypt  for  many  agricultural  and 
other  operations,  which,  if  lowly,  ''  are  innocent  and 
hurt  not ;"  but  still  there  is  good  reason  for  disputing 
whether   a    "foot"    was    ever   lifted   up    against    that 

♦  Viz.,  vertical  height  =  486*2566  feet,  and  length  of  one  side  of 
base  =  763-81  feet. 

t  The  natural  or  naked  foot  of  man  is  shorter,  say  about  10'6  in  place 
of  12  inches ;  but  the  practical  foot  of  civilized  man,  sandalled,  shoed,  or 
booted,  is  often  more  than  12  inches  long. 


28  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

grandest  building  of  all  antiquity,  the  Great  Pyramid, 
by  the  authors  thereof. 

If  then  a  foot-measure  was  not  likely,  and  the  pro- 
fane Egyptian  cubit  (whose  length  was  close  to  20*7 
British  inches)  gave  similarly  inconvenient  fractions,  what 
sort  of  standard  of  linear  measure  was  likely  to  have 
been  employed  at  the  building,  or  rather  by  the  builder 
or  architect  of  the  whole  design,  of  the  Great  Pyramid  ? 


What  Standard  would  suit  tt  on  the  Scale  of  the  Great 
Pyramid  ? 

As  a  first  step  in  such  an  inquiry,  let  us  see  whether 
an  equally  exact  proportion  between  linear  height  and 
twice  base-breadth,  to  what  our  long  fractions  of  feet 
gave,  cannot  be  obtained  from  some  simpler  numbers. 
Take,  for  instance,  116'5  :  366-0.  These  do  not  give 
the  value  of  tt  exact,  as  no  simple  numbers  can,  when 
the  proportion  itself  belongs  really  to  the  incommen- 
surables ;  but  it  is  an  astonishingly  close  approach,  and 
an  admirable  clearing  away  of  fractional  troubles  in  all 
approximate  work,  for  such  plain  and  small  numbers  to 
make  ;  and  the  exceedingly  trifling  fraction*  by  which 
the  one  should  be  increased,  or  the  other  decreased,  does 
not,  in  the  existing  state  of  our  pyramidal  knowledge, 
make  much  practical  difference  upon  most  of  the  ques- 
tions which  we  shall  have  presently  to  take  up. 

Are  there,  however,  any  other  reasons  than  such 
mere  convenience,  why  we  should  attach  any  significance, 
touching  importance  in  the  design  of  the  Great  Pyramid, 
to  these  particular  numbers  ? 

There  are  such  reasons. 

In  the  first  place,   366,  which   represents  here  (for 

*  Either  116-5014  :  366-0000,  or 

116-5000  :  365-9956,  would  be  closer, 
but  not  so  convenient  in  multiplication  and  division. 


Chap.  III.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  29 

our  arbitrary  diameter  of  a  circle  116'5)  the  tt  circum- 
ferential analogy  of  that  circle,  is  also  the  nearest  even 
number  of  days  in  a  year ;  or  more  precisely,  of  solar 
days  in  a  mean  tropical  solar  year  ;  or,  again,  of  day- 
steps  in  the  circle  of  a  year,  the  most  notable  and  im- 
portant of  all  circles  to  man. 

We  now  know,  by  modern  science,  that  the  exact 
number  of  these  day-steps  in  the  natural  year  is 
365*2422  +  an  almost  endless  fraction  of  unascertained 
length  ;  though  practically,  and  for  the  ordinary  pur- 
poses of  life,  all  civilised  nations  now  use  365  even  ; 
except  in  leap-year,  when  they  do,  evenly  also,  make 
their  year  to  consist  of  366  days. 

In  the  second  place  it  may  be  stated,  that  that  por- 
tion of  the  Pyramid  employed  as  the  chief  datum  of 
linear  measure  in  the  problem  under  discussion,  viz., 
the  length  of  each  side  of  its  square  base  as  determined 
by  the  "  socket "  measurements,  both  of  the  French 
savants  and  Colonel  Howard- Vyse,  when  it  comes  to  be 
divided  into  366  parts,  seems  to  give  each  of  them  a 
length  approaching  nearly  to  one  ten-millionth  of  the 
earth's  semi-axis  of  rotation,  or  close  upon  25  British 
inches.  Equivalent,  therefore,  if  further  and  indepen- 
dently proved,  to  the  architect  having  laid  out  the  size 
of  the  Great  Pyramid's  base  with  a  measuring-rod  25 
inches  long  in  his  hand  ;  and  in  his  head,  the  number 
of  days  and  parts  of  a  day  in  a  year ;  coupled  with  the 
intention  to  represent  that  number  of  days  in  terms  of 
that  rod  on  each  base  side  of  the  building. 


A  Day  and  Year  Standard  indicated,  with  Earth 
Commensur  ability. 

Now  this  is  a  feature,  in  all  sober  truth,  if  that 
quantity  of  length  was  really  used  intentionally  as  a 
standard  of  measure,  of  the  most  extraordinary  import- 


30  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

ance  ;  for  it  is  only  since  Newton's  time  that  men 
knew  anything  exact  about,  or  have  attributed  anything 
peculiar  in  its  size  to,  the  earth's  axis  of  rotation  as  dif- 
ferent from  any  other  diameter  thereof.  It  is,  therefore, 
to  man,  evidently  a  result  of  modern  science  alone  ;  and 
every  modern  civilised  nation  has,  during  the  present 
century,  been  obliged  to  perform  gigantic  trigonometrical 
operations  and  "  degree  measurings,"  in  order  to  arrive 
at  any  approach  to  accurate  knowledge  of  the  true 
length  of  that  earth-line,  or  rotation  axis  of  the  earth  ; 
and  they  are  still  pursuing  the  inquiry  with  most 
extensive  establishments  of  well-trained  surveyors  and 
scientific  calculators. 

Their  best  results  hitherto  oscillate  generally  about 
500,500,000  English  inches  within  very  narrow  limits, 
though  some  of  the  results  are  as  great  as  500,560,000, 
and  others  as  small  as  500,378,000. 

Such,  then,  are  the  ranges  of  uncertainty  in  which 
England,  France,  Germany,  America,  and  Russia  are 
placed  at  this  moment ;  and  yet  they  are  immensely 
closer  in  accord,  and  nearer  to  the  truth,  than  they 
were  only  fifty  years  ago  ;  while  1,000,  2,000,  or  3,000 
years  since,  even  the  most  scientific  of  men  knew  nothing 
but  what  was  childish  about  the  size  of  that  earth  on 
which  it  had  pleased  God  to  place  his  last  and  most 
wondrous  act  of  creation — man — to  dwell,  and  play  his 
part,  for  a  little  season. 

Is  it  possible,  then,  that  at  a  much  earlier  date  still 
than  3,000  years  ago,  or  on  the  occasion  of  the  founding 
of  the  Great  Pyramid  in  2170  B.C.,  the  author  of  the 
design  of  that  building  could  have  known  both  the  size 
and  shape  of  the  earth  exactly,  and  have  intentionally 
chosen  the  unique  diameter  of  its  axis  of  rotation  as  a 
reference  for  the  standard  of  measure  in  that  building  ? 

Humanly,  or  by  human  science  finding  it  out  then, 
and  in  that  age,  of  course  was  utterly  impossible.     But 


Chap.HT.]  the  great  pyramid,  31 

if  the  thing  was  inserted  there  in  fact — and  if  its  in- 
sertion be  not  owing  to  accident,  and  if  traces  of  the 
supernatural  are  attributable  only  to   God  and  to  his 
Divine  inspiration,  it  must  be  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able facts  that  occurred  at  the  beginning  of  the  post- 
diluvial career  of  man,  outside  of  Scripture  history;  ancf] 
stands  next  in  importance  to  Scripture  itself  for  man  to  L 
inquire  into,  as  to  how,  and  for  what  end,  it  was  allowed  I 
or  aided  by  the  Almighty  to  take  place.  J 


More  Rigid  Inquiry  into  the  Absolute  Length  of  the 
Base-side  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

The  first  thing,  therefore,  for  us  to  do  now,  is  to 
ascertain  if  the  alleged  fact  is  there  ;  or,  rather,  to  what 
degree  of  accuracy  it  is  there  ;  for  in  all  practical  work 
of  physical  science  and  nicety  of  measurement,  good 
scientific  men  know  that  nothing  whatever  can  be  as- 
certained absolutely,  but  only  within  certain  limits  of 
error ;  those  limits  becoming  smaller  as  observation 
improves,  but  never  entirely  vanishing. 

Is,  then,  the  ten-millionth  part  of  the  earth's  semi- 
axis  of  rotation,  or  2  5 '02  5  British  inches  (according  to 
the  estimate  of  the  axis  rotation  being  500,500,000 
British  inches  long),'^''"  multiplied  by  365 '242  (the  number 
of  solar  days  in  a  year),  the  true  length  of  a  side  of  the 
square  base  of  the  Great  Pyramid  ;  and  if  it  is  not,  by 
how  much  does  it  differ  ? 

The  above  theoretically  proposed  quantity  evidently 
amounts  to  9,140  British  inches,  nearly.  And  at  the  time 
of  the  first  edition  of  this  book  being  published,  the 
only  admissible,  because  the  only  socket-founded,  deter- 
minations of  the  base-side  lengths  that  I  was  acquainted 
with,  were,  1st,  the  French  one   (see  p.  21)  =  7G.3-62 

*  The  earth's  equatorial  diameter  is  about  602,226,000  British  inches 
long. 


32  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

English  feet  =  9 1 6  3  "44  British  inches ;  and,  2nd,  Colonel 
Howard-Yyse's,  of  764  English  feet  =  9,168  British 
inches  ;  and  both  of  them  are  too  large. 

This  error,  if  it  is  so,  did  not  affect  our  determination 
in  the  last  chapter  for  the  tt  shape  of  the  Great  Pyramid, 
because  we  computed  the  height  in  terms  of  this  same 
base-breadth  by  reference  to  an  angle  observed  quite 
independently.  But  now  we  require  to  know  more 
positively  whether  the  length  then  used  was  real  or 
figurative  only  ;  and  when  I  was  actually  at  the  Great 
Pyramid  in  1865,  Messrs.  Alton  and  Inglis,  engineers, 
succeeded  in  uncovering  all  four  of  the  Great  Pyramid's 
corner  sockets  (as  duly  detailed  in  my  book,  "  Life  and 
Work"),  and  then  proceeded  to  measure  from  socket 
to  socket  every  one  of  the  four  sides  of  the  base  :  and 
with  what  result  ?  They  made  them  all  shorter,  far 
shorter  than  both  the  French  and  the  Yyse  determina- 
tions, or  equal  only  to  9,110  British  inches  on  the  mean 
of  the  four  sides. 

Either  their  measures  then  must  have  been  very  bad 
and  too  short,  or  those  of  the  French  and  Colonel 
Howard-Yyse  were  bad  and  too  long.  I  inclined  to 
divide  the  errors  between  them  in  my  book;  ''  Life  and 
Work,"  published  in  1867  ;  and  in  1869,  when  the 
Koyal  Engineer  surveyors,  returning  from  the  Sinai 
survey,  went  (according  to  orders)  to  the  Great  Pyramid, 
and  announced,  through  their  colonel  at  home,  that 
the  mean  length  of  a  side  of  its  square  base,  from 
socket  to  socket,  was  9,180  British  inches,  my  idea  of 
even-handed  justice  seemed  to  be  in  part  confirmed.'"" 

*  The  Great  PjTamid's  base-side  length  was  recently  quoted  from 
Sir  H.  James  by  the  "Warden  of  the  Standards  in  Nature  as  9,120  Br. 
inches.  But  this  was  an  error;  for  on  page  7,  line  4  ab  imo,  Sir  H.  James 
(then  Col.,  now  Gen.),  E.E.,  states  distinctly  in  his  "Notes  on  the  Great 
Pyramid,"  that  "  the  mean  length  of  the  sides  obtained  by  the  Ordnance 
Surveyors  was  9,130  inches ;  "  and  it  is  only  when  he  goes  on  to  take  the 
mean  of  his  men's  9,130,  with  Aiton  and  Inglis's  9,110, — wholly  ex- 
cluding the  French  surveyors  and  Colonel  Howard- Vyse, — that  he 
announces  that  "9,120  inches  was  therefore  the  true  length  of  the  side 


Chap.  III.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  33 

But  as  there  are  internal  features  of  evidence  that 
none  of  the  measures,  not  even  the  last,  were  accurate 
enough  to  be  depended  on  to  the  third  place  of  figures 
(whether  measured  upon  only  one  side,  or  all  four  sides, 
of  the  base  considered  square  by  everybody),  all  men 
are  at  this  very  moment  left  by  the  last  pyramid 
base-side  measurers  of  modern  times  in  this  predica- 
ment— viz.,  the  theoretical  length  of  9,140  inches, 
which  would  imply  such  almost  unutterable  wisdom, 
or  such  inconceivably  happy  accident,  for  that  primeval 
time,  on  the  part  of  the  designer  of  the  Great 
Pyramid,  is  really  found  amongst,  or  as  though  it  were 
one  of,  the  best  results  of  modern  measure.  It 
is,  indeed,  notably  confirmed  by  them ;  or  may  be 
asserted  upon  and  by  means  of  them,  within  such 
limits  as  they  can  confirm  anything  ;  and  if  those 
limits  are  coarse,  that  coarseness  is  entirely  the  fault 
of  the  modern  measurers,  not  of  the  ancient  building ; 
which,  founded  on  a  rock  (and  an  admirably  firm  and 
nearly  unfissured  hill  of  dense  rock  of  nummulitic 
limestone,  in  nearly  horizontal  strata),  could  not  pos- 
sibly have  expanded  and  contracted  between  the  suc- 
cessive modern  dates  of  1799,  1887,  1865,  and  1869 
A.D.,  as  the  recent  measures  seem  at  first  to  imply.  The 
variations,  therefore,  first  from  9,163  to  9,168,  then 
to  9,110  and  then  to  9,180,  must  be  merely  the  pim 
and  minus  errors  of  the  modem  measurers  :  or  of  men 
intending  honestly  to  do  well  if  they  could,  but  erring 
involuntarily,  sometimes  to  one  side  and  sometimes  to 
the  other  of  exactitude. 


of  the  Great  Pyramid  when  it  stood  perfect."  The  reason  of  this  dis- 
honourable shelving  of  the  honourable  older  observers,  with  their  larger 
results,  is  shown  in  the  next  line,  where  the  Colonel  develops  his  absurdly 
mistaken  theory  of  the  much  later  Greek  cubit  having  decided  the  length 
of  the  early  Great  Pyramid  base-side,  and  requiring  such  a  length  as 
9,120  inches ;  of  which  more  anon. 


34  OUR  INHERITANCE    IN  [Part  I. 

T}i&  Earth-axis,  and  Year,  Commensurable  Result 
further  indicated. 

Of  course  better  measures  than  all  that  have  been  yet 
taken  might  be  made,  and  should  be  instituted  forth- 
with, to  clear  up  so  notable  a  point  in  the  primeval 
history  of  man  ;  but  the  expense  to  be  incurred  in  the 
preliminary  clearing  of  the  ground  to  allow  of  accurate 
measuring  apparatus  being  brought  to  bear,  is  beyond 
the  means  of  any  ordinary  poor  scientific  man  ;  and 
the  Great  Pyramid  is  not  a  favourite  subject  either  with 
rich  men  or  the  wealthy  governments  of  wealthy  nations : 
while  the  invaluable  corner  sockets,  never  properly 
covered  up  since  1865,  are  daily  being  trodden  and 
broken  down  at  their  edges  out  of  shape  and  out  of  size  ; 
so  that  we  are  not  likely  to  see  sj)eedily,  if  ever,  any 
better  measures  of  the  base-side  length  than  those 
already  obtained. 

But  as  they,  when  considered  by  any  computer  fully, 
honestly  and  fairly,  do  include  the  theoretical  9,140 
British  inches,  we  are  already  justified  so  far  (and  we 
shall  have  in  a  future  chapter  signal  confirmation  from 
the  interior  of  the  Pyramid),  in  upholding  the  high 
degree  of  probability  that  the  reason  why  the  Great 
Pyramid  (made  already  of  a  particular  shape  to  enun- 
ciate the  value  of  the  mathematical  term  tt)  had  also 
been  made  of  a  particular  size,  was, — in  part,  to  set  forth 
the  essence  of  chronology  for  man  in  chronicling  all  his 
works  upon  this  earth.  For  evidently  this  was  accom- 
plished there,  by  showing  that  the  number  of  times  that 
the  Pyramid's  standard  of  linear  measure  would  go  into 
the  length  of  a  side  of  its  square  base,  was  equal  to  the 
number  of  days,  and  parts  of  a  day,  in  the  course  of 
a  year.  That  standard  of  linear  measure  being,  more- 
over, with  a  marvellously  complete  appropriateness,  the 
ten-millionth  of  the  length  of  the  earth's  semi-axis  of 


Chap.  IIL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  35 

rotation  :  or  of  half  of  that  axis,  by  the  earth's  rotating 
upon  which  before  the  sun,  that  particular  number  of 
days  for  work  and  nights  for  rest  is  constantly  being 
produced  for  all  humanity  in  the  course  of  the  earth's 
annual  revolution  around  the  sun. 

Hence  there  is  here  wheel  within  wheel  of  appro- 
priate and  wise  meaning,  far  above  any  mere  single  case 
of  simple  coincidence  of  numbers ;  and  which  implies 
something  beyond  mechanical  accident  on  the  part  of 
the  ancient  architect,  though  our  own  modern  Egyptolo- 
gists and  the  ancient  Egyptians  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
pagan  world  too,  saw  nothing  of  it.  The  afGair  was 
open,  because  it  was  on  the  surface,  during  all  antiquity, 
and  especially  open  during  the  days  of  the  Greek 
philosophers  in  Alexandria,  when  the  Great  Pyramid 
was  still  complete  in  size  and  finish,  with  its  bevelled 
casing-stones  forming  the  then  outside  finished  surface 
of  the  whole ;  and  any  of  those  learned  men,  by  merely 
dividing  the  Pyramid's  base-side  length  by  the  number 
of  days  in  a  year,  might  have  acquired  to  themselves 
the  most  valuable  scientific  standard  of  length  contained 
in  the  whole  physical  earth  ;  but  none  of  them  did  so. 

Beginning  of  Reference  to  the  Great  Pyramid's  Numbers. 

And  the  affair  grows  in  wonder  the  further  we  inquire 
into  it.  For  Mr.  Taylor,  led  by  the  numbers  of  British 
inches  which  measure  the  earth's  polar-axis  length, — 
and  other  men,  also  led  by  the  dominance  of  fives  in  the 
Pyramid's  construction  (as  that  it  has  five  angles  and 
five  sides,  including  the  lower  plane  of  the  base  mathe- 
matically as  one) — ventured  the  suggestion,  that  the 
author  of  the  Great  Pyramid's  design  both  had,  and  used, 
as  his  smaller  unit  of  measure,  an  inch.  An  inch,  though, 
larger  than  a  British  inch  by  a  thousandth  part,  i  e. 
about  half  a  hair's-breadth  ;  an  apparently  unimportant 


36  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

quantity,  and  yet  it  is  that  which  enables  the  round, 
and  at  the  same  time  grand,  Pyramid  number  of  jive 
hundred  millions  of  them,  even,  to  measure  the  length 
of  the  earth's  polar  diameter  with  exactitude. 

With  these  inches,  the  day  standard  of  linear  measure 
for  the  side  of  the  base  of  the  Great  Pyramid  is  5  x  5, 
or  just  25  of  them ;  and  that  length,  while  it  will  be 
shown  presently  to  be  fully  deserving  of  the  appella- 
tion, amongst  all  Christians,  of  "  Sacred  Cubit,"  we  will 
in  the  meanwhile  only  call  the  cubit  of  the  Great 
Pyramid's  scientific  design.  Next,  as  there  are  four 
sides  to  the  Pyramid's  base,  the  united  length  of  all  of 
them  evidently  equals  36,524  Pyramid  inches;  or,  at 
the  rate  of  a  round  hundred  inches  to  a  day,  the  whole 
perimeter  of  the  building  (already  shown  to  represent 
the  theoretical  tt  circle)  is  here  found  to  symbolise  once 
again,  in  day  lengths,  the  practical  circle  of  the  year, 
so  essential  to  the  life  and  labours  of  man. 

Now  is  it  not  most  strange, — or  rather  is,  it  not 
ominously  significant,  that  the  ancient  profane  cubit  of 
idolatrous  Egypt,  20*7  British  inches  long  nearly,  if 
applied  either  to  the  Great  Pyramid's  base-side,  or  base- 
diagonals,  or  vertical  height,  or  axis  lines,  or  any  other 
known  radical  length  of  the  building,  brings  out  no 
notable  physical  fact,  no  mathematical  truth.  While 
the  other  length  of  25*025  British  inches  (which  the 
profane  Egyptians,  and  the  Jupiter  and  Juno  and  Yenus 
w^orshipping  Greeks,  when  in  Egypt,  knew  nothing  of) 
brings  out  in  this  and  other  cases  so  many  important 
coincidences  with  nature,  as  makes  the  ancient  monu- 
tnent  speak  both  intelligibly  and  most  intellectually  to 
the  scientific  understanding  of  the  present  day. 

Why,  it  seems  almost  to  imply, — so  far  as  the  close- 
ness of  a  25  British  inch  length,  to  being  the  key  for 
opening  this  part  of  the  design  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  is 
concerned, — that  there  was  more  of  intercommunication 


Chap.  III.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  37 

in  idea  and  knowledge  between  the  architect  of  the 
Great  Pyramid,  and  the  origines  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race 
(whose  national  unit  of  linear  measure  the  inch  more 
especially  is)  than  between  the  said  architect  or  designer 
of  the  one  Great  Pyramid  in  Egypt,  and  all  the  native 
Egypti^in  people  of  all  the  ancient  ages,  with  their  in- 
variable 20-7  inch  cubit,  which  explains  nothing,  ex- 
cept their  early  connection  wdth  Babylon  ;  and  they, 
the  holders  of  it,  idolaters  worse  than  those  of  Babel, 
and  Cainite  religious  professors  every  one  of  them. 

The  Great  Pyramid's  Linear  Standard  contrasted  tuith 
the  French  Metre. 

We  have  thus  arrived  by  a  comparatively  short  and 
easy  path,  at  the  same  chief  result  touching  the  Great 
Pyramid's  standards  and  units  of  linear  measure,  and 
a  probability  of  -whence  the  British  inch  was  derived 
in  primeval  days  of  purity  and  patriarchal  worship 
before  idolatry  began, — which  Mr.  Taylor  equally  ob- 
tained, but  by  a  more  circuitous  process ;  and  what  a 
result  it  is,  in  whatever  point  of  view  we  look  upon  it, 
or  by  whatever  road  we  have  attained  to  it ! 

The  nations  of  the  world  three  thousand  years  ago,  of 
their  own  selves  and  by  their  own  knowledge,  cared  little 
about  their  national  measures,  and  knew  nothing  but 
what  was  childish  with  regard  to  the  size  of  the  earth  ; 
so  that  all  our  present  exact  acquaintance  with  it  is 
confined  within  the  history  of  the  last  hundred  years. 
The  great  attempt  of  the  French  people  in  their  first 
Ilevolution  to  abolish  alike,  the  Christian  religion,  and 
the  hereditary  w^eights  and  measures  of  all  nations, 
and  to  replace  the  former  by  a  worship  of  philosophy, 
and  the  latter  by  their  "  metre,"  "  French  metre," 
scheme  depending  in  a  certain  manner  of  their  own 
upon  the  magnitude  of  the  earth,  as  well  as  to  substi- 


> 


38  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

tute  the  week  of  seven  days  by  an  artificial  period  of 
ten  days, — is  only  eighty  years  old.  And  how  did  they, 
the  French  philosophers,  endeavour  to  carry  out  the 
metrological  part  of  their  scheme  ?  By  assuming  as 
their  unit  and  standard  of  length,  the  1-1 0,000,000th 
of  a  "  quadrant  of  the  earth's  surface  V  Well  may  we 
ask  with  surprise  if  that  was  all  that  science,  trusting  in 
itself,  was  able  to  do  for  them.  For  the  grasp  and 
understanding  of  the  subject,  that  took  a  curved  line 
drawn  on  the  earth's  surface  in  place  of  the  straight 
axis  of  rotation,  was  truly  inferior  in  the  extreme.  Sir 
John  Herschel  has  well  said,  but  only  after  John 
Taylor  s  statement  about  the  Pyramid  had  lighted  up 
his  mind  with  the  exquisite  thought,  of  how  near  after 
all  the  British  hereditary  inch  is  to  an  integral  earth- 
measure,  and  the  best  earth-measure  that  he  had  ever 
heard  of, — Sir  John  Herschel,  I  repeat,  has  said,  "  So 
long  as  the  human  mind  continues  to  be  human,  and 
retains  a  power  of  geometry,  so  long  will  the  diameter 
be  thought  of  more  primary  importance  than  the  cir- 
cumference of  a  circle ;"  and  when  we  come  to  a  sphere, 
and  in  motion,  the  axis  of  its  dynamical  labour  should 
hold  a  vastly  superior  importance  still. 

Again,  the  French  philosophers  of  eighty  years  ago, 

in  fixing  on  a  Meridional  quadrant  of  surface  for  their 

metre's  derivation,   had  no  idea  that  within   the   last 

f    three  years  the  progress  of  geodesy  would  have  shown 

ithat  the  earth's  equator  was  not  a  circle,  but  a  rather 
irregular  curvilinear  figure,*  perhaps  ellipsoidal  on  the 
whole,  so  that  it  has  many  different  lengths  of  equa- 
I  torial  axes,  and  therefore  also  different  lengths  of  qua- 
I  drants  of  the  Meridian  in  different  longitudes.  Tliey,  the 
'   savants  of  Paris,  could  not  indeed  foresee  these  things 

*  See  M.  de  SchuT>ert  in  "Transactions  of  Imp.  Acad,  of  St.  Peters- 
burg;" and  Sir  G.  B.  Airy,  Astr.  R.,  in  "Monthly  Notices  of  Eoyal 
Astron.  Soc." 


Chap.  TIL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  39 

of  the  present  day,  or  a  state  of  geodesic  science 
beyond  them ;  and  yet  these  things  were  all  taken  into 
account,  or  provided  for,  or  certainly  not  sinned  against, 
by  the  mind  that  directed  the  building  of  the  Great 
Pyramid  4,040  years  ago  ;  and  the  reference  for  the 
grand  unit,  the  10^*^  or  ten-millionth,  part  of  the 
earth's  polar  semi-axis,  then  adopted,  is  now  shown  to 
be  the  only  sound  and  scientific  one  which  the  earth 
possesses. 

Through  those  long  mediaeval  periods,  too,  of  dark- 
ness, confusion,  and  war,  when  our  nation  thought  of 
no  such  things  as  mathematics,  geodesy,  and  linear 
standards,  the  same  master-mind  likewise  prevented  our 
hereditary,  and  quasi  Pyramid,  unit  of  measure^  the 
inch,  from  losing  more  than  the  thousandth  part  of 
itself;  for  this  is  the  result,  if  it  turns  out  as  John 
Taylor  believed — and  as  he  was  the  first  of  men  in  these 
latter  days  both  to  believe  and  to  publish  his  belief — 
that  the  Great  Pyramid  is  the  one  necessarily-material 
centre  from  which  those  practical  things,  weights  and 
measures,  in  a  primeval  age,  somewhere  between  the 
time  of  Noah  and  Abraham,  take  whatever  chronology 
you  will,  were  Divinely  distributed  to  certain  peoples  and 
tonp^ues  ;  and  carried  with  the  utmost  care  from  land 
to  land,  for  special  purposes  of  some  grand  future  manH 
festation,  which  is  yet  to  make  its  appearance  on  they 
stage  of  human  history. 


40  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FIGUKE    OF    THE    EAETH,    AND    THE    SUN-DISTANCE. 

John  Taylor  s  Earth  and  Pyramid  Analogies. 

TTAYING  established  tlius  mucli,  and  to  this  degree 
-LL  of  approximation,  as  to  shape,  size,  and  linear 
standard  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  it  may  now  be  worth 
our  while  to  bestow  some  special  attention  on  two  other 
analogies  between  that  building  and  the  earth,  published 
by  John  Taylor ;  and  which,  on  being  examined  soon 
afterwards  by  Sir  John  Herschel,'""  were  honourably  de- 
clared by  him  to  be,  so  far  as  he  then  knew,  the  only 
good  relations  between  the  size  of  the  earth  and  the  size 
of  the  Pyramid  which  had  up  to  that  date  been 
successfully  made  out  ;  though  at  the  same  time  he 
expressed  his  belief  that  they  were  only  approximate. 

A  most  useful  caution ;  and  keeping  it  fully  in  view, 
let  us  test  them  over  again  and  in  the  terms  of  those 
pyramidal  units  and  standards  which  we  ourselves  have 
now  obtained ;  for  inasmuch  as  they  allow  us  to  speak 
of  the  Great  Pyramid  in  the  very  primal  measures  appa- 
rently employed  by  its  architect  in  planning  the  design, 
we  may  thereby  be  enabled  to  put  his  work  to  a  stricter 
and  more  direct  test. 

The  first  of  these  two  analogies  by  Mr.   Taylor  is, 

*  Athemeum,  April,  1860  ;  and  Mr.  Taylor's  "  Battle  of  the  Standards," 
1864.  See  the  Appendix  to  the  Second  Edition  of  his  "  Great  Pyramid." 
Longmans  &  Co. 


Chap.  IV.]    '        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  41 

when  put  into  the  form  subsequently  chosen  by  Sir 
John  Herschel,  "a  band  encircling  the  earth,  of  the 
breadth  of  the  base  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  contains  one 
hundred  thousand  million  square  feet."  The  built  size, 
in  fact,  of  the  Great  Pyramid  is  here  stated  to  bear 
such  a  remarkably  round  and  even  number,  as  its 
proportion  to  the  created  size  of  the  natural  earth,  at 
the  epoch  of  its  human  habitation,  that  an  argument  for 
intention  rather  than  accident  may  spring  therefrom,  if 
it  hold  closely  in  fact. 

The  feet  to  be  used  on  such  an  occasion,  can  hardly 
be  any  other  than  pyramid  feet,  or  1 2  pyramid  inches 
set  in  a  line  ;  and  the  part  of  the  earth  for  the  colossal 
band  to  encircle,  what  should  that  be  ? 

Though  it  is  allowable  enough,  and  very  useful  too 
in  approximate  work,  to  speak  of  the  earth  as  a  globe, 
or  sphere,  whose  every  great  circle,  or  section  through 
its  centre,  will  have  the  same  length  of  circumference, 
we  cannot  so  do,  or  content  ourselves  therewith,  either 
in  accurate  modern  science  on  one  side,  or  in  any 
advanced  stage  of  pyramid  investigation  on  the  other ; 
especially  when  some  of  our  earliest  discoveries  there, 
indicated  that  its  design  discriminated  between  the  axis 
of  rotation  diameter,  and  any  and  every  other  possible 
diameter  through  the  really  spheroidal,  or  ellipsoidal,  or 
chiefly  flattened-at-the-poles  figure,  of  the  great  mass  of 
the  earth. 

Let  us  come  to  some  very  clear  conclusion  then  on 
the  size  and  sjiape  of  the  earth,  in  pyramid  units  of 
measure  too,  before  we  attempt  the  solution  of  any 
further  problem  supposed  to  connect  the  two. 


Of  (lie  Length  of  tJte  Eartlis  Polar  Axis. 

Expressed  in  pyramid  inches  (each  of  them  O'OOl 
of  an  inch  longer  than  the  national  British  inch)  the 


42  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN     *      [Pam  I. 

polar  diameter,  or  axis  of  rotation  of  the  earth,  has  been 
stated  by  different  observers  of  the  best  modern  schools 
of  the  present  time  to  be  either  (see  p.  30)  499,878,000 
or  500,060,000  pj^amid  inches  in  length,  or  any  and 
almost  every  quantity  between  those  limits.  They  can- 
not, in  fact,  be  determined  much  closer  by  the  best 
measures  of  the  best  men  and  the  most  powerful  govern- 
ments of  civilised  nations  in  the  present  day  ;  and 
although  one  office  or  nation  publishes  its  results  to 
an  arithmetical  refinement  of  nine  places  of  figures,  it 
cannot  convince  any  other  office  or  nation  of  its  cor- 
rectness beyond  the  three  first  places  of  figures.  Some 
of  them  may  agree  to  four  places,  few  or  none  of  them 
to  five  or  six  or  more  places.  Therefore  in  this  case  and 
all  other  similar  ones  throughout  this  book,  I  shall  try  to 
simplify  all  numerical  statements  of  measures  by  not 
putting  them  down  to  more  places  of  significant  num- 
bers than  they  can  be  nearly  depended  on  to.  Hence 
the  000  with  which  the  above  statements  terminate  are 
merely  to  give  the  proper  value  to  the  preceding  figures, 
and  not  to  indicate  that  any  one  man's  measures  of  the 
earth  gave  forth  an  even  number  of  inches  in  tens, 
hundreds,  or  thousands. 

"  But  why  do  they  not  ascertain  Avhat  the  length  of 
the  earth's  axis  is,  and  state  it  exact  ?  "  may  ask  many 
a  reader,  not  directly  experienced  in  practical  scientific 
measurement.  Well,  by  all  means  let  any  and  every 
such  reader  ask,  and  ask  again  that  question  in  the 
proper  quarter.  Let  them  ask,  for  instance,  at  the 
Ordnance  Survey  Office  in  Southampton,  or  from  the 
Trigonometrical  Survey  of  India,  where  generations  after 
generations  of  Engineer  officers  have  been  taken  away 
from  their  proper  military  duties,  and  kept  at  nothing 
but  observations  and  calculations  to  get  at  the  size  and 
shape  of  the  earth  all  their  lives  long.  They  have 
lived  and  died  at  that  employment  alone,  and  are  still 


Chap.  IV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  43 

succeeded  at  the  task  'by  others,  and  yet  it  is  not  com- 
pleted. In  fact,  the  expense  of  the  methods  and  the 
men  employed,  is  increasing  every  day.  And  not  in  our 
country  alone,  but  in  every  state  on  the  Continent,  is 
similar  work  going  on,  and  with  less  chance  than  ever 
of  one  exact,  absolute,  and  universally  admitted  con- 
clusion being  ever  arrived  at. 

Neither  is  this  any  fault  of  those  individuals  ;  it  is 
the  nature  of  human  science,  because  it  is  human  and 
not  divine.  Human  practical  science  can  only  go  on  by 
approximations,  and  can  never  reach  anything  more 
than  approximations,  though  it  work  at  one  and  the 
same  simple  subject  for  ages.  And  though  the  subject 
itself  in  nature  and  to  the  eye  of  its  Creator  is  abso- 
lutely simple,  human  science  makes  it  so  complicated 
and  difficult  as  it  advances  with  its  successive  approxi- 
mations, that  the  matter  is  crushed  in  the  end  by  its  own 
weight,  and  at  last  falls  out  of  the  range  of  all  ordinary 
men  to  deal  with,  or  even  to  be  interested  in. 

Not  only,  too,  do  the  experts  of  two  different  coun- 
tries produce  'different  measured  results  for  the  size  of 
one  and  the  same  earth's  axis  of  rotation,  but  they 
produce  different  results  in  computing  the  same  ob- 
servations ;  until  even  one  and  the  same  computer  will 
produce  varying  quantities  out  of  the  same  data  by 
different  methods  of  computation,  the  absolute  cor- 
rectness of  any  of  which  he  does  not  pretend  to . 
guarantee,  though  he  can  say  a  great  deal  for  them  all, 
in  the  present  advanced  state  of  the  science. 


Latest  Determination  of  the  Earth's  Polar  Axis. 

A  good  example  of  this  condition  of  our  best  know- 
ledge of  the  earth's  size  was  given  by  a  volume 
published  by  the  Ordnance  Survey  in  186 G.     It  con- 


44  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

tained  some  splendid  computations  by  Colonel  Clarke, 
K.E.,  the  chief  mathematician  of  the  establishment,  and 
gave  perhaps  the  most  highly  advanced  results  of  all 
earth  surveys  then  made  by  any  and  every  nation. 
Yet  he  presents  his  final  results  in  two  different  shapes, 
and  by  one  of  them  makes  the  polar  axis  of  the  earth 
(reduced  here  from  British  into  pyramid  inches)  to 
measure  by  one  mode  of  computation  499,982,000,  and 
by  another  500,022,000;  leaving  the  reader  to  choose 
which  he  likes,  or  any  mean  between  the  two. 

This  was,  in  its  day,  a  great  advance  upon  everything 
before  it ;  but  now,  in  place  of  being  contented  with 
either  one  or  other  or  both  those  results,  all  Eurojoean 
countries  are  engaged  on  further  measurements  of  the 
earth ;  which  measurements,  after  the  consumption  of 
more  millions  of  money,  may  enable  the  parties  con- 
cerned, in  the  course  of  the  next  century  or  two,  to 
amend  the  above  numbers  by  some  very  small  propor- 
tional part  ;  but  which  way,  there  is  no  saying. 

In  a  work  entitled  ''  The  Metric  System,"  by  Presi- 
dent Barnard,  of  Columbia  College,  New  York,  1872, 
that  able  analytical  mathematician  and  forcible  writer, 
at  pages  94  to  105,  sets  forth  admirably,  and  in  plain 
words,  the  inconceivable  practical  difficulties  which 
small  irregularities  in  the  earth's  figure  throw  in  the 
way  of  modern  science  determining  the  size  and  shape 
of  the  whole  earth.  And,  wonderfully  extensive,  as  well 
as  dreadfully  expensive,  as  have  been  the  geodesic 
operations  of  all  nations,  taken  together,  during  the  last 
hundred  years,  he  considers  that  all  their  resulting 
data,  expressed  by  him  shortly  as  "40  Latitudes," 
must  eventually  be  increased  to  not  less  than  4,000, 
before  the  materials  for  computing  the  earth's  size  will 
be  worthily  ready  for  the  mathematicians  to  begin  their 
unwieldy,  unenviable,  and  humanly  almost  impossible, 
discussions  upon. 


Chap.  IV.] 


THE  GREAT  PYRAMID, 


45 


Equatorial  and  other  Diameters  of  the  Earth. 

Meanwhile  we  have  already  assumed  as  the  polar- 
axis  length  for  computation  in  the  pyramid  comparisons, 
500,000,000  pyramid  inches  ;  and  that  being  a  quantity 
which  this  recent  Ordnance  publication  may,  and  to  a 
certain  extent  does,  largely  confirm,  but  cannot  over- 
throw, let  us  hasten  on  to  an  equally  close  knowledge  of 
what  the  other  diameters  of  the  earth  may  measure. 

These  parts  depend  partly  on  what  amount  of  elliptical 
compression  the  computers  assume,  as  either  -^^^  -g--^,  ^\q, 
or  anything  else ;  and  partly  what  shape  they  assign 
to  the  section  of  the  earth 'at  the  equator  where  a 
species  of  transverse  elliptical  compression  is  assigned 
(not  absolutely,  but  only  with  a  certain  slightly  different 
degree  of  probability  that  it  is  so,  rather  than  not)  by 
the  Ordnance  book ;  to  an  extent  that  makes  one  of  the 
equatorial  diameters  150,000  pyramid  inches  longer 
than  another. 

Without  then  attempting  to  decide  any  one's  correct- 
ness, I  have  represented  these  extremes  in  the  accom- 
panying table,  and  placed  between  them  the  very  set  of 
earth  measures  which  I  had  computed  as  'probably  nearest 
the  truth  in  the  first  edition  of  "  Our  Inheritance  in  the 
Great  Pyramid." 

Tablb  of  Earth's  Size  in  Pyb,a.mid  Inches. 


Parts  of  the  Earth 
referred  to. 


Polar  Diameter 
Diameter  in  Lat.  60 . 

n  ,,          45 . 

30. 

„  Equator 


Result  with 
Clarke's  smallest 
eqiiatoriol  diam. 


500,0(>0,000 
500,396,000 
500,792,000 
501,186,000 
601,577,000 


Result  adopted 
in  "  Our  Inherit- 
ance."   rirst^ 
edition,  1804. 


500,000,000 
500,420,000 
600.840,000 
50i;2o7,000 
601,672,000 


Result  with 
Clarke's  hii  g-est 
equatorial  diam. 


600,000,000 
600,435,000 
500,869,000 
501,301,000 
601,730,000 


46  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

John  Taylors  First  Analogy. 

With  these  data  at  our  command  let  us  return  to  the 
Taylor-Herschel  Pyramid  analogy,  which  asserts  that  "  a 
band  of  the  width  of  the  Great  Pyrariiid's  base-breadth 
encircling  the  earth,  contains  100,000,000,000  square 
feet." 

An  equatorial  band  is  the  only  one  which  could 
encircle  the  earth  in  a  great  circle,  and  at  the  same 
time  in  one  and  the  same  parallel  of  latitude  ;  we  pro- 
ceed therefore  thus :  from  the  equatorial  diameters 
given  above,  we  compute  the  equatorial  circumferences 
by  multiplying  them  by  that  almost  magic  number  to 
work  calculations  with,  the  tt  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  or 
3*14159,  &c.  Reduce  them  to  pyramid  feet  by  dividing 
by  12,  and  next  multiply  by  the  already  determined 
pyramid  base-breadth  in  Pyramid  feet,  viz.,  760-922  ; 
the  following  results  then  come  out,  viz.  : — 

They  all  give  smaller  figures  than  the  required 
100,000,000,000;  for  the  smaller  equatorial  diameter 
gives  99,919,000,000,  and  the  largest  equatorial  dia- 
meter gives  99,949,000,000. 

Not  absolutely  true,  therefore,  with  any  allowable 
equatorial  diameter,  to  the  first  three  places.  An  inter- 
esting approximation  therefore,  but,  as  Sir  John  Herschel 
truly  remarked,  only  an  approximation.  Let  us  pass 
on,  therefore,  to  the  next  analogy. 

John  Taylors  Second  Analogy. 

The  height  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  says  Mr.  Taylor,  is 
the  -2-7-070-00  th  part  of  the  circumference  of  the  earth. 

But  why  ^-7-o!o-o  (rth  ?  That  is  not  any  known  pyramid 
number,  like  the  5's,  and  lO's,  and  4-s  of  its  practical 
construction,  or  the  tendency  to  the  marked  tt  numbers 
3  and  7   of  its  shape ;  and  the  only  approach  to  a 


Chap.  IV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  47 

reason  which  I  have  been  able  to  discover  is  the 
following  : — The  squaring  of  the  "  circle  "  in  every  way 
is  a  continual  problem  throughout  the  Great  Pyramid ; 
and  if  the  area  of  its  base  be  computed  in  hundredths 
of  feet,  the  length  of  the  circumference  of  a  circle 
containing  an  equal  area  will  be  269,740*,  not  270,000', 
of  the  same  terms. 

Hence  the  number  270,000  is  not  quite  accurate  to 
begin  with ;  and  if  we  multiply  that  by  the  Pyramid's 
height  in  inches,  and  divide  by  tt,  we  have  what  should 
be  a  mean  diameter  of  the  whole  earth  in  some  great 
circle  ;  but  the  result  comes  out  only  499,590,000  ; 
which  number  a  glance  at  the  previous  table  will  show 
is  too  small  for  all  its  data  ;  i.e.  not  fully  true  when  the 
third  place  of  numbers  is  reached. 

Hence  both  of  these  analogies  may  have  been  useful 
in  approximately  leading  an  inquirer  to  a  first  cosmical 
foundation,  or  reason,  for  the  Great  Pyramid's  size  ;  but 
they  cannot  take  the  place  of  that  other  relation  esta- 
blished on  pages  31  and  34,  between  the  length  of  the 
Great  Pyramid's  base  side  in  2  5 -inch  cubits,  or  its  whole 
perimeter  in  standards  of  100  Pyramid  inches  each,  and 
the  number  of  days  in  a  year. 

For  that  relation  is  apparently  true  to  the  fifth  place 
of  numbers  at  least  ;  and,  besides  that,  is  backed  by  a 
cosmical  relation  with  good  reason  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance to  men  ;  and  to  the  Pyramid  too  as  an  anthro- 
pological monument,  and  in  so  far  as  its  design  7}iay\ 
contain    a   message    from    Heaven    to    man,    touching  v 
closely  on  his  personal  welfare  and  future  social  and  I 
governmental  condition  upon  this  earth.  ^^ 

*  Even  one  simple  arithmetical  coincidence  is  not  so  frequently  met  with 
as  some  persons  imagine.  For  whereas  in  1869  one  of  the  Ordnance 
officers  attempted  to  turn  the  pyramid  cubit  into  ridicule  as  an  earth 
meisure, — "  Because,"  said  he,  "  the  British  foot  is  as  closely  com- 
mensurable a  measure  of  an  equatorial  degree  of  longitude,  in  terms  of 
the  year  and  its  days  too,  as  the  pyramid  cubit  of  the  earth's  polar  semi- 
axis  ;  and  we  know  that  that  relation  of  the  modern  British  foot  must  be 


48  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

Grander  Pyramid  and  Solar  Analogy. 

Yet  however  valuable  these  last  two  basal  cum  annual 
analogies  may  be,  they  only  hold  their  position  at  all 
by  means  of  the  base-breadth  being  measured  on  each 
occasion  in  one  particular  linear  standard,  and  no  other. 
They  are  neither  of  them,  therefore,  that  grander  relation 
between  the  Pyramid  as  a  whole,  and  something  either 
in  the  heavens  above  or  the  earth  beneath,  quite  inde- 
pendent of  the  terms  of  measure,  which  mankind  had 
been  long  hungering  and  thirsting  for ;  but  which  was 
;jnly  at  last  obtained  by  my  friend  William  Petrie,  C.E., 
when  studying  the  mensurations  in  "  Life  and  Work," 
in  October,  1867. 

He  then  remarked,  and  naturally  enough,  that  the 
circle  typified  by  the  base  of  the  Great  Pyramid  has 
already  been  proved  to  symbolise  a  year,  or  the  earth's 
annual  revolution  around  the  sun ;  and  the  radius  of 
that  typical  circle  had  also  been  shown  to  be  the  ancient 
vertical  height  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  the  most  important 
and  unique  line  which  can  be  drawn  within  the  whole 
edifice. 

Then  that  line,  said  he  further,  must  represent  also 
the  radius  of  the  earth's  mean  orbit  round  the  sun  ; 
and  in  the  proportion  of  10^  or  1  to  1,000,000,000  ; 
because,  amongst  other  reasons,  10:9  is  practically  the 
shape  of  the  Great  Pyramid.  For  this  building  notwith- 
standing, or  rather  by  virtue  of,  its  tt  angle  at  the  sides, 
has  practically  and  necessarily  such  another  angle  at  the 
corners, — see  Figs.   1  and  2,  in  Plate  III., — that  for 

purely  accidental  " — yet  when  I  came  to  test  the  assertion  hy  calculating 
the  matter  out,  I  found  that  the  officer  had  taken  Colonel  Clarke's  maxi- 
mum equatorial  radius  on  the  ellipsoidal  theory,  had  used  it  as  though  it 
had  been  the  mean  radius,  and  did  not  get  the  full  number  he  required  for 
his  assertions  even  then.  So  that  his  number,  instead  of  coming  out  to 
365,242-,  only  reached  365,234-,  but  had  no  right  to  be  quoted  higher 
than  365,183-;  and  there  all  the  scoffer's  reasoning  and  analogy  ended, 
-while  the  Pyramid's  continued  to  go  forward  to  greater  things. 


Chap.IV.J  the  great  pyramid.  49 

every  Un  units  its  structure  advances  inward  on  the 
diagonal  of  the  base,  it  practically  rises  upwards,  or  points 
to  sunshine,  by  nine.  Nine  too,  out  of  the  ten  charac- 
teristic parts  (viz.,  five  angles  and  five  sides),  being  the 
number  of  those  parts  which  the  sun  shines  on  in  such 
a  shaped  pja-amid,  in  such  a  latitude  near  the  equator, 
out  of  a  high  sky ;  or,  as  the  Peruvians  sa}^,  when  the 
sun  sets  on  the  Pyramid  with  all  his  rays.'"" 


TF.  Petries  Pyramid  Sun-distant  j. 

To  computation  Mr.  Petrie  instantly  proceeded,  reduc- 
ing the  5,813  pyramid  inches  of  the  Pyramid's  height 
to  British  inches,  multiplying  them  by  10^,  and  reducing 
those  inches  to  miles, — when  he  Avorked  out  the  quantity 
91,840,000.  Alas!  sighed  he,  the  analogy  does  not 
hold  even  in  the  second  place  of  figures,  for  the  real 
sun-distance  by  modern  astronomy  has  been  held  during 
the  last  half  century  to  be  95,233,055  miles.t 

So  he  threw  his  papers  on  one  side  and  attended  to 
other  matters  ;  until  one  fine  morning  he  (a  man  then 
almost  wholly  occupied  with  chemical  engineering) 
chanced  to  hear,  that  although  the  above  number,  ninety- 
five  milHons  odd,  had  been  held  to  for  so  long  by  all  the 
modern  world,  mainly  because  it  had  been  produced  by 

♦  Tliis  10  :  9  shape  of  the  Great  Pyramid  was  independently  discovered 
soon  afterward  by  Sir  Henry  James  and  Mr.  O'Farrell,  of  tlio  Ordnance 
Survey  Office  ;  and  it  is  interesting  to  notice  that  the  side  anpfle  com- 
puted from  it  amounts  to  51°  50'  39  ""l  ;  the  ir  angle  being  51"  51'  14"'3  ; 
and  the  angle  from  Mr.  Taylor's  interpretation  of  Herodotus,  or  to  the 
effect  of  the  Great  Pyramid  having  boon  built  to  represent  an  area  on  tho 
side,  equjil  to  tho  height  squared,  51°  49'  25".  The  vertical  heights  in 
Pyramid  inches,  are  at  tho  same  time,  using  the  same  base-side  length  for 
them  all— by  tho  10  :  9  hypothesis,  5,811  ;  by  the  7r  hypothesis,  5,813  ;  and 
by  the  Herodotus-Taylor  hypothesis  =  5,807. 

t  Air.  Petrie  may  have  used  a  rather  greater  heip:ht,  viz.,  6,826  inches 
for  the  Pyramid,  in  which  case  his  sun-distance  would  have  been  rather 
greater  than  91,840,000;  but  the  general  nature  of  his  rosult,  on  the 
quantity  approved  by  all  European  astronomy  lifteen  years  ago,  would 
hiive  been  seubibly  just  tho  same. 

E 


50  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  L 

the  calculations  of  a  late  first-rate  German  astronomer 
(calculations  so  vast,  so  difficult,  and  with  such  a  pres- 
tige of  accuracy  and  power  about  them,  that  no  living 
man  cared  to  dispute  their  results),  yet  the  astronomical 
world  had  been  forced  to  awaken  during  the  last  twelve 
years  to  a  new  responsibility,  and  not  only  admit  that 
the  number  might  possibly  be  erroneous,  but  to  institute 
some  observations  for  endeavouring  to  determine  what 
it  should  be. 

Such  observations,  too,  actually  had  just  then  been 
made,  and  the  daily  press  was  full  of  their  new  results. 
And  what  were  they  ? 

Why  one  group  of  astronomers  of  several  nations 
declared  the  true  mean  sun  distance  to  be  about  ninety- 
one  to  ninety-one  and  a  half  millions  of  miles  ;  and 
another  group  of  the  same  and  other  nations  declared  it 
to  be  from  ninety-two  to  ninety-two  and  a  half  millions 
of  miles.  And  while  they  were  fighting  together  as  to 
whose  results  were  the  better  (an  actual  duel  with  swords 
was  expected  at  one  time  between  M.  Le  Terrier  and  the 
late  lamented  M.  De  Launay),  Mr.  Petrie  steps  in  and  shows 
that  the  Great  Pyramid  result  actually  is  between  the 
two ;  indeed,  it  is  almost  exactly  the  mean  between  the 
contending  parties,  and  forms  therefore  a'  single  repre- 
sentation of  all  the  sun-distance  results  of  all  human 
kind  even  in  the  present  age. 

Granting  then  that  modern  science  is  now  so  far 
advanced  that  it  may  talk,  at  least  on  a  "mean  of  all  its 
results,  with  some  degree  of  confidence  at  last  of  what 
may  not  improbably  be  the  true  sun-distance, — the 
correct  figures  for  it  were  given,  and  built  up,  by  the 
Great  Pyramid's  design  4,040  years  ago  ;  or  before  any 
nations  of  mankind  had  begun  to  run  their  independent, 
self-willed,  theotechnic,  and  idolatrous  courses.  And  if 
we  desired  any  additional  proof  to  the  records  of  the 
history  of  science  in  general,  and  of  the  sun-distance 


Chap.  IV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  51 

problem  in  particular,*  that  such  knowledge  could  not 
liave  been  obtained  in  that  early  day,  when  men  were 
few  and  weak  upon  the  earth,  except  it  came  from 
Divine  inspiration, — the  modern  astronomers  are  now 
splendidly,  though  involuntarily,  affording  it :  giving  in- 
deed, proof  heaped  on  proof,  in  the  enormous  prepara- 
tions which  they  are  making,  at  the  expense  of  their 
respective  nations,  to  observe  the  transit  of  Venus  over 
the  sun's  disc,  merely  as  one  step  towards  getting  the 
sun- distance  number,  perhaps  a  trifle  better  than  before, 
in  the  year  1874. 

Modem  Astronomers  are  involuntarily  proving  that 
Man,  unaided  by  Supernatural  Divine  Power,  could 
not  possibly  have  measured  the  Sun-distance  accu- 
rately in  tJie  Age  of  the  Great  Pyramid ;  and  yet  it 
is  there ! 

These  preparations  for  observing  the  next  Yenus-Sun 
transit  by  modern  astronomers  have  already  been 
going  on  for  several  years,  and  nothing  of  their  kind 
so  costly,  so  scientific,  so  extensive,  were  ever  seen  on 
the  face  of  the  earth  before.  From  Europe  to  America, 
and  from  the  most  northern  nation's  old  Hyper- 
borean strongholds  to  the  most  distant  and  newest 
colonies  in  the  Southern  Hemisphere,  the  busy  hum 
resounds.  Steam  navigation,  iron  ships,  electric  tele 
graphs,  exquisite  telescopes,  both  reflecting  and  re 
fracting,  photographic  machines  of  enormous  power, 
refined  "  regulator  "  clocks,  and  still  more  refined  chrono- 
graphs, transit  instruments,  equatorials,    spectroscopes, 

*  In  the  age  of  the  Greeks,  the  distance  attrihuted  to  the  sun  from  tho 
earth  began  with  the  infantine  quantity  of  about  ten  miles  ;  it  increased 
slowly  to  10,000  ;  still  more  slowly  to  2,500,000  ;  then,  after  a  long  delay, 
increased  to  36,000,000,  under  German  Kepler ;  to  78,000,000  in  tho  days 
of  Louis  XIV.,  under  French  La  Caille;  and  only  at  length  reached  the 
full  quantity,  and  then  clumsily  overpassed  it,  at  tho  boijinning  of  the 
preaeiit  century. 


52  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Paut  L 

altitude-azimutli  circles,  all  these  modern  inventions  and 
many  others,  with  all  the  learning  of  the  universities, 
are  pressed  into  the  cause ;  preparatory  computations 
too,  with  much  printing,  engraving,  and  publication, 
have  been  going  on  for  years ;  and  all  will  be  car- 
ried out  almost  regardless  of  expense,  of  time,  of 
danger,  of  obstacles,  to  the  most  distant  parts  of  the 
earth ;  and  where  necessary,  to  parts,  some  of  them  in 
the  tropics,  and  some  in  frozen  oceans,  which  neither 
Greeks  nor  Eomans  in  all  their  days,  nor  even  our  own 
fathers  only  sevent}^  years  ago,  knew  anything  of. 

But  all  this  accumulation  of  power,  of  wealth,  of 
numbers,  of  risk,  co-operated  in  too  by  every  civilised 
nation,  is  stated  to  be  absolutely  necessary ;  nothing  of 
it  can  be  spared,  nothing  omitted,  if  we  are  to  enrich 
ourselves,  in  the  present  age,  with  a  better  result  for 
the  sun-distance  tban  mankind  has  yet  obtained ;  ex- 
cepting always  that  one  result  of  old  laid  up  in  the 
Great  Pyramid.  So  the  expeditions  will  set  forth 
gloriously  next  year,  amid  the  warmest  plaudits  of  the 
whole  modern  world,  and  especially  of  its  scientific 
associations.  Many  of  the  pilgrims  may  fall  like  heroes 
by  the  way,  and  some  of  them  leave  their  bones  to 
whiten  distant  lands.  Large  populations  at  home  may  in 
the  meanwhile  starve  for  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life, 
and  the  crimes  arising  out  of  ignorance  uneducated, 
crowding  in  squalid  residences,  and  the  innate  wickedness 
of  human  nature  when  left  to  its  own  devices  uncorrected, 
will  go  on  wholesale,  making  our  morning  papers 
hideous.  But  for  all  that,  the  chosen  parties  will  sail 
with  their  treasuries  of  instrumental  detail ;  and,  if  the 
usual  consequences  of  successful  scientific  researches 
follow,  the  science  of  the  modern  world  will  have  oc- 
casion to  boast,  after  it  is  all  over,  of  having  improved 
its  number  for  expressing  the  sun-distance,  — a  little  ; 
and  its    acquaintance   with   certain   disturbing   pheno- 


Chap.  IV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  53 

mena  increasing  the  difficulty  of  the  observations,  and 
throwing  new  doubts  upon  the  final  result — a  great 
deal. 

The  Great  Pyramid  before  Science.- 

What  a  solemn  witness  to  all  these  unequal  efforts 
of  mankind,  is  not  the  Great  Pyramid,  which  has  seen 
all  human  actions  from  the  beginning ;  from  the  time 
when  men  broke  away  in  opposition  to  both  the  Divine 
rule  and  inspired  teachings  of  patriarchal  life,  and  wil- 
fully went  after  their  own  inventions. 

Placed  in  the  midst  among  all  men,  and  especially 
those  of  the  earliest  inhabited  regions  of  the  post- 
diluvial earth,  thus  has  been  standing  the  Great  Pyramid 
from  dispersion  times  ;  and  they,  the  men  so  honoured, 
never  knowing  anything  of  its  knowledge  capacity,  or 
suspecting  its  profound  meaning.  Yet  these  things,  or 
the  types  and  measures  of  them,  so  far  as  we  have  seen 
them  here,  were  on  its  surface  all  the  time.  Any  one, 
therefore,  through  all  history,  who  should  have  known, 
if  he  could  have  known  indeed,  the  true  sun-distance, 
had  only  to  compare  the  Great  Pyramid's  height 
therewith,  reasoning  at  the  same  time  on  its  shape,  in 
order  to  be  enabled  to  perceive  that  the  measure  of 
that  all-important  physical,  astronomical,  metrological, 
and  anthropological,  quantity  w^as  hung  up  there  from 
ancient  days,  and  in  figures  more  exact  than  any  that 
modern  observations  have  done  more  than  merely  approxi- 
mate to. 

But  again  we  shall  have  to  tell,  and  from  facts  ascer- 
tained and  ascertainable  in  just  as  eminently  practical 
a  manner,  that  all  that  wonderful  scientific  information 
(more  than  wonderful  for  the  age  and  circumstances 
under  which  it  was  placed  there)  was  not  introduced  into 
the  Great  Pyramid  solely,  or  even  at  all,  for  strengthening 


54  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  I. 

men    in    science ;  much    less    was    it    to   promote  tLe 
worldly  fame  of  tlie  introducer.  .     ^-v.^^ 

Science  is  there,  but  mainly  to  prove  to  these  latter 
scientific  days  of  the  earth  that  the  building  so  designed 
has  a  right,  a  title,  an  authority,  to  speak  to  men  of  these 
times,  and  even  to  the  most  scientific  of  them,  on 
another  and  far  higher  subject ;  and  with  proofs  of 
things  unseen,  quick  and  powerful,  piercing  even  to  the 
dividing  asunder  of  the  soul  and  spirit,  and  discerning 
the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart ;  as  may  pro- 
bably develop  itself  with  unexpected  clearness,  if  the 
inquiry  into  what  the  Great  Pyramid  does  monumentally 
and  mechanically  testify  to,  is  allowed  to  progress  to 
the  end. 


CiiAr.  v.] 


THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


55 


CHAPTER  Y. 

GEOGRAPHICAL    INDICATIONS    IN    THE    GREAT    PYRAMID. 

TT  may,  however,  after  our  last  chapter,  be  demanded 
-■-  by  very  earnest  inquirers,  to  be  shown  some  easy 
and  material  proofs  of  astronomy  of  more  ordinary  kind, 
let  alone  the  possibilities  of  so  transcendental  a  kind, 
having  been  intended  by  the  primeval  designer  of  the 
Great  Pyramid,^before  they  can  fully  admit  the  entirely 
non-accidental  character  of  the  remarkable  numerical 
coincidences  which  have  just  been  given. 

The  request  is  most  reasonable,  and  I  address  myself 
to  the  answer  immediately. 


"^s-ryf-llm  Great  FyrmmL 


To  begin,  the  reader  may  be  reminded,  that  the 
square  base  of  the  Great  Pyramid  is  very  truly  oriented, 
'  or  placed  with  its  sides  facing  astronomically  due  north, 
\outh,  east,  and  west ;  and  this  fact  at  once 
cmaiTr^S^ies't5Tli^"-"ei^ectth^  all  thephenomena  of 
component  parts  of  that  ryTlim^^^^^~^P^^^  ^^  P^^^ 
geometry  alone  ;  for  to  pure  geometry  all  azimuths  are 
alike,  and  one  most  particular  astronomical  azimuth  or 
direction  has  been  picked  out  there. 

In  the  early  ages  of  the  world  the  very  correct 
orientation*  of  a  large  pile  must  have  been  not  a  little 
difficult  to  the  rude  astronomy  of  the  period.     Yet  with 


56  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  I. 

sucli  precision  had  tlie  operations  been  prime vally  per- 
formed on  the  Great  Pyramid,  that  the  French  Academi- 
cians in  A.D.  1799  were  not  a  little  astonished  at  the 
closeness.  Their  citizen  Nouet,  "  in  the  month  Nivose 
of  their  year  7,"  made  refined  observations  to  test  the 
error,  and  found  it  to  be  only  19'  58"  ;  but  with  the 
qualification  added  by  M.  Jomard,  that  as  M.  Nouet 
only  had  the  ruined  exterior  of  the  Pyramid  before  him 
to  test,  the  real  error  of  the  original  surface  might  have 
been  less.  In  this  conclusion  M.  Jomard  was  doubtless 
right ;  for  in  the  similar  sort  of  measure  of  the  angle  of 
slope  of  the  side  with  the  base  of  the  Pyramid,  it  was 
proved  afterwards,  on  the  discovery  of  the  casing-stones, 
that  his  compatriot  had  erred  to  a  very  much  larger 
extent  than  the  original  builders. 

As  it  was,  however,  all  the  Academician  alithors  of  the 
great  Napoleonic  compilation  were  delighted  with  the 
physical  and  historical  proof  which  the  Pyramid  seemed 
to  give  them,  when  compared  with  their  own  modern 
French  observations  of  stars,  "  That  the  azimuthal 
direction  of  the  earth's  axis  had  not  sensibly  altered, 
relatively  to  the  sides  of  the  Great  Pyramid's  base, 
during  probably  4,000  years." 

Possibility  of  Azimuthal  Change  in  the  Crust  of  the 
Earth. 

Now  some  action  of  this  kind,  one  way  or  the  other, 
has  long  been  a  mooted  question  among  astronomers, 
though  chiefly  for  its  bearing  on  geography,  general 
physics,  and  geology.  In  its  nature,  therefore,  it  must 
be  kept  entirely  distinct  from  the  more  perfectly  astro- 
nomical phenomenon,  and  which  few  but  astronomers 
care  at  all  about — viz.,  the  direction  of  the  earth's  axis 
in  space,  moving  with  it  lihe  whole  substajice  of  the 
earth  at  the  same  time  ;  and  wherein  the  precession  of 


CiiAP.V.J  THE  GRJE:AT  PYRAMID.  57 

the  equinoxes  comes  to  the  surface,  with  its  slow  but 
ceaseless  chronological  changes  from  age  to  age  in  the 
apparent  places  of  the  stars  usually  supposed  most  fixed. 
But  in  the  rather  geographical,  and  more  especially  sur- 
face-differential, light  in  Avhich  the  problem  was  dis- 
cussed by  the  French  'savants  of  the  Eevolution,  it  had 
also  been  clearly  seen  long  before,  as  a  cynosure  of  study, 
by  the  penetrating  genius  of  the  English  Dr.  Hooke. 

For  it  was  this  early,  and  ill-paid,  but  invaluable  Secre- 
tary of  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  who,  in  his  discourse 
on  earthquakes,  about  the  year  1677  A.D.,  remarks, 
"Whether  the  axis  of  the  earth's  rotation  hath  and  doth 
continually,  by  a  slow  progression,  vary  its  position  with 
respect  to  the  parts  of  the  earth  ;  and  if  so,  how  much 
and  which  way,  which  must  vary  both  the  meridian 
lines  of  places  and  also  their  particular  latitudes  ? 
that  it  had  been  very  desirable,  if  from  some  monu- 
ments or  records  in  antiquity,  somewhat  could  have 
been  discovered  of  certainty  and  exactness  ;  that  by 
comparing  that  or  them  with  accurate  observations  now 
made,  or  to  be  made,  somewhat  of  certainty  of  infor- 
mation could  have  been  procured."  And  he  proceeds 
thus  :  "  But  I  fear  we  shall  find  them  all  insufficient  in 
accurateness  to  be  any  ways  relied  upon.  However,  if 
there  can  be  found  anything  certain  and  accurately 
done,  either  as  to  the  fixing  of  a  meridian  line  on 
some  stone  building  or  structure  now  in  being,  or  to 
the  positive  or  certain  latitude  of  any  known  place, 
though  possibly  these  observations  or  constructions 
were  made  without  any  regard  or  notion  of  such  an 
hypothesis  ;  yet  some  of  them,  compared  with  the 
present  state  of  things,  might  give  much  light  to  this 
inquiry.  Upon  this  account  I  perused  Mr.  Greaves' 
description  of  the  Great  Pyramid  in  Egypt,  that  being 
fabled  to  have  been  built  for  an  astronomical  observa- 
tory, as  Mr.  Greaves  also  takes  notice.     I  perused  his 


58  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

book,  I  say,  lioping  I  sliould  have  found,  among  many 
other  curious  observations  lie  there  gives  us  concerning 
them,  some  observations  perfectly  made,  to  find  whether 
it  stands  east,  west,  north,  and  south,  or  whether  it 
va,ries  from  that  respect  of  its  sides  to  any  other  part 
or  quarter  of  the  world ;  as  likewise  how  much,  and 
which  way  they  now  stand.  But  to  my  wonder,  he 
being  an  astronomical  professor,  I  do  not  find  that  he 
had  any  regard  at  all  to  the  same,  but  seems  to  be 
AvhoUy  taken  up  wath  one  inquiry,  which  was  about 
the  measure  or  bigness  of  the  whole  and  its  parts  ;  and 
the  other  matters  mentioned  are  only  by-the-bye  and 
accidental,  which  shows  how  useful  theories  may  be 
for  the  future  to  such  as  shall  make  observations." 

Dr.  Hooke,  however — in  mitigation  of  whose  acerbity 
there  is  much  to  be  said  in  excuse,  for  nature  made 
him,  so  his  biographer  asserts,  "  short  of  stature,  thin, 
and  crooked  " — this  real  phenomenon.  Dr.  Hooke,  ''  who 
seldom  retired  to  bed  till  two  or  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  and  frequently  pursued  his  studies  during  the 
whole  night,"  would  not  have  been  so  hard  upon  his 
predecessor  in  difficult  times  if  he  had  known,  and  as 
we  may  be  able  by-and-by  to  set  forth,  -what  extra- 
ordinarily useful  work  it  was  that  Professor  Greaves 
zealously  engaged  in  when  at  the  Great  Pyramid.  The 
Doctor's  diatribes  should  rather  have  been  at  Greaves' 
successors  to-be,  those  who  were  to  visit  the  Great 
Pyramid  in  easy  times,  and  then  and  there  do  nothing, 
or  mere  mischief  worse  than  nothing.  Whence  it  re- 
mains still,  to  any  good  and  enterprising  traveller,  to 
determine  with  full  modern  accuracy  the  astronomical 
azimuth  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  both  upon  its  fiducial 
socket  marks,  as  defining  the  ends  and  directions  of  the 
sides  of  the  base ;  and,  still  more  importantly,  on  its 
internal  passages. 

These  passages  are  worthy  of  all  attention ;    and  a 


Chap,  v.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  5g 

furtlier  proof  of  the  importance  attached  by  the 
primeval  builders  to  the  strict  "  orientation "  of  the 
whole  building,  in  each  of  its  parts  as  well  as  its  mass, 
is  eminently  shown  by  the  apparently  perfectly  parallel 
position  which  they  preserved  for  the  azimuth  of  the 
first,  or  entering  passage,  with  the  base  sides  on  either 
hand  ;  and  this,  too,  notwithstanding  that  (as  Sir  Gardner 
Wilkinson  explains)  there  were  structural  or  rather  deeply 
politic  reasons  for  their  not  placing  that  said  entering 
aperture  exactly  in  the  middle  of  the  northern  side  in 
which  it  is  found,  but  a  considerable  number  of  feet 
nearer  towards  the  east  than  the  west  end  thereof. 


Pojpular  Ideas  of  Astronomical  Orientation. 

In  page  26  of  George  R.  Gliddon's  '"OtiaCEgjrptiaca," 
its  acute  author  does  indeed  oppose  any  reference  to 
astronomical  skill,  by  suggesting  that  all  this  exactness 
of  orientation  indicates,  amongst  the  builders  of  the  "  pre- 
antiquity  "  day  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  "  an  acquaintance 
with  the  laws  of  the  magnet."  Yet  had  that  been  all 
the  founders  were  possessed  of  to  guide  them,  their 
great  and  lasting  work  might  have  been  in  error  by 
as  much  as  twenty  degrees,  in  place  of  only  twenty 
minutes,  or,  perhaps,  far  less. 

George  R  Gliddon  is  truly,  on  most  Egyptological 
topics,  a  well-read  man,  and  had  nearly  a  lifetime 
of  Egyptian  experience  to  dilate  on,  as  he  does,  too, 
with  eloquence  ;  but,  unfortunately,  he  shares  tlie 
pseudo-scientific  belief  of  a  large  part  of  the  world  in 
general — to  wit,  that  more  wisdom  and  science  are 
manifested  if  you  do  a  thing  badly  and  imperfectly  by 
the  indications  of  electricity  or  magnetism,  than  well 
and  accurately  by  plainly  visible  phenomena  of  me- 
chanics and  astronomy.     Had  he  been   able    in    this 


6o  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  I. 

case  to  show  that  Egypt  was  perpetually  and  for  ever 
in  a  plague  of  darkness  and  enclosure  of  mist,  men 
would  have  been  thankful  for  a  magnetic  needle,  maugre 
all  its  excessive  variations  and  trembling  uncertainties. 
But  when  they  had  in  that  magnificent  climate  and 
almost  tropical  position,  the  high  climbing  sun  by  day 
and  the  exact  stars  by  night,  what  else  did  they  want  to 
get  their  astronomical  alignment,  and  the  direction  of 
the  north,  by  means  of? 

At  all  events,  in  my  own  observations  there  in  1865, 
I  was  happy  to  throw  magnetism  and  its  rude  point- 
ings overboard,  and  employ  exclusively  an  astrono- 
mical alt-azimuth  instrument  of  very  solid  construc- 
tion, and  reading  to  seconds  :  in  that  way  comparing 
the  socket-defined  sides  of  the  base,  and  also  the 
signal- defined  axis  of  the  entrance  passage,  with  the 
azimuth  of  the  pole-star  at  the  time  of  its  greatest 
elongation  west ;  and  afterwards  reducing  that  by  the 
proper  methods  of  calculation  to  the  vertical  of  the 
pole  itself 

And  with  what  result  ?  Though  a  tender-hearted 
antiquary  has  asked,  "  Was  it  not  cruel  to  test  any 
primeval  work  of  4,000  years  ago  by  such  exalted  in- 
struments of  precision  as  those  of  the  Victorian  age  in 
which  we  live  ?  " 

Well,  it  might  be  attended  with  undesired  results, 
if  some  of  the  most  praised  up  works  of  the  present 
day  should  ever  come  to  be  tested  by  the  improved 
instruments  of  precision  of  4,000  years  hence;  but  the 
only  effect  which  the  trial  of  my  Playfair  astronomical 
instrument  from  the  Royal  Observatory,  Edinburgh,  had 
at  the  Great  Pyramid,  was,  to  reduce  the  alleged  error 
of  its  orientation  from  19'  58'  to  4'  30".'"' 

*  Tlie  particulars  of  both  observations  and  computations  may  be  seen 
in  vol.  ii.  of  my  "  Life  and  Work  at  the  Great  Pyramid,  1867." 


chap.y.]         the  great  pyramid,  6 1 


Further  Test  hy  Latitude, 

In  so  far,  then,  tliis  last  and  latest  result  of  direct 
observation  declares  with  high  probability  that  any 
large  relative  change  between  the  earth's  axis  and  a 
line  on  its  crust,  such  as  Dr.  Hooke  and  the  French 
Academicians  speculated  on,  must,  if  anything  of  it 
exist  at  all,  be  confined  within  very  narrow  limits 
indeed. 

This  conclusion  has  its  assigned  reason  here  and  thus 
far,  solely  from  observations  of  angular  direction  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth  ;  and  without  any  very  distinct  proof 
being  touched  on  yet,  that  though  we  find  the  Pyramid's 
sides  at  present  nearly  accordant  in  angle  with  the 
cardinal  points,  they  were  intended  to  be  so  placed  by 
the  primeval  builder  for  his  own  day. 

But  indication  will  be  afforded  presently  respecting 
another  test  of  nearly  the  same  thing,  by  distance  on 
the  surface  ;  or  that  the  architect  did  propose  to  place 
the  Great  Pyramid  in  the  astronomical  latitude  of  30° 
north,  whether  practical  or  theoretical  ;  while  my  own 
observations  in  18G5  have  proved  that  it  stands  in  the 
parallel  of  29°  58'  51". 

A  sensible  defalcation  from  30°,  it  is  true,  but  not 
all  of  it  necessarily  error  ;  for  if  the  original  designer  had 
wished  that  men  should  see  with  their  bodily,  rather 
than  their  mental,  eyes,  the  pole  of  the  sky,  from  the 
foot  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  at  an  altitude  before  them  of 
30°,  he  would  have  had  to  take  account  of  the  refrac- 
tion of  the  atmosphere  ;  and  that  would  have  necessi- 
tated the  building  standing  not  in  30°,  but  in  2  9°  5  8'  22". 
Whence  we  are  entitled  to  say,  that  the  latitude  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  is  actually  by  observation  between  the 
two  very  near  limits  assignable,  but  not  to  be  discrimi- 
nated between,  by  theory  as  it  is  at  present. 


62  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 


Testimony,   from    the    Great   Pyramid's    Geographical 
Position,  against  some  recent  Earth  Theorisers. 

In  angular  distance,  then,  from  the  equator,  as  well 
as  in  orientation  of  aspect,  the  land  of  Egypt,  by  the 
witness  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  has  not  changed  sensibly 
for  all  ordinary,  practical  men,  in  respect  to  the  axis  of 
the  earth,  for  4,000  years. 

What  therefore  can  mean  some  of  our  observers  at 
home,  observers  too  of  the  present  day,  who  stand  up  for 
having  themselves,  during  their  own  lifetimes,  witnessed 
the  sun  once  rise  and  set  in  an  exceedingly  different  direc- 
tion by  the  naked  eye  from  what  it  does  now  ?  I  have 
looked  over  the  papers  of  two  such  enthusiasts  recently 
(one  in  England  and  the  other  in  Scotland),  but  with- 
out being  able  to  convince  them  of  their  self-decep- 
tion. 

Again,  in  the  Kev.  Bourchier  Wrey  Savile's  work, 
"The  Truth  of  the  Bible,"  pubHshed  in  1871,  that 
usually  very  learned  and  painstaking  author  (and  much 
to  be  commended  in  some,  subjects)  implies,  on  page  76, 
that  the  direction  of  the  sun  at  the  summer  solstice  is 
now,  at  Stonehenge,  no  less  than  twelve  degrees  different 
from  what  it  was  at  the  time  of  the  erection  of  that 
monument,  which  is  probably  not  more  than  half 
as  old  as  the  Great  Pyramid.  And  he  quotes  freely 
from,  as  well  as  on  his  own  part  confirms,  a  mad-like 
man  now  dead,  one  Mr.  Evan  Hopkins,  in  asserting 
**  that  the  superficial  film  of  our  globe  is  moving  from 
south  to  north  in  a  spiral  path,  at  the  rate  of  seven 
furlongs  in  longitude  west,  and  three  furlongs  in 
latitude  north,  every  year ;  whence  the  presently 
southern  part  of  England  must  have  been  under  a 
tropical  climate  only  5,500  years  ago." 

This  astounding  assertion  is  supposed  to  be  supported 


Chap,  v.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  63 

by  a  quotation  from  one  of  the  Greenwich  Observatory 
Eeports  in  1861,  wherein  Sir  George  B.  Airy  remarks 
that  "  the  transit  circle  and  collimators  still  present  those 
appearances  of  agreement  between  themselves,  and  of 
change  with  respect  to  the  stars,  which  seem  explicable 
only  on  one  of  two  suppositions — that  the  ground  itself 
shifts  with  respect  to  the  general  earth,  or  that  the 
axis  of  rotation  changes  its  position."  But  I  can  ven- 
ture to  be  professionally  confident  that  vSir  G.  B.  Airy 
did  not  mean  to  support  any  such  assertion  as  Mr.  Evan 
Hopkins'  and  Mr.  B.  W.  Savile's,  by  that  mere  curiosity 
of  transcendental  refinement  in  one  year's  instrumental 
observation,  which  he  w^as  alluding  to  in  one  number 
of  a  serial  document ;  a  something  of  possible  change, 
too,  w^hich  is  so  excessively  small  (an  angle  subtending 
perhaps  the  apparent  thickness  of  a  spider's  line  at  the 
distance  of  fifty  feet),  that  no  one  can  be  perfectly 
certain  that  it  ever  exists ;  and  which,  if  found  at  any 
given  epoch,  does  not  go  on  accumulating  continually 
with  the  progress  of  time,  so  as  at  last  to  become  patent 
to  the  common  senses  of  all  men. 

To  confirm,  too,  this  much  more  sober  view  of  the 
nearly  solid  earth  we  live  upon,  the  Great  Pyramid  adds 
all  its  own  most  weighty  testimony  to  that  both  of 
Greenwich  and  every  public  observatory  with  good 
astronomical  instruments  throughout  Europe,  by  declar- 
ing the  world's  surface  to  be  remarkably  constant  to  the 
cardinal  directions ;  if  not  indeed  for  ever,  yet  at  least 
for  a  far  longer  time  than  they,  the  modern  observa- 
tories, can  directly  speak  to.  And  thus  it  may  come  to 
pass  at  last,  that  there  will  yet  be  proved  to  be  more  of 
''the  truth  of  the  Bible"  bound  up  with  both  the 
scientific  mechanical  definition,  and  the  exactly  ob- 
served constancy  through  long  ages  when  so  defined,  of 
astronomical  directions  and  geographical  positions,  than 
has  yet  entered  into  most  persons'  modern  philosophy. 


64  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  l. 

True  Prhneval  Astronomical  Orientation,  as  in  the 
Great  Pyramid,  opposed  by  all  early  idolatrous 
structures  elsewhere. 

And  thus,  in  fact,  the  Great  Pyramid,  otherwise 
proved  a  non-idolatrous,  as  well  as  primeval,  monument, 
set  the  true  scientific  rule  in  building,  of  orienting  its 
sides  to  the  cardinal  directions.  This  plan  was  fol- 
lowed also  wherever  that  Pyramid's  example,  by  over- 
shadowing grandeur,  was  felt  to  be  compulsory,  as  it 
evidently  was  in  the  adjacent  parts  of  Lower  Egypt, — 
but  nowhere  else. 

At  Thebes,  for  instance,  far  away  in  Upper  Egypt, 
and  in  Nubia  further  still,  the  temples  and  tombs  are 
put  down  or  founded  at  every  possible  azimuth,  in 
almost  every  quarter  of  the  compass  ;  and  those  temples 
and  tombs  are  all  of  them  undoubtedly  idolatrous,  and 
speak  lamentably  to  human  theotechnic  inventions. 

In  Mesopotamia,  again,  the  Chaldean  temples,  dedi- 
cated glaringly  both  to  false  gods,  and  all  the  Sabsean  hosts 
of  heaven,  are  not  laid  out  at  random  like  the  Theban 
temples,  but  in  another  sort  of  opposition  to  the  Great 
Pyramid  example ;  for  while  their  bases,  though 
rectangular  are  not  square,  they  are  set  forth  with  their 
sides  as  far  as  possible  from  any  cardinal  point,  or  at 
an  angle  of  45°  therefrom ;  and  steadily  and  per- 
sistently thereat  from  one  end  of  the  Interammian 
country  to  the  other. 

The  Rev.  Canon  Rawlinson  of  Oxford  has,  indeed, 
endeavoured  to  maintain  that  it  was  a  matter  of  indif- 
ference for  the  astronomical  observations  of  those 
Chaldean  buildings,  whether  they  w^ere  oriented  upon, 
or  at  45°  away  from,  the  cardinal  points — but  he  can 
be  no  astronomer,  even  as  Mr.  Fergusson  has  proved 
him  to  have  no  sound  practical  views  of  architecture, 
though  he  may  be  the  most  profound  of  all  academical 


Chap,  v.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  65 

scholars.  And  when  we  study  the  Great  Pyramid  itself 
still  further,  important  results  follow  to  its  prestige 
and  geographical .  power  upon  earth  from  new  develop- 
ments arising  out  of  its  north  and  south,  with  east  and 
west,  bearings,  as  well  as  from  its  regular  figure. 


Geograjphical  Aptitudes  of  the  Great  Pyraraid, 

With  the  general's  glance  of  a  Napoleon  Bonaparte 
himself,  his  Academician  savants  in  Egypt,  in  1799, 
perceived  how  grand,  truthful,  and  effective  a  trigono- 
metrical surveying  signal  the  pointed  shape  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  gratuitously  presented  them  with ;  and 
they  not  only  used  it  for  that  purpose,  as  it  loomed  far 
and  wide  over  the  country,  but  as  a  grander  order  of 
signal  also,  to  mark  the  zero  meridian  of  longitude  for 
all  Egypt.  ^ 

In  coming  to  this  conclusion,  they  could  hardly  but 
have  perceived  something  of  the  peculiar  position  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  at  the  southern  apex  of  the  Delta-land 
of  Egypt ;  and  recognised  that  the  vertical  plane  of  the 
Pyramid's  passages  produced  northward,  passed  through 
the  northernmost  point  of  Egypt's  Mediterranean  coast, 
besides  forming  the  country's  central,  and  most  com- 
manding meridian  line ;  while  the  N.E.  and  N.W.  dia- 
gonals of  the  building  similarly  produced,  enclosed  the 
Delta's  either  side  in  a  symmetrical  and  well-balanced 
manner.  But  the  first  very  particular  publication  on 
this  branch  of  the  subject  was  by  Mr.  Henry  Mitchell, 
Chief  Hydrographer  to  the  United  States  Coast  S  irvey. 

That  gentleman,  having  been  sent  in  1868  to  report 
on  the  progress  of  the  Suez  Canal,  was  much  struck 
with  the  regularity  of  curvature  along  the  whole  of 
Egypt's  northern  coast.  To  his  mind,  and  by  the  light 
of  his  science,  it  was  a  splendid  example  on  that  very- 
account,  of  a  growing  and  advancing  coast-line,  devc- 

F 


66  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  I. 

loping  in  successive  curves  all  struck  one  after  tlie  other 
from  a  certain  central  point  of  physical  origination. 

And  where  was  that  physical  centre  of  origin  and 
formation  ? 

With  the  curvature  of  the  northern  coast  on  a  good 
map  before  him  (see  Fig.  1,  Plate  Y,),  Mr.  Mitchell  sought, 
with  variations  of  direction  and  radius,  until  he  had 
got  all  the  prominent  coast  points  to  be  evenly  swept 
by  his  arc ;  and  then,  looking  to  see  where  his  centre 
was,  found  it  upon  the  Great  Pyramid  :  immediately 
deciding  in  his  mind,  "  that  that  monument  stands  in  a 
more  important  physical  situation  than  any  other  build- 
ing yet  erected  by  man." 

On  coming  to  refinements,  Mr.  Mitchell  did  indeed 
allow  that  his  radii  were  not  able  to  distinguish  between 
the  Great  Pyramid  and  any  of  its  near  companions  on 
the  same  hill-top.  But  the  Great  Pyramid  had  already 
settled  that  differential  matter  for  itself;  for  while  it 
is  absolutely  the  northernmost  of  all  the  pyramids  (in 
spite  of  one  apparent  exception  to  be  explained  further 
on),  it  is  the  only  one  which  comes  at  all  close — and  it 
comes  very  close — to  the  northern  cliff  of  the  Jeezeh 
hill,  and  thence  looks  out  with  commanding  gaze  over 
the  sector,  or  open-fan,  shaped  land  of  Lower  Egypt ; 
looking  over  it,  too,  from  the  land's  very  *'  centre  of 
physical  origin ;"  or  as  from  over  the  handle  of  the 
fan,  outward  to  the  far  off  sea-coast.  All  the  other 
pyramids  are  away  on  the  table-land  to  the  south  of 
the  Great  one,  so  that  they  lose  that  grand  view  from 
the  front  or  northern  edge ;  and  they  appear  there, 
behind,  as  in  a  manner  the  suite  and  following  train 
only  of  the  Great  building ;  that  mysterious  Great  one 
who  is  the  unquestioned  owner  there,  and  will  not  allow 
his  servants  to  dispute  his  possession  with  him. 

So  very  close  was  the  Great  Pyramid  placed  to  the 
northern  brink  of  its  hill,  that  the  edges  of  the  cliff 


Chap,  v.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  67 

might  have  broken  off,  under  the  terrible  pressure,  had 
not  the  builders  banked  up  there  most  firmly  the  im- 
mense mounds  of  rubbish  which  came  from  their  work  ; 
and  which  Strabo  looked  so  particularly  for  1800  years 
ago,  but.  could  not  find.  Here  they  were,  however,  and 
still  are,  utilised  in  enabling  the  Great  Pyramid  to  stand 
on  the  very  utmost  verge  of  its  commanding  hill, 
within  the  limits  of  the  two  required  latitudes,  30°  and 
29°  58'  23",  as  well  as  over  the  centre  of  the  land's 
physical  and  radial  formation ;  and  at  the  same  time 
on  the  sure  and  proverbially  wise  foundation  of  rock. 

Now  Lower  Egypt  being,  as  already  described,  of  a 
sector  shape,  the  building  which  stands  at  its  centre 
must  be,  as  Mr.  Henry  Mitchell  has  acutely  remarked, 
at  one  and  the  same  time  both  at  the  border  thereof, 
and  in  its  nominal  middle  ;  or,  just  as  was  that  monu- 
ment, pure  and  undefiled  in  its  religion  though  in  an 
idolatrous  land,  alluded  to  by  Isaiah ;  the  monument 
which  was  both  "  an  altar  to  the  Lord  in  the  midst  of 
the  land  of  Egypt,  and  a  pillar  at  the  border  thereof;" 
but  destined  withal  to  become  a  witness  in  the  latter 
days  and  before  the  consummation  of  all  things,  to  the 
same  Lord  and  to  what  He  hath  purposed  upon  mankind. 

Whether  the  Great  Pyramid  will  eventually  succeed 
in  proving  itself  to  be  really  the  one  and  only  monu- 
ment alluded  to  under  those  glorious  terms  or  not,  it 
has  undoubtedly  most  unique  claims  for  representing 
much  that  is  in  them,  both  in  plain  mechanical  fact 
and  broad  chorography ;  while  its  excelling  character- 
istics of  situation  by  no  means  end  there.  For,  pro- 
ceeding along  the  globe  due  north  and  due  south  of 
the  Great  Pyramid,  it  has  been  found  by  a  good 
physical  geographer  as  well  as  engineer,  William 
Petrie,  that  there  is  more  earth  and  less  sea  in  that 
meridian  than  in  any  other  meridian  all  the  world 
round ;  causing,  therefore,  the  Great  Pyramid's  meridian 


68  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  I. 

to  be  just  as  essentially  marked  by  nature  across  the 
world,  as  a  prime  meridian  for  all  nations  measuring 
their  longitude  from,  as  it  is  more  minutely  marked  by 
art  and  man's  work  for,  the  land  of  Egypt  alone. 

Again,  taking  the  distribution  of  land  and  sea  in 
parallels  of  latitude,  there  is  more  land  surface  in  the 
Great  Pyramid's  parallel  of  30°,  than  in  any  other. 
And  finally,  on  carefully  summing  up  all  the  dry  land 
habitable  by  man  all  the  wide  world  over,  the  centre  of 
the  whole  falls  within  the  Great  Pyramid's  territory  of 
Lower  Egypt. '''" 


Of  the  Mental  Accompaniments  of  these  Several  Facts. 

It  is  useless  for  objectors  to  go  on  complaining  that 
the  profane  Egyptians,  the  mere  slaves  of  Pharaoh,  did 
not  know  anything  about  the  existence  of  America, 
Australia,  New  Zealand,  or  Japan,  and  therefore  could 
not  have  made  the  above  calculation  rightly,  for  I  have 
never  accused  those  profane  Egyptians  of  having  had 
anything  to  do  with  the  design  of  the  Great  Pyramid ; 
and  have  no  intention  of  limiting  my  statements  of 
what  science  may  find  in  the  measured  facts  of  the 
building,  merely  to  what  Egyptological  scholars  tell  us, 
from  their  questionable  studies,  that  the  vile  animal- 
worshippers  of  old  Egypt  either  did,  or  did  not,  know. 

The  fact  is  there  in  the  Great  Pyramid,  and  in  the 
Avorld,  for  every  one  who  likes  to  test  on  absolute 
grounds  ;  to  try  it  for  our  own  times  first,  and  then  to 
reduce  it  to  the  days  of  the  Pyramid,  if  there  are  or 
were  sensible  changes  in  the  distribution  of  sea  and  land 
on  the  whole,  going  on. 

But  that  would  seem  not  to  have  been  the  case  : 
and,  indeed,  for  the  special  period  of  the  truly  human, 

*  See  my  "  Equal  Surface  Projection,"  published  in  1870  by  Edmonston 
and  Douglas,  Edinburgh.      See  also  Fig.  2  of  Plate  V.,  in  this  book. 


Chap,  v.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  69 

or  division  into  nation,  time  of  the  world  (or  since  both 
the  Deluge  and  the  Dispersion),  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  the  dry  land  surface  spot  which  was  central 
4,000  years  ago  is  central  still,  and  will  continue  to  be 
so  until  the  end  of  man's  trial  on  earth.  And  if  we  be 
further  enabled  before  long  to  illustrate  that  the  directors 
of  the  building  of  the  Great  Pyramid  were  not  natives 
of  Egypt,  but  came  into  Egypt  out  of  a  country  having 
a  different  latitude  and  longitude,  and  went  back  again 
to  that  country  of  theirs  immediately  after  they  had 
built  the  Great  Pyramid ;  and  that  there,  in  their  own 
country,  though  no  mean  architects,  yet  they  built  no 
second  pyramid, — will  not  that  go  far  to  indicate  that, 
assisted  by  a  higher  power,  they  had  been  taught  and  had 
confessed  of  early  time,  that  there  was  only  one  proper 
and  fully  appropriate  spot  all  the  wide  world  over 
whereon  to  found  that  most  deeply  significant  structure 
they  had  received  orders  to  erect  on  a  certain  plan, 
viz.,  the  Great  Pyramid  ? 

But  if  the  exterior  of  that  unique  building,  in  these 
days  almost  ruinous  under  the  successive  attacks  of 
twenty  nations,  leads  so  abundantly,  when  carefully 
studied  and  scientifically  measured,  in  spite  of  all  those 
dilapidations,  to  ennobling  views  (the  like  of  which  too 
were  never  made  out  in  all  past  time  for  any  other 
building  of  the  earth,  not  even  for  a  single  one  of 
the  other  Pyramids  of  Egypt,  which,  all  of  them,  err 
utterly  in  angle,  size,  and  position),  what  may  we  not 
expect  from  the  Great  Pyramid's  better-preserved 
interior  ? 


PAET  II. 

HISTORY  AND  THE  INTERIOR. 


"who  hath  laid  the  measures  thereof,  if  thou  knowest?  or  who 

HATH  stretched  THE  LINE  UPON  IT  ? 

"  WHEREUPON  ARE  THE  FOUNDATIONS  THEREOF  FASTENED  ?  OR  WHO  LAID 
THE  COKNER  STONE  THEREOF  ; 

"  WHEN  THE  MORNING  STARS  SANG  TOGETHER,  AND  ALL  THE  SONS  OF  GOD 
SHOUTED  FOR  JOY  ?  " — JOB    XXXVIII.  5,  6,  7. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

STRUCTUKAL    ISOLATION    OF    THE    GREAT    PYRAMID 
AMONGST    ALL    PYRAMIDS. 

THERE  is  little  enough  of  hollow  interior  to  any  of 
the  Pyramids,  as  they  are  generalty  all  but  solid 
masses  of  masonry  ;  and  yet  what  little  there  is,  has 
'  shown  itself  quite  enough  to  raise  up  a  radical  distinc- 
tion of  kind,  as  well  as  degree,  between  the  Great 
Pyramid  and  every  other. 

What  the  Ancients  knew  of  the  Interior  of  the  Great 
Pyramid. 

The  progress  of  human  historical  knowledge  with  re- 
gard to  what  constituted  the  hollow  interior  of  the  Great 
Pyramid,  was  both  slow  and  peculiar.  Had  we  now 
before  us  in  one  meridional  section  of  the  building  all 
the  ancient  knowledge  with  regard  to  what  it  contained, 
it  would  amount  to  little  more  than  this — that  when 
the  Great  Pyramid  stood  on  that  hill-top  in  the 
primeval  age  of  the  world  in  solid  masonry,  with  the 
secret  of  its  nature  upon  it,  clothed,  too,  complete  on 
every  side  with  its  polished  bevelled  sheet  of  casing- 
stones,  rising  from  a  duly  levelled  area  of  rock-surfaco 
in  four  grand  triangular  flanks  up  to  a  single  pointed 
summit, — that  then  it  also  contained  (trending  down 


74  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

from  the  nortli  and  entering  at  a  point  about  49  feet 
above  the  ground  on  that  side)  an  inclined  descend- 
ing passage  of  very  small  bore,  leading  to  a  subter- 
ranean, excavated,  rock  chamber  100  feet  vertically 
under  the  centre  of  the  base  of  the  whole  built  monu- 
ment. 

This  subterranean  chamber  had  been  begun  to  be 
carved  out  in  the  heart  of  the  rock  with  admirable 
skill.  For  the  workmen,  having  cut  their  way  down  to 
the  necessary  depth  by  the  passage,  commenced  with  the 
ceiling,  which  they  made  exquisitely  flat  and  smooth, 
though  46  feet  long  by  28  broad;  then  sinking  down 
the  walls  therefrom  in  vertical  planes,  there  was  every 
promise  of  their  having  presently,  at  that  notable  depth 
inside  the  limestone  mountain,  a  complete  rectangular 
chamber,  whose  walls,  ceiling,  and  floor  should  all  be 
perfect,  pattern  planes.  But 'when  they  had  cut  down-* 
wards  from  the  ceiling  to  a  depth  of  about  4  feet  at  the 
west  end,  and  13  feet  at  the  east  end,  they  stopped  in 
the  very  midst  of  their  work.  A  small  bored  passage 
was  pushed  on  into  the  rock  a  few  feet  further  towards 
the  south,  and  then  that  was  also  left  unfinished  ;  and 
a  similar  ^abortive  attempt,  though  downwards,  was 
begun,  but  probably  in  modern  times,  in  the  broken 
rock  of  the  uneven  floor  itself;  the  whole  floor  from 
one  end  of  the  chamber  to  the  other  being  left  thus 
a  lamentable  scene  of  confusion,  verily  (seeing  that  the 
whole  light  of  day  was  reduced  down  there  to  a  mere 
star-like  point  at  the  end  of  the  long  entrance  passage), 
verily,  "  the  stones  of  darkness  and  the  shadow  of 
death."      (See  Plate  I.  and  Plate  VIII.). 

This  one  item  of  its  internal  construction,  moreover, 
there  is  good  reason  for  believing,  was  all  that  the 
Egyptians  themselves  knew  of,  from  within  a  generation 
after  the  Great  Pyramid  had  been  built,  to  the  latest 
times  of  their  nation ;  excepting  only  certain  men  who 


Chap.  VL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  75 

broke  into  the  building  at  tbe  epoch  of,  or  near  to,  the 
Persian  invasion  ;  and  for  them  see  Part  IV. 

That  the  Egyptians  themselves  as  a  people  knew 
thus  much,  we  may  readily  allow ;  because  they  could 
hardly  have  known  less  of  the  interior  than  the 
Romans ;  and  there  is  proof,  in  the  shape  of  good  uncial 
letters  marked  in  carbon,  and  recorded  to  have  been 
seen  by  Signor  Caviglia  when  he  first  recovered  in 
modern  times  the  re-entry  to  that  part  of  the  Pyramid, 
that  t}iey,  the  old  Romans,  were  once  inside  the  sub- 
terranean chamber. 

There  appears  also,  it  is  asserted  by  some  Egyptologists 
of  rather  a  sanguine  turn  of  mind,  some  small  pro- 
bability that  pyramids  with  this  single  characteristic — 
viz.,  a  descending  entrance  passage  and  subterranean, 
or  call  it  positively,  a  sepulchral,  chamber,  but  of  poor 
workmanship,  were  indigenous  in  Egypt  before  the 
erection  of  the  Great  Pyramid  ;  which  in  that  case, 
therefore,  began  so  far  in  deference  to  some  native  ideas  ; 
though,  as  will  be  seen  presently,  the  Great  Monument 
did  not  care  to  complete  tliem,  nor  carry  out  the  either 
intended  or  pretended  sepulchral  chamber  to  such  a 
condition  of  floor  state,  that  any  stone  sarcophagus  could 
have  been  decently,  and  in  order,  established  there. 

In  the  undoubtedly  subsequent  second  and  third 
Jeezeh  pyramids,  on  the  contrary,  the  subterranean 
rooms  "were  finished,  floors  and  all,  and  sarcophagi 
introduced.  Their  architects,  moreover,  attempted  to 
adorn  those  chambers  with  a  large  amount  of  com- 
plication ;  but  it  was  only  useless  and  confusing  com- 
plication, without  any  very  sensible  object ;  unless 
when  it  was  to  allow  a  second  king  to  make  himself 
a  burial-chamber  in  the  pyramid-cellar  already  occu- 
pied by  a  predecessor  ;  and  then  it  was  bad.  Gra- 
dually, therefore,  as  the  researches  of  Colonel  Howard- 
Vyse  have  shown,  on  the  fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  seventh, 


76  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

eighth,  and  ninth  Jeezeh  pyramids  (all  these  being 
very  small  ones,  let  it  be  remembered)  the  native 
Egyptians  dropped  nearly  everything  else  that  they  had 
tried,  except  the  one  single,  partly  descending  and 
partly  horizontal,  passage,  with  a  subterranean  chamber 
for  burial  purposes  ;  and  that  they  kept  to,  so  long  as 
they  practised  their  petty  pyramid  building  at  all,  most 
religiously.      (See  Plate  YI.) 


Lepsius  Law  of  Egyptian  Pyramid  Building. 

Still  further,  that  the  making  of  such  descending 
passages  with  subterranean  chambers,  and  using  them 
for  sepulture,  is  precisely  what  the  Egyptians  usually 
did  when  they  were  their  own  masters  and  the  directors 
of  their  own  works  ;  and  that  they  did  little  more,  except 
it  was  to  decorate  them  with  images  of  false  gods, 
boasting  inscriptions  in  hieroglyphic  writing,  and  por- 
traits- of  themselves,  is  also  testified  to  from  quite 
another  quarter.  For  all  the  Egyptologists  of  our  age, 
French,  English,  German,  and  American,  have  hailed 
the  advent,  on  their  stage  of  time,  of  the  so-called 
''  Lepsius'  Law  of  Egyptian  Pyramid  Building  ;"  they 
universally  declaring  that  it  satisfies  absolutely  all  the 
observed  or  known  phenomena.  And  it  may  do  so  for 
every  known  case  of  any  Egyptian  pyramid,  excejpt  the 
Great  Pyramid  ;  and  there  it  explains  nothing  of  w^hat 
it  chiefly  consists  in. 

Taking,  however,  the  cases  which  it  does  apply  to, 
viz.,  the  profane  Egyptian  examples,  this  alleged  "law" 
pronounces,  that  the  sole  object  of  any  Pyramid  was 
to  form  a  royal  tomb — subterranean  as  a  matter  of 
course — and  that  operations  began  by  making  an  in- 
clined descending  passage  leading  down  into  the  rock, 
and  in  cutting  out  an  underground  chamber  at  the  end 
of  it.      The  scheme   thus  begun  below,  went  on    also 


Chap.VL]  the  great  pyramid.  77 

growing  above  ground  every  year  of  the  king's  reign, 
by  the  placing  there  of  a  new  heap  or  additional  layer 
of  building  stones,  and  piling  them  layer  above  layer 
over  a  central,  square-based  nucleus  upon  the  levelled 
ground,  vertically  above  the  subterranean  apartment ; 
and  it  was  finally  {i.e.,  this  superincumbent  mass  of 
masonry)  finished  off  on  that  king's  death  by  his  suc- 
cessor, who  deposited  his  predecessor's  body  embalmed 
and  in  a  grand  sarcophagus  in  the  underground  cham- 
ber, stopped  up  the  passage  leading  to  it,  cased  in  the 
rude  converging  sides  of  the  building  with  bevelled 
casing-stones  so  as  to  give  it  a  smooth  pyramidal  form, 
and  left  it  in  fact  a  finished  Egyptian,  and  Pharaonic 
2)yramid  to  all  posterity : '''  and  no  mean  realisation 
either  of  prevailing  ideas  among  some  early  nations,  of 

*  In  Dr.  Lepsius'  Letter  7,  March,  1843,  that  eminent  Egyptologist 
says  distinctly  enough  with  regard  to  the  above  theory, — *'  I  discovered  the 
riddle  of  pyramidal  construction,  on  which  I  had  been  long  employed ;  " 
but  in  the  letterpress  attached  to  Frith's  large  photographs  of  Egypt 
(1860  ?),  by  Mrs.  Poole  and  R.  S.  Poole,  the  discovery  is  given  categorically 
1o  another  person.  As  the  passage  is  accompanied  with  a  very  clear 
description  of  the  theory,  there  may  be  advantage  in  giving  it  entire  from 
this  opposite  side ;  as  then  proving  beyond  all  doubt  how  much  of  the 
whole  internal  arrangement  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  as  now  known  and 
presently  to  be  described,  the  approved  pyramidal  theory  of  the  most 
learned  Egyptologists  really  accounts  for : — 

"The  principle  of  their  (the  ancient  Egyptians)  pyramid  construction 
was  discovered  by  Mr.  James  Wild,  the  architect  who  accompanied  the 
l*russian  expedition.  A  rocky  site  was  first  chosen,  and  a  space  made 
smooth,  except  a  slight  eminence  in  the  centre,  to  form  a  peg  upon  which 
the  structure  should  be  fixed.  Within  the  rock,  and  usually  below  the 
level  of  the  future  base,  a  sepulchral  chamber  was  excavated,  with  a 
passage,  inclining  downwards,  leading  to  it  from  the  north.  Upon  the 
rock  was  first  raised  a  moderate  mass  of  masonry,  of  nearly  a  cubic  form, 
but  having  its  four  sides  inclined  inwards ;  upon  this  a  similar  mass  was 
})laced,  and  around,  other  such  masses,  generally  about  half  as  wide.  At 
this  stage  the  edifice  could  bo  completed  by  a  small  pyramidal  structure 
being  raised  on  the  top,  and  the  sides  of  the  steps  filled  in,  the  whole 
being  ultimately  cased,  and  the  entrance  passage,  which  had  of  course 
been  continued  through  the  masonry,  securely  closed  ;  or  else  the  work 
could  be  continued  on  the  same  principle.  In  this  manner  it  was  possible 
for  the  building  of  a  pyramid  to  occupy  the  lifetime  of  its  founder 
without  there  being  any  risk  of  his  leaving  it  incomplete  (to  any  such 
degree  or  extent  as  would  afford  a  valid  excuse  for  his  successor  neglecting 
to  perform  his  very  moderate  part,  of  merely  filling  up  the  angles,  and 
smoothing  off  generally)." 


78  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

burying  tlieir  monarchs  svih  montihus  altis,  in  impres- 
sive quiet,  immovable  calm,  and  deep  in  the  bosom  of 
motber  earth. 

Classic  Antiquity  on  the  Interior  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

There  has  been  some  scholastic  question  of  late  years, 
whether  Herodotus,  Strabo,  Pliny,  and  others  of 'the 
ancients,  or  their  immediate  informants,  were  ever 
actually  inside  the  Great  Pyramid  ;  for  sometimes  it  has 
been  maintained  that  the  edifice  was  inviolably  sealed,  and 
that  what  they  mentioned  was  only  on  the  reports  of 
tradition ;  while  at  other  times  it  is  averred  that  they 
must  have  seen  something  more  accurately  than  through 
others'  eyes,  in  order  to  have  described  so  graphically 
as  they  did ;  describing,  however,  always  a  vast  deal 
more  about  the  exterior  than  the  interior.  The  very 
utmost,  indeed,  that  they  had  to  say  about  the  latter 
was  touching  a  certain  removable  stone,  and  then  a 
dark  groping  "  usque  ad,"  or  right  away  to,  the  far  sub- 
terranean chamber  where  M.  Caviglia  in  a.d.  1820, 
as  already  mentioned,  found  blackened  Eoman  letter^ 
upon  its  roof;''''  and  half  the  world  has.  seen,  since  then, 
the  unfinished,  unquarried  out  floor  ;  or  a  room  with  an 
excellent  ceiling  and  walls  too,  so  far  as  they  go,  but  no 
floor,  if  that  be  possible. 

To  that  point,  then,  and  through  that  descending  pas- 
sage also  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  occasionally  (and  probably 
only  at  very  long  intervals)  various  nations  did  penetrate, 
aided  by  the  removable  block  of  stone.  The  machinery 
of  that  sliding  block  and  the  opportunity  of  sometimes 
working  it,  seemed  to  act  as  a  safety-valve  to  the 
Pyramid-curiosity  of  early  times,  which  was  thus  ad- 
mitted on  rare  occasions  to  see  the  interior  of  the 
greatest    of  all  the  Pyramids ;   and  then,  after  frantic 

*  Howard- Vyse's  "Pyramids,"  vol.  ii.  p.  290. 


Chap.  VI.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  79 

exertions,  men  saw  and  made  acquaintance  witli — what  ? 
Nothing  but  a  descending  entrance  passage  and  a  sub- 
terranean chamber  ;  that  chamber  which  ought  to  have 
been  a  sepulchral  one  according  to  both  ordinary  Egyp- 
tian ideas,  and  the  "  Lepsius'  Law,"  but  was  not.  Con- 
sistently too  with  the  Lepsius  theory,  it  should  have  been 
the  first  thing  finished  about  the  whole  mighty  fabric, 
but  yet  it  was  never  even  pretended  to  be  finished  at  all ; 
the  very  chamber  which  ought  to  have  contained  sar- 
cophagus, mummy,  paintings,  and  inscriptions,  but  which 
only  really  held  the  rock  contents  of  the  lower  part  of 
the  room,  not  yet  cut  out  of  the  bowels  of  the  mountain. 
In  short,  the  classic  nations  knew  nothing  whatever 
about  the  real  interior  of  the  Great  Pyramid's  scientific 
design. 

Medieval  Arabian  Learning  on  the  Interior  of  the  Great 
Pyramids 

In  the  course  of  the  dark  ages,  even  what  Greece  and 
Kome  once  knew,  was  lost,  besides  the  Pyramid  being 
issailed  by  driving  storms  of  desert  sand.  Hence,  when 
the  Callj^;^  al  Mamoun,  a  Caliph  with  an  inquiring  turn  of 
mind,  like  his  father  Haroun  al  Kaschid,  of  the  "Arabian 
Nights,"  but  attending  to  higher  things — (indeed,  he  was 
said  by  Gibbon  to  have  been  a  prince  of  rare  learning,  '/con- 
tinually exhorting  his  subjects  in  excelsior  vein  assidu- 
ously to  peruse  instructive  writings,  and  who  not  only 
commanded  the  volumes  of  Grecian  sages  to  be  translated 
into  Arabic,  but  could  assist  with  pleasure  and  modesty 
at  the  assemblies  and  disputations  of  the  learned") — 
when  this  British  Association  genius  of  his  day  then, 
coming  down  from  Bagdad  to  Cairo,  desired  to  enter  the 
Great  Pyramid,  a.d.  820,  there  was  only  a  very  indistinct 
rumour  to  guide  him  towards  trying  the  northern, 
rather  than  any  other,  side. 


8o  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 


« 


But  Al  Mamoun,  the  then  Propliet-descended  ruler 
of  the  Mohammedan  world,  was  likewise  flattered  almost 
as  a  god  in  the  rhapsodies  of  his  court  poets.  They, 
inventing  some  new  pleasure  for  him  every  day,  could 
only  not  give  him  the  Great  Pyramid  itself.  Emu- 
lating, however,  on  a  hasis  of  Coptic  tradition  derived 
from  the  then  innumerable  Egyptian  monasteries,  the 
enchanted  tales  of  Bagdad,  they  drew  gorgeous  pictures 
of  the  contents^  of  the  Pyramid's  interior  ;  as  well  as  of 
the  astounding  history  of  that  mighty  and  mysterious 
triangular  masonic  fact,  so  patent  as  to  its  exterior  in  the 
eyes  of  all  Cairo,  so  recluse  as  to  its  interior  against 
both  the  world  and  time. 

In  describing  these  matters,  most  of  the  reciters 
seemed  only  intent  on  putting  in  everything  of  value 
they  could  possibly  think  of  All  the  treasures  of 
"  Sheddad  Ben  Ad,"  the  great  antediluvian  king  of  the 
earth,  with  all  his  medicines  and  all  his  sciences,  they 
declared  were  there,  told  over  and  over  again.  Others, 
though,  were  positive  that  the  founder-king  was  no  other 
than  Saurid  Ibn  Salhouk,  a  far  greater  one  than  the 
other;  and  these  last  gave  many  more  minute  particulars : 
some  of  which  are  at  least  interesting  to.  us  in  the 
present  day,  as  proving  that  amongst  the  Egypto-Arabians 
of  more  than  1,000  years  ago,  the  Jeezeh  Pyramids, 
headed  by  the  grand  one,  enjoyed  a  pre-eminence  of 
fame  vastly  before  all  the  other  Pyramids  of  Egypt  put 
together ;  and  that  if  any  other  is  alluded  to  after  the 
Great  Pyramid  (which  has  always  been  the  notable  and 
favourite  one,  and  chiefly  was  known  then  as  the  East 
Pyramid),  it  is  either  the  second  one  at  Jeezeh,  under 
the  name  of  the  West  Pyramid ;  or  the  third  one,  dis- 
tinguished as  the  Coloured  Pyramid,  in  allusion  to  its 
red  granite,  compared  with  the  white  limestone  casings 
of  the  other  two ;  which,  moreover,  from  their  more 
near,  but  by  no  means  exact,  equality  of  size,  went  fre- 


Chap.  VI.]  THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  8 1 

quently  under  the  affectionate  de'signation  of  "the 
pair." 

But  what  seemed  more  to  the  purpose  of  Al  Mamoun 
at  the  time,  was  the  very  exact  report  of  Ibn  Abd 
Alkokm,  as  to  what  was  then  still  to  be  found  in  each 
of  these  three  Pyramids ;  for  this  was  what,  according 
to  that  most  detailed  author,  the  primeval  King  Saurid 
had  put  into  them  and  safely  locked  up ;  though  where 
in  the  scanty  hollow  interior  of  any,  or  all,  of  the 
Pyramids,  he  could  have  found  space  for  so  much,  is 
more  than  any  one  now  knows. 

"  In  the  Western  Pyramid,  thirty  treasuries,  filled 
with  store  of  riches  and  utensils,  and  with  signatures 
made  of  precious  stones,  and  with  instruments  of 
iron,  and  vessels  of  earth,  and  with  arms  which  rust  not, 
and  with  glass  which  might  be  bended  and  yet  not 
broken,  and  with  strange  spells,  and  with  several  kinds 
of  alakakivs  (magical  precious  stones),  single  and  double, 
and  with  deadly  poisons,  and  with  other  things  besides. 

"  He  made  also  in  the  East  Pyramid  divers  celestial 
spheres  and  stars,  and  what  they  severally  operate  in 
their  aspects,  and  the  perfumes  which  are  to  be  used  to 
them,  and  the  books  which  treat  of  these  matters. 

"He  put  also  into  the  Coloured  Pyramid  the  com- 
mentaries of  the  priests  in  chests  of  blauk  marble,  and 
with  every  priest  a  book,  in  which  the  wonders  of  his 
profession,  and  of  his  actions,  and  of  his  nature  were 
written ;  and  what  was  done  in  his  time,  and  what  is  and 
what  shall  be  from  the  beginning  of  time  to  the  end  of  it. 

"  He  placed  in  every  Pyramid  a  treasurer ;  the 
treasurer  of  the  Westerly  Pyramid  was  a  statue  of 
marble  stone,  standing  upright  with  a  lance,  and  upon 
his  head  a  serpent  wreathed.  He  that  came  near  it,  and 
stood  still,  the  serpent  bit  him  of  one  side,  and  wreath- 
ing round  about  his  throat,  and  killing  him,  returned  to 
his  place.     He  made  the  treasurer  of  the  East  Pyramid 

G 


82  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

an  idol  of  black  agate,  his  eyes  open  and  shining, 
sitting  on  a  throne  with  a  lance ;  when  any  looked 
upon  him,  he  heard  on  one  side  of  him  a  voice  which 
took  away  his  sense,  so  that  he  fell  prostrate  upon  his 
face,  and  ceased  not,  till  he  died.  • 

"  He  made  the  treasurer  of  the  Coloured  Pyramid 
a  statue  of  stone,  called  alhui,  sitting ;  he  which  looked 
towards  it  was  drawn  by  the  statue,  till  he  stuck  to  it, 
and  could  not  be  separated  from  it  till  such  time  as  he 
died." 

Some  of  these  features  were  certainly  not  encouraging ; 
but  then  .they  were  qualified  by  other  tale-reciters, 
who  described  "three  marble  columns  in  the  Great 
Pyramid,  supporting  the  images  of  three  birds  in  flames 
of  fire  of  precious  stones  beyond  all  value  and  all 
number.  Upon  the  first  column  was  the  figure  of  a 
dove,  formed  of  a  beautiful  and  priceless  green  stone ; 
upon  the  second,  that  of  a  hawk,  of  yellow  stone  ;  and 
upon  the  third,  the  image  of  a  cock,  of  red  stone, 
Avhose  eyes  enlightened  all  the  place.  Upon  moving 
the  hawk,  a  gigantic  door  which  was  opposite,  com- 
posed of  great  marble  slabs,  beautifully  put  together, 
and  inscribed  with  unknown  characters  in  letters  of 
gold,  was  raised ;  and  the  same  surprising  connection 
existed  between  the  other  images  and  their  doors." 

Exciting  wonders,  of  course,  appeared  beyond  those 
strange  portals ;  but  what  need  we  to  disentomb  these 
Arabian  romances  further  ?  In  Egypt  they  believe  pretty 
seriously  in  enchantments  and  Jinn  or  Genii  of  marvel- 
lous proportions  still  ;  how  much  more  then  in  the  days 
of  the  son  of  Haroun  al  Raschid,  and  when  the  Great 
Pyramid  Avas  a  mystery  of  old,  fast  sealed  ?  To  ascer- 
tain, therefore,  what  really  existed  inside  it  then,  was 
evidently  a  very  definite  and  promising  sort  of  labour ; 
and  why  should  not  the  young  Caliph  Al  Mamoun 
undertake  it  ? 


Chap.  VL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  83 

Caliph  Al  Mamoun  attacks  the  Northern  Flank  of  the 
Great  Pyraimid. 

He  did  so,  and  directed  liis  Mohammedan  workmen 
to  begin  at  the  middle  of  the  northern  side  ;  precisely, 
says  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson,  as  the  founders  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  had  foreseen,  when  they  placed  the  en- 
trance, not  in  the  middle  of  that  side,  but  twenty-four 
feet  away  to  the  east.  Hard  work,  therefore,  was  it  to 
these  masons,  quarrying  with  the  crude  instruments  of 
that  barbarous  time,  into  stone  work  as  solid  almost,  at 
that  place,  as  the  side  of  a  hill. 

They  soon  indeed  began  to  cry  out,  "  Open  that  won- 
derful Pyramid  !     It  could  not  possibly  be  done  !"     But 
the  Caliph  only  replied,  "  I  will  have  it  most  certainly 
done."      So  his  followers  perforce  had  to  quarry  on  un- 
ceasingly by  night  and  by  day.     Weeks  after  weeks,  and 
months  too,  were  consumed  in  these  toilsome  exertions  ; 
the  progress,  however,  though  slow,  was  so  persevering 
that  they  had  penetrated  at  length  to  no  less  than  one 
hundred   feet   in   depth    from  the    entrance.     But    by 
that   time    becoming    thoroughly    exhausted,    and    be- 
ginning again  to  despair  of  the  hard  and  hitherto  fruit- 
less labour,  some  of  them  ventured  to  remember  cer- 
tain improving  tales  of  an  old  king,  who  had  found  on 
a  calculation,  that  all   the  wealth  of  Egypt  in  his  time 
would  not  enable  him  to  destroy  one  of  the  Pyramids. 
These  murmuring  disciples  of  the  Arabian  prophet  were 
thus  almost  becoming  lOpenly  rebellious,  when  one  day, 
in   the   midst  of   theii  various  counsel,   they    heard  a 
great  stone  evidently  ftall  in  some  hollow  space,  within 
no  more  than  a  few  feet  from  them  ! 

In  the  fall  of  tliat  particular  stone  there  almost 
seems  to  have  been  an  accident  that  was  more  than  an 
accident. 

Energetically  they  instantly  pushed  on  in  the  direc- 


84  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

tion  of  the  strange  noise  ;  hammers,  and  fire,  and 
vinegar  heing  employed  again  and  again,  until,  breaking 
through  a  wall  surface,  they  burst  into  the  hollow  way, 
"  exceeding  dark,  dreadful  to  look  at,  and  difficult  to 
pass,"  they  said  at  first,  where  the  sound  had  occurred. 
It  was  the  same  hollow  way,  or  properly  the  Pyramid's 
entrance  passage,  where  the  Komans  of  old,  and  if  they, 
also  Greeks,  Persians,  and  Egyptians,  must  have  passed 
up  and  down  in  their  visits  to  the  subterranean  chamber 
and  its  unfinished,  unquarried  out,  floor.  Tame  and 
simple  used  that  entrance  passage  to  appear  to  those 
ancients,  but  now  it  stood  before  another  race,  and 
another  religion,  with  its  chief  leading  secret,  for  the 
first  time  since  its  foundation,  nakedly  exposed.  A 
large  angular-fitting  stone  that  had  made  for  ages  a 
smooth  and  polished  portion  of  the  ceiling  of  the  inclined 
and  narrow  passage,  quite  undistinguishable  from  any 
other  part  of  the  whole  course,  had  now  dropped  on  to 
the  floor  before  their  eyes,  and  revealed  that  there  was, 
at  and  in  that  point  of  the  ceiling,  another  passage, 
clearly  ascending  towards  the  south,  out  of  this  descend- 
ing one  !     (See  Plate  VIII.) 

But  that  ascending  passage  was  closed,  for  all  that, 
by  a  granite  portcullis,  formed  by  a  series  of  huge 
granite  plugs  of  square  wedge-like  shape  dropped  in, 
or  rather  slided  down  and  jammed  immovably,  from 
above.  To  break  them  in  pieces  within  the  confined 
entrance  passage  space,  and  pull  out  the  fragments  there, 
was  entirely  out  of  the  question  ;  so  the  grim  crew  of 
Saracen  Mussulmans  broke  away  sideways  or  round  about 
to  the  west  through  the  smaller  masonry,  and  so  up 
again  (by  a  huge  chasm  still  to  be  seen)  to  the  new 
ascending  passage,  at  a  point  past  the  terrific  hardness  of 
its  lower  granite  obstruction.  They  did  up  there,  or  at 
an  elevation  above  and  position  beyond  the  portcullis, 
find  the  filling  material  of  the  ascending  passage  only 


Chap.  VI.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  85 

limestone  ;  so  making  themselves  a  very  great  hole  in 
the  masonry  alongside,  they  there  wielded  their  tools 
with  energy  on  the  long  fair  blocks  which  filled  that 
passage-way.  But  as  fast  as  they  broke  up  and  pulled 
out  the  pieces  of  one  of  the  blocks  in  this  strange 
ascending  passage,  other  blocks  above  it,  also  of  a 
bore  just  to  fill  its  full  dimensions,  slided  down  from 
above,  and  still  what  should  be  the  passage  for 
human  locomotion  was  solid  stone  filling.  No  help, 
however,  for  the  workmen.  The  Commander  of  the 
Faithful  is  present,  and  insists  that,  whatever  the  number 
of  stone  plugs  still  to  come  down  from  the  mysterious 
reservoir,  his  men  shall  hammer  and  hammer  them, 
one  after  the  other,  and  bit  by  bit  to  little  pieces,  until 
they  do  at  last  come  to  the  end  of  them.  So  the 
people  tire,  but  the  work  goes  on  ;  and  at  last  the 
ascending  passage  beginning  just  above  the  granite 
portcullis,  is  announced  to  be  free  from  obstruction  and 
ready  for  essay.  Then,  by  Allah,  they  shouted,  the 
treasures  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  sealed  up  from  the 
fabulous  times  of  the  mighty  Ibn  Salhouk,  and  unde- 
secrated,  as  it  was  long  supposed,  by  mortal  eye  during 
three  thousand  years,  lay  full  in  their  grasp  before  them. 
On  they  rushed,  that  bearded  crew,  thirsting  for  the 
promised  wealth.  Up  no  less  than  110  feet  of  the 
steep  incline,  crouched  hands  and  knees  and  chin 
together,  through  a  passage  of  royally-polished  lime- 
stone, but  only  47  inches  in  height  and  41  in  breadth, 
they  had  painfully  to  crawl,  with  their  torches  burning 
low.  Then  suddenly  they  emerge  into  a  long  tall  gallery, 
of  seven  times  the  passage  height,  but  all  black  as  night ; 
still  ascending  though  at  the  strange  steep  angle,  and 
reaching  away  farther  and  still  more  far  into  the  very 
inmost  heart  of  darkness  of  this  imprisoning  mountain 
of  stone.  In  front  of  them,  at  first  entering  here,  and 
on  the  level,  se6  anothet  low  passage ;  on  their  right 


86  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

hand  (see  Plate  XIII.)  a  black,  ominous-looking  well's 
mouth,  more  than  140  feet  deep,  and  not  reaching  water 
but  only  lower  darkness  even  then ;  while  onwards  and 
above  them,  a  continuation  of  the  glorious  gallery  or 
hall  of  seven  times,  leading  them  up  to  the  possession 
of  all  the  treasures  of  the  great  ones  of  the  antediluvian 
earth.  Narrow,  certainly,  was  the  way — only  6  feet 
broad  anywhere,  and  contracted  to  3  feet  at  the  floor 
— but  28  feet  high,  or  almost  above  the  power  of  their 
smoky  lights  to  illuminate  ;  and  of  polished,  glistering, 
marble-like,  Cyclopean  stone  throughout.  (See  Plates 
VIII,  XL,  and  XII.) 

That  must  surely  be  the  high-road  to  fortune  and 
wealth.  Up  and  up  its  long  ascending  floor-line,  ascend- 
ing at  an  angle  of  26°,  these  determined  marauders,  with 
their  lurid  fire-lights,  had  to  push  their  dangerous  and 
slippery  way  for  150  feet  more  ;  then  an  obstructing 
three-foot  step  to  climb  over ;  next  a  low  doorway  to  bow 
their  heads  beneath  ;  then  a  hanging  portcullis  to  pass, 
almost  to  creep  under,  most  submissively  ;  then  another 
low  doorway  in  awful  blocks  of  frowning  red  granite 
both  on  either  side  and  above  and  below;  but  after  that 
they  leapt  without  further  let  or  hindrance  at  once  into 
the  grand  chamber,  which  was,  and  is  still,  the  conclusion 
of  everything  forming  the  Great  Pyramid's  interior  ;  the 
chamber  to  which,  and  for  which,  and  towards  which, 
according  to  every  subsequent  writer,  in  whatever  other 
theoretical  point  he  may  differ  from  his  fellows,  the 
whole  Great  Pyramid  was  built.      (See  Plate  XL) 

And  what  find  they  there,  those  maddened  Muslim 
in  Caliph  Al  Mamoun's  train  ?  A  right  noble  apart- 
ment, now  called  the  King's  Chamber,  34  feet  long,  17 
broad,  and  1 9  high,  of  polished  red  granite  throughout, 
both  walls,  floor,  and  ceiling ;  in  blocks  squared  and 
true,  and  put  together  with  such  exquisite  skill  that  the 
joints  are  barely  discernible  to  the  closest  inspection. 


Chap.  VL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  87 

Ay,  ay,  no  doubt  a  well-built  room,  and  a  handsome 
one  too  ;  but  what  does  it  contain  ?  What  is  the  trea- 
sure ?  The  treasure  !  yes  indeed,  where  are  the  silver 
and  the  gold,  the  jewels,  medicines,  and  arms  ?  These 
fanatics  look  wildly  around  them,  but  can  see  nothing, 
not  a  single  dirhem  anywhere.  They  trim  their  torches, 
and  carry  them  again  and  again  to  every  part  of  that 
red-walled,  flinty  hall,  but  without  any  better  success. 
Nought  but  pure,  polished  red  granite,  in  mighty  slabs, 
looks  upon  them  from  every  side.  The  room  is  clean, 
garnished  too,  as  it  were  ;  and,  according  to  the  ideas 
of  its  founders,  complete  and  perfectly  ready  for  its 
visitors,  so  long  expected,  so  long  delayed.  But  the 
gross  minds  who  occupy  it  now,  find  it  all  barren ;  and 
declare  that  there  is  nothing  whatever  for  them,  in  the 
whole  extent  of  the  apartment  from  one  end  to  another  ; 
nothing  except  an  empty  stone  chest  without  a  lid. 

The  Caliph  Al  Mamoun  was  thunderstruck.  He 
had  arrived  at  the  very  ultimate  part  of  the  Great 
Pyramid  he  had  so  long  desired"  to  take  possession  of ; 
and  had  now,  on  carrying  it  by  storm,  found  absolutely 
nothing  that  he  could  make  any  use  of,  or  saw  any  value 
in.  So  being  signally  defeated,  though  a  Commander 
of  the  Faithful,  his  people  began  muttering  against 
him ;  and  to  exclaim,  too,  in  most  virtuous  phrases 
of  religious  repentance  upon  both  their  own  waste  of 
time,  and  the  treason  and  treachery  of  some  one. 

But  Al  Mamoun  was  a  Caliph  of  the  able  day  of 
Eastern  rulers ;  so  he  had  a  large  sum  of  money 
secretly  brought  from  his  treasury  and  buried  by  night 
in  a  certain  spot.  Next  day  he  caused  the  men  to  dig 
precisely  there,  and  behold !  although  they  were  only 
digging  in  the  Pyramid  masonry  just  as  they  had 
been  doing  during  so  many  previous  days,  yet  on  this 
day  they  found  a  treasure  of  gold  ;  ''and  the  Caliph  or- 
dered it  to  be  counted,  and  lo  !   it  was  the  exact  sum 


88  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

that  had  been  incurred  in  the  works,  neither  more  nor 
less.  And  the  Caliph  was  astonished,  and  said  he  could 
not  understand  how  the  kings  of  the  Pyramid  of  old, 
before  the  Deluge,  could  have  known  exactly  how  much 
money  he  would  have  expended  in  his  undertaking, 
and  he  was  lost  in  surprise."  But  as  the  workmen  got 
paid  for  their  labour,  and  cared  not  whose  gold  they 
were  paid  with  so  long  as  they  did  get  their  wage,  they 
ceased  their  complaints.  While  as  for  the  Caliph,  he 
returned  to  his  city  home,  musing  on  the  wonderful 
events  that  had  happened  ;  and  both  the  King's  Chamber 
and  the  ''  granite  chest  without  a  lid  "  were  troubled 
by  him  no  more. 

The  poets  of  El  Kahireh  did  indeed  tune  their  lutes 
once  again,  and  celebrate  their  learned  j)atron's  discoveries 
in  that  lidless  box  of  granite.  According  to  some  of 
them,  a  dead  man  with  a  breast-plate  of  gold,  and  an 
emerald  vase  a  foot  in  diameter,  and  "  a  carbuncle  which 
shone  with  a  light  like  the  light  of  day,  and  a  sword  of 
inestimable  value  and  7  spans  long,  with  a  coat  of  mail 
1 2  spans  in  length  "  (all  of  them  very  unlike  an  Egyp- 
tian mummy  of  the  usual  type),  rewarded  his  exertions; 
though,  according  to  others,  the  chest'  was  really 
crammed  to  the  brim  with  coined  gold  "  in  very  large 
pieces ; "  while  on  the  cover,  which  others  again  main- 
tained was  not  there '  then  and  is  certainly  not  to  be 
seen  now,  was  written  in  Arabic  characters,  "Abou 
Amad  built  this  Pyramid  in  1,000  days."  But  nothing 
further  of  importance  was  actually  done  in  a  cause 
which  men  began  now  to  deem,  in  spite  of  their  poets, 
to  be  absolutely  worthless,  and  in  a  region  more  pro- 
fitless to  all  mere  sensualists  than  the  desert  itself. 
The  way  of  approach,  however,  once  opened  by  Al 
Mamoun,  remained  then  free  to  all ;  and  "  men  did 
enter  it,"  says  one  of  the  honestest  chroniclers  of  that 
day,  '*  for  many  years,  and  descended  by  the  slippery 


Chap.  YL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  89 

passage  which  is  in  it ; "  but  with  no  other  result  than 
this,  ''  that  some  of  them  came  out  safe  and  others 
died." 

Reaction  after  the  Exciteifnent 

A  still  more  edifying  account,  in  a  moral  and  cor- 
rectional point  of  view,  was  attempted  by  one  *'  Masondi 
in  the  Akbar-Ezzeman,"  writing,  one  would  think,  for 
children  of  tender  years ;  for  this  is  the  burden  of  his  tale. 

''  Certain  explorers  who  had  formed  a  party,"  said  he, 
"  discovered  in  the  lowest  part  of  the  Great  Pyramid 
a  square  chamber,  wherein  was  a  vase  containing  a 
quantity  of  fluid  of  an  unknown  quality.  The  walls 
of  the  chamber  were  composed  of  small  square  stones 
of  beautiful  colours,  and  a  person  having  put  one  of 
these  stones  into  his  mouth,  was  suddenly  seized  with 
a  pain  in  his  ears,  which  continued  until  he  had  re- 
placed it.  They  also  discovered  in  a  large  hall  a 
quantity  of  golden  coins  put  up  in  columns,  every 
piece  of  which  was  of  the  weight  of  1,000  dinars. 
They  tried  to  take  the  money^  but  were  not  able  to 
move  it.  In  another  place  they  found  the  image  of 
a  sheikh,  made  of  green  stone,  sitting  upon  a  sofa,  and 
wrapped  up  in  a  garment.  Before  him  were  statues 
of  little  boys,  whom  he  was  occupied  in  instructing. 
The  discoverers  tried  to  take  up  one  of  these  figures, 
but  they  were  not  able  to  move  it.  Continuing  their 
researches,  they  came  to  a  female  idol  of  white  stone, 
with  a  covering  on  her  head,  and  lions  of  stone  on 
each  side  attempting  to  devour  her  ;  on  seeing  which 
they  were  so  immensely  frightened,  that  they  took  to 
flight.  This  happened,"  the  educational  sage  Masondi 
is  particular  to  record,  in  order  to  clinch  its  date,  "  in 
the  time  of  Yerid  Ben  Abdullah  ;  though  who  ho  was, 
is  a  problem." 

Another  writer  aims  at  the  Caliph  himself,  who  is 


90  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

described  in  the  third  person,  as  "  one  who  employed 
three  years,  and  considerable  sums,  in  endeavouring 
to  enter  the  Pyramid,  and  who  found  little  or  no 
treasure;  but  saw  an  inscription  in  letters  of  gold  on 
the  side  of  the  chamber,  declaring  that  "the  impious 
violator  of  the  tomb  should  experience,  as  his  sole 
reward,  the  regret  of  having  committed  a  sacrilegious 
action  without  any  successful  result."  While,  finally,  a 
surveying  British  general  officer  of  the  Koyal  Engineers, 
determined  to  bend  the  bow  the  other  way,  freely  an- 
nounces in  1869  that  the  king's  body  (that  is,  Cheops'), 
after  a  repose  of  2,960  years,  was  thrown  out  of  its 
tomb  by  Al  Mamoun,  and  "  treated  with  grossest  indig- 
nities by  the  rabble  of  the  streets  of  Cairo." 

But  to  return  to  something  like  the  sober  chronicles 
of  the  period,  it  was  years  after  the  Caliph's  assault  on 
the  inside  of  the  Pyramid,  that  there  began  that  de- 
spoiling of  its  outside  which  was  carried  on  by  many 
generations  of  Cairenes  systematically,  until  all  the 
white  and  polished  blocks  of  the  casing  (except  the 
two  which  Colonel  Howard-Yyse  was  to  bring  to 
light  1,000  years  afterwards)  had  been  removed 
for  the  building  of  new  Cairo ;  and  the  grand  old 
primeval  inscription  on  the  outside  of  the  Pyramid, 
"  engraved,"  somewhere  about  the  days  of  Job,  "  with 
an  iron  pen  and  lead  in  the  rock  for  ever," — what 
became  of  it :  and  what  would  it  have  told  if  translated 
by  a  more  able  linguist  and  impartial  judge,  than  the 
idolatrous  Egyptian  priest  who  put  ofP  Herodotus  with 
an  idle  jest  ? 

The,  Euro'pean  Mind  enters  into  the  Question. 

Centuries    passed   by,   and    then    modern   European 

travellers  began  to  look  in  at  the  Great  P^^amid.     The 

Eastern  day-dream  of  wealth  had   departed,  but    that 

empty  stone  chest  still  offered  itself  there  in  the  interior 


Chap.  VL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  91 

for  explanation.  Why  was  it  in  such  a  place  of  honour  ? 
Why  was  the  whole  Pyramid  arranged  in  subservience 
to  it  ?  Why  was  it  so  unpretending  and  plain  ?  Why 
had  its  lid  been  forgotten  ?  Why  was  the  whole  thing 
empty  ?      Why  was  it  utterly  without  inscription  ? 

Gradually  the  notion  grew  that  it  might  be  a  sarco- 
phagus ;  that  it  was  a  sarcophagus  ;  and  that  it  had 
been  intended  for  "  that  Pharaoh  who  drove  the  Israel- 
ites out  of  Egypt ;  and  who,  in  the  end,  leaving  his 
carcase  in  the  Red  Sea,  never  had  the  opportunity  of 
being  deposited  in  his  own  tomb." 

But  this  idea  was  effectually  quashed,  for,  amongst 
other  reasons,  this  cogent  one, — that  the  Great  Pyramid 
was  not  only  built,  but  had  been  sealed  up  too  in  all  its 
more  special  portions,  long  before  the  birth  even  of  that 
Pharaoh.  Nay,  before  the  birth  of  Isaac  and  Jacob  as 
well ;  which  disposes  likewise  of  the  attempt  to  call  the 
Great  Pyramid  "  the  tomb  of  Joseph,"  whose  mortal 
remains  being  carried  aw^ay  by  the  Israelites  in  their 
Exodus,  left  the  vacancy  we  now  see  in  the  coffer  or 
stone  box. 

Then  wrote  some,  "  here  was  buried  King  Cheops,  or 
Chemmis,  but  his  body  hath  been  removed  hence." 
Whereupon  Professor  Greaves  pointed  out  "  that  Dio- 
dorus  hath  left,  above  1,600  years  since,  a  memor- 
able passage  concerning  Chemmis,  the  builder  of  the 
Great  Pyramid,  and  Cephren,  the  founder  of  the  work 
adjoining  :  ''Although,"  saith  he,  "  these  kings  intended 
these  for  their  sepulchres,  yet  it  happened  that  neither 
of  them  were  buried  there.  For  the  people  being 
exasperated  against  them  by  reason  of  the  toilsomeness 
of  these  works,  and  for  their  cruelty  and  oppression, 
threatened  to  tear  in  pieces  their  dead  bodies,  and  with 
ignominy  to  throw  them  out  of  their  sepulchres.  Where- 
upon both  of  them,  dying,  commanded  their  friends  to 
bury  them  in  an  obscure  place." 


92  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Paut  II. 

And  again,  other  scliolars  brought  up  the  very  clear 
account  of  Herodotus,  that  King  Cheops  was  not  buried 
in  the  Great  Pyramid  building  above,  because  he  was 
buried  in  a  totally  different  place ;  viz.,  "  in  a  subter- 
ranean region  on  an  island  always  surrounded  by  the 
waters  of  the  Nile."  And  if  that  necessarily  and 
hydraulically  means  a  level  into  which  the  Nile  water 
could  always  flow,  it  must  have  been  at  a  depth  of 
more  than  fifty  feet  below  the  very  bottom  of  even  the 
unfinished  subterranean  chamber  carved  deep  in  the 
rock  underneath  the  Great  Pyramid,  and  not  in  the 
direction  of  the  grand,  upper,  built  room  with  its  empty 
stone  chest  discovered  by  Al  Mamoun  in  the  sub-aerial 
masonry  of  the  building. 

The  Tomhic  Theory. 

So  in  later  years,  all  the  single  sarcophagus  propo- 
sitions for  the  benefit  of  the  empty  stone  chest  having 
failed,  they  have  been  merged  into  a  sort  of  general 
sarcophagus  theory,  that  some  one  must  have  been 
buried  there.  And  this  notion  finds  much  favour  with 
the  hierologists  and  Egyptologists,  as  a  school ;  for  these 
gentlemen  will  insist  on  keeping  up  a  hold  over  the 
Great  Pyramid,  as  being  a  valuable  part  of  their  art,  and 
a  grand  chariot  to  drive  withal  before  the  wondering 
gaze  of  mankind.  They  allow,  that  in  no  other  pyramid 
is  the  sarcophagus  —  as  they  boldly  call  the  stone 
chest,  or  granite  box,  or  porphyry  coffer  (though  it  is  not 
porphyry  either)  of  other  authors — contained  high  up  in 
the  body  of  the  Pyramid,  far  above  the  surface  of  the 
ground  outside ;  that  in  no  other  case  is  it  perfectly 
devoid  of  adornment  or  inscription  ;  that  in  no  other 
case  has  the  lid  so  strangely  vanished ;  in  no  other  case 
are  the  neighbouring  walls  and  passages  of  the  Pyramid 
so  devoid  of  hieratic  and  every  other  emblem ;  in  fact. 


Chap.  VI.]  THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID, 


93 


tliey  allow  that  the  red  granite  coffer,  with  all  that  part 
of  the  Pyramid's  chambers  and  ascending  passages  where 
it  is  found,  and  which  opened  itself  so  strangely  to 
the  eyes  of  the  Arabians  after  3,000  years  of  con- 
cealment, is  entirely  unique  and  peculiar  to  the  Great 
Pyramid.  The  coffer  and  its  chamber,  the  Grand 
Gallery  and  the  passages  leading  to  it,  form  indeed  a 
sort  of  machinery  which  is  altogether  in  addition  to 
what  the  other  pyramids  possess  ;  while  what  they  have, 
the  Great  Pyramid  has  also,  though  it  never  completed 
and  used  it ;  viz.,  the  subterranean  chamber  and  descend- 
ing passage  intended  to  be — sepulchral-notion  inspiring, 
or  sepulchral,  if  you  will,  but  never  finished — though 
left  enterable  at  any  time  through  all  antiquity. 

Observe  also  with  the  alleged  "  sarcophagus,"  in  the 
Kings  Chamber  (for  so  is  that  apartment  now  most 
generally,  though  perhaps  erroneously,  termed),  that 
there  was  no  ancient  attempt  to  build  the  vessel  up  and 
about  in  solid  masonry,  in  the  most  usual  manner  for 
securing  a  dead  body  inviolate.  On  the  contrary,  there 
were  magnificently  built  white  stone  passages  of  a  most 
lasting  description,  and  in  a  different  material  to  the 
rest  of  the  fabric,  as  well  as  fit  for  continued  use 
through  long  ages,  leading  straight  up  to  such  sarco- 
phagus from  the  very  entrance  itself ;  while,  more  notably, 
the  shapely  King's  Chan^ber  was  intended  to  be  ventilated 
in  the  most  admirable  manner  by  the  "  air  channels  " 
discovered  by  Colonel  Howard- Vyse ;  evidently  (as  the 
actual  fact  almost  enables  us  to  say  with  security)  in 
order  that  men  might  come  there  from  time  to  time, 
and  look  on,  and  deal  with,  that  open  granite  chest, 
and  live  and  not  die. 

But  how  is  it  known,  or  can  it  be  proved,  that  there 
are  not  similar  secret  chambers  in  the  other  pyramids 
also? 

Something  may  be  done  in  this  way ;  firstly,  with 


94  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IT. 

tlie  example  of  the  Great  Pyramid  to  go  by,  during 
1,000  years,  the  other  j^yramids  have  been  abundantly 
examined,  and  industriously  probed  for  like  features, 
regardless  of  expense,  but  without  success.  In  the 
second  place,  some  of  the  others  have  become  dilapi- 
dated to  an  extent  that  should  show  such  chambers  if 
they  were  there ;  and  in  the  third  place,  whereas  the 
third  Pyramid  of  Jeezeh  has  been  admired  by  some 
authors*  as  the  third  and  most  perfect  work  of  the 
true  Egyptian  pyramid  builders,  where  every  excellence 
of  their  system  was  introduced,  that  very  pyramid  was 
bored  centrally  and  vertically  through  by  Colonel 
Howard- Vyse  without  detecting  anything  but  solid 
masonry  until  its  subterraneans  were  finally  reached  ; 
and  then  the  scene  partook  decidedly  of  Egypt  the 
profape,  with  a  richly  ornamented  sarcophagus  and  an 
idolatrous  dedication  in  Mizraite  hieroglyphics  on  the 
coffin  board. 

What  then  Avas  the  purpose  of  all  that  upper  system 
in  the  Great  Pyramid,  above  its  one  entrance  passage 
which  descends  ultimately  to  the  lower,  or  underground 
chamber  ?  Why  too  was  not  that  unique  upper  system 
of  sub-aerial  chambers.  Grand  Gallery,  .and  ascending 
passages  made  easy  of  access  to  Egyptians,  Persians, 
Greeks,  and  Komans  in  their  time  ;  or  rather,  why  was 
it  so  entirely  and  scrupulously  concealed  from  every  one 
of  them  through  all  their  long  historical  day  ? 

Hieroglyphics,  and  their  modern  Egyptologist  inter- 
preters, are  plainly  at  fault  here  ;  for,  always  excepting 
the  quarry-marks  in  strokes  of  red  paint  on  the  un- 
finished stones  in  the  black  hollows  of  construction,  there 
are  no  hieroglyphics  to  translate  upon  either  the  granite 
coffer,  the  chamber  which  contains  it,  or  even  the  whole 
of  the  Great  Pyramid.  Nor  has  anything,  in  all  hiero- 
glyphic literature  throughout  all  Egypt,  ever  been  dis- 

*  H.  C.  Agnew,  ''Letters  on  the  Pyramids,"  1838. 


CHAr.  VI.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  95 

covered  throwing  the  smallest  light  on,  or  displaying 
the  most  distant  knowledge  of,  the  ascending  interior  of 
this  one,  most  unique,  of  all  the  pyramids. 

The  Exclusively  Tomhic  Theory  receives  a  Shake. 

Meanwhile,  some  few  good  men  and  true  in  scientific 
researches — witness  M.  Jomard  in  the  celebrated  "  De- 
scription de  I'Egypte,"  and  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  in  his 
own  works — have  begun  to  express  occasional  doubts  as 
to  whether  any  dead  body  of  a  king  or  other  mortal 
man  ever  was  deposited  in  the  strangely-shaped  vessel 
of  the  King's  Chamber. 

.The  actual  words  of  that  most  philosophic  Egypto- 
logist, Sir  G.  Wilkinson,  are  :  "  The  authority  of  Arab 
writers  is  not  always  to  be  relied  on ;  and  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  the  body  of  the  king  was  really 
deposited  in  the  sarcophagus;"  i.e.,  of  the  Great 
Pyramid  ;  and  the  remark,  so  far,  is  unassailable.  But 
when  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  I  do  not  presume  to  explain 
the  real  object  for  which  the  pyramids  were  built,  but 
feel  persuaded  that  they  served  for  tombs,  and  were 
also  intended  for  astronomical  purposes,"  why  then  it 
is  plain  that  he  is  mixing  up  two  very  different  things, 
viz.,  the  one  Great,  pure  and  anti-Egyptian  Pyramid, 
with  any  number  of  other  pyramids  truly  and  absolutely 
Egyptian  and  Pharaonic. 

Another  Egyptologist,  of  less  mature  years,  but  loud 
in  talk,  rushes  in  thus  heedlessly  where  his  better, 
with  reason,  had  feared  to  tread,  declaring,  "  The 
pyramids  were  in  all  cases  tombs,  and  nothing  more. 
That  they  were  places  of  sepulture  is  enough,  to  any 
one  acquainted  with  the  character  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians,  to  prove  that  they  had  no  other  use  ;  but 
were  it  not  so,  our  knowledge  of  their  structure  would 
afford    conclusive   evidence."     And   then    follows    that 


96  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  IL 

author's  knowledge  of  their  structure,  and  it  leaves  out, 
neatly  and  completely,  though  painted  by  his  own 
admiring  self,  all  that  is  peculiar  to  the  Great  Pyramid. 

Now  it  was  precisely  when  another,  viz.  M.  Jomard, 
was  studying  that  grand  phenomenon's  peculiar  features, 
and  comparing  them  day  after  day  with  the  ordinary 
forms  of  old  Egyptian  pyramids,  that  he,  discussing 
the  matter  at  leisure  with  the  other  members  of  the 
French  Academy  then  in  Egypt,  began  shrewdly  to 
suspect  that  the  object  of  both  the  coffer  itself,  and  the 
place  it  was  in,  "  might  be  entirely  and  totally  dif- 
ferent "  from  either  the  treasure-theory  of  the  East,  or 
sepulchral,  i.e.  tomhic,  theory  of  Western  minds  :  and 
would  probably  prove,  if  correctly  understood,  to  be 
something  gifted  with  a  very  high  value  indeed  for 
nations  who  were  far  advanced  in  civilisation  and  in- 
tellectuality. He  even  fancied  that  it  might  have  some- 
thing to  do  with  a  standard  measure  of  length,  and 
believed  at  one  time  that  he  had  detected  an  analogy 
to  the  then  new  French  metre  on  one  part  of  the  coffer. 

Something  of  a  metrological  kind  had  also  been 
speculated  on  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton  more  than  a  century 
earlier ;  and  though  sufficiently  accurate  measures  at 
last  failed  him,  yet  he  did  succeed  in  getting  out,  so 
far  as  he  had  foundations  to  go  on  at  all,  a  number  of 
instances  indicating  with  much  probability  that  certain 
harmonious  proportions  of  a  fixed  measure  of  length 
were  generally  adhered  to  in  the  formation  of  many  of 
the  Pyramid's  passages  and  chambers. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  this  good  beginning,  little  more 
was  subsequently  tried  by  any  one  else  in  the  same 
direction.  The  crowd  in  society  still  belonged  to  either 
the  treasure,  or  the  tombic,  school ;  and  both  parties 
were  equally  offended  at  the  poverty  of  the  contents  of 
the  chamber  in  general,  and  the  lidless  granite  chest  in 
particular. 


Chap.  VL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  97 

Eacli  had  expected  riches  after  their  own  heart's  desire ; 
and  instead  of  them,  merely  found  this  plain  stone  box, 
made  indeed,  they  allowed,  with  exquisite  geometric 
truth,  rectangular  within  and  without,  highly  polished, 
and  of  a  fine  bell-metal  consistency,  in  a  sort  of  hard, 
compact,  faultless,  syenitic  granite ;  but  then  it  was 
empty,  they  said,  and  the  lid  was  gone?  So  they  were 
all  grievously  offended  at  it,  and  are  so  still :  one  man, 
as  an  example  of  the  civilised,  wealthy,  and  educated 
modern  Europeans,  hits  the  coffer  a  bang  with  a  big 
hammer,  merely  to  hear  over  again  what  fifty  persons 
had  recorded  before  him,  viz.,  "that  it  rings  like  a 
bell  on  being  struck  ;"  another  actually  breaks  off  a 
j)ortion  for  a  "  specimen  ; "  another  tries  to  do  the 
same  and  cannot,  though  he  tries  with  all  his  might ; 
and  though  the  Anglo-Indian  soldiers  under  General  Sir 
David  Baird  succeeded  only  too  well.'"  While,  finally. 
Dr.  Lepsius,  whom  Gliddon  states  with  pride,  "  has  been 
justly  termed  by  the  great  Letronne,  the  hope  of 
Egyptian  study,''  planted  a  young  palm-tree  in  the 
hollow  of  the  ancient  coffer,  to  act  as  a  German 
Christmas-tree ;  a  gracious  tree,  on  whose  branches 
he  should  hang  some  baubles  which  he  had  bought 
in  Cairo,  as  presents  for  himself  and  his  Prussian 
friends  ;  whom  he  fondly  calls  "  children  of  the  wilder- 
ness," on  the  strength  of  having  been  resident  for  a 
few  weeks  in  the  comfortable  parts  of  Lower  Egypt. 

John  Taylor  8  Theory, 

In  the  midst  of  such  scenes,  illustrating,  unfortu- 
nately, what  is  actually  going  on  among  the  Egypto- 
logists in  the  nineteenth  century,  comes  out  the  late 
John  Taylor  with  the  result  of  his  long  researches ;  and 
suggests  that,  "The   coffer  in  the  King's  Chamber  of 

*  "Description  de  I'Egypte; "  and  Dr.   Clarke  in  his  Travels;   but 
defended  against  them  by  Colonel  Howard- Vyse. 

H 


98  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IL 

the  Great  Pyramid  was  intended  to  be  a  standard 
measure  of  capacity  and  weight  fit  for  all  nations;  and 
certain  nations  did  originally  receive  their  weights  and 
measures  from  thence  ;  so  that  those  of  them  who 
still  preserve,  more  or  less  successfully,  with  their  lan- 
guage and  history  their  hereditary  weights  and  measures, 
may  yet  trace  their  pre-historic  connection  substantially 
with  that  one  primeval,  standard,  metrological  centre, 
the  Great  Pyramid." 

Take,  for  instance,  our  own  case.  When  the  British 
farmer  measures  the  wheat  which  the  bounty  of  Pro- 
vidence has  afforded  him  as  the  increase  of  his  land, 
in  what  terms  does  he  measure  it  ?     In  quarters. 

Quarters  !     Quarters  of  what  ? 

The  poor  farmer  does  not  know  ;  for  there  is  no 
capacity  measure  now  on  the  Statute-book  above  the 
quarter ;  but,  from  old  custom,  he  calls  his  largest 
corn  measure  a  quarter. 

Whereupon  John  Taylor  adds  in  effect :  "The  quarter 
corn  measures  of  the  British  farmer  are  fourth  parts  or 
quarters  of  the  contents  of  the  coffer  in  the  King's 
Chamber  of  the  Great  Pyramid  ;  and  the  same  Pyra- 
mid's name,  instead  of  being  descended  from  irvp,  fire, 
may  rather  have  been  derived  from  Trvpo^,  wheat,  and 
jiieTpov,  measure ;  signifying  a  '  measure  of  wheat.' 
To  establish  the  ground-work  of  an  international 
standard  to  that  end,  though  not  at  that  time  to 
publish  it  generally,  would  seem  to  have  been  a  leading 
purpose  of  the  Great  Pyramid  ages  ago  ;  and  the  true 
value,  in  size,  of  its  particular  measure,  has  not  sen- 
sibly deteriorated  during  all  the  varied  revolutions  of 
society  in  the  last  4,040  years  1" 

This  is  a  statement  requiring  full  examination. 


Chap.  VII.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  99 


CHAPTER  YII. 

THE   PYKAMID    COFFER. 

rFHE  first  part  of  the  problem  now  immediately  before 
-■-  us  should  be  both  short  and  simple ;  for  it  is, 
merely  to  determine  the  cubical  contents  of  the  vessel 
known  successively  or  variously  as  "  the  sarcophagus, 
the  empty  box,  the  lidless  stone  chest,"  or  more  philo- 
sophically and  safely,  so  as  not  to  entangle  ourselves 
with  any  theory,  "the  coffer"  in  the  King's  Chamber 
of  the  Great  Pyramid ;  "  the  only  and  one  thing,"  says 
that  quaint  old  traveller,  G.  Sandys,  *'  which  this  huge 
mass  containeth  within  his  darksome  entrails."* 

Reported  of  a  plain  rectangular  figure  within  and 
without,  carved  out  of  a  single  block  ;  of  moderate  size 
therefore  for  a  man  to  examine  and  survey,  and  acces- 
sible on  every  side,  what  should  present  so  easy  an  ad- 
measurement for  any  educated  man  to  make,  as  this 
coffer  of  the  Great  Pyramid  ?  How  often,  too,  has 
it  not  been  admeasured,  and  by  some  of  the  most 
learned  academicians  of  Europe  ?  even  as  though  they 
all  held  firmly  that  it  had  been  originally  designed 
and  constructed  only  for  that  one  end,  purpose,  and 
intention. 

From  Colonel  Howard- Vyse's  important  work  are 
drawn  forth  and  arranged,  in  the  following  table,  the 

*  George  Sandys'  "A  Eelation  of  a  Journey  begun  a.d.  1610." 


100 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  II. 


chief  measures  which  have  been  taken  between  1550 
and  1840  A. D.,  some  of  the  principal  authors  being  con- 
sulted in  their  original  writings.  Their  measures,  generally 
given  in  feet,  or  feet  and  inches,  or  metres,*  are  all  here 

Modern  Measures  or  the  Great  Pyramid-Coffer  up  to  a.d.  1864. 


Exterior.           1 

Intkrior. 

Authors. 

Date. 

Material  as 
named. 

T,Tiffth. 

Brdth.  Depth. 

Lngth.  Brdth. 

Depth. 

A.D. 

Ins. 

Ins. 

Ins. 

Ins. 

Ins. 

Ins. 

Bellonius  . 

1553 

Black  marble  . 

144- 

72- 

... 

P.  Alpinus 

1591 

Black  marble  . 

144- 

60- 

60-* 

... 

Sandys 

1610 

84- 

47- 

Breast- 
high. 

... 

... 

DeVillamont   . 

1618     Black  marble  . 

102- 

'.. 

60- 

Professor  Greaves    . 

1638  ;  Thebaic  marble 

87-5 

39-75 

39-75 

77-856 

26-616 

34'-32( 

De  Monconys    . 

1647  1 

86- 

37- 

40- 

M.  Thevenot     . 

1655  1  Hard  porphyry 

86- 

40- 

40- 

I'i'X 

29-'? 

M.  Lebrun 

1674               

74- 

37- 

40- 

... 

M.  MaiUet        .        . 

1692     Granite 

90- 

48- 

48- 

De  Careri  . 

1693     Marble 

86- 

37- 

39- 

... 

... 

Lucas 

1699 

Like  porphyry 

84- 

36- 

42- 

74-' ? 

26-'? 

... 

Egmont     . 

1709 

Thebaic  marble 

84- 

42- 

72-? 

... 

... 

Pere  Sicard       . 

1715 

Granite 

84- 

42-' 

36- 

... 

Dr.  Shaw  . 

1721 

Granite 

84- 

36- 

42- 

72-'? 

24-? 

... 

Dr.  Perry  . 

1743 

Granite 

84- 

80- 

36- 

M.  Denon . 

1799 

\ 

84- 

48- 

38- 

... 

... 

M.  Jomard  and  Eg. 

Fr.  Ac.           .        . 

1799 

Granite 

90-592 

39-450 

44-765 

77-836    26-694 

37-28 

Dr.  Clarke 

1801 

Granite 

87-5 

39-75 

39-75 

Mr.  Hamilton  . 

1801 

Granite 

90- 

42- 

42-0 

78-'? 

30-? 

Dr.  WhitmaTi   . 

1801 

78- 

38-75 

41-5 

66-? 

26-75? 

32-' 

Dr.  Wilson 

1805 

92- 

38- 

80-? 

26-? 

34-5 

M.  Caviglia 

1817 

90- 

39- 

42-' 

78-? 

27-? 

Dr.  Eichardson 

1817 

Bed  Granite 

90- 

39- 

39-5 

Sir  Gard.  Wilkinson 

1831 

Bed  Granite 

88- 

36- 

37- 

Col.  Howard- Vyse   . 

1837 

90-5 

39-0 

41-0 

78-0 

26'-"5 

34'5 

I^.B. — ^A  note  of  interrogation  after  any  of  the  interior  measures,  indicates  that  they 
have  been  obtained  bj'  applying  to  the  exterior  measures  the  "  thickness  "  as  given  by 
the  observer ;  such  thickness  being  supposed  to  apply  to  the  sides,  and  not  to  the 
bottom. 


set  down  in  inches,  to  give  a  clearer  view  of  the  progress 
of  knowledge  in  this  particular  matter.  And  now,  our 
only  bounds  to  exactness  will  be,  the  capability  of  these 
educated  men  of  Europe,  to  apply  accurate  measure  to  a 


*  The  feet  of  all  authors,  when  not  otherwise  particularized,  h^ve  been 
here  assumed  as  English  feet,  and  in  some  cases  may  require  a  correction 
on  that  account,  but  not  to  any  extent  sufficient  to  explain  the  chief 
aaomalies  observed. 


Chap.  V^IL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  loi 

regularly  formed  and  exquisitely  prepared  specimen  of 
ancient  mechanical  art. 


Reflections  on  the  Numbers  as  measured. 

Look  at  them,  then.  Surely  the  list  is  not  a  little 
appalling.  An  ordinary  carpenter  amongst  us  talks  of 
sixteenths  of  an  inch  quite  fluently,  and  sometimes 
undertakes  to  make  a  special  piece  of  cabinet  work  "  fit 
to  half  a  sixteenth  : "  but  our  learned  travellers  commit 
errors  of  many  whole  inches  ;  and  this  when  they  are 
measuring  the  one  and  only  internal  art-object  which 
the  Great  Pyramid  contains,  and  on  which  indeed  its 
whole  structure  focusses  and  concentrates  itself ;  a 
building  too  where  no  less  than  forty  centuries  are  be- 
holding their  proceedings,  just  as  they  are  said  to  have 
done  with  admiration  those  of  the  French  soldiers  in 
1799  ;*  but  are  also,  in  these  now  quiet  times,  weigh- 
ing rich  travellers,  learned  philosophers,  and  modern 
education  in  the  balance  of  truth  together. 

My  own  part  here  must  be  very  moderate  ;  for  I  am 
a  would-be  measurer  too,  never  perfectly  exact.  Yet 
even  I  have  to  say,  after  the  most  favourable  considera- 
tion possible,  that  out  of  the  twenty-five  quoted  authors 
no  less  than  twenty-two  must  be  discharged  summarily 
as  quite  incompetent,  whatever  their  mental  attainments 
otherwise,  to  talk  before  the  world  about  either  size  or 
proportion  in  any  important  practical  matter.  These 
rejected  ones  have  also  been,  to  so  lamentable  an  extent, 
uniformly  persevering  in  the  error  of  only  applying 
their  measures  directly  to  the  exterior  of  the  coffer, 
when  the  interior  is  the  really  valuable  feature  for 
theory  and  use  (and  is  the  more  lasting  fact  of  the 
two,  as  a  measure,   because  protected  from   injury  by 

*  "  Soldats !  du  haut  de  cea  Pyramides  quarante  sidclos  vous  con- 
templcut."— Xapoloou  iu  Egypt.^^ 


102  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

the  very  existence  of  the  exterior),  that  one  is  com- 
pelled at  last  to  doubt  these  men's  very  principles  of 
proceeding  as  well  as  every  practical  outcome  of  their 
measuring  skill. 

Professor  Greaves  in  1638,  the  French  academicians 
in  1799,  and  Colonel  Howard-Yyse  in  1837,  are  there- 
fore the  only  three  names  that  deserve  to  live,  as  coffer 
measurers,  in  the  course  of  250  years  of  legions  of 
visitors.  Of  these  three  parties  thus  provisionally 
accepted,  the  foremost  position  might  have  been  expected 
for  the  academicians  of  Paris.  Professor  Greaves  lived 
before  the  day  of  European  science  proper,  and  when 
Ptolemy's  works,  with  sundry  Arabian  authors,  were 
almost  the  only  books  thought  worthy  of  study  after  the 
classical  writers  of  Greece  and  Kome,  and  one  or  two  of 
re-arising  Italy ;  and  simply  because  there  were  so  very 
few  others.  While  Colonel  Howard-Yyse  did  not  lay 
himself  out  for  very  refined  measurements,  but  rather 
went  through  what  he  felt  himself  obliged  to  undertake 
in  that  direction,  in  the  same  fearless,  thorough-going, 
and  artless  manner  in  which  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was 
accustomed  to  review  a  picture  exhibition  in  London ; 
beginning  with  No.  1  in  the  catalogue,  and  going 
through  with  the  whole  of  them  conscientiously  to  the 
very  last  on  the  list. 

The  Colonel's  measures,  therefore,  are  respectable  and 
solidly  trustworthy  with  regard  to  large  quantities,  but 
not  much  more. 

With  the  French  academicians  it  is  quite  another 
thing ;  they  were  the  men,  and  the  successors  of  the 
men,  who  had  been  for  generations  measuring  arcs  of 
the  meridian,  and  exhausting  all  the  refinements  of 
microscopic  bisections  and  levers  of  contact  in  determin- 
ing the  precise  length  of  standard  scales.  Their  mea- 
sures, therefore,  ought  to  be  true  to  the  thousandth, 
and    even  the  ten-thousandth  part  of  an    inch :    and 


Chap.  VII.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  103 

perhaps  tliey  are  so  in  giving  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  coffer ;  but,  alas  !  in  their  statements  of  the  depth, 
both  inside  and  Out,  there  seems  to  have  been  some 
incomprehensible  mistake  committed,  amounting  to 
nearly  three  whole  inches. 

I  have  looked  up  the  original  authorities  in  the 
"  Description  de  I'Egypte,"  have  reduced  the  metre  to 
inches  from  several  different  copies,  but  cannot  come  to 
any  other  conclusion  than  that  this  vital  portion  of  the 
Academy's  work  is  hugely  erroneous.  Their  length 
and  breadth  numbers  are  not  far  from  a  mean  of  good 
modern  observers ;  but  those  for  the  depth  are  outside 
all  other  good  men,  in  the  most  improbable  manner  to 
be  true.  I  have  written  to  the  Perpetual  Secretary  of 
the  Academy  in  Paris  upon  the  subject,  but  have  got  no 
answer  ;  and  all  my  attempts  to  prevail  on  friends  to 
seek  admission  to  the  original  documents  of  the  Egyp- 
tian expedition,  if  still  in  existence,  have  failed. 

Under  such  circumstances,  I  have  been  compelled  to 
discharge  the  French  Academy  also,  from  the  list  of 
fully  trustworthy  competitors  for  usefulness  and  fame  in 
Pyranid  coffer  metrology.  Only  two  names,  therefore, 
are  left — Howard- Vyse,  who  has  been  already  charac- 
terised, and  Greaves,  in  whom  we  have  most  fortunately 
a  hos:  indeed. 


Of  Professor  Greaves,  the  Oxford  Astronomer  in  1637. 

He  lived,  no  doubt,  before  the  full  birth  of  European 
science,  but  on  the  edge  of  an  horizon  which  is  eventful 
in  scientific  history.  Immediately  behind  him  were,  if 
not  the  dark  ages,  the  scholastic  periods  of  profitless 
verbal  disquisitions  ;  and  in  front,  to  be  revealed  after 
liis  death,  were  the  germs  of  the  mechanical  and  natural 
I)hilosophy  which  have  since  then  changed  the  face  of 
the  world.      There  is  no  better  a  life-point  that  can  be 


104  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

taken  than  Greaves',  whereby  to  judge  what  Europe  has 
gained  by  the  exercise  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
coupled  with  the  study  of  nature  direct,  through  two  and 
a  half  centuries  of  unrestricted  opportunity.  When  as 
much  more  time  has  passed  over  the  world,  as  now 
separates  us  from  Greaves'  age,  then — say  many  of  the 
safest  interpreters  of  the  sacred  prophecies — a  further 
Divine  step  in  the  development  of  the  Christian  dispen- 
sation will  have  commenced. 

But  of  Greaves   himself,   it  was   somewhat   strange, 
though   not    inexplicable,''"   that   he  should  make  the 

*  He  relates  his  ideas,  to  a  certain  extent,  thus  in  the  "Pyramido- 
graphia :  " — 

*'  These  proportions  of  the  chamber,  and  those  which  follow  of  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  hollow  part  of  the  tomb,  were  taken  by  me 
with  as  much  exactness  as  it  was  possible  to  do  ;  which  I  did  so  mach  the 
more  diligently,  as  judging  this  to  be  the  fittest  place  for  fixing  the 
measure  for  posterity — a  thing  which  hath  been  much  desired  by  learned 
men ;  but  the  manner  how  it  might  be  exactly  done  hath  been  thought 
of  by  none.  I  am  of  opirion  that,  as  this  Pyramid  hath  stood  3,000  years 
almost "  (this  material  under-estimaie  for  what  is  nearer  4,000  years, 
arose  from  a  mistaken  theory  of  Professor  Greaves  for  idertifying 
Herodotus's  name  of  the  Jeezeh  Pyramid-builders,  Cheops,  Chefren,  and 
Mycerinus,  with  kings  of  Manetho's  twentieth,  in  place  of  his  fourth, 
dynasty),  '*  and  is  no  whit  decayed  within,  so  it  may  continue  many 
thousand  years  longer;  and,  therefore,  that  after-times  measuring  these 
places  by  the  assigned,  may  hereby  find  out  the  just  dimensions  of  tha 
English  feet.  Had  seme  of  the  ancient  mathematicians  thought  of  this 
way,  these  times  would  not  have  been  so  much  perplexed  in  discovering 
the  measures  of  the  Hebrews,  Babylonians,  Egyptians,  Greeks,  and  other 
nations." — Greaves,  vol.  i.  p.  126. 

At  p.  346,  in  the  conclusion  of  his  "Denarius  "  dissertation.  Professor 
Greaves  gives  the  following  special  instances  of  his  measui-es,  which 
should  all  be  repeated  at  the  earliest  opportunity  : — 

"  The  first  and  most  easterly  of  the  three  great  Pyramids  in  Egypt 
hath  on  the  north  side  a  square  descent ;  when  you  are  entered  a  little 
past  the  mouth  of  it,  there  is  a  joint  or  line,  made  by  the  meeting  of  two 
smooth  and  polished  stones  over  your  head,  which  are  parallel  to  tiose 
under  your  feet ;  the  breadth  of  that  joint  or  line  is  3-463  of  the  English 
foot"  r=  41-556  Greaves'  English  inches. 

*'  Within  the  Pyramid,  and  about  the  midst  of  it,  there  is  a  fair  room 
or  chamber,  the  top  of  which  is  flat,  and  covered  with  nine  massy  stoaes  ; 
in  it  there  stands  a  hollow  tomb  of  one  entire  marble  stone  ;  the  length 
of  the  south  side  of  this  room,  at  the  joint  or  line  where  the  first  and 
second  rows  of  the  stone  meet,  is  34-380  feet"  =  412-560  G.  E.  inch«s. 

*'  The  breadth  of  the  west  side  of  the  same  room,  at  the  joint  or  line 
where  the  first  and  second  row  of  stones  meet,  is  17"190  feet "  =  206-280 
G.  E.  inches.  .  i         ' 


Chap.VXL]  the  great  pyramid.  105 

gi'eat  exertion  he  did  to  visit  the  Pyramids  in  the 
dangerous  times  of  1688  and  1639  ;  and  should,  as 
some  of  his  contemporaries  tauntingly  observed,  though 
he  was  a  professor  of  astronomy,  take  so  much  more 
care  in  providing  himself  with  a  linear  measuring-rod, 
than  with  any  astronomical  instruments  proper.  But 
the  use  which  he  made  of  that  same  measuring-rod 
("  a  ten-foot  radius,  most  accurately  divided  into 
10,000  parts,  besides  some  other  instruments,  for  the 
fuller  discovery  of  the  truth "),  when  he  had  entered 
the  Pyramid,  and  approached  the  granite  coffer  of  the 
King's  Chamber,  has  something  in  it  which  is  passing 
strange  indeed. 

Almost  every  other  visitor,  both  before  and  since, 
paid  vastly  more  attention  to  the  exterior  than  the 
interior  of  the  coffer.  Why,  then,  did  Professor 
Greaves,  when  engaged  on  the  exterior,  merely  give 
it  in  feet  and  inches,  as  thus, — "  the  exterior 
superficies  of  it  contains  in  length  seven  feet  three 
inches  and  a  half, — in  depth  it  is  three  feet  three 
inches  and  three-quarters,  and  is  the  same  in  breadth  "  ? 
But  when  he  comes  to  the  interior,  why  does  he  imme- 
diately address  himself  to  it,  as  to  a  matter  requiring 
vastly  more  accuracy  than  all  that  he  had  been  looking 
to  before  ?  "  Of  the  hollow,  therefore,  within,"  the 
coffer — or,  as  he  calls  it,  "  the  king's  monument," — he 
writes,  "  It  is  in  length  on  the  west  side,  six  feet,  and 
four  hundred  and  eighty -eight  parts  of  the  English  foot, 
divided  into  a  thousand  parts"  (that  is,  6  feet,  and 
488  of  1,000  parts  of  a  foot) ;  "in  breadth  at  the  north 
end,  two  feet,  and  two  hundred  and  eighteen  parts  of 
the  foot  divided  into  a  thousand  parts  "  (that  is,  2  feet 
and  218  of  1,000  parts  of  the  English  foot.)      "The 

"  The  hollow,  or  inner  part  of  the  marble  tomb  near  the  top,  on  the 
west  side  of  it,  is  in  length  6-488  feet "  =  77*856  G.  E.  inches. 

"  The  hollow,  or  inner  parfc  of  the  marble  tomb  near  the  top  of  it,  on 
the  north  side,  is  in  breadlh  2-218  feet"  =  26-616  G.  E.  inches. 


io5  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

deptli  is  2  feet  and  860  of  1,000  parts  of  the  English 
foot." 

And  he  defends  his  practice  in  this  instance  by 
adding :  "In  the  reiteration  of  these  numbers,  if  any 
shall  be  offended  either  with  the  novelty  or  tediousness 
of  expressing  them  so  often,  I  may  justify  myself  by  the 
example  of  Ulug  Beg,  nephew  of  Timurlane  the  Great 
(for  so  is  his  name,  and  not  Tamerlane),  and  Emperor 
of  the  Moguls,  or  Tatars  (whom  we  term  amiss  Tartars). 
For  I  find  in  his  astronomical  tables  (the  most  accurate 
of  any  in  the  East),  made  about  two  hundred  years 
since,  the  same  course  observed  by  him  when  he  writes 
of  the  Grecian,  Arabian,  and  Persian  epochas,  as  also 
those  of  Cataia  and  Turkistan.  He  expresseth  the 
numbers  at  large,  as  I  have  done  ;  then  in  figures,  such 

as  we  call  Arabian, ,  which  manner  I  judge 

worthy  of  imitation,  in  all  such  numbers  as  are  radical, 
and  of  more  than  ordinary  use." 


Or  eaves  and  Vyses  Coffer  Capacity  Beterininations. 

Exactly  why,  or  fully  wherefore,  it  was  put  into  the 
heart  of  the  mediaeval  Oxford  Professor  of  Astronomy  to 
consider,  contrary  to  the  usual  ideas  of  other  scientific 
visitors  and  admeasurers,  the  numbers  for  the  interior  of 
the  coffer  so  extra-remarkably  "radical  and  of  more 
than  ordinary  use,"  we  may  come  to  form  an  opinion  by- 
and-by ;  but  in  the  meantime  we  should  accept  the  fact 
with  thankfulness,  as  the  very  thing  of  all  others  which 
is  directly  to  the  point,  where  a  measure  of  capacity  is 
concerned.'"'     Hence  we  have  for  the  cubical  contents  of 

*  To  preserve  that  humility  which  is  equally  necessary  to  insure  ulti- 
mate success  in  the  paths  of  scientific  research,  and  in  a  certain  narrower 
and  more  important  way  as  well,  it  should  be  known  to  Professor  Greaves' 
countrymen  that  in  his  comparatively  careless  treatment  of  the  exterior 
of  the  coffer,  he  made  an  error  of  about  one  inch  in  the  height,  and  some- 
what more  in  the  length. 


Chap.  VIL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  107 

the  coffer  in  English  inches,  from  Greaves'  original 
measures,  in  1638 — 

77-856  X  26-616  X  34-320  =  71,118. 

And  by  Howard-Yyse's  measures,  also  just  as  taken  in 
1837— 780  X  26-5  x  345  =  71,311. 

Several  small  corrections  may  possibly  be  applicable  to 
these  mere  numbers  as  rudely  read  off;  but  for  the 
present  we  may  provisionally  accept  for  a  first  approxi- 
mation the  simple  mean  of  the  above  statements,  or 
71,214  cubic  inches,  as  the  apparent  capacity  contents 
of  the  coffer  of-  the  King's  Chamber. 

Wherefore  now,  what  proportion  does  that  number 
bear  to  the  capacity  of  four  modern  English  corn  quar- 
ters, in  terms  of  which  British  wheat  is  measured  and 
sold  at  this  very  hour  ? 

Eeferring  to  the  almanac  for  the  Act  of  Parliament  on 
the  subject,  we  find  in  our  copy  a  declaration,  that  the 
gill  "is  equal  to  8 '6 5 5  cubic  inches  ;"  and  then  going- 
through  the  continued  multiplications  for  pints,  quarts, 
&c.,  up  to  four  quarters,  we  have  for  that  collective 
quantity,  70,9 83  6 80  cubic  inches.  But  in  another 
copy,  one  gallon  is  declared  277 '274  cubic  inches; 
which,  being  similarly  multiplied  for  bushels,  quarters, 
and  four  quarters,  yields  70,982-144  English  cubic 
inches. 

Preferring,  then,  this  latter  quantity  as  having  under- 
gone less  multiplying  than  the  other,  the  degree  of 
agreement  between  a  quarter  British  and  a  fourth  part 
of  the  coffer,  or  granite  box,  and  possible  type  of  a  corn- 
measure  in  the  Great  Pyramid,  is  at  this  present  time  as 
17,746  :  17,801. 

Qualities  of  the  Coffers  "Quarter"  Measure, 

A  suflficiently  fair  amount  of  agreement  is  this,  between 
the  things  compared  (viz.,  the  Pyramid  coffer  on  one 


ibJ  OUJi  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  il.  I 

side  divided  into  four  by  not  very  modern  savants,  and  I 
on  the  other,  the  old  Anglo-Saxon  corn-measure  after 
being  too  often  "  adjusted "  by  Acts  of  Parliament, 
since  those  halcyon  days  of  rest  when  Edgar  "  the  j 
peaceable "  reigned  over  England  at  Winchester)  ;  suf- 
ficiently near,  I  repeat,  to  allow  all  friends  of  worthy  old 
John  Taylor  to  say  that  the  Great  Pyramid,  with  its 
coffer  of  four  corn-quarter  capacity  yet  measurable,  is 
in  so  far  still  capable  of  fulfilling  the  purpose  of  its 
ancient  name, — under  one  form  of  interpretation  at 
least :  and  if  there  be  after  all  anything  in  any  word  or 
name  more  worthy  the  attention  of  science,  than 
ancient  contemporary  mechanical  facts  that  may  still  be 
handled  and  measured  before  our  eyes. 

To  nations  in  a  more  or  less  primitive  condition,  the 
first  application  of  capacity  measures  would,  with  little 
doubt,  be  in  the  exchange  of  corn ;  and  through  what- 
ever subsequent  stage  of  power  or  luxury  or  refinement 
they  may  pass,  the  measuring  of  the  staff  of  life  will 
probably  still  keep  up  a  permanent  iajj|)brtance  over  every 
other  object  of  measuring  or  weighing,  even  though  it 
be  of  drugs,  or  silver,  or  gold, — in  perfect  accordance 
so  far  with  our  Lord's  Prayer,  where  the  only  material 
supplication  is,  "  Give  us  day  by  day  our  daily  hreadJ' 

Yet  it  is  to  be  remarked,  that  if  any  given  means  for 
measuring  corn  were  devised  by  a  very  superior  intelli- 
gence, they  should  eventually  be  found  applicable  also, 
so  far  as  principles  of  accuracy  go,  to  many  of  the  more 
artificial  and  precise  purposes  to  which  the  after  pro- 
gress of  mankind  may  introduce  them,  as  well  as  to  the 
rude  original  employ. 

Thus,  the  moon,  with  its  frequently  recurring  varia- 
tions and  phases,  serves  man  in  the  savage,  and  did 
serve  him  in  the  primitive  and  patriarchal  state,  as  a 
coarse  method  of  chronicling  time  over  a  few  months. 
In  a  more  artificial  and  civilised  condition,  some  of  the 


Chap.  VII.J  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


09 


larger  cycles  of  lunations  enable  him  to  speak  exactly 
of  many  years  at  a  time,  and  approximate  to  some 
eclipses.  In  a  further  advanced  condition,  the  moon's 
subsidiary  features  of  movement  enable  the  sailor 
in  the  midst  of  the  broad  surface  of  ocean,  assisted 
by  data  from  the  astronomer  and  mathematician  on 
shore,  to  measure  his  precise  longitude.  And  amongst 
the  ablest  minds  of  the  present  day,  the  theory  of  those 
movements  and  the  computation  of  their  nature,  forms 
an  arena  where  every  man  may  measure  off  his  own 
intellectual  height  at  the  base  of  an  infinite  cliff  which 
he  may  never  hope  to  stand  on  the  summit  of. 

In  exact  proportion,  therefore,  as  man  has  become 
able  to  profit  by  God's  moon,  which  he,  man,  was 
originally  told  was  merely  intended  to  rule  the  night,  so 
has  the  divinely  appointed  luminary  been  found  capable 
of  more  and  more  applications  ;  and  whenever  any 
difficulty  has  occurred,  it  has  never  been  any  want  of 
perfect  accuracy  in  the  lunar  machinery  itself  (for  that 
really  seems  infinite),  but  merely  in  the  power  of  man 
to  interpret  the  working  of  it. 

Is  there,  then,  anything  approaching  to  the  same 
suggestive  principle  connected  with  John  Taylor's  idea 
of  the  "  corn  measure  "  of  the  Great  Pyramid  ? 

There  can  be  no  harm  in  inquiring,  as  we  proceed 
with  our  grand  research ;  and  it  will  be  the  surest  way 
too  of  guarding  against  any  possibility  of  our  having 
been  misled  thus  far,  by  attending  overmuch  to  some 
single  fortuitous  coincidence. 

Let  us  conclude  this  chapter,  however,  of  rather  old, 
and  much  improvable  data  about  the  coffer's  dze,  by  a 
glance  at  the  material  of  this  most  interesting  vessel. 

Granite,  the  true  Material  of  the  Coffer. 
A  reference   to   the  third  column  of  our  table   on 
page  100,  will  show  that  travellers  have  assigned  the 


no  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

coffer  to  almost  every  mineral,  from  black  marble  to  red 
granite,  and  porphyry  of  a  colour  wliicb  no  one  has 
ventured  to  name.  The  majority  of  modern  authors 
are  in  favour  of  red  granite.  I  was  for  a  long  time 
before  going  to  Egypt  inclined  to  porphyry,  doubting 
if  anything  so  well  known  and  distinctly  marked  as  red 
granite  would  ever  have  been  called  black  marble  ;  and 
having  been  further  at  that  period  so  distinctly  assured 
about  the  coffer  by  a  railway  engineer  who  had  been 
much  in  Egypt,  that  "it  is  undoubtedly  porphyry  : " 
an  assertion  which  he  backed  up  by  describing  some 
of  the  differences  in  character  between  the  material  of 
the  coffer,  as  witnessed  by  himself,  and  the  indubitable 
red  granite  walls  of  the  chamber. 

This  granite  he  traced  to  the  quarries  of  Syene,  550 
miles  up  the  river  from  the  Pyramid ;  for  nearer  than 
that,  there  is  not  a  particle  of  granite  rock  on  the  banks 
of  the  Nile,  or  within  many  days'  journey  from  them  on 
either  side  :  but  there,  at  the  cataracts  of  the  Nile  above 
Syene,  it  abounds  ;  and  Syene  was  in  fact  a  storehouse 
of  granite  (of  the  syenitic  variety,  but  still  eminently  to 
be  called  granite  rather  than  by  any  other  mineral 
name  equally  understood  by  the  public  at  large)  for 
every  dynasty  that  sat  on  the  throne  of  Egypt  subse- 
quently to  the  building  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

Porphyry  may  not  improbably  be  also  found  at  Syene, 
amongst  the  veins  and  extravasations  of  granite  and 
basalt  which  there  abound  :  but  the  most  celebrated 
Egyptian  quarries  of  porphyry,  both  red  and  green, 
were  much  nearer  the  Bed  Sea  than  the  Nile,  or  at 
and  about  the  Gebel  Dokkan  and  Mount  Porphorytes ; 
therefore  in  much  closer  geographical  proximity  to,  and, 
perhaps,  geological  connection  with,  the  granite  moun- 
tains of  Sinai  than  the  plutonic  beds  of  Philse  and 
Syene. 

Nevertheless,  I  having  at  last  visited  Egypt  in  1864-5, 


Chap.  VII.]  THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  1 1 1 

after  the  publication  of  the  first  edition  of  this  book, 
spent  almost  whole  days  and  weeks  in  this  King's  Chamber 
of  the  Great  Pyramid,  until  all  sense  of  novelty  and 
needless  mystery  in  small  things  had  worn  away  ; 
and  then  decided,  without  the  smallest  hesitation,  for 
the  material  of  the  coffer  being  syenitic  granite ;  ex- 
ceedingly like,  but  perhaps  a  little  harder  as  well  as 
darker  than,  the  constructive  blocks  of  the  walls  of  the 
King's  Chamber  containing  it. 

Granite  in  the  Dark,  and  Semi-darJc,  Ages  now  gone  by. 

Modern  measures  of  the  coffer  are  still  awaiting  us ; 
but  first  I  will  plead  for  a  little  more  about  granite, 
so  necessary  is  it  for  every  one  to  know  intimately 
both  where  that  mineral  is,  and  where  it  is  not,  in  the 
structure  of  the  Great  Pyramid  :  besides  also  under- 
standing what  is  implied  mechanically,  and  also,  if 
possible,  what  was  intended  to  be  held  symbolically, 
whenever  the  primeval  architect  abandoned  the  use 
of  the  limestone  he  had  at  hand,  and  adopted  the 
granite  procured  with  utmost  toil  and  expense  from 
a  distance  ;  whether  it  came  from  Syene,  as  modern 
Egyptologists  usually  determine,  or  from  Sinai,  as 
Professor  Greaves  would  rather  infer. 

Recent  travellers  have  indeed  abundantly  detected  the 
cartouches  or  ovals  of  both  King  Cheops  and  King  Che- 
phren,  or  Shofo  and  Nou-Shofo,  of  the  Jeezeh  Pyramids, 
on  certain  quarried  rocks  in  the  Sinaitic  peninsula,  near 
Wadee  Maghara ;  but  the  "  works  "  with  which  these 
inscriptions  were  connected  are  generally  supposed  to 
have  been  copper  mines  and  emerald  pits  ;  and  the  follow- 
ing original  note  by  Professor  Greaves,  evidently  written 
long  before  the  day  of  mineralogy,  may  be  useful  for 
a  different  purpose.  The  passage  runs  as  follows  : — 
"  I  conceive  it "  (the  material  of  the  coffer)  "  to  be  of 
that  sort  of  porphyry   which  Pliny   calls   leucostictos, 


112  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  TT. 

and  describes  thus  : — '  Eubet  porjDhyrites  in  eadem 
iEgypto,  ex  eo  candidis  intervenientibus  punctis  leu- 
costictos  appellatur.  Quantislibet  molibus  csedendis 
sufficiunt  lapidicinse.'  Of  this  kind  of  marble  there 
was,  and  still  are,  an  infinite  quantity  of  columns  in 
Egypt.  But  Venetian,  a  man  very  curious,  who  ac- 
companied me  thither,  imagined  that  this  sort  of 
marble  came  from  Mount  Sinai,  where  he  had  lived 
amongst  the  rocks,  Avhich  he  affirmed  to  be  speckled 
with  party  colours  of  black  and  white  and  red,  like 
this  ;  and  to  confirm  his  assertion,  he  alleged  that  he 
had  seen  a  great  column  left  imperfect  amongst  the 
cliffs  almost  as  big  as  that  huge  and  admirable  pillar 
standing  to  the  south  of  Alexandria.  Which  opinion  of 
his  doth  well  corres23ond  with  the  tradition  of  Aristides, 
who  reports  that  in  Arabia  there  is  a  quarry  of  excellent 
porphyry." 

Sad  confusion  here  between  granite  and  porphyry 
in  the  seventeenth  century  :  while  in  the  "  unheroic 
eighteenth  century"  Anglo-Saxon  ignorance  of  granite 
went  on  increasing.  No  fresh  granite  was  then  being 
worked  anywhere  direct  from  nature,  and  the  monuments 
of  antiquity  composed  of  it  Avere  first  suspected,  and  then 
alleged,  to  be  factitious  ;  as  thus  stated  by  a  Mediter- 
ranean traveller  in  1702  : — "The  column  of  Pompey 
at  Alexandria.  Some  think  it  of  a  kind  of  marble,  but 
others  incline  rather  to  believe  that  'twas  built  of 
melted  stone  cast  in  moulds  upon  the  place.  The 
latter  opinion  seems  most  probable,  for  there  is  not 
tJie  least  piece  of  that  stone  to  be  found  in  any  part  of 
the  world,  and  the  pillar  is  so  prodigiously  big  and  high 
that  it  could'  hardly  be  erected  without  a  miracle.  I 
know  'tis  alleged  by  those  who  believe  the  story  of  the 
Ehodian  colossus,  that  the  ancients  had  the  advantage 
of  admirable  machines  to  raise  such  bulky  pieces ;  but 
I  should  reckon  myself  extremely  obliged  to  those  gen- 


Chap.  YIL]  THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID,  1 1 3 

tlemen  if  they  would  show  me  any  probable  reason  why, 
among  so  great  a  variety  of  Egyptian  monuments  of 
antiquity,  there  is  not  one  of  marble;  and  by  what 
unaccountable  accident  the  stone  called  granite,  which 
was  then  so  common,  is  now  grown  so  scarce  that  the 
most  curious  inquiries  into  the  works  of  natuje  cannot 
find  the  least  fragment  of  it  that  was  not  employed  in 
ancient  structures. 

''And  even  though  I  should  suppose,  with  my 
adversaries,  that  the  quarries  out  of  which  this  stone 
was  dug  were  by  degrees  so  entirely  exhausted  that 
there  is  not  the  least  footstep  of  'em  left,  and  that 
Nature  herself  has  lost  so  much  of  ancient  vigour  and 
fecundity  that  she  is  not  able  to  produce  new  ones,  I 
may  still  be  allowed  to  ask  why  granite  was  only  used 
in  obelisks  or  columns  of  a  prodigious  bigness  :  for  if 
it  were  really  a  sort  of  stone  or  marble,  I  see  no  reason 
why  we  might  not  find  small  pieces  of  it,  as  well  as  of 
"porphyry  and  other  precious  kinds  of  marble. 

"  These  reflections,  in  my  opinion,  may  serve  to 
confirm  the  hypothesis  of  those  who  believe  that  all 
these  admirable  monuments  were  actually  cast  in  a 
mould  ;  and.  if  they  would  take  the  pains  to  view  this 
column  attentively,  they  would  soon  be  convinced  by 
the  testimony  of  their  own  eyes  that  'tis  only  a  kind  of 
cement  composed  of  sand  and  calcined  stone,  not  unlike 
to  mortar  or  lime,  which  grows  hard  by  degrees." 

Another  century  of  modern  civilisation  rolled  on, 
and  then  we  find  the  celebrated  traveller  Dr.  Clarke  quite 
convinced  that  granite  is  a  natural  substance,  and  that 
hand  specimens  of  it  may  be  found  by  those  who  will 
search  from  country  to  country  through  the  world  ;  but 
yet  so  seldom  met  with,  that  he  has  all  this  trouble  in 
explaining  to  London  society  seventy  years  ago  what  com- 
mon rock  material  it  is  that  he  is  talking  about : — "  By 
Greaves'  Thebaick  marble  is  to  be  understood  that  most 


114  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  11. 

beautiful  variety  of  granite  called  by  Italian  lapidaries 
granito  rosso  (see  'Forbes  Travels/  p.  226,  London, 
1776),  which  is  composed  essentially  of  feldspar,  of 
quartz,  and  of  mica.  It  is  often  called  Oriental  granite, 
and  sometimes  Egyptian  granite ;  but  it  differs  in  no 
respect  from  European  granite,  except  that  feldspar 
enters  more  largely  as  a  constituent  into  the  mass  than 
is  usual  with  the  granite  of  Europe.  The  author  has 
seen  granite  of  the  same  kind,  and  of  equal  beauty,  in 
fragments,  upon  the  shores  of  the  Hebrides,  particularly 
at  Icolmkill." 

Sixty  more  years  of  modern  civilisation  passed  away. 
Macdonald  at  Aberdeen  had  by  that  time  taught  his 
countrymen  how  to  work  in  polished  granite,  both  red 
and  grey,  far  and  wide  over  Scotland.  From  tombstones 
to  brooches,  and  from  banks  and  insurance-offices  to 
kettle-holders  and  ear-rings,  cut  granite  (poured  forth 
since  then  without  any  stint  both  by  the  pale  Queen  of 
the  North  and  her  blushing  sister  of  Peterhead)  is  now 
used  on  every  side ;  until  all  society,  and  the  children 
too,  talk  as  glibly  in  these  our  days  about  the  once 
awfully  mysterious  tri-speckled  stone,  ''  as  maids  of 
thirteen  do  of  puppy-dogs."  And  yet  the  thing  is  not 
plain  to  all  our  educated  gentlemen  even  yet. 

When,  for  instance,  my  wife  and  I  were  living 
through  several  months  in  a  tomb  of  the  eastern  cliff 
of  the  Great  Pyramid  hill  in  1865,  a  Cambridge  man, 
with  a  most  respectable  name  in  science,  and  a  sage- 
looking,  experienced,  head  of  iron-grey  hair,  called  upon 
us  and  remarked,  to  the  lady  too,  who  knows  a  great  deal 
more  about  minerals  than  I  do,  "  What  a  fine  granite 
cavern  you  are  living  in."  Granite,  indeed  !  poor  man  ! 
when  the  petrified  nummulites  were  staring  at  him  all 
the  time  out  of  the  naught  but  limestone  on  every  side  ! 
And  other  travellers  within  the  last  few  years  have  con- 
fidently talked  of  having  seen  granite  in  the  entrance 


Chap.  YIL]  THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  1 1 5 

passage  of  tlie  Great  Pyramid,  granite  in  the  subter- 
ranean chamber,  granite  forming  the  casing-stone  heaps 
outside,  granite,  in  fact,  anywhere  and  everywhere, 
and  basalt  dykes  in  the  Pyramid  hill  too,  though  in  a 
country  of  pure  nummulite  limestone. 

They,  however,  being  free  and  independent  writers, 
cannot  be  easily  interfered  with ;  but  will  my  readers 
at  least  excuse  me  for  insisting  upon  it,  that  for  any 
would-be  pyramidist  scholar  it  is  a  most  awful  mistake 
to  say  granite,  when  he  means  limestone,  or  vice  versa ; 
and  to  see  limestone,  where  the  primeval  architect  went 
to  infinite  pains  to  place  granite.  To  talk  thus  inter- 
changeably of  the  two  is,  indeed,  over  and  above  saying 
the  thing  that  is  not  in  mineralogy,  over  and  above  too 
taking  hard  for  soft,  and  soft  for  hard  ;  Neptunian  for 
plutonian  ;  repletion  with  traces  of  organic  existence  for 
naught  but  crystals  that  never  had  a  breath  of  life  in 
them, — it  is  also  on  the  part  of  such  individual  a 
depriving  himself  of  the  only  absolutely  positive  feature 
that  he  can,  or  should,  speak  to  in  all  pyramid  inquiry ; 
as  thus  : — 

Questions  of  angle,  line,  and  measure  of  weight  are 
all  questions  of  degree  of  approximation  only ;  or  of 
limits  of  approach  to  a  something  which  may  never  be 
actually  touched,  or  even  defined.  But  if  nummulitic 
limestone  cannot  be  distinguished  absolutely  from  red 
granite,  without  our  being  told  authoritatively,  by  uni- 
versity scholars,  that  one  of  those  substances  glides  so 
insensibly  into  the  other,  that  no  man  can  say  with 
confidence  where  one  begins  and  the  other  ends — the 
age  for  interpreting  the  long-secret  interior  of  the  Great 
Pyramid  has  not  yet  arrived. 

But  I  will  not  consent  to  any  such  state  of  mind 
afflicting  the  readers  of  this  present  edition  of  1873  ; 
and  would  rather,  with  them,  as  one  amongst  friends 
and  equals  and  often  betters,  request  their  attention 


ii6  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  II. 

(before  returning  again  to  the  coffer  in  the  King's 
Chamber)  to  a  prevailing  feature  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  Great  Pyramid  makes  its  chief  use  of  this 
rock,  of  so  many  colours  and  strange  traditions,  granite. 

There  is  granite  in  the  Great  Pyramid,  and  granite 
in  various  small  pyramids ;  yet  so  far  from  their  being 
therefore  alike,  it  is  on  that  very  account,  or  by  that 
very  means,  that  most  difference  may  be  detected  both 
in  their  designs  and  even  in  the  very  minds  of  their 
designers. 

Take  the  third  pyramid  as  an  example ;  the  world 
hailed  it  as  the  "  Coloured  Pyramid;"  coloured,  forsooth, 
because  its  casing-stones  more  than  half-way  uj)  were  of 
red  granite.  That  that  little  third  pyramid  was  there- 
fore more  expensive  than  the  Great  one,  all  its  friends 
admit,  and  even  boast  of :  but  what  else  did  it  gain 
thereby  ?  Lasting  power,  is  the  general  idea ;  because 
granite  is  so  proverbially  hard.  But,  alas  !  granite, 
besides  being  hard,  is  also  so  very  brittle  on  account 
chiefly  of  its  tri-crystallization,  and  so  largely  expansible 
by  heat,  that  under  the  influence  of  a  hot  sun  by  day  and 
cold  sky  by  night,  it  loosens  and  crushes  minutely  the 
materials  of  its  own  surface  to  little  pieces,  film  by  film,  and 
age  after  age — until  now,  after  3,000  years,  those  hard 
granitic  casing-stones  of  the  third  pyramid  are  rounded 
into  pudding  shapes,  which  can  hardly  indicate  the 
angle  they  were  originally  bevelled  to,  within  a  handful 
of  degrees.  Yet  the  softer,  and  fair,  white  limestone 
which  was  chosen  for  the  casing-stones  of  the  Great 
Pyramid  (a  variety  of  limestone  found  in  the  Mokattam 
hill  on  the  east  side  of  the  Nile),  and  which  was  begun 
to  be  exposed  to  the  weather  before  the  third  pyramid 
or  its  builders  were  born,  has,  joined  to  that  softness, 
so  much  tenacity,  smallness  of  heat  expansion,  and 
strong  tendency  to  varnish  itself  with  a  brownish  iron 
oxide  exudation,   that  it  has    in  some  instances  pre- 


Chap.  VII.J  THE  ORE  A  T  PYRAMID.  1 1 7 


served  the  original  angle  of  the  casing-stones  within  a 
minute  of  a  degree,  and  their  original  surface  within 
the  hundredth  of  an  inch. 

But  because  the  Great  Pyramid  architect  found  lime- 
stone to  answer  his  purpose  for  casing-stones,  did  he 
therefore  use  it  everywhere  ?  No,  certainly  not.  He 
knew  it  to  be  too  soft  to  keep  its  size  and  figure  in 
places  where  men  do  tend  to  congregate  ;  and  where 
strains  and  wear  and  tear  may  accumulate,  and  have  to 
be  strenuously  resisted.  In  and  towards  the  centre, 
therefore,  of  the  whole  mass  of  the  Great  Pyramid, 
where  strains  do  increase  and  the  treasure  was  sup- 
posed to  be  kept,  and  where  Caliph  Al  Mamouns  in 
one  age,  and  middle-class  passengers  from  steamers  in 
another,  rush  in  to  see  what  they  can  get, — there  its 
architect  began,  and  in  a  very  special  and  marked 
manner,  to  use  granite  in  place  of  limestone.  And  in  that 
deep  and  solemn  interior,  where  he  did  so  use  it,  there  was 
no  sun  to  shine  and  heat  up  by  day,  no  sky  to  radiate 
cold  at  night,  as  at  the  casing-stones  of  the  third 
pyramid  ;  but  only  darkness  and  a  uniform  temperature 
from  year  to  year,  and  century  to  century. 

There  was,  therefore,  no  tendency  in  granite  to  sepa- 
rate its  component  crystals  there ;  but  very  great  neces- 
sity for  its  hardness  to  resist  the  continual  treading, 
hammers  and  mischief-working  by  the  countless  visitors 
of  these  latter  days.  For  the  granite  portion  of  the  Great 
Pyramid  (excepting  only  the  portcullis  blocks  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  first  ascending  passage)  begins  in  the 
so-called  ante-chamber  apartment,  through  which  those 
visitors  must  all  pass,  in  order  to  reach  that  further  and 
final  King's  Chamber  wherein  the  employment  of  granite 
culminates  :  and  wherein  is  to  be  seen  standing  loose 
and  movable  on  the  open,  level,  granite  floor  that 
pyramid  coffer,  or  long  and  high  granite  box,  which  is 
still  awaiting  our  further  examination. 


ii8  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 


CHAPTER  YIII. 

WHY    OF    THAT    SIZE? 

IF  we  grant,  temporarily,  for  argument's  sake,  that  the 
long  rectangular  box,  lidless  chest,  or  open  granite 
coffer,  in  the  King's  Chamber  of  the  Great  Pyramid  was 
intended  by  the  precise,  measured,  amount  of  its  cubic 
contents  to  typify,  as  Mr.  Taylor  has  suggested,  a  grand 
and  universal  standard  of  capacity  measure — can  any 
reason  in  nature  or  science  be  shown,  why  it  should 
have  been  made  of  that  particular  size  and  no  other  ? 

In  a  later  age  the  designer  of  such  a  vessel  would 
have  been  hampered  by  custom  or  led  by  precedent  ; 
but  in  the  primeval  day  of  the  foundation  of  the  Great 
Pyramid,  who  was  there  then  to  control  its  architect ;  or 
from  whom  could  that  truly  original  genius  have  copied 
anything ;  or  what  was  there  to  prevent  his  making  the 
coffer  of  any  size  he  pleased  ? 

Of  Scientific  References  for  Capacity  Measure. 

The  affair  of  the  wherefore  of  the  coffer's  precise  size 
is  indeed  a  question  of  questions,  for  there  is  no  ready 
explanation  lying  on  the  surface ;  and  the  subject, 
viewed  as  one  of  capacity  and  weight  measure,  is  capable 
of  such  peculiar  perfectionings  and  remarkable  refine- 
ments, that  we  may  have  to  dig  extremely  deep  before 
discovering  the  real  reason,  if  it  is  there. 


Chap.  VIIL]         THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  1 1 9 

Not  that  modern  nations  have  shown  a  very  par- 
ticular care  for  the  teachings  of  science,  or  extensive 
acquaintance  "wdth  nature  either,  in  ordering  for  them- 
selves the  size  of  their  several  standards  of  capacity 
measure,  having  generally  left  this  one  standard  to 
something  like  arbitrary  fancy  ;  and  seeming  even  still 
to  think  the  subject  either  a  vulgar  and  publican 
matter,  or  one  ruled  altogether  by  their  own  more 
scientific  proceedings  in  linear  measure.  Thus,  the 
late  eminent  Francis  Baily,  in  his  report  on  the 
standard  scale  of  Great  Britain,*  says,  after  a  magnificent 
introduction  in  favour  of  the  importance  of  permanent 
standard  measures,  "  such  measures  are  usually  divided 
into  those  of  length,  capacity,  and  weight ;  but  as  the  two 
latter  may  in  all  cases  be  deduced  from  the  former,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  consider  only  measures  of  length ;" 
and  measures  of  length  are  accordingly  the  only  ones 
which  he  cares  to  take  notice  of  in  that  very  large  and 
learned  paper. 


French  Metrical  Reference  for  Capacity  Measure. 

Not  very  dissimilarly  too,  did  the  French  philo- 
sophers act  when  establishing  their  metrical  system  ; 
for  after  having  scorned — in  the  cause  and  for  the 
sake  of  accuracy — to  adopt  a  short  natural  unit  for 
linear  reference,  such  as  the  second's  pendulum,  lest 
in  applying  it  to  long  distances  errors  should  creep 
in  by  continued  multiplication ;  and  having  insisted 
on  taking  there  a  long — that  is,  an  earth  large — 
natural  unit,  and  obtaining,  what  they  required  in 
practice  subsequently,  by  continued  subdivision  (in  that 
manner  producing  their  metre  out  of  the  measured 
meridional  distance  from  pole  to  equator),  they  went 

*  "Royal  Astronomical  Society's  Memoirs,"  vol.  ix. 


120  OUR  INHERITANCE    IN  [Part  II. 

the  very  reverse  way  to  work  in  obtaining  their  units 
of  capacity  and  weight. 

To  procure  these  upon  parallels  to  their  "  linear " 
principles,  they  ought  evidently  for  the  one,  to  have 
subdivided  the  capacity  of  the  shell  of  the  earth  ;  and 
for  the  other,  to  have  similarly  divided  the  weight  of 
all  the  matter,  whatever  it  is,  that  fills  or  occupies 
that  shell  of  the  earth,  and  gives  it  on  the  whole  that 
general  mean  specific  gravity,  which  is  better  adapted 
than  anything  else  known  to  man  to  be  his  grand 
cosmical  unit  for  the  physics  of  universal  matter.  But 
they  attempted  neither  the  one  nor  the  other. 

They  did  not  even  employ  their  metre  itself  in  the 
large,  in  this  part  of  their  metrology,  and  necessarily 
adopt  thereby  a  good  honest  size  for  their  capacity 
and  weight  standards — which  they  would  then  have 
been  less  extravagantly  multiplying,  in  the  common 
affairs  of  daily  life  ;  but,  as  every  one  knows,  they 
took  the  1-1 0th  part  of  the  metre,  cubed,  for  the 
capacity  measure;  and  filled  the  1-1 00th  part  of  that 
with  water  for  their  ridiculous  little  unit  of  weight 
measure — a  something  so  small  that  a  poor  country- 
man wishing  to  weigh  his  daily  load  therewith,  can 
hardly  either  see  or  feel  it  :  while  the  learned  doctors 
themselves,  in  speaking  of,  and  recommending,  it  as  a 
universal  standard  of  weight  to  the  practical  world, 
have  to  break  through  all  their  artificial  scheme  of 
nomenclature  ;  and,  while  presenting  their  metre  pure 
and  simple,  are  obliged  to  multiply  their  grairiTYie  by 
1,000  ;  introducing  it  indeed  into  the  units  place,  but 
with  the  name  of  H^ogramme.  Wherefore  even  now  in 
Italy  the  metrological  combat  is  between  the  old  Roman 
foot  and  pound  on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  the 
modern  French  metre  and  /a^ogramme  ;  shortened  how- 
ever by  the  country-people  into  "  metre "  and  "  kilo," 
to  the  still  more  inextricable  confusion  of  the  proprie- 


Chap.  VIIL]         THE  GREA  T  PFRAMID,  1 2 1 

ties  of  a  too  learned,  as  well  as  too  narrow,  attempt  to 
coin  new  names. 

The  French  Academicians  had,  no  doubt,  a  something 
in  their  little  mite  of  a  "gramme"  which  could  be 
referred,  through  both  the  metre  outrageously  minified, 
and  %mter  when  in  a  curious  condition  very  difficult  to 
hit  upon  and  keep  it  to — viz.,  its  maximum  density  at 
a  little  above  freezing — to  that  one  element ;  and  not 
a  very  large  one,  in  the  size  of  the  whole  earth.  But 
if  there  was  such  extraordinary  mental  satisfaction 
previously  felt  at  the  metre,  a  linear  human  measure, 
being  a  neat  commensurable  fraction  of  a  linear 
length  along  a  quadrant  of  the  earth — and  poor 
Englishmen  have  had  this  flaunted  and  flouted  in  their 
faces  for  fifty  years  past,  until  at  last  it  has  been  pro- 
posed ''"  to  abolish  the  British  hereditary  measures  in 
favour  of  the  new  French  inventions,  because  the 
former  are  so  utterly  unscientific,  and  the  latter  so 
perfectly  replete  with  science — why  should  there  not 
be  mental  satisfaction  also,  when  a  capacity  measure  in 
some  way  gives  us  a  neat  commensurable  fraction  of 
the  capacity  of  the  earth  ;  or  at  all  events  reminds  us 
of  its  shape  and  capacity-giving  power  :  and  when  a 
weight  measure  gives  us  a  similar  proportion  of  what 
is  even  more  important  in  nature,  and  special  to  our 
terrestrial  globe ;  viz.  the  weight,  or  what  goes  prac- 
tically to  make  what  is  by  persons  in  general  called  the 
weight,  of  the  earth  as  a  planet  in  space  ? 

There  may,  indeed,  be  some  remarkable  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  accomplishing  this  reference ;  for  not 
only  are  the  arrays  of  numbers  appalling,  but  there 
may  be  some  logical  doubt  as  to  how  to  proceed  in 
comparing  a  weight  on  the  surface,  against  the  weight  of 
each  equal  portion  of  a  sphere,  whose  own  attraction  it  is 

*  President's  opening  address  to  the  British  Association,  Newcastle, 
1863. 


122  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

whicli  gives  all  the  appearance  of  weight  to  anything 
laid  upon  it.  The  affair  is  difficult,  and  perhaps  of  a 
transcendental  character :  yet  not  more  so  than,  accord- 
ing to  many  eminent  men,  with  able  mathematicians 
amongst  their  number,  are  various  other  scientific  pro- 
blems already  accomplished  in  the  service  of  modern 
civilisation.  In  the  meanwhile,  too,  the  earth  has  a 
weight,  or  mass  ;  and  not  only  so,  but  it  is  precisely  the 
grand  French  metrical  school  of  mathematical  astro- 
nomers, who  care  not  a  straw  for  the  visible  size  of  sun, 
moon,  or  planets.  They  want  only  to  know  their  mass  as 
a  term  in  an  equation;  and  then,  having  obtained  that, 
they  proceed  in  all  their  admirable  -  calculations — where 
so  few  of  us  can  hold  pace  with  them — for  the  orbital 
movements  of  those  planetary  bodies  under  the  influence 
of  gravity,  as  though  the  mass  were  concentred,  in  the 
case  of  each  separate  sphere,  into  an  infinitely  small  point 
at  its  centre.  To  them.,  the  high-class  French  mathe- 
maticians, in  sad  truth  it  is  almost  an  impertinence  to 
be  told  by  the  telescope  that  the  substance  of  a  planet 
is  expanded  into  a  globe  of  such  or  such  a  size  in  miles  ; 
or  into  one  large  and  several  small  globes  as  attendant 
satellites.  These  great  men  want  only  .to  know  the 
weight  of  the  matter  contained  in  each  system,  simple 
or  compound,  reduced  to  a  point  or  points,  together 
with  certain  distances  asunder,  and  then  they  will  set 
their  equations  in  array,  and  compute  you  any  length 
of  orbital  consequences. 

Why,  then,  did  not  those  confessedly  most  acute 
and  extraordinarily  able  men,  when  preparing  a  com- 
pletely new  metrological  system  for  France  (and,  as  they 
hoped,  for  the  world  through  France),  give  us  some 
symbolization  or  expression  in  harmonious  commen- 
surabilities  of 'that  which  is  astronomically  far  more 
important  than  a  sphere's  linear  measure,  and  is  already 
a  term  in  their  immortal  equations,  viz.  the  weight  or 
mass  of  the  earth  as  a  whole  ? 


Chap.  YIIL]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  123 

Perhaps  they  did  not  think  of  it  ;  or  if  they  did, 
perhaps  they  could  not  devise  any  means  of  accom- 
plishing it.  Certainly  they  did  not  do  it,  nor  has  any 
one  else  amongst  men  done  so,  throughout  all  the 
historical  period  of  science  and  the  reign  of  the  schools. 

Is  it  worth  while,  then,  to  examine  the  Great 
Pyramid  of  4,040  years  ago,  to  ascertain  if  a  practical 
solution  was  made  and  enshrined  there  in  a  material 
or  substance  undoubtedly  oere  perennius,  and  older 
than  Abraham,  though  only  recently  brought  to  the 
light  of  human  life  and  thought  ? 

Not  altogether  fair,  perhaps,  to  expect  it ;  but  some- 
how, from  the  unique  and  unprecedented  character 
amongst  human  works  which  the  whole  of  this  gigantic 
mass  of  pure  masonry  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  unvitiated 
by  any  idolatrous  design,  is  taking,  on  being  submitted 
to  the  searching  examination  of  the  science  learning  of 
modem  times,  we  have  begun  to  look  for  high  things 
from  every  part  of  it.  At  present,  however,  we  have 
merely  to  inquire  why,  for  any  reason  whatever,  was, 
or  may  have  been,  that  smooth-sided  and  rectangular 
granite  box,  the  coffer,  made  of  the  particular  size, 
exclusive  of  shape,  which  we  now  find  it  to  be  ? 

John  Taylor  on  the  Origin  of  the  Coffer's  Capacity  Size. 

On  opening  Mr.  Taylor's  valuable  work*  with  refer- 
ence to  this  question,  we  may  see  that  he  had — and 
quite  characteristically  of  so  invaluable  '  an  author — 
expected  that  his  reader  would  require  some  explanation 
of  this  matter.  But  after  perusal,  I  regret  to  say  that 
what  he  has  written  on  the  subject,  being  on  the 
furthest  confines  of  his  researches  and  discoveries  into 
the  Pyramid  mystery,  has  not,  for  me  at  least,  his 
usual  powers  of  satisfying,  if  even  he  was  content  with 

♦  "The  Great  Pyramid,"  p.  195. 


124  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

it  himself.  He  shows,  for  instance,  tliat  the  cube-root 
of  the  contents  of  the  coifer  is  equal,  very  nearly,  to 
the  length  of  a  certain  ancient  Egyptian  double  cubit 
in  wood,  found  accidentally  some  years  since,  on  pulling 
down  an  old  temple  at  Karnak ;  thence  called  the  cubit 
of  Karnak ;  and  believed  now  to  have  been  one  of 
the  veritable  mason's  measures  by  which  the  profane 
buildings  of  that  day  were  measured  and  set  out. 

Not,  indeed,  that  Mr.  Taylor  would  imply  that  that 
rod  was  either  the  original  standard,  or  the  Govern- 
ment copy  thereof  belonging  to  the  Pharaoh  of  that  day, 
or  indeed  any  standard  at  all  :  or  that  a  measure 
exactly  equal  to  it  was  first  used  in,  and  therefore 
characteristically  belonged  to,  the  Pyramidically  distant 
and  most  idolatrous  city  of  Karnak.  But  without,  so 
far  as  I  can  find,  putting  anything  much  more  distinct 
than  the  above  into  its  place,  as  the  reason  why  the 
founders  of  the  non-idolatrous  Great  Pyramid  chose  to 
make  their  coffer  of  its  actual  size  in  cubic  contents,  he 
goes  off  into  a  disquisition  on  its  shape — an  interesting 
disquisition  also,  but  on  a  much  less  important  question, 
if  the  subject  really  be  one  of  a  cajpacity  standard 
and  measure. 

That  the  coffer  should  be  oblong-rectangular  in  place 
of  siniply  cubical,  Mr.  Taylor  thinks  a  matter  of  sym- 
metry and  convenience;  expressly  saying  at  page  197 
of  his  "  Great  Pyramid," — "  But  why,  it  may  be  asked, 
was  not  the  coffer  made  at  once  in  the  shape  of  the 
cube  of  the  Karnak  cubit  ?  From  its  obvious  unfit- 
ness, if  it  were  of  that  shape  and  size,  to  serve  as  a 
model  measure.  The  framers  of  the  standard  would 
naturally  have  regard  to  the  portability  and  convenient 
use  of  the  wooden  capacity  measures  which  were  to  be 
founded  on  that  model ;  and  if  men  of  the  present  day 
would  prefer  the  shape  of  a  (rectangular)  trough  to 
that  of  a    cube  of  such    inconvenient   dimensions,  we 


» 


Chap.  YIIL]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  125 

may  give  the  founders  of  the  Great  Pyramid  credit 
for  so  much  common  sense  as  would  lead  them  to 
the  same  conclusion.  To  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
East  the  }ioi  hath  was  a  familiar  object,  and  in  the 
appropriation  of  its  form  to  the  purpose  of  a  corn 
ineasure,  we  see  how  it  happened  that  this  vessel 
received  the  name  of  caldarium,  chaldron,  or  laver.  It 
was  that  which  it  had  possessed  from  the  earliest  times, 
long  probably  before  its  employment  as  a  corn-measure 
had  been  thought  of" 

Joseph  Jopling  on  the  same. 

Next  after  studying  Mr.  Taylor's  account,  I  chanced 
to  fall  in  with  a  recently  published  paper,*  which  pro- 
mised great  things,  and  began  most  admirably  thus  : — 
''  In  what  is  called  the  King's  Chamber  of  the  Great 
Pyramid  of  Egypt,  there  is  a  coffer  of  porphyry  (granite 
really)  commonly  supposed  to  have  been  the  sarcophagus 
of  the  royal  builder.  This  coffer,  however,  does  not 
resemble  an  ordinary  sarcophagus,  and  its  form  presents 
numerous  definite  and  peculiar  proportions,  so  that  it  is 
impossible  to  conceive  the  structure  to  be  accidental. 
Having  found  the  proportions  geometrically  accurate, 
•the  author  of  this  paper  believes  that  this  coffer  is 
a  treasure- chest  of  science,  and  that  its  proportions 
deserve  careful  observation  and  study." 

Then  followed  a  theory,  based  on  "  squares  inscribed, 
or  to  be  inscribed,  in  the  circles  of  the  human  eye,"  as 
a  nearly  invariable  natural  reference  of  length  in  man, 
from  childhood  to  old  age  (conveniently  small  for  a 
popular  unit,  but  very  difiicult,  and  highly  dangerous 
to  the  subject  either  to  take  off  with  the  points  of  a 
pair  of  compasses,  or  to  apply  directly  in  practice) — 
and  some   very  astonishing  results  were  brought   out, 

^  By  Joseph  Jopling,  architect,  in  the  Leisure  JEc-.trf  1863. 


126  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  11. 

in  the  play  of  arithmetical  numerations,  by  themselves. 
But  on  adopting  the  given  size  of  the  unit,  and  the 
number  of  them  stated  to  exist  in  the  length,  breadth, 
and  depth  of  the  coffer  according  to  the  geometrical 
formula,  and  comparing  them  with  actual  coffer  mea- 
sures— the  results  were  far  wider  than  most  of  those 
which  we  have  already  found  it  necessary  to  condemn, 
as  not  representing  observations  of  the  fact.  Mr. 
Jopling's  arithmetic  is  indeed  one  thing,  and  the 
coffer  in  the  King's  Chamber  of  the  Great  Pyramid 
quite  another. 

Hehekyan  Bey  and  M.  Dufeu  on  the  same. 

After  this,  a  more  remarkable  volume  came  up  for 
study;  a  book  printed  privately  in  1863,  by  "  Hekekyan 
Bey,  ,  C.E.,*  of  Constantinople,  and  formerly  in  the 
Egyptian  service."  It  is  entitled,  on  the  "  Chronology 
of  the  Siriadic  Monuments,"  and  contains  a  large  plate 
of  the  sectional  interior  of  the  Great  Pyramid  (not  very 
good),  and  an  allusion  to  the  coffer,  under  the  name  of 
"  The  Kings  Stone, "f  deposited  by  the  Arions  in  the 
sanctuary  of  the  first  Pyramid,  as  a  record  of  their 
standard  m^etric  system^  In  so  far  as  that  the  book 
shows  an  Eastern  mind  breaking  through  the  tyrannical 
Western  hypothesis  of  a  burial  sarcophagus  and  nothing 
else,  it  is  well ;  but  the  method  of  deducing  a  value  for 
the  profane  Nile  cubit  out  of  certain  arbitrary  propor- 

*  The  author  enjoys  the  following  favourable  introduction  in  Mr. 
F.  Sopwith's  "  Notes  on  Egypt,"  1857  : — "  We  next  called  on  Hekekyan 
Bey,  who  occupies  a  spacious  and  handsome  house  in  the  same  locality, 
near  the  north-west  corner  of  the  Place  Esbekeeh.  Hekekyan  Bey  spent 
some  thirteen  years  in  England  in  early  life,  and  thus  acquired  a  perfect 
knowledge  of  the  language  and  institutions  of  the  country.  I  greatly 
enjoyed  his  conversation,  which  embraced  several  subjects  of  national 
interest,  and  his  general  opinions  and  sentiments  appeared  to  be  those  of 
an  enlightened  citizen  of  the  world." 

t  Early  writers  were  particular  in  notifying  that  the  coffer  was  cut  out 
of  a  single  block  of  stone ;  but  this  present  name  is  a  more  peculiar 
designation  of  it,  and  may  indicate  a  tradition  of  its  having  something  of 
a  special  hidden  virtue,  recalling  the  fabled  "philosopher's  sione." 


Chap.  VHI.]         THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  1 2  7 

tions  of  both  the  outside  and  inside  measures  of  the  said 
King's  Stone,  is  clumsy  in  a  scientific  point  of  view ; 
overlaid  with  masonic  mysteries  ;  and  discloses  no  better 
knowledge  of  the  real  dimensions  of  the  coffer,  than 
those  taken  by  Greaves  240  years  ago  :  measures  thus 
rejDroduced  in  Egypt  without  any  of  those  necessary 
subsequent  corrections  for  the  length  of  their  standard 
scale,  or  investigations  of  Greaves'  large  errors  in  the 
granite  box's  outside  elements  of  size,  which  have  led 
long  since  to  grave  discussions  at  home.  The  author, 
in  fact,  though  living,  and  flourishing  too,  in  a  wealthy 
social  position  in  Cairo,  with  the  Great  Pyramid  in 
view  from  the  top  of  his  house,  knew  nothing  of  the 
coffer  by  personal  measure ;  his  acquaintance  with  it 
was  confined  to  the  pages  of  an  English  book  more 
than  two  centuries  old  ! 

In  the  course  of  the  present  year  (1873)  the  ideas  of 
Hekekyan  Bey,  in  an  extended  shape,  have  been  pub- 
lished to  the  world,  as  perfectly  new  to  it,  by  M.  Dufeu, 
member  of  the  Egyptian  Institute,  and  of  the  Society 
of  Historical  Studies  in  Paris.  This  work  is  distin- 
guished from  its  very  title-page  (where  it  speaks  to 
'*  the  fonv  Pyramids  of  Jeezeh  ")  by  special  ignorance  of 
pyramid  facts;  and  on  page  231,  where  its  author  main- 
tains the  hollow  box  of  the  coffer  to  be  merely  a  form 
given  to  the  cubit  of  the  Nilometer,  he  makes  me  a 
partaker  of  Mr.  Jopling's  numbers,  though  I  have 
always  eschewed  them;  quotes  Professor  Greaves  as 
though  he  were  a  very  modern  authority ;  and  finally 
pretends  to  give  a  set  of  measures  of  his  own.  Pre- 
tends, I  say  advisedly,  for  when  he  puts  down  every 
element  of  the  coffer's  size  to  the  ten-thousandth  of  an 
inch,  he  cannot  be  excused  either  for  making  several 
errors  amounting  to  one  and  two  whole  inches ;  *  or, 

*  See  Quarterly  Journal  of  Science  for  October,  1873,  pages  511  to 
615. 


128  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

mucli  worse,  for  having  failed  to  discover  ruling  and 
original  features  of  the  vessel  itself,  of  more  importance 
t  han  many  inches,  as  will  presently  appear. 

Tlfie  Freemasons  on  the  same. 

Freemasonry  also,  notwithstanding  its  boastings  of 
secret  wisdom  fit  to  scale  the  skies,  seems  to  lead  no 
nearer  to  a  knowledge  of  the  metrological  objects  and 
ideas  of  the  coffer,  than  anything  connected  with  the 
idolatrous  religion  of  the  ancient  Egyptians ;  and  to 
all  that  side  of  the  world,  there  has  ever  been  an 
impenetrable  darkness  touching  the  real  nature  of  the 
ultimate  purposes  aimed  at  by  the  symbolical,  and  we 
may  almost  say,  professionally  scientific,  design  of  the 
Great  Pyramid. 

Wrote  a  Grand  Secretary  of  the  Freemasons  to  me, 
from  Cornwall,  after  my  return  from  Egypt  in  1865, 
''  I  am  going  to  publish  a  book  of  our  masons'  marks, 
of  all  ages  and  countries  ;  and  as  we  hear  that  you 
have  been  taking  some  wonderful  photographs  of  the 
King's  Chamber  in  the  Great  Pyramid  by  the  mag- 
nesium light,  I  write  to  know  if  any  of  these  marks 
appeared  upon  either  the  walls  or  the  coffer?" 

"  Don't  you  know  whether  there  are,  or  are  not,  any 
there?"  I  ought  to  have  asked,  in  the  interest  of  all 
the  world  outside  the  Lodges  ;  but  in  over-haste  to  give 
satisfaction  to  my  correspondent,  if  possible,  I  merely 
inquired, — "What  are  Freemasons'  marks?" 

He  sent  a  number  of  them  in  a  letter,  adding  that 
they  were  unfailing  proofs,  wherever  they  were  found, 
of  the  ancient  presence  of  the  thrice-mysterious  craft ; 
and  that  Mr.  Layard,  having  had  his  attention  once  duly 
awakened  to  them,  found  them  most  numerously  in  the 
Assyrian  buildings  excavated  by  him  in  Mesopotamia. 

But   I   could   only  reply,    that    neither    microscopic 


Chap,  vm.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  129 

examination  of  the  glass  photographs,  nor  eye-examina- 
tion of  the  walls  of  the  King's  Chamber  at  the  Great 
Pyramid,  would  show  one  of  those  particular  marks. 
The  Freemasons  had  in  so  far,  on  their  own  showing-, 
had  no  hand  in  raising  that  sacred  and  pure  building, 
whatever  they  had  been  doing  in  subsequent  ages  for 
idolatrous  Assyrian  kings  and  their  fish-gods  or  any 
other. 

Yet  the   photographs   showed   other  marks   on   the 
walls  of  the  chamber  clearly  enough  ;  and  amongst  these 
there  was  one  group  in  particular  that  would  appear  most 
conspicuously  in  every  view  of  the  coffer.     The  walls  of 
the  King's  Chamber  which  formed  the  background  of 
each  coffer  picture,  being  not  only  dark,  and  red,  but 
also  far  from  the  magnesium  illuminating  light,  were 
generally  almost  absolute   black    in  the  photographs ; 
yet  letters  cut  on  these  walls  by  hammer  and  chisel 
developed  whitish  lines  of  abraded  and  powdered  crystals, 
which  caught  enough  magnesium  light  to  make  them- 
selves  visible   in    the    photographs    and   appear    even 
luminous  ;  and  then  too,  they  were  seen  mysteriously 
floating  in  space  beyond  the  coffer,  when  viewed  in  the 
stereoscope.     It  was  just  the  sort  of  effect  that  Free- 
masons   might  perhaps  have  coveted  for  the  glorifica- 
tion of  their  marks,   but  it   was   all  expended,  in  the 
principal    instance  here,  on  the  mere   ordinary  Saxon 
letters,  J.  W.,  the  initials  of  some  recent  visitor. 

So  there  was  a  valuable  fact  ascertained  by  negation. 
There  are  no  Freemasons'  marks  in  the  very  part  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  where  they  might  have  been  most 
expected,  had  wandering  mysticists  been  allowed  any 
hand  in  the  work  ;  while,  even  if  the  trifling  little  marks 
sent  me  by  the  Grand  Secretary  had  been  found  there, 
who  could  have  guaranteed  that  they  were  not  put  in 
long  after  the  building  of  the  monument,  like  those 
letters  J.  W. ;  by  some  cousins  of  that  genius,  or  by 

K 


130  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

J.  W.  himself,  or  perhaps  by  a  certain  vulgar  Russian- 
German,  near  the  beginning  of  the  present  century, 
whose  name  I  will  not  repeat,  because  he  painted  the 
jaw-cracking  word  on  those  exquisite  walls  of  polished 
granite,  in  letters  a  foot  high,  with  a  tar-brush ! 

Had  the  secrets,  therefore,  of  the  Great  Pyramid  been 
inscribed  in  mere,  little,  cut-in  writing  on  those  chamber 
walls  by  their  ancient  architect, — as  inscription  anti- 
quaries so  often  lament  was  not  done  in  the  orthodox 
Greek  and  Roman  fashion, — who  would  be  able  un- 
doubtedly to  distinguish  the  ages  of  each  inscription : 
and,  if  the  original  inscription  had  not  been  perhaps  in 
subsequent  ages  altogether  expunged,  prove  that  it  was 
the  original  one  ;  that  it  was  coeval  with  the  building  ; 
and  that  it  must  be  accepted  eventually  by  all  mankind, 
even  though  its  message  entails  consequences  subverting 
most  of  the  critical  philosophy,  or  philosophical  and 
historical  criticism,  of  modern  times? 

The  Ledge  Anomaly  of  the  Coffer, 

The  Pyramidist  scholar,  however,  most  fortunately,  is 
not  called  on  to  pin  any  faith  on  fleeting  inscriptions ; 
trifling  little  things  which  many  a  man. in  any  age  may 
cut  in,  and  many  a  man  in  any  age  may  remove  or  per- 
vert, though  none  of  them  should  be  able  either  to  build 
up,  or  to  throw  down  and  carry  away  the  Great  Pyramid. 
But  when  the  same  Pyramidist  scholar  advances  from 
grandest  facts  of  masonry  (mechanical,  and  of  the 
Pyramid,  not  the  "  Free  "  falsely  so  called)  to  this  coffer 
of  the  King's  Chamber,  a  loose,  almost  portable  vessel, 
and  necessarily  small,  some  startling  difficulties  are 
met  with.  And  yet  eventually  he  may  find,  thart;  well 
measured  facts  joined  to  advanced  theoretical  science 
will  enable  him  to  prove  satisfactorily  to  himself,  in 
spite  of  all  obstacles,  for  what  purpose  the  ancient 
architect  made  that  vessel,  and  for  what  he  did  not. 


Chap.  VIII.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  131 

How  astounded,  for  instance,  was  not  I,  on  first 
visiting  the  coffer  in  January,  1865,  to  find  that, 
though  sure  enough,  that  remarkable  vessel  was  still  in 
the  King's  Chamber — that  no  art  thieves  (whether  Earls 
of  Belmore  or  plebeian  Belzonis)  had  carried  it  off  to 
sell  to  a  distant  museum — yet  there  was  actually  a 
ledge  for  a  lid,  cut  out  of,  or  into,  the  substance  of  the 
top  of  the  sides,  of  what  had  been  styled  proverbially 
for  ages  the  "  lidless  box,  or  open  chest,  of  stone." 

Compared  with  this  discovery,  it  was  nothing  that  the 
vessel  was  chipped  and  chipped  again  on  every  possible 
edge  ;  that  the  south-eastern  corner  was  broken  away  by 
fresh  hammer  fractures  to  an  extent  of  eight  or  ten  inches 
ffiore  than  it  was  in  the  days  of  Colonel  Howard- Vyse. 
But  that  ledge  cut  out,  when  was  that  introduced  ? 

In  the  first  edition  of  this  book,  in  1864,  I  had 
ventured  to  publish  a  plate  of  the  coffer  ;  and  strove,  in 
mere  lithography,  to  make  it  look  as  neat,  trim,  and 
symmetrical  a  long  and,  both  originally  and  intention- 
ally a  lidless,  box  as  it  is  represented  in  the  first-class 
line  engravings  on  copper  of  the  great  French  work  on 
Egypt  which  I  copied ;  and  no  critic  or  reviewer 
breathed  a  suspicion  of  there  being  any  error  ilien. 
But  as  soon  as  I  had  gone  a  pilgrim  to  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid, I  myself  was  the  first  to  discover  the  consequences 
of  having  once  put  full  trust  in  the  French  Academy ! 
I  had  told  the  world  in  1864,  on  the  credit  of  that 
immortal  Institute,  that  the  coffer  had  no  ledge  for  a 
lid ;  but  in  1867,  I  not  only,  as  in  duty  bound,  untold 
that,  upon  my  own  observations  at  the  place,  but  left  no 
sort  of  doubt  by  descriptions,  measurements,  drawings, 
and  photographs,  that  there  was  a  ledge,  and  of  such 
and  such  a  shape  and  size.  And  when  I  further  found 
that  it  had  been  marked  on  a  small  scale  in  Perring's 
views  of  the  Pyramids  published  in  1840,  I  announced 
that  also, — and  ilnzn  were  the  critics  stern  and  unfor- 


132  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

giving  upon  me  for  what  they  called  "■  my  "  erroneous 
figure  of  1864  ;  while  they  said  not  a  word  touching 
the  grander  plate  from  which  that  figure  was  copied 
with  all  acknowledgment,  or  their  own  ignorance  until 
instructed  by  my  second  publication. 

Yet  it  would  form  a  very  pretty  piece  of  literary 
disputation,  to  argue  out  the  date  of  that  ledge  on  the 
coffer,  from  the  earliest  datum  afforded  by  high  modern 
scientific  authority  ;  for  that  is  the  Egypto-French  Aca- 
demy, of  1799,  which  represents  no  ledge  as  then  exist- 
ing :  or  again,  to  try  to  arrive  at  a  numerical  expression 
of  the  limits  of  respect  due  to  any  dictum  of  the  French 
Academy  in  future,  from  the  degree  of  divergence 
between  what  they  published  as  their  own  testimony 
touching  the  appearance  of  the  coffer  at  the  beginning 
of  this  century,  and  what  we  may  assure  ourselves  it 
must  really  have  been  then,  from  what  we  find  it  to  be 
now. 

The  French  observed  Depth  and  Height  Anomaly  also, 
in  the  Coffer. 

A  thoroughgoing  essayist  would  likewise  append  to 
the  above  subject  a  collateral  glance  at  M.  Jomard  and  his 
brother  Academicians  in  Egypt,  for  having  further  made 
both  the  inside  depth  and  outside  height  of  the  coffer 
some  three  inches  too  great ;  although  generally  pro- 
fessing to  measure,  and  sometimes  succeeding,  to  an 
accuracy  of  a  hundredth  of  an  inch. 

The  testing  of  this  "  French  depth  "  matter  was  one 
of  the  first  coffer  measurings  that  I  made,  on  seeing  the 
vessel  in  1 8  6  5  ;  and  the  rude  answer  came  out  instantly,  in 
whatever  way  the  question  was  tried,  "  French  Academy's 
measures  of  height  and  depth  3  inches  too  great ;" 
and  when,  after  some  weeks'  further  acquaintance  with 
the  coffer,  I  took  magnesium  light  and  photographic 


Chap.VIIL]         the  great  pyramid.  1-33 

apparatus  into  the  darkness  of  the  King's  Chamber,  my 
measuring-rods  (specially  prepared  for  the  purpose  at  the 
advice  of  Mr.  Joseph  Sidebotham,  of  Manchester),  were 
photographed  standing  side  by  side  with  the  coffer,  and 
showed  some  3  inches  less  of  height  and  depth  than 
the  once  supposed  unquestionable  measurement  of  the 
savants  of  France,  then  the  intellectual  ruler  of  nations. 

But  might  possibly  the  tops  of  the  sides  of  the  coffer 
have  been  in  a  different  state  in  1799  to  what  they 
are  at  present  ?  Could  they  have  been  then  three 
inches  higher  than  their  highest  part  is  now  ?  and 
could  some  one  since  then  have  feloniously  cut  off  three 
inches  from  the  top  of  the  coffer  all  round,  and  have 
cut  in  the  ledge  for  a  lid  at  the  same  time  ? 

Perring's  views  show  that  the  action  must  have  taken 
place,  if  at  all,  before  1837  ;  and  from  1799  to  1837 
was  not  prolific  in  clever  granite  cutters  anywhere, 
least  of  all  too  in  Egypt  ;  and  even  if  such  men  could 
have  managed  it  outside  the  Pyramid  with  the-  ad- 
vantage there  of  plenty  of  time,  air,  space,  and  motion, 
could  they  have  accomplished  it  inside  the  King's 
Chamber  in  darkness,  heat,  want  of  fresh  air,  and  the 
banditti-like  surveillance  of  an  irrepressible  rabble  of 
free  and  independent  Pyramid  Arabs  ?     . 

Besides  that,  too,  the  limits  of  those  3  inches,  or  2, 
or  4,  open  up  a  differential  impossibility  in  the  Pyramid 
itself.  The  doorway  of  the  King's  Chamber,  100  inches 
thick  in  solid,  polished,  unyielding  granite  (ceiling,  floor, 
and  walls),  is  only  42  inches  high,  and  41*3  broad. 
The  coffer,  therefore,  of  its  present  height,  and  without 
any  lid  whatever  on  the  top  of  it,  being  in  that  lidless 
state  41*27  inches  high,  can  only  just  pass  through, 
with  the  fraction  of  an  inch  to  spare.  But  if  it  were  of 
M.  Jomard's,  and  the  Academy's,  and  French  Govern- 
ment's published  height, ^ — viz.,  4477  inches, — just 
fancy !    Why,  even  if  they  were  all  to  clap  on  together, 


134  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  it. 

on  one  and  the  same  hawser,  they  could  never  pull  the 
grand  old  rigid  monolithic  granite  coffer  through  a 
solid  granite  doorway  two  and  three-quarters  inches  less 
in  height  I 


Confession  of  Error  in  the  First  Edition  of  this  BooJc, 
and  attempt  to  amend  it. 

But  leaving  the  origin  of  such  mistakes,  and  the  dis- 
inclination in  public  bodies  to  confess  them  afterwards, 
— to  those  so  quaintly  called  by  our  early  savants  "  the 
curious,"  I  will  write  down  with  all  penitence  that  there 
was  serious  coffer-error  in  my  first  edition  of  "  Our  In- 
heritance;" and  will  endeavour  to  make  up  to  all  whom  I 
then  unwittingly  misled  upon  literary  information  alone, 
by  setting  before  my  readers  here  what  size,  shape,  and 
condition  I  found  the  coffer  in,  in  1865,  and  how  the 
inquiry  was  conducted.  The  following  is,  therefore,  an 
extract  from  my  book,  "  Life  and  Work  at  the  Great 
Pyramid,"  published  in  1867,  and  now  revised,  in  order 
to  introduce  some  later  observations  and  corrections, 
by  Dr.  Grant,  and  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon,  C.E. 

THIil  COFFER,  MEASUEED  IN  BRITISH  INCHES. 

March  20—23,  25,  1865. 

This  vessel,  tlie  sole  contents  of  the  King's  Chamber,  and  termed, 
according  to  various  writers,  stone  box,  granite  chest,  lidless  vessel, 
porphyry  vase,  black  marble  sarcophagus,  and  coffer, — is  composed,  as  to 
its  material,  of  a  darkish  variety  of  red,  and  possibly  syenitic,  granite. 
And  there  is  no  difficulty  in  seeing  this ;  for  although  the  ancient 
polished  sides  have  long  since  acquired  a  deep  chocolate  hue,  there  are 
fiuch  numerous  chips  effected  on  all  the  edges  in  recent  years,  that  the 
component  crystals,  quartz,  mica,  and  felspar,  may  be  seen  even  brilliantly. 

The  vessel  is  chipped  around,  or  along,  every  line  and  edge  of  bottom, 
sides,  and  top ;  and  at  its  south-east  corner,  the  extra  accumulation  of 
chippings  extends  to  a  breaking  away  of  nearly  half  its  height  from  the 
top  downwards.  It  is,  moreover,  tilted  up  at  its  south  end,  by  a  black 
jasper  pebble,  about  1*5  inch  high  (such  pebbles  are  found  abundantly 
on  the  desert  hills  outside  and  west  of  the  Great  Pyramid),  recently 
pushed  in  underneath  the  south-west  comer.  The  vessel  is  therefore  in 
a  state  of  strain,  aggravated  by  the  depth  to  which  the  vertical  sides  have 


Chap.  VIII.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  135 

been  broken  down  as  above;  and  great  care  must  be  taken  in  outside 
measures,  not  to  be  misled  by  the  space  between  some  parts  of  the 
bottom  and  the  floor. 

As  for  the  under  surface  of  the  bottom  (speculated  on  by  some  persons 
as  containing  a  long  inscription),  I  felt  it,  near  the  south  end,  with  my 
hand  ;  and  tried  to  look  under  it  also,  when  a  piece  of  magnesium  wire  was 
burning  there, — without  being  sensible  of  any  approach  to  hieroglyphics 
or  engraving.  But  as  to  the  inside,  or  upper  surface  of  the  bottom,  and 
also  the  vertical  sides  of  the  vessel,  both  inside  and  out, — all  the  ancient 
surfaces  there,  are  plainly  enough  polished  smooth,  and  are  without  any 
carving,  inscription,  design,  or  any  intentional  line  or  lines ;  they  are 
also,  all  of  them,  simple,  plain,  and  flat  (sensibly  to  common  observation)  ; 
excepting  only  the  top  margin,  which  is  cut  into  in  a  manner  implying 
that  a  sarcophagus  lid  once  fitted  on,  sliding  into  its  place  from  the  west, 
and  fixable  by  three  steady  pins,  entering  from  the  lid  into  holes  on  that 
side. 

The  west  side  of  the  cofier  is  therefore  lowered  all  over  its  top  surface, 
except  at  the  north  and  south  ends,  by  the  amount  of  depth  of  such  ledge 
cut-out,  or  1"72  inch;  and  the  other,  or  east,  north,  and  south  sides  are, 
or  should  be,  lowered  to  the  same  depth  on  their  inner  edges ,  and  to  a  dis- 
tance from  inside  to  out,  of  1*63  inch.  But  the  fulness  of  this  arrangement 
cannot  be  seen  now,  because  in  some  places,  both  ledge  and  top  of  sides 
are  broken  away  together ;  and  in  others,  though  much  of  the  inner 
base  line  of  the  ledge  remains, — thanks  to  its  protected  position, — the 
upper  and  true  surface  of  the  cofler's  side  has  all  been  chipped  away. 
In  fact,  it  is  only  over  a  short  length  near  the  north-east  corner  of  the 
cofier,  that  the  chippers  have  left  any  portion  of  its  original  top  edge. 
And  a  cast  of  that  corner  recently  taken  by  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon, 
shows,  as  compared  with  my  photograph  (and  also  with  the  frontispiece 
to  Vol.  I.  of  my  "  Life  and  Work"),  that  a  further  portion  of  the  side's 
top-surface,  indeed  an  awfully  large  conchoidal-shaped  slice,  has  disap- 
peared since  1865. 

The  whole  question,  therefore,  of  the  full  depth  of  the  coffer,  rests  on 
one  very  small  portion  of  the  north-east  wall,  so  to  speak,  of  the  coffer  ; 
a  portion  too  which  becomes  smaller  and  smaller  every  year  that  we  live. 

Only  at  that  north-east  comer  too,  is  there  an  opportunity  of  measuring 
the  vertical  depth  between  the  ancient  top  surface  of  a  side,  and  the 
bottom  surface  of  the  ledge ;  and  it  was,  by  repeated  measure,  found  by 
me  =  from  1"68  to  1*70  and  1-76  ;  say  mean  =  1*72  inch. 

The  sides  of  the  ledge  depression  appeared  to  me  to  have  been 
vertical,  or  without  any  dovetailing :  and  the  horizontal  base  breadth  of 
such  cut-out, — measuring  from  within,  to,  or  towards,  the  "without"  of 
the  coffer, — and  restoring  the  sides  to  their  original  completeness  before 
the  chipping  away  of  the  edges, — is, — 


On  and 

near  Western  portion  of  Northern  side     .        =        1*65 

), 

Middle               „               „               .        =        1-62 

;; 

Eastern               „                „               .         =         1-73 

fy 

Northern  part  of  Eastern  side           .        =        1-55 

if 

Southern            „                „               .     all  broken. 

>» 

Eastern  and  Western  parts  of  Southern 

side            all  broken. 

Mean        =        1*63  in. 


136 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  II. 


But  this  appearance  of  the  coffer's  ledge  having  been  rectangular^  has 
been,  since  my  visit,  successfully  shown  by  Dr.  Grant  and  Mr.  W. 
Dixon  to  be  a  mistake.  For  although  everywhere  else  all  the  over- 
hangings  of  an  acute  ledge  have  been  broken  away  to  beyond  the 
vertical,  yet  there  is  a  small  part  left  near  the  north-east  corner,  which 
speaks  unmistakably  to  an  acute-angled  shape :  not  so  acute  as  that  of 
the  sarcophagus  of  the  Second  Pyramid,  but  decidedly  and  intentionally 
on  the  acute  side  of  rectangular. 

Along  the  western  side  are  three  fixing-pin  holes,  1-2  deep,  and  0*84  in 
diameter,  save  where  they  are  broken  larger,  as  is  chiefly  the  case  with 
the  middle  and  southern  one.  The  three  holes  have  their  centres  at  the 
following  distances  from  the  north  end  j  viz.,  16-0,  45*3,  and  75*1 
respectively. 

It  is  inconceivable  how  the  French  Academicians  could  have  pictured 
the  cofier,  as  they  did,  without  representing  anything  of  this  ledge  cut 
out ;  unless  they  looked  upon  it  as  a  comparatively  modem  attempt  to 
convert  the  original  pure  coffer  into  a  sarcophagus,  and  which  they  were 
therefore  boimd  to  overlook. 


OUTSIDE  OF  coffer:  its  figure. 

The  planes  forming  the  four  external  vertical  sides  of  the  coffer,  which 
have  never  yet  been  questioned  by  any  other  measurer,  appeared  to  me  to 
be  far  from  true  ;  excepting  the  east  one,  whose  errors  are  under  0*02, 
or  perhaps  O'Ol ;  while  the  north,  west,  and  south  sides  are  so  decidedly 
concave  as  to  have  central  depressions  of  0'3  and  0'5  inches;  or  more 
particularly — 

At  North  side,  central  hollow  or  depression  of  coffer's 
side  (measured  from  a  horizontal  straight-edge 
touching  the  side  at  either  end,  and  in  a  horizontal 
plane),  or  the  quantity  of  central  depression^  near 
bottom =         0*45 

Central  (?^i?r^6«ow  near  middle  of  height         .        .         =        0-20 
„  top =        0-12 


Mean 

At  West  side,  central  depression^  near  bottom 
„  „  „  middle 

»  n  n  top 

Mean 

At  South  side,  central  depression^  near  bottom 
„  „  „  middle 

»  j>  »  top      . 

Mean  .. 


=  0-26  in. 

=  0-35 

=  015 

=  010 

=  0-20  in. 

t=  0-28 

=  0-18 

=  0-10 

=  0-19  in. 


Again,  when  the  straight-edge  is  applied  vertically  to  the  sides,— east 
Bide  comes  out  true,  but  the  others  concave- 
On  North  side,  the  maxima  of  such  vertical  depression 
or  c^'  ......         .  =         0-20  and  0-28 

On  West  side,  d\  at  South  end      .        .        .        .         =         O'OO 

„  d\  at  North  end      .        .        .        .         =        0*20 

And  on  South  side,  d'y  at  different  distances  from  East 

to  West =        0-08,  0-12,  and  0'04  in. 


Chap.  VIII.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


'37 


EXTEENAL  MEASURES  OF  THE  COFFER. 

The  comers  and  edges  of  the  coffer  are  so  much  chipped,  that  the  steel 
claws  I  had  had  prepared  for  the  sliding-rods  to  adapt  them  from  inside 
to  outside  measures,  were  found  not  long  enough  to  span  these  modern 
fractures  and  reach  the  original  polished  surfaces.  A  method  was  therefore 
adopted,  of  making  up  the  sides  of  the  coffer  with  straight-edges  projecting 
beyond  it  at  either  end;  and  then  measuring  between  such  straight-edges 


LENGTH   OF   COFFER   OUTSIDE,   MEASURED   WITH   BAR   100   A. 


On  East  side,  near  bottom 

„              10  inches  under  top 

„              above  top 
On  "West  side,  near  bottom    . 

„             above  top 

„              near  top 

Mean  length 

1st 
Measure. 

2nd 
Measure. 

3rd 
Measure. 

i.  90-5 
90-15 
90-20 
.89-2 
89-95 
90-05 

90-3 
89-2 

90-5 
89-2 

90-01 

•  • 

•• 

The  above  mean,  however,  represents  only  the  mean  length  of  the  edges 
of  the  two  sides,  not  of  the  whole  coffer,  on  account  of  the  concavity  of 
the  two  external  ends  ;  wherefore,  if  we  desire  to  state  the  mean  length, 
for  the  mean  of  each  end  surface,  we  must  subtract  two-thirds  of  the 
mean  central  concavity,  as  previously  determined;  i.e.  =0-17  for  the 
north  end,  and  similarly  0-13  for  the  south  end ;  wherefore,  then,  the  mean 
length  for  mean  of  each  end  of  coffer     —     89*71  British  inches. 

=     89*62  Pyramid  inches. 

N.B. — An  anomaly  in  the  West  side,  near  the  bottom. 


BREADTH   OP   COFFER,   OUTSIDE. 


At  North  end,  near  bottom    . 

„               near  top 

„               over  top 
At  South  end,  near  bottom     . 

„               near  top 

„               over  top 

Mean      . 
Correction  for  curvature  of 
West  side       . 

Mean  breadth  of  mean  sides 
Concluded  breadth 

l8t 

Measure. 

2nd 

Measure. 

3rd 
Measure. 

39-05 

38-7 

38-67 

38-8 

38-6 

38-6 

31 
3{ 

)*1 

J-*7 

39-2 

38-72 
•07 

• 

•• 

38-66 

• 

•• 

=         38e 
=         38*6 

)6  Bn 
IPy 

tish  in 
ramid 

ches. 
inches. 

138 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  II. 


HEIGHT   OF   COFFER,  OUTSIDE. 


Height  of  coffer  outside,  eliminating  the  stone  under  bottom,  and  the 
sarcophagus  ledge  of  1-72 ;  i.e.  measuring  from  coffer-bottom  to 
extreme  ancient  top  of  sides,  is — 


At  North  end,  eastern  part  of  it        = 
Same  repeated  .         .         .         r= 

At  North  end,  north-eastern  part 

of  it 

At  other  parts  no  top  left. 


41-3 
41-3 


=.       41-22 


Mean  height        = 


Correction  in  capacity  computations 
for  a  supposed  hollow  curvature  of 
under  side  of  bottom ;  agreeably 
with  three,  out  of  the  four,  upright 
sides ;  and  also  agreeably  with  the 
construction  of  the  under  sides  of 
the  casing-stones,  which  rest  on 
their  circumferences,  on  account  of 
a  slight  hollowing  away  of  their 
central  areas ;  say 


41-27  British  inches. 
41-23  Pyramid  inches. 


•10 


Concluded 
height 


capacity-computation 


41-17  British  inches. 
41-13  Pyramid  inches. 


SIDES,   THICKNESS    OP. 

For  this  purpose  two  vertical  straight-edges  higher  than  the  sides  were 
placed  opposite  each  other,  in  contact  with  the  inside  and  outside  surfaces 
of  any  flank  of  the  coffer,  and  the  distance  across  was  measured  over  the  top 
edge  of  the  coffer ;  finding  at  successive  parts  of  the  coffer  circumference, 
bearing  from  centre — 


South-south-west  thickness 

— 

6.0 

South 

— 

6-0 

South-south-east          „ 

^^ 

5-95 

East-south-east            „ 

■z=. 

5-85 

East                              „ 

:^ 

5-95 

East-north-east            „ 

— 

6-10 

North-north-east         „ 

•^z. 

6-95 

North                            „ 

— 

5-98 

North-north-west         „ 

■^z. 

6-10 

"West-north-west         „ 

^^ 

5-95 

West                            „ 

— 

6-10 

West-south-west         „ 

= 

5-95 

Mean  thickness  of  vertical  sides     =        5 -99  B.  in. 


Chap.  VIII.] 


THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


139 


The  above  measures  were  repeated  on  March.  28th,  and  proved  sensibly 
true  for  this  method  of  measurement  over  the  top  edge  of  the  coffer ;  but 
if  calipered  lower  down,  it  is  probable  that  a  different  thickness  would 
have  been  found  there. 

BOTTOM   OF   THE   COFFER,  THICKNESS   OF. 

By  difference  of  heights  of  two  straight-edges  of  equal  length,  applied, 
one  inside  and  one  outside, — the  outside  one  being  further  propped  up 
where  required  by  a  third  straight-edge,  inserted  under  the  bottom, — there 
was  found — 


nd€ 

»r  South-west  comer,  thickness  0 

fbot 

torn   . 

t= 

7-0 

East  side                           „ 

= 

6-6 

East-north-east                „ 

= 

6-87 

t^ 

East-north-east  again     ,, 

= 

6-90 

North  end                         „ 

= 

6-90 

}) 

North-north-west             „ 

:;:: 

6-85 

North-north-east              „ 

= 

6-80 

)) 

West-north-west              „ 

— ^ 

7-20 

West 

^ 

6-90 

»> 

South-south-west            „ 

=: 

7-15 

Mean  thickness  of  bottom  around  the  edges  (the  thick- 
ness of  bottom  in  the  centre  cannot  at  present  be 
satisfactorily  or  easily  measured)    .        .        .        =        6-92  B.  in. 


INTERNAL  MEASURES  OF  THE  COFFER. 

The  inside  surfaces  of  the  coffer  seem  very  true  and  flat  over  the  greater 
part  of  their  extent ;  but  betray,  on  examination  by  straight-edges,  a 
slight  convergence  at  the  bottom,  towards  the  centre. 

INSIDE   LENGTH   OF   COFFER,   BY   SLIDER   70. 

(Correction  ■\-  0-13  added  to  all  the  readings  for  length  of  this  SUder.) 


Distance  between  East  and 

West  sides  of  the  North  and 

South  ends. 

Level  at  which  observations  were  taken. 

4to6 

inches  under 

top. 

Middle 

of 
height. 

6to7 
above 
bottom. 

0-6 

above 

bottom. 

Close  to  Eastern  side    .    | 

At  ^d  breadth  from  East 
Halfway  between  E.  &  W. 
At  Ids  breadth  from  East 
Close  to  West  side   . 

Mean  at  each  level 

Broken        at  j 
S.-E.  comer,  j 

78-06 

78-06 

78-05 

78-03 

78-08 

78-06 
78-08 
78-09 
78-06 

77-93 

77-97 
78-06 
78-06 
78-01 

77-68 

77-56 
77-63 
77-59 

77-57 

78-05 

78-07 

78-01 

77-69 

Mean  of  the  whole,  ( 
length  of  coffer 

)r  the  inside  1    —  77*93  British  inches. 
.  j   =  77-85  Pyramid  inches. 

140 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  II. 


INSIDE   BREADTH   OF   COFFER. 

(By  Slider  25,  not  requiring  any  correction.) 


Distance  between  North 

and  South  end,  along  the 

East  and  West  sides. 

Level  at  which  observations  were  taken. 

Near 
top. 

Near 
middle. 

6  to  7 
above 
bottom. 

0-6 

above 

bottom. 

0-6  re- 
measured. 

Close  to  North  end 
At  ^d  length  from  N.  end 
Near  middle  of  length  . 
Atf  ds  length  from  N.  end 
Close  to  South  end 

Mean  at  each  level 

26-68 
26-60 
26-64 
26-67 
26-78 

26-69 
26-69 
26-80 
26-78 
26-78 

26-65 
27-00 
27-10 
26-77 
26-63 

26-40 
26-72 
27-05 
26-67 
26-49 

26-39 
26-54 
27-05 
26-75 
26-49 

26-67 

26-75 

26-83 

26-67 

•• 

Mean  of  the  who] 
breadth  of  coffe 

e,  or  the  inside  \  = 
r      .         .         .  j    = 

=  26-73  British  inches. 
=  26-70  Pyramid  inches. 

INSIDE  DEPTH   OF   GOFFER. 

The  measure  of  this  element  is  taken  from  the  inside  bottom  of  the 
coffer, — which  is  apparently  smooth  and  flat, — up  in  the  shortest  line  to 
the  level  of  the  original  top-surface  of  the  north,  the  east,  and  the  south 
sides  ;  and  of  the  west  side  also,  presumably,  before  it  was  cut  down  to  the 
level  of  the  ledge  which  runs  round  the  inner  edges  of  the  north,  east,  and 
south  sides,  and  all  across  the  west  side's  top. 

Now,  the  depth  of  that  ledge  was  before  ascertained  =  1-72  inches 
below  the  original  top ;  a  block  of  wood  was  therefore  prepared  of  that 
thickness,  and  placed  on  the  west  side,  and  also  on  the  base-surface  of 
the  ledge  wherever  found  on  the  other  sides,  to  support  one  end  of  a 
straight-edge,  whose  other  end  rested  on  some  part  or  parts  of  the 
original  top  of  the  coffer's  sides,  which  are  still  visible  at  and  about  the 
north-east  corner. 

INSIDE   DEPTH   FROM   ORIGINAL   TOP    OF   NORTH,    EAST,    AND    SOUTH    SIDES. 

(By  Slider  25,  not  requiring  any  correction.) 


Part  of  Length  where  observations 
were  taken. 

Part  of  breadth  where  observations 
were  taken. 

Near 
East 
side. 

Near 
middle. 

Near 

West 
side. 

Mean  at 
each  part 
of  length. 

0-6  south  of  inner  N.  end . 

3-0  south  of  inner  N.  end  . 

5-0             do.            do.     . 
10-0             do.            do.      . 
24-0             do.            do.      . 

Mean  at  each  part  of  breadth 

34-30 
34-44 
34-42 
34-40 
34-36 

34-28 
34-36 
34-41 
34-38 
34-38 

34-26 
34-35 
-34-28 
34-28 
34-26 

34-28 
34-38 
34-37 
34-35 
34-33 

34-38 

34-36 

34-29 

34-34 

General  mean,  or  the  insid 
of  coffer    . 

B  depth\    =  34-34  British  inches. 
.j    =  34-31  Pyramid  inches. 

Chap.  VIII.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  141 

COFFER,  FURTHER  INSIDE  MEASURES  OF. 

DIAGONALS. 

Diagonals  inside  the  north  end ;  from  either  low  corner  at  bottom,  up 
to  a  measured  height  of  30'0  inches,  i.e.  the  greatest  height  quite  free 
from  fractures  ;  then — 

From  low  North-east  to  30-  high  North-west  =  39-71  British  inches, 
and  from  low  North- west  to  30"  high  North-east   =  39*70  „ 

Diagonals  inside  west  side  ;  from  either  comer  below,  up  to  a  height 
of  30  inches  measured  at  the  sides — 

or  from  low  South-west  to  30*  high  North-west  =  83*19  British  inches, 
and  from  low  North-west  to  30-  high  South-west  =  83-13  „ 

CUBICAL   DIAGONALS. 

From  low  South-west  to  30*  high  North-east  =  87*13  British  inches, 
„        South-east  „  North-west  =  87*05  „ 

„        North-east  „  South-west  =  87*06  „ 

„        North-west  „        South-east )  _  oh.yx 

temporarily  supplied  \  ~  " 

These  cubical  diagonals  give  sensibly  less  than  the  diagonals  computed 
from  the  lengths  and  breadths  ;  on  account,  apparently,  of  the  extreme 
points  of  the  corners  of  the  bottom  not  being  perfectly  worked  out  to  the 
exact  intersections  of  the  general  planes  of  the  entire  sides.  But  they 
seem  abundantly  sufficient  to  prove  general  rectangularity  of  figure,  in 
all  the  main  part  of  the  coffer's  interior. 


Tine,  Sarcophagus  Theory  of  the  Coffer. 

With  all  this  additional  information,  then,  touching 
the  actual  size  of  the  coffer,  let  us  take  up  once. again 
that  vexed  question  of  "  why  of  that  size  ?"  and  on  our 
so  doing  we  must,  of  course,  let  the  Egyptian  sarco- 
phagus theory  be  heard  over  again,  especially  when  it 
has  something  to  say  touching  shape  as  well  as  size. 

The  inside  dimensions  of  the  coffer  being  by  our 
ovm  measures  (roughly)  6*5  feet  long,  2-2  feet  wide, 
and  almost  3  feet  deep,  are  at  least  long  enough  and 
broad  enough  for  a  coffin ;  and  if  rather  deeper  than 
convenient  or  necessary,  I  will  not  object  to  that,  as 
there  is  now  proved  to  be  a  ledge  cut  into  the  top  of 
the  vessel,  and  quite  suitable  for  a  lid.    • 


142  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  H. 

As  there  is  a  ledge,  an  intention  to  put  on  a  lid 
may  or  must  be  inferred  ;  but  it  is  still  to  be  proved 
wbetber  a  lid  ever  was  put  on,  especially  for  sarcophagus 
purposes ;  because,  first,  with  a  sarcophagus  lid  of  the 
ordinary  style  and  thickness  fastened  into  that  ledge, 
the  coffer  could  not  have  passed  through  the  closely- 
fitting  doorway  of  the  room;  it  would  have  been  several 
inches  too  high.  Second,  a  sarcophagus  lid  fastened 
into  that  ledge  would  have  betokened  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  last  rites  to  the  dead;  and  they  would  have 
included  among  all  Eastern  nations,  but  more  especially 
the  profane  Egyptians,  the  engraving  the  deceased's 
name,  titles,  deeds,  and  history  on  the  coffer,  both  in- 
side and  out ;  but  there  is  nothing  of  the  kind  there ; 
so  the  coffer  remains  still  the  smooth-sided,  vacant,  lid- 
less  chest  of  old  Al  Mamoun  Arab  tale  ;  quite  capable  of 
having  been  made  at  any  time  into  a  sarcophagus  ;  but 
never  so  made  or  converted,  whatever  may  have  been 
the  reason  why  or  wherefore. 

Considering,  however,  the  coffer's  approximate  shape, 
size,  and  situation,  I  am  quite  ready  to  allow  it  to  be 
"a  blind  sarcophagus;"  viz.,  a  deceiving  blind  to  the 
eyes  of  the  profane  Egyptian  workmen,  as  well  as  a 
symbol  sarcophagus  to  others,  reminding  them  of  death, 
judgment,  and  eternity  (as  well  taught  by  William 
Simpson,  artist) ;  but  without  thereby  interfering  one 
iota  with  its  further  more  exact  objects  and  intentions. 

And  what  are  they  ? 

Only  look  at  some  of  them,  as  the  vessel  tells  them 
off  itself  in  number  and  measure,  and  see  features 
thereby  which  cannot  be  accidental ;  features  which 
have  never  been  heard  of  in  any  other,  or  mere,  sar- 
cophagus ;  and  which  no  Egyptologist,  not  even  Lepsius 
himself,  has  ever  made  himself  famous  by  publishing, 
as  his  "■  law  of  Egyptian  sarcophagus  construction." 

Taking  the  coffer  measures,  for  instance,  as  of  the 


Chap.  VIII.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  143 

whole  vessel  before  the  ledge  was  cut  out,  from  the 
previous  pages  in  pyramid  inches  ;  then — 

Length.    Breadth.    Depth.     Volume. 
Coffer  interior  =  77-85  X  2670  x  34-31  =    71,317* 
Coffer  exterior  =  89-62  x  38-61  x  41-13  =  142,316' 

that  is,  within  the  limits  of  accuracy  of  the  modern 
measures,  the  volume  of  the  exterior  is  double  that  of 
the  interior  ;  and  the  simplest  even  relation  between 
them  is  that  of  capacity. 

Again,  the  mean  thickness  of  the  sides  of  the  coffer 
being  assumed  in  pyramid  inches  5*952,  and  of  the 
bottom  6  "8 6  6,  we  have  (from  a  formula  first  prepared 
by  the  ingenious  Mr.  Henry  Perigal) — 

Coffer's  bottom  =  89-62  x  38-61  X  6-866  =  23,758- 

Coffer's  sides  =  2  (89-62  X  26-70)  X  34-31  X  5952  =  47,508- 


71,266- 


or  again,  we  find  a  duplicity  of  the  one  quantity  against 
the  other;  and  the  only  apparent  simple  relation  between 
the  two,  and  of  the  sum  of  both,  with  the  interior  of 
the  vessel,  is  that  of  capacity. 

If  now  then,  we  may  justifiably  say,  that  though  the 
coffer  is  probably  what  John  Taylor  did  not  think  it, 
viz.  a  blind  sarcophagus  and  a  symbolical  coffin,  it  is 
also  most  positively  what  he  did  consider  it  (though  by 
means  of  mensuration  proof  which  he  never  lived  to 
see) — viz.  a  vessel  at  whose  birth  the  requirements  both 
of,  and  for,  capacity  measure  presided  and  governed  : 
— then  in  that  case,  what  is  its  capacity? 

What  shall  we  consider  the  Capacity  of  the  Coffer 
proved  to  he  ? 

Now,  for  the  coffer's  length  and  breadth  elements  ; 
we  can  quote  plenty  of  measures,  but  depth  is  a  weak 
point ;  because,  as  already  explained,  every  particle  of 


144  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IL 

the  original  top  of  the  sides  is  cut  or  broken  away,  except 
some  little  patches  near  the  north-east  corner.  Those 
were  in  place  in  1865,  but  who  will  guarantee  that  they 
are  there  still,  when  men  will  hammer  that  exquisite 
gift  inherited  from  primeval  time,  merely  in  the  ignorant 
notion  of  sending  their  friends  at  home  a  chip  of 
"  Cheops'  coffin  " !  When  the  last  of  these  small  pieces 
of  the  ancient  top,  which  I  mapped  so  carefully  in  "  Life 
and  Work,"  has  disappeared  (and  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon's 
cast  shows  that  some  of  them  are  already  gone),  then 
comes  the  deluge  among  future  coffer  measures ;  a 
veritable  chaos  of  uncertainty  as  to  depth,  in  the  midst 
of  which  French  academicians  might  put  on  their  three 
additional  inches  again,  and  upset  all  the  geometrical 
doublings  and  equalities  which  have  just  been  obtained 
by  means  of  our  having  still  a  trace  of  the  true  height. 
But  at  this  point  of  the  discussion  there  comes  in  a 
strange  use  of  the  ledge  cut  out,  though  it  has  hitherto 
been  thought  of  only  for  a  lid  and  nothing  else. 

No  lid  has  ever  been  seen  by  any  historical  indi- 
vidual, but  every  man  of  the  present  age  may  test  the 
truth  of  the  following  mechanical  adaptation ;  viz.,  the. 
ledge,  though  acute-angled,  is  cut  out  of  such  a  base- 
breadth  and  depth  that  a  frame  made  to  fit  it  flush  with 
the  ancient  top  of  the  sides  would,  when  let  down  in 
vertical  plane,  and  diagonally  inside  the  coffer,  just 
form  the  diagonal  of  said  coffer's  interior,  and  the  frame's 
height  at  that  moment  would  exactly  measure  the 
coffer's  depth.  Hence  the  breadth  of  the  ledge,  con- 
tinued across  the  coffer  from  west  to  east,  would, 
continue  to  give  us  an  outstanding  test  of  the  coffer's 
original  depth,  long  after  young  cadets  going  out  to 
India,  and  comfortable  shopkeepers,  on  a  "  spree  "  from 
Cairo,  shall  have  knocked  away  every  particle  of  the 
original  top  of  the  sides. 

In  this  case  also,  of  course — just  as  it  usually  is  in 


Chap.VIII.]         the  great  pyramid.  145 

all  matters  of  so-called  exact  measuring — no  two  human 
measures  ever  agree  exactly  ;  and  all  that  finite  man 
can  hope  for  is,  to  come  within  moderately  close  limits. 
So  then  must  it  be  with  the  coffer's  cubic  contents'. 

Taking  the  ledge  breadth  (from  my  '*  Antiquity  of 
Intellectual  Man,"  p.  300)  as  34 '282  Pyramid  inches, 
then  the  coffer's  cubic  contents  in  cubic  Pyramid 
inches  : — 

(1)  By  interior  length  and  breadth,  and  by  depth  from  ledge- 

breadth    =  71,258- 

(2)  By  interior  of  coffer,  by  all  direct  measures  .         .         .  =  71,317* 

(3)  By  half  the  exterior  volume  directly  measured     .         .        ..  =  71,160* 

(4)  By  sum  of  bottom  and  sides  directly  measured     .         .         .  =  71,266* 

Here  then  we  have  a  vessel  whose  cubic  contents  are 
not  only  something  excessively  near  to  71,250*  cubic 
Pyramid  inches,  but  it  was  pretty  evidently  intended  to 
be  both  of  that  quantity  within  some  minute  fraction, 
and  to  carry  a  check  and  a  witness  thereto  down  through 
all  fair  accidents,  through  all  ages,  to  distant  time.  While 
that  precise  quantity,  and  the  care  for  that  quantity, 
are  so  impossible  for  the  Egyptologists  to  explain  on 
any  sarcophagus  theory  of  their  own,  pure  and  simple — 
for  it  has  never  been  suggested  b}^  any  one  a  'priori,  and 
is  not  found  in  any  other  sarcophagus  from  one  end  of 
Egypt  to  the  other — that  we  must  now  strive  to  ascertain, 
on  methods  new  to  Eg}^ptolog}',  what  the  Great  Pyramid 
itself  may  hava  to  add  to  this,  its  own  preliminary 
setting  forth  of  "  a  symbolical  sarcophagus,  adapted  to 
something  further  and  higher  connected  with  capacity 
measure." 


146  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IL 


CHAPTER  IX. 

DENSITY   AND    TEMPERATUEE. 

THOUGH  there  be  no  inscriptions,  yet  is  there  much 
teaching  on  the  interior  walls  of  the  Great 
Pyramid ;  and  as  the  coffer,  when  taken  merely  by 
itself,  has  proved  thus  far,  too  hard  a  riddle  for  full 
interpretation,  let  us  try  the  teaching  of  the  walls  which 
precede,  as  well  as  those  which  surround  it. 

Ante-chamber  Symbolisms. 

In  order  to  enter  the  Great  Pyramid's  so-called 
King's  Chamber,  we  have  to  pass  through  the  "  ante- 
chamber," very  appropriately  so  called,  because  it  is  a 
little  room  which  must  be  passed  through  before  the 
King's  Chamber  can  be  entered  or  the  coffer  seen ;  and 
in  passing  through  it  the  attentive  eye  may  note  many 
more  complicated  forms  there,  than  in*  any  other  part 
of  the  Great  Pyramid.  Amongst  these  notanda  are 
certain  vertical  lines  above  the  southern  or  further 
doorway. 

Previous  travellers  have  contradicted  each  other  so 
abundantly  about  the  number  of  these  lines,  that  I  was 
rather  surprised  to  perceive  them  instantly  to  be  not  only  * 
confined  to  the  number  four,  but  these  distinct,  regular, 
parallel,  extending  the  whole  way  evenly  from  door-top 
to  ceiling,  and  no  less  than   2*8  inches  deep  and  3 '8 


Chap.  IX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  147 

inches  broad  each,  with  six-inch  spaces  between,  and  with 
similar  six-inch  spaces  also  between  the  outer  side  of 
each  outermost  line,  and  the  bounding  of  the  ante- 
room wall  on  that  side. 

Hence  the  lines  were  subservient  to  the  spaces,  an<? 
the  whole  arrangement  appeared  to  me,  not  so  much  a 
system  of  four  lines,  as  an  example  of  surface  divided 
vuXjO  jive  portions  or  spaces. 

As  the  doorway  is  only  42  inches  high,  and  the 
dividing  lines  are  drawn  down  to  its  (now  broken)  top,  a 
man  of  ordinary  height  standing  in  the  ante-room  and 
looking  southward  (the  direction  he  desires  to  go  in 
order  to  reach  the  King's  Chamber),  cannot  fail  to  see 
this  space  divided  into  five.  And  when  he  bows  his 
head  low,  as  he  must  do  to  pass  under  the  southern 
doorway  of  42  inches,  he  bends  his  head  submissively 
under  that  symbol  of  division  into  five,  and  should  re- 
member that  five  is  the  first  and  most  characteristic  of 
the  Pyramid  numbers.      (See  Plate  X.) 

Travellers  describe  the  Wall-courses  of  the  King's 
Chamber. 

Not  for  nothing,  therefore,  was  it,  as  the  intelligent 
traveller  may  readily  believe,  that  the  architect  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  desired  to  impress  that  division  into  5 
upon  his,  the  traveller  s,  mind,  just  the  last  thing  before 
he  should  bow  down  previous  to  passing  through  the 
low,  solid,  doorway,  100  inches  thick  and  42  high  ;  and 
after  that,  rising  up  in  the  midst  of  the  King's  Chamber 
beyond,  and  seeing — what  should  he  see  ? 

According  to  that  usually  most  correct  of  travellers, 
Professor  Greaves,  he  says  of  the  King's  Chamber  that 
every  one  may  see  there  "  from  the  top  of  it  descending 
to  the  bottom,  there  are  but  six  ranges  of  stone,  all 
which,  being  respectively  sized  to  an  equal  height,  very 


148  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

gracefully  in  one  and  tlie  same  altitude  run  round  the 
room." 

Well,  tliat  is  not  tlie  accomplishment  of  a  division 
into  five,  so  let  us  try  an  older  traveller,  Sandys,  in 
1610.  Says  he,  "A  right  royal  apartment,  and  so 
large  that  eight  floors  it,  eight  roofs  it ;  eight  stones 
flagge  the  ends  and  sixteen  the  sides."  Worse  and 
worse. 

Says  Dr.  Pocock  in  1743,  "Six  tiers  of  stones  of 
equal  breadth  compose  the  sides  ;  "  which  M.  Fourmont, 
on  the  part  of  Bourbon  France,  confirms  in  1755  by 
laying  down  that  "  the  walls  are  composed  of  six  equal 
ranges."  The  still  more  famous  traveller,  Dr.  Clarke, 
makes  Cambridge  in  1801  support  Oxford  in  1639, 
by  particularising  that  "  there  are  only  six  ranges  of 
stone  from  the  floor  to  the  roof ;  "  while,  finally,  that 
usually  infallible  author  on  Egypt,  Mr.  Lane,  with  his 
relatives  the  Pooles,  seem  to  set  a  seal  for  ever  on  the 
mistake  by  declaring,  "  Number  of  courses  in  the  walls 
of  the  King's  Chamber,  six." 

What  could  have  blinded  all  these  men,  and  sent 
them  following  each  other  helpless  down  one  and  the 
same  too  easy  rut  of  simple,  ridiculous,  error  ?  Dr. 
Richardson,  in  1817,  was  more  original,  if  error  appa- 
rently there  must  be  ;  for  he  chose  a  new  and  hitherto 
untrod  line  of  it  for  himself,  sententiously  writing  of 
the  room,  "  Lined  all  round  with  broad  flat  stones, 
smooth  and  highly  polished,  each  stone  ascending  from 
the  floor  to  the  ceiling."  But  having  once  begun  this 
new  misdescription,  he  soon  has  followers  ;  and  we  find 
Lord  Lindsay,  in  1838,  writing,  "  A  noble  apartment, 
cased  with  enormous  slabs  of  granite  20  feet  high  "  (or 
more  than  the  whole  height  of  the  room)  ;  and  Sir 
William  R.  Wilde  and  M.  R.  I.  A.,  in  1837,  equally 
write  down,  as  observed  by  themselves,  "An  oblong 
apartment,  the  sides  of  which  are  formed  of  enormous 


Chap.  IX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  149 

blocks    of    granite    reaching    from    the    floor    to    the 
ceiling." 

And  yet,  will  it  be  credited,  even  by  little  children, 
that  the  walls  of  this  chamber  are  divided  into  five  hori- 
zontal courses,  neither  more  nor  less,  almost  four  feet  high 
each ;  and  that  these  courses  are  most  easy  to  count,  as 
they  must  have  been  undoubtedly  most  expensive  for  the 
architect  to  construct,  because  each  course  runs  round  and 
round  the  room  at  one  and  the  same  height  in  granite 
blocks  47  inches  high,  difficult  to  get  in  large  numbers 
so  massive  and  uniform  in  any  quarry  ;  and  every  course 
is  the  same  height  as  every  other,  except  the  lowest, 
which  is  less  than  the  others  by  nearly  1-1 0th  part,  if 
measured  from  the  floor,  but  is  the  same  height  if 
measured  from  the  base  of  its  own  granite  component 
blocks,  which  descend  in  the  wall  to  beneath  the. floor's 
level*     (See  Plate  XL) 

The  Pyramid  Number  of  Wall-courses,  and  of  Stones 
in  them. 

Neither  was  I  the  first  person  to  find  out  that  the 
courses  in  the  walls  of  the  King's  Chamber  were  five 
only,  for  the  same  thing  had  been  noted  by  Lord  Egmont 
in  1709,  and  Dr.  Shaw  in  1721,  and  perhaps  by  some 
others  earlier  or  later ;  but  no  one  previously  to  myself 
had,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  either  fought  against  odds 
for  the  correctness  of  his  observation,  or  connected  the 
number  with  both  the  teaching  of  the  architect  in  the 
jtnte-chamber,  and  the  quinary  character  of  the  Pyramid's 
first  arithmetic. 

Yet,  quinary  though  it  be  for  some  purposes,  it  is 

*  Full  particulars  of  my  measures  of  this  room  in  whole  and  part,  and 
parts  compared  against  whole,  are  contained  in  my  "  Life  and  Work  at 
the  Great  Pyramid,"  vol.  ii. ;  but  are  too  long  to  introduce  here.  I  have 
given  there  also  the  immediately  succeeding  measures  of  a  young 
engineer,  sent,  I  suspect,  by  a  rich  man,  to  trip  me  up  if  he  could,  but 
confirming  my  measures  both  of  number  und  size  of  courses  and  room. 


ISO  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

decimal  for  others,  as  shown  here  in  almost  juxta- 
position ;  first,  by  the  tenth  part,  nearly,  taken  off  the 
height  of  the  lower  course,  by  the  manner  of  intro- 
duction of  the  floor ;  and  then  by  the  10x10  number 
of  stones,  exactly,  of  which  the  walls  of  this  beautiful 
chamber  are  apparently  composed.  This  latter  circum- 
stance was  only  recently  announced,  though  on  my 
publication  of  1867,  by  Mr.  Flinders  Petrie ;  and  does 
him  all  the  more  credit  because,  when  I  came  to  test 
the  statement,  there  was  one  joint  line,  by  mistake,  too 
many  in  the  middle  course  of  the  south  wall  in  my 
engraved  plate  of  the  chamber,  though  the  printed 
numbers  were  correct.  Yet  as  the  upper  courses,  though 
given  by  me,  are  on  Mr.  Inglis'  observations  alone — they 
should  certainl}^  be  repeated,  now  that  an  unexpected 
importance  has  attached  to  them. 


The  King  8  Chamber  and  the  Coffer  are  mutually  Com- 
TYiensurahle  in  Pyramid  Numbers. 

Bit  the  tenth  part,  nearly,  taken  off  the  visible  height 
of  the  lower  granite  course  of  the  walls  ;  w^hat  was  that 
for  ?  Its  first  effect  was  to  make  that  course,  within  the 
fraction  of  an  inch,  the  same  height  as  the  coffer ;  and 
the  second  was,  more  exactly,  to  make  the  capacity,  or 
cubic  contents  of  that  lowest  course  of  the  room,  so 
decreased,  equal  to  fifty  times  the  cubic  contents  of  the 
coffer,  already  shown  to  be  71,250"  cubic  Pyramid 
inches.  Two  separate  sets  of  measured  numbers  in 
Pyramid  inches  for  the  length,  breadth,  and  height,  of 
that  lowest  course  giving  as  follows,  when  divided  by 
the  coffer's  contents, — 


412-14  X  206-09  X  41-9      3,558,899- 

= —  49-95 

71,250  71,250 


Chap.  IX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  151 

And 

412  X  206  X  42       3,564,624- 

= =  50-03 

71,259-  71,250- 

Hence,  close  as  was  the  connection  of  the  several 
parts  of  the  coffer  by  the  tie  of  capacity,  equally  close 
is  the  connection  of  the  coffer  with  the  adjusted  course 
of  the  granite  room  in  which  it  stands,  and  by  capaxiity 
measure  also.  While,  if  the  multiple  before  was  two,  and 
is  50  now,  is  not  50  twice  25,  or  double  the  number  of 
inches  in  the  cubit  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  the  significant 

Commensurahilities  between  the  King's  Chamber  and  the 
Structural  Masonry  Courses  of  the  whole  Pyramid. 

Neither  did  the  fives  and  the  tens  of  this  chamber,  on 
being  examined,  end  here  ;  for  having  been  greatly  struck 
outside  the  monument  on  contemplating  the  grandeur 
of  the  horizontal  courses  of  masonry  of  which  the  whole 
Pyramid  is  built,  I  began  next  to  study  them  by  measure. 
Not  equal  to  each  other  are  they  in  their  successive 
heights  ;  but,  whatever  height  or  thickness  of  stones  any 
one  course  is  begun  with,  it  is  kept  on  at  that  thickness 
precisely,  right  through  the  Avhole  Pyramid  at  that  level ; 
though  too  the  area  of  the  horizontal  section  there  may 
amount  to  many  acres. 

To  secure  this  result,  in  fact  just  as  with  the  equal 
lieight  of  the  granite  courses  in  the  King's  Chamber 
walls,  but  on  a  far  larger  scale, — it  was  plain  that 
immense  arrangements  must  have  been  instituted  with 
the  masons  of  many  quarries  ;  and  such  arrangements 
imply  method,  mind,  and  above  all,  intention.  Where- 
fore, having  measured  the  thickness  of  every  com- 
ponent course  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  one  day  in  April, 
1865,  when  ascending  to  the  summit,  and  another  day 


152  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

in  descending,  I  compared  and  confirmed  those  figures 
with  ray  own  photographs  of  the  building  placed  under 
a  compound  microscope ;  and  also  with  similar  num- 
bers obtained  from  still  more  careful  measures  by  the 
French  Academicians  in  1799  and  1800  ;  and  then 
began  to  sum  up  the  courses'  successive  thicknesses  to 
give  the  whole  height  of  any  particular  number  of 
courses. 

On  reaching  in  this  manner  the  50th  course,  lo  ! 
the  total  height  of  that  stratum,  or  1,690  inches,  gave 
the  hypsometrical  level  of  the  floor  of  the  King's 
Chamber  as  well  as  it  has  yet  been  ascertained  directly 
by  all  the  best  authorities.  So  that  the  level  of  the 
50  th  course  of  the  Pyramid,  is  the  level  also  of  that 
granite,  floor,  whereon  is  resting  the  coffer,  a  vessel 
with  commensurable  capacity  proportions  between  its 
inside  and  out,  arid  walls  and  floor,  in  a  room  with  5 
courses,  composed  of  100  stones,  and  with  a  capacity 
proportion  of  50  to  the  5  th  of  these  courses. 

The  dullest  person  in  existence  could  hardly  but  see 
then,  that  the  so-called,  in  the  dark  ages,  King's  Cham- 
ber, should  rather  have  been  called  the  chamber  of  the 
standard  of  50.  Can  we  also  say  of  50  Pyramid  inches 
employed  in  capacity  measure  ? 

But  what  is  a  length  of  50  Pyramid  inches  in 
the  eye  of  Nature,  and  how  ought  that  length  to  be 
employed  for  scientific  and  general  capacity-measure 
purposes  ? 

Fifty  Pyramid  inches  fqrm  the  one  ten-millionth  of 
the  earth's  axis  of  rotation ;  or  decidedly  the  proper 
fraction  to  take  for  capacity  measure,  when  we  have 
already  chosen  one  ten-millionth  of  the  semi-axis  for 
linear  measure.  The  reason  being,  that  in  measuring 
distances,  say  amongst  the  spheres  of  heaven,  men  mea- 
sure them  from  centre  to  centre,  and  therefore  have 
only  to  take  account  of  the  radii  of  each  ;  but  in  dealing 


Chap.  IX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  15^ 

with  either  their  capacity  or  weight,  we  must  .take  each 
sphere  in  its  entirety,  or  from  side  to  side,  that  is,  by 
its  diameter  rather  than  radius. 


More  Symbolical  Hints  from  the  Ante-chamber. 

Such  is  the  answer  to  the  first  part  of  the  question ; 
and  a  hint  how  to  deal  with  the  second  part  may  be 
gathered  from  some  of  the  hitherto  incomprehensible 
things  in  the  little  ante-chamber  to  this  our  grander 
chamber.  Little  is  the  ante-chamber,  when  it  measures 
only  65-2  inches  in  utmost  breadth  from  east  to  west, 
116'3  long  from  north  to  south,  and  149 "4  high  ;  but 
it  has  a  sort  of  granite  wainscot  on  either  side  of  it, 
full  of  detail ;  and  was  to  me  so  complicated  and 
troublesome  a  matter  as  to  occupy  three  days  in 
measuring.      (See  Plate  X.) 

On  the  east  side,  this  wainscot  is  only  103'1  inches 
high,  and  is  flat  and  level  on  the  top  ;  but  on  the  west 
side  it  is  111 "8  inches,  and  has  three  semi-cylindrical 
cross  hollows  of  9  inches  radius,  cut  down  into  it,  and 
also  back  through  its  whole  thickness  of  80  to  117 
inches  to  the  wall.  Each  of  those  cylindrical  hollows 
stands  over  against  a  broad,  shallow,  flat  groove  21*6 
inches  wide,  running  from  top  to  bottom  of  the 
wainscot,  with  a  pilaster-like  separation  between  them  ; 
and  this  groove  part  of  the  arrangement  is  precisely 
repeated  on  the  east  side,  within  its  compass  of  height. 

These  three  grand,  flat,  vertical  grooves,  then,  on  either 
side  of  the  narrow  ante-chamber,  have  been  pronounced 
long  since  by  Egj^ptologists  to  be  a  vertically  sliding 
portcullis  system  for  the  defence  of  the  door  of  the 
King's  Chamber.  There  are  no  blocks  now  to  slide  uj) 
and  down  in  these  grooves,  nor  have  such  things  ever 
been  seen  there  :  but  the  gentlemen  point  triumphantly 
to  a  fourth  groove,  of  a  different  order,  existing  to  the 


/S4  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

north  of  all  the  others,  indeed  near  the  north  beginning 
of  the  ante-chamber  ;  and  with  its  portcullis  block,  they 
say,  still  suspended,  and  ready  for  work. 


The,  Granite  Leaf. 

That  alleged  portcullis  block,  however,  contains  many 
peculiarities  which  modern  Egyptologists  have  never 
explained ;  and  as  it  was  first  carefully  described  by 
Professor  Greaves  under  the  appellation  of  "  the  granite 
leaf,"  we  had  better  keep  to  that  name. 

Its  groove,  instead  of  being  21-6  inches  broad,  like  the 
others,  is  only  17'1  broad;  and  in  place  of  being  like 
them  cut  down  to,  and  even  several  inches  into,  the 
floor,  terminates  437  inches  above  that  basal  plane; 
so  that  the  block,  or  rather  blocks — ^for  it  is  in  two 
pieces,  one  above  the  other — stand  on  solid  stone,  and 
could  not  be  immediately  lowered  to  act  as  a  portcullis 
if  any  one  desired.  Nor  would  they  make  a  good 
portcullis  if  they  were  to  be  forcibly  pushed,  or  chiselled 
down  in  their  vertical  plane,  seeing  that  there  are 
21  inches  free  lateral  space  between  the  leaf  and  the 
north  entering  wall  and  doorway,  where  a  man  might 
worm  himself  in,  on  that  face  of  it;  and  57"  inches 
above  its  utmost  top,  where  several  men  might  clamber 
over ;  and  where  I  myself  sat  on  a  ladder,  day  after 
day,  with  lamps  and  measuring-rods,  but  in  respectful 
silence  and  absolute  solitude,  thinking  over  what  it 
might  mean. 

The  granite  leaf  is,  therefore,  even  by  the  few  data 
already  given,  a  something  which  needs  a  vast  deal 
more  than  a  simple  portcullis  notion,  to  explain  it. 
And  so  do  likewise  the  three  broader  empty  grooves  to 
the  south  of  it,  remarkable  with  their  semi-cylindrical 
hollows  on  the  west  side  of  the  chamber.  But  it  is 
not  any,  or  every,  other  notion  which  will  therefore  be 
found  to  apply. 


Chap.  IX.]  THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  1 5  5 

Thus  a  military  knight  and  engineer-general  had,  in 
1869,  published  in  more  than  positive  terms  a  most 
questionable  idea  of  the  descending  entrance-passage, 
together  with  the  ascending  passage  and  Grand  Gallery 
of  the  Great  Pyramid,  being  a  pet  plan  of  the  ancient 
King  Cheops  for  easily  visiting  his  King's  Chamber 
when  in  progress ;  viz.,  by  going  down  the  first  slope 
in  a  truck,  whose  impetus  should  be  so  remarkably 
economised  by  ropes  and  pulleys,  as  to  draw  him  up 
the  second  slope  to  twice  the  vertical  height  he  came 
down  from  ;  and  the  gallant  commander  could  scarcely 
be  restrained  from  giving  orders  to  the  commissioned 
and  non-commissioned  officers  on  the  Sinai  survey  to 
go  over  from  there  and  fit  up,  or  rather,  as  he  con- 
sidered, restore,  such  a  system  of  ropes  and  trucks 
inside  the  Great  Pyramid  ;  and  what  for  ?  Why,  to 
facilitate  the  legionary  visits  of  modern  travellers ; 
the  very  men  who  day  by  day,  and  year  after  year, 
break  both  the  coffer  and  anything  and  everything  else 
breakable  with  their  needless  and  provoking  hammers  ; 
and  become  more  and  more  rampagious  the  larger 
parties  they  are  allowed  to  accumulate  ;  ''  cutting  such 
antics  "  there,  "  as  make  the  angels  weep." 

In  the  course  of  last  year,  however,  a  civilian  engineer, 
Mr.  John  Dixon — ^having  returned  from  Egypt,  where, 
with  his  brother  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon  as  resident 
engineer,  he  had  been  building  a  bridge  over  the  Nile, 
and  successfully  exploring  at  the  Great  Pyramid  also — 
kindly  contributed  several  Pyramid  drawings  to  the 
Graphic  in  London. 

These  drawings,  or  their  descriptions,  contained  some 
allusions  both  to  the  granite  leaf  and  the  three  semi- 
cylindrical  hollows  on  the  top  of  the  wainscot  of  the 
western  side  of  the  ante-chamber.  This  special  infor- 
mation, apparently  quite  new  to  the  military  man, 
seemed  to  set  his  ambitious    soul  in  a  blaze,  for  he 


156  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IL 

immediately  wrote  off  with  enthusiasm  to  Mr.  John 
Dixon  about  the  truck  system;  and  called  presently 
with  a  model  of  it  under  his  arm,  asking  "if  he 
(Mr.  J.  D.)  did  not  think  that  all  those  ante-chamber 
arrangements  which  he  had  pictured,  were  just  intended 
to  carry  out  his,  the  general  officer's,  ideas  of  Cheops' 
pet  truck  method  of  going  without  any  exertion  up 
and  down  the  Grand  Gallery.  Was  not  too  (he  asked 
most  triumphantly) — was  not  the  granite  leaf  fixed 
across  the  ante-chamber  for  fastening  the  fixed  ends 
of  the  ropes  to  ;  and  were  not  those  semi-cylindrical 
hollows  made  on  purpose  to  receive  the  pivots  of  the 
big  horizontal  rollers  round  which  the  turns  of  the 
running  ropes  must  have  passed  ? " 

"  No,"  said  the  civil  engineer  firmly,  "  certainly  not : 
for  your  running  ropes  would  fray  themselves  against 
the  lower  corners  of  the  granite  leaf;  the  whole  would 
be  a  bad  mechanical  arrangement ;  and  then  what 
would  you  do  with  the  other  end  of  your  rollers,  when 
there  are  no  semi-cylindrical  hollows  to  receive  them 
on  the  east  side  ?" 

On  hearing  which  last  piece  of  absolute  truth,  the 
military  engineer  fell  backwards  as  though  he  had  been 
shot  ;  and  was  instantly  rendered  so  utterly  helpless, 
that  had  he  been  at  that  moment  on  the  long  slope  of 
the  Grand  Gallery,  or  indeed  of  any  of  the  inclined 
passages  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  he  would — instead  of 
finding  them,  according  to  another  of  his  theories, 
representations  of  "  the  angle  of  rest"  and  "repose," — 
he  would,  I  say,  have  been  involuntarily  set  sliding  down 
at  such  a  continually  accelerated  rate,  that  he  would 
have  gone,  alas  !  headlong  to  some  awful  degree  of  phy- 
sical smash  at  the  bottom,  piteous  to  contemplate. 

Others,  however,  passing  and  repassing  frequently  in 
1865  through  the  ante-chamber,  on  seeing  those  three 
grooves,  have  rather  received   the  impression,  in  their 


Chap.  IX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  157 

more  quiet  and  studious  minds,  of  the  three  dimensions 
necessary  to  express  capacity-contents — the  three  hol- 
low curves  too,  reminding  them  of  the  curved  shell  of 
the  earth's  surface  ;  and  the  granite  leaf  with  its  double 
block  (implying  double  power  to  its  specific  gravity) 
leading  them  also  to  think  of  the  earth's  interior,  or 
capacity,  contents,  which  are,  when  taken  in  the  whole, 
of  almost  exactly  double  the  mean  density,  or  specific 
gravity,  of  tliat  granite. 

Earth's  Mean  Density  approximately  indicated,  hut 
required  more  exactly. 

Here  then,  from  every  side — from  the  coffer,  the 
King's  Chamber,  the  Pyramid  courses,  and  the  ante- 
chamber trappings  of  stone — all  the  very,  and  most 
scientific,  and  suitable,  items  necessary  for  preparing 
earth  reference  capacity  and  weight  measures  were 
gradually  cropping  up  in  1865  A.D.,  before  earnest  and 
attentive  study  of  the  actual  Pyramid  facts,  to  a  quiet 
onlooker,  measuring-rod  in  hand.  But  no  mere  linear 
measuring-rod  can  supply  the  further  radical  idea  re- 
quired for  weight.  The  something  else  called  for  in 
this  instance,  in  order  to  be  true  to  the  grandeur  of 
the  beginning  made  in  the  Pyramid  system  for  length, 
could  be  no  other  than  the  mean  density  of  the  whole 
world,  and  this  quantity  is  not  yet  by  any  means  so 
intimately  understood  by  every  one,  that  it  would  be 
generally  and  instantly  recognised  the  moment  it  should 
haply  be  seen,  under  some  symbolical  figure  or  numerical 
equivalent,  in  the  Great  Pyramid. 

Although,  too,  the  earth's  mean  density  has  been  for 
long  a  subject  of  permanent  interest  throughout  other 
most  important  and  varied  branches  of  natural  philo- 
sophy, besides  astronomy,  and  not  only  in  this  country, 
but  the  whole  world  over,  yet  it  has  been  practically, 
diligebtly,   successfully,  studied  by  hardly   any   other 


158  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

nation  than  ourselves  ;  and  what  we  have  done  in  the 
cause  has  been  confined  to  very  late  times  indeed. 

The  first  special  move,  always  excepting  Sir  Isaac 
Newton's  most  sagacious  guess  in  the  absence  of  any 
experiment,*  seems  to  have  been  made  by  Dr.  Maske- 
lyne  ;  who  wrote  in  1772  as  follows  to  the  Royal  Society 
of  London,  in  the  course  of  a  paper  urging  the  propriety 
of  making  experiments  to  measure  the  precise  angle 
through  which  a  pendulum  might  be  drawn  out  of  the 
vertical,  by  the  attraction  of  a  mountain  mass. 

''  It  will  be  easily  acknowledged,"  remarked  he,  "  that 
to  find  a  sensible  attraction  of  a  hill  from  undoubted 
experiment,  would  be  a  matter  of  no  small  curiosity  ; 
would  greatly  illustrate  the  theory  of  gravity,  and  would 
make  the  universal  gravitation  of  matter,  as  it  were, 
palpable  to  every  person,  and  fit  to  convince  those  who 
will  yield  their  assent  to  nothing  but  downright  experi- 
ment. Nor  would  its  use  end  here,  for  it  would  serve 
to  give  us  a  better  idea  of  the  total  mass  of  the  earth, 
and  the  proportional  density  of  the  matter  near  the 
surface,  compared  with  the  mean  density  of  the  whole 
earth.  The  result  of  such  an  uncommon  experiment — 
which  I  should  hope  would  prove  successful — would 
doubtless  do  honour  to  the  nation  where  it  was  made, 
and  the  society  which  executed  it." 

Mountain  Determinations  of  the  Earth's  Mean 
Density. 

The  effect  of  this  representation  was,  that  the  society 
did  undertake  the  experiment ;  Mount  Schihallion,  in 

*  Sir  Isaac's  words  are : — "  Unde  cum  terra  communis  suprema  quasi 
duple  gravior  sit  quam  aqua,  et  paulo  inferius  in  fodinis  quasi  triple  vel 
quadruple  aut  etiam  quintuple  gravior  reperiatur ;  versimile  est  quod 
cepia  materise  totius  in  terra  quasi  quintuple  vel  sextuple  major  sit  quam 
si  teta  ex  aqua  constaret."  A  rudely  correct  approach  this  to  the  density 
of  the  whole  earth,  but  by  means  of  such  a  decided  over-estimate  of 
the  mean  density  of  the  average  materials  of  "mines  or  quarries,"  that  it 
did  not  carry  much  conviction  with  it. 


Chap.  IX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  159 

Perthshire,  Scotland,  was  selected  as  the  most  appro- 
priate site  ;  Dr.  Maskelyne  being  appointed  to  make  the 
observations,  and  Dr.  Hutton  to  calculate  the  results  : 
which  were  reported,  in  1778,  to  be,  that  the  mean 
density  of  the  whole  earth  was  1=:  4-5  ;  that  is,  composed 
of  matter  4^  times  heavier  than  water. 

This  result  rather  surprised  most  men  at  the  time  ; 
for  "  common  stone,"  of  which  they  had  usually  con- 
sidered the  majority  of  the  earth  to  consist,  was  known 
to  be  only  2^  times  the  density  of  water. 

They  looked,  therefore,  into  the  composition  of  the 
Schihallion  mountain  itself,  which  they  had  vaguely,  as 
a  first  approximation,  considered  to  be  of  "common 
stone ;"  and  Playfair,  the  Edinburgh  Professor  of 
Natural  Philosophy,  and  an  immense  friend  of  Hutton, 
the  fire  geologist,  discovered  certain  injections  of  dense 
trap  ;  whence  he  determined  the  mean  specific  gravity  of 
the  whole  of  the  mountain's  minerals  to  be  from  2 '64 
to  2-81.  In  proportions,  too,  which  brought  up  the  con- 
cluded density  of  the  whole  earth,  to  be  4  "8  ;  with  some 
suspicions  that  it  might  be  still  more. 

In  this  surmise  the  computers  were  undoubtedly 
right,  for  every  determination  that  has  been  made  since 
then,  and  by  every  method,  has  invariably  given 
greater  results.  The  only  experiment  quite  similar, 
excepting  some  results  of  rather  unmanageable  extent 
in  India,  connected  with  the  Himalayas,  was  that 
reported  to  the  Royal  Society  of  London  in  1856,  by 
Colonel  Sir  Henry  James,  in  charge  of  the  Ordnance 
Survey.  He  therein  describing  the  observations  made 
by  non-commissioned  officers  of  the  Royal  Sappers  and 
Miners,  with  their  zenith  sector,  on  and  against  the  hill 
of  Arthur's  Seat,  near  Edinburgh  ;  which  observations 
yielded,  when  put  through  the  necessary  computations, 
as  they  were  most  splendidly,  by  Captain  Ross  Clarke, 
R.E.,  the  number  5-316. 


i6o  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

Another  species  of  experiment,  not  far  removed  in 
its  nature  from  the  above,  was  tried  in  1826  by  Mr., 
now  Sir  George  B.  Airy,  Astronomer  Koyal,  Dr.  Whe- 
well,  and  the  Kev.  Richard  Sheepshanks,  by  means  of 
pendulum  observations,  at  the  top  and  bottom  of  a 
deep  mine  in  Cornwall ;  but  the  method  failed.  Subse- 
quently, in  1855,  the  experiment  was  taken  up  again 
by  Sir  G.  B.  Airy  and  his  Greenwich  assistants,  in  a 
mine  near  Newcastle.  They  were  reinforced  by  the  then 
new  invention  of  sympathetic  electric  control  between 
clocks  at  the  top  and  bottom  of  the  mine,  and  had 
much  better,  though  still  unexpectedly  large,  results 
— the  mean  density  of  the  earth  coming  out,  6-565. 

Natural  Philosophy  and  Closet  Determination  of  the 
Earth's  Mean  Density. 

The  subject  being  thus  so  excessively  difficult  to 
obtain  a  close  numerical  result  upon,  even  by  the  best 
modern  astronomy,  good  service  was  done  to  the  world 
in  the  course  of  the  last  century,  when  the  Rev.  John 
Mitchell  proposed  a  different  and  a  direct  manner  of 
trying  the  same  experiment,  actually  between  the 
several  parts  of  one  and  the  same  piece  of  apparatus. 
He  died,  indeed,  before  he  himself  could  try  his  acute 
suggestion ;  but  it  was  taken  up  after  his  death  by  the 
celebrated  Cavendish,  and  worked  very  successfully  in 
1798,  with  a  final  result  of  5*450.  I  say  successfully, 
in  spite  of  much  unkind  criticism  which  he  underwent 
from  those  who  were  more  mathematical  and  less 
chemical  than  himself ;  for  he  evidently  made  a  great 
stride  towards  the  truth,  improved  the  existing  deter- 
mination of  his  day  to  a  large  proportional  quantity, 
and  no  part  of  the  increase  which  he  gave  it  has  had 
since  to  be  removed. 

Nearly  forty  years  after  Cavendish's  great  work,  his 


Chap.TX.]  the  great  pyramid.  i6i 

experiment  was  repeated  by  Professor  Eeich,  of  Freyberg, 
in  Saxony,  with  a  result  of  5'44  ;  and  then  came  the 
grander  repetition  by  the  late  Francis  Baily,  representing 
therein  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society  of  London,  and, 
in  fact,  the  British  Government  and  the  British  nation. 

With  exquisite  care  did  that  well- versed  and  metho- 
dical observer  proceed  to  his  task  ;  and  the  attention  of 
every  man  of  mathematical  science  in  the  country  was 
directed  towards  his  operations.  Much,  indeed,  and 
more  than  any  one  then  thought,  was  depending  on 
his  labours  ;  for  without  them  the  world's  knowledge  of 
the  mean  density  of  the  earth,  even  up  to  this  present 
time  (1864),  would  not  have  been  such  as  to  warrant 
any  interpretation  of  the  Great  Pyramid  standards  of 
weight  and  capacity. 

The  well-known  mechanical  skill  of  Thomas  Bramah 
was  first  employed  in  casting  an  immense  cylinder  of 
lead,  pure  and  dense ;  and  then  in  producing  from  it, 
by  the  most  exact  turning  in  the  lathe,  two  faultless 
spheres,  each  12-1026  inches  in  diameter,  and  380-469 
lbs.  avoirdupois  in  weight.  These  were  for  the  attracting 
balls,  to  which  Mr.  Simms  added,  with  all  an  optician's 
skill,  the  smaller  balls  to  be  attracted,  and  the  niceties 
of  the  "  torsion  suspension,"  by  which  the  smallest 
attractive  influence  on  them  was  to  be  made  sensible. 

This  apparatus  was  erected  by  Mr.  Baily  in  an 
isolated  room  in  the  garden  of  his  mansion  in  Tavistock 
Place ;  and  observations  were  soon  begun  with  even  more 
than  official  regularity. 

But  they  did  not  prosper. 

Week  after  week,  and  month  after  month,  unceasing 
measures  were  recorded  ;  but  only  to  show  that  some 
disturbing  element  was  at  work,  overpowering  the 
attraction  of  the  larger  on  the  smaller  balls. 

What  could  it  be  ? 

Professor  Reich  was  applied  to,  and  requested  to  state 

M 


1 62  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  II. 

how  he  had  contrived  to  get  the  much  greater  degree 
of  accordance  with  each  other  that  his  pubHshed  obser- 
vations showed. 

"Ah  !"  he  explained,  "  he  had  had  to  reject  a  large 
number  of  measures  for  extravagant  inconsistencies  ;  and 
he  would  not  have  had  any  presentable  results  at  all, 
unless  he  had  guarded  against  variations  of  tem^perature 
by  putting  the  whole  apparatus  into  a  cellar,  and  only 
looking  at  it  with  a  telescope  through  a  small  hole  in 
the  door." 

Then  it  was  remembered  that  a  very  similar  plan 
had  been  adopted  by  Cavendish  ;  who  had  furthermore 
left  this  note  behind  him  for  his  successor  s  attention — 
"  that  even  still,  or  after  all  the  precautions  which  he 
did  take,  minute  variations  and  small  exchanges  of 
temperature  between  the  large  and  small  balls  were  the 
chief  obstacles  to  full  accuracy." 

Mr.  Baily  therefore  adopted  yet  further  means  to 
prevent  sudden  changes  of  temperature  in  his  observing 
room ;  but  as  he  could  not  prevent  them  absolutely,  he 
profited  by  the  advice  of  Professor  J.  D.  Forbes,  of 
Edinburgh,  of  placing  gilded  surfaces  between  the 
balls  ;  for,  though  gravitation  will  pass  through  any- 
thing whatever,  radiant  heat  has  extraordinary  difficulty 
in  piercing  a  surface  of  polished  gold. 

Immediately  that  this  plan  was  tried,  the  anomalies  in 
the  measures  almost  vanished  ;  and  then  began  the  most 
full  and  complete  series  of  observations  as  to  the  effect  of 
gravitation  attraction  from  one  set  of  artificial  globes  to 
another,  that  has  ever  been  made  upon  the  earth. 

The  full  story  of  them,  and  all  the  particulars  of 
every  numerical  entry,  and  the  whole  of  the  steps  of 
calculation,  are  to  be  found  in  the  memoirs  of  the  Royal 
Astronomical  Society,  and  constitute  one  of  the  most 
interesting  volumes'"'''"  of  that  important  series  ;  besides 

*  The  fourteenth,  volume. 


Chap.  IX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  163 

affording  a  determination  of  the  mean  density  of  the 
earth,  which  will  probably  be  looked  on  as  standard  for 
fifty  years  from  its  day,  and  charged  with  a  probable 
error  of  only  0  0038. 

TlfiG  Prohahle  Error  Statements  in  Modern  Scientific 
Worh. 

Now  what  does  that  statement  of  probable  error 
mean  ? 

It  should  mean,  in  the  above  instance,  that  the  real 
quantity  in  nature  must  infallibly  be  confined  some- 
where between  the  limits  of  5-6788  and  5 '671 2.  But, 
in  point  of  fact,  unhappily,  it  does  not  mean  anything 
of  the  kind.  It  is  in  reality,  nothing  but  a  way  that 
the  scientific  men  have  got  into,  copied  chiefly  from  the 
German  savants,  of  representing  a  something  or  other 
of  a  very  confined  and  partial  character  connected  with 
their  observations.  A  something  which  they  cannot 
exactly  describe  and  do  not  altogether  understand, 
though  they  perfectly  appreciate  that  it  makes  the  said 
observations  look  a  great  deal  better  than  they  really 
are. 

Thus  Baily's  earth's  mean  density  was  announced  as 

,       6-675,  probable  error  +  0-0038 

The  Ordnance  Survey's  Arthur's  Seat  experiment  gave 
the  same  earth's  mean  density  as 

5-316,  probable  error  ±^  0-054 

And  Sir  George  B.  Airy's  mine  experiment  declared, 
still  the  same  earth's  same  mean  density,  to  be, 

6-565,  probable  error  ±  0-018 

From  which  mutually  conflicting  data,  it  will  be  seen 
that  modern  science,  whatever  it  says  about  its  extreme 
accuracy  to  j^  or  less,  cannot  really  be  certain  in  this 


1 64  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

transcendentally  difficult,  but  infinitely  important,  phy- 
sical inquiry  respecting  the  earth's  mean  density  to 
nearer  than,  about  -|^th  of  the  whole  quantity  ;  and  that 
is  actually  five  times  the  amount  of  error  that  was 
recently  (to  the  special  scandal  of  the  ladies  and  gentle- 
men of  the  Social  Science  Association  when  last  in 
Edinburgh)  afflicting  all  the  modern  world's  knowledge 
of  the  sun's  mean  distance  from  the  earth. 

If  in  that  case,  the  old,  old  Pyramid  sun-distance, 
though  it  would  have  been  kicked  against  and  put 
down  with  a  high  hand  only  fifteen  years  ago,  has  been 
justified  by  the  very  latest  determinations  made  in 
astronomy, — so  we  may  hope,  nay,  even  expect,  that 
the  Pyramid  earth  density  will  be  likewise  justified, 
when  modern  science  improves  her  processes  in  that 
department  also ;  and  shall  attack  once  more  the  grand 
subjective  problem  of  the  earth,  on  the  same  stupendous 
scale  as  that  on  which  she  is  now  attacking  the  chief 
objective  one,  at  this  moment,  of  all  terrestrial  science 
and  all  mankind.  *" 


Earth's  Density  Number  in  the  Great  Pyramid. 

Now  the  Pyramid  earth  density  comes  out  most 
simply,  on  the  showing  of  the  parts  of  the  Pyramid 
itself,  from  the  cubic  contents  of  the  coffer  in  Pyramid 
inches,  divided  by  the  10  th  part  of  50  inches  cubed. 
Whence,  trusting  to  my  measures,  it  is : — 7^L250„ 
divided  by  12,500  ;  the  quotient  being  570  ;  a  result 
which  modern  science  may  confirm,  but  cannot  over- 
throw at  present,  if  she  ever  will. 


Of  Temperature  Corrections,  and  how  effected. 

Some  further  questions,  however,  this  modern  science 
already  asks  of  Pyramidists,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether, 


Chap.  IX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  165 

and  how,  certain  precautions,  which  she  thinks  necessary 
in  all  her  own  important  work,  were  taken,  and  still 
remain  effective,  in  those  primeval  operations  of  the  so 
long  sealed  up  interior  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

For  instance,  if  the  coffer  has  to  be  considered  as  to 
its  weight  contents  in  water  (and  water  filling  is  so  fre- 
quently an  operation  connecting  capacity  and  weight 
measures),  strict  attention  is  necessary  to  temperature, 
an  element  usually  supposed  to  be  only  amenable  to 
the  thermometers  of  the  last  200  years ;  yet  the 
smallest  errors  on  the  score  of  uncertainties  of  tempera- 
ture (and  we  may  say  almost  the  same  for  variations  of 
barometric  pressure),  in  the  ancient  work,  would  have 
introduced  unnumbered  perplexities. 

These  perplexities,  nevertheless,  are  far  from  being 
found  in  the  Great  Pyramid's  Coffer.  Not  because 
the  Pyramid  architect  either  had,  or  left  behind,  any 
very  superior  mercurial  thermometers ;  but  because  he 
employed  a  method  overriding  thermometers,  and  be- 
ginning now  to  be  found  preferable  even  by  the  highest 
science  of  our  o^vn  day,  its  multitudes  of  thermometers, 
and  barometers  too,  of  every  kind,  notwithstanding. 

Thus  the  latest  conclusions  of  the  best  geodesists,  in 
conducting  their  modern  standard-scale  experiments,  is 
expressed  in  the  maxim,  "  have  as  little  to  do  with 
variations  of  temperature  as  possible  ;"  for  temperature 
is  an  insidious  influence  whose  actions  and  re-actions 
men  will  hardly  ever  hear  the  last  of,  if  once  they  let  it 
begin  to  move,  vary,  or  be  higher  in  one  place  than  in 
another,  or  at  one  time  than  another.  We  have  seen 
too,  already,  how  this  feature  went  close  to  the  annihila- 
tion of  the  Cavendish  experiment  and  its  repetitions  ; 
and  that  the  only  source  of  safety  was,  not  any  attempt 
by  power  of  fine  thermometers  to  observe  the  tempera- 
ture differences,  and  by  the  resources  of  modern  mathe- 
matics to  compute  the  disturbing  effect,  and  so  eliminate 


J 66  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

it ;  but,  to  cut  down  the  variations  of  temperature  them- 
selves. 

Hence  that  retreating  into  cellars,  and  closing  of 
doors,  and  only  looking  in  through  small  holes  with 
telescopes.  Quite  similarly  too,  in  every  astronomical 
observatory,  where  uniformity  of  clock-rate  is  prized,  it 
has  been  the  last,  and  practically  the  best,  thing  to  that 
end  yet  found  out, — that  after  the  clockmaker  has  done 
everything  which  his  art  can  do,  in  decreasing  the  dis- 
turbing effects  which  follow  changes  of  temperature,  by 
applying  a  so-called,  and  in  truth  very  considerably 
effective,  "  temperature  compensation  pendulum," — 
there  is  always  a  further  improvement  that  can  be 
effected  in  the  going  of  the  clock,  by  superadding  other 
contrivances  simply  to  lessen  the  amount  of  heat- 
changes  for  such  pendulum  to  try  its  compensating 
powers  upon. 

Thus,  at  the  great  observatory  of  Pulkova,  near  St. 
Petersburg,  where  they  value  an  insight  into  small  frac- 
tions of  a  second  perhaps  more  than  anywhere  else  in  the 
wide  world,  the  very  able  Russian  astronomers  erected 
the  chief  clock  of  their  establishment  in  the  central  hall 
of  that  building :  because  in  that  hall  no  window  was 
ever  opened,  and  large  masses  of  masonry  on  every  side 
greatly  promoted  an  equality  of  temperature  both  by 
day  and  by  night.  Thereby  was  their  grand  standard 
clock  notably  strengthened,  and  enabled  to  keep  a  much 
better  rate  than  a  similarly  constructed  clock  (with  a 
so  called  by  the  clockmakers  "  temperature  compensating 
pendulum  "  of  course)  placed  in  one  of  the  outer  astrono- 
mical observing-rooms  ;  and  where  the  opening  of  the 
shutters  in  the  roof  for  star  observation,  necessarily 
admitted  air  sometimes  warm  and  sometimes  cold. 

But  within  the  course  of  the  year  1864,  I  was 
informed  by  M.  Wagner,  then  in  charge  of  the  time 
observations  at    Pulkova  under  M.  Otto    Struve,  that 


Chap.  IX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  167 

their  normal  clock  was  then  going  more  uniformly  than 
it  had  ever  done  before,  or  than  they  believe  any  other 
clock  in  the  world  is  going  ;  and  because,  from  their 
central  hall,  windowless  though  it  might  be,  on  the 
ground-floor  of  the  building,  they  had  recently  removed 
the  clock  to  the  "subterraneans"  of  the  observatory, 
where  the  natural  changes  of  temperature  are  smaller 
still. 

It  is  not,  however,  quite  certain  yet,  that  theirs  is  the 
best-going  clock  in  existence,  for  M.  Le  Yerrier  has 
recently  removed  the  normal  clock  of  the  Paris  Observa- 
tory to  the  "  Caves,"  which  exist  there  underground  at 
a  depth  of  95  feet  below  the  surface  ;  and  in  a  trium- 
phant manner  he  remarked,  when  mentioning  the  case 
to  me,  '' temperature  invariable,  constant'^ 

Now,  at  the  Royal  Observatory,  Edinburgh,  there 
have  been  observations  taken  for  many  years  of  several 
large  and  very  long-stemmed  thermometers,  whose 
bulbs  have  been  let  into  the  rock  at  various  measured 
depths ;  and  it  is  found  that,  notwithstanding  the 
possibly-disturbing  effect  of  rain-water  soaking  down 
through  fissures,  there  is  such  an  astonishing  power  in 
a  mass  of  stony  matter  to  decrease  temperature-variations, 
that  at  the  surface  of  the  ground — 

The  mean  semi-annual  variation  of  heat  amounts  to  =  60°  Fahr. 
At  three  inches  under  the  surface  .         .         .        .  =  30"^     „ 


At  three  feet  under  the  surface 
At  six  feet       .... 
At  twelve  feet 
At  twenty-four  feet 


=  16^ 
=  10° 
=  5° 
=    1° 


At  95  feet,  then,  from  the  surface,  in  the  case  of  the 
Paris  Observatory,  how  very  slight  and  innocuous  to  the 
most  refined  observation  must  be  the  variation  of  season- 
temperature  !  But  how  much  more  slightly  affected 
still,  and  how  admirably  suited  to  a  scientific  observing- 
room,  must  not  the  King  s  Chamber  in  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid be,  seeing  that  it  is  shielded  from  the    outside 


1 68  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  II. 

summer  heat  and  winter  cold,  by  a  thickness  of  nowhere 
less  than  180  feet  of  solid  masonry  ! 

There  is  not,  in  truth,  in  any  country  of  Europe, 
there  never  has  been  erected,  and  it  does  not  look  much 
as  if  there  ever  will  be  erected,  by  any  nation  under  the 
sun,  a  scientific  observing-room  for  closet  experiments 
that  can  at  all  be  compared  in  the  very  leading  requisite 
for  such  an  institution,  with  the  King's  Chamber  of  the 
Great  Pyramid. 

When  Francis  Baily  closed  those  remarkable  observa- 
tions of  his  on  the  ''mean  density  of  the  earth,"  he 
predicted  that  they  were  not  likely  to  be  repeated 
until  the  slow  progress  of  science  in  general,  and  an 
improved  knowledge  of  the  theory  of  the  "  torsion 
pendulum,"  in  particular,  should  have  given  the  men  of 
a  future  day  some  reasonable  hope  of  securing,  by  re- 
newed experiment,  a  sensibly  more  accurate  result.  But 
had  he  been  aw^are  of  the  unique  temperature  quali- 
fications of  that  central  chamber  of  the  ancient  Great 
Pyramid,  where  too  the  mean  density  of  the  earth  is 
already  represented  and  turned  to  account  for  man  in 
the  size  of  the  interior  of  the  granite  coffer  as  com- 
pared with  the  cube  of  50  inches,: — would  he  not  have 
been  off  the  very  next  week  to  repeat  his  experiments 
there  :  and  to  have  seen  with  his  own  eyes,  before  he 
died,  that  mysterious  and  primal-founded  science  temple 
of  the  south  ? 


Absolute  Temperature  of  the  King's  Chamber  of  the 
Great  Pyramid. 

All  the  knowledge  and  advance,  then,  of  the  present 
day,  so  far  from  improving  on,  or  altering  with  ad- 
vantage, cannot  too  much  commend,  copy,  and  adhere 
to,  the  uniformity  arrangements  for  rendering  constant 
the  temperature  of  the  Great  Pyramid's  coffer  chamber. 


Chap.  IX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  169 

But  in  that  case,  the  responsibility  now  falls  upon  me 
of  showing  a  something  else  which  it  is  also  required  in 
practice  to  know, — viz.  What  is  the  absolute  degree  of 
that  so  produced,  steady,  and  constant,  temperature  in 
the  King's  Chamber? 

There,  unfortunately,  we  lack  high-class  modern 
observations  continued  sufficiently  long  and  under  un- 
exceptionable circumstances ;  but  so  far  as  what  have 
been  taken  may  be  trusted,  the  best  of  them  are  found 
to  indicate  a  particular  temperature  degree  which  theory 
assists  in  confirming,  and  which  possesses  otherwise 
some  singular  recommendations.  In  the  Pyramid,  as 
before  observed,  there  is  a  grand  tendency  for  numbers, 
things,  and  principles  going  by  "fives  ;"  and  this  seems 
carried  out  even  in  its  temperature,  for  it  may  be 
described  as  a  temperature  of  one-fifth  ;  that  is,  one- 
fifth  the  distance  between  the  freezing  and  boiling  points 
of  water  above  the  former. 


Observed  Temperatures  at  and  near  the  Great  Pyramid. 

The  first  grounds  for  this  belief  are,  that  M.  Jomard, 
in  the  "Description  de  TEgypte,"  gives  the  observed  tem- 
perature of  the  King's  Chamber  part  of  the  Pyramid  as 
22°  Cent,  zzr  71°6  Fahr.  ;  but  this  was  unnaturally  raised 
by,  first,  the  number  of  men  with  torches  whom  he 
had  with  him  ;  second,  by  the  incredible  number  of  large 
bats  which  then  made  certain  parts  of  the  Pyramid  their 
home ;  third,  by  the  ventilating  channels  not  being 
open  or  known  in  his  day  ;  and  fourth,  not  improbably 
by  the  artificial  dryness  of  the  interior  :  for  certain  it  is, 
that  in  the  great  Joseph  Well  in  the  citadel  of  Cairo,  in 
the  same  latitude,  at  the  same  height,  but  tuith  watery 
vapour  (and  perhaps  in  excess),  the  same  M.  Jomard 
measured  the  temperature  there,  and  found  it  17°  Cent, 
to  18°Cent.z=62°6  Fahr.  to  64°4  Fahr. 


1 70  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

Hence  68°  Fahr.  would  have  been  nearly  a  mean 
between  his  two  observations  ;  besides  being  a  probably 
closer  approach  to  the  pure  and  undefiled  original  tem- 
perature of  the  King's  Chamber  of  the  Great  Pyramid 
under  both  ventilation,  and  the  other  intended  normal 
circumstances  of  its  foundation.  And  68°  Fahr.  is  pre- 
cisely a  temperature  of  one-fifth. 

There  is  more,  too,  in  the  temperature  numbers 
resulting  for  the  Pyramid,  than  the  mere  accident  of  the 
mean  temperature  of  its  particular  parallel  of  latitude  ; 
for  that  quantity  would  in  truth  seem  to  be  certainly 
higher,  if  observed  at,  or  in,  the  surface-ground, 
especially  the  low  valley  ground  itself,  than  this  pyra- 
midal quantity  of  one-fifth.  Not  only  for  instance  did 
M.  Jomard  find  it  so,  for  he  measured  25°  Cent.  =  77° 
Fahr.  for  the  lower  part  of  the  "well"  of  the  Great 
Pyramid,  and  also  for-  several  of  the  tombs  in  the  open 
plain  in  the  neighbourhood ;  but  my  own  observations 
in  1864-5  on  the  temperature  of  wells  in  and  about 
the  city  of  Cairo  (in  winter  and  spring,  and  at  a  depth 
sufficient  to  give  as  near  an  annual  average  as  pos- 
sible) yielded  on  a  mean  of  12  of  them  69*9  Fahr.  A 
quantity  which  is  also  the  identical  result  for  the 
mean  annual  atmospheric  temperature  of  the  same  city, 
as  obtained  by  the  Austrian  Meteorological  Society 
from  five  years  of  observation. 

Hence  if  the  Great  Pyramid  was  devised  originally  to 
stand  in  a  temperature  of  one-fifth,  it  was  necessary  that  it 
should  be  mounted  upon  just  such  a  hill  as  that  whereon 
it  stands  (and  more  particularly  the  King's  Chamber 
level  of  it),  in  a  sensibly  cooler  stratum  of  the  atmo- 
sphere than  that  of  the  plains  below ;  reducing  thereby 
69^9  to  68^  Fahr. 

Thirty-seven  years  too  after  M.  Jomard  had  measured  in 
the  King's  Chamber  the  extra  temperature  of  71*6  Fahr., 
(i.e.,  extra  according  to  this  subsequent  theory).  Colonel 


Chap.  IX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  171 

Howard  Yyse  cleared  out  the  two  ventilating  channels  ; 
and  reported,  without  having  had  any  idea  that  the 
temperature  had  been  theoretically  too  high — that  in- 
stantly, upon  the  channels  being  opened,  the  ventilation 
re-established  itself,  and  with  a  feeling  to  those  in  the 
chamber  of  most  agreeable  coolness. 

But  no  sooner  had  he  left,  than  the  Arabs  stopped  up 
the  ventilating  channels  again  ;  while  steam-navigation 
and  the  overland  route  poured  in  day  after  day,  and 
year  after  year  continually  increasing  crowds  of  visitors 
with  their  candles  and  torches  and  frantic,  Eed  Indian 
savage  acts  into  the  King's  Chamber's  granite  hall ;  so 
that  in  1865  I  found  its  temperature  more  deranged 
than  ever,  or  risen  to  no  less  than  75*2  Fahr.  On 
one  occasion  indeed,  it  was  so  much  as  75*7  imme- 
diately after  a  large  party,  from  some  vulgar  steamer, 
had  had  their  whirling  dances  over  King  Cheops'  tomb- 
stone and  their  ignorant  cursing  of  his  ancient  name, 
to  the  vocal  music  of  passionate  shouting  and  the  pain- 
ful thunder  of  the  coffer  being  banged,  to  close  upon 
breaking,  with  a  big  stone  swung  by  their  Arab  helps ; 
while  the  temperature  was  only  74°  at  the  same  time  in 
the  Queen's  Chamber  below,  and  73°  at  the  dry-well 
mouth  lower  down  still  in  the  Pyramid.  Numbers 
which  evidently  indicate  an  abnormal  temperature- 
elevating  force  at  that  moment  in  the  King's  Chamber  : 
and  no  wonder ;  at  least  to  any  one  who  should  have 
looked  in  upon  some  of  those  mad  and  multitudinous 
scenes  of  lurid-lighted  revelry,  indulged  in  by  many 
smoking,  tobacco-stinking  gentlemen,  a  few  ladies,  and 
imp-like  Arabs  of  every  degree,  black,  brown,  and  grey. 
Lamentable  scenes  to  be  beheld  in  the  present  edu- 
cated age  of  the  world  ;  yet  scenes  which  both  disturbed 
my  quiet  days  of  measuring,  and  photographing  by 
magnesium  light,  there,  at  intervals  of  about  every 
three  or  four  hours :   and  which  the  Consuls  would 


172  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IT. 

give  no  assistance  in  endeavouring  to  keep  down. 
"  Egypt,"  they  said,  "  in  the  present  day  is  every  man's 
land,  and  every  one  is  his  own  master  when  he  comes 
out  into  the  desert  here.  Pharaoh  would  be  pulled 
from  his  throne,  if.  he  attempted  to  interfere." 


Temjperatnre  and  Pressure  Data  for  the  Coffer  s  Weight 
and  Capacity  Measure. 

At  the  present  moment,  therefore,  the  coffer  is  no 
more  of  its  right,  or  original,  temperature,  than  its  right 
and  original  size,  when  so  much  of  it  has  been  broken 
bodily  away  by  the  hammering  of  the  representative 
men  of  modern  society.  But  the  barometric  pressure 
in  the  chamber  happily  defies  such  power  of  disturbance, 
and  keeps,  by  the  law  of  the  atmosphere  over  all  that 
region,  expressively  close  to  30*000  Pyramid  inches. 
Wherefore  we  correct  our  temperature  observations 
slightly  by  theory,  take  the  mean  observed  pressure, 
and  then  have  quite  enough  to  justify  us  in  this,  our 
first  inquiry,  for  taking  as  the  original  coffer  and  King's 
Chamber  temperature  of  4,040  years  ago,  and  also  what 
their  temperature  would  be  again  were  the  ventilating 
channels  re-opened,  and  a  strict  prohibition  issued  in 
Scottish  Covenanter  phrase,  against  "  promiscuous  danc- 
ing "  by  all  travellers,  whether  educated  or  ignorant, 
over  Cheops'  mistaken  gravestone, — we  have,  I  say, 
and  may  quote,  the  number  68°0  Fahr. ;  or  the  tempera- 
ture of  one-fifth. 

Wherefore  at  that  temperature,  and  the  pressure  pre- 
viously mentioned,  the  coffer's  71,250  cubic  Pyramid 
inches  of  capacity,  filled  with  pure  water,  form  the 
grand  weight  standard  of  the  ancient  Great  Pyramid. 

What  weight  in  our  reckoning  of  tons  or  pounds,  that 
will  amount  to,  and  what  subdivisions  of  its  grand 
standard  the  Pyramid  system  permits,  we  may  probably 


Chap.  IX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  173 

take  up  with  advantage  in  the  third  division  of  our 
book, — after  having  devoted  one  more  chapter  to 
examining  our  foundational  Pyramid  data  of  lengths 
and  angles  more  rigidly  than  ever  ;  and  especially  by 
the  method  of  comparing,  through  the  agency  of 
several  recent  discoveries,  the  interior,  against  the  ex- 
terior, of  this  most  remarkable,  most  abused,  but  already 
most  largely  evident  Monument  of  number,  weight, 
and  measure,  as  well  as  of  Bcyme  funereal  associations. 


174  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 


CHAPTER  X. 

CONFIEMATIONS. 

IN  tlie  several  theoretical  conclusions  arrived  at  tlius 
far  in  this  second  division  of  our  book,  the  interior 
measures  of  the  Great  Pyramid  finally  made  use  of  in 
the  research  (as  those  for  the  size  and  shape  of  the 
coffer)  had  been  taken  almost  entirely  by  myself,  and 
generally  with  more  care  and  at  far  greater  length  and 
fulness  of  detail  than  to  be  found  anywhere  else.  Now 
w^hen  some  of  those  conclusions,  ascertained  long  since 
(i.e.  five  or  six  years  ago),  were  quoted  ve^y  recently  in 
a  London  drawing-room  as  deserving  attention,  the 
kindly  speaker  was  confronted  by  a  Cambridge  mathe- 
matician, who  rose  with  authority  amongst  the  guests, 
and  simply  remarked,  "  So  this  man  you  tell  us 
of,  made  his  own  observations  !  Then  what  can  his 
theoretical  deductions  be  worth  ?  "  Wherefore  the 
previous  speaker  was  instantly  extinguished,  or  held  to 
be  so,  by  every  one  present  (forgetful  that  the  argument 
against  John  Taylor  in  his  day  was,  that  he  never 
observed  at  all,  but  only  w^orked  from,  or  upon,  the 
observations  of  others),  and  the  Great  Pyramid  was  that 
evening,  for  the  polite  society  of  that  drawing-room, 
handed  back  to  the  Egyptologists  as  nothing  but  an 
ordinary  Egyptian  tomb. 

Whether  so-called  pure  mathematicians  of   College 
upbringing  have  reason  to  be  suspicious  of  each  other 


Chap.  X.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  175 

in  such  a  case,  I  know  not ;  but  a  very  different  rule  of 
conduct  has  been  for  long  observed  among  astronomers. 
Indeed,  the  efforts  of  such  men  as  Francis  Baily,  Sir  John 
Herschel,  Professor  De  Morgan,  and  many  others  of  the 
leading  spirits  of  their  time  during  the  last  forty  years 
have  been  largely  directed  to  encourage,  and  almost  oblige, 
every  astronomer  in  a  public  observatory  to  do  some- 
thing more  than  merely  observe  ;  more  too  than  com- 
pute his  own  observations  also  ;  for  they  taught  that  he 
should  further  apply  them  to  theory,  or  theor}^  to  them  ; 
and  discover,  if  he  could,  anything  that  they  were 
capable,  in  that  combination,  of  disclosing. 

No  doubt  the  observations  should  first,  wherever  pos- 
sible, be  published  pure  and  simple ;  though  that  costs 
money,  which  is  not  always  forthcoming  even  in  Govern- 
ment establishments ;  and  afterwards,  or  separately, 
should  appear  any  theoretical  discoveries  that  eitlter  the 
observer,  or  any  one  else  may  have  been  able  to  educe 
out  of  them.  But  that  was  exactly  what  I  had  done 
in  the  case  of  my  Pyramid  observations  of  1865. 
For,  by  immense  sacrifices  out  of  a  small  income  on 
the  part  of  my  wife  and  self,  I  had  published  the 
original  observations  in  1867  in  Vol.  II.  of  my  "Life 
and  Work,"  in  as  full  detail  as  though  it  had  been  both 
a  Government  expedition,  and  its  printing  paid  for  out 
of  the  national  purse.  And  this  self-taxation  was  espe- 
cially to  satisfy  all  those  intellectualists  who  might 
wish  to  do  the  computing  and  theorizing  for  them- 
selves ;  while  only  in  Vol.  III.  of  "  Life  and  Work," 
and  subsequently  in  my  **  Antiquity  of  Intellectual 
Man,"  did  I  begin  to  try  what  I  could  make  out  of 
this  new  and  extended  supply  of  raw  material  for 
testing  John  Taylor's  Pyramid  theory. 

And  yet  five  years  afterwards  a  stay-at-home  mathe- 
matician, without  pretending  that  any  better  obser- 
vations had  been  made  by  any  one  else,  either  before 


176  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  li. 

or  since,  could  openly  ridicule  tlie  possibility  of  there 
being  any  value  in  my  deductions,  merely  because  I  had 
had  the  honour  and  expense,  the  toil  and  danger,  of 
making  the  observations  as  well ! 

But  fortunately,  since  the  date  of  publication  of  my 
volumes  in  1867  and  '68,  several  free  and  independent 
spirits,  often  quite  unknown  to  me,  have  discussed 
some  of  the  observations  contained  in  them  much  more 
minutely  than  I  had  done  myself;  and  have  made 
discoveries  which  had  never  entered  into  my  head  even 
to  conceive  of  How  happy  then  shall  I  not  be  now  to 
withdraw  for  a  time  into  my  shell  as  nothing  but  a  mere 
observer,  and  let  all  the  theorizing  be  done  by  Mr.  William 
Petrie,  late  a  Chemical  Engineer ;  Mr.  St.  John  Vincent 
Day,  Civil  Engineer ;  the  Rev.  Joseph  T.  Goodsir ; 
Captain  Tracey,  R.A.  ;  Mr.  James  Simpson,  Commercial 
Bank  ;  Mr.  W.  Flinders  Petrie  (not  yet  entered  into 
the  battle  of  life)  ;  Mr.  Henry  Mitchell,  Hydrographer, 
U.  S.  Coast  Survey  ;  the  Rev.  Alex.  Mackay,  LL.D., 
Edinburgh  ;  Charles  Casey,  Esq.,  of  Carlow ;  the  Rev. 
F.  R.  A.  Glover,  M.A.,  London,  and,  though  last  not 
least.  Professor  Hamilton  L.  Smith  (Professor  of  Astro- 
nomy in  Hobart  College,  Geneva,  New  York,  U.  S.)  ; 
the  several  parties  being  mentioned  here  according  to 
the  dates  of  their  researches  becoming  known  to  me. 


The.  New  School  of  Pyramid  Theorists  in  the  King's 
Chamber. 

Of  all  parts  of  the  Great  Pyramid  amenable  to  accu- 
rate linear  measure,  there  are  none  presenting  such 
advantages  therefor  as  the  King's  Chamber ;  because 
it  is — 1.  Equable  in  temperature  ;  2.  Un visited  by  wind, 
sand,  or  natural  disturbances  ;  3.  Of  simple  rectangular 
figure  (excepting  an  infinitesimal  angle  of  convergence, 


Chap.X.]  the  great  pyramid.  177 

and  a  rather  larger  angle  of  inclination,  observed  as  yet 
only  by  myself  and  not  altogether  to  my  own  satisfac- 
tion) ;  4.  Erected  in  polished,  dense,  hard,  red  granite  ; 
and,  5.  It  exhibits  the  longest  lines  of  any  part  of 
the  Pyramid,  both  in  that  hard  material,  and  in  a 
horizontal  position  with  vertical  end  pieces. 

M.  Jomard  speaks  of  his  English  predecessor, 
Professor  Greaves,  having  inscribed,  or  cut,  the  length 
of  his  standard  foot  measure  on  the  walls  of  that 
chamber.  But  I  could  not  find  any  trace  of  such  a 
thing ;  and  rather  suspect  that  Jomard  must  have  been 
misled  by  some  figurative  expression  of  Greaves' s  ;  who 
wisely  considered,  that  a  printed  statement  of  the 
measured  length  of  that  chamber  (so  constant  in  its 
size  from  age  to  age),  in  terms  of  his  foot  measure, 
would  be  a  better  record  to  posterity  of  what  the 
length  of  that  standard  must  have  been,  than  any 
attempt  to  cut  it  there  and  then  bodily  into  the  hard 
granite  by  smoky  candle-light,  with  imperfect  tools, 
and  while  Mameluke  Mohammedans  were  looking  on 
with  impatience  and  hatred  of  everything  done  by  the 
Christian  dog. 

The  Mensuration  Data  at  the  Disposal  of  the  New 
Theorists. 

Certain  it  is  that  I  could  not  find  any  corporeal  record 
of  that  foot  measure  in  the  King's  Chamber ;  nor  can 
the  Heads  of  Houses  in  Oxford  find  Greaves' s  iron 
measuring-rod  itself,  though  they  have  the  wooden 
box  for  it  safe  enough.  But  the  libraries  of  Europe 
contain  innumerable  copies  of  the  hooh  record,  to  the 
effect  that  the  length  of  the  King's  Chamber  in  the 
Great  Pyramid  as  measured  by  Greaves,  amounted  to 
34-380  of  his  feet,  i.e.  412-56  of  his  British  inches, 
in  1637. 

N 


178 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  II. 


Now  this  is  a  quantity  well  worthy  of  remembrance, 
viz.,  this  412-56  inches  of  Greaves  :  for — 

By  Col.  Howard-Vyse,  in    1837,  that  same  chamber 

length  was  stated  to  be 411-00 

By  Mr.  Lane,  in  or  near  1838 412-50 

By  Messrs.  Alton  and  Inglis  in  1865,  from     .      411-7  to  412*1 

and  by  myself  in  1865  it  was  given  as  follows,  with 
particular  care  to  reduce  my  inches  to  standard  British 
Government  inches  : — 

South  side,  near  floor  level,  11th  March,  first 


measure 

.  = 

412-6 

Do.,  second  measure    .... 

.  :r: 

412-58 

16th  March,  first  measure  .... 

.  ^^ 

412-5 

Do.          second  measure 

.  = 

412-7 

North  side,  March  11th,  first  measure 

.  = 

412-4 

Do.                 do.          second  measure    . 

.  = 

412-5 

Do.                 do.          third  measure 

•  — 

412-5 

Mean  of  south  side     .         .         .         . 

412-60 

Mean  of  north  side 

•  ■— 

412-47 

Mean  length  of  both  north  and  south  sides 

412-54 

= 

412-13 

Breadth  of  King's  Chamber  near  east  end, 

first 

measure 

.  = 

206-4 

Do.,  second  measure   .... 

.  = 

206-2 

Near  west  end 

.  = 

206-3 

Mean  breadth  of  east  and  west  ends  . 

Height  of  King's  Chamber  near  north-east 
angle  of  room 

North  side 

North-west  angle 

South-west 

South  side 

South-east  angle 

North-east  angle  repeated  .... 

The  mean  here  =  230-1,  but  is  certainly 
smaller  than  it  should  be  ;  for  so  many  of  the 
floor  stones,  from  which  the  heights  neces- 
sarily had  to  be  measured,  were  disturbed 
and  to  some  extent  risen  up  (like  the  drawing 
of  a  tooth),  as  though  in  consequence  of 
earthquake  disturbance.  Hence  the  true 
quantity  must  be  much  nearer  the  greater 
than  the  smaller  limit  of  the  measured 
heights,  and  should  probably  be  called  . 


206-30  British  inches. 
206:09  Pyramid  do. 

230-8 
229-7 
229-2 
229-9 
229-5 
230-8 
230-8 


230-70  British  inches. 
230-47  Pyramid  do. 


Chap.  X.] 


THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


»79 


Diagonals  of  floor : 

From  south-west  to  north-east  corner 
North-west  to  south-east     .         .         .        - 

Mean  measured  floor  diagonal   .... 

Diagonals  of  east  wall : 

Low  north-east  to  high  south-east  corner  . 

Low  south-east  to  high  north-east  corner, 
subtracting  1-6  inches  for  hole  in  low 
south-east  comer 


Diagonal  of  west  wall : 

Low  south-west,  to  high  north-east,  comer 
Subtract  I'O  for  a  sunken  floor-stone  south-west 
(The  other  diagonal  not  measurable  on  account 
of  a  large  and  deep  hole  in  floor  in  north- 
west corner  of  chamber,  whereby  men  enter- 
ing have  gone  on  excavating  at  some  time  to 
under  that  part  of  the  floor  whereon  the  cofler 
stands.) 


462-0 
461-3 

461-65  British  inches. 
461-19  Pyramid  do. 

S09-2 


=  310-0 

=  309-6    British  inches. 
=  309-3    Pyramid  do. 

rr:    310-4 
=       1-0 


309-4 
309-1 


British  inches. 
Pyramid  do. 


Mr.  James  Simpson^  s  Sums  of  the  Squares. 

With  these  measures  before  him,  and  paying  more 
attention  to  those  of  them  taken  from  rectangular  sides 
than  the  more  difficult  practical  case  of  the  corners, 
Mr.  James  Simpson,  adopting  what  he  thought  the  most 
probable  numbers  for  length,  breadth,  and  height,  com- 
puted the  several  diagonals,  and  prepared  the  following 
theoretical  measures  of  the  room  in  Pyramid  inches. 


King's  Chamber  Lines. 

Simpson's 

Krst 
Numbers. 

Piazzi 

Smyth's 
Original 
Measures. 

The  latter  Measures 

corrected  by 

Simpson's  proportions. 

I  Breadth  = 

Linear    .     .    <  Height    = 

(  Length    = 

(End         = 

Diagonals  of   \  Floor       = 

(Side    ,     = 

Solid  diagonal    .    .     .     =: 

206-10 
230-42 
412-20 

309-14 
460-84 
472-22 

616-24 

206-09 
230-47 
412-13 

•20607 
230-39 
412-13 

i8o  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

The  differences  between  Mr.  Simpson  s  adopted  linear 
numbers  and  my  pure  measures  in  the  first  division,  it 
will  be  seen  amount  to  not  more  than  '07  of  an  inch,  or 
within  the  error  of  an  average  single  measure  by  me, 
and  much  within  those  of  some  observers  ;  indicating 
therefore  that  we  may  take  his  numbers  as  expressing 
well  the  true  dimensions  of  the  apartment  inUr  se^ 
such  as  the  breadth  being  exactly  half  of  the  length, 
and  the  height  exactly  half  of  the  floor  diagonal  (as 
discovered  also  independently  by  Professor  Hamilton  L. 
Smith) ;  if  indeed  a  good  conclusive  reason  can  be 
shown  for  them ;  and  this  is  what  Mr.  Simpson  does 
most  effectively  in  a  series  of  commensurabilities  of 
squares  in  very  Pyramid  numbers. 

Take,  says  he,  half  of  the  breadth,  or  103 '05,  as  a 
special  unit  of  division ;  and  test  and  divide  therewith 
each  of  the  above  recorded  quantities  as  below ;  and 
then,  squaring  the  results,  you  will  have  for  the — 

Breadth         .         .         .       2  000  whose  square  =    4 
Height  .         .         .       2-236  „  =:     5 

Length  .         .         .       4-000  „  ==  16 

Or  sum  of  squares  for  linear  dimensions  .         .  =  25  a  Pyramid  number. 

For  the  end  diagonal    .        3-000  whose  square  =    9 
Floor  do.      .         .         .         4-472  „  =  20 

Side  do.        .        .        .        4-582  „  =  21 

Or  sum  of  squares  for  part  diagonals         .         .  =  50  a  Pyramid  number. 

Solid  diagonal      .        .  =  5-000  whose  square  =  25  a  Pyramid  number. 

And  the  smn  of  the  three  Pyramid  numbers     .  =  100 

And  this  is  in  the  chamber  whose  walls,  according  to 
Mr.  Flinders  Pe trie's  recognition  first,  are  composed  of 
just  100  blocks  of  well-cut,  squared,  and  even-heighted, 
though  very  differently  lengthed,  granite. 

The  manner  in  which  the  long  fractions  of  some  of 
the  simple  divisions  clear  themselves  off,  on  taking  the 
squares,  is  especially  to  be  noted ;  and  from  a  further 


Chap.X.]  the  great  pyramid.  i8i 

theoretical  consideration  of  his  own  (which  I  trust  he 
will  soon  be  able  to  publish),  Mr.  Simpson  considers 
that  a  more  exact  expression  for  the  original  size  and 
proportions  of  the  room  should  be  in  Pyramid  inches — 

Breadth =  206-0659 

Height =  230-3886 

Length =  412-1317 

Diagonal  of  end =  309-0988 

Do.         floor =  460-7773 

Do.        side =  472-1562 

Solid,  or  cubic  diagonal =  615*  1646 

And  the  grand  division  test  of  this  chamber     .  =  103-0329 

In  so  far,  these  very  precise  absolute  quantities  of 
length  are  recorded  here  chiefly  to  gain  their  relative  pro- 
portions more  exactly  ;  and,  therefore,  when  we  multiply 
one  of  them,  the  chamber's  length  (its  chief  line  and  the 
best  measured  line  too  of  the  whole  Great  Pyramid),  by 
the  special  Pyramid  numbers  5X5,  and  find  it  to  yield 
10303"29,  or  the  same  row  of  ciphers  with  the  decimal 
point  differently  placed,  as  Mr.  Simpson's  touchstone 
line  of  commensurability,  we  may  then  ask  further 
whether  that  larger,  absolute  quantity  of  length  so 
implied,  has  any  particular  value  or  meaning  outside 
that  King's  Cliamber  wherein  it  is  now  found. 

Then  comes  a  remarkable  answer  for  any  philosophical 
mathematician  to  ponder  over,  and  especially  as  to  how 
it  came  there  in  the  early  age  of  the  Pyramid's  foun- 
dation, before  all  history  ;  viz.,  that  the  area  of  the 
square  base  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  whose  perimeter  has 
already  been  determined  by  us  to  bear  in  those  Pyramid 
inches  a  round  and  even  relation  to  the  number  of 
days  in  a  year,  is  equal  to  the  area  of  a  circle  whose 
diameter  =  1030330  +  -01  of  the  same  Pyramid 
inches.  (See  Plate  III,  Equality  of  Areas,  No.  1.)  Thus 
bringing  up  again,  though  in  a  slightly  different  shape, 


1 82  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

that  squaring  of  the  circle  which  was  one  of  the  chief 
objects  of  the  Great  Pyramid's  ulterior  design  touching 
its  external  figure.  And  which  object  seems  to  have 
been  intimately  and  most  intentionally  w^oven  into  the 
very  fibres  of  the  Great  Pyramid's  constitution  ;  for  there 
was  no  automatic  mechanical  necessity  obliging  brute 
masonry  in  the  hands  of  unthinking  workmen  to  give 
the  King's  Chamber  exactly  that  special  size  or  shape, 
which  would  endue  it  with  a  definite  circle-squaring 
commensurability  to  the  size  of  the  base  of  the  whole 
monument  in  which  it  is  contained. 


Linear  Relations  between  the  Coffer  and  the  King's 
Chamber. 

But  in  the  King's  Chamber  we  may  look  to  some 
further  values,  bearing  on  interior  subjects  now ;  and 
that  constant  warning  from  the  ante-chamber  to  expect 
a  "  division  into  five  "  when  we  enter  the  King's  Cham- 
ber, at  once  helps  us  to  a  connection  between  its  walls 
(divided  into  5  courses),  and  that  peculiar  vessel  of 
capacity  formation  and  mensuration,  the  coffer.  For 
the  5th  part  of  the  breadth  of  the  room,  or  10th  part  of 
the  length,  is  41 '21  Pyramid  inches  :  and  the  measured 
height  of  the  coffer  (the  quantity  where  the  hapless 
French  Academicians,  in  spite  of  all  their  high  science, 
made  an  error  of  three  whole  inches),  is  shown  on  page 
138  to  have  been  measured  by  me  as  41*23  near  its 
edges ;  but  considered  to  require  some  small  reduction 
on  account  of  concavity  of  the  bottom  surface,  when 
stating  the  mean  height ;  or  for  that  purpose  to  be  rather 
held  as  41*13,  or  somewhere  between  the  two. 

The  cubic  diagonal  is,  however,  the  most  important 
and  governing  line  that  can  be  drawn  in  any  room,  and 
amounts  in  the  King's  Chamber  to  515*1646  Pyramid 
inches  ;  a  quantity  which,  as  Mr.  James  Simpson  shows, 


Chap.  X.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.     '  183 

connects  the  King's  Chamber  at  once,  on  one  side  with 
its  containing  Pyramid,  and  on  the  other  with  its  con- 
tained coffer  vessel.  For,  multiplied  by  10,  the  cubic 
diagonal  is  exactly  the  length  of  the  side  of  a  square 
equal  in  area  to  a  right  vertical  section  of  the  Great 
Pyramid  (see  Plate  IV.  Fig.  3) ;  and  on  the  other,  the 
same  cubic  diagonal  divided  by  2  equals  practically  the 
sum  of  the  lengths  round  the  cofter's  external  base  ; 
or,  in  other  words,  the  greatest  radius  of  the  King's 
Chamber,  2 57 '5 8  Pyramid  inches,  equals  the  greatest 
horizontal  circumference  of  the  coffer.'''' 


Capacity  Relations  between  King's  Chamber  and  Coffer. 

Now  the  coffer,  the  moment  we  began  to  examine  it 
on  its  own  actual  measures,  exhibited  on  page  143  a 
marked  tendency  to  duplication  of  intercommensurable 
capacities  ;  and  so  also  does  the  King's  Chamber  com- 
mence with  a  duplex  character  in  its  linear  measures, 
seeing  that  the  length  is,  with  an  accuracy  of  at  least 
a  thousandth  of  the  whole,  just  double  the  breadth ;  the 
breadth  is  double  a  certain  unit,  which  performs  wonders 
in  detecting  commensurabilities ;  and  the  floor  diagonal 
is  double  the  height.  That  height,  moreover,  has  another 
double  character,  but  in  a  different  way ;  for  you  may 
measure  it  either  from  the  floor  as  visible  height,  or 
you  may  measure  it  from  the  bottom  of  the  grand  and 
solid  granite  walls,  under  the  floor,  as  virtual  and 
symbolic  height,  and  find  them  then  five  inches  higher 
than  before.  This  room  has  therefore,  whether  we  like 
it  or  not,  yet  by  fact  of  masonry,  tvjo  heights ;  and  they 

*  This  equation  is  not  exact,  owing  chiefly  to  the  stranp^e  anomaly  in 
the  lower  part  of  the  west  side  of  the  coffer,  shown  at  p.  137,  and  deserv- 
ing further  attention  at  the  place.  But  meanwhile  taking  the  breadth 
just  as  given  on  p.  137  =  3872  British  inches,  and  the  length,  if  freed  from 
the  anomaly,  =  90-20  British  inches;  then  (38-72  +  90-20)  X  2  =  257-84 
British  inches  =  257-58  Pyramid  inches. 


1 84  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  II. 

will  be  found  on  many  an  occasion  to  act  as  two  remark- 
ably powerful  strings  to  its  bow  of  symbology. 

Thus,  at  once,  if  you  take  the  first  height,  you  get 
Mr.  Simpson's  commensurabilities  by  squares  ;  the  cubic 
diagonal  duplex  relations ;  and  also  the  capacity  commen- 
surability  by  50  of  the  lowest  course  of  the  room  with 
the  coffer's  interior.  But  if  you  take  the  second  height, 
what  do  you  get  ? 

Why,  with  Mr.  Simpson's  last  numbers,  and  a  round 
5  inches  for  the  difference  of  the  two  heights,  you 
obtain  19,990,679  cubic  Pyramid  inches;  or,  as  he 
has  reason  to  say  (the  preciseness  of  the  five  inches  all 
round  the  room  having  still  to  be  measured,  and  quite 
admitting  of  being,  as  estimated  by  me  alone,  and  at 
only  one  available  place,  some  0*1  of  an  inch  too  small), 
"  you  may  get  absolutely  and  unquestionably  twenty 
million  cubic  Pyramid  inches  ;  a  grandly  round  number 
in  itself,  yet  having  a  duplex  aspect  in  decimal  arithmetic, 
in  common  with  several  other  features  of  this  chamber 
of  twice  25,  and  its  duplicating  coffer."  Whence  the 
chamber  itself  may  be  considered,  not  one  long  chamber 
of  twenty  million  inch  capacity,  but  rather  to  be  com- 
posed of  two  chambers,  each  of  them  of  ten  million 
cubic  inches  capacity,  set  together;  and  suggestive, 
therefore,  of  the  employment  for  capacity  in  that 
united  chamber  with  its  coffer  treasure,  of  a  linear 
standard  consisting  (as  actually  is  the  case  there)  of 
two  Pyramid  cubits  in  length ;  each  of  which  cubits 
is  the  ten-millionth  part  of  the  earth's  semi-axis  of 
rotation. 

This  is,  in  fact,  the  very  idea  required  to  be  given 
by  the  Pyramid  to  clench  the  whole  of  our  coffer  capacity 
measure  theory  in  Chapter  IX.  It  is  well,  therefore,  to 
know  that  there  is  still  further  confirmation  to  it  from 
both  the  Queen's  Chamber  and  the  ante-chamber. 


Chap.X.]  the  great  pyramid.  185 

Capacity  References  in  the  Queens  Chamber. 

If  the  King's  Chamber  be  the  chamber  of  the 
standard  of  50,  or  of  two  cubits  length,  the  Queens 
Chamber  is  the  chamber  of  the  standard  of  25,  or  one 
cubit  length ;  for  it  stands,  with  its  original  floor,  not 
the  present  one,  on  the  25  th  course  of  masonry  com- 
posing the  Pyramid ;  and  its  one  grand  architectural 
feature,  the  niche  in  the  east  wall,  symbolises,  by  its 
amount  of  excentric  displacement  in  the  room,  a  length 
amounting  to  just  one  cubit.  We  might  expect  then 
to  find,  if  the  theory  be  true,  that  one  ten  millions  of 
cubic  inches  are  indicated  by  this  room's  contents,  as 
against  the  two  ten  millions  of  the  King's  Chamber. 
And  this  does  appear  to  be  the  case.      (See  Plate  IX.) 

The  room  is,  indeed,  quite  a  short  one,  and  being 
furnished  with  an  angular  ceiling,  is  totally  unlike  the 
King's  Chamber  in  shape  as  well  as  material,  which  is 
white  limestone,  now  much  encrusted  with  salt ;  but 
Mr.  Simpson,  extracting  my  measures  of  it  from  *'  Life 
and  Work,"  soon  perceived  the  breadth,  measured  by 
me  at  205 '6,  to  be  a  reminder  at  the  least,  if  not 
a  repetition,  of  the  King's  Chamber  breadth,  206 '06 
Pyramid  inches,  but  apparently  clogged  by  the  saline 
incrustations.  Wherefore  altering  the  other  measured 
numbers  similarly  {i.e.  making  them  about  a  quarter  of 
an  inch,  or  nearly  one  eight-hundredth  of  the  whole, 
longer  at  each  end),  he  obtained  for  the  length  2 27  03 
in  place  of  226  "5,  and  for  the  mean  height  21386  in 
place  of  21 3*2  ;  the  three  dimensions  then  giving  for 
the  cubic  contents  of  the  chamber  10,004,676  cubic 
Pyramid  inches,  or  as  close  as  could  be  expected  nowa- 
days from  a  chamber  of  soft  material,  liabiHty  to  saline 
deposits,  and  of  extra  difficulty  to  measure  exactly.  A 
chamber,  however,  which  Professor  Hamilton  L.  Smith, 
of   New    York,    keeping    chiefly    to    the    hardest    and 


1 86  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  IL 

sharpest  parts,  has  some  splendid  ideas  and  magnificent 
researches  upon  (soon  to  appear  in  Sillimans  Journal), 
showing  the  niche  more  especially  to  be  a  very  magazine 
of  the  crucial  angles  of  the  Pyramid's  structure  ;  and  the 
roughnesses  of  the  floor  (see  Plate  IX.),  even  to  have  a 
symbolical  meaning  in  connection  with  the  incommen- 
surables  in  nature. 

The  Ante-chamher's  Symbolisms. 

There  was  always,  nevertheless,  more  satisfaction  to 
me  as  a  measurer  inside  the  Great  Pyramid  when  dealing 
with  granite,  rather  than  limestone  ;  and  this  harder 
material  began  in  the  ante-chamber,  the  little  dark 
room  almost  in  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  whole  mass 
of  this  mountain  of  masonic  skill. 

Tlie  total  length  of  that  ante-chamber  was  by  several 
measures,  all  recorded  in  "Life  and  Work,"  as  follows  : — ■ 

116-3 
116-8 
116-2 
116-3 
116-3 
116-3 


Mean   =  11637  British  inches. 
=  116-26  Pyramid  inches. 

While  the  length  of  the  granite  portion  alone  of  the 
floor  is  recorded  at — 

103-6 
103-7 
102-6 
103-2 


Mean  =  103-28  British  inches. 
—  103-17  Pyramid  inches. 


and  the  height  of  the  granite  wainscot  on  the  east  side 
of  the  chamber  is  given  at  103  1  British,  or  103'0 
Pyramid,  inches  ;  but  considered  to  be  intended  to  be 


I 


Chap.  X.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  187 

the  same  as  the  other  really,  and  either  of  them  to  be 
best  represen table  by  103  08  Pyramid  inches  within 
limits  ±  0  05  inch. 

On  these  numbers  Captain  Tracey,  R.A.  (now  at 
Gibraltar),  was  the  first  to  remark,  "  Why,  this  granite 
portion  of  the  ante-chamber  floor  (thanks  to  those  who 
have  been  enabled  to  distinguish  granite  from  lime- 
stone, see  Chapter  YII.  p.  1 1 1  to  1 1 7),  is  the  length  of  the 
unit  test  of  the  King's  Chamber  for  discovering  com- 
mensurabilities,  viz.  103-033  ;  and  the  height  of  the 
granite  wainscot  on  the  east  side  must  be  intended  to 
measure  the  same." 

Now,  said  he,  one  of  these  two  equal  lengths  being 
placed  horizontal,  and  the  other  vertical  (both  of  them 
also  coming  to,  and  so  enclosing,  the  same  corner), 
they  evidently  typify  the  adjacent  sides  of  a  square  ; 
the  area  too  of  that  square.  But  the  area  of  that 
square  of  103*033  in  the  side  (or  the  length  of  the 
granite  portion  of  the  floor  only,  far  within  the  limits 
of  error  of  the  modern  measures)  is  precisely  equal  to 
the  area  of  a  circle  116*26  in  diameter;  and  11626 
Pyramid  inches  is  the  whole  length  of  the  ante-chamber's 
floor,  granite  and  limestone  together.  Or,  as  the  Abb^ 
Moigno,  in  "  Les  Mondes  "  for  16  th  October,  more  ele- 
gantly puts  it  (having  previously  called  116*26  ^=.  2  7\ 
and  103*03  =  c) ;  this  remarkable  employment  of 
granite  and  limestone  by  the  ancient  Pyramid  architect 
is  the  method  adopted  by  him  of  saying,  in  one  com- 
mon lanofuaofe  of  mathematical  science,  from  an  isolated 
mountain  peak  of  4,000  years  ago,  to  all  nations  in  the 
present  educated  age  of  the  world,  that — 


1. 


TT  r"  zzz  c  . 


TTAo,  after  this  first  coincidence  of  the  ante-chamber, 
says  the  Abb^,  could  pretend  that  the  diversity  of  the 
materials  and  their  relations,  or  differences,  of  length 


1 88  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

are  a  simple,  brute  accident  ?  But  here  are  others  not 
less  extraordinary  connected  with  their  absolute  lengths, 
when  measured  in  the  standards  and  units  of  the  Great 
Pyramid's  scientific  theory  :  and  in  no  others  known. 

2.  116-26  X  TT  =  365-24,  the  number  of  days  in  a 
year ;  the  number,  also,  of  Pyramid  cubits  contained  in 
the  length  of  a  side  of  the  base  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

3.  116-26x7rx5x5(5is  one  of  the  chief  Pyramid 
numbers)  =  9131  Pyramid  inches;  the  length  of  a 
side  of  the  square  base  of  the  Great  Pyramid  deduced 
from  all  the  measures  that  have  been  taken  since  the 
happy  discovery  of  the  corner  sockets  by  the  French 
Academicians  under  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

.  4.  116-26x50  (50  is  the  number  of  horizontal  courses 
of  masonry  between  the  level  of  the  ante-chamber  and 
the  base  of  the  whole  Pyramid)  =  5813  P^^amid 
inches  ;  the  ancient  vertical  height  of  the  Great  Pyramid 
deduced  from  a  mean  of  all  the  measures.  And, 
finally, 

5.  103-033x50  =  5151-65  Pyramid  inches ;  oris 
the  side  of  a  square  of  equal  area,  1st,  to  a  triangle  of 
the  shape  and  size  of  the  Great  Pyramid's  vertical 
meridian  section  ;  2nd,  to  a  circle  having  the  height 
of  the  Pyramid  for  a  diameter. 

Geometrical  Derivation  of  the  Passage  Angle. 

That  same  square,  of  5151-65  Pyramid  inches  in 
the  side,  is  a  still  further  important  feature  in  the 
design  of  the  Great  Pyramid ;  for,  as  may  be  seen 
more  easily  than  described,  from  the  practical  geometry 
of  Plate  YII.,  by  placing  that  square  centrically  and 
symmetrically  on  the  centre  of  the  base  of  the  Pyramid, 
tri-secting  its  upper  semi-diameter,  and  bi-secting  its 
lower,  we  obtain  the  positions  of  its  several  chambers 
and  passages ;  and,  above  all,  by  a  further  reference  to 


Chap.X.]  the  great  pyramid.  i8q 

the  height  of  the  building,  we  procure  the  angle  of  slope 
of  those  passages. 

This  angle  should  be,  from  the  construction,  26°  18' 
10"  :  and  my  observations  found  it  for  the  entrance 
passage,  by  a  multitude  of  measures  with  several  dif- 
ferent instruments,  acting  on  different  principles — 


26" 
26= 
26' 

27'         0" 
28'        7" 
25'       20" 

Mean  26° 

27' 

ending  passage — 

26° 
26° 

6'       30" 
6'       40" 

Mean  26° 

6' 

26° 
26° 
26° 

17'      28" 
17'         4" 
17'       63" 

Mean  26°        17'      32" 

Wliich  three  passages,  therefore,  contain  the  theoreti- 
cal 26°  18'  10"  amongst  them;  within  quite  as  close 
limits  too  as  could  be  expected  in  so  ancient  a  struc- 
ture, with  many  of  its  limestone  masses  cracked  by  the 
weight  of  a  mountain's  superincumbent  pressure  through 
long  ages  ;  and  very  much  closer  than  is  found  when 
we  examine  instrumentally  into  the  mensuration  errors 
of  most  modem  buildings. 

Inches  typified  in  the  Granite  Leaf. 

A  further  use  for  that  particular  passage  angle  comes^ 
up  in  the  astronomy  of  the  Pyramid's  chronology  ;  but 
relegating  just  now  that  subject  to  a  future  chapter,  let 


190  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  II. 

us  conclude  this  one  with  reference  to  a  very  small 
matter  in  size,  though  great  in  importance,  viz.  the 
granite  leaf,  standing  at  the  head  of,  above,  and  beyond 
all  these  passages. 

Some  objectors  to  the  Pyramid  scientific  theory  have 
said,  "  We  do  not  admit  the  reality  of  your  Pyramid 
inches  with  its  original  builders,  when  you  can  only  get 
such  inches  by  subdividing  immense  lengths  of  the 
building  by  divisors  of  your  own  choosing.  (Though 
this  is  denied.)  But  show  us  a  single  such  inch,  and 
then  we  may  believe." 

Whereupon  Captain  Tracey  has  pointed  out  that  such 
single  inch  is  actually  marked,  and  in  a  Pyramid  man- 
ner on,  or  rather  by  means  of,  the  above  granite  leaf  in 
the  ante-chamber ;  and  it  comes  about  thus  : 

In  that  small  apartment  its  grand  symbol  on  the 
south  wall  is  the  already  mentioned  illustration  of  a 
division  into  five  :  and  if  the  symbol  had  virtue  enough 
to  extend  into  and  dominate  some  features  in  the  next, 
or  King's  Chamber  (as  in  illustrating  its  now  undoubted 
number  of  jive  wall  courses),  why  should  it  not  typify 
something  in  its  own  chamber  as  well  ?  But  what  is 
there,  in  the  ante-chamber,  divided  into  .five  !  "  The 
sacred,  or  the  Great  Pyramid's  own,  cubit,"  answers 
Captain  Tracey ;  "  for  here  it  is  so  divided  in  the 
shape  of  this  hoss  on  the  granite  leaf,  just  five  inches 
broad.  And  further,  that  fifth  part  of  that  cubit  of  the 
Great  Pyramid's  symbolical  design  is  divided  before  our 
eyes  into  five  again  ;  for  the  thickness  of  this  remarkable 
boss  is  l-5th  of  its  breadth.  So  there  you  have  the 
division  of  the  sacred  cubit  into  5x5  inches." 

This  boss  on  the  granite  leaf  (see  Plate  X.)  is  another 
of  my  rediscoverings  of  things  which  are  to  be  seen  ;  for 
they  have  been  marked,  but  not  sufficiently  noted  or 
measured,  in  that  excellent  though  so  unwieldy  and 
seldom  consulted  folio  of  enormous  plates,  "  Perring's," 


Chap.  X.]  THE  GREA  T  PYRA  MID.  1 9 1 

or  rather  perhaps  to  be  called  "  Vyse  and  Perring's," 
views  of  the  Pyramids,  published  in  1840. 

Nor  was  this  most  unique  yet  modest  boss  described 
and  pictured  by  me  with  full  correctness  even  in  "  Life 
and  Work,"  I  having  made  it  much  too  high,  too 
accurately  rectangular  at  its  lowest  corner  line,  and  too 
sharply  and  neatly  defined  all  round  :  as  I  am  enabled 
now  to  say  positively,  having  been  kindly  furnished  by 
my  friend  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon  with  a  cast  of  it  in 
Portland  cement  taken  by  him  in  the  Great  Pyramid 
last  year  (1872).  The  one  inch  thickness  however,  and 
jive  inches  breadth,  being  fairly  measurable  along  the 
best  part  of  the  cast-boss  for  measuring,  viz.  its  steep, 
though  not  absolutely  rectangular,  lower  edge, — they 
remain  untouched  and  perfectly  suitable  for  Captain 
Tracey's  analogy,  which  is  further  supported  as  follows  : 
— The  boss,  a  flat  bas-relief  one  inch  thick  or  high 
from  the  stone,  is  on  the  north  side  of  the  upper 
of  the  two  granite  stones  forming  that  "granite  leaf" 
which  crosses  the  ante-chamber  near  its  northern  end. 
(Compare  Chapter  IX.,  pages  154  to  157.)  Excepting 
the  presently  broken  state  of  the  upper  surface  of 
the  top  stone,  evidently  a  modern  mischief,  the  forma- 
tion of  the  whole  leaf  is  regular,  rectangular,  and  sym- 
metrical. Why  then  is  the  boss  not  in  the  middle 
between  the  two  sides  of  the  very  narrow  apartment  ? 
(41  "21  inches  broad). 

My  measures  of  1865,  if  they  can  be  trusted  here, 
show  that  the  boss  is  just  one  inch  away  on  one  side 
of  the  centre  ;  and  as  it  has  been  otherwise  shown  by 
the  niche  of  the  Queen's  Chamber,  that  it  was  a  Great 
Pyramid  method  to  indicate  a  small  quantity  (there  a 
whole  cubit)  by  an  excentricity  to  that  amount  in  some 
far  grander  architectural  feature,  we  cannot  but  accept 
this  excentricity  of  the  boss  as  an  additional  Pyramid 
memorial  of  the  very  thing  which  is  being  called  for 


1 92  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IL 

by  the  sceptical  just  now ;  viz.  one  single,  little  inch 
memorialized  by  the  builders  of  the  most  colossal  piece 
of  architecture  in  the  world.  All  the  more  decidedly 
too,  when,  as  Mr.  St.  John  Vincent  Day  has  since  then 
shown,  that  that  very  excentric  position  of  the  boss  has 
enabled  the  distance  from  its  centre  to  the  eastern  end 
of  the  leaf  itself  in  its  well-cut  groove  in  the  granite 
wainscot  to  be,  within  the  limits  of  mensuration  errors, 
just  a  whole  Pyramid  cubit  =  25 '025  British  inches,  or 
something  very  near  to  it  indeed.'''^  So  that  we  have 
tied  up  here  the  whole  cubit,  its  fifth  part  and  its 
twenty-fifth  part ;  which,  though  so  small,  like  the 
needle  in  a  haystack,  yet  is  it  also  securely  tied  up  here, 
for  the  instruction  of  all  posterity. 

And  Captain  Tracey  again  shows  that  the  lower  stone 
of  the  granite  leaf  (in  this  ante-chamber,  which  proves 
itself  to  be  a  veritable  synopsis  or  microcosm,  of  the  whole 
Great  Pyramid),  that  this  lower  stone,  I  say,  which  is  fairly 
dressed,  rectangular,  "j*  and  the  one  on  which  the  upper 

*  My  measures  say,  p.  100,  vol.  ii.  of  "  Life  and  Work  " — 

British '  inches 

Centre  of  boss  to  east  side  of  room =  21-5 

P.  98,  vol.  ii.,  depth  of  groove  in  that  wall        .        .         .        .=     40 

Whole  distance  from  centre  of  boss  to  east  end  of  granite  leaf 

in  its  groove =  2o-5 

But  again,  on  p.  93,  and  also  p.  95,  the  grooved  breadth  of  the 

room  is  given  in  British  inches  at 48*1 

48-0 
48-1 

Mean  =  48-067 

Half    =  24-034 
Add  1  inch  of  excentricity  of  the  boss  from  east  wall  .  -\-     1 

Whole  distance  of  centre  of  boss  from  the  inside  of  its  flat 
groove  in  granite  (a  distance  which  I  recommend  to  future 
explorers  to  check  for  me) =  25-034 

t  My  ante-chamber  measures,  as  condensed  on  p.  37  of  the  13th  vol.  of 
the  **  Edinburgh  Astronomical  Obs.  :  " — 

Say,  granite  leaf,  thickness  north  to  south,  on  east  side     .  =  15*4 
„  ,,  west  side    .  =  16-0 


Chap.X.]  the  great  pyramid.  193 

stone  with  its  divisions  of  the  cubit  rests, — expresses  a 
notable  division  of  the  capacity  measure  of  the  coffer. 
For  it  presents  us,  within  the  walls  of  the  ante-chamber, 
with  a  fourth  part  of  that  coffer  vessel ;  or  with  the 
veritable  ■'  corn  quarter  "  of  old,  and  which  is  still  the 
British  quarter  corn-measure  both  by  name  and  fact  and 
practical  size. 


A  Representative  Antagonist  of  the  Modern  Scientific 

Theory  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

• 

But  now,  after  so  many  confirmations,  both  large  and 
small,  furnished  by  the  Great  Pyramid  itself  (and  there 
are  more  still,  and  of  a  higher  class,  to  appear  in  our 
fourth  and  fifth  parts),  the  reader  may  possibly  be  in- 
clined to  ask,  "  Who  are  the  parties  who  still  refuse  to 
allow  the  force  of  any  of  these  things  ;  and  persist  in 
saying  that  they  see  in  the  Great  Pyramid  merely 
a  burial  monument  of  those  idolatrous  Egyptians,  who 
delighted  in  nothing  so  much  as  grovelling  worship, 
and  architectural  memorialization,  of  bulls  and  goats, 
cats,  crocodiles,  beetles,  and  almost  every  bestial  thing  ?" 

One  of  these  unhappy  recusants  has  lately  offered  him- 
self for  description.  He  is  an  Oxford  man  and  a  clergy- 
man, a  country  vicar  and  a  chaplain  to  Royalty ;  the 
author  too  of  a  large  octavo  of  travel  in  Egypt,  pub- 
lished two  years  ago  and  already  in  a  second  edition  ; 
a  book  written  throughout  cleverly,  fluently,  scholarly, 
but  in  an  outrageously  rationalistic  vein  of  ultra  Broad 
Churchism,  even  to  the  extent  of  holding  the.  Biblical 
history  of  man,  in  all  its  miraculous  features  and  limits 

Height  of  lower  stone 27'o  to  28-0 

Breadth  east  to  west,  between  the  open  walls      .        .         .  =  41*21  +  a? 
„  between  the  leaf's  grooves        .         .  =  48'05  ±  * 

But  they  ought  now  to  be  repeated  by  some  one  else,  when  so  much 
theoretical  importance  seems  to  attach  to  them. 

O 


194  ^^^  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IT. 

of  chronology,  to  be  utterly  false.  The  religions  of  Christ 
and  Moses  this  author  perversely  maintains  to  have 
been  in  no  way  differently  originated  from  those  of 
Egypt,  Greece,  and  Rome.  They  were  each  and  all,  with 
him,  merely  the  product,  "the  summa  philosojjhia/' 
of  the  wisest  men  of  their  time,  acting  by  their  human 
wisdom  alone,  and  composing  systems  of  religion  suitable 
for  their  own  respective  ages  :  as,  too,  he  would  have 
the  ablest  men  amongst  us  try  to  do  again  for  these 
troubled  and  most  unhinged  times  in  which  we  live  ; 
times  wanting,  he  says,  a  new  religion,  for  that  of  Christ 
is  no  longer  effective. 

This,  then,  was  the  author  who,  starting  for  his 
Egyptian  tour  at  six  hours'  notice  only,  tells  us  that  he 
took  no  scientific  instruments  with  him ;  and  says, 
moreover,  that  he  did  not  want  them,  as  he  has  methods 
of  philosophical  observation  overriding  all  science. 

Thus,  as  to  the  almost  endless  series  of  mathe- 
matical and  physical  problems  contained  in  the  Great 
Pyramid,  this  vicar-Oxonian  merely  leant  against  the 
monument,  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets,  and  look- 
ing upward  along  its  sides,  declared  that  he  got  a 
far  better  notion  of  it,  than  if  he  had  made  any 
number  of  scientific  observations  ;  for  he  perceived 
with  the  greatest  certainty  then,  there,  and  at  once, 
that  in  place  of  there  being  any  truth  in  all  the  unique 
numbers  and  mysteriously  deep  scientific  things  pub- 
lished about  it  by  the  Scottish  Astronomer  Royal, — 
the  whole  edifice  throughout  all  its  building  was  nothing 
but  an  ordinary  development  of  ordinary  human  nature 
in  history.  The  Egyptians,  he  says,  built  the  Great 
Pyramid  at  the  time,  and  in  the  manner,  they  did, 
merely  because  they  could  not  help  it :  it  was  the  only 
way  that  occurred  to  them  to  build  it,  and  there  was  no 
thinking  spent  upon  it. 

If  opposite  extremes  ever  meet,  they  certainly  do  so 


Chap.  X.]  THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  1 95 

here  :  for  the  said  Scottish  Astronomer  Roj^al  also  holds, 
that  the  EgyptiaTis  spent  no  thought  upon  the  design 
of  the  Great  Pyramid,  and  built  it  without  understand- 
ing it,  and  because  they  could  not  do  otherwise  at  that 
time.  But  that  nevertheless  a  Mighty  Intelligence  did 
both  think  out  the  plans  for  it,  and  compel  unwilling 
and  ignorant  idolaters,  in  a  primal  age  of  the  world, 
to  work  mightily  both  for  the  future  glory  of  the  one, 
true  God  of  Revelation,  and  to  establish  lasting  pro- 
phetic testimony  touching  a  further  development,  still 
to  take  place,  of  the  absolutely  Divine  Christian  Dis- 
pensation. 

The  Astronomer,  however,  asks  no  one  to  take  his 
mere  opinion.  If  the  facts  which  he  has  to  unfold, 
work  no  conviction  ;  neither  will,  nor  should,  all  the 
words  of  persuasion  that  he  could  possibly  utter. 


PART  III. 

NATIONAL  WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES. 


"  LET  ALL  THE  NATIONS  BE  GATHERED  TOGETHEK,  AND  LET  THE  PEOPLE 
B8  assembled:  who  among  them  can  DECLARE  THIS,  AND  SHEW  US 
FORMER  THINGS  ?  LET  THEM  BRING  FORTH  THEIR  WITNESSES,  THAT  THET 
MAY  BK  JUSTIFIED  :    OR  LET  THEM  HEAR,  AND  SAY,  IT  IS  TRUTH." 

ISAIAH    XLIII.  9. 


CHAPTER  XL 

BRITISH    METROLOGY,    PAST    AND    PRESENT. 

TTTHEN  Magna  Charta  ruled  the  British  land, — and 
'  *  perhaps  in  thoroughness  of  spirit  and  completeness 
of  intention  with  those  immediately  concerned  that  was 
not  very  long, — a  ray  of  metrological  wisdom  and  a 
beam  of  light  from  some  far-off  horizon  in  the  history 
of  the  human  race,  shot  momentarily  athwart  the 
troubled  scene  of  our  national  weights  and  measures. 

Those  institutions  had  existed  from  the  earliest  times 
known  to  our  literature,  an  heirloom  among  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  peoples  ;  and  a  late  first-rate  American  writer, 
as  well  as  statesman  (John  Quincey  Adams),  equally 
claiming  with  ourselves  to  be  descended  from  that 
ancient  stock,  but  without  any  necessary  prejudice 
in  favour  of  the  wisdom  of  modem  British  Parlia- 
ments, has  expressed  a  very  firm  conviction  that  the 
most  perfect  condition  of  those  weights  and  measures, 
even  including  all  that  was  done  for  them  by  modern 
savants  under  the  reign  of  George  IV.,  was  in  the 
earliest  known  times  of  Saxon  history  ;  and  connects 
itself  much  more  with  an  ancient  Royal  residence  at 
Winchester,  than  a  modern  one  in  London  or  Windsor. 
It  may  have  been  earlier  still ;  and  the  system  had  already 
fallen  into  such  republican,  many-headed,  confusion  in 
the  times  of  King  John,  that  the  Charter,  to  the  joy  of 
all  men,  said  that  in  future  there  was  only  to  be  one 


200  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

standard  of  measure  throughout  the  land  ;*  while,  to 
render  that  principle  a  possible  one  to  carry  out  in 
practice,  wisdom  counselled,  and  ancient  Saxon  practice 
reminded,  that  grand  standards  both  of  length  and 
weight  should  be  immediately  constructed,  and  copies 
thereof  dispatched  to  all  parts  of  the  kingdom. 

But  what  followed  ? 

That  which  too  uniformly  follows  when  a  generous 
people,  roused  for  a  time  to  the  care  and  assertion  of 
their  rights,  trust  all  to  the  word  of  unwilling, 
despotically  inclined  rulers ;  and  then  relax  once  more 
into  passive  obedience  and  dull  routine. 

Those  standard  measures,  if  ever  made,  were  lost ;  no 
copies  were  sent  to  country  districts ;  the  Magna 
Charta  lawyers  were  ignorant  of  the  most  vital  facts 
(as  abundantly  evidenced  by  their  verbally  ordaining 
that  the  quarter  was  to  be  the  national  measure  for 
corn,  but  leaving  the  people  in  ignorance  of  what  measure 
or  weight  it  was  the  fourth  part) ;  ■]*  and  then  came  a 
certain  very  natural  consequence. 

Practical  weights  and  measures  are  not  only  of  in- 
terest, but  essential  importance  to  all  classes  of  the  realm : 
for,  as  was  well  said  years  ago,  all  the  productions  of 
land  and  labour,  of  nature  and  art,  and  of  every  concern 
and  condition  of  life,  are  bought,  sold,  or  estimated  by 


*  "  Measures  are  wanted  for  two  distinct  objects,  the  commercial  and 
the  scientific.  The  wants  of  natural  philosophy  have  grown  up  within 
the  last  two  centuries ;  while  so  early  as  Magna  Charta  it  was  one  of  the 
concessions  to  the  grievances  of  the  subject  that  there  should  be  one 
weight  and  one  measure  throughout  the  land,"  says  the  late  Lord 
Brougham's  chief  educational  authority ;  not  knowing,  however,  that  the 
epoch  of  Magna  Charta,  instead  of  being  primeval,  is  very  middle-aged 
indeed,  in  the  real  history  of  British  weights  and  measures. 

t  A.D.  1215.     Magna  Charta,  Sect.  35  :— 

"  There  shall  be  but  one  uniform  standard  of  weights,  measures,  and 
manufactures ;  that  for  com  shall  be  the  London  quarter." 

"Magna  Charta,"  says  Dr.  Kelly,  in  his  "Metrology,"  1816,  "points 
out  the  quarter  of  London  as  the  only  standard  for  measures  and  weights 
of  that  time,  but  we  are  left  to  guess  of  what  measure  or  weight  it  was 
the  quarter  part." 


Chap.  XL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  201 

them.  Hence,  weights  and  measures  have  been  very 
properly  defined  as  the  foundation  of  justice,  the  safe- 
guard of  property,  and  the  rule  of  right ;  while  the  laws  of 
honour  peculiarly  abhor  any  fraud  in  this  respect.  Yet 
withal,  says  the  same  authority,  it  is  to  the  common 
people,  in  every  country,  to  whom  the  business  of 
weighing  and  measuring  is  almost  exclusively  com- 
mitted. Whence,  in  part,  by  evident  necessity,  it  comes 
that  weights  and  measures  are  primarily  affairs  of  the 
working  classes,  of  the  poor,  and  those  who  with 
their  own  hands  do  the  daily  work  of  the  world  ;  not 
of  the  rich,  who  luxuriously  inhale  the  sweets  and 
tempting  quintessence  thereof,  without  vulgar  toil ; 
without  any  racking  anxieties  so  to  economise  their 
daily  bread  as  just  to  be  able  to  make  both  ends  meet. 
They,  i.e.  the  rich,  and  even  the  classes  between  them 
and  the  workers,  viz.,  mercantile  men,  and  various  em- 
ployers of  labour,  can  perfectly  well  afford  in  their 
lordly  mansions  or  comfortable  counting-houses,  to 
reckon  up  their  gains  in  terms  of  any  measures,  or  of 
any  language,  whatever  under  the  sun,  when  balancing 
their  account-books  at  stated  intervals  ;  but  the  working 
poor,  in  their  daily,  ceaseless,  occupations,  have  neither 
the  education,  nor  the  time,  nor  the  opportunity  to  deal 
with  more  than  one  language  and  one  set  of  measures. 

And  these  last,  to  be  fully  useful,  must  come  to 
them,  in  every  item,  just  as  naturally  as  the  mother- 
tongue  is  felt  to  do  in  after-life  ;  for  who  is  there, 
unless  experienced  in  practical  matters  himself,  who 
knows  how  suddenly  and  immediately,  in  many  of  the 
constant  affairs  of  the  working  world,  an  unexpected 
exigency  occurs ;  when,  without  books,  or  scales,  or 
balances,  or  compasses,  the  labouring  man,  whether 
sailor  or  coal-miner,  whether  agriculturist  or  engineer, 
has  to  look  some  natural  danger  in  the  face  ;  and  his 
only  hope  of  plucking  the  flower,   "  safety,"  from  the 


202  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

event,  is  in  his  then  and  there  instantly  concluding, 
without  instrumental  assistance,  without  time  for 
serious  thought  or  metrical  examination,  upon  a  nearly 
correct  estimate  of  some  measure  of  weight,  or  length  of 
space,  or  strength  of  material,  or  angle  of  slope,  before 
the  catastrophe  arrives. 

The  working  man,  too,  must  have  convenient  natural 
standards  also  to  refer  to  at  certain  times,  both  to 
correct  the  estimate  of  his  mere  feelings,  and  keep  up 
as  well  an  outward  proof,  as  an  inward  ideal,  of  justice 
in  his  dealings  with  those  around  him,  but  in  the 
terms  he  loves  best.  So  what  was  the  consequence 
when  the  restored  king  and  government  of  A.D.  1215, 
having  got  the  rule  of  the  country  once  again  into 
their  power,  did  not  send  the  promised  standards  to 
every  town  and  village  in  the  land  ?  Why,  every  town 
and  every  village  began  to  make  standard  measures  for 
themselves,  and  for  their  own  immediate  knots  of 
society,  rich  men  and  poor,  farmers,  artisans,  and  mer- 
chants, in  their  small  and  often  very  isolated  pro- 
vincial communities. 

Within  a  certain  range  that  was  tolerable  enough  ; 
because  all  these  examples  j)ro  tern,  were  more  or  less 
closely  founded  on,  or  were  tolerably  representative  in 
some  way  or  another  of,  the  original  Saxon  standards, 
and  were  named  with  names  derived  from  the  same 
effective  language  ;  but  beyond  that  range  of  temporary 
service, — then  began  the  mediaeval  confusion  worse  con- 
founded which  has  reigned  in  our  national  weights  and 
measures  ever  since.  Under  the  same  name,  at  the 
same  epoch,  all  sorts  of  different  subdivisions  of  the 
same  original  quantities  have  been  intended  in  different 
parts  of  the  country ;  and,  in  such  various  country-side 
parts,  through  a  long  series  of  years,  what  astounding 
names,  not  unfrequently  for  the  same  thing,  have  not 


Chap.  XL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  203 

been  invented  out  of  the  wealth  and  depth  of  the 
mother  tongue  ! 

The  late  Dr.  Young  collected  as  many  as  would  have 
filled  a  small  dictionary,*  and  the  general  progress  of 
the  nation  was  not  at  that  time  found  free  from  ex- 
ceptional results  in  this  direction.  For,  as  civilization 
progressed,  wealth  asserted  its  interests  too  powerfully  ; 
and  lawyers  were  always  attainable,  to  frame  any  num- 
ber of  acts  of  parliament  to  secure  rent  and  taxes 
being  drawn  from  the  working  poor  in  any  and  every 
denomination ;  but  to  prevent  their  deriving  profits 
from  their  work,  unless  a  statute  standard  was  rigidly 
adhered  to. 

That  holding  up  to  view  the  importance  of  one  grand 
national  standard,  was  indeed  in  so  far  (for  it  was  evi- 
dently one-sided)  very  excellent  ;  but  unfortunately, 
the  powers  that  were  went  on  framing  their  acts  of 
parliament  without  either  defining,  making,  or  identi- 
fying any  such  standard.  The  taking  of  scientific 
steps  really  to  do  that,  seemed  to  men  of  the  pen, 
the  law,  and  schools  of  high  mental  philosophy,  a 
base  mechanic  operation,  which  their  ethereal  line  of 
studies  placed  them  far  above  the  level  of  It  was  a 
drudgery  they  would  not  submit  to  ;  and  even  up  to 
the  other  day  (1814),  when  at  last  it  was  impressed  on 
the  governing  bodies  that,  in  the  material  matter  of 
weights  and  measures,  there  must  be  material  standards, 
— they  appointed  a  yard,  which  was  to  bear  a  certain 
proportion  to  a  second's  pendulum  of  a  specially  named 

*  The  following  is  an  example  from  one  division  of  his  report :— Awm, 
hag,  bale,  basket,  bat,  beatment,  billet,  bind,  bing,  boll,  bolt,  bolting, 
bottle,  bout,  box,  bucket,  bunch,  bundle,  burden,  cabot,  cade,  canter, 
caroteel,  carriage,  cart,  cartload,  case,  cast,  cheef,  chest,  clue,  cord,  corf, 
cran,  cranock,  cut,  cyvar,  cyvelin,  daugh,  dish,  drop,  duffer,  &c.  &c. 

*'  Mr.  Adderley  said  that  in  his  country  there  were  thirty-six  different 
bushels,  and  he  was  informed  that  in  Lancashire  there  were  more  than 
double  that  number." — "  Report  of  Discussion  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
14th  May,  1864." 


204  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  HI. 

and  legally  described  scientific  order  ;  but  what  length 
that  pendulum  was  of  in  very  fact,  they  did  not  inquire  ; 
for  they  said,  "  any  expert  watchmaker  could  ascer- 
tain that ; "  and  yet  up  to  the  present  time  neither 
watchmaker  nor  philosopher,  nor  government  official  of 
any  kind  or  degree,  has  fully  succeeded  in  that  little 
problem. 

So  the  confusion  of  weights  and  measures  only  grew 
worse  in  the  kingdom,  while  other  branches  of  civiliza- 
tion continually  progressed.  About  the  year  1700  A.D., 
the  Government,  through  the  Attorney-General,  had  in- 
stituted an  accusation  against  a  merchant  for  cheating 
the  revenue  by  using  false  gallons ;  and  he,  the  mer- 
chant, successfully  proved  that  it  was  the  Government's 
own  appointed  gallon  that  he  had  followed,  and  that 
Government  did  not  know  what  they  had  been  legislating 
on  the  subject.* 

That  was  a  grievous  exposure  ;  but  the  fault  was 
easily  thrown  on  the  poor  working  men,  when  a  Parlia- 
mentary Committee  superciliously  reported  in  1758, 
that  of  those  uneducated  beings,  but  who  had  hitherto 
borne  all  the  toil  and  burden  of  the  work,  only  a  few  of 

♦  *'  A  little  after  1700  an  information  was  tried  in  the  Exchequer  against 
one  Baxter,  for  having  imported  more  Alicant  wine  than  he  had  paid 
duty  for.  On  the  part  of  the  Crown  it  was  contended  that  the  sealed 
gallon  at  Guildhall  (said  to  contain  231  cubic  inches)  was  the  standard. 
But  the  defendant  appealed  to  the  law,  which  required  that  a  standard 
gallon  should  be  kept  at  the  Treasury  ;  proved  that  there  was  such  a 
gallon  at  the  Treasury,  containing  282  cubic  inches  ;  and  established,  by 
the  evidence  of  the  oldest  persons  in  the  trade,  that  the  butts  and  hogs- 
heads which  came  from  Spain  had  always  contained  the  proper  number 
of  the  real  standard  gallons.  A  juror  was  withdrawn,  and  the  law  officers 
of  the  Crown  took  no  further  proceedings  except  procuring  the  above  Act 
(*  An  Act  of  5  Anne,  cap.  27,  for  arresting  the  further  decrease  of  the 
gallon  below  231  inches').  A  better  instance  of  confusion  could  hardly 
be  imagined  ;  the  legal  gallon  had  gradually  been  diminished  more  than 
60  cubic  inches ;  the  merchants  in  one  particular  trade  continued  to 
import  and  to  pay  duty  by  the  real  gallon,  and  were  finally  called  to 
account  by  the  Attorney- General,  who,  in  common  with  the  rest  of  the 
world,  had  forgotten  what  a  real  gallon  was,  and  sued  for  penalties  upon 
appeal  to  what  was  no  more  a  legal  standard  than  the  measure  in  a  pri- 
vate shop." — Fenny  Cyclopc^dia. 


Chap.  XL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  205 

• 
them  were  able  heretofore  to  make  proper  measures  or 

weights ;  standards  were  carelessly  made  and  destroyed 
as  defective,  and  the  unskilfulness  of  the  artificers, 
joined  to  the  ignorance  of  those  who  were  to  size  and 
check  the  weights  and  measures,  occasioned  all  sorts 
of  varieties  to  be  dispersed  through  the  kingdom, 
which  were  all  deemed  legal,  yet  disagreed. 

Other  independent-minded  persons,  however,  ven- 
tured to  report,  and  perhaps  more  justly,  that  another 
cause  of  this  confusion  was  "  the  prodigious  number  of 
acts  of  parliament,  whereby  the  knowledge  of  weights 
and  measures  became  every  year  more  and  more  mys- 
terious." In  1823  it  was  stated  by  Dr.  Kelly,  in  his 
examination  before  the  House  of  Lords,  "  that  there 
had  been  upwards  of  two  hundred  laws  enacted  without 
success  in  favour  of  conformity,  and  five  hundred  various 
measures  in  defiance  of  those  laws."  Both  sets  of  acts 
of  parliament,  too,  were  in  opposition  to  that  law  of  the 
practical  nature  of  things,  which  ordains  that  every- 
thing in  connection  with  weights  and  measures  shall  be 
done  in  direct  reference  to  material  examples  thereof. 


But,  in  1824,  a  standard  yard  and  a  standard  pound 
were  at  last  deposited  in  the  House  of  Commons  ;  and 
the  Legislature  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  having  a 
moderately  accurate  example  before  them,  of  the  prac- 
tical thing  they  were  legislating  about.  This  pleasure, 
however,  only  lasted  about  ten  years  :  for  in  October, 
1834,  both  yard  and  pound  perished  in  the  Great  Fire 
which  consumed  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament. 

Then  was  made  another  insane  attempt  to  get  on 
without  any  standards  at  all ;  to  collect  revenue  by  the 
threat  of  a  standard,  and  yet  have  no  standard  to  refer 
to.  Lawyers,  therefore,  had  it  all  their  own  way  in  this 
pleasant  fiction  ;  and  in  an  act  of  parliament  (5  and  6 


2o6  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

William  IV.  c.  63),  which  passed  both  assemblies  in  the 
following  year,  "  the  standards  were  referred  to  as  if 
still  in  existence,  and  quoted  as  authorities  to  be  ap- 
pealed to  on  every  occasion,  although  they  had  been 
actually  destroyed  a  twelvemonth  before,  and  no  other 
standards  submitted  in  their  stead," 

Both  Houses  of  Parliament  certainly  appeared  to  have 
been  wholly  ignorant  of  this  actual  non-existence  of  the 
objects  on  which  they  were  legislating.  But  some  per- 
sons said  for  them,  that  they  were  not,  and  never  had 
been,  entirely  dependent  on  their  late  legalized  parlia- 
mentary standards  ;  for  Government  had  an  ancient 
standard  of  its  own,  to  which  extra-conscientious 
ministers  might  refer  when  there  was  grave  occasion. 

Curiosity  was  .excited.  There  had  been  indeed  once 
two  standards  in  the  Exchequer,  descended  from  some- 
what historical  times  {i.e.  Queen  Elizabeth's)  ;  one  of 
45  inches,  the  other  of  36.  The  former,  the  more 
accurate  of  the  two,  seems  to  have  been  allowed  to  drop 
out  of  sight  altogether  at  some  period  unknown  ;  and 
the  latter  was  abused,  instead  of  used,  in  a  degree 
directly  proportionate  in  latter  days  to  the  nation's 
advance  in  wealth,  the  growth  of  geodesic  science 
amongst  learned  men,  and  the  increase  of  general  atten- 
tion to  the  scientific  subject  of  standards  in  foreign 
countries. 

For,  so  far  back  as  1742,  when  some  inquiries  were 
set  on  foot  by  both  the  Koyal  Society  of  London,  and 
the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences,  the  Exchequer  standards 
were  then  in  a  respectable  condition  ;  and  seemed  to  be 
treated  with  attention  and  care,  by  the  high  officers  and 
clerks  of  the  establishment.  But  no  one  had  heard  of 
them  again  for  a  long  interval.  And  when  their  habita- 
tion was  at  length  revisited  in  1835,  to  see  the  founda- 
tion on  which  the  government  of  good  King  William 
was  then  legislating,  Mr.  Baily  reports  of  the  then  single 


Chap.  XI.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  207 

standard,  and  apparently  the  only  one,*  •'  that  it  was 
impossible  to  speak  of  it  too  much  in  derision  and  con- 
tempt. A  common  kitchen  poker,  filed  at  the  end  in 
the  rudest  manner  by  the  most  bungling-  workman, 
would  make  as  good  a  standard.  It  has  been  broken 
asunder,"  he  writes,  "  and  the  two  pieces  have  been  dove- 
tailed together,  but  so  badly  that  the  joint  is  nearly  as 
loose  as  a  pair  of  tongs.  The  date  of  the  fracture  I 
could  not  ascertain,  it  having  occurred  beyond  the 
memory  or  knowledge  of  any  of  the  officers  at  the  Ex- 
chequer. And  yet,  till  within  the  last  ten  years,  to  the 
disgrace  of  this  country,  copies  of  this  measure  have 
been  circulated  all  over  Europe  and  America,  with  a 
parchment  document  accompanying  them  (charged  with 
a  stamp  that  costs  £3  10s.,  exclusive  of  official  fees), 
certifying  that  they  are  the  true  copies  of  the  British 
standard.'^ 

These  are  severe  remarks ;  and  partly  help  to  answer 
the  noted  difficulty  which  Dr.  Kelly  found  himself 
confronted  with,  after  all  his  historical  researches  up  to 
his  own  time ;  viz.,  that  in  England  there  is  nothing 
that  has  a  greater  tendency  to  grow  worse,  or,  curiously 
enough,  more  obstinately  resists  improvement,  than 
weights  and  measures,"  Yet  the  Exchequer  itself  has 
indicated  the  full  truth  of  Mr.  Baily's  critique,  by 
publishing  the  Astronomer  Koyal's  very  similar  views  ; 

*  Since  the  above  was  written,  an  unusually  good  parliamentary  report 
has  appeared,  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Chisholm,  chief  clerk  in  the  office  of  the 
Comptroller-General  of  the  Exchequer,  on  "The  Exchequer  Standards  of 
Woif^ht  and  Measure  ;  "  mentioning  a  yard  rod,  a  gallon,  and  two  bushels 
of  Henry  VII. ;  a  yard  measure  and  an  ell,  together  with  pints,  quarts, 
gallons,  bushels,  and  troy  and  avoirdupois  weights  of  Quoen  Elizabeth, 
besides  several  other  weights  and  measures  of  the  early  Norman  kings, 
and  not  regarded  as  standards. 

Of  the  above  Exchequer  standards,  so-called,  the  yard  rod  of  Henry  VII. 
is  that  which  was  expressly  stated,  in  1743,  to  have  been  for  a  long  time 
disused  as  a  standard  ;  the  ell  rod  of  Queen  Elizabeth  is  that  which  also 
dropped  into  disuse  between  1743  and  1835  ;  while  the  yard  rod  of  the 
same  queen  is  that  which  was  reported  on  by  Mr.  Baily  to  the  Royal 
Astronomical  Society  in  1835,  as  horrible  in  workmanship,  and  with  lis 
length  shortened  by  a  dovetail. 


2o8  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

first,  on  tlie  error  in  the  general  theory  of  British 
legislation  on  the  subject  of  standards,  as  shown  in 
"  the  entire  apathy  on  the  part  of  Government  towards 
the  matter,  whereby  it  acts  only  when  pressed  by 
popular  demands;"  and  second,  the  error  in  the  prac- 
tice of  the  British  Executive,  which  is,  within  its 
functions,  not  much  unlike  the  above  ;  leading  also  to 
such  exposures  of  our  chief  political  statesmen  as  the 
following,  extracted  from  Mr.  Chisholm's  report : — 

"  In  answer  to  a  question  upon  this  subject  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  Sir  George  Grey  is  reported  to  have 
said  (see  Hansard)  that  '  the  standards  (Exchequer)  had 
been  examined  ;  some  adjustment  was  found  necessary, 
and  measures  would  be  taken  to  have  them  verified.' 
It  is  probable  that  the  answer  of  the  Home  Secretary 
was  imperfectly  heard  or  misapprehended,  as  no  exami- 
nation, comparison,  or  adjustment  whatever  of  the  Ex- 
chequer standards  has  been  made." 

Since  then,  however,  some  members  of  her  Majesty's 
Government  have  advanced  in  metrological  knowledge : 
a  new  office  has  been  created  for  the  subject  and  placed 
under  the  care  of  the  same  Mr.  Chisholm,  late  chief  clerk 
in  the  Exchequer,  with  the  title  of  "  Warden  of  the 
Standards;"  and  a  gentle  current  of  interest  has  so 
decidedly  begun  to  flow  towards  the  subject,  that  one 
or  two  of  the  oratorical  leaders  on  ordinary  political 
topics  have  graciously  intimated,  that  when  that  current 
shall  have  become  stronger  they  may  then  perhaps 
find  it  worth  their  while  to  utilize  its  motive  power, 
and  in  their  own  way  and  for  their  own  purposes  con- 
sider, what  can  be  done  for,  or  with,  our  British  national 
and  hereditary  weights  and  measures. 

Too  late  !  too  late  !  for  while  these  politicals  were 
dallying  with  their  national  duties,  a  mine  has  been 
sprung  beneath  their  feet.     The  merchants  and  manu- 


Chap.  XI.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  209 

facturers  of  the  country,  with  a  section  of  the  scientific 
men,  chiefly  of  the  electrician  and  chemical  stamp, 
have  burst  into  the  arena,  and  declare  that  they  cannot 
wait  for  the  slow  improvements  of  Government.  They 
want,  they  haste,  to  be  rich.  The  creed  that  they  almost 
worship  consists  in  "  buying  in  the  cheapest,  and  selling 
in  the  dearest,  market,"  or  making  money  with  the 
utmost  speed  !  *  and  as  they  fancy  that  their  operations 
receive  a  momentary  check  in  some  foreign  countries, 
by  the  different  metrological  systems  there  and  here, — 
so  immediately,  without  weighing  the  whole  case,  with- 
out allowing  the  mass  of  the  population  to  have  a  voice 
in  that  which  is  their  affair,  which  is  as  ancient  and 
necessary  to  them,  the  people,  as  their  very  language, 
and  without  considering  whether,  by  breaking  down  the 
barriers  between  France  and  Frenchified  countries  and 
ourselves,  they  may  not  be  raising  up  other  obstacles 
between  ourselves  as  so  altered,  and  Russia,  f  America 
and  Australia, — they,  these  new  intruders  into  the 
scene,  are  calling  out  and  demanding  that  French 
weights  and  French  measures  shall  be  instantly  adopted 
by  law  from  one  end  of  Great  Britain  to  the  other ; 
under  pains  and  penalties,  too,  of  the  most  compulsory 
order,  and  enforced  by  a  new  and  special  description 
of  highly  paid  officials  to  be  appointed  for  that  sole 
purpose. 

In  the  midst  of  such  a  headlong  pursuit  of  mere 

♦  See  Mr.  John  Taylor's  work,  "  Wealth  the  Number  of  the  Beast." 
t  Amongst  many  other  symptoms  of  strong  and  youthful  vitality,  and 
promise  of  its  future  pre-eminence  in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  Russia 
scorns  to  adopt  the  French  units  of  measure.  Some  interested  parties 
recently  went  to  St.  Petersburg,  trying:  to  persuade  its  citizens  to  adopt 
the  French  system,  on  the  plea  that  Belgium,  Holland,  Sardinia,  Tuscany, 
Spain,  Portugal,  Greece,  Switzerland,  and  several  countries  of  South 
America,  had  already  joined  it,  and  that  Great  Britain  was  just  going  to 
do  80.  But  Russia  whs  nothing  moved  by  that,  and  though  all  the  world 
was  going  to  submit  itself  to  France,  she,  Russia,  was  not ;  she  knew  the 
value  of  her  own  hereditary  measures,  connected  at  one  point  with  the 
British  system,  and  she  would  as  soon  give  up  her  language  aa  her 
ancient  metrology,  adapted  to,  and  loved  by,  her  people. 

P 


210  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

wealth,  as  this  unprecedented  tampering  with  the  pre- 
historic possessions  of  our  nation,  for  such  a  purpose, 
would  be,  the  poor  are  unfortunately  the  first  to  go  to 
the  wall.  They  may  have  been  somewhat  curbed  and 
bridled  in  past  times  by  kings  and  barons  and  Govern- 
ment servants, — but  what  is  that  to  the  oppression  of 
merchants  and  mill-masters  hasting  to  be  rich,  and 
freely  sacrificing  thereto  any  patriotic  sentiments  and 
historical  associations  which  their  "  hands "  may  pre- 
sume to  indulge  in  ? 

There  is  not  indeed  a  completer  way  than  by  such  a 
forced  introduction  of  foreign  units,  for  treading  out  the 
desire  for  national  independence  amongst  our  poorer 
classes,  the  chief  material,  after  all,  of  our  army  and 
navy  in  war,  and  main  strength  in  peace  ;  and  for 
telling  every  man  of  them,  and  twenty  times  a  day, 
whether  he  is  in  the  field  or  whether  he  is  in  the 
house,  that  his  convenience  and  comfort  in  necessaries 
are  sacrificed  to  schemings  for  still  more  riches  to  come 
to  those  who  are  abeady  overflowingly  rich ;  and  that 
the  poor  man's  fine  traditional  aspirations  for  the  per- 
petuity of  the  British  name,  are  held  subservient  amongst 
his  latest  rulers  to  lower  and  less  patriotic  ideas  of  the 
hour.  While  even  the  very  "  People's  House "  of  the 
Legislature  with  their  Committee  of  1862  arrived,  in 
their  own  words,  unanimously  at  the  Macchiavellian 
conclusion,  "  cautiously  and  steadily  to  introduce  into 
this  country  the  French  metric  system,  adopting  its 
nomenclature  also  ;  at  first  merely  legalising  its  use, 
and  then,  after  a  time,  rendering  it  compulsory  :"  and 
never,  perhaps,  expecting  to  hear  the  Nemesian  cry 
raised  against  them,  the  cry  which,  when  issuing  from 
the  rank  and  file,  has  proved  the  speedy  death-knell  of 
a  great  empire  within  the  last  three  years — "  Nous 
sommes  trahis  "  ("  We  are  betrayed  "). 

The  Committee  were  indeed  told,  from  the  reports  of 


Chap.  XL]  THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID,  2 1 1 

the  Astronomer  Koyal  and  elsewhere,  "that  the  said" 
forcible  introduction  of  foreign  weights  and  measures 
into  Great  Britain  would  be  to  the  eoccessively  great 
inconvenience  of  9,999  persons  out  of  every  10,000 
of  the  population,  and  the  gain  to  the  one  person 
in  10,000  only  small;  and  that  any  interference  of 
Government  for  compelling  the  use  of  foreign  measures 
in  the  ordinary  retail  business  of  the  country  would  be 
intolerable;  that  they  could  not  enforce  their  penal 
laws  in  one-  instance  in  a  thousand,  and  in  that  one 
it  would  be  insupportahly  oppressive.''  Yet  all  the 
effect  that  this  wise,  salutary,  and  truly  charitable  in- 
formation produced  on  the  politico-pretence  merchants 
of  peace  principles,  with  Mr.  Cobden  himself  amongst 
them,  was  "  to  look  forward  to  a  comprehensive  and 
exact  system  of  inspection,  and  the  establishment  of 
an  efficient  central  department  to  give  force  and  unity 
to  local  action."  In  fact,  to  act  like  a  German  army 
in  undisputed  possession  of  a  foreign  country,  and  put 
down  at  all  costs  amongst  the  British  people  any 
national  feelings  for  historical  institutions  of  their  own  ; 
for  things  which,  however  they  may  have  been  meddled 
with  by  modem  acts  of  parliament,  are  still  substan- 
tially the  same  as  those  which  the  origines  of  the 
nation  received,  the  nation  itself  does  not  know  how  or 
where,  or  exactly  when ;  though  they  are  fully  aware 
that  they  have  possessed  them  as  long  as  they  have 
ever  been  a  nation  at  all,  or  from  before  the  birth  of 
any  history  amongst  us  ;  and  they,  the  mass  of  the 
working  people,  understand  the  outside  world  thoroughly, 
familiarly,  intuitively,  only  in  terms  of  them. 

No  wonder  the  Tiinnes  wrote  on  July  9th,  1863  : — 
"A  very  great  trial  is  impending  over  this  free  and 
happy  country.  It  is  not  the  loss  of  our  cotton  trade, 
of  our  colonies,  of  our  prestige,  or  our  maritime 
supremacy.     It  is  a  change  that  would  strike  far  deeper 


212  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

and  wider  than  any  of  these ;  for  there  is  not  a  house- 
hold it  would  not  fill  with  perplexity,  confusion,  and 
shame.  From  a  division  in  the  House  of  Commons 
yesterday,  it  appears  that  we  are  seriously  threatened 
with  a  complete  assimilation  of  all  our  weights  and 
measures  to  the  French  system.  Three  years  are  given 
to  unlearn  all  the  tables  upon  which  all  our  buying  and 
selling,  hiring  and  letting,  are  now  done.  Three  years 
are  supposed  to  be  amply  sufiicient  for  undoing  and 
obliterating  the  traditions  of  every  trade,  the  accounts 
of  every  concern,  the  engagements  of  every  contract, 
and  the  habits  of  every  individual.  But  we  very  much 
doubt  whether  the  general  shopkeepers,  who  take  pos- 
session of  the  comers  of  our  small  streets,  or  the  green- 
grocers, will  be  able  in  three  years  to  translate  their 
accounts  into  Duas,  Hectos,  Kilos,  Myrias,  Steres,  and 
Litres,  Metres,  Millimetres,  Centimetres,  and  the  hun- 
dred other  terms  extracted  by  our  ingenious  neigh- 
bours from  Latin  or  Greek,  as  may  happen  to  suit 
their  purposes.  Is  the  House  of  Commons,  then,  really 
prepared  to  see  the  votes,  the  reports,  the  returns 
of  the  revenue,  the  figures  of  the  national  debt,  all 
run  up  in  paper  francs  and  actually  paid  in  gold 
Napoleons  ?" 

The  accomplishment,  however,  of  so  undesirable  a 
result  seems  to  have  been  postponed  for  a  time  by  the 
Parliamentary  proceedings  of  May  4th,  1864  ;  when 
Mr.  Ewart's  bill,  after  two  readings,  was  withdrawn  in 
deference  to  another  proposal  brought  up  by  Mr.  Milner 
Gibson.  But  as  Mr.  Cobden  professed  himself  quite 
unable  to  see  the  difference  between  the  two,  though 
allowing  there  might  be  some, — and  we  know  already 
what  are  the  ultimate  compulsory  intentions  of  the 
promoters  of  the  bill, — it  is  plain  that  the  thin  end  of 
the  wedge  is  already  introduced  to  attempt  to  destroy 
our  British  hereditary  metrology. 


i 


Chap.  XI.]  THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID,  2 1 3 

Thus  far,  nearly,  was  written  in  the  first  edition  of 
this  book,  published  in  1864;  but  now  in  1873-4, 
what  is  the  state  of  matters  ? 

Well,  their  condition  is  surely  most  passing  strange ; 
for,  bill  after  bill  has  been  brought  into  Parliament, 
agitators  have  been  at  work  throughout  the  land,  defec- 
tions from  the  national  cause  have  occurred  by  the 
thousand,  scientific  men  have  turned  coat,  and  those 
who  a  few  years  ago  gave  the  most  splendid  testimony 
that  to  force  foreign  measures  on  the  British  people 
would  aggravate  them  to  the  extent  of  civil  war,  those 
who  in  an  earlier  state  of  society  would  have  died 
rather  than  abandon  their  best  opinions  and  patriotic 
creeds, — have  now  been  signing  propositions  on  the  other 
side,  and  even  assisting  in  putting  up  at  the  Palace  of 
Westminster,  side  by  side,  copies  of  the  British  and 
French  standards  of  length,  as  though  the  Government 
of  France  ruled  already  over  half  of  the  British  people. 

Other  renegade  scientific  men,  encouraged  too  by 
some  of  the  chief  scientific  societies,  have  been  publish- 
ing new  text-books  in  science  for,  if  possible,  all  the 
schools  and  colleges  in  the  empire  ;  wherein,  though 
they  still  condescend  to  use  the  English  language,  they 
scorn  to  be  loyal  to  the  English  authorized  weights 
and  measures  ;  but  speak  of  everything  "in  the  heavens 
above  and  the  earth  below  in  the  new  French  metrical 
terms,  which  they  seem  to  have  sworn  together  they 
will  make  this  country  accept,  whether  it  likes  it  or 
not.*  While  in  the  elementary  schools  which  are  now 
springing  up  under  Government  headship  and  School 
Board   management  all  over  the  country,  teachers  are 

*  In  the  letters  which  have  appeared  in  "Nature,"  from  H.M.S. 
Challenger' s  scientific  expedition,  carried  on  at  an  expense  of  not  less  than 
£20,000  a  year  to  the  British  people,  those  contemned  individuals  have 
the  distances  steamed  over  by  their  British  ship,  by  means  of  British  coal, 
described  to  them  in  kilometrea  ;  and  even  a  little  piece  of  chalk,  bronj^ht 
up  by  the  dredge  from  the  ocean-bottom,  is  defined  for  size  to  British 
readers  by  fractional  part*  of  a  metre. 


2  14  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

urged,  induced,  -encouraged  from  some  secret  quarters 
to  take  time,  witk  its  expected  political  changes,  by 
anticipation,  and  teach  all  the  children  within  their 
reach  at  once  the  French  weights  and  measures ;  or 
when  they  cannot  do  that,  openly  in  defiance  or  prosti- 
tution of  what  the  schools  were  established  for,  at  least 
to  have  some  printed  representation  of  the  French 
system  suspended  in  sight,  as  though  it  were  soon 
going  to  he  the  law  of  the  land. 

And  yet,  notwithstanding  all  these  questionable  pro- 
ceedings, every  attempted  bill  has  failed  before  Parlia- 
ment ;  and  another  bill  yet,  which  is  to  be  brought  in 
this  very  year  (1873)  will  have  to  go  through  the 
Sisypheian  labour  of  the  others,  or  of  beginning  the 
task  again  where  Mr.  E wart's  bill  of  1864  began,  as 
well  as  ended.* 

How  they  all  came  to  fail,  is  almost  as  deep  a  mys- 
tery, as  how  and  whence  the  irrepressible  and  untiring 
energy  to  bring  them  forward  again  and  again,  is 
derived ;  for  though  two  good  speeches  were  delivered 
against  the  last  bill,  what  were  they  to  the  torrent  of 
declamation  on  the  other  side, — claiming,  too,  to  be  the 
side  of  liberal  opinion,  of  modern  science,  of  political 
advance,  of  mercantile  wealth,  of  organized  industries, 
of  all  civilization,  and  indeed  of  everything  but — nation- 
ality, history,  and  religion. 

Those  three  ought,  of  course,  to  be  a  powerful  trio  ; 
in  other  countries  too,  as  well  as  our  own ;  but  the 
two  latter  of  them  were  not  invoked  in  the  Parliamen- 
tary discussion  at  all.  Indeed,  they  were  apparently 
not  understood  by  either  party  as  in  any  way  belonging 
to  the  subject ;  so  that  whatever  political  ferment  has 
been  made  hitherto  by  the  metrological  question,  it  is 

*  At  the  time  of  going  through  the  press  this  event  has  already 
occurred;  Mr.  Benjamin  Smith's  bill  having  been  withdrawn,  and  a 
promise  given  that  Government  is  to  take  up  the  subject  next  year. 


Chap.  XI.]  THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID,  2 1 5 

nothing  to  what  is  inevitably  to  come,  and  all  the 
world  over  too,  when  its  full  importance  has  been 
understood ;  and  its  profligate  treatment  at  the  hands  of 
rulers  during  the  present  hour,  appreciated  by  the  rising 
and  indignant  masses  of  all  civilized  nations. 

Just  now,  or  up  to  the  present  time,  therefore,  the 
fight  has  merely  been  between  the  would-be  introducers 
of  the  new  French  metric  system,  and  the  defenders  of 
the  British  national  system  as  it  is.     These  latter  men 
will  have  no  change,  simply  because  they   dislike  all 
change,  and  have  been  getting  on  after  a  fashion  well 
enough  hitherto  ;  but  they  cannot  expect  on  those  prin- 
ciples to  have  the  victory  in  future  fights  always  given 
into  their  hand  :  especially  when  they  can  neither  pre- 
tend to  prove  that  the  British  metrology  is  everything 
that  it  might  be   to  suit  the  advanced  wants  of  the 
present  high    state    of   civilization    and    science ;    nor 
demonstrate  that  it   is   still,  all  that  it  once  was,  for 
general  social  purposes  in  that  primeval  time  when  the 
system   was  first  given  as  an  heirloom   to   the  Saxon 
race,  before  they   came  to  these  islands.      This   latter 
position    is,    indeed,    suflficiently    indicated    from    our 
sketch,  meagre  though  it  is,  of  the  political  history  of 
British  weights  and  measures  from  the  days  of  Edgar 
the  Peaceable  on  his  throne  of  Winchester,  down  to  the 
present  hour.      And   when  throughout   that  long  in- 
terval, these  most  precious    units  and  standards   have 
always  been  neglected  by  our  chief  rulers  for  the  time 
being,  and  left  without  guidance  to  underlings  or  in- 
terlopers to  manipulate  almost  at  pleasure,  how  could 
we  expect  Government,   with  ever  so  good  intentions, 
to  have  either  safely  preserved,  or  wisely  built  up,  our 
metrological  traditions  ? 

When  Dr.  Kelly  found  reason  to  remark,  that 
through  all  our  modern  history  our  weights  and  mea- 
sures  had    always   been   growing   worse,    rather   thrn 


211 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  III. 


better, — ^he  might  well  have  risen  to  the  idea  that  at 
some  primeval  age  they  must  have  been  of  strange  and 
even  surpassing  excellence.  But  it  was  not  given  to 
him,  or  any  scientist  in  that  reign,  to  perceive  the  logical 
bearings  of  the  case  so  clearly  :  wherefore  weights  and 
measures  went  on  in  a  doomed  course  towards  a  sea  of 
trouble  destined  to  surge  over  many  nations. 

Louis  Napoleon  may  have  disappeared,  a  defeated 
man;  but  before  he  fell  from  power  he  had  engaged  the 
then  Prussian  king,  now  German  emperor,  to  abolish 
the  ancient  national  German  measures  and  establish  the 
new  French  ones  in  their  stead,  when  the  year  1872  or 
1874  should  arrive.  And  now  that  haughty  potentate 
must  either  swallow  his  words,  undo  much  preparator}'- 
legislation,  and  break  faith  with  the  metrical  men, — or 
will  have,  whether  in  his  own,  or  in  his  son's  time,  to 
enter  into  contention  with  the  masses  of  the  German 
people  who  have  raised  him  to  his  present  throne  by 
their  intense  Germanism  ;  but  never  gave  him  authority 
to  tamper  with  their  hereditary  German  gifts  and  pos- 
sessions ;  theirs  from  before  the  time  that  they  say 
St.  Paul  visited  them  as  the  Galatians. 

"Oh  !"  but  joyfully  argue  some  men,  "  it  would  be  so 
gloriously  promotive  of  modern  science,  for  one  set  only 
of  weights  and  measures  to  be  used  and  referred  to  by 
the  scientific  men  of  all  nations."  Yet  that  is  only  a 
resuscitation  of  a  cruel  fallacy  of  the  middle  ages  ;  viz., 
to  try  to  keep  up  Latin  as  a  common  language  among 
all  scientists  whatever  language  their  poor  fellow- 
countrymen  spoke.  A  demoralizing  and  suicidal  fallacy  ; 
because  it  was  found  in  practice  infinitely  more  im- 
portant, patriotic,  charitable,  for  each  scientific  man  to 
have  no  secrets,  no  mysteries  from  the  masses  of  those 
poor,  but  worthy,  and  often  most  religiously-minded 
men  around  him  ;  and  whose  friendly  encompassing  of 
him  in  that  manner,  was  the  very  source  of  the  quiet 


Chap.  XI.]  THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  2 1 7 

and  leisure  which  he  enjoyed  for  his  own  prosecution 
of  science.  Wherefore  the  first  professor  who  gave  a 
scientific  lecture  in  the  vulgar  tongue  in  a  German 
university,  was  rightly  held  to  have  made  almost  as 
precious,  useful,  and  fruitful  a  reform,  as  that  priest 
who  began  the  system  of  publicly  praying,  and  reading 
the  Scriptures,  in  the  language  of  the  people. 

There  is,  indeed,  something  to  be  said  for  choice,  or 
regulation,  of  weights  and  measures  coming  from  the 
side  of  science  ;  but  the  people  were  in  the  field  before 
science,  and  have  the  first  and  largest  interest  in  them 
still.  Neither  is  it  in  the  power  of  any  scientific  men, 
with,  all  their  science  up  to  its  very  latest  developments, 
to  invent  a  truly  national  set  of  weights  and  measures, 
any  more  than  they  can  make  a  national  language  and 
a  national  people. 

Before  the  Flood,  according  to  the  Bible,  there  was 
no  division  of  mankind  into  nations ;  that  was  a  divine 
appointment  afterwards,  together  with  the  creation  of 
their  tongues,  the  appointment  of  their  bounds,  and, 
there  are  good  reasons  for  believing,  the  assignment  of 
their  weights  and  measures.  And  if  that  was  the  case, 
a  direct  and  intentional  effort  by  men  to  subvert  them 
now  entirely,  is  not  likely  to  succeed,  however  many 
scientists  put  their  shoulders  to  the  wheel. 

But  the  French  metrical  system,  in  its  acts  and 
ambitions,  is  precisely  such  an  attempt  in  these  days  to 
dethrone  the  primeval  system  of  weights  and  measures 
amongst  all  nations  ;  and  make  all  mankind  speak  in 
future  in  that  new  and  artificial  metrological  language, 
invented  only  eighty  years  ago  in  Paris.  And  if  there 
is  sound  reason  for  believing  in  the  Divine  appointment 
of  the  ancient  systems,  this  new  antagonist  to  them 
otight  to  have  been  ushered  in  under  some  very  con- 
trary influence. 


21 8  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

How,  then,  was  it  brought  to  the  light  of  day  ? 

By  the  wildest,  most  bloodthirsty,  and  most  atheistic 
revolution  of  a  whole  nation,  that  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  And,  attempt  to  conceal  it  as  they  may,  our 
present  meek-looking  but  most  designing  promoters  for 
introducing  the  French  system  amongst  us  (and  I  hear 
from  Birmingham  that  there  is  a  lady  also  among  them, 
loudly  petitioning  Government  for  its  compulsory 
establishment,  forsooth,  over  our  whole  nation) — those 
meek-looking  geniuses,  I  say,  cannot  wipe  out  from 
the  page  of  history,  that,  simultaneously  with  the 
elevation  of  the  metrical  system  in  Paris,  the  French 
nation  (as  represented  there),  did  for  themselves 
formally  abolish  Christianity,  burn  the  Bible,  declare 
God  to  be  a  non-existence,  a  mere  invention  of  the 
priests,  and  institute  a  worship  of  humanity,  or  of 
themselves,  under  the  title  of  the  Goddess  of  Reason  ; 
while  they  also  ceased  to  reckon  time  by  the  Christian 
era,  trod  on  the  Sabbath  and  its  week  of  seven  days, 
and  began  a  new  reckoning  of  time  for  human  history 
in  years  of  their  then  new  French  Republic,  and  in 
decades  of  days  so  as  to  conform  in  everything  to  their 
own  decimal  system,  rather  than  to  Revelation. 

Mere  human  telling  was  not  enough  to  remind  our 
British  metrical  agitators  of  those  fearful  things  :  so 
they  have  had  them  not  sounded  again  only,  but  re- 
peated too  in  fact,  within  the  last  three  years,  in  blood 
and  fire  and  blackest  of  smoke  throughout  the  same  city 
of  Paris, — when  the  Commune,  on  getting  for  a  time 
the  upper  hand,  immediately  re-established  the  Re- 
publican era  as  against  the  Christian,  and  declared  war 
against  every  traditional  observance  and  respect  of  man. 
While  since  then,  the  still  more  savage  and  merciless 
proceedings  of  the  Spanish  commune,  wherever  it  has 
had  an  opportunity  of  rising  in  their  cities,  shows  that 
the  heart  of  man,  unregenerated  in  Christ,  is  no  whit 


Chap.  XL]  THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  2 1 9 

better  in  the  present  day  than  at  any  epoch  throughout 
all  antiquity. 

Now,  perhaps, — and  without  pursuing  any  further 
this  historic  part  of  the  subject  of  weights  and  mea- 
sures, which,  though  as  old  as  Cain  and  Seth,  if  not 
Abel  also,  is  by  no  means  yet  played  out  on  the  stage 
of  time, — it  may  be  given  to  a  favoured,  predestined 
few,  to  begin  to  understand,  on  a  figure  once  used  by 
Dr.  Chalmers,  what  extensive  armaments  of  what  two 
dread  opposing  spiritual  powers  may  be,  without  our 
knowledge,  engaging  in  battle  around  our  little  isle, 
contending  there — on  this  subject,  too,  as  well  as  many 
others — for  mighty  issues  through  all  eternity.  So 
that  not  for  the  force  of  the  sparse  oratory  emitted  in 
defence  of  British  metrology  before  Parliament,  were  the 
bills  of  the  pro-French  metrical  agitators  so  often  over- 
throAvn,  but  for  the  sins  rather  of  that  high-vaulting 
system  itself ;  and  to  prevent  a  chosen  nation,  a  nation 
preser^^ed  through  history  thus  far  by  much  more  than 
the  wisdom  of  its  rulers, — to  prevent  that  nation  un- 
heedingly  robing  itself  in  the  accursed  thing  ;  and 
unknowingly  throwing  away  an  institution  which  it 
was  intended  to  keep  until  the  accomplishment  of  the 
mystery  of  God  touching  the  human  race. 

A  very  close  approach  to  the  dangerous  cliff  was 
made  only  a  dozen  years  ago,  when  the  Government's 
own  Standards  Commission,  not  content  with  the  yard 
in  place  of  the  inch  being  pronounced  a  new  British 
unit,  must  also  propose  to  drop  the  original  inch 
entirely;  inventing  new  names  for  multiples  of  1,000 
and  2,000  of  their  new  unit  yard,  to  take  the  place  of 
tlie  British  mile  ;  and  subdividing  it  again  as  a  con- 
crete quantity  into  a  totally  unheard-of  set  of  small 
lengths,  such  as  neither  we  nor  our  fathers  ever  knew, 
to  supersede  and  obliterate  what  have  hitherto   well 


2  20  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

served  all  the  smaller,  and  most  of  the  exact,  purposes 
of  Anglo-Saxon  life  and  existence. 

But  happily  the  Commissioners'  hands  were  stayed ; 
and  one  of  their  number — the  highest  approach  to  the 
ideal  of  a  philosopher  since  the  days  of  Newton  that 
this  country  has  produced,  the  late  Sir  John  Herschel 
(whose  remains  now  repose  in  Westminster  Abbey) — 
was  presently  gifted  to  see,  that  of  all  the  various  length 
measures  now  on  the  statute-book,  the  inch  (which  was 
then  in  such  imminent  danger)  is  by  far  the  most  really 
important,  because  the  true  and  original  unit  and  source 
of  all  the  others.  This  idea  too  seemed  continually  to 
grow  in  Sir  John  Herschel' s  mind.  For,  through  the 
inch,  he  perceived  that  all  the  British  weights  and 
measures  might  be  easily  made  (once  again  perhaps) 
most  scientifically  earth  commensurable  ;  and  without 
the  popular  value  of  any  of  the  chief  units  or  standards, 
or  even  their  names,  being  interfered  with. 

That  grand  principle,  too,  of  earth  commensurability, 
or  that  there  should  be  a  complete  and  harmonious 
scale  of  numerical  relations  connecting  the  small  units 
employed  by  man  in  his  petty  constructions  on  the 
earth,  with  the  grander  units  laid  out  by  the  Creator  in 
the  sky.  Sir  John  Herschel  stood  up  splendidly  for :  and 
argued  and  wrote  for  the  glorious  idea  really  belonging 
to  British  metrology,  in  various  parts  of  the  country  ;  but 
in  vain !  His  colleagues  on  the  Standards  Commission 
could  see  no  beauty  nor  desirability  in  that  which  he 
esteemed  so  highly  :  unless  it  was  those  of  them  who 
claimed  something  of  the  same  earth-commensurable 
principle,  though  in  a  less  perfect  form,  for  the  French 
metre  :  and  tliey  wished  to  abolish  the  entire  British 
system.  So  after  doing  all  that  he  could  to  convince, 
demonstrate,  persuade,  with  the  effect  only  of  finding 
that  the  majority  were  determined  to  sacrifice  every- 
thing to  France,  he  took  the  final  course  for  a  great 


Chat.  XI.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  221 

and  honest  man  to  take — he  gave  up  what  had  been 
an  honour  to  fifty  years  of  his  life,  his  place  at  the 
Standards  Commission,  his  prospects  of  power  or  in- 
fluence in  Government  appointments, — and  went  out 
from  amongst  them  all,  alone,  wounded  in  spirit  and 
lowered,  perhaps,  in  the  eyes  of  many ;  but  nobly 
nerved  to  carry  on  the  battle  single-handed,  in  the 
open  world  outside,  against  the  metrical  mania  of  the 
day  :  a  strange  disease,  which  Sir  John  Herschel 
(the  equal  to  whom,  not  Cambridge  herself  could  show 
at  the  greatest  of  all  competitive  examinations)  deemed 
not  only  anti-national,  but,  in  spite  of  all  that  is  so  fre- 
quently said  for  it,  not  of  the  highest  science  either. 

This  case,  I  fear,  is  the  one,  only,  bright  example 
which  British  science  has  shown  in  our  day,  of  a 
scientist  who  would  suffer  in  place,  in  power,  and  in 
worldly,  social  dignity,  for  opinion  ;  and  did  so  : — a  man, 
therefore,  in  whom  a  great  nation  might  trust  in  any  dire 
emergency  ;  and  who,  when  the  last  pro-French  metrical 
bill  was  about  to  be  urged  before  the  House,  came  to 
the  defence  of  his  country's  cause  with  the  following 
letter  to  the  Editor  of  the  Times  : — 


"  81K, 

•*  As  Mr.  Ewart's  Bill  for  the  compulsory  abolition  of  our  whole 
system  of  British  weights  and  measures,  and  the  introduction  in  its  place 
of  the  French  metrical  Hystem  comes  on  for  its  second  reading  on  the  13th 
proximo,  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  a  brief  statement  of  the  comparative 
de  facto  claims  of  our  British  units  and  of  the  French  on  abstract  scientific 
grounds  may,  by  its  insertion  in  your  pages,  tend  to  disabuse  the  minds 
of  such,  if  any,  of  our  legislators  who  may  lie  under  the  impression  (I  be- 
lieve a  very  common  one  among  all  classes)  that  our  system  is  devoid  of 
a  natural  or  rational  basis,  and  as  such  can  advance  no  d  priori  claim  to 
maintain  its  ground. 

"  De  facto,  then,  though  not  de  jure  {i.e.  by  no  legal  definition  existing 
in  the  words  of  an  art  of  parliament,  but  yet  practically  verified  in  our 
parliamentary  standards  of  length,  weight,  and  capacity  as  they  now 
exist),  our  British  units  refer  themselves  as  well  and  as  naturally  to  the 
length  of  the  earth's  polar  axis  as  do  the  French  actually  existing 
standards,  to  that  of  a  quadrant  of  the  meridian  passing  through  Paris, 
and  even  in  some  rcHpects  better,  while  the  former  basis  is  in  itself  a 
preferable  one. 

"  To  show  this  I  shall  assume  as  our  British  unit  of  length  the  imperial 


222 


OUR  INHERITANCE 


[Part  III. 


foot ;  of  weight  the  imperial  ounce ;  and  of  capacity  the  imperial  half- 
pint  ;  and  shall  proceed  to  state  how  they  stand  related  to  certain  proto- 
types, which  I  shall  call  the  geometrical  ounce,  foot,  and  half-pint ;  and 
shall  then  institute  a  similar  comparison  between  the  French  legally 
authenticated  metre,  gramme,  and  litre  in  common  use  with  their  (equally 
ideal,  because  nowhere  really  existing)  prototypes  supposed  to  be  derived 
from  the  Paris  meridian  quadrant,  distinguishing  the  former  as  the 
practical,  the  latter  as  the  theoretical,  French  units. 

*'  Conceive  the  length  of  the  earth's  axis  as  divided  into  jive  hundred 
million  equal  parts  or  geometrical  inches. 

"  Then  we  will  define: — 1.  A  geometrical  foot  as  twelve  such  geome- 
trical inches  ;  a  geopietrical  half-pint,  as  the  exact  hundredth  part  of  a 
geometrical  cubic  foot ;  and,  3,  a  geometrical  ounce  as  the  weight  of  one 
exact  thousandth  part  of  a  geometrical  cubic  foot  of  distilled  water,  the 
weighing  being  performed,  as  our  imperial  system  prescribes,  in  air  of  62** 
Fah.,  under  a  barometric  pressure  of  30  inches. 

"  In  like  manner  the  theoretical  kilogramme  and  litre  of  the  French  are 
decimally  referred  to  their  theoretical  metre  on  their  own  peculiar  con- 
ventions as  to  the  mode  of  weighing. 

"This  premised — (1)  the  imperial  foot  is  to  the  geometrical  in  the  exact 
proportion  of  999  to  1,000  (nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  to  a  thousand), 
a  relation  numerically  so  exact  that  it  maybe  fairly  considered  as  mathe- 
matical ;  and  2  and  3,  the  imperial  half-pint  and  ounce  are,  each  of  them, 
to  its  geometrical  prototype  as  2,600  to  2,601. 

"  Turn  we  now  to  the  practical  deviations  from  their  theoretical  ideals 
in  the  case  of  the  French  units.  Here,  again  (1),  the  practical  metre  is 
shorter  than  its  theoretical  ideal.  The  proportion  is  that  of  6,400  to 
6,401.  The  approximation  is,  indeed,  closer,  but  the  point  of  real  import- 
ance is  the  extreme  numerical  simplicity  of  the  relation  in  our  case,  more 
easily  borne  in  mind,  and  more  readily  calculated  on,  in  any  proposed 
case.  2  and  3.  Any  error  in  the  practical  value  of  the  metre  entails  a 
triple  amount  of  aliquot  error  on  the  practical  kilogramme  and  litre,  so 
that,  in  the  cases  of  these  units  the  proportion  between  their  practical  and 
theoretical  values  is  not  that  of  6,400  to  6,401,  but  of  2,133  to  2,134. 
Here,  then,  the  greater  degree  of  approximation  is  in  our  favour ;  and  it 
is  to  be  observed  that  in  our  case  this  triplication  of -error  does  not  hold 
good,  since,  by  a  happy  accident,  our  standard  pound  has  been  fixed  quite 
independently  of  our  standard  yard,  and  our  gallon  is  defined  as  10  lbs. 
of  water. 

*'  I  am,  Sir,  your  obedient  Servant, 

"  J.  F.  W.  Hekschel. 
"  CoLLiNGwooD,  April  dOth,  1869." 


This  is  very  clear  so  far:  but  its  able  author  did  not 
go  far  enough.  For  while  his  grand  fountain  and  source 
of  earth-commensurability  for  the  British  measures  was 
based,  even  by  him,  upon,  not  the  foot,  which  he  ulti- 
mately used,  but  the  inch,  being  an  evenly  earth 
commensurable  measure,  and  by  the  particular  number 
of  Jive  hundred  millions  of  them,  yet  he  afterwards 
drops  out  of  view  both  the  inch,  the  five  times  of  so 


Chap.  XI.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  223 

many  parts,  and  says  nothing  about  his  new  cubit 
standard,  which  he  was  at  that  very  time  proposing 
for  the  British  nation,  and  prescribing  that  it  should 
consist  of  5  X  5  of  those  inches,  in  place  of  their  present 
yard  of  thirty-six  inches.  Nor  does  the  eminent  astro- 
nomer attempt  to  show  that  either  the  earth-commen- 
surability  or  the  terrestrial  fiveness  of  the  inch  was  any- 
thing more  than  accidental.  At  all  events,  he  does  not 
explain  how  or  when,  or  through  what,  or  by  whom, 
that  unit  first  came  about ;  and  though  he  alludes  to 
English  history  as  far  back  as  any  printed  acts  of  par- 
liament may  extend,  he  shows  no  faith  capable  of 
tracing  the  fortunes  of  our  nation  up  to  those  dim 
periods  of  primeval  story  where  the  Bible  is  the  only 
book  worth  consulting. 

Perhaps  it  was  well,  though,  that  Sir  John  Herschel 
stopped  where  he  did  :  for  time  is  required  to  enable 
men  effectually  to  receive  the  whole  of  any  very  new 
idea ;  and  he  did  succeed  at  least  in  making  some  able 
men  pause  in  their  mad  career  of  abolishing,  as  having 
nothing  at  all  in  them,  the  traditional  British,  standards 
and  units  of  measure.  And  had  he,  the  most  brilliant 
representative  of  modern  exact  science,  gone  on  further 
still,  and  been  the  propounder  of  the  Great  Pyramid 
source  of  tne  wisdom  of  our  ancient  measures  :  that 
they  had  been  monumentalized  there  in  the  Siriad 
land  before  history  began,  but  yet  in  admirable  earth 
and  heaven  commensurability,  and  in  a  manner  never 
known  to  the  profane  Egyptians  ; — the  sceptical  modern 
world  would  hardly  have  consented  to  believe,  but  that 
the  excellences  of  such  a  system  were  Sir  John  Her- 
schel's  own  transcendent  inventions  ;  and  had  arisen 
much  more  through  his  brilliant  grasp  of  modern  acade- 
mical science,  than  by  his  simple  readings  in  that  stone 
book  of  Revelation  which  stands  on  the  Jeezeh 
open,  though  hitherto  illegible,  to  all  mankind. 


ade- 
one^ 

liilU 


2  24  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pabt  HI. 

But  for  Jolin  Taylor,  who  never  pretended  to  be  a 
scientific  man,  to  propound  the  grand  idea ; — and  for 
the  Scottish  Astronomer,  with  scarce  pay  enough  to 
exist  upon,  and  only  a  few  old  instruments,  though  in  a 
so-called  Royal  Observatory,  at  his  hand  both  for  pro- 
fessional work,  and  to  follow  up  the  Great  Pyramid  clue 
— was,  and  is,  quite  a  different  matter.  Such  plan  was, 
indeed,  hardly  less,  than  to  let  the  stones  of  the  Great 
Pyramid  themselves  cry  out  to  a  heedless  generation. 

But,  oh  !  how  effectively  they  cry  for  the  few  who  will, 
and  do,  give  heed  to  them  !  Only  see  how  satisfactorily, 
in  our  Part  I.,  the  Great  Pyramid's  first  and  simplest 
mechanical  features  have  helped  us  over  Sir  John 
Herschel's  enormous,  and  by  him  never  solved,  difficulty 
of  explaining  why  there  was  more  meaning  in  the  unit 
inch  going  jive,  rather  than  any  other  number  of  hun- 
dred million  times  into  the  length  of  the  earth's  axis 
of  rotation.  Let  the  reader  presently  judge,  too,  how 
similarly  gleaned  Pyramid  facts  will  enable  us  to  assign 
a  date,  a  place,  and  an  origin  to  the  whole  system, 
capable  of  demanding  the  respect  of  all  men,  scientific 
and  unscientific  alike  :  on  a  far  higher  footing,  moreover, 
than  anything  that  can  be  said  for  all  the  works  of  the 
philosophers  of  Greece,  the  poems  of  Homer,  or  the 
reputed  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians  themselves. 

Be  it,  however,  our  first  and  immediate  part  to 
enter  somewhat  into  practical  applications ;  or  to  set 
forth  in  the  four  ensuing  chapters  what  may  be  the  most 
probable  schemes  of  subdivision  and  arrangement  of  the 
Great  Pyramid's  grand  standards ;  to  indicate  their 
points  of  contact  with  the  British  and  Saxon  metrologies ; 
and  allude  to  both  their  aids  to  the  minds  as  well 
as  the  bodies,  and  their  promotiveness  to  the  fulness  of 
thought  as  well  as  the  material  comforts,  of  universal 
intellectual  man. 


Chap.  Xn.] 


THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


22s 


CHAPTER  XII. 

PYRAMID    CAPACITY  MEASURE. 

rriHE  grand  standard  of  capacity  in  the  Great  Pyramid, 
-■-  as  already  stated,  is  given  by  tlie  contents  of  the 
granite  coffer  at  the  further  end  of  its  final  and  so-called 
King's  Chamber  ;  and  this  vessel  measures,  as  too  it  was 
originally  intended  that  it  should,  71,250  cubic  Pyramid 
inches,  or  something  very  close  thereto. 

This  whole  quantity  subdivides  itself  easily,  after  the 
manner  of  the  Pyramid  arithmetic  and  Pyramid  con- 
struction, as  follows  : — The  two  most  important  steps 
being,  first,  the  division  into  4,  as  typifying  the  four 
sides  of  the  base ;  and  second,  the  division  into  2,500, 
or  50  X  50  parts  ;  fifty  being  the  special  number  of  the 
room,  and  the  number  also  of  the  masonry  courses  of 
the  whole  structure  on  which  that  chamber,  or  rather 
the  two  chambers  of  ten  million  cubic  inches  each,  of 
which  it  is  composed,  rest  in  their  places. 


Ptbamid  Capacity  Measure. 


DiyiBion,  or 
number  of  each 

Inter- 

Capacity of 
each  denomi- 

1 Eqoivalent 
1   Weight  in 

Name  now  proposed  to  be 

denomination 

mediate 

nation  in 

i     Pyramid 

given  to  each  successive 

contained  in 

Pyramid 

1    T>ound8  of 

portion. 

the  whole  coffer. 

cubic  inches. 

Water. 

1 

0 

71,260- 

2600- 

Coflfer. 

4 

4 

17.615- 

626- 

Quarter. 

10 

26 

7,125- 

260- 

Sack. 

25 

2  5 

2,860- 

100-    • 

Bushel. 

260 

10- 

285- 

10- 

Gallon. 

2,600 

10- 

'28-0 

1- 

Pint. 

26,000 

10- 

2-86 

01 

Wine-glass  or  fluid  ounce 

250,000 

10- 

0-286 

0-01 

Tea-spoon  or  fluid  drachu  > 

2.600,000 

10- 

0-0285 

0001 

Ten  drops. 

25,000,000 

10- 

000285 

00001 

Drop. 

226  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

We  begin,  therefore,  with  the  large  measured  and 
scientific  quantity  of  the  coffer ;  and  end  with  a  unit 
which,  in  an  ajpproxhnate  form,  as  a  drop,  {i.e.,  the 
cubical  space  occupied  by  a  drop  of  water  falling  freely 
in  air  at  a  given  Pyramid  temperature  and  pressure),  is 
in  every  one's  hands,  and  is  definable  accurately  upon 
the  coffer  by  the  stated  proportion. 

In  contrasting  this  arrangement  with  the  British 
imperial  system,  we  may  see  at  once  that  that  modern 
system  is  merely  a  measure  for  large  and  rude 
quantities,  knowing  of  nothing  smaller  than  the  pint 
(the  gill  being  merely  a  later  tolerated  addition  to  suit 
special  wants),  and  rendering  it  therefore  necessary 
for  the  apothecaries  and  druggists  to  manufacture 
a  sort  of  fluid  and  capacity  measure  for  themselves, 
which  they  do  by  starting  from  the  pint  and  ending 
in  the  drop  ;  or,  as  they  term  it,  with  needless  addition 
of  dog-latin,  a  "  minim." 

This  apothecaries'  fluid  measure  was  established  only 
in  1836  ;  and  we  may  assume,  with  Lord  Brougham's 
Penny  Cyclopcedia,  that  such  fluid  ounce,  when  it  is  an 
ounce,  is  an  ounce  avoirdupois  ;  although  it  is  stated 
elsewhere,  that  medical  men  are  never  to  use  anything 
but  troy  weight. 

This  incongruity  renders  the  break  between  imperial, 
i.e.,  the  present  British,  capacity,  and  apothecaries'  capa- 
city, measures  peculiarly  trying ;  followed  as  it  is  by  a 
break  of  connection  between  apothecaries'  capacity,  and 
apothecaries'  weight,  measures  also. 

In  the  Pyramid  arrangement,  however,  there  is  no 
halting  half-way  ;  but^  when  it  is  a  question  of  capacity, 
the  scheme  goes  right  through  from  the  biggest  bulks 
ever  dealt  with  in  commerce,  and  through  all  ^he 
measures  required  by  the  people  further  in  dealing  with 
coal,  corn,  wool,  potatoes,  beer,  wine,  peas,  meal,  oil, 
medicines,   photographicals,  and  chemicals,  up   to  the 


I 


Chap.  XH.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  227 

smallest  quantity  ever  judged  of  by  capacity  measures 
of  specified  name ;  for  when  once  we  have  arrived  by 
several  decimal  stages  at  ''  drops,"  no  one  would  ever 
think  of  subdividing  them  further,  if  they  could,  in  any 
other  manner  than  by  the  tens  of  pure  arithmetic  again 
and  again. 

Next,  for  the  testing  of  these  bulks  •by  weight,  the 
imperial  system  has  only  one  strikingly  even  equivalent, 
viz.,  the  gallon,  =10  lbs.  of  water  weight.  But  that  is 
accompanied  by  the  double  drawback,  1st,  that  10  lbs. 
in  weight  is  not  an  imperial  known  weight  ;  and  2nd, 
that  the  gallon  is  not  the  unit  of  the  imperial  system. 

The  unit  of  the  imperial  capacity  system  is  a  pint ; 
and  it  is,  moreover,  the  very  important  centre  of  con- 
nection between  that  system  for  large  ordinary  quantities, 
and  the  apothecaries'  system  for  scientific  and  medical 
small  quantities.  It  is,  therefore,  the  point  of  all  others 
in  the  scale  which  should  be  round  and  complete,  test- 
able also  at  a  moment's  notice  by  an  equally  round,  well- 
known,  and  frequently  employed  standard  of  weight. 

So  it  was  too  in  the  days  of  the  wisdom,  wherever 
that  was  derived  from,  of  our  Saxon  forefathers,  or  the 
times  of  instinctive  strength  of  our  hereditary  traditions  ; 
but  under  the  luxurious,  and  very  modem,  reign  of 
George  IV.  that  strange  tendency  to  take  measures  from 
the  poor,  and  enlarge  them  more  or  less  for  the  con- 
venience chiefly  of  the  rich,  was  rife  ;  so  the  pint,  from 
having  been  the  unit,  as  one  pound's  weight  of  water, 
was  expanded  into  the  odd  quantity  of  1  and  \  pounds 
of  the  same  ;  while  the  bigger  measure  of  a  gallon, 
with  which  the  poor  man  has  seldom  to  deal,  was 
ordained  to  be  the  standard  capable  of  being  tested  by  a 
round  sum  of  10  lbs.,  if  that  could  be  obtained  or  made 
up  from  other  weights. 

This  petty  mauaaivring  with  some  of  the  customary 
old  usages,  if  not  also  hereditary  rights,  of  the  poor,  was 


228  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

attempted,  in  tlie  case  of  the  new  imperial  pint,  to  be 
electro-plated  with  brilliant  proverbial  mail,  by  Lord 
Brougham's  and  the  great  "  Diffusion  of  Useful  Know- 
ledge Society's  "  giving  out  this  saying,  to  be  learned 
by  all  good  subjects  in  these  latter  days, — 

"A  pint  of  pure  water, 
^Weighs  a  pound  and  a  quarter." 

But,  treason  or  no,  I  venture  to  doubt  whether  every 
peasant  has  yet  got  that  distich  by  heart ;  and  whether 
he  does  not  rather  ruminate  in  his  family  circle  and 
about  the  old  hearthstone  over  the  far  more  ancient  and 
pithier  rhyme, — 

"A  pint's  a  pound, 
All  the  world  round;" 

An  expression,  too,  in  which  there  may  be  vastly  more 
than  immediately  meets  the  eye  ;  seeing,  as  in  our  above 
table,  that  the  Pyramid  system  appears  to  restore  the 
principle  embodied  in  those  two  little  lines ;  and  may 
have  communicated  it,  in  ages  long  gone  by,  to  many 
other  countries  also :  in  part,  who  knows,  to  prove 
them,  if  they  could  be  faithful,  and  for  how  long,  to 
their  ancient  covenant. 

Almost  every  one  of  the  Pyramid  capacity  measures, 
however,  over  and  above  its  pint,  admits  of  being  tested 
by  a  round  number  of  "water-pounds;"  and  that  number 
is  always  such  a  one  as  we  shall  presently  see  equally 
exists  in  the  Pyramid  system  of  weight  measure. 

We  have,  therefore,  only  to  conclude  this  division  of 
the  subject  by  submitting  a  table  of  comparison  of  each 
concluded  Pyramid  capacity  vessel,  with  each  similarly 
named  current  capacity  vessel  in  Great  Britain,  through 
means  of  the  common  medium  of  English  cubic  inches. 
Whence  it  will  be  seen  that,  excepting  the  "  coffer," 
(though  even  that  is  hardly  altogether  unknown  to  our 
nation,    "  chaldron "    having  been  under  Anglo-Saxon 


Chap.  XH.] 


THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


229 


rule  an  expression  for,  and  a  description  of,*  it),  there 
is  no  need  to  invent  any  new  names ;  for,  under  the 
existing  names,  as  of  pints,  gallons,  &c.,  &c.,  the  abso- 
lute capacities  have  often  varied  much  more  than  here 
indicated,t  and  without  a  tithe  of  the  reason  for  it. 

Pyramid  and  British  Capacity  Measures, 

Compared  through  the  temporary  medium  of  English  cubic  inches, 

approximately. 


Coflfer,  Pyramid       .   = 

71,463-750 

Four  Quarters,  Brit. 

= 

70,982^144 

Quarter       „            .  — 

17,865-938 

Quarter 

„    . 

■=. 

17,745^536 

Sack 

7,146-375 

Sack 

»   • 

— 

6,654-576 

Bushel         ,,            .  = 

2,858-550 

Bushel 

= 

2,218^192 

Gallon         „            .  = 

285-855 

Gallon 

— 

277-274 

Pint             „             .   = 

28-585 

Pint 

5>      • 

— 

34-659 

Ounce  or  Wine-glass  = 

2-858 

Ounce,  fluid. 

Apoth. 

— 

vm 

Dram  or  Tea-spoon    = 

•286 

Dram,  fluid, 

Apoth. 

■zz. 

0^217 

Drop,  Pyramid        .  — 

•003 

Drop,  Apoth 

= 

0004 

International  Appendix  to  Great  Pyramid  Capacity  Measure. 

If  analogues  of  the  Great  Pyramid  measures  are  thus  found  in  the 
oldest  metrology  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  presently  known,  some  traces  of 
them  can  hardly  but  be  discoverable  also  in  the  hereditary  metrologies  of 
other  countries  besides  our  own  Great  Britain. 

Without,  then,  attaching  any  particular  importance  to  the  results,  I 
append  here  some  of  the  most  striking  approaches  to  coincidence,  chiefly 
gathered  from  Kelly's  Universal  Cambist,  published  in  1821.  Dr.  Kelly 
having  been  an  author  of  the  most  respectable  class  in  commercial 
and  educational  science ;  and  one  who,  though  the  French  metrical 
system  had  already  appeared  on  the  horizon  in  his  time,  yet  lived  in  the 
full  force  of  the  older  hereditary  metrological  systems ;  systems  perverted 
often  exceedingly  into  provincial  variations,  but  not  then  begun  to  be 
stamped  out  of  existence  wholesale,  for  the  benefit  of  the  metre  of  Paris. 

"  Quarter  "  Capacity  Corn  Measures. 


Coimtry  or  City. 

Name  of  measure. 

Contents  in  English 
cubic  inches. 

Ancona 
Malta     . 

Great  Pyramid 

Rome     . 
Sicily    . 

Rubbio 
Salma 

Quarter  of  Coffer 

Rubbio 
Salma  generale 

17,469- 
17,678- 

17,866- 

17,970- 

16,866- 

♦  See  Mr.  Taylor's  "  Great  Pyramid,"  p.  144. 

t  In  or  about  1800  it  was  reported  that  in  Westmoreland  the  following 
diverse  measures  were  used  : — Ist,  a  Winchester  bushel ;  2nd,  a  customary 
bushel,  equal  to  three  Winchester  bushels ;  3rd,  a  potato  bushel,  equal  to 
two  Winchester  bushels ;  and,  4th,  a  barley  bushel,  equal  to  two  and  a 
half  Winchester  busheU. 


230 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  III. 


Sack  "  Capacity  Corn  Measures. 


Country  or  City. 

Name  of  Measure. 

Contents  in  English 
cubic  inches. 

Amsterdam    . 

Mudde      . 

6,788- 

Basil      . 

Sack 

7,870- 

Bolsano 

Scheffel     . 

6,6o7- 

Deventer 

Mudde       . 

7,049- 

Dordrecht 

Great  Sack 

7,638- 

Dresden 

Scheffel     . 

6,455- 

Frankfort 

Malter 

6,590- 

Genoa    . 

Mina 

7,367- 

Hague  . 

Sack 

6,546- 

Hamburg 

Scheffel     . 

6,426- 

Hanau 

Malter       . 

6,868- 

Pemau 

Tonne 

7,729- 

Prague 

Strick 

6,516- 

Great  Pyramid 

Sack      . 

7,146- 

Keval    . 

Tonne 

7,219- 

Turin    . 

Saeco 

7,015- 

ZwoU    . 

Mudde 

* 

6,851- 

*' BusheV  Capacity  Corn  Measures. 


Country  or  City. 

Name  of  Measure. 

Contents  in  English 
cubic  inches. 

Berlin    .        .        . 

Scheffel     . 

3,180- 

Calabria 

Tomolo     . 

?,119- 

Greek  (ancient) 

Medimnus 

2,712- 

Hildesheim    . 

Scheffel     . 

3,164- 

Konigsburg    . 

Scheffel    . 

3,152- 

Magdeburg     . 

Scheffel     . 

3,151- 

Maranham      . 

Alquiero   . 

2,772- 

Mecklenburg 

Scheffel     . 

2,591- 

Nancy    . 

Carte 

2,925- 

Naples   . 

Tomolo      . 

3,122- 

Nimeguen 

Scheffel    . 

2,546- 

Parma    . 

Stajo 

3,135- 

Poland  . 

Korzec 

3,120- 

Great  Pyramid 

"Bushel" 

2,858- 

St.  Maloes     . 

Boisseau    . 

2,697- 

Sardinia 

Starello     . 

2,988- 

Smyrna 

Killau        . 

3,132- 

Wismar 

Scheffel     . 

2,547- 

d 


Chap.  XIII.]         THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  2  3 1 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

PYKAMID   WEIGHT   MEASURE. 

rpHE  weight  measure  of  the  Great  Pyramid  we  have 
-L  to  obtain  from  its  King's  Chamber  coffer  also  ;  but, 
as  before  intimated,  by  the  introduction  of  an  addi- 
tional and  more  difficult  idea  than  mere  cubic  space  ; 
and  this  idea  is,  the  m^ean  density  of  the  whole  earth. 

Were  masses  of  such  matter  directly  procurable,  the 
best  representation  of  the  Pyramid  weight  standard 
might  have  been  a  rectangular  block  of  that  substance, 
57  times  smaller  than  the  coffer's  internal  capacity,  set 
up  beside  it  in  the  equal  temperature  and  rarely  much 
disturbed  atmospherical  pressure  of  the  same  chamber. 

But  as  we  are  not  able,  in  spite  of  all  the  wonderful 
resources  of  modem  science,  to  delve  anything  like 
deep  enough  to  obtain  a  specimen  of  this  grand  unit 
material  which  forms  the  foundation  of  our  globe,  we 
must  take  the  coffer's  contents  in  water  as  a  stepping- 
stone,  but  only  as  that,  to  reach  our  desired  result. 

Thus  the  coffer's  contents  of  pure  water  are  71,250 
cubic  Pyramid  inches,  which  at  the  temperature  of  68° 
Fahr.  would  weigh  18,030,100  of  our  avoirdupois  grains  ; 
according  to  the  estimate  of  the  British  Government 
that  one  cubic  British  inch  of  distilled  water  at  tempera- 
ture 62"  Fahr.  and  barometer  30-00  inches,  weighs 
25 2  458  grains  ;  the  necessary  reduction  being  per- 
formed for  the  different  size  of  the  inch  and  the  altered 


A 


232 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  III. 


temperature.  Therefore  a  mass  of  the  earth's  mean 
density  material  of  the  size  of  12,500  *  Pyramid  cubic 
inches,  at  the  standard  Pyramid  temperature  and 
pressure,  weighs  in  the  lump  18,030,100  British  avoir- 
dupois grains. 

But  what  are  its  subdivisions  on  the  Pyramid  system  ? 
Here  we  can  follow  no  better  plan  than  that  adopted  in 
the  capacity  ,branch  of  metrology  ;  and  then  we  are 
rewarded  by  finding,  when  we  come  to  the  most  charac- 
teristic division  of  all,  viz.,  that  of  50x50,  which 
should  give  us  a  popular  unit  to  compare  with  the 
pint  in  capacity — we  find,  I  say,  that  it  does  give  us 
something  which  is  excessively  close  to  the  old  Saxon 
pound  ;  but  with  this  further  advantage,  of  world-wide 
application  in  the  Pyramid  system,  and  presently  to  be 
illustrated  in  computing  weight  from  measured  size,  viz., 
that  each  such  Pyramid  pound  is  equal  to  the  weight  of 
five  cubic  Pyramid  inches  of  the  earth's  mean  density. 

Hence  our  first  Pyramid  weight  table  runs  thus  : — 


Pyramid  Weight  Measure. 


Capacity  of 

Capacity  of 

part  in 

Pyramid 

cubic  inche's 

ofdistiUed 

water 

(T  50°  B  30-) 

of  Pyramid. 

Division,  or 
number  of  each 

Weight  of 

the  parts  in 

Name  now 

Inter- 

the part  so 

Pyramid 

proposed  to 

part  contained 

mediate 

divided  in 

cubic  inches 

be  given 
to  each  kind 

in  the  weight 

divisions. 

Pyramid 

of  earth's 

Btandard. 

lbs. 

mean 
density. 

of  part. 

1 

2500- 

12500- 

71250- 

Ton. 

4 

4- 

625- 

3125- 

17815- 

Quarter. 

10 

2-5 

250- 

1250- 

7125- 

Wey. 

25 

2-5 

100- 

500- 

2850- 

Cwt. 

250 

10- 

10- 

60- 

285- 

Stone. 

2,500 

10- 

1- 

5- 

28-5 

Pound. 

25,000 

10- 

0-1 

0-5 

2-85 

Ounce. 

250,000 

10- 

0-01 

0-05 

0-285 

Dram. 

2,500,000 

10- 

0-001 

0-005 

00285 

Ten- grain. 

25,000,000 

10- 

0-0001 

0-0005 

0-00285 

Grain. 

Derived  from  71,250  divided  by  6*7. 


Chap.  XIIL]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  233 

Having  already  stated  that  the  Pyramid  grand  weight 
standard  weighs  in  British  terms,  viz.,  avoirdupois 
measure,  18,030,100  British  grains;  we  are  met,  as 
soon  as  we  begin  to  compare  Pyramid  and  British 
weights  together  in  point  of  fact,  with  an  accusation, — 
that  the  Pyramid  grains  must  be  very 'small,  if  there 
are  25,000,000  of  them,  to  18,000,000  nearly  of  the 
British. 

But  herein  comes  to  light  one  of  those  needlfess 
pieces  of  meddling  legislation  by  our  most  modern,  or 
Georgian  era,  political  rulers,  which  so  provoked  John 
Quincy  Adams  and  other  American  writers  on  Saxon 
metrology  ;  for  whereas  the  old  law  of  the  land  was, 
that  the  troy  pouud  should  be  divided  into  7,680 
grains  (and  which  were  very  nearly  the  weight  of  full 
and  fair  grains  of  well-grown  wheat),  a  later  law  said 
that  it  should  be  divided  into  only  5,760  parts  or 
grains  so  called,  but  of  no  known  variety  of  plant  em- 
ployed for  breadstuff.  Wherefore  Cocker,  Wingate,  and 
other  arithmeticians  of  that  day  used  to  enter  in  their 
useful  compendiums  during  the  transition  period,  that 
32  real  grains  or  24  artificial  grains  made  the  penny- 
weight troy ;  and  when  that  ingenious  story  was 
pretty  well  indoctrinated  into  their  obedient  scholars, 
the  notice  of  the  old  grains  was  dropped  out  altogether, 
and  the  new  ones  remained  masters  of  the  situation, 
with  the  word  "artificial"  removed,  and  as  though 
there  had  never  been  any  other. 

Referred  then  now,  over  the  heads  of  these,  to  the 
genuine  old  grains  of  Saxon  metrology  (so  far  as  we  can 
trace  them  back  by  the  usual  literary  and  historical 
steps,  and  which  is,  after  all,  not  so  much  as  a  thousand 
years),  the  number  of  25,000,000  of  the  Pyramid  grains 
would  have  been  measured  then  by  24,040,100  of  the 
Saxon  grains  of  that  earlier,  though  not  Pyramid 
epoch,  day  ;  but  a   sufficiently  close   approach   to   the 


234  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

25,000,000,  to  satisfy  any  poor  man  seeking  the  value 
of  a  few  grains  only. 

But  the  British  legal  weight  measure  of  modern 
and  historical  times  has,  over  and  above  this  item, 
always  been,  even  within  itself  and  at  home,  in  a 
dire  antagonism  between  two  grand  and  rival  systems  ; 
viz.,  troy  and  avoirdupois,  not  to  say  anything  of 
apothecaries'  weight,  which  is  little  but  the  troy, 
under  a  different  mode  of  subdivision.  General  public 
favour  seems  at  last  to  have  settled  upon  avoir- 
dupois, as  most  worthy  to  be  the  national  weight  in 
future  for  things  in  general,  and  especially  things 
on  a  large  scale  ;  but  as  it  does  not  go  lower  than 
drachms,  why  then,  even  though  troy  weight  should  be 
extinguished  to-morrow,  apothecary's  weight  will  have 
still  to  be  kept  up  for  dealing  with  smaller  quantities 
than  drachms  and  the  more  valuable  class  of  substances. 
There  is,  indeed,  a  legal  definition  of  the  number  of 
the  large  modern  "  artificial  grains  "  which  constitute  a 
pound  avoirdupois,  viz.,  7,000  ;  but  as  the  further 
avoirdupois  subdivisions  are  into  16  ounces,  and  these 
into  1 6  drachms,  we  are  left  there  with  one  such  drachm 
equal  to  the  crushingly  awkward  quantity  to  deal  with 
in  accounts  of  27*34375  grains ;  and  drachms  are  just 
the  point  where  science  begins  to  be  particular. 

Therefore  it  is  that  druggists,  obliged  already  to  buy 
wholesale  by  avoirdupois,  have  then  to  dispense  retail 
by  troy  or  apothecary's  weight ;  for  these  last  are  the 
only  British  weights  which  enable  them  to  deal  easily 
with  grains ;  and  yet  these  are  not  real  grains,  neither 
for  the  people,  nor  in  history,  nor  in  science. 

The  Pyramid  weights,  therefore,  which  are  on  one 
system  only,  and  go  through  the  whole  scale  from  tons 
to  grains  without  any  break,  seem  to  offer  already  at 
this  point,  an  honourable  mode  of  escape  to  the  British 
nation  out  of  the  confusion  they  have  suffered  for  ages. 


Chap,  xm.]         THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID. 


235 


No  new  names  are  required,  many  close  approaches  to 
the  grander  standards  and  units  will  be  remarked,  and 
the  proportions  of  matter  under  each  denomination,  as 
used  in  the  Pyramid  and  in  British  nomenclature,  are 
approximately  as  follows  : 

Pyramid  and  British  Weight  Measures, 
Compared  through  the  temporary  medium  of  English  "  artificial "  grains. 


1  grain  Pyramid 

1  drachm  Pyramid 
1  OTince  Pyramid 

1  pound  PjTamid 


1  stone  Pyramid 

1  cwt.  Pyramid 
1  wey  Pyramid 

1  ton  Pyramid 


( 1  grain 
0.7212  \     Saxon 


real,"  or  old 


72-12 
721-20 


=  7,212- 


72,120- 

721,200* 
1,803,010- 

18,030,100- 


\  1  grain  new  English 

»  1  drachm  avoird. 

\  1  drachm  apoth. 

i  1  oz.  avoird. 

{  1  oz,  troy  or  apoth. 

f  1  pound  avoird.  1 

■  1  pound,  an  ancient 

weight  preserved  at  I 

the  Exchequer,  but  >= 
I    of  unknown  origin 
I  1  pound  old  English 
I,  and  Scotch 
(  1  stone  meat 
I  1  stone  wool 

1  cwt.  avoird. 

1  wey  English 


( 1  ton  avoird. 
( 1  ton  shipping 


0-75000 
1-00000 
27-34375 
60-00000 
437-5 
480-0 
,000- 


7,1 


56, 


=  784. 

=  1,274; 

=  15,680, 

=  18,816, 


,600* 
,000- 
,000- 
,000- 
,000- 
000- 
,000- 


Sjpecijic  Gravity. 

In  no  part  of  metrology  more  than  in  weight,  is 
there  found  so  much  of  the  wheel  within  wheel  of 
natural  difficulty,  tending,  unless  well  watched  and 
studied,  to  introduce  perverse  variations  whenever  uni- 
formity is  attempted  ;  and  there  are  still  existing  some 
supporters  of  the  arguments  for  keeping  up  both  the 
troy  and  avoirdupois  weight  systems  amongst  us.  For 
the  same  reasons,  too,  that  those  gentlemen  believe  the 
complication  was  first  introduced. 

And  what  reasons  were  they  ? 

When  society  was  in  a  very  primitive,  or  much  more 
probably,  a  mediaeval  degraded,  condition,  and  little  but 
grain  was  sold,  a  test  for  the  amount  of  grain  in  any  par- 
ticular vessel  was,  the  quantity  of  water  it  would  hold. 
But  water  and  grain  are  of  different  specific  gravities ; 
therefore,  if  equal  bulks  were  taken,  the  purchaser  got  a 


236  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  III. 

very  different  quantity  of  what  he  valued  most,  than  if 
equal  weights  were  observed ;  and  as  some  parties  were 
more  particular  about  bulks  than  weights,  and  vice-versa, 
two  sets  of  weights  were  prepared,  with  such  an  amount 
of  difference  between  them,  that  a  pound  of  grain  in  one, 
occupied  the  same  space  as  a  pound  of  water  in  the 
other. 

But  in  the  present  day,  when  all  sorts  of  matters 
besides  bare  grain  are  sold,  and  almost  every  one  of  the 
thousand  and  more  substances  dealt  in  has  a  different 
specific  gravity,  we  cannot  hope  to  have  as  many  dif- 
ferent systems  of  weight  as  there  are  of  such  sub- 
stances ;  nor,  maintaining  only  one  system  of  capacity 
measure,  to  keep  up  on  all  possible  occasions  that 
appearance  of  identity  between  weight  and  bulk.  Hence, 
for  the  modern  man,  the  only  resource  seems  to  be,  to 
have  one  capacity,  and  one  weight,  measure  pure  and 
simple ;  but  to  produce  the  identity  required  of  old  for 
different  substances,  by  calculation.  Assisting  that 
calculation,  too,  by  some  convenient  table  of  specific 
gravities,  wherein  the  point  of  coincidence  between  the 
two  descriptions  of  measure,  or  the  point  where  there 
is  no  calculation  at  all  from  bulks  to  find  weights,  shall 
be  in  favour  of  the  substance  most  frequently  required 
to  be  dealt  with  ;  or  for  those  which  offer  the  best 
average  example  of  all  the  substances  which  have  in 
their  turn  to  be  either  weighed  or  measured  by  man. 

In  the  French  metric  system  this  point  of  coincidence 
is  occupied  by  water ;  and  it  is  intended  that  the  cubic 
amount  of  water  being  measured,  that  statement  shall 
in  itself,  with  the  mere  alteration  of  names,  and  perhaps 
of  the  decimal  point,  express  its  weight.  Hence,  at 
a  recent  metrological  discussion  at  the  Philosophical 
Society  of  Glasgow,  a  pro-French  metrical  speaker  lauded 
this  quality  of  his  favourite  anti-national  system ;  and 
enlarged  upon  how  convenient  it  must  be  for  a  mer- 


Chap.XIIL]         the  great  pyramid.  zyi 

chant  receiving  goods  in  the  docks,  out  of  many  vessels 
from  many  countries,  to  go  about  among  the  packages 
with  a  mere  French  metre  measuring-rod  in  his  hand  ; 
and  by  that  obtaining  their  cubic  bulks,  thence  to 
know  simultaneously  their  weights  also. 

"  Yes,"  remarked  another  speaker,  "■  that  would  be 
simple  enough  if  British  merchants  imported,  and  ex- 
ported, and  dealt  in,  nothing  but  water!' 

Now  the  pro-French  metrical  man  on  this  occasion 
was  a  large  dealer  in  iron ;  and  had  made  much  fame 
for  himself,  and  some  money  too,  by  improved  methods 
of  working  the  weighty  iron  plates  required  for  modern 
armour-clad  war  vessels.  So  he  was  completely  over- 
thrown by  the  above  answer  ;  but  tried  to  recover  himself 
and  his  theory  with  the  professional  remark,  "Well,  but 
you  must  allow  that  the  French  metrical  system  is  an 
excellent  one  for  ship-builders  computing  their  displace- 
ments by." 

"  Yes,"  again  answered  his  merciless  opponent,  "  if 
ship-builders  are  never  required  to  deal  with  salt  water  ; 
only  distilled  water ;  and  can  keep  that  always  at  the 
uncomfortably  cold  temperature  of  water  s  maximum 
density,  and  can  also,  work  in  a  vacuum  as  to  atmo- 
spheric air;"  for  all  these  are  the  truly  anti-practical 
plans  for  any  correct  weighing  to  be  performed  on  the 
boasted  French  metrical  system. 

Other  speakers  then  came  to  the  defence  of  the  pro- 
French  metrical  iron  ship-builder,  and  urged  that  a  table 
of  specific  gravities  might  be  employed  when  anything 
else  than  pure  distilled  water  at  a  temperature  of  39° 
Fahr.  was  being  measured  or  weighed  ;  and  that  when 
rough  commercial  results  only  were  required,  both 
temperature  and  atmospheric  pressure  might  povhahly 
be  neglected. 

Let  us  look  each  of  these  sides  of  the  argument 
straight  in  the  face ;  for  they  serve  well  to  contrast 


238  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

essential  and  inlierent  qualities  in  the  French  metrical, 
as  against  the  Pyramid,  system  of  weighing. 

The  former,  having  its  specific-gravity  equality-point 
at  water,  while  almost  all  the  substances  dealt  with  by 
art  and  science  (especially  the  more  useful  and  valuable 
ones  in  modern  life,  such  as  the  metals,  minerals,  &c.), 
are  heavier,  far  heavier,  than  water, — the  weights  first 
given  out  by  the  French  metre  rod  are  always  largely  in 
error. 

The  latter  or  Pyramid  system,  on  the  contrary, 
having  its  equality-point  at  the  earth's  mean  density, 
or  between  stones  and  metals,  is  much  nearer  the  truth 
at  once  and  without  any  specific  gravity  correction,  for 
things  in  general,  and  for  precious  ones  in  particular. 

Again,  the  French  system  which  makes  the  tempera- 
ture reference  close  to  freezing,  or  where  men  can  barely 
exist  (and  certainly  cannot  work  to  advantage),  and  the 
atmospheric  pressure  reference,  a  vacuum  where  they 
cannot  exist  at  all, — must  require  much  larger  correc- 
tions on  the  rough  measures  actually  taken  in  the  cir- 
cumstances of  daily  life, — than  the  analogous  Pyramid 
references  ;  which  are  those  of  the  average  temperature 
and  average  pressure  under  which  all  men  upon  this 
earth,  do  live,  move,  and  work. 

Under  the  French  system,  indeed,  a  shopkeeper 
ought  to  take  account  in  summer  of  the  large  amount 
of  natural  expansion  of  his  goods  above  the  ideal 
temperature  of  water  s  maximum  density,  the  wintry 
39°  Fahr.  ;  and  in  winter  he  ought  to  correct  for  the 
artificial  temperature  which  he  keeps  up  by  stoves  or 
otherwise.  While  in  both  summer  and  winter  he  ought 
to  make  allowance  for  the  buoyant  power  of  air  of  the 
density,  more  or  less,  of  30  inches  pressure  of  mercury, 
on  the  comparative  specific  gravities  of  the  material  of 
his  weights,  and  the  material  of  the  things  weighed  ; 
they  being   true  according  to  his  system  only  in  an 


Chap.  XIIL]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  239 

absolute  vacuum,  and  that,  too,  in  close  proximity  to 
an  ice-house. 

But  under  the  Pyramid  system,  and  under  the 
British  also,  the  ordinary  weighings  in  the  shop  under 
the  temperatures  and  pressures  there  usually  ex- 
perienced, either  in  winter  or  summer,  will  be  never 
more  than  microscopically  different  from  weighings  per- 
formed under  the  exact  and  scientific  temperature  and 
pressure  references  of  these  systems  ;  viz.,  the  mean, 
very  nearly,  of  what  are  experienced  both  in  the  shops 
and  the  general  habitations  of  men,  all  the  wide  world 
over.     But  of  this  more  and  further y  in  Chap.  XY. 

Weights,  then,  on  the  Pyramid  system  are  equally 
referable,  as  with  the  French  system,  to  one  given  point 
on  both  the  temperature  and  pressure  scales,  w^hen 
nicety  is  required.  But  that  given  point  in  the  Pyra- 
mid case  is  an  easier,  pleasanter,  and  a  better  known 
one  ;  while  for  the  rough  work  of  the  world,  the 
Pyramid  weights  are  calculable  at  once  from  Pyramid 
linear  measure,  without  any  reference  to  observations 
of  thermometer  and  barometer  at  the  instant,  much 
more  accurately  than  the  French  from  theirs,  under 
similar  circumstances.  The  Pyramid  rules,  too,  being 
expressible  in  the  following  simple  manner  : — 

For  small  things,  ascertain  their  bulk  in  cubic  inches, 
divide  by  5,  and  the  result  is  the  weight  in  Pyramid 
pounds — if  the  said  articles  are  of  the  same  specific 
gravity  as  the  earth's  average  material. 

For  large  masses,  ascertain  their  bulk  in  cubic 
Pyramid  cubits,  add  \,  and  the  result  is  the  weight  in 
Pyramid  tons^ — under  the  same  condition  of  specific 
gravity.* 


*  Conversely,  the  Pyramid  weight  of  a  hody  of  earth's  moan  density 
being  given,  to  find  its  Pyramid  cubical  measure— multiply  the  pounds 
weight  by  5,  and  it  will  give  the  number  of  cubical  inchea :  and  decrease 
the  tons  weight  by  |,  to  find  the  number  of  cubic  cubits. 


240 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  III. 


But  if  the  matter  measured  in  either  case  were  not 
of  earth's  mean  density,  but,  say,  ordinary  stone,  the 
real  weight  would  be  nearer  a  half,  and  if  of  the 
more  common  metals,  double,  the  amount  given  by 
the  above  process ;  the  raw  number  first  procured  by 
it,  requiring  in  the  case  of  every  different  physical  sub- 
stance, to  be  multiplied  by  its  specific  gravity  in  terms 
of  that  of  the  earth's.  Hence,  such  tabular  multiplier  is 
1  when  the  specific  gravity  is  the  same  as  that  of  the 
earth ;  a  fraction  of  1  when  lighter ;  and  1  with  some- 
thing added  to  it,  when  heavier ;  as  in  the  following 
table,  prepared  from  various  authorities  : — 


Specific  Gravities. 

Earth's  mean  density  =  1 ;  Temperature  =  68"  Fabr. ; 
Barometric  Pressure  :^  30^025  British  inches. 


Cork          .... 

•043 

Porcelain  (chin. 

i)       .         .         ^420 

White  Pine  (American)     . 

•072 

Glass,  crown 

•439 

Oats  (loose  as  in  bushel)   . 

088 

"  Common  ston 

b"     .         .         ^442 

Larch  (Scotland) 

093 

Desert  sand,  ne 

ar  the  Sphinx     ^454 

Lithium    .... 

•100 

Aluminium 

•460 

Riga  Fir   .... 

•105 

Red  granite  (Pe 

terhead)    .         ^464 

Barley  (loose  as  in  bushel) 

112 

Marble  (Carrar? 

i)       .        .        ^477 

Ether,  sulphuric 

129 

Red  granite,  Gt 

.  PyramJd         -479 

Wheat  (loose  as  in  bushel) 

132 

Emerald    . 

•487 

Alcohol,  pure    .         .         . 

139 

Jasper 

•494 

Pumice-stone    . 

160 

Basalt       . 

-       .        .         ^500 

Ice 

163 

Glass,  flint 

•527 

Butter,  tallow,  fat     . 

165 

Sapphire   . 

•550 

Bees'  wax 

169 

Diamond  . 

•618 

Old  Oak    .... 

170 

Topaz 

•621 

Distilled  water 

175 

Ironstone 

•670 

Sea  water 

180 

Sapphire  . 

•701 

Blood        .... 

180 

Garnet 

•720 

Heart  of  oak     . 

206 

Ruby 

•750 

Cannelcoal 

223 

Loadstone 

•843 

Aloes         .... 

239 

Silver  ore 

•997 

Chloroform 

267 

Arsenic,  molten 

.       1-010 

White  sugar     . 

282 

Chromium 

.       1-04 

Bone  of  an  ox   . 

291 

Tungsten  . 

.       1-07 

Magnesium 

310 

Tellurium 

.       MO 

Ivory        .... 
Brick        .... 

321 

Litharge   . 

.       MO 

351 

Uranium  . 

.       113 

Casing  stone,  Gt.  Pyramid 

367 

Antimony 

.       117 

Sulphuric  acid,  concentrated 

373 

Lead  ore,  black 

.       1^20 

Nummulitic  limestone,  G.  P. 

412 

Zinc,  in  its  comi 

non  state  .       1-21 

Chap.  XIII.]           THE 

GREA 

T  PYRAMID. 

241 

Tin  ore,  black  . 

1-22 

Mercury,  brown  cinnabar 

1-79 

Wolfram  . 

1-25 

Silver,  virgin    . 

1-84 

Zinc,  compressed 

1-26 

Silver,  hammered 

1-85 

Tin,  pure,  Cornisli    . 

1-28 

Mercury,  precipitated,  j»er  se 

1-91 

Iron,  cast  at  Carron  . 

1-28 

Lead,  molten    . 

2-00 

Iron  ore,  prismatic    . 

1-29 

Palladium 

2-07 

Lead  ore,  cubic 

1-33 

Thallium 

210 

Iron,  forged  into  bars 

1-36 

Mercury,  fluent 

2-38 

Copper,  native  . 

1-37 

Mercury,  congealed  . 

2-75 

Manganese 

1-40 

Gold,  not  hammered 

2-76 

Steel,  hardened 

1-37 

Gold,  hammered 

2-77 

Brass,  cast,  common 

1-37 

Gold,    English    standard. 

Brass,  cast 

1-47 

22  carats 

3-31 

Mercury,  precipitated,  rec 

1-47 

Gold,    English    standard. 

Cobalt       . 

1-48 

24  carats 

3-38 

Cadmium  . 

1-50 

Gold,    English    standard. 

Brass  wire,  drawn     . 

1.50 

hammered      . 

3-40 

Nickel       .         .         .         . 

1-54 

Platinum,  purified     . 

3-42 

Copper  wire,  drawn  . 

1-56 

Platinum,  hammered 

3-57 

Bismuth,  native 

1-58 

Platinum  wire,  drawn 

3-69 

Bismuth,  molten 

1-72 

Platinum,  compressed 

3-87 

Silver,  native    . 

1-76 

Iridium,  compressed 

3-90 

No  efficient  system,  then,  of  determining  weights  hy 
linear  measure,  in  the  present  day  can  possibly  go  unac- 
companied by  its  table  of  specific  gravities.  And  some 
few  of  those  items  at  least  might  worthily  be  extracted  for 
natural  theology  texts  by  every  schoolmaster  appointed 
to  teach  weights  and  measures, — for  what  a  boundless 
vista  does  not  specific  gravity  open  up  into  the  realm  of 
nature.  And  what  thankfulness  should  it  not  'excite  in 
the  mind  of  man  towards  the  Creator,  for  his  free  gift  of 
all  these  endless  varieties  of  elementary  matter,  where- 
with He  has  of  old  stocked  the  earthly  abode  of  man  ; 
and  thereby  made  a  higher  existence  possible  to  him, 
than  to  denizens  of  water  alone. 


The  specific  gravity  standard  of  the  Pyramid  weight 
measure  being  the  mean  density  of  all  the  solid,  as  well 
as  fluid,  treasures  of  the  earth, — means  thus  a  great  deal 
in  the  history  of  mankind  ;  and  there  appears  to  be 
further  an  even  commensurability  of  a  most  interesting 
order,  between  the  weight  of  the  whole  Great  Pyramid 
and  the  weight  of  the  earth,  or  in  the  proportion  of 

R 


242 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  HI. 


1  to  10  ^^*  A  commensurability,  too,  whicli  may  be 
considered  to  have  been  intended ;  for  had  the  building 
not  been  chiefly  composed  of  a  stone  so  much  lighter 
than  what  is  usually  known  as  ''  common  stone,"  that 
it  has  the  specific  gravity  of  0'412  in  place  of  0'442, 
the  even  proportion  would  not  have  been  obtained, — 
without  indeed  altering  the  size,  and  that  would  have 
overthrown  other  equally,  or  still  more,  important  com- 
mensurabilities.  But  now,  without  in  the  slightest 
degree  interfering  with  any  of  its  other  departments  of 
science  and  cosmical  reference,  the  Great  Pyramid  asserts 
its  unexceptionable  fitness  to  be  a  centre  of  authority 
and  reference  for  weight  measure  also,  and  to  all  men, 
of  all  nations,  living  on  the  whole  earth. 


International  Appendix  to  Great  Pyramid  Weight  Measure. 
Sereditary  Found  Weight  Measures. 


Country  or  City. 

Name  of  Weight. 

Weight  in 
English  Grains. 

Aix-la-Chapelle  . 

Pound 

7,234 

Augsburg    . 

Heavy  pound 

7,580 

)> 

Light  pound 

7,295 

Basil  . 

Livre,  poids  de  marc  . 

7,555 

Berlin 

Pound 

7,231 

Bilboa 

Light  pound 

•       7,560 

Brunswick  . 

Pound 

7,206 

Canary  Islands 

Libra. 

7,104 

Cassel 

Pound 

7,501 

Cologne 

do 

7,216 

Constance    . 

do. 

7,285 

Corsica 

do.            .         .         . 

7,566 

Dantzic 

do.            .         .         . 

7,231 

Erfurt 

do.            .        .        . 

7,285 

France 

liivre,  poids  de  marc  . 

7,555 

Frankfort    . 

Pound 

7,210 

Geneva 

Light  pound 

7,082 

Hamburg    . 

Pound 

7,476 

Hanover 

do.             .         .         . 

7,511 

Kouigsberg 

do.             ... 

7,231 

Leipsic 

do.            ... 

7,206 

Liege  . 

do.            .         .         . 

7,330 

See  my  "Antiquity  of  Intellectual  Man,"  pp.  468 — 475, 


chap.xiil]      the  great  pyramid. 


243 


Intbrnational  Appendix  [continued). 


Country  or  City. 

Name  of  "Weight. 

"Weight  in 
English  Grains. 

Lubec 

Pound 

7.480 

Liineburg    . 

do.             ... 

7,540 

Lyons 

Livre,  poids  de  sole     . 

7,088 

Madeira 

Libra  .... 

7,077 

Mecca 

Rottolo 

7,144 

Mecklenburg 

Pound 

7,458 

Munster 

do.             ... 

7,353 

Naples         ... 

Cantaro  piccolo  . 

7,420 

Neufchatel  . 

Livre,  poids  de  marc  . 

7,555 

Oldenburg  . 

Pound 

7,476 

Padua 

Libbra,  peso  grosso     . 

7,389 

Portugal      . 

Arratel 

7,083 

Prussia 

Pound 

7,218 

Great  Pyramid      . 

"Pound"        .       . 

7,212 

Rotterdam  . 

Light  pound 

7,243 

St.  Gall       . 

do. 

7,175 

Spain  .... 

Libra  .... 

7,101 

Stettin 

Pound 

7,219 

Stralsund    . 

Old  livre     . 

7,460 

Strasburg    . 

Livre  .... 

7,266 

Venice 

Libbra,  peso  grosso     . 

7,363 

Ulm    .... 

Pound 

7,234 

Wurtemburg 

do.            ,         .         . 

7,220 

Wurzburg  . 

do.            ... 

7,362 

Zell     .... 

do.            ... 

7,511 

Zurich 

Light  pound 

7,233 

The  above  forty-seven  remarkable  approximations  in  many  countries 
to  the  Pyramid  pound,  are  extracted  out  of  a  table  of  174  weights  of  all 
kinds ;  and  the  origin,  or  centre  of  diffusion  of  the  7,212  grains  pound,  is 
evidently  not  to  be  sought  in  any  of  the  classical  profane  nations,  the  Old 
Roman  pound  having  been  equal  to  from  4,981  to  5,246  English  grains; 
the  Ancient  Greek  niina,  from  5,189  to  6,994  English  grains;  the 
Pharaonic  Egyptian  pound,  or  mina  =:  8,304  grains;  and  the  Alexandrian 
Egyptian  mina  =  6,886  English  grains. 


244  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

LINEAR   AND    SUPERFICIAL    MEASURE. 

WE  have  now  arrived  at  the  commercial  arrangement 
of  the  most  important  of  all  the  measures  of  a 
nation  ;  at  that  one  which  requires  practically  to  be 
attended  to  first,  and  which  was  first  attended  to,  and 
secured  with  more  than  sufficient  accuracy,  as  well 
as  with  the  grandest  of  suitable  and  harmonious  earth- 
commensurability  in  the  Great  Pyramid  ;  viz.,  linear, 
or  length,  measure. 

The  unit  of  this  measure,  at  the  Pyramid,  is  the  inch  ; 
accurately  the  5ou,oio.owth  of  the  earth's  axis  of  rotation  ; 
approximately,  a  thumb-breadth,  to  any  man  who  has 
ever  lived  on  the  earth  during  the  last  four  thousand 
years.  In  that  long  interval  of  anthropological  time, 
what  mighty  empires,  what  varied  races  of  men.  and 
what  languages  too,  have  passed  away  from  the  face 
of  the  world  !  Therefore,  of  the  present  words  and 
phrases,  laws  and  customs,  which  rule  in  modern 
society,  whether  scientific,  political  or  commercial, 
which  of  them  can  expect  to  continue  to  control  the 
actions  of  men  for  anything  like  a  similar  period  to 
this  rule  of  the  inch ;  or  for  the  next  forty  centuries  of 
years  ? 

A  thumb-breadth,  then,  is  no  indifferent  test-refer- 
ence to  every  poor  man,  for  realising  when  in  haste  the 
unit  of  his  measure  of  length  ;  and  keeping  up  some 


Chap.  XIV.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  245 

identity  in  his  works,  with  those  of  his  fathers  from 
earhest  history,  and  even  before  history.  Wherefore  it 
is  only  characteristic  of  the  working  men  of  Newcastle, 
according  to  the  unintended  testimony  oi  Sir  William 
Armstrong  before  the  British  Association  of  1863,  .that 
they  have  once  more  practically  by  their  deeds  and  in 
their  works,  pronounced  indubitably  for  the  inch  (an 
inch,  too,  decimally  divided),  wherever  extreme  accuracy 
is  concerned. 

It  was  so  in  our  national  olden  times  as  well ;.  viz., 
that  the  English  unit  was  the  inch,  and  not  any  of 
those  larger  measures,  of  yards  or  metres,  which  the 
wealthy  have  been  endeavouring  to  get  established  of 
late. 

The  old  Exchequer  standards,  spoken  of  in  1742, 
marked  E  for  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  supposed  to  date 
from  1580,  were,  as  reported  at  the  time,  one  a  yard, 
and  one  an  ell ;  but  that  did  not  make  either  the  one, 
or  the  other,  the  unit  of  the  country.  Where  the  unit 
is  small,  the  public  standard  must  inevitably  consist  of 
a  number  of  such  units  strung  together ;  and  the 
incommensurability,  except  through  their  component 
inches,  of  that  pair  of  measures  laid  side  by  side,  the 
yard  and  the  ell,  might  have  reminded  men  in  sub- 
sequent times  of  the  true  state  of  the  case.  But  no, 
the  rich  men  and  the  lawyers  were  in  power ;  so  the 
unit  of  the  country  during  the  last  century — and  until 
Sir  John  Herschel  ten  years  ago  began  to  advocate 
the  national,  hereditary,  and  scientific  claims  as  well,  of 
the  inch — has  been  endeavoured  to  be  proclaimed,  the 
huge,  and  unscientific,  or  not  earth-commensurable, 
(][uantity  of,  a  yard. 

That  the  efforts  of  the  ruling  classes  have  long  been 
really  directed  to  this  end  ;  and  that  in  making  so 
much,  as  they  have  during  late  years  been  doing,  of  the 
yard,  they  have  intended  it  as  in  itself  a  new  unit,  and 


246  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

not  as  a  convenient  number  of  the  ancient  small  inch 
units  arranged  together  to  suit  a  special  purpose  of 
commerce,  the  following  words  of  the  act  (June  1824) 
sufficiently  testify. 

".The  straight  line  or  distance  between  the  centres 
of  the  two  points  in  the  gold  studs  in  the  straight  brass 
rod,  now  in  the  custody  of  the  clerk*  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  whereon  the  words  and  figures  standard  yard 
<)/ 1760  are  engraved,  shall  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby 
declared  to  be,  the  original  and  genuine  standard  of  that 
measure  or  lineal  extension  called  a  yard  ;  and  that  the 
same  straight  line  or  distance  between  the  said  two 
points  in  the  said  gold  studs  in  the  said  brass  rod,  the 
brass  being  at  the  temperature  of  62°  Fahrenheit's 
thermometer,  shall  be,  and  is  hereby  denominated,  the 
imperial  standard  yard,  and  shall  be,  and  is  hereby  de- 
clared to  be,  the  unit,  or  only  standard  measure  of 
extension." 

Yet  a  yard-unit  comes,  even  on  the  rich  people  of 
the  country,  rather  awkwardly  ;  or  they  are  striving  at 
something  still  greater  ;  for  the  Astronomical  Society's 
new  scale  of  1835,  as  well  as  of  those  of  Troughton,  Sir 
George  Shuckburgh,  and  others,  were  oftener  of  five 
feet  than  three.  At  three,  however,  it  has  been  even- 
tually settled  by  the  last  Parliamentary  commission,* 
and  at  three  feet  it  will  legally  remain  until  some  great 
constitutional  exertion  be  made  to  rectify  it. 

During  all  the  time,  too,  that  it  has  remained  there, 

*  The  commission  of  1838  had  been  thorough  enough  to  consider  all 
the  following  points : — 

A,  Basis,  arbitrary  or  natural,  of  the  system  of  standards. 

B,  Construction  of  primary  standards. 

C,  Means  of  restoring  the  standards. 

D,  Expediency  of  preserving  one  measure,  &c.,  unaltered. 

E,  Change  of  scale  of  weights  and  measirres. 
r,  Alteration  of  the  land-chain  and  the  mile. 
G,  Abolition  of  Troy  weight. 

H,  Introduction  of  decimal  scale. 

I,  Assimilation  to  the  scale  of  other  countries,  &c. 


( 


Chap.XTY.]  the  great  pyramid.  247 

a  most  artificial  and  naturally  incommensurable  quantity 
with  anything  grand,  noble,  sublime, — there  never 
seemed  to  be  the  slightest  suspicion,  until  John  Taylor 
announced  it  from  his  Great  Pyramid  studies,  and  Sir 
John  Herschel  followed  with  scientific  confirmations, 
that  each  of  the  36  inches  of  which  the  modern  British 
Government's  unit  and  standard  yard  is  composed, 
contains  within  itself  all  that  much  desiderated  physical 
applicability  and  scientific  perfection, — when  each  single 
British  inch  is,  almost  exactly,  the  1-5  00, 00 0,0 00th  of 
the  earth's  axis  of  rotation  already  referred  to. 

Almost,  only,  not  quite,  at  this  present  time ;  for  it 
requires  I'OOl  of  a  modern  British  inch  to  make  one 
such  true  inch  of  the  earth  and  the  Great  Pyramid. 
An  extraordinarily  close  approach,  even  there,  between 
two  measures  of  length  in  different  ages  and  different 
lands ;  and  yet  if  any  one  should  doubt  whether  our 
British  inch  can  really  be  so  close  to  the  ancient 
and  earth-perfect  measure,  I  can  only  advise  him  to 
look  to  the  original  documents,  and  see  how  narrowly 
it  escaped  being  much  closer  ;  and  would  have  been 
so  too  in  these  days,  but  that  the  Government  officials 
somewhere  in  the  "unheroic"  eighteenth  century  allowed 
the  ell-measure,  of  equal  date  and  authority  with  the 
yard,  and  of  a  greater  number  of  inches  (45  to  36),  and 
therefore,  in  so  far,  a  more  powerful  standard, — to  drop 
out  of  sight. 

The  modern  inch  now  in  vogue  amongst  us,  was 
derived  from  the  Exchequer  yard-standard,  through 
means  of  Bird's  copy  in  1760  and  other  copies,  and 
was  therefore  intended  to  be  one  of  the  inches  of  that 
particular  yard ;  but  the  inches  of  the  Exchequer  ell 
were  rather  larger  inches,  and  there  were  more  of  them  ; 
so  that  if  either  standard  was  rightfully  taken  as  the 
sole  authority  for  the  value  of  an  inch,  it  should  have 


248  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

been  the  ell.  Now  when  these  standards  were  very 
accurately  compared  by  Graham  in  1743,  before  a  large 
deputation  of  the  Royal  Society  and  the  Government,* 
it  was  found  that  the  Exchequer  ell's  45  inches 
exceeded  the  quantity  of  45  such  inches  as  the  Ex- 
chequer yard  contained  36  of,  by  the  space  of  0-0494 
of  an  inch.  A  result,  too,  which  was  in  the  main  con- 
firmed by  the  simultaneous  measures  of  another 
standard  ell  at  Guildhall,  with  an  excess  of  0*0444  of 
an  inch,  and  the  Guildhall  yard  with  the  excess  of 
0*0434  of  an  inch. 

Keeping,  however,  only  to  the  Exchequer  standard 
ell ;  and  finding  that  it  was  not,  after  all,  the  Exchequer 
yard,  which  was  subsequently  made  (in  Bird's  copy) 
the  legal  standard  of  the  country,  that  it  was  compared 
with,  but  a  previous  copy  of  it,  and  found  in  1743 
to  be  in  excess  by  0*0075  f  of  an  inch,  on  the  Royal 
Society's  scale, — we  must  subtract  this  quantity  from 
the  observed  excess  of  the  Exchequer  ell  ;  and  then  we 
get  that  its  45  inches  were  equal  in  terms  of  the 
present  standard  inches  of  the  country,  to  45*0419. 

But  45  Pyramid  inches  are  equal  to  45*045  modern 
English  inches ;  whence  it  will  be  seen,  that  a  Pyramid 
inch  and  an  early  English  inch  had  a  closeness  to  each 
other  that  almost  surpasses  belief,  or  of  1*  to  0*99993  : 
and  will  cause  every  well-wisher  of  his  country  to  see, 
that  the  inch  must  be  preserved.  Not  only  preserved 
too,  but,  if  possible,  restored  to  its  ancient,  or  Pyramid 
value  ; — when  the  following  table  of  earth-commensur- 
able lengths  (in  its  now  proposed  divisions,  chosen 
because    appropriate  to  the  Great   Pyramid's  numbers 

*  Astronomical  Society's  Memoirs,  vol.  ix. 

t  This  is  the  quantity,  or  about  it,  by  which'  the  Royal  Society's  scale 
and  those  descended  from  it  exceed  the  Exchequer  yard,  by  what  Mr. 
Baily  calls  "a  very  large  quantity;"  but  he  went  to  eight  places  of 
decimals  of  an  inch  in  his  measure,  and  he  does  not  seem,  unfortunately, 
to  have  looked  at  the  Exchequer  ell  at  all. 


Chap.  XIV.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


249 


as  well  as  suitable  to  human  use  and  wont),  would 
become  possible  to  be  the  British  measures  in  modem 
times  also,  and  without  dislocation  to  any  of  the  more 
usual  popular  factors. 


Great  Pyramid  Length  Measure. 

\  Division,  or  num- 
j   ber  of  each  part 

in  the  grand 
Length  Standard. 

Inter- 
mediate 
division. 

Length 

in 

Pyramid 

miles. 

Length  in 

Pyramid 

cubits  or 

arms. 

Length  in 
Pyramid 
inches. 

Name  now 

proposed  to  be 

applied. 

( 

Earth's  semi- 

1 

1000 

4000 

10,000,000 

250,000,000- 

axis  of  rota- 
tion. 

1,000 

4- 

4- 

10,000- 

250,000. 

League. 

4,000 

10- 

1- 

2,500- 

62,500- 

Mile. 

40,000 

2-5 

0-4 

250- 

6,250- 

Furlong. 

100,000 

10- 

100- 

2,500- 

Acre-side. 

1,000,000 

10- 

10- 

250- 

Rod. 

10,000,000 

1- 

25- 

Cubit  or  arm. 

(20,833,333 

25- 

12- 

Foot.) 

250,000,000 

10- 

1- 

Inch. 

2,500,000.000 

10- 

0-1 

Tenths. 

25.000,000,000 

10- 

.. 

0-01 

Hundredths. 

250,000,000,000 

•• 

•• 

0-001 

Thousandths. 

A  small  standard,  viz.,  the  foot  of  12  inches,  is  left 
in  place  ;  because,  although  not  evenly  earth-commensur- 
able, and  inappropriate,  therefore,  for  scientific  purposes, 
there  is  a  large  vulgar  use  for  it ;  and  it  is  connected  at 
one  end,  though  not  at  the  other,  with  the  Pyramid 
system.  And  if  we  next  compare  all  the  mutually 
approximating  items  with  the  British,  we  shall  have  the 
following  table  : — 

Pyramid  and  British  Linear  Measure, 
Compared  through  the  temporary  medium  of  British  linear  inches. 


1  inch  Pyramid  = 

1-001 

1  inch  British      = 

1-000 

1  foot          „         = 

12012 

1  foot          „         = 

12-000 

1  cubit  or  arm  „   = 

25025 

2  foot  rule  „         = 

24-000 

Irod 

250-250 

1  rod 

198000 

1  acre- side       ,,   = 

2,502-500 

1  acre-side,,         = 

2,504-525 

1  mile              „    = 

62,562-500 

1  mile         „         = 

63,360-000 

1  league           „   = 

260,260000 

1  league     „         = 

218,721-600 

1  earth  s  semi- axis 

1  earth's  semi-axis 

of  rotation     .  = 

250,250,000-000 

of  rotation     .  = 

260,250,000-000 

250  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

The  first  remark  to  be  expressed  on  this  table,  is  the 
very  close  approach  of  the  acre-side  of  the  Pyramid  to 
that  of  the  British  scale.  It  is  a  length  which  does  not 
nominally  figure  on  the  usual  linear  English  lists, 
though  it  exists  through  the  square  measure  ;  and  is, 
without  doubt,  the  most  important  large  measure  by 
far  which  the  whole  community  possesses ;  because  it 
is  the  invariable  term  in  which  all  the  landed  property 
of  the  country  is  bought,  sold,  and  "  deeded." 

As  such  an  all-important  quantity  to  this  country,  one 
cannot  at  all  understand  how  an  acre  was  ever  established 
by  Government  at  such  a  very  awkward  proportion  in 
the  length  of  its  side,  to  any  of  our  linear  measures  ; 
for  the  fraction  which  it  gives,  is  rough  to  a  degree  :  and 
yet,  it  will  be  observed,  that  the  Pyramid  principle, 
hardly  altering  the  real  value  to  any  sensible  extent, 
makes  it,  in  its  own  inches,  at  once  the  easy  quantity  of 
2,500  ;  or  in  arm,  i.e.  cubit,  lengths,  100. 

Nor  does  the  advantage  of  the  Pyramid  principle  end 
here,  for  the  mile  contains  2,500,  or  50  x  50,  cubit- 
lengths  ;  and  such  a  proportion  has  recently  become  so 
great  a  favourite  with  Government,  that  they  have  com- 
menced a  magnificent  survey  of  Great  Britain  on  pre- 
cisely this  proportion,  or  1-2  5  00th  of  nature. 

This  is  by  far  a  larger  scale  than  either  our  own,  or 
any  other,  country  has  ever  been  completely  surveyed 
on  yet ;  and  infers  such  an  infinity  of  drawing,  copying, 
and  engraving,  that  it  could  positively  never  have  been 
thought  of,  even  in  wealthy  Great  Britain,  but  for  the 
previous  invention,  first  of  photography  to  do  all  the 
copying,  and  then  of  electrotypy  to  multiply  the  soft 
engraved  copper  plates.  Hence  the  survey  on  the  scale 
of  1-2 5  00th  is  a  remarkable  public  work  of  the  present 
time,  and  excites  some  curiosity  to  know  how  and  why 
that  proportion  came  to  be  adopted. 


Chap.  XIV.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  251 

Plainly  1-2500  does  not  form  any  portion  of  the 
British  imperial  linear  system  ;  and  when  we  are  officially 
told,  that  the  proportion  was  adopted  to  allow  of  the 
map  being  on  a  scale  of  25  inches  to  a  mile,  or 
becoming  thereby  capable  of  representing  an  acre  by 
one  square  inch, — we  are  quite  assured  (if  the  Govern- 
ment is  still  true  to  the  legal  measures  of  the  land), 
that  that  is  not  the  reason  ;  for  the  map  is  not  on 
that  scale.  It  is  truly  of  the  proportion  of  1-2  5  00th 
of  nature,;  but  that  gives  in  the  British  metrolog}^, 
25 "344  inches  to  a  mile,  and  1"018  inches  to  an  acre. 

Immense  inconvenience,  therefore,  results  to  th^ 
component  members  of  the  British  nation,  that  the 
grandest  and  most  costly  survey  of  their  country  which 
they  have  ever  paid  for,  and  which  is  now  in  inevitable 
progress  whether  they  like  it  or  no, — does  not  fit  in  to 
their  existing  measures  evenly,  but  carries  these  annoy- 
ing fractions  along  with  it. 

Yet  a  single  act  of  parliament  adopting  the  Pyramid 
measures  for  the  country, — or,  we  might  almost  say, 
restoring  the  nation's  hereditary  measures  to  their 
proper  place, — would  cause  the  map,  without  any  altera- 
tions to  it,  to  be  at  once  a  map  on  the  scale  of  25  legal 
British  inches  to  the  mile,  and  of  one  square  legal 
British  inch  to  the  acre,  without  the  smallest  fraction 
left  over  or  under ;  and  would  substitute  truth  for 
falsehood,  on  every  occasion  when  a  Briton  has  hastily 
to  mention  the  great  national  map  of  his  country. 

In  my  first  edition,  I  said  that  Britons  might  in  hot 
haste  stumble  into  that  slovenly  and  untruthful  error  of 
speaking  of  25-344  inches,  as  being  25'000  inches  ;  but 
I  regret  to  have  to  add  now,  that  larger  experience  shows 
that  they  commit  themselves  equally  in  their  calmer  mo- 
ments as  well ;  for  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  So- 
ciety of  Edinburgh  for  the  Session  1872-3,  just  published, 


252 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  III. 


the  learned  President  Professor,  Sir  Robert  Christison, 
Bart,  M.D.  (and  great  for  the  introduction  of  the  French 
metrical  system,  as  well  as  for  more  accurate  or  con- 
venient weights  and  measures  for  British  pharmacy  and 
chemistry),  one  therefore  who  knows  what  exactness  is, 
yet  even  he,  from  his  presidential  chair  and  in  his  in- 
augural address  for  the  season,  could  continually  speak 
of,  and  the  Society  subsidized  by  Government,  could 
continually  print  on  page  after  page,  ''the  2 5 -inch 
maps  of  the  Ordnance  Survey  ;"  just  as  though  those 
25-344-inch  Ordnance  maps  really  and  truly  were  on 
t^at  other  scale,  in  the  existing  inches  of  the  present 
law  of  the  land — as  well  as  in  the  inches  of  the  ancient 
Great  Pyramid,  in  favour  of  which  the  very  popular 
President  made  then  no  mention. 


International  Appendix  to  Great  Pyramid  Linear  Measure. 
Hereditary  Cubit  or  "  Cloth"  Measures. 


Country  or  City. 

Name  of  Linear  Measure. 

Length  in 
British  Inches. 

Aix-la-Chapelle  . 

Ell      ...         . 

26-33 

Aleppo 

Pic      . 

26-66 

Alexandria 

Pic      . 

-    26-80 

Algiers 

Turkish  pic 

24-53 

Ancona 

Braccio 

25-33 

Antwerp 

Woollen  ell 

26-96 

Augsburg 

Long  eU 

24-00 

Bergamo 

Braccio 

25-80 

Bergen 

Ell      . 

24-71 

Berlin 

EU      . 

26-25 

Betalfagui 

Guz    . 

25-00 

Bologna 

"Woollen  braccio 

25-00 

Cairo  . 

Pic      . 

26-80 

Candia 

Pic      . 

25-11 

Copenhagen 

Ell      . 

24-71 

Cremona 

Braccio 

24-24 

Cyprus 

Pic      . 

26-45 

Dunkirk 

Aune  . 

26-62 

Emden 

Ell      . 

26-40 

Ferrara 

"Woollen  braccio 

26-33 

do. 

Silk  braccio 

24-75 

Leghorn 

Braccio 

23-98 

Chap.  XIV.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


2>S3 


International  Appendix  {continmd). 


Country  or  City. 

Name  of  Linear  Measure. 

Length  in 
British  Inches. 

Leyden 

Ell      ...         . 

26-89 

Libau . 

Ell      .        .        . 

24-04 

Lisbon 

Covado 

26-70 

Lucca 

"Woollen  braccio . 

23-80 

Maestriclit 

Ell      .         .         . 

26-91 

Mantua 

Braccio 

25-00 

Mocha 

Guz     . 

*     . 

25-00 

Modena 

Braccio 

24-31 

Namur 

EU      .         .         . 

26-11 

Nancy 

Aune  . 

25-18 

Nimeguen 

EU      .        .        . 

26-11 

Niiremburg 

Ell      . 

25-95 

Osnaburg 

Long  ell      . 

23-70 

Oudenarde 

Ell      .         .         . 

26-28 

Padua 

Woollen  braccio 

26-80 

do. 

Silk  braccio 

25-30 

Parma 

. 

Cloth  braccio 

25-10 

Patra-8 

Silk  pic 

25-00 

Persia 

Guerze 

25-00 

Poland 

Ell      . 

24-30 

Prussia 

Ell      . 

26-25 

Great  Pyramid 

"Sacred  cubit"    . 

2502 

Ravenna 

Braccio 

26-46 

St.  Gall       . 

Cloth  ell     . 

24-20 

Schaffhausen 

Ell      . 

23-74 

Scios  . 

Short  pic     . 

25-98 

Stettin 

Ell   :     . 

25-62 

Stutgard      . 

EU      . 

24-08 

Tournay 

EU      . 

24-40 

Trent . 

Cloth  eU     . 

26-64 

do. 

Silk  ell        . 

24-09 

Trieste 

WooUen  eU 

26-60 

do. 

Silk  eU        . 

25-22 

Tunis . 

Woollen  pic 

26-50 

do. 

Silk  pic 

24-83 

Valenciennes 

Aune  . 

25-93 

Venice 

Woollen  braccio 

26-61 

do. 

Silk  braccio 

24-81 

Verona 

Woollen  braccio 

25-57 

do. 

Silk  braccio 

25-22 

Vicenza 

Braccio 

26-96 

Zante . 

Silk  braccio 

25-37 

254  0^^  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 


Toot  Measures. 

As  shown  in  our  table  on  page  249,  and  its  subsequent  explication,  a 
12-inch,  foot  standard  introduces  notable  difficulties  into  the  earth-com- 
mensurable section  of  the  Great  Pyramid  arrangement  of  long  measure. 
And  proposals  have  been  before  the  public  for  several  years,  from  totally 
opposite  quarters  too,  requesting  Government  to  enact  a  10-inch  foot  for 
the  future  use  of  the  nation. 

Such  a  foot  would  evidently  harmonise  at  once  with  every  branch  of 
the  Pyramid  system  ;  but  how  would  it  suit  the  convenience  of  the 
working  men,  for  whose  purpose  mainly  the  foot  seems  to  have  been 
originally  introduced,  and  is  still  kept  up  ? 

"We  have  already  seen  in  the  note  on  page  27,  Chapter  III.,  that  the 
natural  or  naked  foot  of  man  is  barely  lO'o  inches  long,  though  the  shoed 
and  booted  foot  of  civilized  man  may  be  twelve  inches  or  more ;  and 
indeed,  in  some  parts  of  Switzerland  and  Germany,  their  local  metrological 
tables  state  that  twelve  inches  make,  not  a  foot,  but  a  "  schuh  "  or  shoe. 
There  need  be  no  surprise,  therefore,  to  find,  that  two  separate  foot  mea- 
sures have  long  been  known  amongst  mankind,  oneof  them  averaging  twelve 
English  inches  long,  and  the  other  ten,  though  still  almost  invariably 
divided  into  twelve  parts,  or  small  inches  of  its  own  :  in  the  foot  of  the 
one  case,  its  length  was  twelve  thumb  breadths,  and  in  the  other,  twelve 
finger  breadths,  approximately.  The  ancient  Roman  foot  {11-62  English 
inches  long  nearly)  was  evidently  of  the  former  class ;  as  was  likewise  the 
Greek  Olympic  foot,  generally  known  as  the  Greek  foot  J3ar  excellence,  and 
=  1211  English  inches;  though  Greece  had  also  another  foot  standard, 
termed  the  Pythic  foot,  which  was  only  9*75  English  inches  long. 

But  in  mediaeval  and  modern,  or  Saxon,  Norman,  and  British  times, 
humanity  seems  to  have  declared  ifself  unmistakeably  for  the  larger  foot. 
So  that  in  Dr.  Kelly's  list  of  all  the  commercial  peoples  known  to  Great 
Britain  in  1821  (see  his  Universal  Cambist,  vol.  ii.,  p.  244),  while  ten  of 
them  have  feet  ranging  between  9*50  and  10-99  English  inches,  no  less 
than  seventy-four  are  found  to  have  feet  whose  lengths  are  comprised 
somewhere  between  11-0  and  13-0  of  the  same  inches. 

Hence,  if  any  alterations  should  be  made  in  future  time  to  earth-com- 
mensurate the  Pyramid  foot,  as  now  imagined  =:  12-012  English  inches, 
it  should  rather  be  in  the  direction  of  making  it  =  12'5,  than  10-0, 
Pyramid  inches ;  and  no  harm  would  be  done  in  either  case,  so  long  as  the 
value  of  the  inch  was  not  interfered  with. 

The  ancient  idolatrous  Egyptians  of  the  Pharaonic  period  do  not  appear 
to  have  had  any  foot  measure ;  but,  for  all  linear  purposes,  to  have 
invariably  used  their  well-known  profane  cubit  =  20-7  English  inches 
long;  doubling  it  sometimes  as  the  royal  or  Karnak  cubit,  which  was 
then  =::  41-4  English  inches.  In  subsequent  Greek  Alexandrian  times, 
those  Kgyptians  both  employed,  perverted,  and  mixed  up  with  their  own, 
sundry  measures  of  Greece,  and  may  then  have  had  feet,  as  well  as  small 
cubits  =  1-5  foot;  but  these  hybrid  and  short-lived  standards  are  by  no 
means  worth  our  while  now  to  enquire  into,  for  Alexandria  of  the 
Ptolemies,  never  very  ancient,  has  long  since  been  deservedly  dead  and 
buried ;  while  the  present  Alexandria  is  a  diffeient  city,  inhabited  by  a 
differently  descended  people,  and  professing  a  totally  different  religion. 


Chap.  XIV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


255 


Hereditary  Inch  Measures. 


CouBtry  or  Cit^ 

y.              Name  of  Linear  Meastire. 

Length  in 
British  Inches. 

Amsterdam 

.      Rhineland  foot  -f-  12  . 

1-029 

Anspach 

.      Foot  H-  12  . 

0-977 

Augsburp^    . 

.      Foot  —  12  . 

0-971 

Austria,  Vienna . 

.     ZoU    '.         .         .         . 

1-037 

Basil  . 

.     Foot  -i-  12  . 

0-979 

Belgium 

Lost  its  traditions  and 
language  too. 

Berlin 

,      Foot  —  12  . 

1-016 

Berre . 

.      Zoll     . 

0-962 

Bii-mah,  Rangoor 

I        .      Paulgaut 

1-000 

Calemberg  . 

.      Foot -i- 12 

0-961 

Cleves 

.      Foot  -f-  12 

0-971 

Denmark     . 

Tomme 

1-030 

Emden 

.     Foot  -f-  12 

0-972 

France  (older  sys 

tem).     Pouce 

1-066 

France  {systeme  m 

uel],  \ 

ince  )     Pouce 

interdicted       £ 

1-094 

1840 

) 

France  (modem) 

Destroyed  its  traditions 

Hanover      . 

.     Zoll     .... 

0-950 

Holland       . 

Lost  its  traditions 

Inspriick     . 

.      Foot  -:-  12  . 

1-042 

Konigsberg 

.      Foot  -^  12  . 

1-009 

Ley  den 

.      Foot  -f-  12  . 

1-028 

Lindau 

Long  foot  -:-  12  . 

1-033 

Liibeck 

.      Zoll     .... 

0-950 

Lucerne 

.      Schuh-fl2 

1-030 

Middleburg 

.      Foot -H  12. 

0-984 

Neufchatel  . 

.      Foot-;-  12  . 

0-984 

Norway 

Turn    .... 

0-974 

Niiremburg 

.      Foot-f- 12. 

0-997 

Oldenburg  . 

.      Foot  -:-  12  . 

0-971 

Pisa    . 

.      Palmo-^12 

0-989 

Portugal      . 

Pollegada    .         . 

1-082 

Prague 

.      Foot  -1-  12  . 

0-985 

Prussia,  up  to  18 

72      .      Zoll     .... 

1-030 

do.       since  18 

72     .      Lost  its  traditions. 

Great  Pyrami 

d     .     ''Inch"  .       .       . 

1001 

Rhineland  . 

.      Foot  -r  12  . 

1-029 

Rome  . 

.      Foot-f-  12  . 

0-988 

Spain  . 

.     Pulga'ia 

0-927 

Stettin 

.      Rhineland  foot  -f-  12  . 

1-029 

Strasburg 

Land  foot  -f-  12  . 

0-968 

Sweden 

Tum   .... 

0-974 

Zurich 

.      Zoll     .... 

0-984 

256     ■  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  III. 

The  above  table  is  prepared  chiefly  from  Dr.  Kelly's  Universal  Cambist; 
but  inasmuch  as  he  does  not  descend  below  foot  measures,  and  the  inches 
are  then  deduced  by  dividing  his  values  for  the  feet  by  twelve ; — the  list 
is  supplemented  by  positive  inches,  or  their  verbal  equivalents,  as — zoll, 
pouce,  tomme,  turn,  pollegada,  pulgada,  &c.,  as  contained  in  Weale's 
Woolhouse's  "Weights  and  Measures." 


Chap.  XV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  257 


CHAPTER  XY. 

HEAT    AND    PRESSURE,    ANGLE,    MONEY,    TIME. 

V 

A  S  already  shown,  no  system  of  weights  and  measures 
-^  can  be  complete  Avithout  a  reference  to  heat,  and 
its  power  of  altering  the  dimensions  of  all  bodies.  It 
would  appear  too,  that,  next  to  the  very  existence  of 
matter,  heat  is  the  most  important  influence  or  condi- 
tion in  creation  ;  and,  since  the  rise  of  the  modern 
science  of  thermo-dynamics,  which  looks  on  heat  as  a 
form  of  motion,  the  measure  of  heat  is  the  first  step 
from  statics  to  dynamics,  which  is  the  last  and  truest 
form  of  all  science. 

A  "  thermometer  "  is  therefore  one  of  the  most  widely 
essential  of  all  scientific  instruments,  and  there  is  pro- 
bably no  modem  science  which  can  advance  far  without 
its  aid  ;  unless  indeed  assisted  by  some  semi-natural 
method  of  securing  one  constant  reference  temperature, 
for  all  its  observations  ;  but  which  is  seldom  the  case 
in  modern  observatories.  Yet  the  thermometer  in  Eng- 
land, though  there  so  doubly  necessary,  has  been 
allowed  to  remain  in  a  most  unsatisfactory  guise.  That 
is,  its  scale  is  generally  ridiculed  over  all  continental 
Europe,  as  being  both  inconvenient  in  practice,  and 
founded  in  error,  in  so  far  as  the  notion  of  that  worthy 
man.  Mynheer  Fahrenheit,  touching  absolute  cold,  is 
seen  every  winter  to  be  a  mistake,  whenever  his  ther- 
mometer   descends    below    its    carefully-marked    zero  ; 

s 


2s8  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

while  the  all-important  point  of  the  freezing  of  water 
is  left  at  the  not  very  signal,  but  certainly  rather 
inconvenient,  number  of  32°;  and  the  boiling-point  at 
the  not  more  convenient  one  of  212^ 

Many,  therefore,  have  been  the  demands  that  we 
should  adopt  either  the  German  Reaumur,  or  the  French 
centigrade,  i.e.,  originally  the  thermometer  of  Celsius  ; 
in  terms  of  any  of  which,  water  freezing  marks  0°  ;  and 
all  degrees  below  that  notable  point,  are  negative  ; 
above,  positive. 

The  proposed  change  has,  except  in  a  few  chemical 
circles,  been  strenuously  resisted,  because — 

1st.  The  anomalous  absolute  numbers  chosen  for 
freezing  and  boiling  on  Fahrenheit's  scale,  do  not  inter- 
fere with  the  accuracy  of  thermometers  so  marked,  when 
due  allowance  is  made  for  them. 

2nd.  It  has  been  against  the  principle  of  most  British 
scientific  men  hitherto,  in  their  different  weights  and 
measures,  to  have  them  showing  a  natural  standard  in 
themselves ;  ^ut  only  to  have  their  proportion  to  the 
said  natural  standards  numerically  determined,  and 
then  recorded  in  writing  elsewhere. 

3rd.  This  system  has  been  carried  out  in  its  integrity 
in  Fahrenheit's  thermometer  when  it  is  written,  that 
180  even  subdivisions  shall  exist  between  freezing  and 
boiling  ;  and  the  commencing  number  for  freezing  shall 
be  32°. 

4th.  In  the  fact  that  the  distance  between  freezing 
and  boiling  is  divided  into  180  parts  in  Fahrenheit's 
thermometer,  but  only  100  in  the  French  thermometer 
and  80  in  the  German  instrument,  eminent  advantage 
is  claimed  for  every-day  purposes ;  even  among  the 
chemists  too,  as  weU  as  all  other  members  of  the  com- 
munity,— ^because  a  greater  number  of  different  states 
of  temperature  can  be  quoted  in  even  degrees  without 
reference  to  fractions  of  a  degree  ;  and — 


Chap.  XV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  259 

5th.  It  is  said  that  the  proposed  change  would  be 
subversive  of  all  ordinary  ideas  of  steady-going  indi- 
viduals as  to  what  the  new  numbers  really  meant ; 
because,  what  honest  country  gentleman  would  appre- 
ciate in  his  heart  that  a  temperature  of  40°,  when  a 
French  system  should  be  established  amongst  us,  meant 
a  summer  heat  of  104°  Fahrenheit  ? 

Some  of  these  objections  have  weight,  but  others  are 
of  doubtful  importance  ;  and  in  all  that  can  be  said 
about  the  British  scientific  principle  (as  established  by 
government)  not  founding  its  measures  on  natural 
standards  direct, — that  has  not  only  been  well-nigh  dis- 
established by  the  recent  outcry  of  many  noisy  mem- 
bers of  the  commercial,  and  chemical,  parts  of  the 
nation  for  the  modern  scientifically  devised  French 
units  ;  but  is  proved  to  be  baseless  for  our  nation's 
early,  and  more  than  historic,  origin  ;  by  reason  of 
the  real  British  length-unit,  the  inch,  having  been 
found,  after  all,  to  be  an  even  round  fraction  of  the 
earth's  semi-axis  of  rotation. 

The  ultra-scientific  and  most  highly  educated  up- 
holders too  of  Fahrenheit,  have,  in  the  instance  of  the 
best  practical  zero  of  temperature,  received  a  notable 
correction  from  the  poorer  classes  of  our  land  ;  the  very 
classes  for  whom  alone  all  working  measures  should  be 
primarily  arranged  ;  for  every  gardener,  and  probably 
every  ploughman  who  thinks  of  such  things  at  all,  is 
accustomed  in  his  daily  toil  to  speak  of  the  more  rurally 
important  and  biologically  trying  cases  of  temperature, 
not  in  terms  of  Fahrenheit's  scale  by  any  means,  but  as 
so  many  ''  degrees  of  frost "  or  '*  heat." 

The  practical  importance,  therefore,  of  having  the 
British  thermometrical  zero  at  the  freezing-point  of 
water,  is  thus  incontestably  proved,  and  from  the 
right  quarter  ;  while,  if  it  be  desirable,  as  no  doubt 
it  is  desirable,  to  have    the    space    from   freezing    to 


26o 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  III. 


boiling  divided  into  a  greater  number  of  degrees 
than  either  the  French  or  German  systems  offer, — 
why  then,  let  the  nation  take  for  the  space  be- 
tween the  two  natural  water  units,  not  even  the  180 
of  the  honest  Dutchman,  Fahrenheit,  but  the  250  of 
the  Great  Pyramid  scale  ;  for  by  so  doing,  not  only  will 
they  reap  that  one  advantage  above-mentioned  to  a  still 
greater  extent ;  but  they  will  suffer  less  shock,  as  it 
were,  in  their  feelings,  when  talking  of  summer  tem- 
peratures, than  even  if  they  retained  the  size  of  the 
Fahrenheit  degrees,  but  placed  the  0  at  freezing ;  as 
simply  illustrated  by  the  following  numbers,  giving  the 
same  absolute  temperatures  in  terms  of  five  different 
thermometric  scales  : — 


Fahrenheit. 

Modified 
Fahrenheit. 

Centigrade. 

Eeaumur. 

Pyranud. 

122° 
104° 

90° 

72° 

50° 
40° 

40° 
32° 

125° 
100= 

But  now  for  the  finishing  off  of  this  last  temperature 
scale,  in  the  manner  in  which  the  Pyramid  system  so 
often  ends  with  reference  to  the  four  sides  of  its  base, 
and  to  the  first  four  simple  sections  of  such  a  Pyramid. 
Multiply,  therefore,  the  250°  of  water-boiling  by  4, 
making  1,000°,  and  where  are  we  landed  ? 

At  that  most  notable  and  dividing  line  of  heat,  where 
it  causes  bodies  to  begin  to  give  out  light ;  and  regis- 
tered with  confidence  by  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Know- 
ledge Society  in  vol.  ii,  of  their  Natural  Philosophy^ 
p.  63,  under  title  of  "  Iron  Bright  Red  in  the  Dark,"  as 
being  752°  Fahrenheit,  which  amounts  to  1,000°  of  the 
Pyramid  precisely.  And  multiply  this  1,000°  again  by 
5,  and  where  are  we  ?  At  5,000°  of  the  Pyramid,  or 
that  glowing  white-hot  heat,  where  the  modern  chemists 


Chap.  XV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  261 

of  several  nations  would  place  the  melting-point  of  the 
most  dense  and  refractory  of  all  metals,  platinum.  Or 
descend  again  to  — 400°  Pyramid,  and  we  find  a  point 
regarded  by  some  existing  chemists  as  the  absolute 
zero  of  temperature  :  though  natural  philosophers  are 
more  inclined  to  prefer  their  theoretical  base  of  the  air 
thermometer  at  — 682°  Pyramid  ;  but  as  none  of  them 
have  yet  approached  nearer  than  about  half-way  thereto, 
no  man  among  them  knows  what  physical  obstacles 
may  lie  in  the  untried  portion  of  their  patji.  And 
there  may  not  improbably  be  many. 

Thus  the  French  metrical  temperature  reference  was 
originally  intended  by  its  exceedingly  scientific  authors, 
admirable  for  their  day,  to  have  been  the  freezing-point 
of  water  ;  on  the  arithmetical  and  mathematical,  rather 
than  physical  and  experimental,  conclusion — that  they 
would  find  water  in  its  densest  condition  when  coldest, 
or  immediately  before  passing  into  the  state  of .  ice. 
But  lo !  when  they  began  to  experiment,  nature  refused 
to  be  bound  by  human  ideas,  and  water  was  discovered 
to  be  of  the  greatest  density  at  a  very  sensible  distance 
of  heat  above  freezing,  or  at  3  9°' 2  Fahrenheit. 

When  this  discovery  was  once  made,  able  men  found 
in  it  a  most  beneficent  infiuence  to  promote  the  ameni- 
ties of  human  life  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth  ;  seeing 
that  but  for  the  anomalous  expansion  of  water  with  cold, 
when  the  temperature  descends  below  3  9°  2  Fahr.,  our 
lakes  and  rivers  would  freeze  at  the  bottom  instead  of 
the  top ;  and  would,  in  fact,  accumulate  beds  of  ice  below, 
until  in  the  winter  they  became  entirely  solid  blocks ; 
which  blocks  no  summer  sun  would  be  able  to  do  more 
than  melt  a  small  portion  of  the  surface  of,  to  be  inevi- 
tably frozen  hard  again  the  next  cold  night,  to  the 
destruction  of  all  the  fish. 

The  discovered  fact,  however,   of  what  really  does 


262 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN         [Part  III. 


take  place,  when  water  approaches  the  freezing-point, 
had  the  inconvenience  of  utterly  breaking  up  the) 
uniformity  of  the  Academy's  arrangements  for  tem-' 
perature  reference  in  the  French  metrical  system.  For 
the  Parisian  philosophers  still  desired  to  refer  some 
observations  to  freezing ;  yet  could  not  but  con- 
scientiously admit  the  superior  propriety,  at  least  for 
all  measurements  wherein  the  density  of  water  entered, 
of  employing  their  newly-corrected  temperature  of 
3  9°.  2  Fahr.,  rather  than  their  former  32°  Fahr. 

Accordingly,  at  page  21  of  "  Eoscoe's  Lessons  in 
Chemistry,"  where  the  best  possible  face  is  put  upon 
French  measures  for  the  British  nation,  we  are  told  that 
the  French  unit  of  weight  is  a  cubic  centimetre  of  water 
at  a  temperature  of  4°  centigrade.  But  at  page  147,  a 
table  of  specific  gravities  is  given,  where  it  is  stated  that 
water  at  the  temperature  of  0°  centigrade  is  to  be 
taken  as  unity.  And  no  temperature  reference  at  all 
appears  for  length  measure  ;  perhaps  because  the  author 
knew  that  that  is  just  now,  for  the  metre  of  the 
Archives,  an  uncertain  quantity  somewhere  between 
6°  and  12°  C. 

Again  at  pages  361  and  362  extensive  tables  are  for- 
mally given  of  comparisons  between  the  English  and 
French  measures  of  all  kinds  (descending,  where  weight 
is  concerned,  to  the  sixth  place  of  decimals  of  a  grain), 
but  no  mention  at  all  is  made  either  of  temperature  or 
atmospheric  pressure  for  any  of  them ;  though  the 
former  condition  must  vary  occasionally  by  60",  and  the 
latter  by  the  extent  of  the  whole  atmosphere. 

In  fact  the  too  learnedly  artificial  and  bungled  cha- 
racter of  the  French  temperature  and  pressure  references 
is  such,  that  they  cannot,  in  practice,  look  the  light  of 
day,  much  less  that  of  science,  in  the  face ;  while  they 
are,  above  all  things,  and  for  other  reasons  as  well, 
totally  unsuitable  to  the  working  man.      You  cannot. 


Chap.  XV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  263 

for  instance,  attempt  or  pretend  to  use  them  in 
practice,  without  breaking  their  most  important  pro- 
visions continually  ;  as  well  as  introducing  huge  errors, 
such  as  the  omission  or  introduction  of  the  whole 
atmosphere,  and  all  for  the  purpose  of  guarding 
against  mere  microscopic  errors  depending  on  minute 
and  almost  totally  insensible  variations  of  the  atmo- 
sphere as  it  exists  about  us. 

On  this  unhappy  doctrinaire  French  system,  strictly, 
if  there  should  arise  a  difference  of  opinion  in  society,  or 
at  a  market,  as  to  which  is  the  longer  of  two  measuring- 
rods,  or  which  is  the  heavier  of  two  weights,  you  must 
carry  both  of  them  away  from  what  they  were  being 
employed  for,  and  bring  the  rods  down  by  any  possible 
method  to  the  6°  or  1 2°  C.  point,  and  place  the  weights 
by  some  difficult  and  expensive  contrivance  in  a  vacuum 
at  a  temperature  of  0°  C,  or  perhaps  4°  C.  Both  of  these 
being  out-of-the-way  conditions  where  no  one  wants  to 
use  either  rods  or  weights  ;  and  where  you  may  find  that 
their  relations  to  each  other  (from  different  rates  and 
characters  of  heat  expansibility)  are  actually  and  totally 
different  from  what  they  were  at  any  of  the  degrees  of 
natural  temperature,  which  they  were  being  really  and 
practically  used  in ;  and  which  degrees  never  differ 
much  from  their  mean  quantity  all  the  year  through. 

Indeed  the  extreme  narrowness  of  the  range  both  of 
temperature  and  atmospheric  pressure,  within  which  all 
the  best,  and  the  most  too,  of  human  work  is  performed, 
and  can  only  flourish, — has  begun  at  last  to  excite 
intelligent  and  interested  attention.  Wherefore  thus, 
an  able  and  scientific  American  author,  Mr.  Clarence 
King,  holds  forth,  in  his  recent  book  entitled  "  Moun- 
taineering in  Sierra  Nevada,"  California, — on  pressure, 
when  he  has  descended  to  the  inhabited  plain  country 
from  the  high  and  snowy  flanks  of  Mount  Shasta  : — 


264  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

"  Tlie  heavier  air  of  this  lower  level  soothed  us  into 
a  pleasant  laziness  (frame  of  mind)  which  lasted  over 
Sunday,  resting  our  strained  muscles  and  opening  the 
heart  anew  to  human  and  sacred  influence.  If  we  are 
sometimes  at  pain  when  realising  within  what  narrow 
range  of  latitude  mankind  reaches  finer  development, — or 
how  short  a  step  it  is,  from  tropical  absence  of  spiritual 
life,  to  dull  boreal  stupidity, — it  is  added  humiliation  to 
experience  our  still  more  marked  limitation  in  altitude. 
At  fourteen  thousand  feet,  or  with  17  only,  in  place  of 
30,  inches  of  atmospheric  pressure,  little  is  left  me 
but  bodily  appetite  and  impression  of  sense.  The  habit 
of  scientific  observation,  which  in  time  becomes  one  of 
the  involuntary  processes,  goes  on  as  do  heart-beat  and 
breathing ;  a  certain  general  awe  overshadows  the  mind  ; 
but  on  descending  again  to  lowlands,  one  after  another 
the  whole  riches  of  the  human  organization  come  back 
with  delicious  freshness." 

By  what  insane  impulse  then  could  it  have  been,  that 
the  philosophers  of  Paris  did  not  accept  their  position 
on  the  earth,  under  the  atmosphere,  as  given  them  by 
God ;  and  instead  of  thankfully  making  the  delightful 
mean  annual  temperature  and  wholesome  mean  annual 
pressure  of  the  atmosphere  on  and  in  their  abodes,  the 
national  references  for  those  features  in  all  matters  of 
their  metrology, — they  must  rush  off  to  a  horribly  chil- 
ling and  actually  freezing  zero  ;  to  a  theoretical  absence 
of  all  vital  atmosphere  ;  and  to  a  host  of  physical  diffi- 
culties which  they  have  not  even  yet  completely  over- 
come or  got  out  of  the  maze  of 

Or  by  what  mere  flock-  of-sheep  impulse  of  irrationally 
following,  is  it,  that  now  our  own  scientific  men,  and  the 
meteorologists  among  them  more  particularly,  having 
made  their  own  barometrical  observations  between  50° 
and  90°  in-doors,  and  having  received  others  from 
abroad  also   confined  within  the  same    limits  of  tem- 


Chap.  XV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  265 

perature,  can  think  of  no  other  mode  of  bringing  them 
all  to  one  common  point  of  comparison,  than  by  carry- 
ing every  one  of  them  right  away  to  the  distant  and 
outside  freezing-point ;  and  applying  for  that  purpose 
so  ]^rge  a  correction  to  the  numbers  read  off  from  each 
barometer,  that  the  original  observer  fails  to  recognise  in 
his  computed  observations  those  standard  heights  of 
quicksilver  which  he  used  to  identify  in  his  daily  experi- 
ence with  particular  conditions  of  weather,  or  warnings 
of  approaching  storms  ? 

But  all  these  anomalies  are  so  happily  corrected  by 
the  Great  Pyramid  system,  that  its  primeval  Author 
must  surely  have  had  more  real  regard  for  humanity, 
than  all  the  savants  and  doctrinaires  of  the  first  French 
Revolution  put  together.  For  the  mighty  building  of 
old,  being  founded  on  the  30th  parallel  of  latitude,  is  at 
once  in  the  approximate  temperature  and  very  approxi- 
mate atmospheric  pressure  of  the  middle  zone  of  either 
hemisphere  of  the  earth  ;  and  as  the  iso-barals  equally 
with  the  iso-thermals,  are  much  broader  there,  than  in 
any  other  latitude, — that  30°  zone  represents  the  climatic 
conditions  of  a  larger  part  of  the  earth  than  any  other 
possible  zone  ;  and  being  also  the  parallel  which  has  in 
either  hemisphere  an  equal  amount  of  surface  between 
it  and  the  Pole  on  one  side,  and  between  it  and  the 
Equator  on  the  other,  it  cannot  help  being  somewhere 
very  near  to  a  golden  mean  between  the  far  too  hot 
tropics,  and  the  far  too  cold  arctic  and  antarctic  circles  ; 
— while  at  the  same  time  it  receives  more  sunshine, 
more  vivifying  influence  to  man  than  any  other  latitude, 
by  reason  of  its  paucity  of  clouds,  combined  with  the 
high  solar  altitude.  (See  the  Maps  in  my  "  Equal  Sur- 
face Projection.") 

That  paucity  of  clouds  in  latitude  30°. being  largely 
due  to  the  trade-wind  influence,  is  accompanied  by  a 


266  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

barometric  pressure  which,  in  that  latitude  and  at  the 
surface  of  the  sea,  reaches  there  its  terrestrial  onaximuTn, 
rather  than  mean  quantity  ; — ^but  then  come  into  play 
the  elevation  both  of  the  King's  Chamber  in  the  Great 
Pyramid,  and  of  the  Pyramid  on  its  own  hill-top,  which 
correct  that  small  excess  of  pressure ;  as  likewise  does 
the  same  elevation  fact,  the  rather  too  great  tempera- 
ture of  Egypt  generally,  for  the  Pyramid  Standard  ;  that 
land  being  situated  in  one  of  the  longitudes  rather  than 
latitudes  of  extra  development  of  warmth.* 

But  this  total  hypsometrical  elevation  of  4,297  inches 
above  the  sea  level,  corrects  the  King's  Chamber's  level 
of  atmospheric  mean  temperature,  to  what, — in  the  scale 
of  natural  temperatures  ? 

To  the  temperature  firstly  of  one-fifth  exactly  from 
freezing  to  boiling  of  water  ;  and  secondly,  to  the  mean 
temperature  of  all  the  anthropological  earth.  The  entire 
earth  has  a  surface  temperature  rather  lower  than  one- 
fifth  ;  but  such  entire  earth  includes  Polar  lands  in 
either  hemisphere  which  are  not,  and  cannot,  and  never 
will  be,  permanently  occupied  by  man.  Lands  too, 
which  with  their  long  Arctic  nights  ignore  the  Pyramid's 
very  first  and  foundational  teaching,  or  of  solar  days 
numbering  365*242  to  the  length  of  the  year. 

There  is  therefore  no  more  occasion  for  taking  those 
uninhabitable,  and  uninhabited,  lands'  temperatures 
into  account,  when  deciding  on  the  one  temperature  to 
which  all  living  men  shall  refer  their  science,  their 
metrology,  and  their  commerce,  than  for  our  most 
learned  meteorologists,  working  in  pleasantly  warmed 
rooms,  carrying  all  their  barometric  observations  away 
to  32°  Fahr.  actually;  while  our  good  friends  the 
Russians — who  know  what  cold  is  far  too  well  to  court 
it  unnecessarily — ^reduce  their  barometric  observations 

*  See  my  **  Treatise  on  Equal  Surface  Projection,"  1870. 


Chap.  XV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  267 

to  62°  Fahr.  ;  a  most  praiseworthy  approacli  to  the  68" 
Fahr.  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  but  without  any  cosmical 
reason  in  its  special  favour. 

And  on  making  such  very  proper  Polar  exception 
in  our  earth-surface  enquiry,  the  mean  temperature 
of  all  man-inhabited  countries  appears  to  be,  the  very 
same  beneficent  and  most  suitable  quantity  as  that 
of  the  Great  Pyramid ;  whose  system  of  numbers 
enables  us  now  to  express  its  standard  quantity 
of  i  of  temperature,  by  50°;  or  the  very  number 
already  made  out  as  specially  belonging  to  the 
King's  Chamber  itself,  where  temperature  reference  is 
most  required.  Hence  we  are  now  Pyramidically  justi- 
fied in  giving,  in  the  general  table  on  p.  268  (derived 
as  to  its  items  from  various  modern  sources  expressed 
in  Fahrenheit  and  Centigrade),  the  numbers  which 
would  be  read  off  for  those  phenomena,  so  important 
for  the  progress  of  civilization  and  man,  upon  any  well- 
graduated  Pyramid  thermometer  soon,  it  is  hoped,  to 
be  constructed. 


Angle. 

No  sooner  has  man  in  the  course  of  his  scientific 
development  begun  to  contemplate  the  skies,  than  he 
feels  the  necessity  of  having  angular,  as  well  as,  or  even 
rather  than,  linear,  measure  to  refer  to  for  distances ; 
and  the  same  demand  for  angular  measure  is  soon 
afterwards  experienced  in  each  of  the  purely  terrestrial 
sciences  as  well. 

Therefore  it  was,  that  the  French  savants  of  the 
Revolution  attempted  to  introduce  into  their  decimally- 
arranged  metrical  system  an  angular  graduation  where 
the  quadrant  contained  100,  and  the  whole  circle  400, 
degrees.  But,  after  trying  it  for  some  years,  they  had 
to  give  it  up  ;  for  the  influence  of  "  Great  Babylon," 


268 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  III. 


Temperatures  in  Pyramid  Thermometer  Degrees. 
Atmospheric  Pressure  =  30  inches,  except  when  otherwise  stated. 


Phenomena. 


Platinum  melts  . 
Wrought  iron  melts  . 

»>  >» 

Steel  melts 

>»         >? 
Cast  iron  melts  . 

„         grey,  melts 
„         white      „    . 
Grold,  pure,  melts 

,     alloyed  as  in  coinage 
Copper  melts 
Silver,  pure,  melts 

>>        »        >) 
Bronze  melts 
Sulphur  boils 
Antimony  melts 
Zinc  melts 

»        ?>  •         • 

Iron  visible  in  the  dark 
Mercury  boils     . 

Sulphuric  acid,  strong,  boils 

j>  »>  » 

Lead  melts 

Cadmium  .         . 

Phosphorus  boils 
Bismuth  m^lts    . 
Water  boils  under  20  atmo- ") 
spheres  .        .         . ) 

It  >»  15  ,, 

10  „ 

_5>  )>  5    ,, 

Spirits  of  turpentine  boils 
Acetic  acid  boils 
Sulphur  melts     . 
Water  boils 
Sodium  melts 
Benzol  boils 
Alcohol,  pure,  boils 

j>  »         » 

Stearic  acid  melts 
White  wax  melts 


Number 
on  Scale. 


5000 

4000 

3750 

3500 

3250 

3875 

3130 

2625 

3125 

2950 

2875 

2555 

2500 

2250 

1100 

1080 

1028 

900 

1000 

882 

875 

845 

812 

815 

788 

725 

575 

535 

500 
450 
381 
325 
290 
278 
250 
238 
200 
198 
195 
174 
170 


Phenomena. 


Number 
on  Scale. 


Wood  spirit  boils 
Potassium  melts 
Yellow  wax  melts 
Greatest  observed    shade ") 

temperature     .         .        j 
Stearine  melts    . 
Spermaceti  melts 
Summer    temperature    at  t 

Pyramid  .         .        j 

Ether,  common,  boils 
Blood  heat 
Butter  and  lard  melt 

Mean  temperature  at " 
Pyramid  temp.=T  i 

Mean  temperature 
both  of  alllands  in- 
habited by  man,  and 
of  the  most  suitable 
degree  to  man       •  ; 

Ether  boils 

Mean      temperature      of ") 
London  .         .         ) 

Low  winter  temperature 
at  Pyramid     . 

Water  freezes 

Freezing    mixture,    snow  "^ 
and  salt  .         .         .        j 

Sulphuric  acid  freezes 

Mercury  freezes 

Greatest  Arctic  cold  ex- 
perienced 

Greatest  artificial  cold, 
nitrous  oxide  and  car- 
bonic disulphide,  in 
vacuo 

Absolute  zero  (Miller's 
Chemistry) 

Theoretical  base  of  air 
thermometer,  or  air  occu- 
pying no  space  at  all ! 


Degrees. 
166 
158 
155 

139 

138 
122 

100 

92 

91-6 

82 


50 


28 
25 

20 

0 

—50 

—87 
—98 

-125 

-350 

-400 
-682 


Chap.  XV.] 


THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


269 


which  had  originally  invented,  and  then  fixed  on  the 
world,  our  present  sexagesimal  sj^stem,  or  360°  to  the 
circle,  and  60  minutes  to  the  degree,  was  too  powerful 
for  modern  Paris  to  contend  successfully  against. 

But  there  could  have  been  no  more  community  of 
feeling  or  idea  between  most  idolatrous  Babylon  and 
the  totally  non-idolatrous  Great  Pyramid  in  their 
goniometry,  than  in  their  methods  of  astronomical 
orientation,  which  we  have  already  seen  were  entirely 
diverse.  What  system,  then,  for  angle  was  employed 
at  the  Great  Pyramid  ? 

A  system  apparently  of  1,000°  to  the  circle ;  250°  to 
the  quadrant. 

This  conclusion  is  deduced  from  the  following  features 
at  the  Pyramid. 

(1.)  The  angle  of  rise  of  the  Pyramid's  flanks,  and 
the  angle  of  descent  or  ascent  of  its  passages,  are  both 
very  peculiar  angles,  characteristic  of  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid ;  and  though  rough  and  incommensurable  on  either 
the  Babylonian,  or  French,  or  any  known  vulgar  system, 
are  in  a  practical  way  evenly  commensurable  on  the 
Pyramid  system. 


Pyeamid  Featuee. 

System  of  Angle  Measubbs. 

Babylonian. 

French. 

Vulgar. 

Pyramid. 

A  whole  circumference 
Angle   of  side  with) 
horizon    .     .     .     .J 
Angle  of  passages 

360° 
60°  61'  14" 
26°  18'  10" 

400° 
67°-62 
29''-23 

32° 
4°-61 
2°-34 

1000° 
144°-05 
73°-08 

2.  Whereas  the  King's  Chamber  has  been  in  a 
manner  utilized  as  the  chamber  of  the  standard  of  50, 
and  the  Queen's  as  that  of  the  standard  of  25,  and  are 
both  of  them  witnessed  to  by  the  number  of  the 
Pyramid  courses  on  which  they  stand,  the  subterranean 


270  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

chamber  may  be  considered  the  chamber  of  angular 
measure  ;  and  does,'"*  at  its  centre,  view  the  whole 
Pyramid  side,  at  un  angle  of  75°  15'  \"  Babylonian, 
but  209°  "03  Pyramid.  And  though  there  are  now 
only  202,  there  are  shown  to  have  been  in  the  original 
finished  Pyramid  somewhere  between  208  and  212 
complete  masonry  courses  ;  or  agreeing,  within  the  limits 
of  error  of  those  researches,  with  the  angular  result  of 
209°. 

3.  And  then  there  follows  a  useful  practical  result 
to  Navigation,  and  its  peculiar  itinerary  measure,  the 
"  knot,"  or  nautical,  or  sea,  mile ;  viz.,  the  length  of  a 
mean  minute  of  a  degree  of  latitude. 

At  present  there  is  much  inconvenience  from  the 
large  difference  in  length  between  our  land  and  sea 
miles  ;  for  they  measure  63,360*  and  72,984*  inches 
respectively. 

But,  granted  that  a  Pyramid  knot  shall  be  1-2  5th 
part  of  a  Pyramid  degree, — then  the  respective  lengths 
of  a  Pyramid  land  and  a  Pyramid  sea  mile  will  be  the 
nearly  approaching  quantities,  in  inches,  of  62,500*  and 
62,995*. 

Money. 

The  French  metrical  system  included  "money ;  and 
its  francs,  issued  accordingly,  have  deluged  the  world 
to  such  an  extent,  that  when  a  prize  was  recently  pro- 
posed to  all  nations  by  the  British  sovereign,  for  a  cer- 
tain artistic  manufacture  to  be  competed  for  at  the 
South  Kensington  Museum  of  Science  and  Art,  the 
money  value  of  that  prize  was  publicly  advertised  in 
"  francs." 

Wherefore  many  inquirers  have  demanded,  "What 
about  money  on  the  Pyramid  system?" 

*  See  my  "  Life  and  Work,"  vol.  iii.  p.  209. 


Chap.  XV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  271 

I  can  only  answer  them,  that  I  have  not  been  able 
to  find  out  anything  about  that  subject  in  the  Great 
Pyramid. 

But  is  that  to  be  wondered  at  ?  Only  look  at  any 
piece  of  money  whatever  :  whose  image  and  superscrip- 
tion does  it  bear  ?  That  of  some  earthly  Caesar  or  other. 
Therefore  is  money  of  the  earth,  earthy ;  i.e.,  in  the 
sense  of  dust  and  ashes,  human  corruption  and  speedy 
passing  away.  But  all  the  Great  Pyramid  measures 
hitherto  investigated,  being  evenly  commensurable  in 
every  case,  either  with  the  deep  things  of  this  planet 
world,  or  the  high  things  of  heaven  above,  are  to  be 
considered  as  impressed  rather  with  a  typical  effigy  of 
some  of  the  attributes  of  the  creation  of  God  ;  and  we 
may  find  their  purity,  and  almost  eternity,  presently 
borne  testimony  to  by  a  closer  and  more  direct  link  of 
connection  still. 


Tvme. 

Time  is  an  admitted  subject  in  every  good  system  of 
metrology ;  and  yet  is  it  an  absolute  imponderable  ; 
one,  too,  of  which,  says  the  moralist,  we  take  no 
account  but  by  its  loss.  And  if  this  be  true,  how  all- 
important  for  us  to  know  *'  how  much  there  is  of  it ;" 
especially  how  much  still  remains,  of  that  finite  section 
already  told  off  by  the  Eternal,  to  witness  the  present 
manner  of  dominion,  perhaps  trial,  of  men  upon  the 
earth. 

Just  now  these  questions  are  above  unaided  man's  in- 
tellect :  and  though  the  metaphysicians,  following  up 
their  verbal  disquisitions  on  the  infinity  of  space,  desire 
to  tnake  out  also  an  absolutely  infinite  extension  of 
time,  and  that  both  for  time  past  and  time  to  come, — 
the  researches  of  the  scientists  are  more  to  our  purpose, 
for  they  dwell  rather  upon   the  unlimited  divisibility 


272  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  ill. 

of  time.  Divide  it,  for  instance,  into  ever  such  minute 
portions,  and  it  is  time  still ;  and  not  like  the  chemi- 
cal elements  of  matter,  which,  after  a  certain  amount 
of  subdivision,  exhibit,  to  the  mathematician,  their  com- 
ponent molecules  with  totally  different  properties  from 
what  are  possessed  by  larger  portions  of  the  substances. 

But  whether  time  be  long  or  short,  and  past,  future, 
or  even  present,  the  human  senses,  unassisted  by 
reference  to  the  material  world,  are  far  more  liable  to 
error  in  this,  than  in  any  other  branch  of  all*  metrology. 
To  some  men,  time  slips  away  almost  unheeded,  unim- 
proved, too,  until  the  end  of  life  itself  comes  ;  while 
with  others,  time  is  regarded  as  the  most  precious  of  all 
the  usable  gifts  to  men.  With  time  and  plenty  of  it, 
what  splendid  achievements  may  be  realized ;  and 
into  a  short  time,  how  much  can  be  packed  away.  While 
the  involuntary  action  of  our  thinking  system,  even 
exceeds  the  utmost  straining  of  our  voluntary  efforts  in 
matters  of  time  ;  so  that  a  single  second  between  sleep- 
ing and  waking  has  enabled  a  man  to  pass,  without  de- 
siring it,  through  the  multitudinous  experiences  of  a 
long  and  eventful  life. 

On  one  side,  again,  in  the  study  of  time,  the  Natural 
History  sciences  give  us  the  sober  biological  warning, 
that  man,  as  he  exists  now,  in  materially  uninterfered- 
with  possession  of  the  earth,  is  not  going  to  last  for 
ever ;  for  there  is  a  settled  length  of  time  for  the  whole 
duration  of  a  species,  as  well  as  the  single  life  of  an 
individual  therein.  But  on  the  other  side,  the  too  ex- 
clusive study  of  certain  of  these  very  sciences  has  led 
their  out-and-out  votaries,  in  late  years,  to  talk  more 
flippantly  of  time  than  of  anj^thing  else  under  the 
sun.  A  few  hundred  thousand  millions  of  years  ac- 
cordingly are  at  one  instant  created,  and  at  another 
destroyed,  or  at  another  still  totally  disregarded  by 
some  of  these  gentlemen,  accordingly  as  their  theories 


Chap.  XV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  273 

of  the  hour  prompt  them  :  and  it  is  only  the  astronomer 
who  stands  up  in  rigid  loyalty  to  this  real  creation  by 
God  alone,  and  tells  mankind  that  time,  is  one  only ; 
that  it  is  the  chief  tester  of  truth  and  error ;  and  even 
down  to  its  minutest  subdivisions,  it  cannot  be  dis- 
regarded. The  same  eclipse,  for  instance,  of  sun  by 
moon,  as  seen  from  the  same  place,  cannot  occur  at  two 
different  times,  only  at  one  time ;  and  that  one  epoch 
is  capable  of  the  sharpest  definition,  even  down  to  a 
fractional  part  of  a  second. 

To  astronomy  therefore  only,  of  the  modern  sciences, 
can  we  reasonably  look  for  some  safe  guidance  in  the 
practical  measuring  of  time. 

In  the  broadest  sense,  timfe  is  said  to  be  measured  by 
the  amount  of  movement  of  some  body  moving  at  an 
equable  rate.  And  the  most  equable  motion  by  far, 
the  only  motion  that  has  not  sensibly  varied  within  the 
period  of  human  history,  is,  I  might  almost  say,  the 
favourite,  and  fundamental.  Pyramid  phenomenon  of, 
the  rotation  of  the  earth  upon  its  axis. 

Not  that  even  ihit  movement  is  absolutely  uniform 
through  all  possible  time,  in  the  eye  of  theory  ;  but 
that,  tested  practically  in  the  most  rigid  manner,  or  by 
the  determination  of  the  length  of  a  sidereal  day,  no 
alteration  has  been  perceived  either  by  practical  or 
physical  astronomy  during  the  last  2,300  years.  The 
next  most  equable  movement,  too,  but  of  far  longer 
period,  is  a  secular  consequence  of  that  diurnal  rotation, 
combined  with  a  disturbing  element ;  producing  thereby 
the  "precession  of  the  equinoxes  ;"  whose  whole  cycle 
is  performed  in  about  nine  and  a  half  millions  of  these 
days,  or  turnings  of  the  earth  upon  its  own  axis  before 
a  distant  fixed  star ;  and  of  which  grand  cycle  not  more 
than  a  sixth  part  has  been  performed  yet,  within  all 
the  period  of  human  history. 


274  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

But  though  these  two  phenomena, — the  sidereal  day, 
and  the  precessional  period,  of  the  earth,  may  be  the 
grand  storehouses  for  reference  in  the  regulation  of  time 
for  high  science, — some  easy,  simple,  yet  striking  modifi- 
cation of  each  is  required  for  the  practical  purposes  of 
man  in  general.  And  then  comes  in  the  evident  pro- 
priety of  using,  for  the  shorter  period,  a  solar,  rather 
than  a  sidereal,  defined  day  ;  and  in  place  of  the  exces- 
sively long  precessional  period,  the  more  moderate  one 
of  a  year,  i.e.,  the  time  of  the  earth's  revolution  round 
the  sun  ;  though  that  is  a  movement  experiencing  many 
minute  perturbations ;  and  at  the  present  period  of  de- 
velopment of  the  universe,  is  by  no  means  a  nearly  even 
multiple  of  the  other  movement,  whether  we  define  the 
year  by  reference  to  eithei*  sidereal  cwm  solar,  or  purely 
solar,  phenomena. 


These  are  points  on  which  it  is  well  worth  while  to 
spend  a  few  more  words,  in  order  to  try  to  make  the 
case  clearer  to  those  of  our  readers  who  desire  it.  Let 
us  begin  then  with  the  days. 

As  the  sidereal  day  is  defined,  in  apparent  astronomy, 
to  be  the  interval  elapsing  between  a  star  leaving  the 
meridian  of  any  place,  through  the  earth's  diurnal  motion, 
and  returning  to  it  again  ( -h  an  excessively  small  correc- 
tion for  the  precessional  movement  in  the  interval) ;  so  a 
solar  day  is  the  time  elapsing  between  the  sun  being  on 
the  meridian  of  any  one  place  and  returning  to  it  again ; 
and  that  portion  of  time  is  equal  to  a  sidereal  day  -|-  the 
amount,  measured  by  the  rate  of  solar  motion,  that 
the  sun  has,  in  that  interval,  apparently  retrograded 
among  the  stars,  by  the  really  onward  motion  of  the 
earth  in  its  ceaseless  orbit  around  that  splendid  light 
and  heat-dispensing  sphere.  Hence  a  solar  day  is  longer 
than  a  sidereal  one,  and  in  such  proportion,  that  if  a 


Chap.  XV.]  THE  GREAT  PFRAMID,  i-js 

year  contain  365^  of  the  former,  it  will  contain  roughly 
366^  of  the  latter. 

When  absolute  diurnal  equality  is  required  from  day 
to  day,  the  solar  days  have  to  go  through  a  computation 
formula  to  reduce  them  from  real  solar  days  (as  they 
may  appear  to  an  observer,  and  therefore  also  called 
apparent)  to  Tnean  solar  days  ;  or  the  successive  places 
that  the  sun  would  occupy  in  the  sky  if,  in  place  of  the 
earth  revolving  in  an  elliptical  orbit  with  a  variable 
velocity,  it  revolved  in  a  circular  orbit  with  a  constant 
velocity,  the  time  of  a  whole  revolution  remaining  the 
same.  But  as  this  is  only  a  residual  correction, 
which  does  not  alter  the  beginning  or  ending  of  the 
year  at  all,  or  the  beginning  or  ending  of  any  day 
sensibly  to  the  mere  beholder  of  the  general  features  of 
nature, — we  may  at  once  contrast  the  sidereal  and  the 
solar  days  together,  as  to  their  relative  aptitudes  to 
promote  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number  of 
mankind. 

Of  the  beginning  of  a  sidereal  day,  then,  hardly  more 
than  a  dozen  persons  in  the  kingdom  are  aware ;  and,  as 
it  begins  at  a  different  instant  of  solar  time  each  day  (in 
the  course  of  a  year  passing  through  the  whole  24  hours), 
even  those  few  doctHnaires  can  only  inform  themselves 
of  the  event,  by  looking  at  their  watches  under  due 
regulation. 

But,  of  the  far  more  easily  distinguishable  beginning 
of  a  solar  day,  it  was  thus  that  a  devout,  though  not 
sacred  or  inspired,  poet  of  the  Talmud  wrote  centuries 
ago ;  and  he  will  probably  be  equally  heart-appreciated 
still  by  every  one  : — 

"  Hast  thou  seen  the  beauteous  dawn,  the  rosy  har- 
binger of  day  ?  Its  brilliancy  proceeds  from  the  dwell- 
ings of  God  :  a  ray  of  the  eternal,  imperishable  Hght,  a 
consolation  to  man. 

"  As  David,  pursued  by  his  foes,  passed  a  dreadful 


276  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  III. 

night  of  agony  in  a  dreary  cleft  of  Hermon's  rock,  lie 
sang  the  most  exquisitely  plaintive  of  his  psalms  : — '  My 
soul  is  among  lions  :  I  lie  in  the  dark  pit  among  the 
sons  of  men,  whose  teeth  are  spears  and  arrows,  and 
their  tongue  a  sharp  sword.  Awake  up,  my  glory, 
awake  lute  and  harp,  I  myself  will  awake  right  early.' 

*'  Behold  !  the  dawn  then  broke ;  heaviness  endured 
for  a  night,  but  joy  came  in  the  morning.  With  spark- 
ling eyes  '  the  hind  of  the  morning,'  the  soft  and  rosy 
twilight,  sprang  forth,  skimmed  over  hill  and  dale, 
bounding  from  hill-top  to  hill-top  further  than  one  can 
see  ;  and,  like  a  message  of  the  Deity,  addressed  the 
solitary  fugitive  on  the  sterile  rock  :  *  Why  dost  thou 
complain  that  help  is  not  near  ?  See  how  I  emerge 
from  the  obscurity  of  the  night,  and  the  terrors  of 
darkness  yield  before  the  genial  ray  of  cheerful  light ! ' 

"  David's  eye  was  turned  to  the  brightening  hue  of 
the  morn.  Light  is  the  countenance  of  the  Eternal. 
He  saw  the  day-dawn  arise,  followed  by  the  sun  in  all 
its  matutinal  splendour,  pouring  blessings  and  happiness 
over  the  earth.  Confidence  and  hope  returned  to  his 
soul,  and  he  entitled  his  psalm  in  the  Cave  of  Adullam, 
'  The  roe  of  the  morning,  the  song  of  the  rosy  dawn  ! '  " 

If  any  species  of  day,  then,  is  marked  in  the  Great 
Pyramid's  metrological  system,  is  it  likely,  after  what 
we  have-  already  seen  of  that  building's  kindly  feelings 
for  man,  and  its  general  objects  and  methods, — is  it 
likely,  I  say,  to  be  any  other  than  the  solar  day  (the 
mean  solar  day,  too,  if  it  be  represented  evenly  and 
always  by  a  cubit  length)  ? 

And  for  the  same  reason,  the  Pyramid  year  can  be  no 
other  than  the  mean  solar  tropical  year  ;  or  that  which 
is  defined  by  the  sun  returning  to  the  same  tropic  or 
place  of  turning  in  its  apparent  motion  in  the  sk}? 
bringing  on,   therefore,   the  winter  and    summer,    the 


Chap.  XV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  277 

typical  day  and  the  night  of  the  year,  in  the  same 
self-evident,  powerful,  beneficent  manner  to  all  mankind. 
And  of  the  previous  mean  solar  days,  in  such  a  solar 
tropical  year,  there  are  contained  at  present,  according 
to  modern  astronomy, 

=  365-242242  +  &c. 

=  365  days,  5  hours,  48  minutes,  49*7  -}-  &c.,  seconds ; 

a  length  nearly  25  seconds  shorter  than  the  similar 
year  in  the  time  of  the  Great  Pyramid.  A  difterence 
easy  to  write  down  on  paper,  but  not  practically  sen- 
sible to  men  in  the  ordinary  avocations  of  life.  But 
no  one  will  be  asked  to  decide  for  either,  which  kind  of 
day,  or  which  kind  of  year,  exists  in  the  Great  Pyramid 
Metrology, — without  documents  of  contemporary  date, 
and  enduring  kind  in  stone,  being  actually  discoverable 
there. 

The  next  succeeding  arrangement,  however,  of  time, 
in  all  metrological  systems,  after  days,  is  not  this  grand, 
natural,  yet  most  inconveniently  incommensurable,  one 
of  a  year ;  but  the  short,  and,  by  days,  perfectly  com- 
mensurable one  of,  a  week ;  commensurable,  however, 
not  by  5  or  by  10,  but  by  the  peculiar,  and  otherwise 
impressive,  number  7. 

Indeed,  the  week  of  7  days  is  something  so  important 
in  itself,  and  forms  so  decided  a  stage  of  time  whereon 
tradition  conflicts  with  science,  sacred  opposes  profane, 
and  the  Deistic  contends  with  the  rationalistic, — that  it 
may  be  prudent  for  us  to  return,  in  our  now  ensuing 
Part  IV.,  to  further  rigid  practical  examinations  of  the 
Great  Pyramid ;  endeavouring  thereby  to  read  off,  with- 
out prejudice,  what  that  primeval  monument  has  to  say, 
if  anything,  touching  the  voluntary,  as  well  as  the  natural, 
subdivisions  of  time  for  the  ruling  of  the  life  and  work 
of  man  while  on  his  trial  here. 


PAET  IV. 

MORE  THAN  SCIENCE, 


*'THU8    SAITH    the    lord    god;    I   "WILL    ALSO    DESTROY    THE    IDOLS     ( 
"BGYPt),  AXD  1  WILL  CAUSE  THEIR  IMAGES  TO  CEASE  OUT  OF  NOPH." 

EZEKIEL   XXX.,  13. 


CHAPTER   XYI. 

THE    SACRED    CUBIT    OF    THE    HEBREWS. 

Preliminary  Note. 

POINTEDLY  remarkable  as  is  the  assistance  already 
afforded,  as  in  Part  III,  chapter  xiv.,  to  the  grand 
Government  survey  of  Great  Britain,  now  in  course  of 
execution,  by  the  most  ancient,  and  almost  venerable, 
2  5 -inch  linear  standard  of  the  original  and  mysterious 
design  of  the  Great  Pyramid, — that  standard  is  'likely 
to  be  found  of  further  service,  and  even  invested  with 
peculiar  power  and  meaning,  in  other  of  our  national 
employments,  not  merely  of  the  present,  but  the  more 
important  future,  of  time  also. 

The  reasons  for  this  unexpected  resuscitation  of  one 
of  the  oldest  metrological  institutions  of  the  whole 
world,  are  partly  scientific,  and  partly  religious. 

In  science,  nothing  better  can  be  found.  For  this 
admirable  standard  may,  as  previously  indicated,  be 
described  as  one  twenty  millionth  of  the  earth's  axis, 
or  rather,  one  ten  millionth  of  the  earth's  semi-axis,  of 
rotation  ;  and  in  astronomy  distances  are  usually,  indeed 
almost  invariably,  given  by  semi- axes  or  radii,  and  not 
by  diameters,  of  the  various  globes  or  orbits  concerned.* 
The  distance  from  the  earth  to  the  sun,  for  instance, 

*  And  certainly  never,  as  in  the  boasted  scientific  French  system,  in 
terms  of  the  surface  of  any  globe  whatever. 


282  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

being  much  more  frequently  under  discussion,  tlian 
the  space  separating  the  earth's  two  positions  at  six 
month's  interval ;  and  it  is  in  such  a  radial  form 
that  the  general  problem  is  propounded  and  discussed 
by  all  mankind.* 

While  in  religion,  there  is  the  feature  about  this 
one  length  of  Pyramid  measure,  which  cannot  fail, 
when  fully  apprehended,  to  constitute  a  most  peculiar 
source  of  interest  with  some  of  the  best  minds  in  the 
world;  viz.,  that,  however  it  came  there,  i.e.,  in  the 
Great  Pyramid  in  the  land  of  Egypt  and  in  times  before 
the  calling  of  Abraham, — it  is  not  only  by  its  length 
the  representative,  or  equivalent,  of  the  sacred  cuhit 
of  the  Hebrews,  but  it  leads  us  to  an  understanding  of 
why  that  length  was  styled  amongst  them,  the  "  sacred  " 
cubit ;  and  why  we  may  so  call  it  likewise. 

Of  the  Cvhits  of  Ancient  Renown. 

The  mere  name  of  ''  cubit "  mounts  up  the  question 
at  once  to  the  beginning  of  human  affairs,  for  it  is  one 
of  the  earliest -named  measures  of  which  there  is  any 
notice.  Not  indeed  that  the  word  cubit  is  ancient  in 
itself ;  but  that  it  is  now  the  one  English  word  always 
used  by  our  translators  to  express  whatever  measure  of 
length  did  form  the  working  and  practical  standard  of 
linear  measure  to,  or  for,  any  and  almost  et'ery  nation 
in  the  ancient  world.  No  nation  could  exist  then, 
any  more  than  now,  without  having  some  standard  of 

*  The  distances  of  satellites  from  their  primary  planets  are  almost 
invariably  given  by  astronomers,  in  their  professional  publications,  in 
terms  of  radii  of  the  said  primaries  ;  the  moon's  distance  from  the  earth, 
for  example,  in  terms  of  earth  radii.  But  what  earth  radii  ?  Alas !  in 
equatorial  radii  which  vary  with  the  meridian,  and  are  not  the  radii  by 
which  the  said  distance  is  generally  determined. 

In  such  observations  it  is  almost  always  the  Polar  radius  which  is 
really  employed,  in  whole  or  in  part,  by  combining  the  meridian  measure? 
of  Pulkova  or  Greenwich  as  high  northern,  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
or  Melbourne  as  far  southern,  observatories. 


Chap.  XYI.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  283 

linear  measure  belonging  to  it ;  but  the  standard  of  one 
nation  was  no  more  the  necfessary  standard  of  another 
in  a  different  part  of  the  world  and  in  a  different  age, 
than  the  yard  of  the  British  Government,  or  two-foot 
rule  of  the  British  people,  is  of  the  same  length,  origi- 
nation, and  meaning,  as  the  metre  of  the  French 
nation,  the  Rhynland  foot,  or  the  Turkish  pike. 
National  standards  they  are,  all  of  them,  but  every  one 
of  a  different  length  from  the  other. 

Hence,  under  the  one  name,  convenient  perhaps  for 
modern  times  from  its  shortness,  of  cvJoit,  our  trans- 
lators have  heaped  together  a  number  of  totally  different 
measures  of  length,  conflicting  metrological  symbolisms, 
and  diverse  national  distinctions.  They  have  even  done 
worse  ;  for  most  persons  having  Latin  enough  to  derive 
cubit  from  cubitus,  the  elbow,  they  measure  off  18 
inches  from  their  own  elbow  somewhere  to  the  end  of 
the  middle  finger,  and  say,  whenever  the  "  cubit "  of 
any  time  or  any  nation  whatever  is  mentioned, — that 
was  the  length  of  their  standard  measure. 

Yet,  though  both  the  cubitus  of  the  Romans  and  Trrjxv^ 
of  the  Greeks  were  very  close  to  the  length  of  18 
inches,  the  standard  measures  of  other  and  older  nations 
were  very  different  in  length. 

What  names,  then,  were  they  called  by;  or  were 
there  different  names  for  different  lengths  of  national 
standards,  in  those  days  ? 

In  Egypt  the  standard  was  called,  from  2170  B.  c. 
to  100  A.  D.,  according  to  different  modem  Egypt- 
ologists, "mah,"  "meh,"  "  mahi,"  or  ''mai:"  and  sig- 
nified, according  to  W.  Osburn,  an  excellent  interpreter 
of  hieroglyphics,  "justified"  or  "measured  off." 

Amongst  the  Assyrians,  according  to  Mr.  Fox  Talbot 
and  Dr.  Norris,  their  standard  measure  was  generally 
termed,  in  the  age  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  or  700  B.  C, 
"ammat;"  and  in  more  ancient  times,  "hu." 


284  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  IV. 

Among  the  Hebrews,  again,  the  standard  measure 
was  called  "  ammah."*  There  is  discussion  still  amongst 
scholars  whether  this  was  the  original,  or  Mosaic  Hebrew, 
word,  for  the  thing  to  which  it  is  now  applied  ;  for  some 
authors  maintain  that  ammah  is  an  Assyrian  word,  and 
introduced  only  by  Ezra  when  he  was  recopying  the 
Scriptures  in  Babylon  during  the  captivity.  But  they 
cannot  prove  the  case  absolutely ;  and  meanwhile, 
although  there  are  some  who  will  have  it  that  the  word 
alludes  to  "the  fore  part  of  the  arm" — though  too  we 
are  assured  that  the  Hebrew  standard  was  of  a  totally 
different  length  from  such  part  of  the  arm — there 
are  others  who  maintain  that  the  word  rather  implies, 
"  the  thing  which  was  before  in  point  of  tione,"  the 
thing  which  was  "  the  first,  the  earliest,  the  '  mother ' 
measure,"  and  even  "  the  foundation  of  all  measure." 

But  these  disputations  of  the  philologists  are  not 
sufiicient  for  what  we  require  now  to  know ;  viz.,  what 
actually  were  the  lengths  of  the  several  linear  standards 
of  ancient  nations,  in  terms  of  modern  British  inches. 

Those  of  Greece  and  Rome  (mediaeval,  however,  rather 
than  ancient,  as  compared  with  the  times  of  the  Great 
Pyramid)  were,  by  practical  rather  than  philological 
inquiry,  18*24  British  inches  nearly,  every  one  allows. 

That  of  Egypt,  a  far  older  land  than  Greece  or 
Rome,  was  always  longer,  and  close  to  20*7  British 
inches,  by  almost  equally  unanimous  and  universal 
testimony. 

There  has,  indeed,  been  a  solitary  attempt  in  modern 
society,  during  the  last  four  years,  to  assert  that  there 
was  a  short  cubit,  of  the  same  length  as  the  Grecian,  or 
18-24  British  inches,  in  use,  and  in  great  honour  and 
prominence  too,  in  Egypt,  for  the  one  purpose  of  mea- 
suring land,  as  early  as  the  day  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

*  See  "  Edinburgh  Astronomical  Observations,"  vol.  xiii.  pp.  R  79  to 
R82. 


Chap.XVL]         the  great  pyramid.  285 

And  as  the  author  of  this  assertion  is  the  Director- 
General  of  the  Ordnance  Survey  of  Great  Britain  ;  and 
as  he  has  been  adopted,  supported,  and  followed  therein 
during  the  last  year  by  the  "  Warden  of  the  Standards  " 
of  our  country, — it  is  necessary  for  me,  a  private  author 
only,  in  metrology,  to  demonstrate  even  at  some  length 
the  total  baselessness  of  the  idea.  For  otherwise  these 
two  giants  absolutely  stop  the  way,  and  prevent  all 
further  progress  in  Great  Pyramid  research. 

The,  Old  Egyptian  Cubit ;  and  the  recent  attempt  to 
shorten  it. 

The  mistake, — for  actual  and  absolute  mistake  it 
undoubtedly  is, — seems  to  have  grown  up  thus.  The 
Director-General  of  the  Ordnance  Survey,  after  having 
twice  tried  and  failed  in  the  Athenceum,  to  establish 
(against  my  "  Life  and  Work  at  the  Great  Pyramid  ") 
two  other  reasons  for  accounting  for  the  length  of  the 
base-side  of  the  ancient  structure  (using  a  different  length 
with  each  of  them), — at  last  brought  out  a  third  length 
and  a  third  theory:  this  last  length  being  9,120  British 
inches,  and  its  accompanying  theory,  the  gratuitous 
statement  that  the  base  side  of  the  building  was  intended 
to  be  500  times  the  Egyptian  "  land-cubit."  And  if 
you  grant,  that  besides  the  well-known  cubit  of  old 
Egypt,  20  7  inches  long,  there  was  also  in  existence  at 
the  time  of  the  Great  Pyramid's  foundation  another 
cubit,  whose  length  was  18*24  British  inches, — evidently 
500  times  that  length,  does  make  up  9,120  of  the  same 
inches. 

But  that  length  on  paper,  for  the  Great  Pyramid's 
base-side,  was  only  obtained  by  most  improperly,  and 
even  dishonestly,  keeping  out  of  view  the  two  largest, 
and  perhaps  best,  of  the  socket  measures  of  the  Pyramid's 
base-side  length  ;  viz.,  those  of  the  French  academicians 


2S6  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

in  1800,  and  Colonel  Howard-Vyse  in  1887;  both  of 
which  measured-results  the  Director-General  had  before 
him  at  the  time  of  producing  his  new  theory,  together 
with  my  own  discussion  of  them  and  others.  While, 
as  for  the  same  high  officer's  assertion  that  there  was, 
besides  the  ordinary  207  inch  cubit,  also  such  a  thing 
as  a  land-cuhit  in  ancient  Egypt,  of  the  mediaeval 
Grecian  length  too  of  18*24  inches, — that  depended  on 
nothing  whatever  but  a  most  obstinate  mistake  of  the 
high  military  officer  when  reading  a  passage  in  Hero- 
dotus ;  which  passage,  in  reality,  says  nothing  of  the 
kind. 

Herodotus,  that  charming  relator  of  history  as  a 
pleasant  family  tale,  we  must  remember,  is  telling  his 
story  to  the  Greeks ;  and  amongst  other  particulars  of 
what  he  saw  in  Egypt,  informs  them,  of  an  allowance  of 
land  to  each  of  the  soldiers  there,  of  so  many  cubits 
square ;  to  which  account  he  appends  the  explanatory 
remark,  evidently  for  the  benefit  of  his  then  hearers, 
the  Greeks, — that  the  Egyptian  cubit  is  of  the  same 
length  as  that  of  Samos. 

This  is  positively  all  that  the  Director-General  of  the 
Ordnance  Survey  has  to  go  upon  :  and  it  will  be  observed 
that  there  is  no  allusion  in  the  passage  to  there  being  two 
cubits  in  use  in  Egypt ;  one  only  is  mentioned,  and  that 
one  cubit  is  stated  to  be  the  same  in  length,  not  as  the 
Greek  cubit,  but  as  that  of  Samos. 

In  fact,  there  is  no  case  whatever  for  the  great  survey- 
ing military  chief  at  Southampton ;  except  in  so  far  as 
he,  in  addition  to  the  above,  chooses  roundly  to  assert, 
— and  his  brother  giant,  the  Warden  of  the  Standards, 
to  support  him  in  the  assertion, — that  the  cubit  of  Samos 
was  just  the  same  as,  and  meant  therefore  nothing  but, 
the  Greek  cubit. 

Now,  as  there  is  nothing  whatever  of  ancient  authority 
existing  in  the  world,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  touching 


Chap.XVL]  the  great  pyramid.  287 

the  absolute  length  of  the  cubit  of  Samos  in  the  time  of 
Herodotus,  445  B.C.  (except  that  slight  verbal  compara- 
tive notice  of  his,  saying  that  it  was  the  same  as  the 
Egyptian,  rather  than  the  Greek),  we  must  endeavour  to 
ascertain  from  him,  himself,  what  lie,  Herodotus,  meant, 
— when  Ae  explained  to  a  Greek  audience  in  Athens,  that 
the  length  of  the  Egj^tian  cubit  was  the  same  as  the 
cubit  of  Samos.  Why,  for  instance,  did  he  not  say 
that  it  was  the  same  as  the  Greek  cubit,  if  he  meant 
the  Greek  cubit  ? 

By  turning  to  his  book  "  Thalia,"  55,  we  shall  find  that 
Herodotus  there  makes  a  Lacedaemonian  speak  of  the 
Samians  (in  their  isle  so  very  close  to  Asia  Minor  and 
so  far  from  Greece)  as  ''  foreigners."  And  again,  in 
'"Thalia,"  5  6,  he  himself  characteristically  speaks  of  a  siege 
of  Samos  by  the  Lacedaemonian  Dorians  as  "  their  (the 
Greeks')  first  expedition  into  Asia."  "  Words,"  says  the 
Rev.  Professor  Eawlinson,  "  which  are  emphatic.  They 
mark  the  place  which  the  expedition  occupies  in  the 
mind  of  Herodotus.  It  is  an  aggression  of  the  Greeks 
upon  Asia,  and  therefore  a  passage  in  the  history  of  the 
great  quarrel  between  Persia  and  Greece,  for  all  Asia  is 
the  king's  "  (i.  4)."^^ 

Samian,  then,  in  the  mind  and  feelings  of  Herodotus, 
eminently  meant  Asiatic  or  Persian,  the  antipodes  of 
everything  Greek ;  and  it  was  a  rather  delicate  way  of 
that  admirable  describer  telling  his  polite  Athenian 
audience,  that  the  cubit  of  the  strange  and  far-oft* 
Egyptians  he  had  been  travelling  amongst,  was  of  the 
same  length  as  that  of  their  hated  and  dreaded  foes, 
the  Persians  ;  but  without  offending  their  ears  by  the 
sound  of  the  detested  name.  For  Samos  was  but  a  poor 
little  island,   in   itself  altogether  innocent  of   making 

♦  See  also  "Edinburgh  Astronomical  Observations,"  vol.  xiii.  p.  II  70. 


788  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  IV. 

aggressions  on  such  a  combination  of  states  as  Greece ; 
and  since  its  invasion  by  the  Lacedaemonians,  was  much 
better  known  to  Greeks,  than  the  continental  and  some- 
what mysterious  country  of  the  Persians  themselves. 

Now,  the  Persian  cubit,  at  and  about  the  times  of 
Herodotus,  say  from  332  B.C.  to  600  B.C.,  according  to 
Dr.  Brandis,  of  Berlin,  (whose  investigations  into  the 
Babylonian  measures,  weights,  and  money  before  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  are  original  and  most  valuable),  was 
somewhere  between  20*866  and  20*670  British  inches. 

Don  Yincent  Queipo,  in  his  "  Metrology  "  (Yol.  I.,  pp. 
277-280),  makes  the  same  Persian  cubit  to  be  20*670 
inches  long.  M.  Oppert  establishes  the  same  length  for 
the  Babylonian  cubit  in  the  times  of  Darius  and  Xerxes. 
Dr.  Hincks  makes  the  cubit,  equally  too,  of  the  Baby- 
lonian, Persian,  and  Assyrian  empires,  chiefly  from  cunei- 
form inscriptions  iz=  21*0  inches.  All  of  them,  therefore, 
within  their  limits  of  error,  coinciding  sufficiently  with 
a  mean  length  of  20*69  inches  nearly,  for  the  Persian 
cubit  of  and  about  500  B.C.  And  that  cubit  length, 
we  may  be  sure,  the  said  Persians  established  in  Samos 
for  as  long  as  they  had  the  upper  hand  there  ;  seeing 
that  from  the  same  Herodotus  we  learn  (Book  YL, 
ch.  24),  that  no  sooner  were  the  Ionian  cities  under 
Histioeus  conquered  by  Artaphernes,  than  he  took  the 
measurement  of  their  whole  country  in  'parasangs  (a 
Persian  measure  of  length,  based  on  the  cubit)  and 
settled  thereupon  the  tributes  which  they  were  in  future 
to  pay. 

Hence  the  Samian  cubit  alluded  to,  was  no  other 
than  the  Persian  cubit  of  the  day  of  Herodotus ;  and 
that  cubit  being  of  the  length  of  20*69  British  inches  by 
universal,  modern  research,  we  may  immediately  see  how 
close  to  the  truth  the  Father  of  History  was,  in  declaring 
the  length  of  the  Egyptian  and  the  Samian,  i.e.,  Persian, 
cubits  to  be  the  same, — when  the  Egyptian  cubit  has 


Chap.XVL]         the  great  pyramid.  289 

been  found  by  all  modern  Egyptological  explorers  to  be 
within  a  few  tenths,  or  even  hundredths,  of  an  inch, 
the  very  same  quantity ;  or,  say  for  shortness,  20 '7 
British  inches. 

Thus  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  in  his  "  Manners  and 
Customs  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians"  (Vol.  IV.  pp.  24 
— 34,  third  edition,  1847),  expressly  declares  against 
the  idea  of  there  having  been  intentionally  two  difterent- 
lengthed  cubits  in  Pharaonic  Egypt ;  and  gives  the 
following  as  measures  of  accidental  variations  of  the 
one  and  only  Egyptian  cubit  belonging  to  any  period 
between  2200  B.C.  and  320  B.C.  : — 


20-47  British  inches. 

20-68 

»        )' 

20-62 

» 

) 

20-66 

»> 

> 

20-62 

V 

20-75 

>> 

> 

20-65 

»» 

> 

And  other  more  recent  measures  by  other  investigators, 
some  from  cubits,  and  some  from  ancient  monuments 
where  certain  parts  seemed  to  have  been  laid  out,  so 
as  to  be  even  multiples  of  2,  4,  or  more  cubits, — have 
yielded  2073  and  2066  British  inches. 

In  all  these  cases  then,  we  see  indeed  inevitable  small 
practical  variations,  but  only  of  one  and  the  same  cubit- 
length  ;  no  approach  is  manifested  to  the  Greek  and 
Roman  length  of  18-24  inches  ;  only  a  drawing  together 
round  about  a  most  notable  and  notorious  mean  quantity 
of  20 '7  inches;  and  that  tendency  too  was  just  as 
eminently  observed  in  Babylon,  Nineveh,  and  other 
Mesopotamian  cities  as  in  Memphis,  Heliopolis  or  Thebes, 
on  the  Nile. 

There  was  thus  something  equivalent  to  a  grand 
metrical  combination  among  certain  Eastern  nations  of 
early  times ;  a  combination  exceeding  in  its  extent  and 

u 


290  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IY. 

duration  all  the  spread  and  vital  powers  of  language 
and  race,  of  politics,  war  and  peace  amongst  them ;  in 
a  large  degree,  no  doubt,  because  the  metrical  matter 
concerned,  .was  bound  up  not  only  with  their  religions, 
but  with  the  one  primitive  foundation  of  all  those 
idolatrous  religions  alike. 

What  then  would  have  thought  any  of  those  nations, 
but  more  especially  the  Egyptians  (of  whose  spiritual 
life  we  know  most),  of  this  recent  most  uncalled  for 
attempt  by  an  Ordnance  Surveying  General  at  South- 
ampton and  a  Standards  administration  official  at 
Whitehall,  not  only  to  degrade  that  grand  20-7-inch 
standard  of  all  the  several  great  empires  of  the  ancient 
East,  but  incontinently  to  cut  it  down  to  the  petty 
size  of  the  long  subsequent  cubit  of  the  "  impure 
Greeks ; "  as  every  Egyptian  who  lived  down  to  their 
times  had  the  pleasure  of  terming  them.  What,  too, 
more  especially  would  have  thought  the  Egj^ptians, 
when  in  their  "  Dead  Book "  (the  souls'  vade  "mecu/m 
inserted  in  the  coffin  of  every  subject  of  Pharaoh), — 
there  appears  in  black  and  yellow, — the  most  distinct 
ejaculation  to  be  made  by  such  souls  when  standing 
before  the  Judge  of  the  dead ;  viz.,  "  I  have  not 
skortened  the  cubit."  And  when  one  of  the  first  sights 
which  "  a  justified  soul "  is  supposed  to  behold  after 
passing  the  terrestrial  bounds  is,  "  the  god  Thoth  with 
the  cubit  in  his  hand  "  ? '''' 

I  will  not  even  attempt  to  say  what  those  ancient 
Egyptians  would  have  thought  of  our  two  modern 
official  giants,  whose  carriages,  in  trying  to  stop  the 
way  of  Great  Pyramid  research,  have  done  them,  the 
Egyptians,  so  hateful  an  injury ;  for  I  am  horrified  to 
remember  the  Pharaonic  pictures  of  human  souls  sent 

*  See  **  Seven  Homilies,"  by  the  Eev.  J.  T.  Goodsir.  Appendix,  with 
translaticn  of  the  "  Dead  Book,"  by  W.  Osburn.  Williams  and  Norgate, 
1871. 


Chap.  XVL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  iqi 

back  from  heaven  to  earth,  in  the  bodies  of  pigs,  for 
far  lighter  offences  than  ''shortening  the  national  cubit." 


Origination  of  the  Profane  Cubit  of  the  East. 

A  particular  length,  then,  and  that  something  within, 
probably  or  even  certainly,  a  tenth  of  an  inch  of  20*7 
inches,  did  undoubtedly  and  intentionally  characterise, 
and  for  many  ages,  the  ancient  cubit  both  of  Egypt  and 
the  far  distant  Babylon,  Nineveh,  and  Persia,  together  with 
all  the  great  kingdoms  historically  arrayed  in  religion 
against  Israel ;  and  such  cubit  length  was  made  a  sacred 
matter  amongst  them. 

But  in  what  else  were  their  saxired  ideas,  i.e.,  chiefly 
of  Egypt  and  Babylon,  common  or  similar  ? 

That  very  part  of  the  "  Dead  Book  "  which  enables 
the  Egyptian  who  has  bought  it  from  his  priests,  to 
declare  in  words  ready  cut  and  dry  for  his  use,  that  he 
is  free  from  that  sin  (into  which  the  Ordnance  Surveyor 
and  the  Warden  of  the  Standards  have  in  these  latter 
days  tumbled  headlong),  viz.,  oi  shortening  the  cubit, — 
puts  a  long  string  of  other  declarations  into  his  mouth, 
protesting  him  to  be  also  perfectly  free  from  any  and  every 
other  possible  sin,  great  or  small,  that  was  ever  heard  of. 
And  whether  such  unhappy  being  also  believed  and 
trusted,  as  most  of  them  did,  in  idols  of  animal-headed 
gods,  of  whom  there  were  sometimes  more,  and  some- 
times less,  in  the  Egyptian  Pantheon,  all  that — dreadful 
as  it  is  for  human  beings  with  souls  to  be  saved,  and 
special  instruction  from  the  Creator — sinks  into  com- 
parative insignificance  before  this  unblushing  assertion 
of  absolute  self-righteousness.  For  that  principle  lasted 
through  all  their  varying  theogonies ;  and  not  only 
shows  the  innate,  settled  Cainite  direction  of  their 
thoughts,  but  their  continual  antagonism  also  to  the 
religion  of  Abel,  and  to  the  whole  Revelation  doctrine 


292  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

of  the  lost  condition  of  man,  with  the  consequent  Chris- 
tian necessity  of  an  atonement  by  sacrifice  and  pardon 
through  the  blood  of.  a  Mediator. 

All  this  doctrine  is  of  course  to  be  found  in  the 
Bible,  and  something  of  it  in  Josephus's  account  of 
Genesis  times  also ;  but  where  he  obtained  his  further 
particulars  of  Cain,  and  how  far  they  are  to  be,  or 
should  be,  trusted,  I  know  not.  Yet  they  are  pertinent 
to  the  present  question,  and  run  thus  ;  viz.,  that  after 
Cain's  expulsion  from  a  more  blessed  society,  and  after 
the  mark  was  put  upon  him,  he  went  on  from  one 
wickedness  to  another  until  he  at  last  invented  "  weights 
and  measures :"  not  so  much,  apparently,  that  they 
were  sinful  in  themselves,  but  that  Cain  employed  them 
as  instruments  of  rapacity  and  oppression  :  or  as,  in 
fact,  the  officers  of  the  Assyrian  king  afterwards  made 
use  of  them  in  exacting  cruel  tribute  from  conquered 
lands. 

In  self-defence  therefore,  implies  Josephus,  the  descen- 
dants of  righteous  Seth,  in  whose  line  afterwards  came 
Noah,  Shem,  Melchisedec,  Abraham,  and  Moses,  betook 
themselves  to  studying  astronomy,  with  the  special 
approval  and  help  9f  Almighty  God ;  and  when  they 
had  perfected  those  discoveries,  they  set  forth  from  their 
own  land  (which  was  probably  in  Mesopotamia),  to  the 
land  of  Siriad  (that  is  the  Siriadic,  or  Dog-star,  land  of 
Egypt),  and  inscribed  their  discoveries  there  on  two 
pillars,  one  of  stone  and  one  of  brick. 

They  did  not  therefore  seek  either  to  teach  or  enforce 
these  things  on  the  Egyptian  people  whom  they  found 
there  ;  they  merely  recorded  their  astronomical  dis- 
coveries in  their  own  way,  to  their  own  satisfaction  in 
that  land,  because  it  was  a  more  suitable  land  for  that 
purpose  than  their  own ;  and  they  recorded  them  by 
means  of  masonry,  most  certainly  illegible  to  all  un- 
scientific natives  around.    And  what  such  discoveries  in 


Chap.  XYI.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  293 

astronomy  could  have  been,  to  enable  them  to  have  a 
counter  effect  to  the  bad  weights  and  measures  of  Cain, 
unless  they  were  connected  with  a  principle .  of  earth 
and  heaven  commensurability  adapted  to  a  people's 
measures  in  length,  capacity,  and  weight,  leading  their 
souls  therefore,  and  thereby,  to  think  lovingly,  sym- 
pathetically, harmoniously,  and  Abel-like,  of  God, — it 
is  difficult  to  conceive. 

In  fact,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  things  said  to 
be  inscribed,  the  above  alluded  to  stone  pillar,  or  monu- 
ment (which  Whiston,  wholly  ignorant  of  hieroglyphic 
interpretation,  proposed  to  identify  with  a  Cainite 
obelisk  of  an  idolatrous  king  of  Egypt  in  Thebes  during 
the  19th  Dynasty), — can  be  no  other  than  the  Great 
Pyramid,  While  the  similar  hrick  monument,  erected 
by  the  same  Sethite  parties  (descendants  only  of  Seth 
through  the  Flood),  must,  if  ever  finished,  have  gone 
the  way  of  all  the  brick  pyramids  of  profane  Egypt ; 
viz.,  subsided  into  a  heap  of  decaying  mould. 

But  I  do  not  ask  any  one  to  dejpend  solely,  for  any 
one  important  thing,  on  Josephus ;  though,  from  the 
large  amount  of  accordance  between  him  and  the  Bible 
in  numerous  other  points,  it  would  not  be  wise  to  alto- 
gether reject  a  whole  argument  in  all  its  parts  and 
ramifications,  merely  because  it  is  found  in  Josephus 
and  in  no  other  preserved  writing  of  olden  times. 
The  passage,  however,  quoted  above,  does,  even  when 
considerably  pruned,  open  up  a  very  suggestive  view, 
of  a  metrological  contrast,  entirely  agreeable  with  Bibljcal 
characteristics,  though  depending  on  microscopic  re- 
finements only  understood  by  modern  science  within 
the  last  century.  It  tells  us,  I  venture  to  say,  of  a 
metrological  contrast  between  Cain  and  Abel  having 
been  carried  by  some  of  their  descendants  through  the 
Flood  :  and  of  these  parties  having  been  distinguished 
by  the  most  opposite  kinds  of  weights  and  measures. 


294-  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

And  when  we  further  find  by  later  researches  that  the 
anti-Israel,  and  decidedly  Cainite  nations,  spread  abroad 
even  from  the  Nile  to  the  Euphrates,  though  often  warring 
vehemently  with  each  other,  were  yet  banded  together 
to  employ  one  and  the  same  cubit  length  of  20 '7  inches, 
we  must  look  upon  that  measure  as  the  Cain-invented, 
Cain-descended,  cubit.  When,  too,  we  find  that  that 
length  is  totally  incongruous  to  the  measures  of  both 
the  earth  and  the  heavens,  and  not  evenly  in  any  way 
commensurable  thereto,  or  conforming  .therewith, — it 
opens  up  the  most  intense  anxiety  to  ascertain  whether 
the  cubit  of  the  descendants  of  Seth,  in  the  line  of 
Abraham,  and  representative  of  the  cause  of  righteous 
Abel,  had  any  of  the  admirable  earth-commensurability 
and  nature  harmonious  properties  which  have  been  dis- 
covered in  the  standards  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

The  Sacred  Cubit  of  the  Hebrews. 

And  here,  alas  for  the  Church  of  England  !  from  the 
time  of  Bishop  Cumberland  of  Peterborough,  down  to 
the  Bible  dictionaries  of  Kitto  and  Smith,  the  annotated 
Bibles  of  the  Government  printers,  and  the  maps  of  Jeru- 
salem prepared  for  the  Palestine  Exploration  Association 
by  the  Ordnance  Survey  establishment  at  Southampton. 
For  all  these  supposed  unquestionable  authorities  merely 
indicate,  lazily,  ignorantly  (both  as  Christians  and 
scientists),  "  The  Hebrew  measures  are  impossible  to 
find  out  by  the  mere  words  of  the  Bible,  so  we  go  to 
the  (Cainite)  Egyptians  :  and  take,  and  give  you,  their 
(self-righteous,  God-defying)  measures  as  representing 
(the  Inspired  sacredness  of)  the  Hebrew  !  "  And  such 
numbers  of  inches  too  as  these  blinded  men  give,  under 
that  guise,  are  more  often  derived  from  mediseval  or 
Grecianised,  but  still  idolatrous,  Egypt,  than  the  Egypt 
of  her  most  ancient,  or  even  Exodus,  day. 


Chap.  XVI.]  THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID,  295 

In  this  dilemma  of  the  flock's  desertion,  or  misleading, 
by  its  proper  shepherds,  how  thankful  should  we  be, 
that  it  pleased  God  to  raise  up  the  spirit  of  Newton 
amongst  us  ;  and  enabled  him  to  make  it  one  of  the  most 
important  discoveries  of  his  riper  years — though  the 
opposition  of  the  Church  of  England  has  caused  it  to 
remain  unread  almost  to  the  present  day, — that  while 
there  undoubtedly  was  in  ancient  times  a  cubit  of  20 '7 
inches  nearly,  characterising  the  nations  of  Egypt,  Assyria, 
Babylonia,  and  Phoenicia,  and  which  cubit  Newton  calls 
unhesitatingly  ''  the  profane  cubit ;  "  there  was  another 
which  he  equally  unhesitatingly  speaks  of  as  the  sacred 
cubit ;  and  shows  that  it  was  decidedly  longer  than  the 
above,  and  most  earnestly  preserved,  treasured  up,  and 
obeyed,  among  some  very  limited  branches  of  the  house 
of  Shem.  The  exact  date  of  its  promulgation  Newton 
does  not  attempt  to  fix,  but  alludes  to  the  certain  fact 
of  its  having  become  the  "  proper  and  principal  cubit  " 
of  the  Israelites,  long  before  they  went  doivn  to  Egypt^ 

Now  the  precise  size  of  this  remarkable  cubit,  and 
which  seems  eventually  to  have  remained  in  the  sole 
possession  of  the  Hebrews,  and  to  have  been,  after 
the  Egyptian  captivity,  employed  by  them  for  sacred, 
Biblically  sacred,  purposes  only,  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
attempts  to  ascertain  in  various  modes  thus  : — 

1 .  By  notices  from  Talmudists  and  Josephus  in  terms 
of  Greek  cubits,  which  on  calculation  give,  as  limits, 
something  between  31 '24  and  24 '30  British  inches. f 

2.  From  Talmudists  by  proportion  of  the  human 
body,  giving  as  limits,  from  27*94  to  2328  British 
inches. 

3.  From  Josephus' s  description  of  the  pillars  of  the 
temple,  between  27*16  and  23*28  British  inches. 

*  See  "  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  Dissertation  on  Cubits,"  reprinted  in  vol.  ii. 
of  my  "  Life  and  Work  at  the  Great  Pyramid." 

t  On  the  mean  determination  by  many  authors  that  1  Attic  foot  =  12*16 
British  inches ;  and  one  lloman  uncia  =  0*97  British  inches. 


296  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  IV. 

4.  By  Talmudists  and  "  all  Jews' "  idea  of  a  Sabbath 
day's  journey  between  27'16  and  23*28  Britisli  inches. 

5.  By  Talmudists'  and  Josephus's  accounts  of  the 
steps  to  the  Inner  Court,  between  26*19  and  23*28 
British  inches. 

6.  By  many  Chaldaic  and  Hebrew  proportions  to  the 
cubit  of  Memphis,  giving  24*83  British  inches.     And, 

7.  From  a  statement  by  Mersennus,  as  to  the  length 
of  a  supposed  copy  of  the  sacred  cubit  of  the  Hebrews, 
secretly  preserved  amongst  them,  concluded  =  24*91 
British  inches. 

Now  in  all  these  seven  methods  any  one  may  observe 
that  that  heathen  length  of  Egypt  and  Babylon,  viz., 
20*7  inches,  has  no  standing-place  whatever;  neither 
beside  the  single  determinations,  nor  within  the  widest 
limits  of  the  double  determinations.  What  is  indicated 
by  the  numbers,  appears  to  be, — either  24  inches  with 
a  large  fraction  added  to  it,  or  25  inches  with  a  small 
fraction,  or  something  between  the  two  ;  and  if  we  say 
25  inches  with  an  uncertainty  of  a  tenth  of  an  inch 
either  way,  depending  on  the  rudeness  of  the  references, 
we  shall  probably  be  borne  out  by  every  one  who 
examines.  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  original  paper  ably,  care- 
fully, and  without  prejudice. 

Most  triumphantly,  then,  ended  Sir  Isaac  Newton's 
researches,  in  showing  that  the  cubit,  or  rather  the 
linear  standard,  of  that  peculiar  people  who  were 
religiously  representative  of  Abel,  was  absolutely  and 
totally  different,  in  the  radical  and  governing  feature  of 
length,  from  the  cubit,  or  linear  standard  of  all  the 
unhappily  numerous  and  powerful  empires  representing 
Cain,  in  the  ancient  world.  And  there  he  stopped.  But 
now,  with  the  new  ideas  opened  up  by  John  Taylor 
from  his  researches,  literary  though  they  were  only,  at 
the  Great  Pyramid,  we  find  that  a  length  of  25*025 
British  inches,  or  a  length  abundantly  within  the  limits 


Chap.  XVL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  297 

of  the  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  Sir  Isaac  Newton's 
numbers  for  the  Hebrew  sacred  cubit, — is  not  only 
earth  commensurable,  but  earth  commensurable,  and 
nature  harmonious,  according  to  Sir  John  Herschel,  in 
the  best  conceivable  manner ;  or  with  the  earth's  astro- 
nomical axis  of  rotation.  So  accurately,  too,  and  in  so 
difficult  a  subject,  that  as  we  have  already  shown  in 
the  first  part  of  this  book,  no  such  conclusion  could 
have  been  intentionally  arrived  at  by  any  race  or  nation 
of  men  in  the  early  age  when  the  Great  P^^amid  was 
founded, — without  their  being  favoured  by  some  super- 
human and  supranatural,  that  is.  Divine,  assistance. 

That  the  Hebrew  race  would  have  received  such 
assistance  from  the  Almighty,  if  they  really  needed  it, 
no  true  believer  in  the  Bible  will  doubt  for  a  moment. 
And  now  when  we  find,  and  shall  afterwards  be  able  to 
confirm  from  other  sources,  that  they  had  the  very  thing 
amongst  them  which,  as  the  highest  modern  science 
testifies,  could  only  have  been  a  supranatural  gift  in  that 
age,  the  further  question  is  answered,  as  soon  as  it 
arises, — viz.,  whether  the  gift  may  really  after  all  have 
come  to  them  in  the  manner  indicated  by  Josephus  ; 
i.e.,  through  primeval  Divine  assistance  accorded  to 
Seth,  as  represented  in  his  earlier  descendants  ;  and 
that  it  was  granted  to  them,  not  merely  to  improve 
them  in  astronomy,  but  also  to  strengthen  them  against 
the  religiously  opposed  descendants  of  Cain. 

Now  the  Egyptians  were  Cainites,  not  only  from  what 
has  already  been  shown  from  their  own  "  Dead  Book," 
but  from  Biblical  history  indicating  that  they  had,  like 
Cain,  refused  the  sin-offering  lying  at  the  door,  and 
had  scornfully  banded  themselves  together  to  consider 
the  Divinely-appointed  means  of  reconciliation  "an 
abomination  unto  them."  '^  Therefore,  when  Israel  was 
in  Egypt,  Abel  and  Cain  tjqDically  met  once  again,  and 
*  John  Taylor's  •«  Great  Pyramid,"  p.  217. 


298  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

we  all  know  with  what  results  of  cruelty  within  the 
power  of  Cain  to  inflict.  We  also  know  in  a  parallel 
manner,  by  metrological  research,  that  that  Mizraite 
edition  of  Cain  held  then,  and  continued  to  hold 
through  all  his  national  existence,  to  his  20*7  inch 
standard  measure  ;  while,  through  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
the  astounding  information  first  came,  that  the  Hebraite 
Abel  at  the  same  time  likewise  kept  true,  through 
all  his  persecutions,  to  his  oppositely  derived,  Seth- 
descended,  25*025  inch,  better  standard. 

These  two  opposing  standards,  therefore,  clashed 
together  in  Egypt,  B.C.  1500,  and  God  gave  the  victory 
in  the  end  to  Abel's. 

But  they  met  together  again,  as  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
himself  points  out,  after  the  Exodus,  and  even  in  the 
very  presence  of  the  Tabernacle  in  the  wilderness ;  for 
the  Israelites  would  employ  the  Egyptian  cubit  of  20 '7 
inches  long  for  many  of  their  ordinary  purposes  ;  though 
Moses  was  always  most  precise,  and  apparently  successful, 
in  seeing  that  in  their  sacred  work  they  employed  only 
their  sacred  cubit,  i.e.,  "  the  cubit  of  the  Lord  their 
God;"  viz.,  the  earth-axis  commensurable  cubit  of 
25-025  inches  long.  ;. 

The  Mixed  Presence  of  the  Two   Cubits,   Sacred  and 
Profane. 

But  it  may  be  asked.  Why  did  the  Israelites  con- 
tinue to  employ  two  cubits  ?  If,  as  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
states,  they  brought  their  own  sacred  cubit,  which  they 
had  possessed  of  old,  down  with  them  into  Egypt,  pre- 
served it  when  there,  and  took  it  out  with  them  again, 
— why  was  that  one  not  enough  for  all  their  purposes  ? 

The  first  answer  to  this  question  is  by  Sir  Isaac  him- 
self. 

"  They,  the  Hebrews,  brought,"  says  he,  "  their  own 


Chap.  XVL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  299 

sacred  measure  to  Egypt  with  them ;  but  living  for 
above  two  hundred  years  (four  hundred  according  to 
some  chronologists)  under  the  dominion  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, and  undergoing  a  hard  service  under  them, 
especially  in  building,  where  the  measures  came  daily 
under  consideration,  they  must  necessarily  learn  the 
Egyptian  cubit." 

The  second  answer  is,  "  Did  the  Israelites  succeed  in 
freeing  themselves  at  the  Exodus  from  every  other 
taint  and  sin  of  the  Cainite  people  they  had  been 
sojourning  amongst  ?  Nay,  indeed,  were  they  free  from 
the  sins  of  many  innate,  born,  and  predestined  Cainites 
among  themselves  ?  Search  the  Scriptures,  and  the 
answer  comes  up  too  plainly. 

It  was  not,  apparently,  the  purpose  of  God  to  create 
even  his  chosen  people  absolutely  immaculate  ;  or  to 
make  it  impossible  for  them  to  sin,  even  if  they  should 
try.  Therefore  was  it  that  temptations  to  evil  (though 
in  a  measure  only)  were  left  to  prove  them  ;  and  amongst 
other  forms  of  seduction,  the  insidious  Cainite  207- 
inch  cubit,  as  well  as  the  true  cubit  of  Abel  of  the 
25-025-inch  length. 

Now,  exactly  as  these  two  cubits  were  contending 
with  each  other,  and  either  ensnaring  or  saving  men's 
souls  in  the  very  camp  of  the  Israelites  ruled  by  Moses, 
so  is  it  still  in  that  wondrous  erection  in  Egypt,  the 
Great  Pyramid,  to  this  day. 

Sir  Isaac  Newton  showed  from  the  measures  of  Pro- 
fessor Greaves  in  1638,  that  various  minor  parts  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  were  laid  out  in  terms  of  the  20*7  inch 
cubit  of  Memphis,  i.e.,  the  Cainite  cubit  sacred  to  Egypt 
but  profane  to  the  Israelites  ;  and  I,  having  gone  over 
some  parts  of  the  Pyramid,  measuring-rod  in  hand,  have 
testified,  in  Vol.  II.  p.  340  of  my  ''  Life  and  Work," 
that  Sir  Isaac  Newton  is  there  perfectly  correct ;  and 
the  instances  may  partly  have  been  brought  about  by 


300  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pabt  IV. 

the  necessity,  even  of  a  Seth-descended  architect  of  the 
Great  Pyramid,  employing  the  idolatrous  natives  of 
Egypt  with  their  one  and  only  cubit  familiar  to  them, 
as  his  working  masons  and  mere  hodmen  in  the  great 
work  whose  ultimate  object  and  purpose  they  were  per- 
fectly ignorant  of,  and  would  have  opposed  if  they  had' 
known. 

But  that  does  not  destroy,  nay,  it  rather  rivets  atten- 
tion to,  the  grander  Pyramid  fact  which  had  escaped 
the  understanding  of  all  mankind  until  after  the  days 
of  John  Taylor ;  (escaped  them,  too,  though  it  was 
prominently  in  their  midst,  and  with  nothing  to  hide 
it  from  any  one,  even  from  the  beginning  of  history)  ; 
viz.,  that  if  you  subdivide  the  base-side  length  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  by  the  number  of  days  in  a  year,  you 
obtain,  by  such  application  of  an  astronomical  time- 
measure, — the  sacred  Hebrew,  earth- commensurable, 
aTi^i-Cainite  cubit,  and  find  that  Sethite  rod  to  be  a 
ruling  feature  of  the  ultimate  design  of  the  whole  vast 
fabric. 

T}ie,  Sacred  in  Time,  as  well  as  Space.  ' 

Now  this  conjunct  employment  in  the  Pyramid,  of 
sacred  measures  of  length  and  true  measures  of  time,  is 
all  the  more  noticeable,  because  during  their  national 
slavery  to  the  hardest  of  taskmasters,  the  Israelites  got 
inevitably  into  the  way  of  using,  for  secular  purposes, 
something  else  besides  the  profane  measures  of  length 
of  the  Egyptians ;  for  they  adopted  their  imperfect 
mode  of  measuring  time  as  well,  or  of  telling  off  the 
days,  first  by  lunar,  and  then  by  reputed  solar  months. 

Yet  of  all  the  Mosaic  institutions,  nothing  is  better 
appreciated,  in  our  country  at  least,  than  that  Moses 
contended  gloriously  with  his  countrymen  for  the  non- 
Egyptian  time-measure  of,  a  week  of  six  days,  followed 
by  a  Sabbath  of  rest ;  and  that  he  so  contended  because 


Chap.  XVL]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  301 

such  a  time-measure  was  an  original  ordinance,  not  of 
man,  but  of  the  Lord  his  God,  and  to  be  observed  by  the 
faithful  and  God-fearing  of  mankind  for  ever  and  ever. 

Has  the  Great  Pyramid,  then  (Sethite  as  we  may  call 
it  now,  though  not  Mosaic),  any  allusions  to  that  most 
distinguishing  time-measure  of  Kevelation,  the  week,  as 
it  is  in  the  Bible  ? 

Alas  !  how  little  do  we  yet  know  of  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid :  and  how  much  there  is  still  to  learn.  To  learn 
indeed;  but  not  from  our  many  modern  Egyptologists, 
as  they  proudly  call  themselves.  For  surely  by  this 
time  we  should  have  acquired  a  wholesome  fear  of  those 
who,  instead  of  studying  the  Great  Pyramid  from  a 
truly  religious  and  Christian,  or  any,  point  of  view,  have 
rushed  headlong  into  a  Cainite  desire  to  know  more 
about  the  sanctified  bulls  and  cats,  crocodiles  and 
ibises,  snake  and  beetle  gods,  and  all  the  other  un- 
holy holies  of  that  impure  Egyptian  nation  ; — a  people 
answering  more  closely  than  any  other  to  St.  Paul's 
description  of  the  ancient  world ;  as  composed  of 
those,  who  are  without  excuse, — because  that,  "when 
(in  primeval  and  patriarchal  times)  they  knew  God, 
they  glorified  Him  not  as  God,  neither  were  thankful ; 
but  became  vain  in  their  imaginations,  and  changed 
the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God  into  an  image  made 
like  to  corruptible  man,  and  to  birds  and  four-footed 
beasts  and  creeping  things.  A  people  who  changed  the 
truth  of  God  into  a  lie,  and  worshipped  and  served 
the  creature  more  than  the  Creator,  who  is  blessed  for 
ever.     Amen." 

To  those,  then,  who  are  happily  freed,  but  not  by 
human  learning,  from  this  dreadful  hankering  of  modern 
Egyptological  scholars,  and  keepers  of  Egyptian  museum 
galleries,  to  become  wise  in  old  idolatry,  — how  grandly 
rise  in  noble  aspirations,  the  thoughts  of  any  fair,  honest 
mind,  on  merely  beholding  the  external  mass  of  the 


302  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

Great  Pyramid  !  For  thus  writes  a  recent  traveller,  a 
plain  and  simple  style  of  working-man  almost,  but  with 
the  higher  feelings  which  spring  from  Christian  edu- 
cation and  the  improving  sentiments  which  labour  of 
head  and  hand,  in  company  with  his  brother  men  in 
an  appointed  path,  irresistibly  teaches, — thus  he  writes, 
(without,  however,  as  might  too  probably  be  expected  in 
a  stranger,  unfurnished  with  any  scientific  instruments 
of  measure,  sufficiently  distinguishing  the  Great  Pyramid 
from  the  other  pyramids,  its  copies  without  souls,  or 
minds  either,  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood)  : — 

"  To  view  them  merely  as  gigantic  monuments  is  a 
novelty  productive  of  impressions  of  sublime  grandeur, 
of  which  words  fail  to  convey  any  accurate  conception  ; 
but  when  they  are  viewed  in  connection  with  the  history 
of  the  human  race,  as  older  than  the  oldest  records,  and 
marked  with  the  antiquity  of  those  ages  long  gone  by, 
when  the  earliest  of  the  patriarchs  entered  Egypt,  the 
mind  becomes  absorbed,  and  I  felt  as  though  I  could 
have  lain,  not  for  hours  only,  but  even  for  nights  and 
days,  indulging  in  the  sight  of  the  greatest  of  these 
pyramids."  "  With  the  Hebrews,  to  look  back  beyond 
the  time  of  Abraham,  was  deemed  a  glimpse  of  eternity ; 
and  the  passage,  "  Before  Abraham  was'  I  AM,"  is  at 
once  presented  to  the  mind  in  connection  with  this  view. 
Yet  even  in  Abraham's  time,  it  is  supposed  that  these 
pyramids  were  works  of  venerable  antiquity."  ^'^ 

True,  most  true  ;  and  in  the  Great  Pyramid  we  have 
found  enshrined,  established  in  the  solid  architecture, 
but  yet  unseen  from  those  pre-Abrahamic,  down  to 
these  latter  days,  that  identical  sacred,  earth-commen- 
surable, measure  of  space,  which,  according  to  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  the  leaders  of  the  Hebrew  race  had  received 
long  before  they  went  down  to  Egypt. 

*  **  Notes  on  Egypt,"  by  T.  Sopwith,  Esq.,  C.E.,  privately  printed. 


Chap.XVL]  the  great  pyramid,  303 

Is  it  possible,  then,  let  us  fear  not  to  ask  again,  that 
any  allusion  to  the  earliest  written  Divine  command, 
the  measuring  of  time  by  a  sabbatical  week  of  seven 
days,  may  be  found  in  that  grandest,  and  most  purely 
Sethite,  of  stone  records  also  ? 

Search  may  be  made  ;  but  even  the  best  of  us  should 
pray  in  the  course  of  it,  to  be  guarded  against  being 
led  away  by^mere  coincidences,  by  mistaken  observa- 
tions, and  even  intended  stumbling-blocks  and  rocks  of 
offence  :  for  surely  things  exist  in  the  Great  Pyramid 
very  much  as  they  do  in  the  world  outside,  and  even 
as  they  did  in  the  sacred  camp  of  the  Tabernacle  under 
Mount  Sinai  itself, — to  try  us,  and  prove  whether  our 
faith  be  correct  as  well  as  strong. 


30+  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 


CHAPTER  XYII. 

"  TIME   MEASURES    IN    THE    GREAT   PYRAMID." 

ON  this  important  question  there  is  but  one  mode  of 
inquiry,  viz.,  attention  to  the  measures  of  the  whole 
and  its  parts  ;  coupled  with  the  quality  of  the  work  con- 
cerned, and  followed  by  the  theory,  whatever  that  may 
ultimately  prove  to  be,  which  explains  the  greatest 
number  of  facts. 

Now  one  ifime-measure  has  already  been  indicated  in 
the  circumstance  that  the  sacred,  Hebrew,  or  pyramid 
cubit  is  of  such  a  length  that  it  measures  the  base-side 
of  the  Great  Pyramid  by  the  number  of  days,  and  frac- 
tions of  a  day,  in  a  year  ;  while  another,  includes  a 
practical  demonstration  of  our  modern  leap-year  arrange- 
ment in  the  exhibition  of  the  four  sides,  or  years,  which 
make  up  a  cycle  of  years  complete  to  a  day ;  or,  as  the 
symbolism  of  the  ante-chamber  indicates,  almost  a  day  ; 
for,  of  the  four  grand  grooves  there,  of  which  three  are 
hollow,  and  the  fourth  only,  filled,  that  fourth  one  is  not 
equal  in  breadth  to  the  other  three.      (See  Plate  X.) 

But  a  still  grander  time-measure  is  obtained  by  view- 
ing the  whole  Pyramid's  base  periphery  in  the  light  of 
its  equivalent  circle,  struck  with  a  radius  equal  to  the 
vertical  height  of  the  Pyramid ;  w^hich,  by  its  sun-distance 
commensurability,  symbolises  the  sun  in  the  centre  of 
that  circle ;  for  then  ♦the  interval  of  twenty-four  solar 
hours,  or  the  time  elapsing  between  the  sun  apparently 


Chap.XVIL]        the  great  pyramid,  305 

leaving  the  meridian  of  any  place  and  returning  to  it 
again,  by  virtue  of  the  rotation  of  the  earth  on  its  axis 
before  the  sun,  i.e.,  a  mean  solar  day, — is  measured  off 
on  that  circle's  circumference  by  100  pyramid  inches 
evenly. 

French  Savants  on  the  Passages  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

But  if  the  time  symbolism  of  the  exterior  of  the 
Pyramid  is  thus  clear  and  simple  enough,  that  of  the 
interior  presents  many  difficulties. 

The  entrance  passage  has  indeed  already  been  else- 
where shown  to  be  connected  with  the  meridian  transit 
of  a  circum-polar  star ;  but  why  did  the  builders  make 
both  that  passage  and  the  first  ascending  passage  so 
excessively  low,  that  a  man  can  hardly  pass  through 
them,  even  crawling  on  his  hands  and  knees  ;  and 
another,  the  Grand  Gallery,  so  astonishingly  high,  that 
the  blazing  torches  of  Arab  guides  seldom  suffice,  in  its 
mere  darkness  rendered  somewhat  visible,  to  show  the 
ceiling  to  wondering  visitors  ! 

No  approach  to  a  sufficient  answer  to  these  questions 
has  yet  been  given  anywhere  ;  and  all  that  violent,  and 
apparently  unreasonable,  contrast  of  heights,  remains 
the  most  mysterious  thing  in  its  origin,  at  the  same 
time  that,  in  its  existence,  it  is  one  of  the  best  ascer- 
tained facts  about  the  whole  Great  Pyramid. 

The  French  Academicians,  even  in  their  day,  en- 
larged much  and  learnedly  on  the  circumstance ;  but 
could  neither  solve  that  nor  many  other  points,  about 
both  the  Grand  Gallery  and  the  smaller  passages. 
Almost  in  despair  at  last,  but  the  despair  of  an 
honest  and  well-read  man,  unashamed  to  confess  the 
truth  that  such  a  case  was  too  difficult  for  him, 
— M.  Jomard  exclaims  at  p.  198,  ''  Description  do 
I'Egypte,"  "  Everything  is  mysterious,  I  repeat  it,  in  the 

X 


3o6  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

construction  and  distribution  of  the  monument ;  the 
passages,  oblique,  horizontal,  sharply  bended,  of  different 
dimensions!"  And  again,  at  p.  207  of  "Antiquit^s, 
M^moires,"  ''  We  are  not  at  all  enlightened  either  upon 
the  origin,  or  the  employment,  the  utility,  or  any  motive 
whatever,  for  the  gallery  and  various  passages  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  ;  but  do  we  know  anything  more  either 
about  the  well,  or  much  rather  about  the  28  square 
holes  or  cavities  worked  with  skill  alon^  the  sides  of 
the  high  ascending  gallery  ? " 


'& 


Professor  Greaves  describes  the  Passages  of  the  Great 
Pyramid. 

Where  so  many  great  men  have  failed,  we  must  pro- 
ceed with  caution  indeed  ;  and  commencing  therefore  at 
the  beginning,  with  what  has  been  known  to,  and  con- 
fessed by,  most  travellers  for  ages,  I  will,  at  present, 
merely  call  attention  to  the  extraordinary  pains  that 
were  taken  by  the  original  builders  with  the  structure 
of  all  these  passages. 

Even  with  the  first,  or  entrance  passage,  the  most 
used  and  abused  of  the  whole,  both  in  mediaeval  and 
modern  times, — yet  the  regularity  and  beauty  of  its 
fabric  composed  of  whiter,  more  compact,  and  homo- 
geneous stone  than  is  to  be  seen  anywhere  else,  and  in 
enormous  blocks  admirably  worked,  seems  to  have  been 
ever  the  admiration  of  all  beholders.  Professor  Greaves, 
in  1638,  exclaims  (with  almost  a  Tennysonian  feeling  of 
the  romantic  belonging  rather  to  1860),  on  beholding 
this  passage  some  3,800  years  after  its  builders  had 
been  laid  in  the  dust,  and  their  spirits  had  returned  to 
God  who  gave  them,  "  the  structure  of  it  hath  been 
the  labour  of  an  exquisite  hand." 

Yes,  truly ;  but  to  bring  back  the  "  tender  grace  of 
a  day  so  very  lon^  since  4ead,"  and  receive  a  clear  intel- 


Chap.  XVII.]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMIL^  307 

lectual  explanation  of  wherefore  these  things  came  to 
pass, — ^how  vain  it  would  be  merely  to  sigh,  and  ever  so 
anxiously  wait,  for — 

"  The  touch  of  that  vanish'd  hand, 
And  the  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still." 

Nor  does  the  Savilian  professor  abandon  himself  to  vain 
regrets ;  but  goes  on  methodically  to  describe  the 
mechanical  elements  of  the  excellence  which  he  had 
noted  ;  such  as,  "  the  smoothness  and  evenness  of  the 
work,"  "  the  close  knitting  of  the  joints,"  and  the 
accuracy  with  which  the  exact  breadth  of  3 '4  6  3  of 
the  English  foot,*  is  kept  up  through  a  length  of 
92-5  feet.  But  when  Greaves  comes  soon  afterwards 
over  against  a  portion  of  that  rough  fragment  of 
a  side-passage  forced  in  barbarous  times  of  spolia- 
tion by  Caliph  Al  Mamoun,  he  correctly  describes 
that  as  "a  place  somewhat  larger,  and  of  a  pretty 
height,  but  lying  incomposed  ;  an  obscure  and  broken 
place,  the  length  89  feet,  the  breadth  and  height 
various,  and  not  worth  consideration."  And  again,  "  by 
whomsoever  (among  the  moderns)  it  was  constructed, 
is  not  worth  the  inquiry ;  nor  does  the  place  merit  the 
describing  ;  but  that  I  was  unwilling  to  pretermit  any- 
thing, being  only  an  habitation  for  bats,  and  those  so 
ugly  and  of  so  large  a  size,  exceeding  a  foot  in  length,  that 
I  have  not  elsewhere  seen  the  like."  f    (See  Plate  VIII.) 

*  Equivalent  to  41*51  pyramid  inches,  my  measures  in  I860  havinjf 
given  for  extremes  4r58  and  41*46,  and  the  mean  of  all,  41*49  of  the  same 
inches  ;  or  differing  from  my  astronomical  predecessor,  after  two  cen- 
turies, by  only  2i)\)oth  of  the  whole. 

t  Murtodi,  an  Aiabian  author,  says,  "As  big  as  black  eagles."  Pro- 
fessor Greaves  evidently  did  not  recognise  in  1638,  neither  indeed  did 
Dr.  Clarke  in  1800,  that  this  "incomposed  hole"  was  really  the  rough 
passage  of  forced  entrance  made  by  the  early  Arabian  Caliph ;  and 
it  required  Colonel  Howard- Vyse's  clearing  away  of  the  rubbish  mound 
outside,  in  1837,  to  prove  the  fact,  by  exhibiting  the  outer  end  of  the  hole 
as  well.  But  the  very  circumstance  of  Professor  Greaves  not  boiuif 
acquainted  with  these  latter  day  facts,  makes  his  correct  description  of 
the  interior  all  the  more  creditable  to  him. 


3o8  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  IV. 

When, '  on  the  contrary,  the  same  Professor  Greaves,  by 
aid  of  that  yawning  hiatus  in  the  masonry  to  the  west  of 
the  portcullis,  got  round  and  above  that  granite  block 
obstruction  between  the  entrance,  and  first  ascending,  pas- 
sages proper,  and  reached  this  latter  work  of  the  ancient 
builders, — a  passage  of  the  same  breadth,  nearly  as  the 
entrance  or  descending  passage, — he  then  resumes  his 
more  graceful  imagery,  and  writes  :  "  The  pavement  of 
this  rises  with  a  gentle  acclivity,  consisting  of  smooth 
and  impolished  marble  (limestone),  and,  where  not 
smeared  with  filth,  appearing  of  a  white  alabaster  (cream) 
colour ;  the  sides  and  roof,  as  Titus  Livius  Burretinus, 
a  Venetian,  an  ingenious  young  man,  who  accompanied 
me  thither,  observed,  were  of  impolished  stone,  not  so 
hard  and  compact  as  that  of  the  pavement,  but  more  soft 
and  tender."  And  I,  in  my  turn,  have  now,  285  years 
after  King  Charles  the  First's  professor  of  astronomy  left 
the  Pyramid,  to  report,  as  an  apparent  consequence  of 
that  tender  softness  described  by  him,  that  the  upper 
part  of  the  walls,  and  more  especially  the  roof  of  much 
of  this  passage,  have  exfoliated  or  decayed  to  the  extent 
of  a  foot  or  more  in  many  places, — while  the  floor,  on 
the  other  hand,  has  rather  hardened  to  the  feet  (usually 
naked  feet,  though)  of  Arabs,  and  exhibits  a  peculiar 
change  of  the  limestone  actually  verging  upon  the 
consistence  of  flint,  yet  keeping  nearly  true  still  to  the 
ancient  test  marks  of  the  floor  level  on  either  side  wall. 

And  then  when  he  arrives  in  the  far  freer  and  more 
elevated  space  of  the  second  ascending  passage,  or  the 
Grand  Gallery,  the  fine  old  Oxford  professor,  who  well 
knew  what  architectural  beauties  were,  speaks  of  iif  as  "a 
very  stately  piece  of  work,  and  not  inferiour  either  in 
respect  of  the  curiosity  of  art,  or  richness  of  materials, 
to  the  most  sumptuous  and  magnificent  buildings."  And 
again,  "  this  gallery  or  corridor,  or  whatsoever  else  I 
may  call  it,  is  built  of  white  and  polished  marble  (lime- 


Chap.  XYIL]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  309 

stone),  the  which  is  very  evenly  cut  in  spacious  squares 
or  tables.  Of  such  materials  as  is  the  pavement,  such 
is  the  roof,  and  such  are  the  side  walls  that  flank  it ;  the 
coagmentation  or  knitting  of  the  joints  is  so  close,  that 
they  are  scarce  discernible  to  a  curious  eye  ;  and  that 
which  adds  grace  to  the  whole  structure,  though  it 
makes  the  passage  the  more  slippery  and  difficult,  is  the 
acclivity  and  rising  of  the  ascent.  The  height  of  this 
gallery  is  26  (more  nearly  28)  feet ;  the  breadth  6 '870 
feet,  of  which  3*435  feet  are  to  be  allowed  for  the  way 
in  the  midst,  which  is  set  and  bounded  on  both  sides 
with  two  banks  (like  benches)  of  sleek  and  polished 
stone  ;  each  of  these  hath  1*7 17  of  a  foot  in  breadth, 
and  as  much  in  depth." '"'" 

"  Upon  the  top  of  these  benches,  near  the  angle 
where  they  close  and  join  with  the  wall,  are  little 
spaces  cut  in  right-angled  parallel  figures,  set  on  each 
side  opposite  one  another,  intended,  no  question,  for 
some  other  end  than  ornament.'' 

*'  In  the  casting  and  ranging  of  the  marbles  (lime- 
stone), in  both  the  side  walls,  there  is  one  piece  of 
architecture  in  my  judgment  very  graceful,  and  that  is 
that  all  the  courses  or  ranges,  which  are  but  seven  (so 
great  are  these  stones),  do  set  and  flag  over  one  another 
about  three  inches ;  the  bottom  of  the  uppermost 
course  overflagging  the  top  of  the  next,  and  so  in  order 
the  rest  as  they  descend." 

In  the  edition  of  Greaves's  works  by  Dr.  Birch  in 
1737,  from  which  I  quote,  there  is  an  attempt  to 
represent  these  things  graphically,  by  the  book  being 
*'  adorned  with  sculptures,"  and  "  illustrated  with  cuts 

♦  By  my  measures  in  I860,  in  pyramid  inches,  and  taking  a  mean  of 
all  the  variations  caused  hy  the  tile-setting  of  the  stones  forming  the 
ceiling  or  roof,  the  vertical  height  between  sloping  floor,  and  parallel 
sloping  roof,  was  =  339-2,  and  the  computed  transverse  height  =  304*1, 
the  whole  breadth  being  82*2 ;  the  lower  breadth  between  the  ramps  =  42-0 ; 
and  thfi  ramps  themselves  20-07  broad,  and  20-96  high  in  the  transverse, 
or  shorteat,  direction. 


3ro  OUR  INHERITANCE    IN  [Part  IV. 

by  a  curious  hand;"  and  in  the  great  French  work 
some  efforts  in  a  high  class  of  design  are  engraved  in 
Hne,  to  represent  perspective  views  looking  both  upward 
and  downward  in  the  Grand  Gallery ;  but  they  are  all 
of  them  to  some  extent  failures.  The  circumstances 
are  above  the  scope  of  orthodox  pictures  by  reason  of 
the  narrow  breadth,  the  lofty  vaulting  height,  and  the 
very  peculiar  sloping  angle  of  the  long  floor  ;  a  floor, 
when  one  looks  from  its  north  end  southward,  ascending, 
and  ascending  through  the  darkness  apparently  for 
ever  ;  and  with  such  steepness,  that  no  artist's  view  of 
it,  painted  on  a  vertical  plane,  could  ever  hope  to 
represent  more  than  a  small  part  of  that  floor,  rising 
upward  through  the  whole  canvas  and  going  out  at  the 
top.  While  on  looking  northward  from  the  south  end 
of  the  gallery,  you  lose  the  floor  instantly,  and  see  on 
the  level  of  your  eyes  in  the  distance,  part  of  the 
steeply  descending  ceiling ;  descending,  too,  still  further 
and  going  out  at  the  bottom  of  the  picture,  if  your 
means  of  illumination  extend  so  far.  (See  Plate  XII.) 
Otherwise,  it  is  the  solemn  overlappings  of  the  high 
dark  walls,  passing  you  by  on  either  side,  to  draw 
together  in  dim  and  unknown  perspective  beyond, 
which  encase  you  in  on  every  hand  ;  but  all  on  an 
uneasy  slant,  speaking  of  toil  in  one  direction,  danger 
in  another,  and  a  mountain  of  strength  for  a  prison 
house,  if  so  required,  everywhere. 

Modem  Measures  of  the  Passages. 

In  the  first  edition  of  this  book,  I  was  positively 
puzzled  to  make  out,  let  alone  the  mysterious  Grand 
Gallery,  the  simple  sizes  of  the  smaller  passages  ;  and 
erred  considerably  in  choosing  among  the  conflicting 
testimonies  of  former  travellers.  But  a  four  months'  resi- 
dence on  the  spot,  most  completely  settled  all  that  class 


Chap.  XVII.]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


3" 


of  difficulties  ;  and  enables  me  now  to  speak  confidently 
thus  : — Although  there  are  some  pieces  of  horizontal 
passage  in  the  Great  Pyramid,  their  length  is  as  nothing 
compared  to  the  length  of  the  inclined  passages.  The 
angle  of  inclination  in  a  vertical  plane  of  these  pas- 
sages is  26°  18'  nearly,  being  the  same  whether  the 
passages  are  ascending  or  descending  (within  errors 
of  construction  amounting  to  1-1 20  th  of  the  whole)  ; 
and  the  transverse  size,  that  is,  breadth  and  height, 
excepting  only  the  utterly  diverse  Grand  Gallery,  being 
also  the  same  ;  or  at  least,  having  certainly  been  so, 
before  the  abrading  and  exfoliating  of  the  more  "  soft 
and  tender  "  of  the  stones  began.  Confining  my- 
self, however,  to  well-preserved  portions  of  the  ancient 
surface,  and  just  now  to  the  entrance-passage  alone,  I 
obtained  the  following  measures  for  its  breadth  and 
height. 

Entrance  Passage. 
Breadth  and  transverse  height  as  measured  in  1865. 


Place    where    the 
measure        was 
made  referred  to 
the  flour-joints. 

Breadth  from  east 
to  west. 

Transverse  height. 

Notes. 

Near 
bottom 
of  wallK. 

Near 
top  of 
walls 

East  side 

of 
passage. 

West  side 

of 
passage. 

4th      joint     from 
north     end     of 
passage      . 

7th  do.  . 

8th  do.   .        .        . 

11th  do. . 
16th  do. . 

2l8t  do. . 

Brit.  ins. 

41-61 
41-61 

41-59 

41-69 
41-69 

41-46 

41-63 
41-41 

41-50 

41-61 
41-46 

Chipped 

47-27 
47-30 

47-32 
47-18 

47-14 

47-24 
47-23 

47-30 
47-16 

47-28 

fThe     peculiar    Uttle 
J     holes      of      rough 
]     decayed        surface 
L    avoided. 

rSupposed  to  he  Pro- 
fessor       Greaves's 
j     place   of    measuie, 
"]     which     gave     him 
41-56  of  his  KtigUsh 
L    inches. 

f  Broken  holes  in  this 
J      pai't    of    the    floor 
]      from  12  to  18  inches 
L    deep. 
[  The  top  of  wall  mea- 

surcd.was  wliat  was 
<     indicated     by    the 

plane   of  the   roof 
L    produced. 

312  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Paut  IV. 

The  manner  in  which  these  numbers  run,  will  indicate 
to  any  practical  man  the  degree  of  opportunity  which 
the  Great  Pyramid  still  presents  for  respectable  accuracy 
of  measure,  by  those  who  Avill  trouble  themselves  to 
seek  out  the  best-preserved  parts,  and  endeavour  to 
do  them  justice.  But  what  is  the  meaning  of  the 
word  height  in  the  above  table  being  qualified  as 
"  transverse  height "  ? 

These  Pyramid  passages  being  all  of  them  inclined, 
have  two  sorts  or  kinds  of  height ;  1,  transverse  height, 
or  the  shortest  distance  between  floor  and  ceiling,  and 
which  was  the  easier  kind  of  height  to  measure  accurately 
with  the  sliding  scales  which  I  had  had  constructed  for  the 
purpose  ;  and,  2,  vertical  height,  or  height  in  the  direc- 
tion of  a  plumb-line,  and  the  more  usual,  indeed  almost 
the  universal,  mode  of  measuring  heights  in  masonry 
structures  elsewhere. 

Now,  putting  all  the  observations  together,  I  deduced 
47*24  Pyramid  inches  to  be  the  transverse  height  of 
the  entrance  passage ;  and  computing  from  thence  with 
the  observed  angle  of  inclination  the  vertical  height, 
that  came  out  52*76  of  the  same  inches.  But  the  sum 
of  those  two  heights,  or  the  height  taken  .up  and  down, 
=  100  inches:  which  length,  as  elsewhere  shown,  is 
the  general  Pyramid  linear  representation  of  a  day  of 
24  hours.  And  the  mean  of  the  two  heights,  or  the 
height  taken  one  way  only,  and  impartially  to  the 
middle  point  between  them,  =  50  inches  ;  which 
quantity  is,  therefore,  the  general  Pyramid  linear 
representation  of  only  half  a  day.  In  which  case  let 
us  ask,  what  the  entrance  passage  has  to  do  with  half, 
rather  th|in  a  whole,  day  ? 

Astronomy  of  the  Entrance  Passage. 

If  you  descend  at  night  a  certain  distance  down  the 
sloping  floor  of  the   entrance  passage,  and  then  turn 


Chap.  XVIL]        THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID,  3 . 3 

round  and  look  upwards  and  towards  the  north,  to  its 
open  mouth,  you  will  see  any  large  star  whose  distance 
is  3°  42'  nearly  from  the  Pole,  if  it  should  chance  to  be 
crossing  the  meridian  at  that  moment  in  the  lower  part 
of  its  daily  circle  : — always  supposing  that  there  is  at 
this  present  time  a  star  at  that  distance,  bright  enough 
to  be  easily  seen  by  the  naked  eye ;  and  indeed  there  is 
such  a  one  very  nearly  in  the  required  position,  viz., 
8  Ursse  minoris,  3°  24'  from  the  Polar  point. 

But  that  star  was  not  always  there  ;  being  carried 
on  and  on  through  an  immense  celestial  round  at  the 
rate  of  about  1 2  degrees  nearly,  for  every  thousand  years, 
by  that  grand  mechanism  of  the  earth  and  the  heavens 
called  amongst  astronomers  the  precession  of  the  equi- 
noxes ; — the  most  important  too  of  all  celestial  pheno- 
mena for  fixing  the  exact  chronology  of  the  earlier  periods 
of  man  upon  earth.  It  was  Sir  John  Herschel  who,  in 
answer  to  a  letter  from  Colonel  Howard- Vyse  on  his 
return  from  his  immortal  Pyramid  explorations  in 
Egypt,  in  1837-8,  first  laid  down  the  application  of 
that  essential  astronomical  law  with  regard  to  the  Great 
Pyramid.  And,  indeed,  he  did  more ;  for,  assuming 
the  ^prevailing  idea  of  his  then  time,  that  the  Great 
Pyramid's  foundation  was  somewhere  about  4,000  years 
ago,  he  searched  the  starry  heavens,  as  moving  under  the 
influence  of  precession,  and  found  that,  for  all  the  last 
5,000  years,  only  one  notable  star  had  been  at  the  re- 
quired Polar  distance,  so  as  to  look  exactly  down  the 
descending  entrance-passage  of  the  Great  Pyramid  at  its 
— the  star's — lower  meridian  culmination ;  and  that 
star — a  Draconis  by  modern  name — was  in  that  critical 
position  somewhere  about  2160  B.C.  That  date  there- 
fore made  up  with  1838  (and  excluding  for  the  time 
four  possibly  unrecorded  years  at  the  beginning  of  our 
era),  3,998  years  ago  as  the  epoch  of  the  passage  angle 
being  laid,  to  suit  a  chronological  phenomenon  of  ex- 


314  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

cellent  astronomical  kind,  and  peculiar  to  the  Pyramid 
builders'  day. 

This  near  agreement  of  general  Egyptological  theory, 
as  it  was  in  London  in  1840  A.  D.,  with  the  result  of 
computations  by  modern  astronomy  when  adapted  to 
measures  of  still  existing  facts  at  the  Great  Pyramid, 
seemed  to  take  the  English  world  by  a  storm  of 
admiration  ;  and  every  one  allowed,  for  a  while,  that  the 
whole  affair  was  quite  settled.  But,  alas  !  those  were 
simple,  innocent  days  under  good  King  William  and 
the  quiet  Queen  Adelaide.  The  up- springing  of  German 
theology  in  this  country,  and  the  demands  of  natural- 
history  science  overleaping  itself,  and  calling  out  every- 
where for  long  dates,  were  scarcely  begun  ;  and  the 
only  opposition  then  ventured  was  from  certain  literary 
Egyptologists,  who  protested  that  the  astronomy  of  Sir 
John  Herschel's  paper  was  only  an  accidental  coincidence 
with  the  passage-angle;  because  said  passage,  having 
been  made,  as  they  knew,  merely  to  slide  a  sarcophagus 
down  to  its  resting-place,  and  having  been  filled  up 
choke  full  to  its  mouth,  after  that  was  done,  with  solid 
blocks  of  stone,  it  could  not  have  been  used  as  an 
observatory  by  astronomers. 

The  first  answer  to  this  Egyptologic  protest,  was  easy 
enough.  Sir  John  Herschel  had  not  said  that  the  pas- 
sage was  intended  to  serve  as  a  permanent  observatory ; 
but  that  its  cream-white,  stone-lined,  long  tube  seemed 
to  memorialize  a  particular  phenomenon  of  the  day  when 
it  was  being  built,  and  of  that  day  only  ;  a  record, 
therefore,  by  m^em^orial  astronomy  (whatever  other  prac- 
tical use  the  passage  may,  or  may  not,  have  served), 
of  a  special  sidereal  fact,  to  become  increasingly  impor- 
tant in  distant  ages  for  the  purpose  of  chronology. 

That  explanation  holds  perfectly  true  still.  But 
with  regard  to  the  other  part  of  the  question,  as  to 
whether   Sir  John    Herschel's  astronomical  conclusion 


Chap.  XVIL]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  315 

is  still  to  be  held  as  confirming,  and  confirmed  by,  the 
date  arrived  at  by  the  very  latest  studies  of  the  Egypto- 
logists among  the  uncertain  documents  of  profane  and 
idolatrous  Egypt  (generally  too,  long  subsequent  to  the 
Great  Pyramid's  foundation) ;  alas  !  what  a  change  had 
passed  over  London  society  by  the  time  that  it  had 
come  to  be  my  turn  to  go  out  to  the  Great  Pyramid 
in  1864,  and  print  upon  it  in  1867,  8,  and  9  ! 

Then  to  talk  of  4,000  years  ago  for  the  Great 
Pyramid's  date  of  foundation  !  All  Egyptologists  of  any 
pretension  had  learned  to  scorn  such  a  petty  conception ; 
and  had  begun  to  assert  entirely  new  epochs,  ranging  any- 
where between  5,200  and  6,600  years  ago.  Where- 
upon, one-half  at  least  of  Sir  John  Herschel's  hitherto 
applauded  grounds,  of  confirmation,  for  his  astronomical 
date  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  fell  to  pieces  at  once  ;  and 
he  was  left,  with  his  astronomy  alone,  in  enormous 
opposition  to,  and  violent  discrepance  from,  instead  of 
singular  agreement  with,  the  idol-studying  Egyptologists 
of  our  universities  and  museums. 

Moreover,  as  soon  as  I  came  to  extend  Sir  John 
Herschel's  computations,  it  appeared  that  when  the  star 
a  Draconis,  had  in  a  manner  chanced  to  come  to  that 
passage-angle  distance  from  the  Pole  in  about  2160  B.C., 
— it  was  from  a  nearer,  instead  of  a  further,  polar  distance 
which  the  star  had  previously  occupied.  In  which  case, 
the  said  star  must  have  been  at  some  still  earlier  age 
at  the  passage-angle  distance  once  again.  Indeed,  instead 
of  merely  approaching  the  precession  circle  from  the  out- 
side, it  had  passed  through  a  small  segment  of  it,  and 
so  made  a  double  appulse  ;  but  the  star's  first  occasion 
of  being  at  the  Pyramid  passage  angle  distance  from 
the  Pole  was  earlier  still,  and  had  taken  place  some- 
where about  3440  B.C. 

Here  then  was  a  most  divided  duty  :  3440  B.C. 
might  satisfy  some  of  the  Neologians  among  our  too 


3i6  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

learned  Egyptologists  of  the  last  ten  years,  tliougli 
certainly  not  all.  But  then,  what  case  could  be  made 
out,  independently  of  all  Egyptology  of  the  profane 
order,  for  choosing  3440  B.C.,  as  better  than  2160  B.C., 
or  vice  versa  ?  There  were  no  astronomical  reasons 
then  known  applying  to  one  occasion,  more  than  the 
other ;  Colonel  Howard- Yyse  was  dead ;  Sir  John 
Herschel  remained  silent ;  a  noisy  military  man  would 
persist  that  Sir  John  now  agreed  with  him  in  main- 
taining that  the  peculiar  passage-angle  was  chosen  for 
easy  sarcophagus  sliding  alone  ;  and  the  astronomical 
world,  whatever  the  reason  why,  would  give  the  subject 
no  attention. 

The  Great  Pyramid's  Use  of  a  Polar  Star. 

But  there  was  happily  more  in  the  ancient  Great 
Pyramid  than  any  one  had  suspected,  and  it  began  to 
manifest  itself  thus, — 

Did  not  the  very  entrance  passage,  chiefly  concerned 
in  the  affair,  speak  by  its  50,  in  place  of  100,  inch 
height,  to  a  half,  and  not  a  whole  day ;  or  a  1 2 -hour 
interval  for  some  purpose  unknown  ?  And  did  not  the 
axis  of  the  passage  point,  not  to  the  one,  central  pole 
of  the  sky,  where,  if  visible  at  all,  the  upper  and  lower 
culmination  of  any  close  polar  star  would  be  equally 
seen,  but  to  a  region  of  lower  culmination  only  ? 

This  was  indeed  the  fact ;  and  no  one  had  yet  asked, 
"  Why  did  the  builders  memorialize,  out  of  the  two 
meridian  passages  of  their  circumpolar  star  in  every  24 
hours,  only  the  lower,  less  visible,  less  important  culmin- 
ation of  the  two  ?"  Neither  had  any  one  yet  inquired, 
"  What  did  any  reasonable  man,  whether  of  the  Pyramid, 
or  any  other,  day  intend  or  mean,  if  time  was  his  object, 
by  observing  the  transit,  whether  above  or  below  the 
Pole,  of  a  close  circumpolar  star ;  and  of  that  kind  of 
star  only?" 


Chap.  XVII.]         THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  3 1 7 

Why !  sucli  a  star  moves  so  slowly,  by  reason  of  the 
very  small  size  of  its  daily  circle  in  the  sky,  that  the 
instant  of  its  passing  the  meridian  is  difficult  to  observe 
and  decide  on  even  with  modern  telescopic  power ;  and 
no  observer  in  his  senses,  in  any  existing  observatory, 
when  seeking  to  obtain  the  time,  would  observe  the 
transit  of  a  circumpolar  star  for  anything  else  than  to 
get  the  direction  of  the  meridian  to  adjust  his  instrument 
by.  But  having  done  that,  he  would  then  turn  said 
instrument  round  in  the  vertical  plane  of  the  meridian 
so  ascertained  and  observe  an  equatorial,  or  at  least  a 
zodiacal,  star  :  such  star  moving  diurnally  at  great  speed 
through  the  sky,  by  reason  of  its  large  circle  extending 
through  the  heavens  above,  and  the  heavens  below,  the 
earth.  And  then  such  astronomer  would  obtain  the 
time  with  proper  accuracy  and  eminent  certainty. 

Now  to  myself,  who  have  been  an  astronomical  transit 
observer  for  a  great  part  of  my  life,  it  immediately 
occurred,  that  the  narrow  entrance-passage  of  the  Great 
Pyramid  directed  up  northward,  looked  very  like  a  polar 
pointer ;  while  the  grand  gallery  rising  up  southwards 
at  an  opposite  angle,  and  with  its  high  walls  scored 
with  long  and  broad  bands,  looked  amazingly  like  a 
reminder  of  the  equatorial  zone  ;  though  being  a  closed- 
in  passage  it  could  be  only  for  memorial,  and  not  at  all 
for  observing,  astronomy.  And  as  in  the  meanwhile 
my  daily  apprentice  work  in  1865  to  the  original 
builders,  by  measuring  every  joint  of  the  stones  where- 
with they  had  constructed  the  Pyramid's  interior,  had 
inevitably  led  me  to  see,  that  wherever  there  was  any 
size,  shape,  or  position  executed  in  superior  workman- 
ship and  better  quality  of  stone,  there  was  a  reason  for 
it, — why  then  I  ventured  to  argue  thus, — 

The  ancient  architect's  reason  why  the  entrance- 
passage  points  to  the  lower  or  less  important  culmina- 
tion only  of  its  polar  star,  a  Draconis,  is  because  a  more 


3i8  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

important  star  was  at  the  same  moment  12  hours 
distant  from  it ;  and  therefore  at  its  upper  culmina- 
tion, or  crossing  the  meridian  above  the  Pole ;  and 
for  chronological  purposes  such  more  important  star 
must  be  a  zodiacal,  if  not  absolutely  an  equatorial,  one. 
Was  there  then  at  either  the  date  3440  B.C.,  or  the  later 
2160  B.C.  (at  each  of  which  dates,  but  at  no  other  for 
25,000  years,  a  Draconis  was,  when  crossing  the 
meridian  each  day  below  the  Pole,  equally  at  the 
entrance-passage  angle  of  height),  was  there  any  notable 
zodiacal  or  equatorial  star  in  the  general  southern  direc- 
tion of  the  grand  gallery,  rather  than  in  the  northern 
one  of  the  entrance-passage,  and  crossing  the  meridian 
at  that  moment  high  in  mid-heaven  there  ? 

Now  here  was  a  question  put  by  the  Pyramid's  actual 
construction,  and  to  be  answered  by  astronomy  alone  ;  or 
without  any  of  the  Egyptologists,  with  all  their  lore  of 
false  gods  and  animal  idolatry,  having  anything  to  do 
with  it. 

The  answer  too  might  have  come  out,  either  that 
there  was  no  signal  zodiacal  star  in  such  a  position  at 
either  date  ;  or  there  might  have  been  such  stars  at  both 
dates,  and  then  no  discrimination  could  have  been 
effected.  But  the  answer  that  did  come  out  was,  that  no 
such  star  existed  at  the  circumpolar  star's  lower  transit 
of  3440  B.C.,  but  that  there  was  one  most  eminently 
and  exactly  in  position  at  the  2160  B.C.,  or  rather  2170 
B.C.,  circumpolar  transit ;  and  that  well-fitting  zodiacal 
star  was  ^  Tauri.      (See  Plates  XIY.,  XY.) 

The  Pleiades  Year^ 

.  Now  fj  Tauri  is  not  a  very  large  or  bright  star  in 
itself,  but  then  it  is  the  centre  of  a  group  of  stars  more 
bound  up  with  human  history,  hopes,  and  feelings  than 
any  other  throughout   the  sky,  viz.,  the  Pleiades  ;  and 


Chap.XVIL]        the  great  pyramid.  319 

there  have  been  traditions  for  long,  whence  arising  I 
know  not,  that  the  seven  overlappings  of  the  grand 
gallery,  so  impressively  described  by  Professor  Greaves, 
had  something  to  do  with  the  Pleiades,  those  proverbially 
seven  stars  of  the  primeval  world,  though  already  re- 
duced to  six  (i.e.,  six  visible  to  the  ordinary  naked 
eye),  so  early  as  the  time  of  the  Latin  poet  Virgil. 

Here  then  is  what  those  overlappings  had  to  do  ;  viz., 
to  symbolize  the  Pleiades  in  the  memorial,  not  observing, 
astronomy  of  the  Pyramid  in  an  earlier  day  than  "Virgil's; 
for  the  Pleiades  evidently  were,  de  facto,  the  superior, 
equatorial,  or  time,  star  to  be  taken  in  concert  with  the 
inferior  transit  of  the  circumpolar  a  Draconis  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  sky.  And  how  well  they  performed 
their  part,  and  how  capable  they  were  of  it,  appeared 
from  this  further  result  of  calculation,  that  when  they, 
the  Pleiades,  crossed  the  meridian  at  midnight  above 
the  Pole,  while  a  Draconis  was  crossing  below  the  Pole, 
for  the  second  cosmical  occasion,  at  the  particular  dis- 
tance fromi  the  Pole  indicated  by  the  entrance-passage, — 
that  night  was  the  evening,  or  autumnal,  beginning  of 
the  primeval  year,  and  because  the  Pleiades  were  then 
at  0^  right  ascension,  or  in  the  celestial  meridian  of 
the  equinoctial  point.  Or  again,  they  were  by  the  same 
fact  at  the  commencement  of  that  grand  celestial  cycle 
of  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes,  wherein  and  whereby 
they  are  destined,  in  apparent  movement,  to  progress 
onward  and  onward  at  the  rate  of  a  little  more  than  3 
seconds  of  time  in  a  year,  until  after  not  less  than  25,827 
years  they  return  to  the  same  position  again. 

This  grand  quantity,  or  peculiar  celestial  cycle,  is 
further  Pyramidically  defined  by,  amongst  other  inten- 
tional features,  the  length  of  the  diagonals  of  the  base, 
which  so  eminently  lay  out  the  whole  Great  Pyramid's 
position  ;  when  their  sum  is  reckoned  up  in  inches,  at 
the  rate  of  a  Pyramid  inch  to  a  year. 


320  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  TV. 

In  the  little  portion  of  history  which  is  all  that 
modern  astronomy  can  claim  to  have  flourished  in,  the 
following  are  some  of  the  principal  determinations  of 
this  period  of  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes  : — 

By  Tycho  Brahe  =  25,816  years. 
„    Ricciolus         =  25,920     „ 
„    Cassini  =  24,800     „ 

„    Bradley  =  25,740     „ 

„    Bessel  =  25,868     „ 

No  one  whatever  amongst  men,  from  his  own,  or 
school,  knowledge  knew  anything  about  such  a  pheno- 
menon until  Hipparchus,  some  1,900  years  after  the 
Great  Pyramid's  foundation,  had  a  glimpse  of  the  fact ; 
— and  yet  it  had  been  ruling  the  heavens  for  ages,  and 
was  recorded  in  Jeezeh's  ancient  structure. 

Virgil,  200  years  later  still  than  Hipparchus,  just  as 
might  be  expected  of  a  poet,  was  greater  in  tradition 
than  astronomical  observation ;  and  when  he  uses  the 
phrase,*  that  it  is  "  the  constellation  of  the  white  Bull 
with  the  golden  horns,  which  opens  the  year,"  many  of 
our  own  scientific  commentators  have  wondered  what 
Roman  Yirgil  could  mean,  by  claiming  as  a  phenomenon 
for  his  own  day,  that  which  the  precession  of  the 
Equinoxes  had  caused  to  cease  to  be  true  2,000  years 
before  his  time,  and  had  given  to  Aries  instead. 

No  profane  philosopher  or  academic  observer  of  any 
country  in  the  world  is  known  to  have  lived  at  the  epoch 
when  that  Yirgilian  phrase  about  Taurus  was  true. 
How  and  wherefore  then  came  such  an  appearance  of 
the  heavens,  true  only  in  the  Pyramid's  age,  to  become 
fixed  in  the  minds  of  the  Romans,  and  Etruscans  too, 
not  themselves  much  given  to  observing  science  of 
any  kind,  for  twenty  centuries  ?  How  also  came  it 
about,  according  to  the  documents  collected  with  so 
much  rare  skill  and  research  (and  partially  published 

*   Candidus  auratis  aperit  cum  cornibus  ani.um  Taurus. 


Chap.  XVII.]        THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID,  3 1 1 

many  years  ago)  by  Mr.  R.  G.  Haliburton,  of  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  that  amongst  the  origines  of  almost  all 
nations,  and  among  many  unaltered  savage  tribes  still, 
such  as  Australians,  Fijians,  Mexicans,  and  many  others 
(peoples  never  reached  by  the  Romans),  a  similar 
beginning  of  the  year  to  that  described  by  Yu'gil 
is  still  perpetuated  ;  the  Pleiades,  or  the  star  group 
chiefly  characterising  the  constellation  of  the  Bull,  being 
annually  appealed  to  ;  and  in  Australia,  most  strange 
to  say,  by  precisely  the  Pyramid  method,  in  so  far  that 
the  natives  there  begin  their  year  on  the  night  when 
"  they  see  most  of  the  Pleiades  ;"  otherwise,  when  they 
continue  to  see  them  all  the  night  through,  from  their 
rising  at  sunset  to  their  setting  at  sunrise ;  and  that 
must  be  when  they,  the  Pleiades,  cross  the  meridian  at 
midnight. 

But,  just  as  the  Romans  stuck  to  those  stars  in  them- 
selves alone,  and  saw  not  that  they  had  left  the  fiducial 
test  of  the  equinoctial  point  by  30°, — so  the  Australians 
stick  to  them  still,  implicitly,  not  seeing  that  the  same 
point  is  now  5  4°  removed  from  them ;  and  that  the 
Pleiades  stars  themselves,  from  the  effect  of  4,000  years 
of  precession,  never  tww  rise  high  in  those  southern 
skies.  But  that  is  a  test,  in  so  far,  of  when  those 
peoples  first  received  that  system  of  sidereal  chronology 
to  hold,  which  is  only  found  in  all  its  completeness, 
and  with  testimony  as  to  the  date  of  its  beginning,  and 
fitness  then  for  all  inhabited  lands,  laid  up  in  the  Great 
Pyramid  building.      (See  Plates  XV.  and  XVI.) 

Transcendentalisms  of  the  Great  Pyramid  Astronomy. 

Now  the  only  source  from  whence  one  uniform  system 
of  sidereal  chronology,  and  which,  though  endued  with 
a  change  in  respect  to  the  seasons,  yet  changes  so  slowly 
year  by  year   and   generation   after   generation    as    to 

Y 


322  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

require  25,000  years  before  it  passes  througli  all  the 
seasons, — the  only  source,  I  say,  from  whence  it  could 
have  emanated  in  that  early  age  of  the  world,  and  been 
impressed  upon  the  origines  of  all  races  of  mankind,  is, 
was,  and  can  only  be.  Divine  inspiration.  Not  the  in- 
fallible Divine  power  in  itself :  that  would  have  created 
stars  for  such  purpose  alone ;  and  then  they  would 
have  been  absolutely  perfect  for  such  end  :  but  Divine 
inspiration  accorded  to  more  or  less  fallible  men. 

Here,  accordingly,  what  we  are  called  upon  to 
observe,  may  rather  remind  one  of  that  which  Josephus 
records  of  the  descendants  of  Seth,  viz.,  that  they  studied 
astronomy  of  themselves  first,  though  eventually  under 
the  approval  of,  and  with  some  peculiar  assistance  from, 
the  Almighty.  The  Sethites  then,  as  men,  only  sought 
to  make  the  best  use,  and  turn  to  the  most  practical 
account,  whatever  was  already  created  and  existing  in 
the  sky,  in  the  shape  of  stars  suitable  for  observa- 
tion:— and  which  stars  we  shall  find,  in  the  present 
day,  on  pushing  both  observation  and  calculations  to 
the  extreme  of  modern  science,  were  by  no  means  in 
themselves  absolutely  perfect.  The  orbs  of  heaven  had 
indeed  been  created  long  before  the  foundation  of  the 
Great  Pyramid,  and  doubtless  for  many  "other  purposes 
than  defining  the  Pleiades  year  to  mankind  upon 
earth.  But,  take  those  stars  4,000  years  ago,  as  they  had 
been  already  set  in  motion  by  the  Divine  power  seons 
on  seons  of  ages  before  the  Pyramid  day, — and  you  will 
find  that  they  did,  at  that  epoch,  come  quite  near 
enough  to  form  an  excellent  practical  chronological 
system  of  the  kind  indicated ;  and  no  better  mode  of 
utilizing  those  actual  phenomena  of  the  starry  sky,  nor 
any  better  choice  among  the  stars,  ever  has  been 
i'nagined  since  then,  in  any  country  of  the  world. 

Thus,  to  moderate  observation  (and  with  far  greater 
accuracy  than  the  annals  of  profane  history  of  mankind 


Chap.  XVH.]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  323 

have  been  kept  to),  all  these  hereinafter  following  fea- 
tures may  be  said,  in  ordinary  terms,  to  obtain ; — 

1.  Tlie  Great  Pyramid  is  astronomically  oriented  in 

its  sides  ;  and  its  passages  are  in  the  plane  of 
the  meridian. 

2.  The ,  entrance-passage    points     3°    42'    vertically 

below  the  Pole  of  the  sky. 

3.  In  the  year  2170  B.C.   a  Draconis  was  3°  42' from 

the  Pole  of  the  sky,  and  therefore  looked  right 
down  the  axis  of  the  entrance-passage,  when  at 
its  lowest  culmination. 

4.  When    a    Draconis    was    so    looking    down    the 

entrance-passage,  'y]  Tauri,  the  chief  star  in  the 
Pleiades  group,  was  crossing  the  local  terrestrial 
meridian,  at  a  point  high  up  in  the  sky,  near 
the  equator,  and  simultaneously  with  the  celes- 
tial meridian  of  the  vernal  equinox. 

5.  That   whole  stellar  combination    had    not  taken 

place  for  25,000  years  previously,  and  will  not 
take  place  again  for  25,000  years  subsequently. 
It  has  not  consequently  repeated  itself  yet  in  all 
the  history  of  the  human  race,  as  the  Sothiac 
cycle,  the  Phoenix  cycle  and  other  chronological 
inventions  of  the  profane  Egyptian  priests,  long 
after  the  Pyramid  day,  have  done  again  and 
again,  to  the  lamentable  confusion  of  dates  in 
the  Pagan  world. 

But  if  the  calculations  on  which  the  above  Pyramid 
results  are  founded,  shall  be  pushed  to  much  greater 
refinement,  or  to  portions  of  space  invisible  to  the 
naked  eye, — it  then  appears  that  (1)  the  Pole-star,  when 
it  was  3°  42'  from  the  Pole,  (2)  the  equatorial  star 
opposite  to  it,  and  (3)  the  celestial  meridian  of  the 
equinox,  were  not  all  of  them  on  the  Pyramid's  meri- 


324  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

dian,  below  and  above  the  Pole,  'precisely  at  the  same 
instant,  either  in  the  year  2170  B.C.,  or  in  any  other 
year ;  and  this  from  failure  of  the  physical  stars  to  be 
mathematically  accurate. 

But  OUT  present  difficulty  is  not  by  any  means  entirely 
confined  to  the  stars,  in  their  places,  not  being  as  exact 
as  if  they  had  been  created  originally  for  no  other  than 
the  above  purpose  ;  for  there  are  hindrances  also  to 
modern  astronomy,  in  precisely  realizing  everything 
that  has  taken  place  in  Nature  during  the  last  4,000 
years.  Two  astronomers,  for  instance,  using  the  same 
data,  may  compute  back  the  place  of  a  given  star  4,000 
years  ago  from  its  present  place,  and  they  shall  agree 
to  a  second  in  the  result ;  but  it  does  not  therefore  follow 
that  the  star  was  as  precisely  there  at  that  time,  as  though 
a  contemporary  chronologist  had  observed  it  then  ;  for 
proper  motion,  and  variations  of  proper  motion,  may 
exist,  quite  unknown  to  the  short  period  of  surveillance 
over  the  stars  yet  enjoyed  by  modern  astronomy,  and 
totally  overturning  the  physical  accuracy  of  the  calcu- 
lations. Some  of  the  quantities,  too,  of  the  celestial 
mechanics  concerned,  such  as  the  precise  amount  of  the 
very  precession  of  the  equinoxes  itself,. may  have  been 
erroneously  assumed,  and  never  can  be  ascertained  per- 
fectly by  man.  The  numerical  values  of  such  quantities 
do,  in  fact,  vary  at  the  same  time  between  one  astro- 
nomer and  another  (unless  both  were  brought  up  in  the 
same  school),  and  also  from  one  generation  to  another 
of  astronomers  at  different  times ;  just  as  most  of  the 
living  directors  of  Observatories  are  disputing  at  this 
present  moment  as  to  what  is  the  precise  distance  of 
the  earth  from  the  sun  ;  and  all  of  them  differ,  even  by 
a  large  total  quantity,  from  what  all  their  brethren,  and 
themselves  too,  used  to  hold  only  twenty  years  ago. 

After,  therefore,  doing  my  best  with  the  Pyramid  star 
calcidations,  and  publishing  my  result,  together  with  a 


Chap.  XVIL]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  325 

repetition  of  Sir  John  Hersdiel's,  so  far  as  it  went,  I 
advertised,  after  a  manner,  in  the  name  of  science,  for 
help  from  other  astronomers, — in  the  way  of  each  of 
them  computing  the  whole  of  the  quantities  with  the 
data  he  now  thinks  best,  and  also  with  the  data  most 
approved  in  the  astronomical  world  of  his  youth,  as  well 
as  with  the  quantities  thought  correct  at  the  end  of  the 
last  century. 

But  none  of  them  have  ventured  to  expose  to  modem 
society  the  weaknesses  of  their  favourite  science,  mul- 
tiplied by  4,000  years  ;  and  I  should  have  been  left 
without  anything  whatever  to  show  from  other  modern 
quarters,  but  for  the  kindness  of  Dr.  Briinnow,  Astro- 
nomer-Royal for  Ireland,  who,  kindly  and  without 
needing  any  second  asking,  performed  the  first  part  of 
my  request :  that  is,  with  the  quantities  which  he  now 
thinks  should  be  adopted  as  correct,  he  most  ably,  and 
by  special  methods  of  astronomy  which  no  one  in  all 
the  world  understands  better  than  himself,  computed 
the  following  numbers  : — 

(1)  a  Draconis  was  for  the   first  time  at  the  distance  of 

3^  41'  50"  from  the  Pole  in  the  year  .         .        .  =  3443  B.C. 

(2)  It  was  at  the  least  distance  from  the  Pole,  or  0°  3'  25", 

in  the  year =  2790   „ 

(3)  It  was  for  the  second  time  at  the  distance  of  3°  41'  42" 

from  the  Pole  in  the  year =  2136   „ 

(4)  If  Tauri  (Alcyone   of  the   Pleiades)    was  in   the  same 

right  ascension  as  the  equinoctial  point  in  the  year  =  2248   „ 
when  it  crossed  the  meridian  above  the  Pole,  3^  47' 
north  of  the  Equator,  with  a  Draconis  crossing  below 
the   Pole,   nearly,   but  not  exactly,   at  the  same 
instant,  and  3°  3'  from  the  Polar  point. 

(5)  a  Draconis  and  r\  Tauri  were  exactly  opposite  to  each 

other,  so  that  one  of  them  could  be  on  the  meridian 
above  the  Pole,  and  the  other  on  the  meridian  below 
the  Pole,  at  the  same  absolute  instant,  only  at  the 

date  of =  1674    „ 

but  when  all  the  other  data  diverged  largely. 

We  have  now  to  deal  with  the  three  last  dates.  Of 
these  three,  the  two  first  evidently  include  between 
them  my  own  previous  mean  quantity  of  2170  B.C. ; 


326  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  IV. 

but  tlie  third  differs  extravagantly.  Nevertheless,  the 
visible  effect  in  the  sky  of  that  one  apparently  very  large 
difference  in  absolute  date,  is  merely  this,  according  to 
Dr.  Brlinnow's  computation  ;  viz.,  that  when  'v]  Tauri, 
or  the  Pleiades,  were  crossing  the  meridian  above  the 
Pole,  at  my  Pyramid  date  of  2170  B.C.,  a  Draconis  was 
not  doing  the  same  thing,  exactly  beneath  the  Pole,  at 
the  same  instant ;  for  the  star  was  then  at  the  distance 
of  0°  VI '  west  of  the  meridian.  But  it  would  have  been 
doing  the  same  thing  perfectly,  according  to  an  entrance- 
passage  observation  of  it,  if  the  northern  end  of  that 
passage  had  been  made  to  trend  17'  westward,  still 
keeping  to  its  observed  angular  height  in  the  vertical 
plane  ;  viz.,  26°  18'. 

Whereupon  comes  the  question  whether, — granting 
temporarily  that  Dr.  Briinnow's  excellent  calculations  in 
modern  astronomy  replace  everything  that  has  happened 
in  Nature  during  the  last  4,000  years,^ — whether  that 
17'  of  the  Pole-star's  west  distance  from  the  meridian 
was  a  thing  of  moment ; — and  if  so,  is  this  the  first 
occasion  on  which  it  has  been  discovered  ? 

Seventeen  minutes  of  space,  or  less  than  the  thousandth 
part  of  the  azimuthal  scale,  is  but  a  small  quantity  for 
any  one  to  appreciate  in  all  the  round  of  the  blue 
expanse,  without  instruments  ;  and  the  first  effort  of 
Greek  astronomy  1,800  years  after  the  Pyramid  was 
built,  is  reported  to  have  been  the  discovery  that  the 
Pole-star  of  that  day,  then  6  degrees  from  the  Pole, 
was  not  as  they,  the  Greeks,  had  previously  held,  exactly 
on  the  Pole. 

Greek  and  other  profane  nations,  then,  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  overlooking,  long,  long  after  the  epoch  of 
the  Pyramid,  an  error  twenty  times  as  great  as  this 
which  is  charged  on  the  Great  Pyramid  astronomy  by 
the  science  of  precision  which  has  now  been  elaborated 
amongst  men  after  a  lapse  of  4,000  years. 


Chap.  XVII.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  327 

And  yet  it  was  not  all  error  either,  on  the  part  of  the 
Great  Pyramid.  For  here  we  should  take  account  of 
the  result  of  my  observations  in  1865,  when  I  succeeded 
in  comparing  the  directions  of  both  the  outside  of  the 
Pyramid,  the  axis  of  the  entrance-passage,  and  the  axis 
of  the  azimuth  trenches"'"  separately  and  successively 
with  the  Polar  star.  These  observations  were  made 
with  a  powerful  altitude-azimuth  instrument,  reading  off 
its  angles  with  micrometer-microscopes  to  tenths  of 
seconds ;  and  the  results  were,  that  everything  trended 
at  its  north  end  towards  the  west, — the  azimuth  trenches 
by  1 9  minutes,  the  socket-sides  of  the  base  by  5  minutes, 
and  the  axis  of  the  entrance  passage  by  more  nearly  4 
minutes  and  a  half 

What  could  all  these  features  have  been  laid  out  for 
with  this  slight  tendency  to  west  of  north  ?  was  a 
question  which  I  frequently  pondered  over  at  the  Great 
Pyramid,  and  sometimes  even  accused  the  earth's  sur- 
face of  having  shifted  with  respect  to  its  axis  of  rotation 
during  4,000  years.  But  now  the  true  explanation 
would  appear  to  be,  that  the  Seth-descended  architect, 
knowing  perfectly  well  the  want  of  exact  correspondence 
between  his  polar  and  equatorial  stars  (though  they 
were  the  best  in  the  sky),  had  so  adjusted  in  a  minute 
degree  the  position  of  the  Great  Pyramid  when  building 
it,  as  to  reduce  any  error  in  his  Pleiades  system  of 
chronology,  arising  out  of  the  stellar  discrepance,  to  a 
minrnium.  Whence  the  fact  of  the  western  divergence 
of  the  north  pointing  of  the  entrance-passage  as  detected 
by  the  modem  astronomy  observations  in  1865,  com- 
bined with  the  computation  in  1871, — becomes  the  most 
convincing  practical  proof  of  intention,  and  not  accident, 
having  guided  all  these  time-arrangements  at  the  Great 
Pyramid. 

•  See  "  Life  and  Work,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  185  to  196. 


328  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

MOSES  AND    THE   WISDOM    OF   THE    EGYPTIANS. 

IN  the  circles  of  those  very  learned  men  in  modern 
society  who  go  on  continually  studying  the  idolatrous 
contents  of  the  Egyptian  galleries  in  the  British,  and 
other,  museums  (and  are  known  as  hierologists,  hiero- 
glyphiologists,  Egyptologists,  anti-Biblical  archaeologists, 
&c.),  are  found  the  doughtiest  of  those  champions  who 
are  so  ready  in  these  days  to  insist,  that  "whereas 
Genesis  was  written  by  Moses,  and  Moses  was  for  many 
years  of  his  life  a  priest  among  the  Egyptians,  who  were 
a  wealthy  and  civilized  nation  when  the  progenitors  of 
the  Israelites  were  still  merely  wandering  shepherds, 
always  on  the  verge  of  starvation  ;  while  moreover, 
according  to  the  New  Testament  itself  (Acts  vii.  22), 
Moses  was  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians," 
— that  therefore  Moses  must  have  copied  all  the  best 
things  he  has  put  into  Genesis,  and  his  other  books 
also,  from  those  deeply  wise  instructors  he  had  lived 
with  for  forty  years,  viz.,  the  Egyptian  priests. 

On  this  question,  much  defence  of  the  Divine  in- 
spiration, versus  the  Egyptian  education,  of  the  re- 
sponsible author  of  the  Pentateuch  has  been  written  in 
the  world,  from  the  literary  side  ;  but  not  always  with 
so  much  special  point  as  might  have  been  done  from 
the  mechanical,  or  rather  the  scientific,  point  of  view. 

Mere  literature,  for  instance,  is  nonplussed  at  once 


Chap.  XVIIL]      THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  329 

by  the  hierologists  when  they  contend  with  positivism, 
by  methods  where  classic  book-learning  is  powerless,  for 
a  civilized  Egypt  during  13,000  years  and  more;  some 
of  them  even  mounting  up  to  300,000  years,  and 
declaring  that  they  are  just  as  firmly  convinced  of  its 
history  so  obtained  (and  therefore  of  the  gradual 
human  growth,  and  natural  progressive  development  of 
all  that  knowledge,  utilized  at  last  so  happily  by 
Moses)  as  of  any  event  in  English  history  under  the 
reigns  of  the  Stuarts.  These  men  also  allege  points  of 
community  between  the  laws  of  Moses  and  those  of 
ancient  Egypt;  which  laws  they  say  he  must  have 
read,  because  they  were  actually  written  and  in  books 
long  before  his  time,  together  with  a  vast  amount  of 
literature,  including  even  novels,  and  something  very 
like  the  story  of  Joseph,  in  the  highly-polished  society 
flourishing,  according  to  them  from  time  truly  imme- 
morial, on  the  quiet  banks  of  the  Nile. 

The  refuge  here  (and  in  so  far,  a  very  proper  one) 
of  the  Biblical  literary  men,  seems  to  be  chiefly,  that 
those  tremendous  hierologist  and  Egyptologist  dates 
have  never  been  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  others 
than  the  dangerous,  if  not  soi-disant,  hierologists 
themselves ;  while,  as  for  the  points  of  community,  or 
rather,  merely  similar  complexion,  between  the  Egjrp- 
tian  and  the  Mosaic  laws,  they  exist  only  in  certain 
subsidiary  forms  required  for  social  order  and  political 
independence ;  and  are  such  as  a  common  human 
nature,  with  a  like  geographical  position,  chronological 
epoch,  and  traditional  information  from  Babel,  would 
have  infallibly  produced,  more  or  less,  amongst  any 
set  of  people  endowed  with  brains,  and  some  little 
desire  to  amend  their  position  in  the  world.  And  then 
there  comes  also,  to  every  real  believer  in  the  funda- 
mental doctrine  of  Christianity,  this  further  and 
grander  result,  flowing  from  a  philosophical  investiga- 


330  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

tion  of  the  two  systems  as  wholes  ;  viz.,  that  the  real 
essence  of  the  Mosaic  law  is  as  totally  distinct  from 
that  of  the  Egyptian,  as  any  two  antagonisms  in  the 
world  of  man  can  possibly  be.  For  while  they  are  both 
founded  on,  and  for,  religion, — the  Egyptian  system 
bases  on  Cainite  assertions  and  re-assertions  of  self- 
righteousness,  and  a  multitude  of  gods,  half  animal 
and  half  man — some  of  them,  too,  not  a  little  obscene 
(to  an  extent  w^hich  makes  us  wonder  at  several  modern 
European  governments  reproducing  their  portraits  one 
after  the  other  in  costly  folios  and  large-sized  plates, 
for  the  information  of  the  public  of  the  present  day), — 
who  is  there,  of  those  who  have  felt  the  saving  grace 
of  Christ's  sacrifice,  who  cannot  see,  as  the  ruling  prin- 
ciple in  Moses,  the  most  magnificent,  and  particular, 
rebellion  against  all  that  would-be  power  of  man.  in 
the  high  places  of  the  earth ;  and  a  grand  assertion 
both  of  the  one,  true,  and  only  living  God,  the  Creator 
of  all  things,  and  the  sinfulness  of  man  in  His  sight  ? 

The  holy  zeal,  too,  of  Moses,  and  his  earnest  self- 
sacrificing  for  the  cause  of  God,  and  his  anxiety  to 
show  Him  at  once  accessible  by  prayer,  through  an 
appointed  method  of  sin-offering  and  mediation  to  every 
one  both  rich  and  poor,  are  the  liveliest  contrasts  that 
can  well  be  imagined  to  the  sordid  routine  of  an 
Egyptian  priesthood,  placing  itself  immovably,  for  its 
own  gain,  between  the  people  and  their  gods,  such  as 
they  were. 

Of  the  Number  Five. 

But  the  most  decided  overthrow  of  the  modern 
hierologists  comes  involuntarily  from  themselves,  when 
they  attempt  to  handle  the  mechanical  part  of  the 
question  ;  for,  to  a  great  extent,  what  they,  the  hiero- 
logists, have  long  been  contending  for,  and  have  suc- 
ceeded   at    last   in    proving, — is  precisely  that    which 


Chap.  XVIIL]       THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  331 

enables  us  to  say  most  positively  tliat  a  cubit  measuring- 
rod  of  the  Mosaic,  and  Newton-proved,  length  of  25 
Pyramid  inches,  and  which  has  such  extraordinary 
scientific  value  in  its  earth-axis  commensurability,  and 
was  made  so  much  of  by  Moses  in  the  Tabernacle  of 
the  Wilderness, — was  no  part  or  parcel  of  the  wisdom 
of  the  profane  Egyptians  during  any  portion  of  their 
historical  career ;  and  could  not,  therefore,  have  been 
learned  or  borrowed  from  them  by  any  one. 

And  though  the  best  ethnological  theory  of  the 
Eg3^ptians  be  that  which  makes  them,  not  Ethiopians 
descending  the  Nile  from  the  interior  of  Africa,  nor 
Indian  Aryans  migrating  by  sea  from  Bombay,  but 
Asiatics  and  Caucasians  entering  by  the  Isthmus  of  Suez 
into  Lower  Egypt,  and  ascending  the  course  of  the  river 
— there  seems  no  reason  whatever  to  conclude  that 
they  had  previously,  wherever  their  previous  existence 
had  been  passed,  either  received  or  adopted  that  peculiar 
measure  of  2  5  inches,  which  Sir  Isaac  Newton  considers 
the  Israelites  possessed,  long  before  their  going  down 
into  Egypt. 

Not  only,  too,  may  it  be  further  said,  from  this  cubit- 
measure  side  of  the  question,  that  recent  researches  have 
proved  the  astonishing  vitality  of  standards  of  measure 
through  enormous  intervals  of  time  ;  and  that  an  invo- 
luntary change  of  a  people's  standard  from  the  Egyptian 
20  7  to  the  Hebrew  and  Pyramid  2  5  0  inches,  or  vice 
versa,  was  never  yet  seen  in  the  history  of  the  world  ; 
but  it  may  be  argued,  that  the  ancient  Egyptians, 
whatever  faults  they  may  have  had,  were  both  politically 
and  socially  a  most  conservative,  methodical,  and  or- 
derly people,  with  an  immense  taste  for  mechanics,  and 
a  marvellous  appreciation  of  measure ;  so  that  they 
would  be  the  last  nation  in  the  world,  let  alone  their 
religious  ideas  on  the  topic,  to  lose  or  mistake  their 
hereditary  standards.     In  fact,  one  of  the  chief  accusa- 


332  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

tions  which  a  late  French  writer  brings  against  those 
ancient  Egyptians  is,  that  they  had  no  genius,  no  in- 
vention ;  that  they  were  only  dull  plodders  at  routine 
work ;  and,  besides  never  having  had  a  great  poet  or  a 
great  warrior,  they  were  actually  so  low  in  the  scale  of 
humanity,  as  never  to  have  had  a  revolutionist  of  any 
kind  or  degree  amongst  them. 

We  may  therefore  with  perfect  safety,  and  hierolo- 
gists'  support  too,  regard  the  length  of  20 '7  inches  as 
the  veritable  and  admitted  hereditary  measure  of  all 
Pharaonic  Egyptians  ;  and  the  one  which,  if  they  had 
been  copied  from  by  any  other  nation  or  mere  indi- 
vidual, would  have  been  the  length  imitated  and  faith- 
fully reproduced. 

Moses,  consequently,  in  making  the  distinguished  use 
which  he  did,  not  of  that  length  of  20*7,  but  of  the 
very  different  length  of  25  inches,  was  decidedly  not 
taking  anything  out  of  the  known  wisdom-book  of  the 
Egyptians  ;  or  anything  which  their  amount  and  species 
of  learning  would  have  enabled  them  intentionally  to 
arrive  at  and  perceive  the  cosmical  virtues  of. 

And  not  only  so,  too  ;  for  if,  with  the  absolute 
length  of  the  Pyramid  standard,  Moses  adopted  its 
Pyramidic  sub-division  also  into  5x5  parts,  he  was 
adopting  something  which  was  particularly  hateful  to 
the  Egyptians.  Why  it  was  so,  does  not  appear ;  but 
Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  speaks  of  5  as  being  the  "  evil 
number "  in  Modern  Egypt  *  still ;  it  is  marked  by 
0  on  their  watches ;  and  5  x  5,  or  anything  made  up  of 
5,  would  seem  to  have  been  always  repulsive  there. 

Particularly  galling,  therefore,  to  the  old  Egyptians  it 
must  have  been  to  have  seen  the  Israelites,  when  they 
escaped  from  bondage  and  went  out  of  the  country 
**with  an  high  hand,"  itself  a  symbol  of  5, — especially 

*  Murray's  1864  "  Handbook  for  Egypt,"  p.  142. 


CHAP.XVm.]      THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  333 

galling  to  their  spirits  to  see  their  late  slaves  go  up, 
marshalled  by  "  5  in  a  rank,"  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt ; 
for  so  is  the  literal  translation  of  the  word  expressed 
''  harnessed,"  in  Exodus  xiii.  18  of  the  English  Bible. 

The  whole  of  that  affair  must,  no  doubt,  have  been 
hateful,  as  well  as  disastrous,  to  the  Egyptians  ;  and 
they  indulged  themselves  afterwards  in  some  very  con- 
temptuous phrases  about  it.  They  said,  for  instance,  as 
appears  from  the  relics  of  Manetho,*  handed  down  to  us 
from  various  authors,  that  some  persons,  under  a  rene- 
gade priest  of  Heliopolis  named  "  Moyses,"  had  been 
thrust  out  of  Egypt  by  the  king ;  and  they  were  a  very 
abominable  set  indeed,  for  not  only  were  they  all  lepers 
and  unclean,  but  their  number  is  given  as  the  very  evil 
one  of  250,000,  or  5  x  50,000. 

Their  real  number  is  given  by  the  Bible  as  soraething 
very  different  from  this,  as  well  as  their  state ;  but  it 
was  a  mode  of  blackening  them  to  the  Egyptians  for 
Egyptian  purposes  in  more  ways  than  one  ;  and  simi- 
larly, when  the  **  Hyksos,"  or  "Shepherd  Kings," t  also 
much  abominated  by  the  Egyptians,  established  them- 
selves in  Avaris,  in  a  remarkably  inconvenient  manner 
to  Egyptian  polity,  they  were  described  as  men  "of  an 
ignoble  race,"  and  in  number  also  "  250,000." 


Of  the  Book  of  Job, 

But  Moses  had  none  of  this  unwise  and  anti-Pyramid 
hatred  of  5  and  times  of  5  ;  and  though  his  first 
arrangement  of  years  was  the  Sabbatical  one  of  a  "week 
of  years,"  his  next,  and  by  far  the  most  important  one, 
the  grand  standard,  in  fact,  of  sacred  time,  was  the 
jubilee  of   5x10  years ;    a  number    wliich,   with  the 

•  "  Penny  Cyclopa5dia,"  p.  118. 

t  Gliddon's  "Ancient  Egypt,"  p.  63. 


334  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

similar  arrangement  of  days  for  the  feast  of  Pentecost, 
brings  up  again  the  number  of  inches  frequently 
referred  to  as  an  important  standard  in  the  King's 
Chamber  and  the  passages  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  note,  that  the  whole  of  the  sacred 
law  was  arranged  on  a  system  of  five  books ;  five,  too, 
expressly  so  called  in  the  "  Pentateuch  ;*'  and  this  over- 
shadowing of  Israel,  in  this  place,  by  the  number  5, 
seems  even  to  have  had  some  special  intention  in  it. 
For  when  the  best  critics  have  pronounced  so  decidedly 
as  they  have  done,  and  on  completely  other  grounds, 
that  the  Book  of  Job  was  cither  completely  written,  or 
finally  put  into  its  present  shape,  by  Moses,  and  by  no 
one  else,  in  spite  of  some  modern  theories, — yet  cannot 
find  the  smallest  reason  for  its  anomalous  position  in  the 
Bible,  far  away  from  all  the  other  books  of  the  same 
inspired  writer, — it  may  be  suggested  that  one  reason  was, 
to  prevent  the  unity  and  proportions  of  the  five  books 
of  the  ''  Pentateuch,"  as  a  system  and  symbol  of  5,  being 
interfered  with. 

Each  of  the  books  of  the  "  Pentateuch  "  depends  on 
the  other ;  or,  at  least,  Deuteronomy  refers  to  Exodus, 
Leviticus,  and  Numbers,  and  they  refer  to  Genesis ;  but 
not  one  of  them  refers  to  Job,  and  Job  does  not  refer  to 
any  of  them. 

Yet  surely  the  Bible  itself  would  have  been  incom- 
plete without  the  Book  of  Job,  and  all  its  lessons  of 
supreme  piety,  humility,  and  wisdom.  In  the  "  Penta- 
teuch," somewhat  fettered  to  a  particular  purpose,  the 
full  genius  of  Moses  and  the  whole  of  the  wisdom  he 
was  privileged  to  receive  from  on  high,  had  not  their 
full  range ;  but  in  the  Book  of  Job  there  came  an 
opportunity,  which  was  not  lost  or  slighted,  of  alluding 
more  clearly  to  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  the 
necessity  of  a  divine  redemption. 

Again,  to  return  to  more  moderate  subjects,  it  was 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  335 

not  till  lately  that  any  one  scientifically  understood,  and 
thoroughly  appreciated,  the  full  tenor  of  some  of  the 
concluding  passages  of  that  remarkable  book.  In  Job 
xxxviii.,  the  Lord,  "with  whom  is  terrible  majesty," 
proceeds  to  answer  Job  out  of  the  whirlwind  ;  confound- 
ing him  in  a  moment  with  the  grandeur  of  elemental 
phenomena,  the  form  and  size  of  the  earth,  the  laws 
of  solids  and  fluids,  of  light  and  darkness,  of  sea  and 
air,  of  clouds,  sunshine,  rain,  frost,  and  lightning ;  the 
series  of  wonders  is  appalling,  their  magnitude  and 
duration  verging  on  the  infinite.  But  then,  though 
softened  by  a  gradation  of  truest  descriptions  of  the 
tender  herb  springing  forth  all  the  wide  world  over, — 
there  had  seemed,  to  every  exact  scientist's  ideas,  some- 
thing like  a  descent  from  sublimity,  in  the  Biblical 
account  coming  down  to,  and  concluding  with,  a  de- 
scription of  two  or  three  particular  animals. 

What  the  Egyptian  wisdom,  with  its  infantile  know- 
ledge of  physical  science  anjj  cosmical  relations  would 
have  said  to  that,  is  hardly  worth  a  serious  inquiry ; 
but  this  is  what  modem  wisdom  in  the  scientific  age  of 
the  earth  has  involuntarily  illustrated  very  lately,  or  in 
the  last-published  number  of  one  of  those  large  book-sized 
Reviews,  which  undertake  to  show  existing  intellectual 
society,  through  the  medium  of  the  ablest  writers,  what- 
ever the  best  minds  have  been  producing  within  the 
latest  few  months  of  time. 

The  author  reviewed  on  the  occasion  alluded  to, 
treated  of  the  new  science  of  thermo-dynamics ;  show- 
ing that  heat  is  a  form  of  motion  ;  and,  from  that  simple 
beginning,  enumerating  the  laws  of  the  earth's  atmo- 
sphere, and  the  medium  filling  space  ;  calculating  the 
store  of  useful  mechanical  and  chemical  work  still  in  the 
world  ;  predicting  the  duration  of  sun,  moon,  and  all 
material  things  ;  and  then  boasting,  quite  in  the  pro- 
fane Egyptian  manner,  that  now  that  this  new  prin- 


336  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pabt  IV. 

ciple  in  natural  philosophy — i.e.,  mere  solar  radiation, 
computed  by  a  particular  formula — is  proved  to  be 
the  one  principle  which  supports  everything  we  see, — 
that  it  may  be  said  to  "create  the  muscle  and  build 
the  brain  of  man  ;  to  be  heard  in  the  roar  of  the  lion, 
and  the  song  of  birds ;  is  seen  in  the  gliding  of  the 
serpent,"  &c.,  &c. 

Whereupon  comes  down  the  reviewer,  with  a  higher 
philosophy  and  more  religious  truth,  regretting  that 
the  author  does  not  see  that,  to  whatever  extent  he 
can  compute  some  few  changes  in  the  form  of  mere 
dead  matter,  or  inorganic  elements, — extending  though 
they  may  through  space, — he  has  not  made  the  smallest 
approach  to  accounting  for  a  single  organic  phseno- 
menon  :  the  mystery  of  life  is  left  wholly  untouched 
by  him  ;  so  is  any  attempt,  even,  at  an  explanation 
of  how  fibre  is  joined  to  fibre  in  the  animal  structure ; 
and  infinitely  more,  wise  Job's  idea,  '*  how  wisdom  is 
put  into  the  inner  part^,"  and  by  what  means  the 
different  created  beings  take  up  their  appointed  cha- 
racters in  life's  varied  drama. 

In  fact,  the  best  and  latest  of  modern  science  has  here 
represented  the  difficulties  of  nature  for  man  to  explain, 
to  be  culminating,  precisely  in  the  manner  they  were 
described  to  do,  in  the  sacred  Book  of  Job  4,000  years 
ago. 

Moses,  then,  in  that  inimitable  work,  instead  of  copy- 
ing anything  from  the  profane  Egyptians  of  his  day,  was 
rather  anticipating  the  march  of  science  in  the  Christian 
ages  of  the  world.  And  when  we  further  find  that  in 
other  important  things,  he  was  likewise  going  directly 
against  the  standards  of  the  Egyptians,  but  coincidently 
with  those  of  the  Kosmos  of  God  and  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid ;  of  those  inner  parts,  too,  of  the  Great  Pyramid 
which  the  Egyptians  knew  nothing  about,  and  which 
he,  Moses,  as  a  man,  could  never  have  seen — when  we 


CHAP.XVm.]      THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  337 

meet  with  all  these  telling  circumstances,  and  so  many 
parallel  features  between  the  inspired  writings  and  the 
Great  Pyramid  versus  all  Egypt,  it  certainly  would 
appear  that  we  must  be  coming  close  to  the  Biblical 
source  of  the  wisdom  of  that  mighty  fabric. 

Yet  there  are  some  additional  points  of  contact  be- 
tween the  Great  Pyramid  and  Mosaic  metrological  sys- 
tems, which  it  will  be  well  worth  our  while  to  study 
in  their  detail,  before  venturing  to  proceed  further 
with  the  grand  question  of  the  whole. 


Of  the  Sacred  Ark  of  the  Covenant 

The  length  of  the  Great  Pyramid's  cubit  having  been 
2  5  02  5  British  inches  cannot,  I  presume,  now  be  re- 
sisted ;  and  to  all  minds  capable  of  grasping  the  sub- 
ject, Sir  Isaac  Newton's  testimony  for  the  Mosaic  cubit 
having  also  been  close  to  that  length,  is  probably  equally 
conclusive  ;  yet  at  the  same  time,  these  able  minds  may 
desire  to  hear,  if  there  is  any  further  direct  Biblical 
evidence  for  that  end,  over  and  above  what  Sir  Isaac 
Newton  adduced  in  his  invaluable  Dissertation  ?  Now 
something  of  this  sort  there  does  appear  to  be  in  the 
Pentateuch's  account  of  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  the 
most  sacred  feature  of  the  whole  of  the  Tabernacle's 
arrangement  under  Moses. 

That  Ark  was  kept  in  the  Holiest  of  Holies,  occupied 
its  chief  place  of  honour,  and  was  never  to  be  looked 
on  by  any  but  the  High  Priest  alone,  even  during  a 
journey.  Near  it  was  placed  an  ephah  measure  ;  and 
immediately  outside  its  compartment,  as  Michaelis  has 
shown,  were  various  other  standards  of  measure  ; 
though  no  metrological  purpose,  that  I  am  aware  of, 
has  been  hitherto  assigned  to  the  Ark  itself 

As  its  original  name,  "  area,"  implies,  the  Ark  was  a 
box  or  chest ;  and  its  first-stated  purpose  as  such  was, 

z 


338  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

to  hold  the  Divine  autograph  of  the  law  written  on 
stone. 

This  Ark-box,  then,  made  of  shittim,  or  acacia,  wood, 
was  further  lidless,  so  far  as  anything  attached  to  it  was 
concerned  ;  though  a  crown  of  gold  was  afterwards 
added  round  about  the  rim,  and  a  separate  or  loose  lid 
was  made  for  it  of  pure  gold,  called  the  mercy-seat. 
The 'actual  seat,  however — said  to  be  occasionally  occu- 
pied as  a  throne,  by  an  expression  of  the  Divine 
presence — was  not  that  lid,  but  was  formed  by  the 
wings  of  two  angels,  constructed  in  gold  at  either  end 
of  the  lid ;  which  lid,  at  such  time,  together  with  the 
Ark  below,  then  formed  Xkud  footstool. ^^ 

With  the  lower  part  only  of  this  arrangement,  or  the 
Ark  itself,  have  we  now  to  do  ;  and  the  Ark,  on'its  loose 
lid  of  gold  being  removed,  was  merely  a  box — a  lidless, 
rectangular,  rectilinear  box,  made  of  a  hard  and  tough 
wood  common  to  the  hills  of  Sinai. 

Now  in  so  far,  there  was  nothing  new  or  peculiar  in 
this  arrangement  of  Moses ;  for  of  boxes  there  was  an 
abundance  in  the  world,  even  in  the  very  temples  of 
Egypt,  when  time  had  waxed  so  late  in  human  history 
as  1500  B.C.  In  fact,  those  very  purposes  of  "rapacity," 
in  subservience  to  which  Josephus  relates  that  Cain 
invented  weights  and  measures,  would  seem  to  require 
that  he  should  have  made  big  and  strong  chests,  as 
treasuries  wherein  to  keep  the  fruits  of  his  spoliation 
and  oppression ;  as  well  as  the  stone  strongholds,  banks, 
or  ''oers,"  of  which  more  presently,  for  the -custody  of 
the  said  chests. 

The  only  feature,  therefore,  of  distinctive  importance 

*  "  The  lid,  or  cover  of  the  ark  was  of  the  same  length  and  breadth,  and 
made  of  the  purest  gold.  Over  it,  at  the  two  extremities,  were  two 
cherubim,  with  their  ibur  faces  turned  towards  each  other,  and  inclined  a 
little  towards  the  lid  (otherwise  called  the  mercy-seat).  Their  wings, 
which  were  spread  out  over  the  top  of  the  ark,  formed  the  throne  of  God, 
the  King  of  Israel,  while  the  ark  itself  was  the  footstool."  (Exodus  xxv. 
10—22;  XXX vii.  1— 9.)— Kitto's  *' Bible  Cyclopsedia,"  p.  214. 


Chap.  XYTIL]       THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  339 

which  we  need  expect  to  find  in  the  particular  box  con- 
structed by  Moses  for  a  sacred  purpose,  should  be  some- 
thing akin  to  that  which  distinguished  his  sacred  cubit, 
from  the  profane  cubit  of  the  Egyptians  :  mere  measur- 
ing sticks,  both  of  them  ;  and  yet  one,  not  only  of  a 
different  length  to  the  other,  but  implying  by  that 
difference  a  commensurability  with  the  Divinely  grand 
in  nature,  far  too  difficult  for  man  to  have  discovered 
for  himself  in  that  age.  Now  the  size  of  that  Ark-box 
of  Moses  is  given  in  Holy  Scripture  as  being,  2-5  cubits 
long,  and  1  '5  cubits  broad,  and  1  '5  high ;  which  mea- 
sures being  reduced  to  Pyramid  inches,  on  Sir  Isaac 
Newton's  and  our  own,  evolution  of  the  sacred  cubit 
of  Moses,  =  62*5  x  37'5  x  37'5  of  those  inches. 

But  was  this  outside  measure  or  inside  measure  ?  for 
that  must  make  a  very  material  difference  in  the  cubical 
result. 

Outside  measure,  without  a  doubt,  and  for  the  two 
following  reasons : — 

1st.  Because  the  vertical  component  is  spoken  of  as 
height,  and  not  depth. 

2nd.  Because  the  lower  lid  of  gold,  or  the  mercy- 
seat,  being  made  only  of  the  swme  stated  length  and 
breadth  as  the  Ark  itself,  it  would  have  stood  insecure, 
and  run  a  chance  of  tumbling  down  to  the  bottom  of 
the  box,  if  that  length  and  breadth  had  signified  the 
top  of  the  box's  inside,  and  not  its  outside,  area. 

Hence,  with  the  true  length  of  the  sacred  cubit 
(obtained  after  so  many  ages  of  error),  and  the  above 
understanding  how  to  apply  it,  we  may  now  approach 
the  cubical  contents  of  the  Ark.  We  are  not,  indeed, 
informed  in  Scripture  what  was  the  thickness  of  the 
sides,  and  therefore  do  not  know  exactly  how  much  to 
subtract  from  the  outside,  to  give  the  inside  dimen- 
sions ;  but  the  outside  having  been  given,  and  the 
material  stated,  the  limits  within  which  such  tliickness 


340  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

must  be  found,  arc  left  very  narrow  indeed.  Let  the 
thickness,  for  instance,  be  assumed  1*8  Pyramid 
inches ;  then  the  length,  breadth,  and  depth  will  be 
reduced  from  an  outside  of  62-5  x  37'5  x  37*5  to  an 
inside  of  58-9  x  33-9  x  357  ;  which  gives  71,282  cubic 
inches  for  the  capacity  contents  of  this  open  box  with- 
out a  lid. 

Or,  if  we  consider  the  sides  and  ends  1*75  inch 
thick,  and  the  bottom  2  inches, — also  very  fair  propor- 
tions in  carpentry  for  such  a  sized  box  in  such  a 
quality  of  wood, — then  its  inside  measure  would  be 
59*0  X  34 '0  X  35 -5  ;  which  yield  for  the  cubical  con- 
tents 71,213  cubic  Pyramid  inches. 

Thus,  in  any  mode  almost  of  practically  constructing 
the  Ark-box,  on  both  the  name  and  number  data  given 
by  the  Bible,  and  the  Hebrew  cubit  value  first 
approached  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  we  cannot  avoid 
bringing  out  a  cubical  capacity  result  almost  identical 
with  that  of  a  still  older  box,  known  for  several  cen- 
turies past  to  moderns  as  a  lidless  box,  but  never 
known  at  all  to  the  ancient  Egyptians  ;  viz.,  the  coffer 
in  the  King's  Chamber  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

Wherefore,  with  that  coffer's  cubic  capacity,  the  Ark 
of  the  Covenant  immediately  acquires  all  the  commen- 
surabilities  of  that  coffer's  interior  with  the  capacity 
and  mean  density  of  the  earth  as  a  whole  :  a  some- 
thing both  utterly  distinguishing  it  from  any  profane 
Egyptian  box  yet  measured ;  and  most  appropriate  to 
the  Scripture-stated  use  of  the  Ark  under  circumstances 
of  Divine  presence,  as  a  footstool ;  agreeably  with  the 
words  of  the  Lord  in  Isaiah  and  Acts,  "  the  earth  is  my 
footstool." 

Of  Solomons  Molten  Sea. 

Such,  then,  looked  at  in  the  light  of  science,  3,300 
years  after  its  day  of  construction,  must  have  been  the 


^ 


Chap.  XVIIL]      THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  341 

sacred  Ark  of  the  Covenant  built  according  to  the  in- 
spiration commands  received  by  Moses,  after  he  had 
left  Egypt  for  ever ; — and  that  was  the  Ark  which 
subsequently  overthrew  the  idol  gods  of  the  Philistines, 
and  was  a  source  of  safety  to  Israel  on  many  and  many 
a  national  occasion.  Yet  what  eventually  became  of  it, 
or  what  was  its  latter  end,  Scripture  does  not  inform  us. 
The  Eastern  Churches  have  their  traditions,  but  I  do  not 
care  to  occupy  time  over  theifn.  And  this  only  further 
piece  of  solid  information  has  been  made  out  by  the 
metrological  researches  of  John  Taylor  and  others  in 
recent  years  ;  viz.,  that  within  narrow  limits  pf  un- 
certainty, the  brazen  lavers  of  Solomon's  TempFe  were 
also  of  the  same  cubic  capacity  as  the  coffer  in  the 
Great  Pyramid ;  and  measured,  on  the  Hebrew  system, 
40  baths,  or  4  homers.  Those  lavers,  then,  through 
the  coffer,  were — what  no  human  science  could  have 
intentionally  made  them  in  that  day — earth  com- 
mensurable. 

But  there  was  a  still  larger  capacity  vessel  in  the  same 
Temple  of  Solomon ;  was  it  also,  earth  commensurable, 
and  harmonious  with  the  world  of  God's  creation  ? 

This  vessel,  by  name  the  **  Molten  Sea,"  was  grandly 
cast  in  bronze,  though  of  a  shape  and  size  which  has 
defied  all  essayists  hitherto  to  agree  upon.  Even  in 
the  Bible,  something  of  what  is  there  said  about  it,  is 
stated  variously  in  different  books  thereof ;  as  that  in 
Kings,  the  cubic  contents  are  given  as  2,000  baths, 
while  in  Chronicles  they  are  set  down  as  3,000.  The 
latter  account  being  but  fragmentary,  I  adhere  to  the 
former  ;  and  then  find,  according  to  the  simple  state- 
ment in  baths,  that  the  "  Molten  Sea  "  would  have 
contained  the  contents  of  a  laver  50  times ;  or  a 
Pyramid  number  at  once. 

Next  we  are  told  (1  Kings  vii.  23 — 26)  that 
the  "  molten  sea "  "  was  ten  cubits  from  the  one  brim 


342  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  IV. 

to  tlie  other ;  it  was  round  all  about,  and  his  height 
was  five  cubits ;  and  a  line  of  thirty  cubits  did  compass 
it  round  about ;  and  it  was  an  hand-breadth  thick." 

The  first  point  here,  is  to  realise  the  shape.  Some 
good  men  have  imagined  it  cylindrical ;  some  of  a 
swelling  caldron  form  ;  but  the  greater  numbers,  a  hemi- 
spherical shape  ;  and  this,  perhaps,  is  most  agreeable 
(1)  to  the  phrase  "  round  all  about,"  (2)  to  its  diameter 
being  twice  its  height,  and  (3)  to  the  traditionary  tes- 
timony of  Josephus  that  it  was  hemispherical. 

This  point  settled,  are  the  measures  inside,  or  out- 
side ?  By  the  rule  established  for  the  Ark,  the  breadth 
and  height  are  outside,  of  course  ;  but  in  that  case, 
what  is  the  meaning  of  a  circle  of  1 0  cubits  in  diameter, 
having  a  circumference  of  30  cubits  ?  That  is  a  total 
impossibility ;  and  wholly  against  the  chief  part  of  the 
teaching  of  the  Great  Pyramid  itself,  which  proves  in 
various  ways  that  the  circumference  of  a  circle  having 
10  for  diameter  cannot  be  less  than  31*4159,  &c. 

In  this  dilemma,  I  venture  to  conclude  (especially  as 
here  an  indication  of  the  thickness  of  the  vessel  is  given, 
viz.,  at  a  hand-breadth)  that  the  inside  circumference 
was  alluded  to. 

Take,  then,  a  hemisphere  with  an  inside  circum- 
ference of  30  Pyramid  cubits,  its  diameter  would  be 
238*73  Pyramid  inches,  giving,  with  an  outside  diameter 
of  ten  cubits,  nearly  5-5  inches  for  the  thickness  (or  a 
space  which  the  hand  of  a  strong  man  spread  out  would 
easily  cross).  The  cubic  contents,  then,  of  such  internal 
hemisphere  will  be  3,562,070  Pyramid  cubic  inches  ; 
and  divided  by  the  Pyramid  number  50,  give  71,241  of 
the  same  cubic  inches ;  i.e.,  within  a  seven-thousandth 
part  of  the  same,  as  either  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  or 
the  coffer  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

But  why  did  Solomon  go  to  such  pains  and  expense 
in  making  the  *'  molten  sea  "  so  ver}^  much  larger  thi 


1 


Chap.XVIJI.]      the  great  pyramid.  343 

his  already  large  brazen  vessels,  the  layers  ;  and  larger 
too,  by  the  exact  multiple  of  50  ? 

No  profane  Egyptian  would  have  chosen  that  number, 
as  we  have  already  seen  ;  but  in  the  Great  Pyramid, 
planned  certainly  by  a  Seth-descended,  Abel-following, 
God-inspired,  man,  and  by  no  Cainite  Egyptian, — the 
lower  course  of  the  King's  Chamber  has  been  so  ad- 
justed in  height,  by  the  removal  from  sight  of  its  lower 
5  inches,  that  the  cubic  contents  of  that  lower  course 
amount,  as  already  shown  at  p.  150,  to  50  times  the 
coffer's  contents  ;  or,  as  we  now  see,  were  exactly  equal 
to  the  contents  of  Solomon's  molten  sea  ;  unless  we 
should  rather  say  that  Solomon's  molten  sea  was  made 
to  be  equal  to  the  lower  adjusted  course  of  the  King's 
Chamber  of  the  Great  Pjrramid. 

Yet  if  we  have  been  already  obliged  to  conclude  that 
Moses,  though  he  lived  long  in  Egypt,  could  never  have 
been  inside  the  Great  Pyramid,  and  had,  therefore,  no 
opportunity  of  humanly  copying  the  cubic  contents  of 
the  coffer;  vastly  more  certain  may  we  be  that  King 
Solomon  was  never  inside  the  Pyramid  either,  or  in  a 
position  to  note  the  exact  amount  of  cubic  contents  of 
the  lower  course  of  the  coffer's  containing  chamber. 

Whence,  then,  came  the  metrological  ideas  common  to 
three  individuals  in  three  different  ages  ;  and  involving 
reference  to  deep  cosmical  attributes  of  the  earth,  under- 
stood by  the  best  and  highest  of  human  learning  at 
none  of  those  times  ?  And  the  answer  can  hardly  be 
other,  than  that  the  God  of  Israel,  who  liveth  for  ever, 
equally  inspired  t©  this  end  the  Seth-descended  architect 
of  the  Great  Pyramid,  the  prophet  Moses,  and  King 
Solomon. 

Of  Stone  Sanctuat^a  and  Pyramids. 

So  far,  for  the  vessels  contained  in  the  several 
sanctuaries,  whether  Pyramid,  Tabernacle,   or  Temple. 


344  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

But  something  now  requires  to  be  said,  touching  these 
sanctuaries  themselves ;  and  chiefly  on  account  of  the 
new  light  thrown  on  them  by  Mr.  Henry  Tompkins.* 

The  chief  instrument  with  which  he  voluntarily 
works,  is  indeed  linguistic  only,  and  therefore  rather 
outside  my  methods  of  procedure ;  but  involuntarily 
he  brings  to  bear  certain  necessary  business  features 
essential  to  the  very  existence  of  any,  and  every,  com- 
munity of  men,  whether  large  or  small.  All  such,  for 
instance,  must  have  amongst  them,  in  whatever  age 
they  live  or  have  lived,  something  approaching  to  a 
safe,  or  treasure-stronghold ;  even,  and  perhaps  much 
more  so,  if  they  be  a  community  of  robbers,  rather 
than  of  peaceful  men. 

Now  the  first  builder  of  such  a  safe,  according  to 
this  new  author,  was  Cain ;  and  Moses  told  us  of  it 
long  ago,  though  bad  translations  have  hid  the  fact 
from  our  eyes,  by  speaking  rather  of  "  the  city  "  which 
Cain  built  in  the  land  of  Nod.  Yet  Moses  only  said 
an  "  oer,"  meaning  thereby,  some  chambered  tumulus 
of  earth  and  stones,  which  one  man  might  possibly,  or 
even  easily,  have  built  single-handed  ;  and  might  then 
with  full  right  "  call  it  after  his  son's  name.'!  Such  an 
"oer"  was  rude  probably,  yet  exactly  adapted  to  serve 
both  as  a  stronghold  and  strong  room,  or  a  neces- 
sary practical  addition  to  what  Josephus  tells  us  of 
Cain,  at  that  very  period  of  his  life  too,  when  "he 
invented  weights  and  measures,  and  used  them  only  for 
the  purposes  of  rapacity  and  oppression." 

Hence  every  few  Cainites  might  well  have  an  "oer'* 
amongst  them,  but  not  "  a  city  ;"  and  in  freeing  us  from 
this  latter  word,  where  Moses  wrote  "oer,"  Mr.  Tompkins 


*  "  The   Pyramids   and  the   Pentateuch,"   by   Henry   Tompkins,    of 
2,  Augusta  Place,  Lansdowne  Eoad,  Clapham  Road,  Loudon,  Oct.  22,  1873. 


Chap.XVIIL]      the  great  pyramid.  345 

seems  to  have  done  excellent  service  ;  though  when  he 
proceeds  further,  to  call  every  "  oer "  a  Pyramid,  he 
wanders  from  the  provable  stone  facts. 

The  word  Pyramid  (by  sound  of  course,  rather  than 
by  letter)  is  not  read  in  any  of  the  Pharaonic  hierogly- 
phics, nor  proved  to  have  been  known  earlier  than  the 
visit  of  Herodotus  to  Egypt  in  445  B.C.  There  too,  it 
was  applied  to  a  particular  form  of  the  "  oer "  seen 
nowhere  else  ;  and  the  progress  of  mathematics  since 
then  has  still  more  strictly  confined  its  application. 
Hence,  when  we  read  in  Genesis  of  the  rebellious  and 
Cain-following  men,  after  the  flood,  uniting  together  to 
build  ''  a  city  and  a  tower  whose  top  may  reach  unto 
heaven,"  according  to  King  James's  translators, — and 
when  Mr.  T.  tells  us  rather  to  read,  "  Let  us  build  a 
Pyramid,  and  one  of  great  extent,  whose  top,"  &c., — let 
it  be  our  part  to  endeavour  to  ascertain  mechanically 
what  VMS  built. 

Nor  is  this  very  difficult ;  for  though  Babel's  old 
structure  may  long  since  have  been  buried  in  the  soft 
alluvial  earth  of  its  foundations,  yet  the  researches  of 
Laj^ard,  Botta,  Loftus,  and  others  in  Mesopotamia,  all 
unite  in  showing,  that  the  buildings  which  served  the 
purposes  of  "  oers  "  next  in  order  of  time  to  Babel,  in 
that  part  of  the  world,  were  invariably  oblong,  elevated, 
terraced  temples,  and  not  to  be  called  pyramids  in  any 
degree. 

Similarly  too  the  chambered  tumuli  of  the  Lydians, 
Etruscans,  Pelasgi,  and  many  other  early  people,  were 
all  of  them  "  oers,"  and  many  of  them  treasury  "  oers  " 
too,  but  not  one  of  them  a  pyramid.  In  Egypt  only 
did  the  "  oers  "  become  truly  pyramidal  ;  and  though 
in  that  land,  their  primitive  Cainite  purpose  of  strong- 
holds for  treasure  rapaciously  acquired,  was  gradually 
overshadowed  by  sepulchral  service,  yet  they  were  not 


346  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

always  wholly  merged  therein,  whatever  the  modern 
Egyptologists  choose  oracularly  to  declare.* 

To  the  intense  Cainites,  that  all  Egyptians  were,  some 
form  of  "  oer "  was  most  necessary  in  their  early 
national  life  ;  and  though  they  did  perhaps  begin  in 
two  or  three  small  examples  with  chambered  tumuli,  or 
Babel  terraces,  or  even  round  towers,t  the  captivating 
example  of  the  Great  Pyramid  soon  led  them  off  into 
that  shape  alone ;  and  they  put  its  mark  so  effectually 
on  themselves,  that  the  really  Sethite  character  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  was  lost  to  general  view  among  newly 
pyramidised  Cainite  *'  oers." 

And  yet  to  a  deeper  insight  there  was,  even  in  the 
mere  putting  together  of  the  material,  the  most  essen- 
tially different  character  in  the  one  Great  Pyramid 
original,  and  all  its  supposed  copies. 

The  Egyptians,  for  instance,  according  to  Dr.  Lepsius's 
law  of  their  Pyramid  building  (pages  76  and  77),  pro- 
ceeded in  exactly  the  same  exogenous  manner  as  all 
Cainites  with  their  chambered  tumuli ;  i.e.,  beginning 
with  a  chamber  centre,  and  extending  the  structure 
around  and  above,  more  or  less,  as  opportunity  offered 
or  accident  determined  at  last. 

But  the  Great  Pyramid,  as  testified  through  the 
whole  of  this  book,  and  by  the  accounts  of  Herodotus 
also,  was  commenced  on  the  opposite,  or  endogenous 
method ;  viz.,  by  the  laying  out  of  a  long  previously 
settled  plan,  and  building  up  within  that  outline  only. 

*  Besides  the  many  early  local  traditions,  which  must  have  some 
foundation,  of  treasure  having  been  deposited  in  the  Egyptian  Pyramids 
by  kings  who  lived  close  before,  or  after,  the  flood, — Colonel  Howard- 
Vyse  and  Mr.  Perring  (on  pp.  45,  46  of  the  former's  3rd  vol.  of  "  Pyra- 
mids of  Gizeh"),  give  an  account  of  a  chamber  in  the  Great  Terraced, 
and  rather  oblong,  Pyramid  of  Saccara,  closed  by  a  granite  stopper  of 
four  tons  weight,  and  declared  by  them  to  have  been  "  a  treasury,"  "a 
secure  and  secret  treasury,"  and  one  that  had  certainly  "never  been  put 
to  tombic  use." 

t  The  round- towers  standing  beside  Christian  churches  in  Ireland  are 
an  architectural  picture  of  Cain  and  Abel  over  again. 


I 


Chap.XVITL]      the  great  pyramid.  347 

While,  therefore,  the  Cainite  Egyptian  Pyramids  were 
"  Epimethean,"  or  speaking  to  one  hasty  act  and  too 
late  thought  afterwards, — the  Great  Pyramid  was  essen- 
tially Promethean,  or  the  result  of  careful  act  following 
upon  previous  wise  and  provident  thought. 

The  former,  even  according  to  classic  tradition, 
brought  infinity  of  ills  on  all  humanity ;  but  the  latter 
told  mysteriously,  from  far  earlier  ages,  of  one  who 
voluntarily  sacrificed  himself  in  order  that  he  might 
(in  antagonism  to  the  false  gods  of  heathen  idolatry), 
bring  down  sacred  fire,  or  regeneration  life,  from  heaven 
to  men. 

But  of  this  primeval  phase  of  the  Promethean  myth, 
long  before  the  Greeks  polluted  its  purity  and  truth  in 
deference  to  all  their  own  obscene  rout  of  gods  and 
goddesses  of  Olympus,*  we  shall  have  still  more  posi- 
tive evidence,  on  studying  more  advanced  features  of 
construction  found  only  in  the  Great  Pyramid. 

*  See  **  Seven  Homilies  on  Ethnic  Inspiration,"  by  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Taylor  Goodair ;  and  "  The  Eeligions  of  the  World,"  by  William  Oaburn, 


348  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 


CHAPTER  XIX, 

MECHANICAL    DATA. 

Air  Channels. 

FROM  time  to  time  in  the  modern  history  of  the  Great 
Pyramid,  faults  have  been  found,  or  improvements 
suggested,  or  difficulties  raised  with  regard  to  its  con- 
struction ;  and,  where  such  remarks  have  been  the 
produce  of  able  minds,  it  is  well  for  instruction's  sake, 
in  the  present  day,  to  turn  back  to  their  very  words. 
Also,  if  such  criticisms  have,  since  they  were  uttered, 
been  answered  by  further  discoveries  at  the  Pyramid,  to 
note  how  they  have  been  answered. 

A  case  in  point  is  offered  by  the  conversation  of  Dr. 
Harvey,  the  learned  discoverer  of  the  circulation  of  the 
blood,  with  Professor  Greaves,  in  or  about  1640.  The 
doctor,  unable  to  leave  his  patients  in  this  country,  had 
revolved  at  home  in  his  truly  capacious  mind,  and  from 
his  own  peculiar  scientific  point  of  view,  one  of  the 
descriptions  given  to  him  by  the  great  Eastern  traveller 
of  that  day,  and  had  seen  a  difficulty  which  had  not 
struck  him. 

To  one  so  well  versed  in  biological  phaenomena  (though 
living  long  before  the  day  of  a  knowledge  of  oxygen,  or 
the  nature  of  gases,  or,  indeed,  any  sort  of  scientific 
chemistry),  it  seemed  strange  to  Dr.  Harvey,  "  how 
several  persons  could  have  continued  so  many  hours  in 


Chap.  XIX.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  349 

the  pyramid  and  live.  For,"  said  he,  "  seeing  that  we 
never  breathe  the  same  air  twice,  but  still  new  air  is 
required  to  a  new  inspiration  (the  succus  alibilis  of  it 
being  spent  in  every  expiration),  it  could  not  be,  but  by 
long  breathing,  we  should  have  spent  the  aliment  of  that 
small  stock  of  air  within  the  Pyramid,  and  have  been 
stifled  ;  unless  there  were  some  secret  tunnels  conveying 
it  to  the  top  of  the  Pyramid,  whereby  it  might  pass  out, 
and  make  way  for  fresh  air  to  come  in  at  the  entrance 
below." 

Now  that  was  a  remark  full  of  wisdom  in  every  way, 
and  if  duly  received  and  respected,  might  have  led  to 
invaluable  discoveries  at  an  early  period, — but  Professor 
Greaves,  a  good  linguist,  and  with  eminent  dexterity 
at  solving  algebraic  equations,  unfortunately  could 
not  see  the  vital  importance  of  Dr.  Harvey's  succus 
alibilis  mixed  up  in  common  air  ;  neither  had  he  con- 
sidered very  accurately  the  motion  of  aeriform  fluids, 
when  he  thought  that  both  the  old  air  might  so  easily  go 
out,  and  new  air  as  easily  come  in,  by  one  and  the  same 
lower  entrance  passage,  of  small  bore  and  crooked,  almost 
"  trapped,"  in  the  course  of  its  length  ;  and  finally  he 
was  certain,  as  one  who  had  been  at  the  Pyramid,  and 
was  therefore  not  to  be  lightly  contradicted,  that,  "  as 
for  any  tuhuliy  or  little  tunnels,  to  let  out  the  fuliginous 
air  at  the  top  of  the  Pyramid,  none  could  he  discovered 
within  or  without'' 

To  this  Dr.  Harvey  replied  most  discreetly,  "They 
might  be  so  small,  as  that  they  could  not  be  easily 
discovered,  and  yet  might  be  sufiicient  to  make  way  for 
the  air,  being  a  thin  and  subtile  body." 

But  poor  Professor  Greaves  on  this  occasion  would  not 
listen  to  such  homely  reason,  and  only  answered  con- 
futingly,  he  himself  having  chronicled  his  own  words, 
that,  "  The  less  they,  the  tuhuli,  were,  the  sooner  they 
would  be   obstructed  with  those  tempests  of  sand,  to 


350  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

which  those  deserts  are  frequently  exposed  ;"  and  with 
these  and  similar  positivisms  he  obliged  the  stay-at-home 
medical  doctor,  in  a  phrase  of  that  day,  and  which  may 
then  have  been  classic  and  aristocratic  English  with  all 
the  elder  dons  of  Oxford,  "  To  shut  up  all." '''" 

Yet  what  would  Professor  Greaves  have  thought,  if 
he  could  have  known  before  he  died,  that  200  years 
after  his  remarkable  conversation  with  the  discoverer  of 
the  most  important  anatomical  and  physiological  fact 
even  yet  known  to  science, — Colonel  Howard- Vyse 
would  actually  have  proved  the  existence  of,  and  found, 
two  such  tuhuli,  leading  to  the  upper  parts  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  :  and  formed  for  no  other  purpose  than 
that  which  Dr.  Harvey  had  indicated,  i.e.,  to  serve  as 
ventilating  channels  :  and  that  he.  Professor  Greaves, 
had  himself  actually  seen  their  lower  extremities  in  the 
walls  of  the  King's  Chamber ;  and  proved  the  fact,  by 
inditing  the  following  almost  photographic  likeness  of 
them  : — 

"  The  ingenious  reader  will  excuse  my  curiosity, t  if, 
before  I  conclude  my  description  of  this  Pyramid,  I 
pretermit  not  anything  within,  of  how  light  a  consequence 
soever.  This  made  me  take  notice  of  two  inlets  or 
spaces,  in  the  south  and  north  sides  of  the  chamber,  just 
opposite  to  one  another  ;  that  on  the  north  was  in 
breadth  0700  of  the  Enghsh  foot,  and  in  height  0*400, 
evenly  cut,  and  running  in  a  straight  line  six  feet  and 
further,  into  the  thickness  of  the  wall.  That  on  the 
south  is  larger,  and  somewhat  round,  not  so  long  as  the 
former,  and,  by  blackness  within,  it  seems  to  have  been 
the  receptacle  for  the  burning  of  lamps." 

Upon  which  he  indulges  in  a  classical  speculation 
upon  "the  eternal  lamps,  such  as  have  been  found  in 

*  Page  161,  vol.  i.,  of  "  Greaves,"  by  Birch. 

t  The  exact  meaning  of  this  word  has  altered  greatly  within  the  last 
two  hundred  years. 


Chap.  XIX.]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  351 

Tulliola's  tomb  in  Italy  ;"  and  regrets  (in  so  far,  just  like 
a  mediaeval  scholar,  rather  than  a  modern  physicist), 
actually  regrets  to  think  how  much  better  Pliny  might 
have  filled  his  pages,  if  he  had  described  therein  the 
composition  of  one  of  those  lamps  of  "  noble  inven- 
tion," rather  than  occupied  them  with  lesser  matters  of 
natural  phaenomena. 

But  the  blackness  adverted  to  at  the  Pyramid,  would 
seem  to  have  been  caused  mainly  by  the  fires  which 
were  occasionally  made  in  the  hole,  since  Caliph  Al 
Mamoun's  time,  by  Arabs  with  an  inquisitive  turn  of 
mind,  and  merely  for  the  chance  expectation  of  seeing 
what  would  come  of  it.  During  the  two  following 
centuries,  also,  the  fashion  grew  up  for  each  visitor  and 
tourist  to  conclude  his  sight-seeing  of  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid, by  firing  his  pistols  into  these  holes. 

What  for  ? 

Even  the  decorous  Dane,  Captain  Norden,  who  wrote 
in  1740  to  explain  how  young  men  going  out  to  the 
Great  Pyramid  "  should  join  in  a  company  with  their 
seniors,  that,  by  the  discourses  they  hear  on  the  road, 
they  may  be  more  emulous  to  observe  everything  in  a 
better  manner,  and  make  more  exact  remarks  ;  " — even 
he,  the  worthy  countryman  of  the  learned  Arabian 
traveller,  Niebuhr,  explains, — "  when  you  are  in  the 
saloon  (the  King's  Chamber)  you  commonly  make  some 
discharges  of  a  pistol,  to  give  yourself  the  ^pleasure  of 
Jtearing  a  noise  that  resembles  thunder;  and  then,  as 
there  is  no  hope  of  discovering  more  than  what  others 
have  already  remarked,  you  resume  the  way  by  which 
you  came,  and  return  in  the  same  manner,  as  well  as 
with  the  same  difficulty." 

Innumerable  persons,  therefore,  besides  Professor 
Greaves,  had  portions  of  the  air-channel  system  in  their 
hands ;  but,  through  not  respecting  sufficiently  the 
design  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  and  the  duty  of  using 


352  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IY. 

the  best  of  tlieir  own  intellect,  they  went  away  no  wiser 
than  they  came,  and  the  realizing  at  last  of  the  best 
ventilated,  or  rather  ventilatable,  room  in  the  world 
remained  to  another  age. 

Ceiling  of  Kings  Chamber, 

Again,  certain  early  authors  of  a  critically  mechanical 
turn,  looked  up  at  the  ceiling  of  the  King's  Chamber, 
roofed  with  horizontal  beams  of  granite  blocks,  and  ex- 
pressed their  thoughts  in  the  manner  of  a  judgment  and 
condemnation,  that  "  those  beams  had  a  vast  weight  to 
bear"  (all  the  weight  of  the  upper  two-thirds  of  the 
Pyramid  above  them) ;  and,  with  some  allusion  to  the 
"  arch,"  and  no  knowledge  of  any  of  the  numerical  and 
physical  symbolisms  required  in  this  chamber,  they 
rather  hinted  "  that  they  could  have  made  a  better  dis- 
position of  the  material." 

It  has  been  supposed  that  the  boastful  legend  in- 
scribed by  King  Asychis  on  his  pyramid  of  brick  at 
Dashoor,  one  thousand  years  after  the  building  of  the 
Great  Pyramid,  referred  to  the  invention  or  earliest 
construction  of  arches  in  brick  : — "  Compare  not  me  with 
the  Pyramids  built  of  stone,  which  I  as  far  excel  as 
Amun  doth  the  other  gods.  For  striking  the  bottom 
of  the  lake  with  long  poles,  and  gathering  the  mud  which 
stuck  to  them,  men  made  these  bricks,  and  formed  me 
in  this  manner." 

Contemporary  science  applauded  that  invention,  and 
thought  it  perfect ;  but  contemporary  science,  even  up 
to  the  present  hour,  is  always  marvellously  well  pleased 
with  its  last  and  latest  performance,  however  imperfect 
the  next  generation  may  find  it  to  have  been  ;  and  in 
the  case  before  us,  4,000  years  have  reduced  nearly  all 
the  brick  pyramids  to  rubbish  :  giving  us  reason  for 
thanks,  that  that  scientific  improvement  was  not  invented 


Chap.  XIX.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  3 S3 

early  enough  to  have  been  adopted  in  the  Great  Pyramid. 
By  itself  no  doubt  the  arch  was  good,  and  a  brick  arch 
stronger  than  a  brick  beam ;  but  neither  a  brick  arch, 
nor  an  arch  of  little  stones,  has  stood  so  long  as  a  beam 
of  solid  granite  in  circumstances  similar  to  those  of  the 
King's  Chamber. 

If  the  roof  of  that  chamber  Aac?  at  any  time  fallen  in, 
and  crushed  the  coffer  below,  which  it  was  meant  to 
preserve, — then  all  the  scientific  critics  might  have 
started  up  with  reason,  to  propose  a  more  durable  mode 
of  roofing  ;  but  in  presence  of  that  roof's  perfect  perfor- 
mance of  its  duty,  for  a  longer  period  than  any  other 
human  building  has  lasted,  it  was  strange,  to  say  the 
least  of  it,  that  such  a  readiness  to  find  fault  and  proffer 
advice  should  have  been  manifested ;  for,  as  M.  Jomard 
most  admirably  expresses  it,  "  under  this  view  of  the 
perfect  state  and  condition  of  the  whole  room,  the  archi- 
tects have  eminently  attained  the  end  which  they  pro- 
posed to  themselves  more  than  3,000  years  ago." 

"  Ah  !  but  if  they  have  only  saved  themselves  by  the 
skin  of  their  teeth,"  urges  another  writer  unabashed  ;  "  if 
they  have  been  indebted  to  happy  chance  for  a  result, 
of  which  the  precise  contrary  might  have  at  any  moment 
befallen  them  !  "  Well,  that  is  an  objection  which  would 
have  been  perhaps  excusable  in  Professor  Greaves'  day, 
when  men  knew  nothing  of  what  the  means  for  strength 
employed  by  the  architects  were  ;  or  even,  whether  they 
had  had  their  attention  directed  to  the  importance  of 
the  point.  But  ever  since  the  discovery  in  17G3  of 
Davison's  Chamber  (so  called,  but  really  only  a  hollow 
in  the  masonry  not  intended  to  be  trod  by  the  foot  of 
man), — the  learned  must  have  seen,  that  some  of  the 
requirements  of  the  case  had  been  skilfully  entered  into 
by  the  builders  ;  though  no  person  had  any  idea,  until 
Colonel  Howard- Vyse  made  his  celebrated  explorations 
in   1837,  of  the  still  further  measures  of  extraordinary 

A  A 


354-  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  IV. 

completeness  with  which  this  scientific  mechanical  object 
had  been  carried  out ;  a  completeness  so  striking,  that 
we  have  never  heard  since  then,  of  any  more  complaints 
or  fears  for  the  safety  of  the  ceiling. 

Plate  XL  gives  an  idea  of  the  arrangement  adopted. 
Besides  the  large,  and  pyramidally  typical,  number  of 
five  hollow,  closed  spaces  or  j9seu(io-chambers,  one  over 
the  other,  and  the  topmost  one  roofed  with  opposed 
sloping  plates, — it  will  be  observed  that  the  upper 
surface  of  every  set  of  long  horizontal  blocks,  in  place 
of  being  formed  into  a  flat  floor,  is  left  rough  and 
unfinished. 

This  is  a  feature,  the  truth  of  which,  and  perhaps  the 
importance  also,  entirely  escaped  the  French  savants  of 
1800,  even  in  such  limited  part  of  the  whole  scheme 
as  they  had  before  them  ;  whence  it  came,  that  they 
represented  the  floor-surface  of  Davison's  pseudo-chsimher 
or  hollow,  as  absolutely  level,  and  also  parallel  to  the 
King's  Chamber  true  ceiling  below,  in  the  otherwise 
beautiful  and  microscopically  finished  engravings  of 
their  great  work  ! 

Yet,  had  the  Pyramid  architect  so  prepared  and  cut 
away  the  upper  original  surface  of  each  set  of  horizontal 
granite  beams,  he  would  have  notably  weakened  their 
strength,  and  not  have  done  good  to  any  one  ;  for  as 
those  hollows  of  construction  were,  with  one  proble- 
matical exception  indicated  in  the  plate,  built  up  solid 
all  round  about,  and  therefore  not  intended  to  be 
entered,  it  signified  not  in  the  least  whether  their  floors 
were  even  or  uneven  to  any  degree. 

The  whole  arrangement  was  indeed  a  similar  exhibi- 
tion of  mechanical  genius,  looking  for  efiiciency  rather 
than  show,  to  that  one  described  by  Professor  Rigaud 
in  an  early  transit-instrument  of  the  Oxford  Observatory; 
where  the  artist  optician  had  left,  for  strength's  sake,  the 
rough,  original  skin  on  the  outside  surface  of  the  brass, 


Chap.  XIX]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  355 

though  he  had  planed  the  under  surface  true,  wherever 
a  joint  had  to  be  made,  or  a  bearing  secured.  But  in 
the  Pyramid,  there  was  ultimate  symbology  also. 


Modern  Promiscuous  Quarrymg. 

Then  again,  no  one  seems  hitherto  to  have  had  any 
respect,  and  that  because  no  understanding,  of  why  the 
mass  of  solid  masonry  was  so  overwhelmingly  large, 
compared  with  the  hollow  portion  of  the  Pyramid ;  the 
latter  being  only  about  1 -2000th  of  the  former. 

Firmness  of  construction,  they  thought,  would  have 
been  given  by  a  far  less  amount  of  solid  substance  ; 
wherefore,  and  for  that  mere  fancy,  bred  of  their  own 
brain  alone,  feeling  sure  that  there  must  be  many 
chambers  still  undiscovered,  they  immediately  began 
ruthlessly  boring  and  cruelly  blasting  here,  there,  and 
everywhere  into  the  exquisitely-arranged,  squared,  lime- 
stone blocks,  and  to  a  depth  often  of  a  great  many  feet, 
merely  to  see  what  blind  chance  might  possibly  lead 
them  to.  Forgetful,  also,  of  a  really  very  sage  piece  of 
advice,  said  by  an  Arab  tradition,  shaming  Herodotus, 
to  have  been  engraved  on  the  ancient  casing  stone 
surface  of  the  Pyramid  by  its  unknown  architect :  "I 
have  built  them,  and  whoever  considers  himself 
powerful  may  try  to  destroy  them.  Let  him,  however, 
reflect  that  to  destroy  is  easier  than  to  build." 

Had  Mehemet  Ali  been  inclined  to  intellectual 
tyranny,  what  sport  to  him  to  have  had  up  before  his 
judgment-seat  each  of  these  quarrying  geniuses,  and  made 
them  render  forth,  if  they  could,  a  presentable  reason, 
based  on  Pyramid  knowledge,  for  the  dark  hope  that 
was  within  them,  as  to  why  they  should  have  met  with 
success  by  making  a  hole  in  the  particular  direction 
they  did.  And  if  they  could  not  give  such  a  reason 
clearly  and  convincingly,  order  them  to  put  back  every 


356  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

stone  they  had  pulled  out,  precisely  as  it  was  before  ;  a 
more  than  sufficient  occupation  for  the  remaining  term 
of  their  natural  lives.* 

Who  too,  among  Egyptologists,  would  escape  such  a 
judgment  ?  Not  even  the  excellent  Sir  Gardner  Wil- 
kinson ;  who,  when  describing  the  Queen's  Chamber  in 
the  Great  Pyramid,  says  with  the  most  inimitable  calm- 
ness, and  without  a  pang  on  his  conscience  for  the 
mischief  he  had  done  to  so  precious  a  work,  "  I  ex- 
cavated in  vain  below  in  quest  of  a  sepulchral  pit."  t 
And  a  pretty  pit,  indeed,  I  found  he  had  made  of  it, 
when  I  visited  the  place  in  1865  ! 

The  Key-signs  of  the  Great  Pyramid's  Architect. 

Yet  infinitely  more  blameable  were  those  before  him, 
who  made  similar,  but  yet  more  destructive,  excavations, 

*  Connected  with  this  view,  the  following  is  given  from  the  Arabian 
author,  Abd  Allatif,  who  wrote  more  than  five  hundred  j-ears  since,  and 
who,  ill  times  ot  boasting  and  romance,  described  his  own  exploits  in  such 
modest  terms,  but  terriWe  truth,  as  this : — "  When  I  again  visited  the 
Pyramids,  I  entered  this  passage  with  several  people,  but  having  pene- 
trated about  two-thirds  into  the  interior,  and  having  through  fear  com-\ 
pletely  lost  my  senses,  I  returned  half  dead." 

A  bad  explorer,  then,  but  an  unflinching  historian,  Abd  Allatif  relates 
in  the  latter  capacity : — 

"  When  Malic  Alaziz  Othman  Ben  Youssuf  succeeded"  his  father,  he 
was  prevailed  on  by.  some  persons  of  his  court— people  totally  devoid  of 
sense  and  judgment — to  attempt  the  demolition  of  the  Pyramids.  He 
accordingly  sent  miners  and  quarrymen,  under  the  superintendence  of 
some  of  the  officers  and  emirs  of  his  court,  with  orders  to  destroy  the  red 
pyramid,  which  is  the  best  of  the  three.  They  encamped  near  it,  col- 
lected labourers  from  all  parts  of  the  country  at  a  vast  expense,  and 
endeavoured,  with  great  assiduity  for  eight  months,  to  execute  the  com- 
mission with  which  they  were  entrusted,  removing  each  day,  with  great 
difficulty,  one  or  two  such  stones.  At  length,  having  exhausted  all  their 
pecuniary  resources,  their  resolution  grew  proportionally  weaker  as  their 
labour  and  difficulties  increased,  and  they  were  at  last  obliged  to  give  up 
the  undertaking  as  hopeless.  VVhile  they  were  still  engaged  in  the  work, 
observing  one  day  the  extreme  labour  it  required  to  remove  one  of  the 
hlocks,  I  asked  an  overseer,  who  was  superintending  the  operation, 
whether,  if  a  thousand  pieces  of  gold  was  offered  to  him,  he  w^ould  under- 
take to  replace  the  block  in  its  original  position  :  he  answered,  that  it  he 
v/ere  to  be  given  many  times  that  sum,  he  could  not  do  so." — Col.  Howard 
Vyse's  second  vol.  of  "  Pyramids  of  Gizeh." 

t  Murray's  "Handbook  for  Egypt,"  p.  167. 


Chap.  XIX.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  357 

with  the  absurd  idea  of  finding  a  passage  leading  to  the 
Sphinx  !  As  if  there  was  any  community  in  science  or 
religion,  feeling  or  age,  between  the  built  Great  Pyramid 
and  the  carved  stock  or  stone  called  the  Great  Sphinx. 

As  if,  too,  I  may  add,  there  was  anything  of  original 
importance  in  the  Great  Pyramid's  structure  which  had 
not  had  both  a  proper  and  a  regidar  access  prepared 
to  it,  requiring  no  smashing  with  sledge-hammers  or 
cannon-balls,  when  the  proper  time  should  arrive,  to 
open  it  up  to  view  and  use. 

The  passages  lined,  or  rather  built,  with  blocks  of 
whiter  stone  different  from  the  bulk  of  the  masonry, 
and  leading  thereby  right  on  to  the  ultimate  point 
required  through  the  whole  mountainous  mass  of  the 
building,  are  a  case  directly  in  point ;  and  are  admitted 
by,  and  known  now  to,  every  one,  even  including  the 
Egyptologists.  But  there  are  more  minute  features  also, 
not  so  generally  known ;  yet  showing  equal  design  and 
intention,  in  these  very  Pyramid  passages. 

Thus  every  one  has  been  told  how  Caliph  Al  Ma- 
moun,  after  blasting  his  way  through  the  solid  fabric 
for  six  weeks,  was  just  about  to  give  up  the  research 
when  he  heard  a  stone  fall  in  a  hollo^v  space  close 
on  one  side ;  and  breaking  his  way  in  that  direction,  he 
presently  found  himself  in  the  entrance-passage ;  and 
the  stone  which  had  fallen  at  that  precise  instant,  was 
a  prism-shaped  block  that  had  been  anciently  inserted 
in  the  ceiling.  There  it  had  for  ages  formed  a  merely 
ordinary  part  thereof,  and  yet  was  covering  all  the  time 
the  butt-end  of  the  granite  portcullis  at  the  bottom  of 
the  first  ascending  passage,  now  at  last  exposed  to  view. 

Would  that  first  ascending  passage,  then,  never  have 
been  discovered,  if  that  faithless,  perhaps  timeous,  block 
had  not  fallen  out,  whether  in  Al  Mamoun's  or  any 
other  day  ?     Let  the  following  facts  indicate. 

When  measuring  the  cross  joints  in  the  floor  of  tb« 


358  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

entrance-passage  in  1865,  I  went  on  chronicling  their 
angles,  each  one  proving  to  be  very  nearly  at  right 
angles  to  the  axis,  until  suddenly  one  came  which  was 
diagonal,  another,  and  that  was  diagonal  too  ;  but  after 
that,  the  rectangular  position  was  resumed.  Further, 
the  stone  material  carrying  these  diagonal  joints  was 
harder  and  better  than  elsewhere  in  the  floor,  so  as  to 
have  saved  that  part  from  the  monstrous  excavations 
elsewhere  perpetrated  by  some  moderns.  Why  then 
did  the  builders  change  the  rectangular  joint  angle  at 
that  point,  and  execute  such  unusual  angle  as  they 
chose  in  place  of  it,  in  a  better  material  of  stone  than 
elsewhere ;  and  yet  with  so  little  desire  to  call  general 
attention  to  it,  that  they  made  the  joints  fine  and  close 
to  that  degree  that  they  had  escaped  the  attention  of 
all  men  until  1865  a.d.  ? 

The  answer  came  from  the  diagonal  joints  themselves, 
on  discovering  that  the  stone  between  them  was  oppo- 
site to  the  butt-end  of  the  portcullis  of  first  ascending 
passage,  or  to  the  hole  whence  the  prismatic  stone  of 
concealment  through  3,000  years  had  dropped  out 
almost  before  Al  Mamoun's  eyes.  Here,  therefore,  was 
a  secret  signjn  the  pavement  of  the  entrance-passage, 
appreciable  only  to  a  careful  eye  and  a  measurement 
by  angle,  but  made  in  such  hard  material  that  it  was 
evidently  intended  to  last  to  the  end  of  human  time 
with  the  Great  Pyramid,  and  lias  done  so  thus  far. 

Had,  then,  that  ceiling-stone  never  dropped  out  at 
all,  still  the  day  might  have  come  when  the  right  men 
at  last,  duly  instructed,  would  have  entered  the  passage, 
understood  that  floor  sign,  and,  removing  the  ceiling- 
stone  opposite  to  it,  would  have  laid  bare  the  begin- 
ning of  the  whole  train  of  those  subaerial  features  of 
construction  which  are  the  Great  Pyramid's  most  dis- 
tinctive glory,  and  exist  in  no  other  Pyramid  in  Egypt 
or  the  world. 


Chap.  XIX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  351) 

Uses  of  the  Queens  Chamber, 

But  if  in  this  simple  manner  of  a  small  trap-door  in 
the  ceiling  of  the  descending  entrance-passage,  the 
ascending  system  of  the  Great  Pyramid  was  so  long 
concealed,  there  was  once  in  that  ascending  system, 
viz.,  at  or  just  inside  the  lower  end  of  the  grand 
gallery,  and  in  the  floor  thereof,— a  more  extensive 
trap-door,  which  concealed  the  access  to  the  Queen  s 
Chamber  and  the  horizontal  passage  leading  to  it. 

At  present,  when  the  traveller  enters  the  north  end 
of  the  grand  gallery  from  the  first  ascending  passage, 
he  is  delighted  to  meet  with  a  level  floor  ;  but  following 
that  southward,  he  finds  that  it  leads  presently,  not  to 
the  farther  end  of  the  grand  gallery,  but  to  a  hole 
under  a  steep  escarpment  of  its  floor  close  by  ;  in  fact, 
to  the  beginning  of  the  low  horizontal  passage  leading 
to  the  Queen's  Chamber.  (See  Plates  VIIL,  XII.,  and 
XIII.)  The  floor  of  the  grand  gallery  itself  is  inclined 
at  the  typical  angle  of  26°  18'  (my  measures  by  three 
difl*erent  methods,  with  far  more  powerful  instruments 
than  ever  taken  inside  the  Great  Pyramid  before, 
made  it  26°  17'  37");  antl  runs,  from  the  lowest  north 
end  right  up  to  the  great  step  at  the  south  termina- 
tion of  the  gallery,  in  one  continued  slope,  except  for 
the  interruption  caused  by  the  absolute  removal  of  a 
portion  of  the  floor  near  the  north  end,  to  allow  of 
that  sub-floor  horizontal  passage  to  the  Queen's  Chamber 
being  approached  on  a  level.  But  there  are  traces  still 
visible  in  the  masonry  on  either  side  of  that  hole 
in  the  gallery's  floor,  well  interpreted,  first  by  Mr. 
Perring,  and  more  recently  by  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon, 
engineers  both  ;  showing,  that  a  neatly-laid  and  joist- 
supported  flooring,  nine  inches  thick,  did  once  exist 
over  that  hole,  completing  thereby  the  whole  long  slope 
of  the  grand  gallery's  floor ;  and  in  that  case  entirely 


3&0  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

concealing  and  utterly  shutting  up  all  approach  to,  or 
knowledge  tou'ching  the  very  existence  of,  the  Queen's 
Chamber. 

Who  amongst  mediaeval  men  pulled  away  that  con- 
cealing floor,  removed  its  supporting  cross-beams,  and 
pushed  on  into  the  Queen's  Chamber,  is  not  known 
now,  any  more  than  why  it  was  so  concealed  by  the 
original  builders.  Mr.  Perring  imagined  that  the 
chamber  must  have  been  used  as  a  store-room  during 
the  building  of  the  Pyramid,  for  the  big  blocks  of  stone 
which  were,  at  the  finishing,  slided  down  into  the  first 
ascending  passage  until,  from  the  portcullis  at  its  lower 
end,  that  passage  was  full  up  to  its  very  top  ;  and 
the  workmen  then  escaped  by  the  deep  well  and  its 
subterranean  communication  with  the  entrance-passage. 

Quite  willing  am  I  to  allow  to  the  honest  working 
engineer,  that  such  a  store-room  purpose  may  have  been 
served  :  but  was  that  all  that  the  place  was  intended 
for  ?  And  if  so,  to  what  end  are  all  the  following 
features;  features  too,  which  are  much  more  certain 
than  that  use ;  for  the  features  exist  still,  and  can  be 
seen  every  day,  but  who  witnessed  the  use  ? 

1.  The  central  axis  of  the  niche  in  the  east  wall 
(and  that  niche  this  Queen's  Chamber's  only  architec- 
tural adornment)  is  removed  southward  from  the  centre 
thereof  by  one  scientific  Pyramid,  or  sacred  Hebrew, 
cubit  length.      (See  Plate  IX.) 

2.  The  top  of  the  niche  is  one  similar  Pyramid,  and 
sacred  Hebrew,  cubit  broad.* 

3.  The  height  of  the  niche,  multiplied  by  that 
grandly  fundamental  quantity  in  the  Great  Pyramid,  tt, 
and  that  multiplied  by  the  Pyramid  number  10  =  the 


*  25-3  inches  in  each  case  by  measure,  in  place  of  25*025 ;  but  the 
measures  very  rough. 


Chap.  XIX.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  361 

height  of  the  Great  Pyramid  ;  orl85x7rxl0  =  5812 
in  place  of  5813.^ 

4.  The  height  of  the  niche,  less  the  height  of  its 
inner  species  of  long  shelf,  equals  similarly  the  half 
of  the  base-side  length  of  the  Great  Pyramid ;  or 
185  —  39*6  X  10  7r=4568,  in  place  of  4566  inches.! 

5.  The  height  of  the  north  and  south  walls  of  the 
Queen's  Chamber  measured  =  18222  Pyramid  inches 

±  1  inch,  and  assumed  182 '6 2,  give — 

» 

182'62  y  10 

(1)    ~ —  =  9131  =  length  of  Great  Pyramid's  base-side  in  P.  in. 

(2)  182-62  X  2  =  365-24  =  solar  days  in  solar  tropical  year. 

6.  The  breadth  of  the  Queen's  Chamber  measured 
=  205 "6,  assumed  205*0,  gives — 

182-62  :  205  ; :  205  :  230-1  =  height  of  King's  Chamber  from  floor  to 

ceiling. 

7.  The  square  root  of  10  times  the  height  of  the 
north  or  south  walls,  divided  by  the  height  of  the 
niche  =  tt  ;  or, 

'  =  V         18.3 


182-62  X  10 


All  the  above  theorems,  save  the  two  first,  are  the 
discoveries  of  Professor  Hamilton  L.  Smith  (of  Hobart 
College,  Geneva,  New  York),  who,  without  having  been 
to  Egypt,  and  without  any  other  Pyramid  measures  than 
those  contained  in  "  Life  and  Work,"  has,  by  success- 
fully interpreting  them,  constituted  himself  in  a  most 
unexceptionable  manner  the  citizen-king  of  the  Queen's 
Chamber. 

A  fuller  account  of  his  researches  has  appeared  in 
the  November   number  of   the   American  Journal  of 

*  The  height  of  the  niche  uncertain,  by  the  measures,  between  185  and 
186  inches. 

t  The  shelf's  height  is,  by  the  very  rough  measures,  between  38  and 
40  inches. 


362 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  IV. 


ScicTice  and  Art;  which  number,  too,  at  the  time  I 
write  (Dec.  1873)  seems  to  have  reached  London,  but 
not  Edinburgh.  And  I  must  beg  my  readers  to  refer 
to  his  very  paper  for  themselves  ;  for,  while  the  said 
London  journals  merely  and  most  miserably  say  of  the 
memoir,  "  Professor  H.  L.  Smith  finds  that  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  Queen  s  Chamber  were  scientific," — ^he 
wrote  to  me  positively  and  particularly  some  time  ago,  that 
his  conclusive  arrangement  of  the  whole  of  what  he  had 
discovered  took  the  form  of  the  twd*  horns  of  a  dilemma, 
on  either  of  which  he  left  the  opponents  of  the  sacred 
and  scientific  theory  of  the  Great  Pyramid  to  impale 
themselves,  as  they  preferred. 

"  Either,"  said  he,  ''  there  is  proof  in  that  chamber 
of  supranatural  inspiration  granted  to  the  architect ; 
or — 

"  That  primeval  official  possessed,  without  inspiration, 
in  an  age  of  absolute  scientific  ignorance,  4,000  years 
ago,  scientific  knowledge  equal  to,  if  not  surpassing, 
that  of  the  present  highly-developed  state  of  science  in 
the  modern  world." 

This  is  so  radically  different  a  state  of  things  to  what 
is  implied  in  the  London  journals,  that,  in. the  absence 
still  of  his  own  printed  paper,  I  refer  to  some  of  Pro- 
fessor H.  L.  Smith's  private  letters  of  last  summer  ; 
and  would  direct  attention  to  the  remarkable  number 
of  characteristic  angles  which  he  has  discovered  in  this 
chamber,  and  all  of  them  well  within  the  limits  of  some 
of  my  measurements  ;  a  few  of  them  running  thus  : — 


Casing-stone  angle,  again  and  again 

Latitude 

Co-latitude 

Upper  culmination  of  a  Draconis 
Lower  culmination  of  a  Draconis 
Upper  culmination  of  ij  Tauri     . 


51°  51' 
30° 
60° 
33°  41' 

26°  22' 


=     4°  21'  North  of  Equator. 


Chap.  XIX.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  363 

Newly-discovered  Air-channds  in  Queens  Chamber. 

Now  here  we  have  seen  a  whole  series  of  connections 
between  the  actually  existing  measurable  facts  of  the 
Queen's  Chamber,  and  scientific  portions  of  the  ulti- 
mate, and  originally  secret,  design  of  the  Great  Pyramid  ; 
a  design  utterly  unknown  to  the  ancient  Egyptians, 
and  alien  to  everything  that  belonged  to  them  and 
their  "wisdom,"  such  as  it  was  ;  teste  the  Egyptologists 
themselves  ; — features,  too,  all  of  them  entirely  un- 
necessary to  a  mere  store-room  for  stone  blocks,  or  to  a 
chamber  for  holding  a  simple  sarcophagus.  Therefore, 
although  some  of  the  early  travellers  have  spoken  fear- 
fully of  "the  grave-like  and  noisome  odour  of  this 
room,  causing  them  to  beat  a  rapid  retreat,"  the  room 
must  have  acquired  that  odious  character  from  modern 
vilifying,  rather  than  ancient  construction ;  for  what  its 
builders  put  into  it,  as  we  see  above,  is  not  of  a  nature 
to  experience  any  fleshly  corruption. 

Indeed,  in  its  ancient  planning,  the  Queen's  Chamber 
would  appear  to  have  been,  still  further,  intended  some 
day  to  be  ventilated.  Eor  the  chief  item  of  latest 
discovery  at  the  Great  Pyramid,  is  that  one  which  was 
made  last  winter  by  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon,  in  company 
with  his  friend  Dr.  Grant,  and  with  the  assistance  of 
one  of  his  English  workmen  from  the  bridge  he  was 
then  erecting  over  the  Nile  ;  and  is  to  the  effect,  that 
this  Queen's  Chamber  has  two  ventilating  channels  in 
its  north  and  south  walls,  nearly  similar  to  those  in  the 
King's  Chamber. 

Perceiving  a  crack  in  the  south  wall  of  the  Queen's 
Chamber,  which  allowed  him  at  one  place  to  push  in  a 
wire  to  a  most  unconscionable  length,  Mr.  W.  Dixon 
set  his  carpenter  man-of-all-work,  by  name  Bill  Grundy, 
to  jump  a  hole  with  hammer  and  iron  chisel  at  that 
place.     So  to  work  the  faithful  fellow  went,  and  with  a 


364      ,  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

will  which  soon  began  to  make  a  way  into  the  soft 
stone,  when  lo  !  after  a  very  few  strokes,  flop  went  the 
chisel  right  through,  into  somewhere  or  other.  So  the 
party  broke  away  the  stone  round  about  the  chisel  hole, 
and  then  found  a  rectangular,  horizontal  tube  about 
9  by  8  inches  in  breadth  and  height,  going  back  7  feet 
into  the  wall,  and  then  rising  at  an  angle  of  about  32°. 

Next,  measuring  otf  a  similar  position  on  the  north 
wall,  Mr.  Dixon  set  the  invaluable  Bill  Grundy  to  work 
there  again  with  his  hammer  and  iron  chisel ;  and 
again,  after  a  few  strokes,  flop  went  the  said  chisel 
through,  into  somewhere ;  which  somewhere  was  pre- 
sently found  to  be  a  horizontal  pipe  or  channel  like  the 
other,  and  rising  at  a  similar  angle,  but  in  an  opposite 
direction,  at  a  distance  of  7  feet  from  the  chamber. 

Fires  were  then  made  inside  the  tubes  or  channels  ; 
but  although  at  the  southern  one  the  smoke  went  away, 
its  exit  was  not  discoverable  on  the  outside  of  the 
Pyramid.  Something  else,  however,  was  discovered  inside 
the  channels,  viz.,  a  little  bronze  grapnel  hook ;  a  por- 
tion of  cedar-like  wood,  which  might  have  been  its 
handle  ;  and  a  grey  granite  or  green-stone  ball,  which, 
from  its  weight,  8,325  grains,  as  weighed  by  me  in 
November,  1872,  must  evidently  have  been  one  of  the 
profane  Egyptian  inina  weight  balls,  long  since  valued 
by  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  at  8,304  grains.* 

These  relics  approached  so  nearly  in  character  to  the 

*  A  month  after  I  had  made  the  ahove  measure  and  deduction,  and  com- 
municated them  to  Mr.  John  Dixon,  who  had  kindly  sent  me  the  articles  to 
examine,  the  ball  was  weighed  by  the  "Warden  of  the  Standards,  found  to 
be  8324-97  grains  (see  his  paper  in  Nature,  Dec.  26,  1872) ;  whence  it  is  also 
concluded  that  the  stone  may  have  been  an  old  Egj-plian  mina  weight.  A 
closeness  of  agreement,  especicillj'^  in  the  weight,  which  is  remarkable,  if 
the  Warden  of  the  Standards  had  not  heard  of  my  previous  measuring 
and  conclusion,  and  which  he  certainly  does  not  allude  to. 

Thin  flakes  of  a  very  white  mortar,  exuded  from  the  joints  of  the 
channels,  were  also  found;  and  on  being  recently  analysed  by  Dr.  William 
Wallace,  of  Glasgow,  were  proved  to  be  composed  not  of  carbonate.,  as 
generally  used  in  Europe,  but  sulphate,  of  lime;  or  what  is  popularly 
known  as  **  plasler-of- Paris  "  in  this  country. 


Chap.  XIX.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  365 

ordinary  nick-nackets  of  most  men's  archaeology,  that 
they  excited  quite  a  furore  of  interest,  for  a  time,  in 
general  antiquarian  circles  ;  but  nothing  more  has  come 
of  them.  The  ball  and  the  hook  are  supposed  to  have 
been  dropped  down  the  channels  unintentionally  by 
some  of  the  mason's  labourers  or  boys  at  the  passages' 
upper  ends,  when  the  place  of  those  ends  was  still  open 
and  accessible ;  but  the  things  thus  strangely  found, 
belong  merely  to  the  forced  labourers,  the  hodmen,  of 
profane  Egypt ;  not  to  the  architect  and  head  admi- 
nistrator of  the  scientific  and  inspired  design. 

An  Unexplained  Feature  in  the  Queens  Chamber s 
Air-channels. 

Something  of  the  mysterious,  however,  still  remains 
touching  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon's  air-channels  of  the 
Queen's  Chamber. 

When  their  inner  ends,  or  ports,  were  proved  to 
have  been  separated  from  the  air  of  said  chamber 
merely  by  a  thin  plate  of  soft  limestone  (so  easily 
pierced  by  Bill  Grundy's  chisel),  every  one  leaped  to 
the  conclusion  that  they  had  originally  been  in  use,  but 
had  been  stopped  up  by  some  mediasval  interloper  with 
a  paltry  stone  patch.  But  this  was  not  the  case  ;  for 
Mr.  Dixon  has  successfully  proved  that  there  was  no 
jointing,  and  that  the  thin  plate  was  a  "  left,"  and  a 
very  skilfully  and  symmetrically  left,  part  of  the  grand 
block  composing  that  portion  of  the  wall. 

That  block,  therefore,  had  had  the  air-channel  tube 
(9x8  inches)  sculptured  into  it,  neatly  and  beautifully 
as  far  as  it  went,  but  that  distance  was  not  quite  through 
the  whole  block  by  a  mere  finger's  breadth.  Th^  whole 
air-channel,  save  that  little  unmade  bit,  was  in  place ; 
but  could  never  have  been  used.  Not,  too,  that  it  had 
been  tried,  found   inconvenient,  and  was  then  stopped 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


IV. 


up  by  the  original  builders ;  for  they  would  in  that 
case  either  have  filled  the  port  with  a  long  plug,  or 
would  have  replaced  the  whole  block  carrying  the  inner 
end  of  the  channel,  with  another  block  quite  solid. 

But  the  arrangement  which  these  builders  left  behind 
them  was  one  which,  if  simply  described  according  to 
the  facts  which  have  already  occurred  in  history,  was 
this  ;  viz.,  that  after  the  chamber  has  been  for  long 
ages  ill-treated  and  maligned  by  the  idle  and  ignorant 
of  civilized  peoples, — it  should  yet  be  possible  for  a 
well-informed  man  to  enter,  and,  by  little  more  than 
pressure  with  his  fingers  on  a  particular  part  of  the 
wall,  establish  (if  the  upper  ends  have  in  the  meanwhile 
remained  intact),  a  complete  system  of  ventilation  by 
means  of  air-channels,  extending  through  solid  masonry 
on  either  side  no  less  than  300  feet  in  thickness. 


Scheme  of  the  Masonry  in  First  Ascending  Passage. 

Besides  making  this  strange  discovery,  in  concert 
with  his  friend  Dr.  Grant,  of  Cairo,  Mr.  Waynman 
Dixon  performed  a  great  work  in  the  first  ascending 
passage  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

My  examination  of  that  passage  in  1865,  was  con- 
fined to  little  more  than  its  angle  and  floor  length  ; 
partly  on  account  of  the  bewildering  varieties  of  the 
jointing,  as  they  appeared  on  a  cursory  examination. 
But  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon,  in  1872,  applying  himself 
long  and  steadily  to  this  special  task,  and  mapping 
down  everything  measurable,  presently  perceived  a  most 
admirable  order  pervading  the  apparent  disorder,  and 
tending  also  to  good  masonic  construction.  For  the 
chief  discovery  was,  that  at  stated  intervals  the  blocks 
forming  separately  the  walls,  floor,  and  ceiling  of  the 
passage,   were   replaced    by  great    transverse   plates  of 


Chap.  XIX.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  367 

stone,  with  the  passage  bore  cut  clean  through  them, 
so  as  to  form  walls,  floor,  and  ceiling,  all  in  one  piece. 

As  an  engineer  he  admired  this  masonry.  But  he 
had  not  perceived,  until  I  was  recently  able  to  point  it 
out  to  him,  on  his  own  careful  measures,  that  the 
intervals  of  passage-length  at  which  these  remarkable 
stone  'plates  were  introduced,  were  no  other  than 
breadths  of  the  King's  Chamber. 

The  first  interval,  indeed,  at  the  top  of  the  passage 
was  a  double  one,  and  therefore  equalled  the  length  of 
the  King's  Chamber  ;  but  then  followed  five  plates,  with 
that  chamber's  breadth,  or  206  inches,  between  every 
pair  of  similar  surfaces  ;  and  after  that,  or  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  passage,  near  the  granite  plugs,  the  plates 
were  contiguous. 

This  unexpected  illustration  of  the  builders  working 
by  measure,  and  in  terms  of  that  one  chamber  which  is 
now  confessed  to  be  the  focus  of  the  whole  scientific 
design,  but  which  was  not  then  built  into  fact,  may  be 
taken  as  a  proof  of  the  Promethean,  or  forethought, 
character  of  the  whole  of  the  Great  Pyramid  building. 
And  it  may  justify  me,  I  hope,  before  my  readers,  in 
concluding  this  chapter,  intended  to  be  of  mere 
mechanical  details,  with  some  further  references  to 
structural  connections,  bearing  on  deep  physical  results, 
between  the  said  King's  Chamber,  and  its  one  con- 
tained treasure, — the  coffer. 


Relatione  of  King's  Chamber  to  Coffer, 

That  coffer  being  loose  on  the  King's  Chamber  floor, 
without  either  niche  or  socket  prepared  for  its  reception 
or  fixaftion,  there  was  much  fear  expressed  only  a  few 
years  ago,  that  it  might  not  be  the  original  coffer,  or 
sarcophagus,  intended  for  the  Great  Pyramid  by  its 
architect. 


368  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

Yet  never  has  theoretic  fear  been  more  abundantly 
quieted  by  actual  discoveries  of  solid  facts. 

Some  of  these  discoveries  have  been  already  stated 
in  Part  II.,  but  others  have  come  to  light  since  then, 
chiefly  through  the  researches,  quite  independently  of 
each  other,  of  Professor  Hamilton  L.  Smith,  and  Mr. 
Jalnes  Simpson  ;  and  may  be  stated  thus  : — 

1.  The  coffer  belongs  essentially  to  the  King's  Cham- 
ber, because  it  is  tt  shaped  (first  ascertained  by  Mr. 
St.  John  V.  Day),  and  after  the  same  manner  nearly, 
though  in  a  different  plane,  as  that  chamber  which  is 
also  of  TT  proportions.  For  while  height  of  coffer  = 
radius  of  a  circle,  whose  circumference  is  of  the  same 
length  as  the  coffer's  extreme  outer  boundary ;  so  the 
King's  Chamber  half  breadth  (made  so  much  use  of  in 
obtaining  the  equations  of  the  "  sums  of  the  squares  "), 
is  radius  to  a  circle,  whose  circumference  =  the  peri- 
phery of  either  north  or  south  wall  of  King's  Chamber 
with  their  full  height,  or  measured  from  their  own 
granite  bases  five  inches  beneath  the  floor. 

2.  The  coffer  belongs  to  the  King's  Chamber,  be- 
cause its  cubic  contents  are  Vo  of  the  chamber's  lower 
course  contents;  and  the  chamber  is  also  on  the  50th 
masonry  course  of  the  whole  Pyramid. 

3.  The  coffer  further  belongs  to  the  King's  Chamber, 
because  its  height  is  \  (Pyramid  number)  of  the  cham- 
ber's breadth,  and  -h  (Pyramid  number),  of  its  length  ; 
and  its  height  squared  =  A  (Pyramid  number)  of  the 
area  of  the  chamber.  ■"'' 

4.  The  coffer  still  further  belongs  to  the  King's 
Chamber,  because  the  outside  periphery  of  the  coffer's 
base  is  equal  to  half  the  most  important  line  that  can 

*  The  measured  height  of  the  coffer,  as  already  given,  lies  hetween 
41'23  and  41-13,  and  tlie  breadth  and  length  of  the  chamher.are  respec- 
tively 2(16  07,  and  412-13  Pyramid  inches,  to  within  less  than  the  tenth  of 
an  inch,  which  will  enable  any  one  to  compute  how  near  the  above  stated 
proportions  came. 


Chap.  XIX.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  369 

be  drawn  in  the  room,  viz.,  its  solid  diagonal ;  for  the 
half  of  this  is  257"58  inches,  and  the  coffer's  base 
periphery  by  measure  is  257'24,  but  with  an  anomaly 
in  the  measure  of  the  west  side  (see  p.  137),  which 
being  corrected  would  bring  it  up  more  nearly  to 
257-50. 

5.  Again,  the  coffer  belongs  to  the  King's  Chamber, 
because  all  three  of  its  dimensions,  external,  are  given 
by  the  half  of  the  chamber's  magistral  radius  (i.e.,  the 
half  of  its  solid  diagonal),  12879  inches,  when  typically 
divided,  or  thus  : — 

128-79 

^|-^  X  T  =  40-996  =  central  height  of  coffer     =  41-13  — 4f 

128'79 
.         X  3  =  38-637  =  breadth  of  coffer  outside  =  3S-61 

128-79 

X  7  =  90154  =  length  of  coffer  outside     =  89-92» 

Of  which  multipliers,  while  tt  is  evidently  the  Pyramid 
number,  3  and  7  are  very  important  coadjutors  to  it.f 

6.  The  coffer  was  not  necessarily  intended  for  nothing 
but  a  coffin,  as  the  Egyptologists  assert,  merely  because 
it  is  long  enough  for  a  man  to  lie  down  in ;  for  the 
above  is  one  of  its  many  consistent,  numerical  and 
scientific  features,  which  demand  its  actual  full  length  ; 
and  another  still  is  shown  by  Professor  Hamilton  L. 
Smith  thus  : — 

Let  the  number  of  inch-days  in  a  year,  or  365*24 
inches  =  360°  ;  then 

Coffer's  inside  width  measured  =  26-73  in.  =  26°  18'  =  angle  of  Pyramid 

passages. " 
.,  depth        „  =  34-34  in.  =  33°  48' =  upper  cultiiination 

of  a  Dniconis. 
„  length       „  =  77-93  in.  =  76°48' =Sutnniit  angle   of 

Pyruinid  nearly. 

♦  But  90'09,  on  the  removal  of  the  anomaly  from  the  west  foot,  already 
mentioned. 

t  See  a  paper  by  "William  Petrie,  in  my  "Life  and  Work,"  vol.  iii., 
p.  602. 

B    B 


370  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

Whereupon,  and  with  reference  to  previously  noted 
commensurabilities,  Professor  H.  L.  Smith  remarks,  very 
happily,  if  this  stone  box  was  intended  for  nothing  but 
a  coffin,  what  a  nice  kind  of  a  coffin  it  must  have  been  ; 
and  are  there  any  of  our  modern  mathematicians  who 
would  undertake  to  give  the  dimensions  of  such  another 
coffin,  combining  as  many  scientific  data ;  especially 
too,  in  order  to  make  it  a  parallel  case  in  everything, — 
scientific  data  not  yet  known  to  mankind,  but  to  be 
known  4,000  years  hence  ? 

7.  Lastly,  of  the  coffer's  cubic  contents,  its  most  im- 
portant element  as  a  vessel  of  capacity. 

I  have  already  published,  as  the  result  of  my  direct 
measures  taken  in  combination  with  the  earliest  com- 
mensurabilities which  I  had  discovered  in  1868,  the 
following  quantities  : — 

71,178 

71,292 
71,317 
71,160 
71,266 
71,258 

But  all  the  last  three  of  these  should  probably  be 
slightly  increased  for  that  anomaly  in  the  measure  of 
the  lower  west  side  of  the  coffer  (see  p.  1 1 8  vol.  ii.  of 
"  Life  and  Work,")  which  has  just  been  brought  into 
more  evident  existence  by  the  light  of  some  of  Mr. 
James  Simpson's  more  recent  commensurabilities  ;  and 
he  now  adds  the  following  results  of  coffer-contents 
from  his  own  calculations  : — 

A  First  wall  course  of  King's  Cham'ber  -f-  50  .  .  .  =  71,470 
B     The  same  when  height  is  made  to  correspond  to  ic  pro-  | «,  .„, 

portion J  — /M^l 

0     Outside  contents  of  coflFer  deduced  from  cubic  semi-diagonal  \ »,  .^^ 

of  King's  Chamber,  and  -^  2 j  —  '^'*"" 

D  From  the  same,  made  to  correspond  to  tt  .  .  .  .  t=  71, -^88 
E     Squareof  inside  breadth  (measured  =  26-703)  X  10  .     =71,307 

F     Product  of  interior  measures =71,318 

G     Soliddiagonalof  Queen's  Chamber  X  200  .         .         .     =71,394 

H    United  length  of  the  8  arris  lines  of  the  Great  Pyramid   .     =  71,276 


Chap.  XIX.]         THE  GREAT  PFRAMIl)  371 

The  mean  of  all  the  quantities,  first  and  last,  being 
near  71,310;  and  the  resulting  figure  for  the  earth's 
mean  density,  on  the  principle  mentioned  in  Part  II., 
being  5*705.  And  Mr.  James  Simpson  further  adds, 
that  whereas  the  cube-root  of  71,310  =  41  4 68  and 
the  cube-root  of  the  earth's  bulk  in  cubic  Pyramid 
inches*  -j-  10^  (the  cubit  into  earth's  semi-axis  of  ro- 
tation number)  =z  40'389,  these  numbers  include  the 
height  of  the  coffer  between  them.  Whereupon,  dividing 
the  height  of  the  King's  Chamber  230*4247  by  the 
earth-bulk  derived  quantity  of  40*389, — there  comes 
out  as  the  number,  which  we  may  assume  in  symbology 
to  represent  the  earth's  mean  density,  5*70511  ;  i.e., 
confirming  the  previously  arrived  at  5*705  so  far  as  it 
goes. 

Earth's  Density,  closely  approodmated  to. 

Now  these  corrections  by  Mr.  Simpson  of  my  earlier 
5*70,  I  venture  to  regard  as  of  the  utmost  practical 
importance  :  for  if  the  Pyramid  weights  and  measures 
had  to  be  re-enacted  by  ourselves  for  national  use,  we 
should  require  to  know  most  accurately  either  the  con- 
tents of  the  coffer,  or  the  mean  density  of  the  earth,  or 
both. 

But  the  poor  coffer  is  now  so  broken  by  mischief- 
mongers  (more  broken  too  in  1873  than  it  was  in 
1865  A.D.)  that  no  improved  measures  will  in  future  be 
obtainable  from  it,  over  those  which  have  already  been 
procured ;  and  the  earth's  mean  density  is  too  dtfficult  a 
subject  for  modern  science  to  deal  with  to  the  requisite 
accuracy. 

From  the  Great  Pyramid,  I  had  deduced  for  that 

*  Computed  very  carefully  by  Mr.  Petrie  for  the  ellipsoidal  earth,  and 
corrected  for  the  terr-aqueous  level,  a  refinement  not  yet  adopted  even  in 
the  best  geodesy  of  the  dny,  at  65  |  892,118  |  000,000  |  000,000  |  000.000 
Pyramid  cubic  inches.  (See  my  "  Antiquity  of  Intellectual  Man,"  p.  472.) 


372  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV.- 

earth  feature,  in  1867,  the  quantity  5-70  :  expressly 
saying  that  it  might  be  considered  certain  to  '01  of 
unity;  and  that  it  certainly  was  not  so  small  as  5 "69, 
nor  so  large  as  5-71  ;  and  now  behold,  after  Mr.  James 
Simpson,  with  admirable  skill  and  quite  unknown  to 
me,  has  made  all  the  correction  he  can  through  his 
further  discoveries  of  Pyramid  data,  his  efforts  do  not 
alter  the  final  quantity  beyond  5 '706. 

And  what  has  modern  science  to  compare  against 

5700,  and 
5-706. 

She  has  two  results ;  her  two  last,  and  in  so  far  they 
should  be  her  best.  One  of  them  is  by  Sir  George  Airy, 
Astronomer-Royal,  representing  the  Greenwich  Observa- 
tory and  all  the  men  and  money  power  of  the  mighty 
British  Admiralty ;  and  the  other  is  by  Captain  Ross 
Clarke,  R.E.,  C.B.,  under  the  superintendence  of  General 
Sir  Henry  James,  R.E., representing  the  Ordnance  Survey, 
and  all  the  men  and  money  power  of  the  equally 
mighty  British  Army  War  Office  ;  and  these  two  great 
national  efforts  of  modern  times  stand  thus, — 

6-565,  and 
5-316. 

Well,  these  two  quantities  evidently  include  a  long 
way  between  them  all  the  Pyramid  results  ;  but  are  so 
absurdly  far,  one  from  the  other,  that  they  not  only  do 
not  serve  to  test  the  Pyramid's  accuracy,  much  less  to 
replace  it  in  any  very  practical  question,  but  they  may 
assist  too  well  in  showing  some  Joseph  Hume  redivivus, 
that  much  money  of  our  country  has  been  expended 
over  and  over  again  in  getting  had  results  in  science. 


"Chap.  XIX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  373 

They  may  also  succeed  in  salutarily  proving,  at  least 
to  somie,  modern  science  so-called,  and  in  the  words  of 
my  venerable  friend,  Rev.  F.  R.  A.  Glover, — 

**  That  Science  of  every  kind  is  after,  and  not  before, 
God  (Job  xxxviii.  4,  5,  6)  :  and,  that  the  right  use  of 
all  Science  is,  to  make  the  human  mind  capable  of 
appreciating  God, — the  God  of  Revelation — God  of  the 
Dispersion — God  of  the  Exodus — God  of  Calvary — The 
God  due  to  come, — and  not  by  it  to  attempt  to  de- 
throne Him."     (Isaiah  xxix.  14;   1  Cor.  i.  19). 


I 


374  OLR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

SACRED,    AND   PROPHETIC,    TIME. 

THERE  was  once  a  well-supported  piece  of  special 
flooring  in  the  Grand  Gallery,  near  its  northern  end, 
concealing  from  view  the  horizontal  passage  leading  to 
the  Queen's  Chamber.  Just  so  much  indeed  was  stated 
in  the  last  chapter  ;  but  there  was  also  a  manner  of 
performing  the  work  peculiar  to  the  Great  Pyramid, 
and  that  still  remains  for  due  description,  assisted  by 
Plates  YIIL,  XIL,  XIII. 

Thus  the  supporting  beams  or  joists,  as  shown  by  the 
holes  for  them  on  either  side,  within  and  below  the  level 
of  the  ramps,  were  5  in  number ;  a  Pyramid  5,  too, 
inasmuch  as  one  of  them  was  larger  and  thicker  than 
the  other  four.  But  more  noteworthy  is  the  height  of 
the  Grand  Gallery's  permanent  stone  floor  at  the  inner 
or  southern  end  of  the  hole  in  it,  and  where  that  floor's 
long  slope  coming  down  from  the  south  is  suddenly  cut 
off;  or  descends  vertically  to  a  lower  level,  to  allow  of 
a  flat  approach,  from  the  north  beginning  of  the  Grand 
Gallery  to  the  Queen's  Chamber's  horizontal  passage  end. 

That  steep  escarpment  of  the  Grand  Gallery's  floor, 
looks  almost  like  a  little  cliff,  being,  together  with  the 
dark  passage  mouth  it  overhangs,  8  6 '2  5  inches  high  to 
any  one  standing  on  the  level  area  in  front  of  it.*  But 
that  area  is  6  inches  higher,  nearly,  than  the  very  begin- 

*  "Life  and  Work,"  vol.  ii.,  pp.  70  and  71 ;  also  for  height,  p.  59. 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  375 

ning  of  the  Grand  Gallery  ;*  and  the  escarpment  itself  is 
under-estimated  by  the  amount  of  9  inches,  which  depth 
has  been  removed  for  a  short  distance  to  allow  of  the 
overlapping  of  the  special  floor  which  once  covered  the 
hole.  The  entire  height,  therefore,  of  the  frontal  cliff 
for  symbolical  purposes  is  not  much  short  of  101 '25 
inches  ;  and  this  quantity,  though  in  rough  approxima- 
tion only,  stands  before  us  here  very  much  in  the  guise  of 
the  leading  Pyramid  symbol  for  a  day  :  viz.,  100  inches. 

But  is  there  anything  at  this  point  concerning  a  day  ? 

If  of  days  at  all,  it  should  be  of  seven  days,  seeing  that 
the  feature  of  the  Grand  Gallery  most  usually  attractive 
to  travellers,  next  after  its  commanding  height,  is,  the 
seven  overlappings  of  its  walls. 

Now  the  Pyramid's  entrance-passage  has  already  been 
shown  to  have  something  to  do  with  days  ;  and  the 
inclined  passage  which  enters  the  north  end  of  the  Grand 
Gallery  is  very  similar  in  size  to  it,  being  by  measure 
5  3  2  inches  high  vertically.  The  passage,  however, 
which  exits  from  the  south  end  of  the  Grand  Gallery, 
is  only  43  6  inches  high  vertically  ;  and  as  we  cannot  use 
either  one  or  other  exclusively  in  referring  to  the  Grand 
Gallery  between  them,  we  have  to  take  the  mean  of  the 
two,  or  48  4  ;  and  then  find,  that  that  quantity  goes 
seven  times,  exactly  to  a  hundredth,  into  339*2,  which 
is  the  vertical  height  of  Aie  Grand  Gallery  at  a  mean 
of  1 5  points  in  its  whole  length  ;  speciall}^  measured 
too  with  a  grand  3  to  400  inch  slider  measuring-rod, 
presented  to  mo  for  this  very  purpose  by  Andrew 
Coventry,  Esq.,  of  Edinburgh,  in  1864.t 

Now  this  result  may,  or  it  may  not,  be  intended  in 

♦  "  Life  and  Work,"  vol.  ii.  p.  61. 

t  See  "  Life  and  Work,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  84—86.  Former  travellers'  mea- 
sures of  the  iK'itrht  of  tho  Grand  GitUery  vary  from  270  to  "aboiit  600  " 
inches,  and  art-  jjfiven  without  detail.  The  inclined  tioor  length  being  by 
my  measures  1881  Pyramid  inches,  tho  angle  'iG**  17'  37",  »i»d  the  hori- 
zontal length  computed  1686 -4  Pyramid  inches,  Mr.  James  Simpsoa  hat 


376  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

this  part  of  the  Pyramid  to  assist  in  typifying  7  days 
(more  strictly  7  half-days  taken  twice  over) ;  and 
is  of  only  subsidiary  importance  in  itself;  because 
7  days  merely,  is  a  pagan  mystical  number  which  any 
one  might  hit  upon,  and  without  its  having  anything  to 
do  with  the  sabbatical  week  of  Scripture  :  for  that  was 
an  institution  which,  though  including  or  spanning  over 
7  days  in  its  entirety,  was  far  more  noteable  for  com- 
memorating 6  working  days  and  one  day  of  rest  with  a 
totally  distinct  character,  and  a  special  ordination  by 
inspired  command  to  be  held  sacred  to  God  the  Creator 
of  all. 


TAe  Biblical  Week 

We  have  not,  therefore,  yet  found  anything  in  the 
Great  Pyramid  touching,  in  any  clearly  discriminative 
manner,  on  the  week  of  the  Bible.  But  if  we  now 
follow  along  that  level  passage  with  the  hundred  inch 
day  symbol  overhanging  its  entrance,  viz.,  the  horizontal 
passage  leading  to  the  Queen's  Chamber, — the  last  part 
of  that  passage  is  found  to  be  one  half  nearly  greater  in 
depth  than  the  rest ;  and  the  length  of  that  deeper  part  is 
one-seventh  of  the  whole  length  of  the  floor  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Grand  Gallery  up  to  the  Queen's  Chamber 
w^all  itself''''  This  looks  like  a  beginning  of  a  sabbatical 
week  symbolism  ;  and  while  the  passage,  of  necessity, 
ends  by  debouching  into  the  Queen's  Chamber,  its 
seventh  deeper  portion,  which  has  a  length  of  215*9 
inches,   is   found  to   be  roughly  a  mean  between  the 

pointed  out  that  the  typical  fifth  part  thereof  =  337*3  Pyramid  inches:  a 
close  approach  to  the  339-2  measurpd,  seeing  that  the  variations,  in  places, 
Hmonnted  to  anything  between  333*9  and  346*0,  by  reason  chiefly  of  the 
tilt  of  each  of  the  long  roof-stones  to  the  general  shape  of  the  whole  roof. 
*  See  "Life  and  Work,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  55,  61.  The  whole  distance 
r=:  1517*9,  and  the  smaller  distance  with  the  lower  plan  level  =  215*9 
Pyramid  inches,  with  an  inch  of  possible  error. 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  377 

length  and  breadth  (2265  and  206)  of  the  floor  of 
that  chamber  on  the  same  deeper  ievel.* 

In  that  chamber  behold  we  a  fair,  white  stone, 
apartment,  exquisitely  built  originally  (except  as  to  its 
present  floor,  which,  for  some  reason  or  other,  is  rough, 
and  composed  of  mere  untrimmed  building  blocks)  ;  but 
with  this  special  and  overriding  feature  accompanying 
and  distinguishing  it  from  the  other  Great  Pyramid 
chambers;  viz.,  that  by  reason  of  its  having  for  ceiling 
a  double  inclined  slope,  the  whole  room  may  be  said 
to  have  seven  sides ;  of  which  seven,  the  floor,  which 
has  not  had  a  tool  lifted  up  against  it  within  the  building 
(though  the  others,  of  more  finished  character,  had),  is 
decidedly  larger  than  all  the  rest  in  area. 

Those  other  sides,  however,  are  not  quite  equal  and 
similar  amongst  themselves,  unless  reductions  are  made, 
founded  on  some  features  which  do  exist,  marked  into  the 
walls  ;  t  but  whose  full  signification  has  yet  to  be  accu- 
rately made  out.  It  may  be  better,  therefore,  at  present, 
to  conclude  this  part  of  the  argument  for  the  sabbatical 
week  of  Scripture  being  indicated  in  this  chamber,  from 
Mr.  James  Simpson's  sums  of  the  squares,  and  which 
are  given  by  the  chief  proportions  of  the  room  to  a 
higher,  though  not  an  absolute,  degree  of  certainty. 

Taking  the  room,  then,  with  an  artificial  ceiling, 
assumed  in  plan  just  beneath  the  angular  beginnings 
of  the  roof  (or  at  the  greatest  height  to  leave  the  apart- 
ment with  six  sides,  such  as  ordinary  rooms  possess), 
the  sums  of  the  squares  of  its  radius  into  every 
dimension  amount  to  60  ;  or,  says  Mr.  Simpson,  to  6 
working  days  of  10  each.  But  next  take  the  major 
height,  or  that  central  and  superior  height  which  effec- 

*  Salt  incrustations  prevent  very  accurate  measures  in  this  room,  but 
the  206-  width  is  alrnoMt  a  reproduction  of  the  King's  Chamber  breadth  ; 
which  feature  would  have  been  lost,  if  the  Chamber  had  been  m  ide  216* 
square  in  plan. 

t  *•  Life  and  Work,"  vol.  iii.  pp.  229—232. 


378  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

tively  gives  the  room  its  seventh  side,  and  the  sum  of 
the  square  there,  and  there  alone,  is  7;*  or  typical  of  the 
divinely-ordained  day  of  rest  ;  and  without  interfering 
with  what  has  already  been  ascertained  for  this  chamber's 
indicating  the  tt  proportion  of  the  Pyramid,  its  angles, 
its  absolute  size,  and  the  length  of  the  Sacred  Cubit. 


■  Grand  Qallerys  Cubical  ComTnensurahilities. 

Let  us  now  return  from  this  Queen's  Chamber,  so" 
called  (which  to  ordinary  corporeal  research  is  a  cul  de 
sac),  and  we  shall  find  a  certain  amount  of  connection 
between  it  and  the  Grand  Gallery.  Only  a  small  amount, 
but  of  a  somewhat  similar  kind  to  what  there  is  between 
a  week  and  a  year  ;  inasmuch  as  both  of  them  are 
measures  of  time,  though  the  week  does  not  march  along 
evenly  and  decimally  with  the  year  in  questions  of 
history  and  the  chronological  fixation  of  events. 

In  this  manner,  then,  while  the  Queen's  Chamber, 
with  its  cubit-defining  niche,  contains  cubic  inches  to 
the  typical  number  for  that  cubit  of  ten-millionth 
earth-reference — the  Grand  Gallery  contains  36  millions 

*  Mr.  Simpson's  sums  of  the  squares  are  not  quite  so  cogent  in  the 
Queen's  as  the  King's  Chamber,  already  given  in  chapter  x. ;  and  his 
radius  length  for  it,  92-17  inches,  is  not  so  well  proved.  The  proportions, 
however,  which  are  more  certain  than  the  absolute  lengths,  run  thus  : — 

Height,  divided  by  radius  of  chamber  .         .   =z  2-  square  =     4 

Breadth =  2-2361       „  =     5 

Length =   2-4495        .,  =     6 

Sums  of  the  squares        ....  =   l«5 

Diagonal  of  end =  3-  ,,  =     9 

Diagonal  of  side =  3-1623       „  =  10 

Diagonal  of  floor —   3-3166        „  :=    11 

Sums  ot  the  squares        ....  =30 

Solid  diagonal =  3-8730       „  =   15 

Sums   of  the  squares  of  all  the  dimensions,  except  the  \  _   ^^ 

major,  or  gable,  or  central  height  of  the  chamber   .  )  ~ 

Major,  or  gable,  or  central  height         .  .  .    =    2-6458        „  =      7 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  379 

of  cubic  inches  :  or  one  million  to  every  one  of  the  36 
inclined  stones  forming  its  long  sloping  roof. 

The  number  of  these  Grand  Gallery  roof-stones  had 
been  given  in  1837  at  31  by  Colonel  Howard-Vyse,  and 
at  30  by  the  great  French  work,  so  that  I  was  a  little 
disconcerted  in  1865  at  finding  them  36.  But  as  these 
authors  gave  no  particulars,  and  as  I  took  much  pains 
(duly  described  in  "Life  and  Work,  "Vol.  II,  pp.  86—88), 
there  can  be  very  little  doubt  about  the  larger  number. 
And  in  1872,  Mr.  Simpson  seems  to  confirm  it  as  an 
intentional  feature  of  the  architect,  by  finding  the  round 
number  of  one  million  cubic  inches  to  be  repeated  just 
36  times  in  the  contents  of  the  whole  Grand  Galler}', 
carefull}^  computed  for  every  overlapping.* 


The,  Ramps,  and  the  WelVs  Upper  Mouth. 

Let  us  next  attend  to  the  ramps,  or  inclined  stone 
benches  on  either  side  of  the  Grand  Gallery's  floor, 
running  from  the  very  north  end  right  up  to  the  great 
transverse  step  which  forms  the  south  end  thereof. 
They  are  alluded  to  so  conflictingly  in  the  great  French 
work,  as  containing  sometimes  26,  and  sometimes  28 
holes,  that  I  recorded,  in  "  Life  and  Work,"  several  sets 
of  measures  of  various  kinds,  to  set  this  very  simple 
point  beyond  all  dispute. 

If  the  ramps  are  supposed  to  include  the  great  stone 
step  at  their  upper  or  southern  end — and  which  stone  step 
has  an  almost  similar  kind  of  hole  at  either  inner  corner 
— then  there  are  actually  and  positively  28  holes,  clear 
and  distinct,  along  the  eastern  wall  of  the  Gallery  (27 
in  the  ramp  itself,  and  1  on  the  step)  ;  and  there  are  as 
many  along  the  western  wall ;  for  though  the  lowest  and 

*  Mr.  Simpson  has  a  further  Bpeculation  on  the  apparently  50-inch 
length  of  each  roof-«tone ;  but  the  lengths  having  struck  mo  at  the 
place  as  irregular,  I  did  not  attempt  to  measure  them. 


38o  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

nortliernmost  hole  is  not  very  clear,*  that  is  merely  from 
part  of  the  ramp  which  held  it  having  been  broken 
away.  Of  these  28,  too,  on  either  side,  25,  viz.,  all 
except  the  lowest  two,  and  upper  one,  are  distinguished 
by  a  piece  of  stone  13  inches  broad  and  18  high,  being 
let  into  the  wall  vertically  and  immediately  over  them  ; 
while  certain  of  them  are  crossed  by  another  piece,  giving 
them  a  faint  approach  to  an  oblique  cruciform  aspect. 

Something  may  come  of  that,  in  the  hands  of  future 
explorers  ;  but  meanwhile  we  have  to  notice  another 
feature,  and  a  most  important  one,  already  established 
or  brought  to  light  hj  the  removal  of  part  of  the  ramp- 
stone  in  the  lower  north-west  corner  of  the  Grand 
Gallery  ;  for  the  removal  of  that  mass  just  there,  long  ago 
disclosed  a  constructional  secret  of  the  original  builders  ; 
viz.,  the  upper  end, — or  rather  a  small  and  low  outlet 
leading  to  the  upper  end, — of  a  very  deep  and  solemn 
kind  of  shaft,  usually  called  ''  the  well,"  in  the  annals 
of  early  Pyramid  exploration. 

At  those  times  nothing  was  known  of  the  Pyramid's 
entrance-passage  further  down  than  its  junction  with 
Caliph  Al-Mamoun's  forced  hole  and  the  entry  to  the 
first  ascending  passage.  Therefore,  when  men  ventured 
to  look  into  the  well  mouth  from  the  north-western  corner 
of  the  Grand  Gallery,  at,  or  near,  the  broken  ramp-stone 
as  above,  they  found  themselves  not  far  from  overhang- 
ing a  dark  and  dismal  abyss,  no  one  knew  how  deep  or 
where  leading  to. 

What  Caliph  Al-Mamoun  and  his  immediate  followers 
thought  of  it,  is  not  recorded  ;  but  soon  after  his  time, 
"  the  well  "  begins  to  figure  in  Arab  accounts,  as  an  open 
pit  of  preternatural  depth  and  fearful  qualities.  A 
party  of  twenty  men,  from  the  Faioum  district,  was  once 
formed  to  investigate  the  mystery,  but  was  frightened 
by  one  of  their  number  falling  down  the  aperture  such 
a  terrible  distance,  that  he  was  said  to  have  been  three 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  381 

hours  in  the  act,  uttering  horrible  cries  all  the  time  ; 
and  he  was  never  heard  of  again  except  in  an  apocryphal 
manner,  and  as  having  become  an  enchanted  being. 

Again,  a  Sultan  of  Cairo,  of  impatient  character,  and 
determined  to  know  all  the  secrets  of  the  Great  Pyramid 
in  his  own  day,  elected  to  blow  it  up  by  filling  this  same 
well  with  gunpowder  :  and  only  relinquished  the  design 
on  being  assured  by  his  Italian  architect,  that  the  explo- 
sion of  so  vast  a  quantity  of  powder  would  endanger  the 
safety  of  all  the  buildings  in  Cairo. 

Again,  at  a  later  age,  the  Cambridge  traveller,  Dr. 
Clarke,  visited  the  place  with  a  large  military  party,  and 
on  throwing  a  stone  down  the  well,  and  hearing  it  end 
by  splashing,  as  they  all  considered,  in  water, — he  called 
impressive  attention  to  the  faithfulness  of  classic  authors, 
for  had  not  Pliny  mentioned  that  there  was  a  water-well 
in  the  Great  Pyramid,  80  cubits  deep  ;  and  hei*e  it  was, 
if  not  before  their  eyes,  at  least  within  range  of  their 
fallacious  ears. 

Again,  in  1818,  Signor  Caviglia  cleared  out  the 
entrance-passage  of  the  Great  Pyramid  throughout  the 
whole  distance  right  down  to  the  deep  subterranean 
chamber  ;  and  lo,  near  the  bottom  of  it,  on  the  western 
side,  was  a  low  door-way  leading  into  a  dark  passage  :  by 
pushing  into  which  and  following  its  lead,  and  clamber- 
ing in  the  darkness  higher  and  higher  and  yet  higher, 
or  170  feet  vertical  altogether,  he  at  length  found  him- 
self at  the  well  mouth,  and  entering  the  lower  north- 
west corner  of  the  Grand  Gallery.  Very  thirsty,  too,  as 
well  as  hot  and  tired  was  he,  for  not  a  particle  of  water 
existed  in  any  portion  of  the  so-called  well ;  the  whole 
of  which,  including  the  lower  end  of  the  entrance-pas- 
sage and  the  subterranean  chamber,  is  far  above  the 
level  of  the  Nile  inundation,  the  only  source  of  water  in 
that  scorched  and  almost  rainless  land. 

Again,  in  1830  and  1837,  came  in  the  age  of  explora- 


382  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

tions,  i.e.,  Egyptological  and  builders'  explorations  with 
Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson,  Colonel  Howard- Vyse,  and  Mr. 
Perring.  For  they  set  forth,  as  already  indicated,  that 
the  ancient  workmen  who  had  filled  up  with  stone  plugs 
the  first  ascending  passage,  must  have  afterwards  escaped 
by  this  long  and  deep  well-like  hole,  or  vertical  shaft,  to 
the  lower  part  of  the  entrance-passage,  and  so  attained 
to  the  outward  air  once  again. 

The  Missing  Ramp-stone. 

Perhaps  they  did.  But  in  that  case  let  us  ask,  "  in 
what  state  would  they  have  left  the  ramp-stone  over  the 
well's  mouth  ? " 

Certainly  not  blown  from  within  outwards,  as  if  by 
uncontrollable  explosive  force,  breaking  off  part  of  the 
wall  with  it,  and  leaving  the  hole's  mouth  exposed  ;  for 
that  would  have  defeated  their  whole  object.  They  would, 
on  the  contrary,  have  contrived  a  temporary  support  for 
the  stone  when  in  a  position  impending  over  the  hole, 
partly  in  the  floor  and  partly  in  the  wall ;  or  a  support 
such,  that  when  the  last  man  had  come  away,  the  prop 
would  be  easily  withdrawn,  and  the  stone  would  fall 
neatly  into  a  seat  already  cut  for  it  and  cemented  round 
the  edges  with  freshly-applied  lime  to  make  the  work 
permanent  and  secure.  For  then  such  stone  would 
be  flush  with  the  rest  of  the  ramp,  and  would  utterly 
conceal  from  any  one  who  should  ever  enter  the 
Grand  Gallery  by  the  regular  method  of  the  first 
ascending  passage,  that  there  was  any  well-mouth  what- 
ever behind  the  surface  of  the  ramp.   (See  Plate  XIII.) 

The  original  builders,  then,  were  not  those  who 
knocked  out,  from  within  on  the  well  side,  that  now 
lost,  ramp-stone,  and  exposed  the  inlet  to  the  well 
mouth  as  it  is  presently  seen,  near  the  north-west  corner 
of  the  Grand  Gallery.      Neither  was   Al-Mamoun  the 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  383 

party,  for  no  one  could  have  done  it  except  by  entering 
the  well  from  the  very  bottommost  depths  of  the 
subterranean  region  ;  and  he,  the  son  of  Caliph  Haroun 
Al-Raschid,  and  all  his  crew,  did  not  descend  further 
down  the  entrance-passage  than  merely  to  the  level  of 
his  own  forced  hole,  which  is  not  subterranean  at  all. 
Nor  is  the  credit  claimed  for  any  of  his  Arab  suc- 
cessors, who  rather  allude  to  the  well  as  an  already 
existing  feature  in  their  earliest  time,  and  one  they 
did  not  understand  ;  in  large  part,  too,  because  they 
had  only  seen,  and  only  knew  of,  the  upper  end  of  it  in 
the  north-west  corner  of  the  Grand  Gallery  floor. 

Who  then  did  do  it  ? 

Who  indeed  !  For  the  whole  band  of  Egyptological 
writers  we  have  mentioned,  appear  to  be  convinced  that 
ages  before  Caliph  Al-Mamoun  made  his  way  by  blun- 
dering and  smashing,  long  ages  too  before  Mohammed 
was  born,  and  rather  at  and  about  the  period  of  Judah 
being  carried  captive  to  Babylon, — the  Egyptians  them- 
selves had  entered  the  Great  Pyramid  by  cunning  art 
and  tolerable  understanding  of  its  mere  methods  of 
construction,  and  had  closed  it  again  when  they  left. 

Either  some  fanatics  of  the  late  dynasties  of  Ethiopic 
intruders,  or  the  following  Persian  conquerors,  are  con- 
sidered to  have  been  those  spoilers  and  sealers-up  again  : 
and  not  only  of  the  Great,  and  all  the  other  Pyramids 
too,  but  of  every  royal  tomb  throughout  Egypt  in  what- 
ever style  of  architecture  it  may  have  been  built,  whether 
subterranean  or  subaerial.  The  spoilers  also  and  at  the 
same  time  of  those  far  more  repulsive  tombs  and  bigger 
sarcophagi,  tlie  profanely  sacred  ones  of  the  deified 
Egyptian  bull  Apis  ;  recently  brought  once  more  to  the 
notice  of  man  by  Mariette  Bey's  too  successful  excava- 
tions of  ancient  idolatries. 

Precisely  who  those  men  were,  as  Colonel  Howard- 
Vyse  well   remarks,  who  committed  tlint   fir«t  spoiliTi** 


384.  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

*'  will  now  never  be  known  ;  "  but  that  the  royal  tombs 
were  spoiled,  and  that  both  early  Mohammedan  and 
later  Christian  explorers  throughout  both  Upper,  and 
Lower,  Egypt,  equally  found  nothing  but  emptied  sar- 
cophagi, is  positive  matter  of  fact.  By  the  aid,  too,  of 
features  still  existing,  it  can  be  mechanically  demon- 
strated how  those  far  earlier  men  may,  in  the  case  of 
the  Great  Pyramid,  have  descended  to  the  subterranean 
depths  of  its  entrance-passage,  entered  the  bottom  of  the 
well,  ascended  the  said  well  to  its  mouth,  knocked  out 
part  of  the  closing  ramp,  ascended  the  then  clear  and 
open  Grand  Gallery,  entered  the  King's  Chamber,  made 
what  changes  they  could  there  ;  and  then,  descending 
again  the  same"  way,  closed  all  the  passages  behind 
them  so  effectually  that  no  one  else  ever  attempted  to 
follow  their  steps,  until  after  a  lapse  of  2,000  years,  or 
close  within  our  own  times. 


Of  the  Sacred,  touching  the  Great  Pyramid. 

That  is  the  end  then  of  the  first  use  which  the  Great 
Pyramid's  Grand  Gallery,  deep  well,  but  not  a  water- 
well,  and  entrance-passage  served.  But  .that  was  evi- 
dently not  all  which  those  features  were  intended  for. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer  of  1872,  in  a  correspon- 
dence with  Mr.  Charles  Casey,  of  Pollerton  Castle,  Carlow 
(then  preparing  his  work  "  Philitis  "*),  that  straightfor- 
ward and  vigorous  thinker  considered  himself  called  on 
to  tell  me,  that  while  he  had  followed  and  adopted  all 
that  I  had  attempted  to  explain  as  to  the  metrology  of 
the  Great  Pyramid  being  of  more  than  human  scientific 
perfection  for  the  age  in  which  it  was  produced, — yet  to 
call  it  therefore  Divinely  inspired  or  sacred,  seemed  to 
him  to  be  either  too  much,  or  too  little.     It  might  have 

*  "  Philitis  :    A   Disquisition."     By  Charles  Casey,  Esq.      Published 
bv  Carson  Brothers,  Grafton  Street,  Dublin.     1872. 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  385 

been  sufi&cient  in  a  previous  day,  but  not  in  these  times 
in  which  we  live  ;  for  with  rationaUsm  continually  ex- 
tending on  every  side,  the  only  vital  question  left  in 
religion,  the  only  question  really,  efficiently,  sacred,  is 
*'  What  think  ye  of  Christ  ?  Whose  son  is  he  ?  "  The 
question  to  which  we  must  all  of  us,  sooner  or  later, 
come  at  last. 

"Now,"  said  Mr.  Casey,  "unless  the  Great  Pyramid 
can  be  shown  to  be  Messianic,  as  well  as  fraught  with 
superhuman  science  and  design,  its  '  sacred  '  claim  is  a 
thing  with  no  blood  in  it  ;  it  is  nothing  but  mere 
sounding  brass  and  a  tinkling  cymbal.  That  idea 
seized  me  the  other  night,"  said  he,  "  when  I  was 
thinking  on  my  bed,  and  took  me  with  such  a  giant's 
grip  that  I  have  never  been  able  to  get  quit  of  it  since." 

You  are  not  the  first  Pyramidist  man,  I  was  obliged 
to  reply,  to  whom  the  same  idea  has  been  vouchsafed  ; 
for  it  has  long  formed  a  matter  of  frequent  and  earnest 
discussion  among  several  of  them  :  but  they  have  not 
published  on  it  yet,  thinking  the  necessary  preliminary 
part  of  the  subject,  or  the  Pyramid's  attestation  to 
superhuman  scientific  abilities  for  its  age,  not  yet 
brought  up  to  the  required  degree  of  exactness  to  com- 
mand the  respect  of,  and  induce  assent  from,  sceptically- 
minded  men. 

At  the  time  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Casey,  the  uncertainties  of 
the  base-side  measure  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  by  modern 
surveyors,  were  simply  horrible  ;  the  best  of  them  both 
erring  to  any  extent  between  9,100  and  9,170  inches,  and 
laying  the  fault  thereof  upon  the  Pyramid.  At  that  time, 
therefore,  the  only  solution  of  the  difficulty  seemed  to 
be,  to  beseech  some  superlatively  rich  men  to  expend  of 
their  spare  thousands,  first  in  clearing  the  four  base-sides 
of  the  Great  Pyramid  from  their  impracticable  hills  of 
rubbish,  and  then  in  measuring  between  the  terminal 
points  with  proper  accuracy.     And  there,  at  those  rich 

c  c 


386.  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

men's  luxurious  doors,  the  matter  stood ;  and  had 
stood  uncared  for  by  them  or  treated  with  base  con- 
tumely for  seven  long  years,  until  at  last  the  Pyramid's 
purpose  could  wait  no  longer.  So,  partly  in  1872,  and 
still  more  signally  in  July,  1873,  it  passed  them  all 
by ;  and  in  revealing  the  reason  why  the  King's  Cham- 
ber was  made  in  measured  length  41 2 '132  Pyramid 
inches,  has  shown  both  the  true  base-side  length  and 
the  vertical  height  of  the  structure,  its  tt  theory  and 
the  inch  and  cubit  metrological  system,  to  a  degree  of 
accuracy  ''^  too,  combined  with  certainty  of  intention, 
which  leaves  nothing  more  to  desire ;  and  makes  Great 
Pyramid  studies  quite  independent  henceforth  of  all 
those  rich  men  and  their  long  wasted  or  squandered  or 
unused  riches,  confided  to  them  for  some  better  pur- 
pose. They  had  had,  in  this  Pyramid  cause,  such  an 
opportunity  of  doing  high,  pure,  and  noble  good  to  all 
the  ages,  as  wealth  had  never  enjoyed  before,  since  the 
foundation  of  the  world ;  but  the  opportunity  has  from 
this  time  departed  from  them  for  ever.  Wherefore  the 
least  that  can  be  said  is  in  terms  of  James  v.  1^—3, 
''Go  to  now,  ye  rich  men,  weep  and  howl  for  your 
miseries  that  shall  come  upon  you.  Your  riches  are 
corrupted,  and  your  garments  are  moth-eaten.  Your 
gold  and  silver  is  cankered  ;  and  the  rust  of  them 
shall  be  a  witness  against  you."  But  mankind  may 
well  rejoice,  for  the  flood-gates  of  the  Great  Pyramid's 
sacred  history,  or  the  last  pages  of  what  it  has  to  tell, — 
and  has  had  to  tell  ever  since  the  beginning  of  human 
life  and  story, — are  henceforth  open  to  all. 

The  Sacred  pronounced  to  he  Messianic. 

It  was  in  1865  that  a  letter  reached  me  at  the  Great 
Pyramid,  transmitted,  with  some  high  recommendations 

*  Some  700  times  more  accurate  than  tlie  previous  measures  on  the 
ground.     (See  forward,  chap,  xxv.) 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  387 

of  its  author,  by  that  most  upright,  knightly  man  the 
late  Mr.  Kenmure  Maitland,  Sheriff  Clerk  of  the  county 
of  Edinburgh.  **  He  is  a  young  ship-builder,"  said  he, 
"  a  son  of  a  ship-builder,  an  accomplished  draughtsman, 
and  I  hear  that  he  lately  turned  out,  from  his  own 
design,  one  of  the  most  perfect  ships  that  ever  left 
Leith  Docks :  from  his  childhood  upwards  he  has  been 
an  intense  student  of  whatever  could  be  procured 
concerning  the  Great  Pyramid;  and  though  his  family 
surname  is  now  Menzies,  he  has  reasons  for  believing 
it  to  have  been  originally  Manasseh." 

This  Israelite,  then,  but  no  Jew,  it  was,  who  first,  to 
my  knowledge,  broke  ground  in  the  Messianic  sym- 
bolisms of  the  Great  Pyramid,  so  intensified  sub- 
sequently by  Mr.  Casey  :  and,  after  long  feeling  his  way 
in  a  humble  and  prayerful  spirit,'"'"  at  length  unhesi- 
tatingly declared  that  the  immense  superiority  in- 
height  of  the  grand  gallery  over  every  other  passage] 
in  the  Great  Pyramid,  arose  from  its  representing  thel 
Christian  Dispensation,  white  the  passages  typified  only 
human-devised  n^ligions,  human  histories,  or  little  else. 

From  the  north  ])eginning  of  the  Grand  Gallery  floor, 
said  Robert  Menzies,  there,  in  southward  procession, 
begin  the  years  of  the  Saviour's  earthly  life,  expressed 
at  the  rate  of  a  Pyramid  inch  to  a  year.  Tliree-and 
thirty  inch-years  therefore,  or  thereabout,  bring  us  right 

•  « that  mo«t  mysterious  edifice,  the  Great  Pyramid,  which  has  been 

a  puzzle  to  all  ag^'s.  It  in  a  very  serious  view  indeed  which  I  entertain  of 
its  purix)se,  and  not  one  to  be  approached  in  a  spirit  of  levity.  I  have 
endeavoured,  hiri^dy  led  by  a  careful  perusal  of  Mr.  Taylor's  book,  and 
your  own  upon  iho  subject,  to  follow  out  much  further  than  you  do,  the 
Scriptural  alluHioim  to  the  Great  Pyramid,  with  a  result  which  appears, 
slightly  as  I  hnvf  iiij.p«;d  into  it,  truly  astonishing?.  Extreme  cauticm  in 
requiHito  in  Hiblicil  lesearth,  for,  as  Peter  says,  •  No  scripture  is  tf 
private  iiit<v'"' »  ■'•'!'  I  have  humbly  and  prayerfully  ondtavoured  to 
avoid  anyi  ii  may  bo  misconstrued,  and  if  my  humble  remarks 

are  of  any  to  you  in  the  elucidation  of  this  grand  and  holy 

mystery,  I  uhiJl  U»  truly  glad. 

(Signed)        "RouBUT  Mbnzibs. 

"8ba  Cot,  Lbith,  February  2bth,  18G6." 


\ 


388  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

\over  against  the  mouth  of  the  well,  the  type  of  His 
death,  and  His  glorious  resurrection  too ;  while  the 
long,  lofty  Grand  Gallery  shows  the  dominating  rule  in 
the  world  of  the  blessed  religion  which  He  established 
thereby,  over-spanned  above  by  the  36  stones  of  His 
months  of  ministry  on  earth,  and  defined  by  the  floor- 
length  in  inches,  as  to  its  exact  period.  The  Bible 
fully  studied,  shows  that  He  intended  that  first  Dispen- 
sation to  last  only  for  a  time ;  a  time  too  which  may 
terminate  very  much  sooner  than  most  men  expect,  and 
shown  by  the  southern  wall  impending. 

Whereupon  I  went  straight  to  the  south  wall  of  the 
Grand  Gallery,  and  found  that  it  was  impending ;  by 
the  quantity  too,  if  that  interests  any  one,  of  about  1° ; 
while  the  Coventry  clinometer  I  was  measuring  with, 
was  capable  of  showing  10";*  and  where  Mr.  Menzies 
could  have  got  that  piece  of  information  from,  I  cannot 
imagine ;  for  the  north  wall  is  not  impending  :  he,  too, 
was  never  at  the  Great  Pyramid,  and  I  have  not  seen 
the  double  circumstance  chrctoicled  elsewhere.  The  first 
ascending  passage,  moreover,  he  explained  as  representing 
the  Mosaic  Dispensation.  I  measured  it  and  found  it 
to  be,  from  the  north  beginning  of  the  -  Grand  Gallery, 
the  natal  year  of  Christ,  to  its  junction  with  the  roof  of 
the  entrance  passage  northward  and  below,  or  to  some 
period  in  the  life  of  Moses,  1,483  Pyramid  inches  :  and 
when  produced  across  that  passage,  so  as  to  touch  its 
floor,  1,542  inches. t 


*  See  "  Life  and  Work,"  vol.  ii.  p.  90. 

t  The  Rev.  W.  B.  Galloway,  M.A.,Vicar  of  St.  Mark's,  Eegent's  Park, 
in  his  "Egypt's  Eecord  of  Time  to  the  Exodus  of  li^rael,"  after  deeply 
studying  the  question,  more  from  Alexandrian  Greek  than  Egyptian  pro- 
fane, sources,  makes  the  date  of  the  Exodus  1540  B.C. ;  see  his  p.  371.  And 
at  p.  429  he  arrives  at  the  conclusion,  that  the  birth  of  our  Saviour  was 
actually  in  the  course  of  our  reckoned  year  b.c.  1,  and  needs  only  a 
fraction  of  a  year  to  make  the  dates  a.d.,  as  usually  given,  truly  con- 
tinuous with  the  patriarchal. 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  389 

The  Floor  Roll  of  Human  Religious  History. 

But  the  chief  line  of  human   history  with  Robsrt 
Menzies  was  the  floor  of  the  entrance-passage.     Begin- 
ning at  it^s  upper  and  northern  end,  it  starts  at  the  rate  1 
of  a  Pyramid  inch  to  a  year,  from  the  Dispersion  of' 
mankind,  or  from  the  period  when  men  declined  any 
longer  to  live  the  patriarchal  life  of  Divine  instruction, 
and  insisted  on  going  off  upon  their  own  inventions ; 
when  they  immediately  began  to  experience  that  uni- 
versal  "  foAjilis  descensus    Averni  "    of   all    idolaters  ; 
and  which  is  so  sensibly  represented  to  the  very  life 
or  death,  in  the  long-continued  descent  of  the  entrance- 
passage  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  more  than  4,000  inch- 1 
years  long,  until  it  ends  in  the  symbol  of  the  bottomless) 
pit,  a  chamber  deep  in  the  rock,  well  finished  as  to  itsi 
ceiling  and  top  of  its  walls,  but  without  any  attempt  at| 
a  floor. 

One  escape,  indeed,  there  was  in  that  long  and  f 
mournful  history'  of  human  decline  ;  but  for  a  few  only,  [ 
when  the  Exodus  took  place  in  the  first-ascending 
passage,  which  leads  on  into  the  Grand  Gallery  ;  show- 
ing Hebraism  ending  in  its  original  prophetic  destination 
— Christianity.  But  another  escape  was  also  eventually 
provided,  to  prevent  any  immortal  soul  being  necessarily 
lost  in  the  bottomless  pit  ;  for  before  reaching  that 
dismal  abyss,  there  is  a  possible  entrance,  though  it 
may  be  by  a  strait  and  narrow  way,  to  the  one  and 
only  gate  of  sjilvation  through  the  death  of  Christ 
— viz.,  the  well  representing  his  descent  into  Hades  : 
not  the  bottondess  pit  of  idolaters  and  the  wicked  at 
the  lowest  point  to  which  the  entrance-pa.ssage  subter- 
raneously  descends,  but  a  natural  grotto  rather  than 
artificial  chamber  in  the  course  of  the  well's  furtlier 
progress  to  the  other  place ;  while  the  stone  which 
once  covered  that  well's  upper  mouth  is  blown  out- 


390  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  IV. 

wards  into  the  Grand  Gallery  with  excessive  force  (and 
was  once  so  thrown  out,  and  is  now  annihilated),  car- 
rying part  of  the  wall  with  it,  and  indicating  how 
totally  unable  was  the  grave  to  hold  Him  beyond  the 
appointed  time. 

That  sounds  fair  and  looks  promising  enough,  so  far, 
said  Mr.  Casey ;  but  it  is  not  enough  yet  to  be  the 
turning-point  with  me,  when  interests  so  immense  are 
at  stake.  We  must  have  more  than  that,  and  some- 
thing not  less  convincing  than  a  proof  of  this  order. 
Measuring  along  the  passages  backward  from  the  north 
beginning  of  the  Grand  Gallery,  you  find  the  Exodus  at 
either  1483  or  1542  B.C.,  and  the  dispersion  of  man- 
kind in  2528  B.C.,  up  at  the  beginning  of  the  entrance- 
passage.  Now  you  have  already  published,  years  ago, 
that  you  have  computed  the  date  of  building  of  the 
Great  Pyramid,  by  modern  astronomy,  based  on  the 
Pyramid's  own  star-pointings,  and  have  found  it  2170 
B.C.  That  date,  according  to  this  new  theory,  must  be 
three  or  four  hundred  inches  down  inside  the  top  or 
mouth  of  the  entrance-passage.  Is  there  then  any  jnark 
at  that  point  ?  for  I  feel  sure  that  the  builder,  if  really 
inspired  from  on  High,  would  have  known  how  many 
years  were  to  elapse  between  his  great  mechanical  work 
in  the  beginning  of  the  world,  and  the  one  central 
act  of  creation  in  the  birth  of  the  Divine  Son ;  and  he 
would  have  marked  it  there  as  the  most  positive  and 
invaluable  proof  that  he  could  give,  of  the  truly  Divine 
inspiration  under  which  the  building  had  been  planned 
and  executed  ? 


The  Crucial  Test. 

Now  it  had  never  occurred  to  me  before  to  confront 
the  sacred  and  scientific  theories  in  this  manner  ;  the 
idea  was  Mr.  Casey's  entirely.     But  if  any  trial  was  ever 


\ 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  39 1 

to  be  considered  a  crucial  one,  surely  it  was  this.  So 
away  I  went  to  my  original  notes  to  satisfy  him ;  and 
beginning  at  the  north  end  of  the  Grand  Gallery, 
counted  and  summed  up  the  length  of  every  stone  back- 
ward all  down  the  first  ascending  passage,  th^n  across 
the  entrance-passage  to  its  floor,  then  up  its  floor-plane 
towards  its  mouth,  and  soon  saw  that  the  2,170  B.C. 
would  fall  very  near  a  most  singular  portion  of  the 
passage — ^viz.,  a  place  where  two  adjacent  wall-joints, 
similarly  too  on  either  side  of  the  passage,  were 
vertical,  or  nearly  so  ;  while  every  other  wall-joint 
both  above  and  below  was  rectangular  to  the  length 
of  the  passage,  and  therefore  largely  inclined  to  the 
vertical. 

This  double  joint  fact,  in  itself  most  easy  to  see,  though 
not,  I  believe,  recorded  before  1865,  has  frequently  since 
then  been  speculated  on  by  various  persons  as  possibly 
pointing  to  some  still  undiscovered  chamber  ;  just  as 
the  diagonal  joints  in  the  floor  at  a  lower  level,  are  now 
clearly  seen  to  point  to  the  upper  ascending  passage 
and  all .  that  it  leads  to.  But  while  no  such  fourth 
chamber  has  yet  been  discovered,  and  no  Egyptologist 
attempts  to  give  any  explanation  of  the  anomalous 
joints,  they  seemed  from  their  upright  position, — at  least 
to  one  who  believed  from  theory  that  they  were  very  near, 
and  shortly  before,  the  Great  Pyramid's  date  of  building, 
— to  have  something  representative  of  setting  up,  or 
preparations  for  the  erecting  of  a  building.  And  we 
are  told  by  Herodotus,  that  many  preliminary  years  luere 
consumed  in  preparing  the  stones  and  subterraneous 
excavations  of  the  Great  Pyramid ;  while  Dr.  Lepsius 
assures  us,  in  modern  times,  with  all  the  lights,  what- 
ever they  may  be,  of  the  Egyptologists,  that  preliminary 
preparation  was  never  practised  by  any  chance,  in  any 
case  whatever,  of  all  ordinary  Egyptian  pyramid  building. 
For  their  work  was  Epi-methean  only,  or  from  hand  to 


392  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  IV. 

moutli,  year  by  year,  and  each  year  in  itself  and  by 
itself  only. 

Neither  of  these  ^'icasi-vertical  joints,  however,  would 
exactly  suit  the  2170  B.C.  date;  they  were  both  of 
them  tob  early.  But  on  the  surface  of  the  stone  fol- 
lowing the  last  of  them,  and  containing  the  2,170 
distance  within  its  length,  there  was  a  more  unique 
marking  still.  Something  it  was,  more  retiring,  more 
difficult  to  discover,  and  yet  commending  itself  still 
more  when  discovered,  though  not  having  the  slightest 
approach  to  either  letter  of  language,  or  form  of  drawing, 
and  certainly  not  to  any  species  of  idolatry. 

This  mark  was  a  line,  nothing  more,  ruled  on  the 
stone,  from  top  to  bottom  of  the  passage  wall,  at  right 
angles  to  its  floor.  Such  a  line  as  might  be  ruled  with 
a  blunt  steel  instrument,  but  by  a  master-hand  for 
power,  evenness,  straightness,  and  still  more  eminently 
for  rectangularity  to  the  passage  axis.  I  had  made 
myself  a  large  square  at  the  Pyramid  in  1865,  a  wooden 
square  well  trussed  and  nearly  the  whole  height  of  the 
wall,  and  therewith  tested  the  error  of  rectangularity  of 
every  masonry  joint  therein ;  and  in  every  case  had 
found  some  very  sensible  quantity  of  such  error ;  but 
on  coming  to  the  ruled  line,  I  could  find  no  certainly 
sensible  error  there.  If  I  suspected  it  occasionally,  a 
reversal  of  the  square  then  and  there  proved  that  heat 
or  strain  had  caused  some  temporary  twist  in  my  in- 
strument's wooden  frame  ;  but  it  could  positively  and 
permanently  accuse  the  ancient  line  on  the  stone,  of 
nothing  wrong.* 

There  was  one  such  line  on  either  wall,  the  west  and 
the  east,  of  the  passage ;  and  the  two  lines  seemed  to 
be  pretty  accurately  opposite  each  other ;  while  the 
two  pair  of  g^tas^-vertical  joints  were  not  exactly  so  ; 

*  See  "Life  and  Work,"  vol.  ii.  p.  29. 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  393 

and  the  other  joints  in  the  walls  pretended  to,  and 
generally  had,  no  correspondence  whatever.  All  things, 
therefore,  both  in  symmetry,  beauty  of  truth,  and 
correctness  of  position,  culminated  in  favour  of  these  two 
thin  lines ;  viz.,  the  one  anciently  ruled  line  on  the  west 
wall,  and  the  similarly  ruled  line  on  the  east  wall ;  and 
I  looked  at  them  with  still  more  interest  afterwards, 
when  there  appeared  good  reason  to  consider  them  the 
work  of  the  very  same  hand  that  laid  out,  in  Pvome- 
thean  manner,  the  entire  proportions  of  the  whole  Great 
Pyramid.  For  when  Messrs.  Alton  and  Inglis  excavated 
and  (with  my  assistance)  laid  bare  the  south-west  socket 
of  the  Great  Pyramid  in  April,  1865, — there,  upon  the 
fair  white  flattened  face  of  the  said  socket  rock,  while 
three  sides  were  formed  by  raised  edges  of  stone,  the 
fourth  and  outer  side  was  defined  simply  by  a  line  ; 
but  a  line  ruled  apparently  by  the  very  same  hand  and 
selfsame  tool  which  had  also  drawn  these  other  truthful 
lines  in  the  entrance-passage. 

Yet  though  I  had  admired  these  lines  so  much, — 
witness  the  passes  of  "  Life  and  Work,"  published  in 
18G7, — I  had  never  thought  of  them  before  in  connec- 
tion with  possible  indications  of  date,  or,  indeed,  of 
anything  else,  by  virtue  of  their  precise  and  absolute 
jylace ;  and  hence  it  was,  that  when  Mr.  Casey  required 
in  1872  to  know  exactly  where,  on  the  floor,  the  line 
on  either  side  tcjuched  that  plane  (measured,  too,  not 
from  the  toj)  of  the  entrance-passage  comparatively  close 
by  on  the  north,  but  from  the  beginning  of  the  Grand 
Gallery  far  away  to  the  south),  there  was  no  rejidy 
prepared  record  to  say.  That  is,  nothing  more  than 
the  reading's  of  the  masonry  joints  next  above  and 
below  the  spot,  together  with  a  mere  memorandum 
that  the  ruled  line  was  within  "  a  few  inches  "  of  one 
of  them.  Every  intervening  measure  by  joints  be- 
tween the  two  extremes,  and  over  scores  of  joints,  had 


394  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  IV. 

been  procured,  printed,  and  published  to  the  world  in 
1867;  but  just  the  last  item  required,  merely  the 
small  distance  from  the  nearest  joint  to  the  drawn 
line,  was  wanting.      (See  Plate  XYII.) 

So  I  wrote  out  to  my  friend  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon, 
C.E.,  then  (1872)  actively  engaged  in  erecting  his 
brother's  bridge  over  the  Nile,  near  Cairo,  requesting 
him  to  have  the  goodness  to  make  and  send  me  careful 
measures  of  the  distance,  whatever  he  should  find  it  to 
be,  of  the  fine  line  on  either  passage  wall  at  the  Pyra- 
mid, from  the  nearest  one  of  the  two  gitasi- vertical 
joints  ;  not  giving  him  any  idea  what  the  measure  was 
wanted  for,  but  only  asking  him  to  be  very  precise, 
clear,  and  accurate.  And  so  he  was  ;  taking  out  also 
as  companion  and  duplicate  measurer  his  friend  Dr. 
Grant,  of  Cairo  ;  and  their  doubly  attested  figures  were 
sent  to  me  on  diagrams,  where  they  were  written  into 
their  places,  in  a  manner  which  left  no  room  for  any 
misunderstanding. 

With  this  piece  of  difference  measure  thus  happily 
obtained  at  so  late  a  date,  I  set  to  work  again  on  my 
older  joint  measures  of  the  whole  distance  ;  and  was 
almost  appalled  when,  on  applying  the  above  difference, 
the  east  side  gave  forth  2170*5,  and  the  west  side 
2 170 -4  Pyramid  inches. 

"  This  testimony  satisfies  me  and  fills  me  with 
thankfulness,  and  joy,"  wrote  Mr.  Casey ;  while  I, 
never  expecting  to  have  measured  so  closely  as  that, 
along  either  side  of  those  lengthy,  dark  and  sloping 
Pyramid  passages  (where  the  measuring- rods,  if  not 
tightly  held  by  hand  to  the  floor,  have  a  knack  of 
slipping  away  and  shooting  down  to  the  bottom),  I, 
not  understanding  how  such  apparently  close  agreement 
came  about,  and  knowing  that  it  was  not  my  desert, — 
can    only    conclude    this    chapter    with    a    condensed, 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  395 

small-type  representation  of  the  figure  work  involved 
in  bringing  out  the  results ;  results  more  laboriously, 
and  also,  perhaps,  more  rigidly,  impartially,  and  un- 
exceptionally  gained,  than  can  well  be  imagined  by  any 
one  else  without  going  through  some  conspectus  of  the 
many  details. 

THE  RULED  LINES  IN  THE  ENTRANCE  PASSAGE  OF  THE 
GREAT  PYRAMID, 

TESTED   FOR   THEIR  DISTANCE   PROM   THE   NORTH    BEGINNING    OF    THE 

GRAND    GALLERY,  AND   FOR   THE    CRITICAL   NUMBER 

2170. 

The  measures  of  these  lines  from  the  nearest  masonry  joint,  were  \ 
kindly  sent  to  me  by  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon,  from  Egypt,  with  attestations  1 
by  his  friend,  Dr.  Grant,  of  Cairo,  on  August  19,  1872,  thus : — 

"  East  Wall — Entrance  Passage. 

"  Distance  of  Ruled  Line  from  masonry  wall  joint  north  of  it, 
at  the  top  of  the  wall        .         .     =     13-25  British  in. 
at  the  bottom  of  the  wall .         .     =       4-37  „ 

**  West  Wall — Entrance  Passage. 

"  Distance  of  Ruled  Line  from  masonry  wall  joint  north  of  it, 
at  the  top  of  the  wall  .         .     =     17 '80  British  in. 

at  the  bottom  of  the  wall  .         .     =       7*55  „ 

•*The  above  distances  were  measured  by  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon,  C.E., 
and  checked  by  Dr.  Grant,"  and  were  accompanied  by  drawings  showing 
that  the  lines  were  assumed  to  be  rectangular  (which  they  are)  to  the 
length  of  the  passage,  while  the  masonry  joints  they  were  referred  to 
were  nearly  vertical,  and  were  the  southernmost  members  of  a  pair  of 
such  $^%«»t- vertical  joints  on  either  wall. 

Examination  for  Accuracy. 

The  above  measures  are  generally  agreeable  to  my  own  approximate 
indication  of  the  position  of  the  lines,  though  I  was  rather  surprised  to 
find  by  Mr.  Dixon's  numbers,  that  the  line  on  the  west  wall  is  farther  from 
its  reterence  joint,  than  that  on  the  east  wall  is  from  its  reference  joint 
there,  by  so  large  an  amount  as  nearly  4  inches. 

It  became  therefore  prudent,  before  embarking  in  any  speculation  on 
the  whole  return,  to  make  an  independent  inquiry  into  the  degree  of 
accuracy  of  Mr.  Dixon's  measures,  in  one  feature  at  least,  where  they 
admitted  of  that  wholesome  scientific  discipline. 

Accordingly,  if  we  subtract,  in  the  case  of  each  wall  separately, 
Mr.  Dixon's  lower  difference  reading  from  the  upper,  we  attain  a  ditierence 
of  the  differences,  East  =  8-88  inches,  and  West  =  10*25  inches.  And 
on  the  assumption  of  the  lines  being  rectangular  to  the  length  of  the 
passage,  those  residual  quantities  show  how  much  ihQJo%nts  deviate  from 


396  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Paut  rv. 

rectangularity  towards  verticality,  as  measured  along  the  top  of  the  wall ; 
or  they  form  the  shortest  side  of  a  plane  triangle,  of  which  the  longest 
side  is  the  gwase- vertical  joint,  and  the  medium  side  the  transverse  height 
of  the  wall,  equivalent  to  the  length  of  the  ruled  line. 

Now  the  shortest  side  of  that  triangle  I  did  in  a  manner  measure  in 
1865  ;  for  in  pp.  29  and  30  of  vol.  ii.  of  "  Life  and  Work,"  the  deviation 
of  each  of  the  said  ^-wasi- vertical  joints  (from  rectangularity  towards  ver- 
ticality) is  stated  as  being,  or  amounting  to,  at  the  top  of  the  wall, — 1st, 
by  an  approximate  method : — 

The  east  ^■Masi-vertical  joint        .         .         .     =     8  ±  a:  inches, 

And  the  west              „                  .         .         .     z=.     ^  ±_  x  inches. 
2nd,  by  a  more  accurate  method  :  — 

The  east  5^?-^asi- vertical  joint    ....::=  9*1  inches, 

And  the  west              „              .         .         .         .     rz  10*4  inches; 

while  the  line  ruled  on  the  east  wall  deviated  from  rectangularity  by  only 
0-04  inch,  and  that  on  the  west  wall  by  less  than  0-01  of  an  inch. 

Now  Mr.  Dixon's  numbers  for  the  same  two  joints'  deviations  being — 

For  the  east  5'«<J5{- vertical  joint     .         .         .     r=:       8  88  inches, 
And  for  the  west  „  .         ,         .     =     10-25  inches, 

they  come  between  my  two  pairs  of  quantities,  and  closer  to  that  pair  of 
them  which  was  previously  stated  to  be  by  the  more  accurate  method. 
The  result  of  examination  is  therefore  highly  gratifying,  and  shoM's  that 
we  may  certainly  depend  on  Mr.  Dixon's  measures,  say,  to  the  tenth  of  an 
inch,  at  least ;  and  that  is  no  more  than  the  fortieth  part  of  the  apparently 
anomalous  difference  of  his  absolute  distances  of  each  line  from  its  nearest 
joint  at  the  bottom  of  its  own  wall. 

That  difference,  then,  of  the  absolute  distances  must  be  a  real  quantity 
at  the  Pyramid ;  and  the  line  on  the  west  wall  must  be  actually  4  inches 
or  so  further  from  the  joint  there,  than  that  one  on  the  east  wall  is  from 
the  joint  there.  Wherefore  much  may  perhaps  depend  at  last  on  what 
effect  such  large  difference  may  have,  in  modifying  the  final  result  on  a 
certain  whole  quantity  which  has  now,  after  a  repose  of  several  years, 
been  suddenly  required,  in  order  to  furnish  a  test  for  a  new  hypothesis. 

Trial  of  Mr.  Casey* s  Hypothesis. 

Mr.  Casey  had  thus  far  simply  announced,  that  to  fulfil  certain  important 
theoretical  ends,  the  passage  floor  distance  in  the  Great  Pyramid  (measured 
from  the  north  end  of  the  Orand  Gallery,  down  the  floor  of  the  first 
ascending,  and  up  the  floor  of  the  entrance-passage,  to  where  that  floor  is 
at  last  touched  on  either  side  by  the  lower  ends  of  these  two  ancientl)' 
ruled  wall  lines)  should  amount  to  2,170  Pyramid  inches,  neither  more 
nor  less  within  the  probable  errors  of  measurement. 

At  present  I  need  only  state  that  tlie  north  end  of  the  Grand  Gallery  is 
a  very  well  preserved  and  sharply  defined  plane ;  a  good  starting-point 
therefore  for  measures ;  and  that,  excepting  some  rather  troublesome,  but 
by  no  means  impossible,  features  at  the  junction  of  the  two  passages,  the 
whole  distance  is  plain,  clear,  and  perfectly  amenable  to  modern  measure. 

Indeed  every  inch  of  the  way  (excepting  only  the  small  piece  now 
supplied  by  Mr.  Dixon)  has  been,  at  one  time  or  another,  measured  by 
me,  and  its  chief  portion  even  two  or  three  times  over,  and  on  either 


Chap.  XX.] 


THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


397 


side  of  the  passages,  with  results  too  which  have  heen  published  before  the 
world  for  five  years.  The  numerical  facts  therefore  are,  so  i'ar,  very  firm ; 
and  if  the  measures,  as  originally  taken,  have  as  yet  only  been  presented 
tinywhere  piecemeal,  and  with  numbers  increasing  in  two  difi"erent  serie* 
from  north  to  south,  in  place  of,  as  now  required,  in  one  long  accumulation 
from  south  to  north — that  is  an  additional  guarantee  that  the  measures 
taken  in  1865  could  riot  have  been  influenced  by  any  desire  to  bring  out 
the  result  of  Mr.  Casey's  hypothesis  in  1872. 

We  proceed  therelore  to  the  first  portion  of  the  whole  distance  now 
demanded,  viz.,  from  the  north  end  of  the  Grand  Grallery,  down  the  floor  of 
the  first  ascending  passage,  until  that  floor  produced  cuts  the  opposing 
floor  of  the  entrance-passage.     This  poriion  we  may  call  a. 

The  elements  for  the  length  a  are  given  in  "  Life  and  Work,"  vol.  ii., 
in  the  shape, — 

1st.  Of  the  floor  distances,  in  British  inches,  joint  by  joint,  from  a 
specified  joint  near  the  lower  end,  up  to  the  terminal  joint  at  the  upper  or 
southern  end  of  the  first  ascending  passage,  and  they  have  been  measured 
twice  over  by  me  on  either  side  of  the  passage. 

2ud.  The  portcullis  length,  from  that  lower  specified  joint  downwards 
to  the  still  lower  butt-end  of  portcullis,  measured  only  once,  and  on  the 
east  side  of  the  passage  only. 

3rd.  The  distance  from  that  lower  butt-end,  slantingly  across  the 
entrance-passage  to  its  floor,  in  the  direction  of  the  opposing  floor  of  the 
first  ascending  passage  produced  downwards,  and  given  here  in  three 
portions,  each  of  which  has  been  measured  on  either  side  of  the  passage. 

The  following  Table  contains  all  these  distances  required  for  a,  and 
they  are  finally  reduced  from  British,  to  Pyramid,  inches  in  the  two  right- 
hand  columns. 

Table  I. 

Floor- JOINT  distances  from  north  beginning  of  Grand  Gallery,  towards  lower 
end  of  first  ascending  passage  ;  or  complements  of  the  numbers  in  third 
columns  of  pages  48  atid  49  of  ^^  Life  and  Work,"  vol.  ii. 


iNDrVIDUAL 
MeA8UI!K8   in 

Bbitish  Inches. 

Summations  in 

Summations  in 

BaiTisH  Inches. 

Pykamid  Inches. 

Number  of  Floob 
Joint. 

" 

East 
side. 

West 
side. 

East  side 

West  side 

1291-2  — 

1291-1  — 

East  side. 

West  side. 

distance. 

distance. 

Starting   joint  of 

first     ascending- 

passage  of  (ireat 

Pyramid ;  at  the 

top  or  upper  end 

of  that  passage, 

near  the  Grand 

QaUery      . 

0 

0-2 

0-1 

0-2 

0-1 

1 

58-0 

67-6 

57-9 

67-6 

2 

... 

119-3 

... 

119-2 

... 

8 

177-8 

176-6 

177-6 

176-4 

4 

... 

208-5 

207-4 

208-3 

207-2 

5 

... 

257-3 

255-7 

257-0 

256-4 

6 

290-8 

290-5 

7 

... 

... 

343-8 

841-9 

34v}-5 

341-6 

8 

... 

384-8 

883-4 

384-4 

883-0 

9 

... 

... 

416-6 

413-6 

416-1 

413-2 

398 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  IV. 


Table  I. 

continued'). 

Individual 

Measures  in 

British  Inches. 

Summations  in 

Summations  in 

British  Inches. 

Pyramid 

Inches. 

Number  op  Floob- 

JOINT. 

East 
side. 

West 
side. 

East  side 
1291-2  — 

West  side 
1291-1  — 

East  side. 

West  side. 

distance. 

distance. 

.       10 

465-5 

463-6 

465-0 

463-1 

11 

... 

502-9 

500-1 

502-4 

499-6 

12 

537-6 

537-1 

537-1 

536-6 

13 

... 

... 

590-7 

589-3 

590-1 

588-7 

14 

... 

623-7 

622-1 

623-1 

621-6 

15 

... 

... 

660-1 

659-4 

16 

691-4 

689-4 

690-7 

688-7 

17 

... 

... 

746-7 

745-8 

746-0 

745-1 

18 

796-9 

795-2 

796-1 

794-4  ■ 

19 

... 

... 

829-2 

828-0 

829-4 

827-2 

20 

... 

891-7 

890-0 

890-8 

889-1 

21 

... 

941-7 

931-5 

940-8 

930-6 

22 

991-4 

981-5 

990-4 

980-5 

23 

... 

... 

1044-7 

1036-5 

1043-7 

1035-5 

24 

1094-7 

1087-5 

1093-6 

1086-4 

25 

1124-5 

1123-4 

Lower  part  of  first    26 

1168-7 

1161-3 

1167-5 

1160-1 

ascending    pas-    27 

1209-6 

1199-8 

1208-4 

1198-6 

sage,    near    the    28 

... 

1246-0 

1242-0 

1244-8 

1240-8 

Portcullis  .        .    29 

1291-2 

1291-1 

1289-9 

1289-8 

Special  AoDrriONS. 

Portcullis  length  (see 

p.  54  ofvol.il.  of"  L. 

and  W.") . 

178-8 

(178-8)* 

1470-0 

1469-9 

1468-5 

1468-4 

To  roof  of  entrance- 

passage,  or  c/  (see 

p.  41,  vol,  ii.  of  "L. 

and  W.")  .        .        . 

14-2 

14-1 

1484-2 

1484-0 

1482-7 

1482-5 

To  axis  of  entrance- 

passage  ;      or      the 

quantity /i 

29-8 

30-0 

1514-0 

1514-0 

1512-5 

1512-5 

To  floor  of  entrance- 

passage  ;    in    direc- 

tion    of    the     first 

ascending     passage 

produced         down- 

wards, oxil 

29-8 

30-0 

1543-8 

1544-0 

1542-3 

1542-5 

Whole  distance  from  no 

rth  beginning  of 

jrand  Galle  y,  down 

the  floor  of  first  as( 

sending  passage  ] 

)roduced  downwards 

to  touch  the  floor  of 

descending  entra 

nce-passage ;  or  the 

quantity  A,  in  pyra 

imid  inches     . 

1542-3 

1542-6 

•  Not  directly  measured,  only  inferred,  on  this  western  side  of  the  Passage. 

We  next  take  up  the  remaining  portion  of  the  whole  quantity  required 
for  Mr.  Casey's  hypothesis,  or  the  distance  from  the  intersection  plane  of 
the  floors  of  the  two  passages,  up  the  entrance-passage's  floor  northward  ; 
to  where  that  floor  is  touched  on  either  side  by  the  bottoms  of  the  two 
ruled  wail  lines :  a  portion  we  shall  call  b. 


Chap.  XX.] 


THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


399 

4 


But  this  portion  b  we  must  necessarily  compute  in  two  steps  ;  first,  in 
Table  II.,  setting  forth  the  readings  of  all  'Ci\%Jioor  joints  of  the  entrance- 
passage  on  the  floor,  the  supposed  sheet  of,  or  for,  historic  record ;  and 
second,  in  Table  III.,  setting  forth  first  for  the  east  side,  and  then  for 
the  west  side,  the  readings  of  every  wall  joint,  on  the  floor's  above  de- 
scribed record  plane  ;  this  will  be  the  b  which  we  are  in  search  of;  and 
will  have  a  added  to  it  in  the  two  last  columns,  so  as  there  to  present  the 
quantity  A  -j-  b,  for  the  wall-joints  in  the  entrance-passage. 

Finally,  to  the  wall-joint  reading  A  -|-  b,  for  the  particular  joint  mea- 
sured from  by  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon,  we  must  apply  his  measured  dif- 
ference of  the  lower  end  of  the  ruled  line  therefrom. 


Table 

II.         • 

Floor-joint  distances  from  contact  plane  in  Descending  Entrance  Fassage^ 

upwards  and  northwards  to  its  upper  north  end,  or  beginning. 

, 

Summations  in 

NUMBEB   OF   FlOOE-JOINT. 

Bhitish  Inches. 

Pybamid  Inches. 

The      starting  -  point 

being   not  a   joint, 
but  the  contact  plane 

East  side. 

West  side. 

East  side. 

West  side. 

with  the  floor  of  first 
ascending      passage 

produced        down  - 

Whole 

Whole 

wards,  or  line  "i" 

987-2  — 

985-6  — 

distance 

distance 

on  p.  42,  vol.  ii..  of 

distance. 

distance. 

from 

from 

"L.  &W." 

(See  p.  42, 

-f  1543-8 

(See  p.  42, 

+ 1544-0 

north 

north 

vol.ii.,"L. 

vol.ii.,"L. 

beginning 
of  Grand 

beginning 
of  Grand 

&  W.") 

&  W.") 

Gallery. 

Qalleiy. 

Starting-line         ."I" 

0-0 

1543-8 

0-0 

1544-0 

1542-8 

1542-6 

Joint  from  "i"  low 

down     in     en- 

trance-passage .      1 

468 

1590-6 

46-5 

1590-5 

1589-0 

1588-9 

2 

82-0 

1625-8 

81-7 

1625-7 

1624-2 

1624-1 

8 

106-6 

1660-4 

106-5 

1650-6 

1648-7 

1648-8 

4 

146-6 

1690-4 

146-6 

1690-5 

1688-7 

1688-8 

6 

195-2 

1739-0 

195-0 

1739-0 

1737-3 

1737-3 

6 

231-6 

1775-4 

231-5 

1775-5 

1773-6 

1773-8 

7 

284-4 

1828-2 

283-1 

1827-1 

'   1826-4 

18-25-3 

8 

835-3 

1879-1 

334-5 

1878-5 

?   1877-2 

1876-7 

9 

875-7 

1919-6 

374-0 

1918-0 

1917-6 

1916-1 

10 

414-5 

1958-3 

410-1 

1954-1 

1956-4 

1952-1 

11 

467-5 

2011-3 

463-2 

2007-2 

2009-3 

2005-2 

12 

526-7 

2070-5 

525-7 

2069-7 

2068-5 

2067-6 

13 

578-5 

2122-3 

578-1 

2122-1 

2120-2 

2120-0 

The   lino   on    the 

wall  is  due  some- 

where   between 

ihese  two  floor- 
joints. 

14 

644-7 

2188-5 

644-3 

2188-3 

2186-3 

2184-0 

16 

703-6 

2247-4 

703-5 

2247-5 

22452 

2245-3 

16 

772-0 

2315-8 

769-2 

2313-2 

2313-5 

2310-9 

17 

827-0 

2370-8 

824-6 

2368-6 

23G8-4 

2366-3 

Near  b  eginning  or    18 

886-0 

2428-8 

883-6 

2427-5 

2426-4 

2425-1 

upper,  or  north    19 

932-6 

2476-4 

931-5 

2476-5 

2474-0 

2473-0 

end  of   the  en- 

trance-passage .    20 

987-2 

2631-0 

986-6 

2629-6 

2528-6 

2627-1 

400 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  IV. 


N.B. — Had  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon  measured  the  lower  end  of  the  ruled 
lines  from  a  j^oor-joint,  we  should  now  have  been  in  a  position,  with  this 
table,  to  have  obtained  for  each  ruled  line  the  ultimate  reading  required. 
But  his  measure  of  a  difference  being  from  a  wall-]omt,  we  must  now 
prepare  a  further  tabular  representation  of  the  readings,  on  the  floor-plane, 
of  each  of  the  w^a^^-joints,  and  this  for  either  wall  separately  ;  or  thus  : — 


Table  III. 


Wall-joikt  distancesot  their  lower  ends  ;  or  where  they  touch  the  floor  in  the 
Entrance  Passage  ;  reckoned  from  that  floor's  contact  plane  with  the 
floor  of  first  ascending  passage  {produced  downwards)  ^  and  proceeding 
upwards  to  the  upper  or  north  end  of  Entrance  Passage. 


EAST  WALL  (by  itself). 

Floor's  contact  plane  987-2  British  inches  from  its  beginning  at  north  end. 

(See  page  42 

vol.  11.,  of  " 

Life  and  Work.") 

The  same  +  1543*8 ;  or 

Distance 

Inverse 

whole  distance  from  the 

Number  of  Wall-joint,  referring 

south  from 
basement 

distance,  or 

north  beginning  of 
Grand  Gallery  =  A  +  B. 

only  to  the  bottom  thereof. 

beginning. 

\XLO\iCkjLL\jKZ 

(See  p.  24, 
vol.  iL.) 

from  contact 
plane.north. 

British  Ins. 

Pyramid 
Inches. 

1st  wall-joint,  above,  or  north 

of  floor's  contact  plane 

957-8 

29-4 

1573-2 

1571-6 

2 

917-0 

70-2 

1614-0 

1612-4 

3              "           \,           „ 

854-2 

133-0 

1676-8 

1675-1 

4 

821-3 

165-9 

1709-7 

1708-0 

5 

761-3 

225-9 

1769-7 

1767-9 

6 

717-1 

270-1 

1813-9 

1812-1 

"                  "                  " 

658-9 

328-3 

1872-1 

1870-2 

O                             J>                      5>                      )> 

605-1 

382-1 

1925-9 

1924-0 

9 

537-1 

450-1 

1993-9 

1991-9 

10 

501-0 

486-2 

2030-0 

2028-0 

11 

442-2 

545-0 

2088-8 

2086-7 

12 

387-3 

599-9 

2143-7 

2141-6 

The  wall  line  due  somewhere 

here. 

13  !  Approximately  vertical 

353-9 

633-3 

2177-1 

2174-9 

14  !  Approximately  vertical 

290-e 

697-2 

2241-0 

2238-8 

15,  half-height     .        .        .        . 

219-2 

768-0 

2311-8 

2309-5 

16,  half-height    .... 

150-4 

836-8 

2880-6 

2378-2 

17,  half-height     .... 

110-2 

877-0 

2420-8 

2418-4 

North  beginning  of  basement 

sheet  of  entrance-passage   . 

0-0 

987-2 

2531-0 

2528-5 

Chap.  XX.] 


THE  GREAT  PYRAMID, 


401 


^  WEST  WALL  ( 

BY   rrSELF). 

Floor  contact  plane  985-6  British  inches  from  basement  beginning. 
(See  page  42,  vol.  ii.,  of  "Life  and  Work.") 

Distance 

The  same +  1544-0;  or 

south  from 

Inverse 

whole  distance  from  the 

basement 

distance,  or 

north  beginning  of 

Number  of  Wall-joint,  &c.,  &c. 

beginning. 

distance 

Grand  Gallery  =  A  +  B. 

(See  p.  21, 

vol.  ii., 

"L.  &W.'') 

from  contact 

plane,north. 

British  Ins. 

Pyramid 
Inches. 

1st  wall-joint,  above,  or  north 

of  floor's  contact  plane 

981-1 

4-5 

1548-5 

1547-0 

2 

931-5 

54-1 

1598-1 

1596-5 

3               ','            »'            ," 

871-1 

114-5 

1658-5 

1656-8 

4 

842-0 

143-6 

1687-6 

1685-9 

5 

801-5 

184-1 

1728-1 

1726-4 

6 

766-9 

218-7 

1762-7 

1760-9 

7 

740-4 

245-2 

1789-2 

1787-4 

8 

681-3 

304-3 

1848-3 

1846-5 

9 

639-1 

346-5 

1890-5 

1888-6 

10 

562-1 

423-5 

1967-5 

1965-5 

11 

527-1 

458-5 

2002-5 

.2000-6 

12 

482-1 

503-5 

2047-5 

2045-5 

13 

427-1 

558-5 

2102-5 

2100-4 

14 

391-7 

593-9 

2137-9 

2135-8 

The  wall  line  due  somewhere 

here. 

15  !  approximately  vertical 

349-4 

636-2 

2180-2 

2178-0 

16  !  approximately  vertical 

289-8 

695-8 

2239-8 

2237-6 

17,  half-height     .... 

207-6 

778-0 

2322-0 

2319-7 

18,  half-height     .... 

152-6 

833-0 

2377-0 

2374-6 

19,  half-height     .... 

110-0 

875-6 

2419-6 

2417-2 

North  beginning  of  basement 

sheet  of  entraiice-passage  . 

0-0 

985-6 

2529-6 

2527-1 

The  absolute  place,  then,  on  \kiQ  floor's  scroll  of  history,  in  terms  of  our 
A  -|-  B,  of  the  base  of  that  wall-joint  from  which  Mr.  Dixon  measured  the 
ruled  line,  is  on  the 


East  side 

And  on  the  west  side 


=     2174-9  Pyramid  in. 
=     2178-0  „ 


And  Mr.  Dixon's  measured  difference  at  the  base  amounting  to- 


On  the  east  side   . 
And  on  the  west  side 


4-4  inches. 
7-6      „ 


And  the  signs  of  these  quantities  being  negative,  or  showing  that  they  are 
to  be  subLracted,  we  have  for  the  absolute  readings  or  dates  of  the  two 
ruled  lines,  in  terms  of  the  strictest  requirements  of  Mr.  Casey's 
hypothesis —  • 


On  the  east  side  . 
And  on  the  west  side 


=     2170-5  Pyramid  inches. 
=     2170-4 


D    D 


402 


THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


[Part  IV. 


Or  exhibiting  an  agreement  with  the  hypothesis  to  less  than  s^footh  part 
of  the  whole  ;  and  one  side  agreeing  with  the  other  to  within  2ooo"oth  of 
the  whole. 

This  is  a  much  closer  degree  of  approach  than  I  had  expected  my 
measures  were  capable  of,  or  still  think  they  deserve ;  and  I  should  have 
had  some  scruple  in  publishing  the  case,  had  not  the  whole  of  the  data 
been  so  perfectly  impossible  to  have  been  knowingly  influenced  at  the  time 
they  were  made,  printed,  and  published. 

But  I  must  leave  it  to  the  candid  reader  to  say,  whether  the  rest  of  this 
book's  contents  tend  to  raise  that  one  case  of  agreement  above  or  below 
simple  coincidence  only. 


PAET  Y. 

INEVITABLE  CONCLUSIONS. 


"  HOW  SAY  YE  UNTO  PHARAOH,  I — THE  SON  OF  THE  WISE,  THE  SON  OF 
ANCIENT  KINGS  ? 

"  WHERE  ARE  THEY  ?  WHERE  ARE  THY  WISE  MEN  ?  AND  LET  THEM  TELL 
THEE  NOW,  AND  LET  THEM  KNOW  WHAT  THE  LORD  OF  HOSTS  HATH  PUR- 
POSED  UPON   EGYPT." — ISAIAH   XIX.,   11,  12. 


r 


CHAPTER   XXI 

HIEROLOGISTS   AND    CHEONOLOGISTS. 

^0  land  has  been  so  variously  treated  in  chronology 
as  the  valley  of  Egypt ;  for  even  if  the  early  mysti- 
cisms of  so-called  divine  kings  during  36,500  years  be 
exploded,  there  are  equally  extraordinary  modern 
theories.  By  some  of  the  rationalistic  writers  on,  and 
inventors  of,  history,  for  instance,  in  latter  times,  the 
earliest  Egyptian  kings  have  been  pushed  forward  far 
above  all  monumental  dates  up  to  10,000,  20,000,  and 
even  300,000  years  ago  ;  with  the  accompanying  state- 
ment, too,  that  even  at  that  remote  epoch  there  were  no 
signs  of  any  gradual  emergence  out  of  a  primitive  savage 
condition,  but  only  of  an  already  highly  organised  and 
well-governed  community,  which  must  therefore  on  the 
human  hypothesis,  have  commenced  to  run  its  civilized 
course  an  infinite  length  of  time  previously. 

More  recently  still,  not  only  have  geologists  claimed 
to  have  discovered  proofs  (in  fragments  of  pottery  dug 
up  at  a  great  depth  in  the  alluvial  deposit  of  the  Nile) 
of  an  existence  of  first-rate  human  manufactures  there 
during  more  than  13,000  consecutive  years  ;  but  there 
are  many  very  worthy  men  who  still  attach  much  im- 
portance to  the  computajiions  made,  astronomically, 
from  certain  configurations  of  the  ecliptic  and  equator 
in  the  celebrated  zodiacs  of  the  Nilotic  temples  of 
Dendera,  Esneh,  and  E'  Dayr. 


4o6  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

The  first  class  of  authors  mentioned,  in  a  great  mea- 
sure, either  stand  or  fall  with  the  two  latter  ;  and  upon 
the  proofs,  more  or  less  material,  which  they  have  been 
supposed  to  offer  in  confirmation  of  their  theories. 

Now,  of  the  geological  evidence,  it  has  lately  been 
argued  by  the  acute  Professor  Balfour  Stewart,  of 
Owen's  College,  Manchester,  that  a  solid  mass  of  any 
substance  of  notable  size,  has  an  effective  tendency  to 
work  its  way  downwards  through  a  bed  of  finely- 
divided  particles  of  both  similar,  and  extraneous,  matter ; 
wherefore  it  is  no  positive  proof,  ages  after  a  big  bone, 
or  piece  of  pottery,  or  flint  hammer  of  comparatively 
large  dimensions,  was  deposited  on  a  certain  soil,  that 
it  should  be  of  the  same  date  as  the  smaller  particles  of 
the  stratum  it  is  subsequently  found  in ;  for  it  may 
have  worked  its  way  downwards  while  these  particles 
were  still  mobile. 

This  law  its  author  illustrated  in  the  case  of  celts  im- 
mersed in  finely-divided  silex  powder  ;  and  if  it  is  true  at 
all,  it  must  be  especially  applicable  to  the  later  Egyptian 
geology.  For  there,  all  the  valley  is  not  only  composed 
of  the  so-called  slime  of  the  Nile  (microscopically  fine 
particles  of  granite,  porphyry,  limestone,  and  the  other 
rocks  washed  and  rolled  over  by  the  mighty  river  in  its 
long  course  from  the  equator),  but  is  visited  every  year 
by  the  inundation ;  which  may  be  regarded  as  a  grand 
tide  of  a  secular  order,  producing  amongst  the  slime's 
small  component  particles  the  same  sort  of  lively  quick- 
sand effect,  but  in  a  superior  degree,  which  is  witnessed 
on  the  Goodwin  Sands,  whenever  an  ordinary  periodical, 
or  only  twelve-hour,  tide  rises  there. 

The  geological  evidence,  then,  for  a  very  long 
chronology,  under  such  circumstances,  is  specious  in 
the  extreme ;  while  the  supposed  astronomical,  is  con- 
siderably worse ;  having  even  had  a  decided  refutation 
given  to    its    very  essence,   through   means   of  recent 


Chap.  XXL]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  407 

hieroglyphical  readings,  and  in  this  way.  The  painted 
Egyptian  zodiacs  already  alluded  to,  no  matter  how 
grossly  they  caricatured  the  positions  of  the  stars,  had 
been  fondly  considered,  by  those  who  sought  a  high 
antiquity  for  Egypt,  to  have  been  invariably  constructed 
so  as  to  represent  something  in  the  heavens  as  seen  in 
their  own  day ;  and  if  they  were  found  to  have  made  a 
very  badly  drawn  equator  crossing  the  ecliptic,  equally 
murdered,  180°  from  its  present  position,  that  was  taken 
as  a  proof  that  the  ceiling,  or  the  walls  containing  those 
things  must  have  been  sculptured  when  the  equator  did 
cross  the  ecliptic  in  that  longitude ;  i.e.,  12,900  years 
ago,  according  to  the  now  known  rate  of  the  precession 
of  the  equinoxes  in  good  Newtonian  astronomy. 

But  this  is  plainly  no  scientific  proof ;  for  any  stone- 
mason can  at  any  time,  if  you  give  him  an  order  so  to 
do,  and  a  pattern  to  go  by,  carve  you  a  zodiac  with  the 
equator  crossing  the  ecliptic  in  any  constellation  what- 
ever ;  and  with  vastly  more  scientific  accuracy  of  detail 
than  any  of  those  profane  Egyptian  temple  pictures 
have  yet  been  accused  of. 

There  was  never,  therefore,  any  real  stability  in  the 
groundwork  for  those  pseudo-astronomically  computed 
chronologies ;  while  during  the  last  thirty  years  the 
whole  of  such  false  growth  has  been  felled  to  the 
ground,  by  the  successive  discoveries  of  the  new  hiero- 
logists.  Young,  ChampoUion,  and  their  followers ;  who 
have  proved  incontestably,  by  interpreting  the  hiero- 
glyphic inscriptions  mixed  up  with  the  pictures,  that 
the  zodiac  temples  were  the  latest  of  all  the  Egyptian 
monuments  ;  that  they  dated  only  from  the  time  of 
the  late  Ptolemies,  and  even  some  of  the  Roman 
emperors ;  and  were  the  work  of  house-painters  rather 
than  astronomers. 

Had  hieroglyphic  study,  therefore,  done  nothing  else 
than  demolish  the  absurd  antiquity  given,  on  mistaken 


4o8  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  V. 

grounds,  to  the  astronomico-idolatrous  Egyptian  temples 
of  late  date,  it  would  have  deserved  well  of  mankind  ; 
but  it  has  done  more  than  that,  though  perhaps  not 
quite  so  much,  nor  always  quite  so  well,  as  its  ardent 
students  have  claimed  for  it. 


Egyptian  Hieroglyphics  versus  Greek  Scholarship. 

Commenced  by  the  discovery  of  the  Rosetta  stone  in 
1802  ;  vivified  by  Young  and  Champollion  about 
1820  ;  and,  since  then,  most  ably  developed  by  Rossel- 
lini,  Gardner  Wilkinson,  Birch,  Osburn,  Lepsius,  Poole, 
l)e  Saulcey,  De  Rougd,  Brugsch,  Mariette,  and  many 
others, — hieroglyphical  interpretation  has  rendered  the 
nineteenth  century  vastly  more  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  home  life  of  early  Egypt,  than  any  century  has 
been  since  the  times  of  actual  Apis  and  Osiris  worship- 
ping by  the  Egyptians  themselves. 

The  sudden  ability  thus  acquired,  to  read  the  writings 
of  a  people  who  departed  all  visible  life  nearly  two 
thousand  years  ago,  infused  at  the  time  extraordinary 
enthusiasm  into  all  the  hieroglyphic  students ;  who 
congratulated  each  other,  and  ancient  Egypt  too,  un- 
ceasingly, on  the  treasure-house  of  human  wisdom  which 
they  had  so  successfully  opened  up. 

"  Dark,"  said  they — 

"Dark  has  been  thy  night, 
Ob,  Egypt !  but  the  flame 
Of  new-born  science  gilds  thine  ancient  name." 

And  how  does  that  science  gild  it  ?  Not  by  having  set 
forth  any  grand  philosophy  or  estimable  literature;  for 
such  things  are  so  very  far  from  existing  in  the  hiero- 
glyphics,  that  at  last  the  late  Sir   George    Cornewall 


Chap.  XXL]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  409 

Lewis,  impatient  of  the  Egyptological  boastings,  and 
judging  of  what  had  been  produced,  from  his  favourite 
stand-point  of  Greek  authors, — both  condemned  all  the 
Mizraisms  which  had  up  to  that  time  been  inter- 
preted ;  and  concluded  from  their  sample,  that  there  is 
nothing  w^orthy  of  being  known  remaining  to  be  inter- 
preted in  all  the  rest  of  the  hieroglyphics  of  the 
reputedly  vnse  land  of  Egypt. 

So  if  there  is  anything  worth  gilding  at  all,  it  is 
perhaps  rather  to  be  looked  for  in  chronology  than 
literature ;  for  the  Egyptians  were,  of  all  men,  the 
record  keepers  of  the  early  world :  not  only  per- 
petually erecting  monuments,  but  inscribing  them  all 
over  with  their  clearly-cut-out  hieroglyphic  inscrip- 
tions ;  w^hile  the  dry  climate  of  their  country  has 
preserved  even  to  these  times  almost  whatever  they 
chose  to  inscribe,  large  or  small. 

Yet  after  years  of  study,  our  great  Egyptologic  and 
hieroglyphic  scholars  are  agreed  on  nothing  chrono- 
logical, except  something  like  the  order  of  precedence, 
or  comparative  succession,  of  old  Egyptian  kings,  and 
dynasties  of  kings  ;  — for  when  they  come  to  give  the 
absolute  dates  of  any  of  the  reigns,  they  differ  among 
themselves  by  1,000,  2,000,  8,000  or  more  years  wdth 
the  utmost  facility,  just  as  they  choose  to  consider  the 
literary  dynasties  of  Manetho  more  or  less  successive, 
rather  than  coexistent,  in  different  cities  or  provinces 
of  ancient  Eg^^pt. 

But  while  Manetho,  though  an  Egyptian  priest,  was 
not  contemporary  with  the  most  critical  times  he  alludes 
to  (having  lived  under  the  Macedonian  subjugation  of 
his  country,  and  his  work  having  only  come  down  to 
us  in  fragmentary  quotations  in  late  monkish  authors), 
certain  good  Greek  scholars  amongst  ourselves  (men 
who  would  have  been  thoroughly  approved  of  by  Sir 
G.  C.  Lewis),  have,  after  studying  the  purely  Alexandrian 


410  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

writers  most  deeply  and  extensh^ely,  and  at  those  historic 
periods  when  they  declare  hieroglyphics  were  still  inti- 
mately and  generally  understood  in  that  land, — they 
have,  I  repeat,  raised  the  standard  of  opposition  against 
the  modern  soi-disant  Egyptologists,  or  ChampoUionist 
interpreters  of  the  monumental  inscriptions  ;  and  op- 
pose both  the  order,  and  absolute  dates,  as  well  as  the 
names  for  the  early  Egyptian  kings  and  chief  events, 
as  usually  given  by  those  gentlemen.* 

Of  the  whole  merits  of  this  grand  contest,  neither  is 
this  book  the  place,  nor  myself  the  author,  wherein  and 
by  whom,  it  should  be  discussed.  But  there  are  certain 
of  the  results,  from  either  side,  which  cannot  be  passed 
by,  in  connection  with  our  proper  Great  Pyramid  sub- 
ject. 


Differential  Chronology  of  the  Egyptologists. 

When  the  Egyptologists,  for  instance,  confess,  as  they 
have  done  most  distinctly  even  within  the  last  year, 
that  they  know,  amongst  all  their  profane  monuments 
of  Old  Egypt,  not  a  single  one  capable  of  expressing,  or 
giving,  in  its  inscription  an  absolute  date,  while  we  have 
seen  abundantly  from  what  is  already  set  forth  in  this 
book,  that  the  Great  Pyramid  does  assign  its  absolute  date 
most  distinctly,  and  more  and  more  distinctly  the  higher 
science  it  is  examined  by, — evidently  an  invaluable 
type  of  separation  has  been  ascertained  between  the  one 
Christianly  sacred  monument  in  Egypt  on  one  hand, 
and,  on  the  other,  the  whole  herd  of  that  land's 
profane  monuments,  the  only  research -ground  which  our 
modern  Egyptologists  seem  to  care  for. 


*  See  "  Egypt's  Kecord  of  Time  to  the  Exodus  of  Israel,"  critically 
investigated  by  the  Rev.  W.  B.  Gralloway,  M.A.,  Vicar  of  St.  Mark's, 
Regent's  Park,  London. 


1 


Chap.  XXL]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  41 1 

Again,  while  the  leading  principle,  and  very  sheet- 
anchor,  of  the  best  Egyptological-chronologists  is,  to 
seek  out  and  confide  in  "  ^monuments ; "  to  consider 
nothing  fixed  in  Egyptian  history  or  fact,  unless  there 
is  a  monument  to  show,  and  that  monument  contem- 
porary, or  nearly  so,  with  the  facts  to  which  it  relates, 
— they  allow  faithfully  that  they  know  of  no  monuments 
whatever,  earlier  by  more  than  a  very  few  years,  even  if 
by  so  much,  than  the  Great  Pyramid. 

Dr.  Lepsius  is  very  clear  on  this  point.  In  his 
"  Letters  from  Egypt,"  he  wrote  from  the  tombs  before 
the  Great  Pyramid  in  1843  : — ''Nor  have  I  yet  found 
a  single  cartouche  that  can  be  safely  assigned  to  a  period 
previous  to  the  fourth  dynasty.  The  builders  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  seem  to  assert  their  right  to  form  the 
commencement  of  monumental  history,  even  if  it  be 
clear  that  they  were  not  the  first  builders  and  monu- 
mental writers."  And  again,  he  says,  "  The  Pyramid 
of  Cheops,  to  which  the  first  link  of  our  whole  monu- 
mental history  is  fastened  immovably,  not  only  for 
Egyptian,  but  for  universal  history/'  And  in  his  great 
work  of  illustrations,  the  "  Denkmaeler  "  of  subsequent 
years,  the  Doctor  adheres  to  the  above  view,  and  opens 
that  immense  chronological  series  with  the  Great 
Pyramid. 

Hence  we  may  dismiss  entirely  all  the  300,000  years 
of  civilised  life  in  Egypt  before  the  Great  Pyramid,  as 
rashly  asserted  by  a  late  rationalistic  writer,  because  he 
has  no  "  monuments "  to  show  for  that  long  period. 
But  for  such  period  as  the  Egyptologists  do  bring  up 
monuments ;  viz.,  from  the  Great  Pyramid  downwards, 
almost  without  a  break, — there  we  can  hardly  but  pay 
some  attention  to  their  schemes  of  the  differential 
chronologic  history  of  Egypt,  and  which  they  place 
variously  thus  : — 


412 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  V. 


Beginning  of  each  Dynasty  of  Angient  Egypt,  according  to  various 
Egyptological  Scholars,  guided  partly  by  Manetho,  whose  own 
book  they  have  not  ;  and  partly  by  the  monuments,  which  they 
confess  do  not  give  absolute  dates. 


Number 

of 
Dynasty. 


10 
11 
12 

13 
14 
15 

16 
17 

18 

19 
20 


Date  according  to  the  Average  of 


Lesueur, 

Mariette, 

Eenan,  &c. 


B  c. 
6735 
5472 
5170 

4956 

4472 


3435 


1314 


Lepsius, 

Bunsen, 

Fergusson, 

&c. 

Lane, 

Wilkinson, 

Eawlinson, 

&c. 

B.C. 

3892 
3639 
3338 

B.C. 

2700 
2480 
2670 

3124 

2840 
2744 

2440 

2440 
2200 

2592 
2522 
2674 

1800 
1800 
2200 

2565 
2423 
2380 

2200 
2028 

2136 
2167 
2101 

1920 
2080 
2080 

1842 
1684 
1591 

1800 
1776 
1520 

1443 
1269 

1324 
1232 

"William 
Osburn. 


B.C. 

2429 
2420 
2329 

2228 

2107 


2107 

19.59 
2107 


1900 

1900- 

1674 

1394 
1314 


Prevailing 

architecture  at 

the  Dates. 


Mem  phi  an 
Pyramid 
Builders  ? 

The  Great 
Pyramid. 
Memphian 
Eock-Tomb, 
and  smaller 
Pyramid, 
Builders. 


Theban 
Palace-Temple 

and  Rock- 
Tomb  Builders, 


Now  when  a  scientific  pyramidist,  on  the  other 
hand,  or  from  his  point  of  view  and  sources  of  informa- 
tion, confines  himself  to  stating  relatively  that  the 
Great  Pyramid  was  erected  in  the  times  of  the  "Fourth 
Dynasty," — he  is  evidently  in  accord  with  all  the 
Egyptologists  of  every  order  and  degree  ;  but  when  he 
further  defines  that  it  was  erected  at  the  absolute  date 
of  2170  B.C.,  he  is  in  accord  with  one  only  of  the  whole 


Chap.  XXT.]         THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  4 1 3 

of  them,  viz.,  William  Osburn,  for  lie  makes  the  fourth 
dynasty  to  extend  from  2228  to  2108  B.C. 

On  finding  this  solitary  case  of  agreement,  in  the 
course  of  1866,  I  immediately  obtained  a  copy  of  that 
author's  two-volume  work,  ''  Monumental  History  of 
Egypt ;"  and  was  so  well  satisfied  with  the  vigour  and 
originality  of  his  mind,  his  linguistic  power,  and  his 
conscientious  labours,  that  I  sought  out  every  other 
work  that  he  had  written ;  and  was  eventually  rewarded 
with  a  long  correspondence  with  himself;  and  found 
him  a  man  who,  though  he  did  not  please  his  fellow- 
Egyptologists,  yet  seemed  worthy  to  be  regarded  as  the 
king  of  them  all.  Partly,  too,  by  the  light  of  his 
writings,  reading  Lepsius  and  Howard- Vyse  over  again, 
I  am  now  enabled  to  give  the  following  comparative,  but 
still  only  approximate,  view  of  the  Great  Pyramid 
among  the  other  pyramids  of  Egypt,  and  in  probable 
date,  as  well  as  shape,  size,  and  position,      {^ee  Table.) 

The  Great  Sphinx. 

And  now  it  may  be  remarked  by  anxious  readers,  that 
though  I  have  said  so  much  about  the  Great  Pyramid, 
and  something  touching  almost  every  other  pyramid 
in  Egypt  also, — I  have  said  nothing  about  the  Sphinx. 

That  was  just  what  the  Reviewers  wrote  against  Pro- 
fessor Greaves  after  the  publication  of  his  Pyramidogra- 
phia,  230  years  ago.  Though  indeed  one  of  his  querists 
presently  answers  himself,  by  supposing,  that  the  Pro- 
fessor must  have  found  at  the  place,  that  the  said  Sphinx 
had  in  reality  no  connection  with  the  Great  Pyramid. 

Exceedingly  right,  too,  was  the  critic  in  that  sup- 
position ;  for  not  only  has  the  oval  of  a  king,  one 
thousand  years  and  several  dynasties  later  than  the 
date  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  been  found  unexceptionably 
upon  the  Sphinx, — but  that  monster,  an  idol  in  itself, 


414  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

witli  symptoms  typifying  the  lowest  mental  organiza- 
tion, positively  reeks  with  anti-Great  Pyramid  idolatry 
throughout  its  substance ;  for  when  the  fragments  or 
component  masses  of  its  colossal  stone  beard  were  dis- 
covered in  the  sand  excavations  of  1817,  it  was  per- 
ceived that  all  the  internally  joining  surfaces  of  the 
blocks  had  been  figured  full  of  the  animal-headed  gods 
of  the  most  profane  Egjrpt. 

Strange  therefore  that  Dean  Stanley's  professional  eye 
should  have  seen  in  so  soul-repulsive  a  creature,  "  with," 
as  he  himself  further  and  more  objectively  describes, 
*'its  vast  projecting  wig,  its  great  ears,  the  red  colour 
still  visible  on  its  cheeks,  and  the  immense  projection 
of  the  whole  lower  part  of  its  face," — an  appropriate 
guardian  to  the  Sethite,  and  most  anti-Cainite,  Great 
Pyramid,  whose  pure  and  perfect  surface  of  blameless 
stone,  eschews  every  thought  of  idolatry  and  sin. 

The  Recent  Discovery  about  the  Sphinx. 

But  the  reign  of  the  Great  Sphinx  over  the  souls  of 
some  men,  is  not  over  yet. 

Long  since  I  had  remarked  that  there  is  no  agree- 
ment possible  between  the  Great  Sphinx  and  the  Great 
Pyramid.  Those  who  admire  the  one,  cannot  appre- 
ciate the  other. 

As  a  rule,  it  is  Frenchmen  and  Roman  Catholics 
(though  there  are  happily  brilliant  exceptions  amongst 
them),  who  get  up  the  most  outrageous  enthusiasm  for 
the  Sphinx  ;  and  it  was  given  to  one  of  these  lately,  in  the 
person  of  the  eminent  Mariette  Bey,  to  set  the  w^hole 
world  agog  (for  a  time)  with  a  supposed  monumental 
proof  that  the  Sphinx,  instead  of  belonging,  as  hitherto 
so  generally  supposed,  to  the  11th  or  loth  Dynasty, 
was  far  older  than  the  Great  Pyramid  in  the  4th 
Dynasty ;  and  was  in  fact  so  ancient,  that  it  had  be- 


Chap.  XXL]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  415 

come  an  object  of  dilapidated,  but  revered,  antiquity 
in  the  times  of  King  Cheops  himself,  who  immortalised 
his  name,  in  his  very  primeval  day,  by  repairing  it. 

The  latest  description  of  this  case  by  Mariette  Bey 
himself,  is  at  p.  211  of  the  fourth  edition  of  his  Cata- 
logue of  the  Museum  of  Egyptian  Antiquities  at  Boulak. 

No.  581  is  there  spoken  of  as  "a  fragmentary  stone, 
which  may  be  supposed  to  have  formed  once  part  of  a 
wall,  of  a  certain  building,  or  temple,  some  problematical 
ruins  only  of  which  have  been  found  near  one  of  the 
small  pyramids  on  the  east  side  of  the  Great  Pyramid." 
The  stone  is  abundantly  inscribed  with  little  hierogly- 
phics ;  "in  good  preservation  but  of  mediocre  style,'' 
euphuistically  puts  in  Mariette  Bey, — but,  "  Tnore  like 
scratches  than  anything  else,''  writes  my  plain-speaking 
friend,  Dr.  Grant  of  Cairo. 

This  circumstance  of  bad,  or  of  no,  style,  or  of  an 
idle  modern  scribble  in  place  of  a  serious  piece  of  deep 
and  well-performed  ancient  sculpture,  which  carries 
great  weight  with  it  in  monumental  research, — is  not 
represented  in  the  version  of  the  inscription  given  with 
honour  (and  with  well-cut  hieroglyphic  types  from  other 
models)  by  Dr.  Birch  in  the  last  volume  of  Bunsen's 
"■  Egypt's  Place  in  History."  For  the  Doctor  prints 
good,  thick-set,  well-formed,  hieroglyphics,  looks  only 
to  one  possible  interpretation  of  them,  and  adopts  that 
with  positivism.  No  wonder  either,  in  some  respects ; 
for  a  great  day  it  must  have  been  for  the  idolatries  of 
old  Egypt  and  its  latter  day,  not  worshippers,  only 
sympathetic  admirers,  when  Mariette  Bey  first  published 
his  discovery  of  this  astonishing  inscription.  There  is 
good  news  in  it  for  almost  every  one  of  the  Mizraite 
false  gods  ;  so  that  all  profanely  devout  readers  may 
learn  with  thrilling  interest  that  the  images  of  the 
hawk  of  Horus  and  the  ibis  of  Thoth,  in  that  pro- 
blematical temple,  of  which  this  single  stone  may  be 


41 6  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  Y. 

supposed  to  have  once  formed  a  part,  were  of  wood 
gilt ;  the  boat  of  the  "  three  times  beautiful  Isis  "  was 
in  gilt  wood  with  incrustations  of  jewels  ;  that  the 
principal  statue  of  Isis  was  in  gold  and  silver  ;  the 
statue  of  Nephthys  in  bronze  gilt,  and  &c.,  &c.,  as  to 
many  other  ordinary  idols ;  but  surpassing  words  of 
admiration  and  adoration  were  added  touching  the 
Great  Sphinx  of  Horem-Kou,  the  biggest  idol  of  all, 
and  declared  to  be  situated  just  to  the  south  of  the 
"  Temple  of  Isis,  the  Ruler  of  the  Great  Pyramid." 

On  showing  this  version  of  the  inscription  to  Mr. 
Osburn,  he  instantly  pronounced  it  to  be  an  anachro- 
nism; it  had,  he  said,  nothing  to  do  contemporaneously 
with  Cheops,  or  the  4  th  Dynasty  either ;  it  was  merely 
a  rigmarole  by  certain  revivifiers  of  the  ancient  Egyp- 
tian idolatry,  with  additions,  under  the  late  26  th 
Dynasty. 

But  William  Osburn  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  Divine 
inspiration  of  the  Bible,  and  the  rebellious  human 
origin  of  the  Egyptian  gods;  that  they  had  been  in- 
vented, as  very  refuges  of  lies,  in  slavish  fear  of,  but 
determined  Cainite  opposition  to,  the  God  of  Heaven, 
whose  supranatural  acts  in  the  Deluge  and  Dispersion 
were  then  recent  and  overwhelming  to  the  human  mind, 
rendering  atheism  in  that  day  perfectly  impossible  to 
even  the  least  reasonable  being.  Wherefore  the  most 
fargone  of  the  modern  Egyptological  scholars  utterl}" 
refused  to  attend  to  his,  Osburn' s,  condemnation  of 
Marie tte's  wonderful  stone ;  and  preferred  to  go  on 
trusting  themselves  entirely  to  its  reputed  statements 
for  the  implied  profane  nature  of  ''  the  Great  Pyramid, 
ruled  over  by  Isis,"  though  no  symptoms  of  either 
Isis,  or  any  other,  profanity  had  been  found  there ;  and 
though  the  ancient  Great  Pyramid  is  still  an  existency 
in  the  world,  vocal  with  knowledge  and  wisdom,  while 
the  later  invention  of  "  I^is "   has  already  faded  away 


Chap.  XXI.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  417 

from  the  Egyptian  land  like  a  summer  cloud  or  the 
morning  dew. 

At  last,  however,  one  of  their  own  number  has 
informed  upon  his  fellow  Egyptologists  ;  and  he  is  the 
best  and  ablest  man  amongst  them  too;  viz.,  the  Ger- 
man Brugsch  Bey ;  equally  on  the  spot  with  Mariette 
Bey,  and  said  to  be  ''a  more  learned  hieroglyphic 
scholar."  For  thus  writes  the  trusty  Dr.  Grant  from 
Cairo,  date  June  3rd,  1873,  "I  have  been  learning 
much  from  Brugsch  Bey  lately,  and  he  tells  me  that 
Mariette' s  stone  hears  a  lie  on  the  face  of  it — that  the 
style  of  sculpture  is  not  very  ancient,  and  that  the  whole 
inscription  is  simply  a  legend  that  has  been  scratched 
upon  it  at  a  late  date,  and  that  it  cannot  be  quoted  as 
an  authority  on  any  of  the  points  mentioned  in  it." 

So  now  the  Sphinx,  with  its  body  pierced  through 
and  through  with  long  iron  rods  by  Colonel  Howard- 
Vyse,  and  found  to  contain  nothing ;  and  its  nose 
knocked  off  by  a  mediaeval  Mohammedan  dervish  to 
prevent  its  both  ensnaring  his  countrymen  by  idola- 
trous beauty,  and  leading  them  to  inquire  too  curiously 
(as  Moses  warned  the  Israelites  against  their  attempt- 
ing to  do,  on  entering  Canaan), — "  now  how  did  the 
people  of  this  land  worship  their  gods  ? "  and  with  its 
actual  size  a  mere  molecule  at  the  very  base  of  the  hill, 
of  whose  summit  the  Great  Pyramid  is  the  pure  and 
unexceptionable  crown — need  not  be  referred  to  again 
by  any  Christian  man  looking  for  instruction  from  the 
Rock  of  Ages  alone. 


E   B 


41 8  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE    SHEPHEKD    KINGS. 

IN  the  Third  Pyramid  of  Jeezeli — admired  by  the 
sadly  Egyptological  Baron  Bunsen,  on  account  of  its 
expensive  red-granite  casing,  far  above  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid and  all  its  intellectual  excellencies  —  Colonel 
Howard-Vyse  found,  not  only  the  genuine  sepulchral 
sarcophagus,  together  with  parts  of  the  inscribed  coffin- 
board,  but — a  portion  of  a  mummy  as  well. 

In  that  case,  of  what  or  of  whom  was  such  frag- 
ment the  mummy  ? 

''  Of  King  Mencheres,"  insisted  every  Egyptologist, 
"  for  he  it  was  who  built  the  third  Pyramid  some  60  years 
after  the  Great  one  had  been  erected."  Whereupon  the 
remains  were  transmitted  with  honour  to  the  British 
Museum  ;  and  the  learned  Baron,  in  his  "  Egypt's  Place 
in  History,"  has  an  eloquent  eulogium  on  the  "  pious  " 
king  whose  ancient  remains,  if  removed  at  last  out  of 
their  old  mausoleum,  are  now  vastly  safer  in  the  distant 
isle  of  the  Queen-ruled  empire,  whose  free  institutions 
preserve  her  liberty  and  prosperity  for  ever. 

But  here  William  Osburn  (whom  Bunsen  never  liked) 
steps  in  with  the  wholesome  reminder,  that  none  of  the 
mummies  df  the  Old  Empire  have  come  down  to  our 
age  :  their  bodies,  fragrant  for  a  while  with  spices  and 
myrrh,  sooner  or  later  returned,  dust  to  dust ;  and  a 
little  of  such  dark  matter  at  the  bottom  of  sarcophagi, 


Chap.  XXTL]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  419 

is  all  that  has  yet  been  discovered  in  any  of  the  tombs 
of  the  earliest  period.  It  was  reserved,  says  he,  to  the 
over-clever  Egyptians  of  the  New  Empire,  when  Thebes 
rose  above  Memphis,  to  discover  the  too  efficacious  method 
of  embalming  with  natron — a  method  which  has  enabled 
the  bodies  of  that  later  period  to  last  down  to  our 
times  ;  and  has  thereby  put  it  into  the  power  of  fanatic 
Mohammedans  to  treat  Pharaonic  corpses  with  every 
contumely,  male  and  female,  old  and  young,  rich  and 
poor,  dragged  out  of  all  their  decent  cerements,  to  be 
exposed  in  these  latter  days  on  the  dunghill,  or  broken 
up  for  fuel. 

Wherefore  the  parts  of  a  body  found  in  pretty  tough 
preservation  by  Colonel  Yyse  in  the  Third  Pyramid, 
could  not  have  belonged  to  either  King  Mencheres  or 
any  of  his  subjects ;  or  to  any  genuine  Egyptian  so 
early  as  the  fourth  dynasty.  But  presently  this  further 
discovery  was  made,  that  the  cloth  in  which  the  remains 
were  wrapped  up,  was  not  composed  of  the  proverbial 
linen  of  ancient  Egypt,  but  of  sheep's  wool, — a  textile 
material  which  was  a  religious  abomination  to  all 
Pharaonic  Egyptians. 

Then  wrote  certain  scholars,  quickly  framing  up  a 
theory  to  suit  the  occasion,  "  Both  King  Mencheres  and 
all  the  other  Jeezeh  Pyramid  builders  must  have  been, 
not  Egyptians,  but  of  that  ancient  and  most  mysterious 
class  of  invaders  of,  or  immigrants  into,  ancient  Egypt, 
the  Hyksos  or  Shepherd  Kings." 

How  little  is  positively  known  of  tliem,  may  appear 
from  one  modern  author,  who  writes, — 

«  When  investigating  the  early  history  of  the  world, 
the  Hyksos  cross  our  path  like  a  mighty  shadow ; 
advancing  from  native  seats  to  which  it  baffled  the 
geography  of  antiquity  to  assign  a  position,  covering  for 
a  season  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the  banks 
of  the  Nile  with  the  terror  of  their  arms  and  the  renown 


420  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

of  their  conquests,  and  at  length  vanishing  with  a  mys- 
tery equal  to  that  of  their  first  appearance." 

While  the  learned  Dr.  Hincks  writes,  "  Later  investi- 
gations have  rather  increased  than  removed  my  difficul- 
ties ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  argument,  it  would  be  in- 
different to  me  to  sustain,  that  the,  Hyhsos  once  occupied 
Lower  Egypt ;  or  that  they  were  never  there  at  all." 

But  Dr.  Hincks  was  perhaps  more  of  an  Assyrian, 
than  an  Egyptian,  scholar  ;  and  the  pure  Egyptologists 
have  no  doubt  whatever  about  a  period  of  Hyksos'  rule 
in  Egypt  just  before  the  time  of  the  Israelites'  captivity, 
and  perhaps  including  a  part  of  it.  They  consider, 
indeed,  that  there  is  still  monumentally  visible  the  most 
decided  separation  between  the  Old  and  New  Empires 
of  Ancient  Egypt,  caused  altogether  by  the  domination 
of  those  whom  they  call  the  "  Shepherds;"  for  they  drop 
the  aggrandizing  word  of  "  Kings,"  as  needless,  when 
talking  of  those  who,  if  there  at  all,  ruled  on  the  banks 
of  the  Nile  with  a  rod  of  iron  through  three  successive 
dynasties,  viz.,  the  15th,  16th,  and  17th;  and  caused 
an  almost  total  blank  or  perversion  for  that  period  in 
the  architectural  history,  as  well  as  much  modification 
in  the  religion,  of  all  the  Lower  and  Middle  country. 

Of  the  precise  nature  of  that  change  and  the  origin 
of  the  party  bringing  it  about,  William  Osburn  has  some 
special  ideas,  which,  with  more  space  at  command,  we 
might  do  well  to  inquire  into  :  though  now,  as  the 
limits  of  this  book  are  drawing  to  a  close,  and  as  he 
agrees  with  all  the  other  Egyptologists  as  to  what 
dynasties  such  party  occupied,  viz.,  the  15th,  16th, 
and  17th, — we  may  rest  assured  that  all  men  of  those 
dynasties,  whether  they  were  native  or  foreign  shep- 
herds, lived  far  too  late  in  the  world's  history  to  have 
had  any  hand  in  building  the  Jeezeh  Pyramids  under 
the  much  earlier  fourth  dynasty. 

Hence  the  Shepherds  that  Colonel  Yyse  alludes  to 


Chap.  XXIL]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  421 

(on  the  strength  of  the  woollen- wrapt  body  from  the 
Third  Pyramid),  if  ever  really  existing,  must  have  been, 
in  order  to  have  helped  to  build  the  Pyramids,  of  a 
period  belonging  to  the  said  ve'ry  early  fourth  dynasty  ; 
and  were  therefore  totally  different,  in  time  and  fact, 
from  the  later  Shepherds  so  well  known  to  Egyptologists. ' 

That  these  later,  or  15th,  16th,  and  17th  dynasty. 
Shepherds  did  not  build  the  Jeezeh,  or  indeed  any  of 
the  Egyptian,  Pyramids,  does  not  by  itself  overthrow 
the  whole  theory,  or  possibility  of  there  having  been 
an  earlier,  and  quite  distinct.  Shepherd  invasion,  or 
temporary  rule  of  Hyksos  in  Lower  Egypt,  and  perhaps 
even  during  the  4  th,  or  chief  Pyramid-building  dynasty  ; 
for  pastoral  tribes  existed  in  the  East  from  the  earliest 
times,  and  were  much  endued  with  tendencies  to  western 
emigration.  But  whether  they  really  did  enter  Egypt 
in  force,  during  the  4th  dynasty,  must  be  settled  on 
direct  evidence  of  its  own.  Such  evidence,  indeed,  the 
worthy  Colonel  thought  he  had  obtained  ;  though  now 
we  may  see  clearly  that  his  reasoning  was  founded  too 
much  on  the  piece  of  flannel,  and  too  little  on  the 
whole  of  the  grand  masonried  facts  of  the  Gre^t  Pyra- 
mid and  their  purity  from  all  idolatry ;  whereupon  he 
soon  loses  himself  in  illogical  conclusions ;  arguing  in 
a  preconceived  circle,  thus — 

*'  It  has  been  assumed  (in  my,  Vyse's,  opinion  satis- 
factorily) by  Bryant,  that  these  mighty  Shepherds  (his 
supposed  Pyramid  builders  in  the  4th  dynasty)  were 
the  descendants  of  Ham,  expelled,  on  account  of 
apostacy  and  rebellion,  from  Babel,  from  Egypt,  and 
from  Palestine  ;  and  who  afterwards,  under  the  name 
of  Cyclopes,  Pelasgi,  Phcenices,  &c.,  were  pursued  by 
Divine  vengeance,  and  successively  driven  from  every 
settled  habitation — from  Greece,  from  Tyre,  and  from 
Carthage,  even  to  the  distant  regions  of  America,  where 
traces  of  their  buildings,  and,  it  has  been  supposed,  of 


^22  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

their  costume,  as  represented  in  Egyptian  sculpture,  have 
been  discovered.  These  tribes  seem  formerly  to  have 
been  living  instances  of  Divine  retribution,  as  the  dis- 
persed Jews  are  at  present.  They  appear  to  have  been 
at  last  entirely  destroyed  ;  but  their  wanderings  and 
misfortunes  have  been  recorded  by  the  everliving  genius 
of  the  two  greatest  poets  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  lan- 
guages ;  and  the  Pyramids  remain,  enduring  yet  silent 
monuments  of  the  matchless  grandeur  of  this  extraor- 
dinary people,  of  the  certainty  of  Divine  justice,  and  of 
the  truth  of  Eevelation." 

But  while  it  is  perfectly  impossible  that  such  sinful 
men  could  have  been  the  genuine  authors  of  all  the 
pure  and  holy  features  we  have  found  in  the  Great 
Pyramid, — or  that  Hamitic  Cainites  would  have  found 
ainy  difficulty  in  amalgamating  with  the  Mizraite  Egyp- 
tians,— it  is  most  satisfactory  to  know  that  the  mere 
piece  of  woollen  cloth  found  in  the  Third  Pyramid  can 
be  explained  in  a  much  easier  manner  than  by  going  up, 
in  the  teeth  of  masonried  facts,  to  the  primeval  antiquit}' 
of  the  world  ;  or  thus — "  The  remains  found  by  Colonel 
Yyse  were  those  of  a  mediaeval  Arab,  who,  having 
died  at  Caliph  Al  Mamoun's  breaking  into  the  Third 
Pyramid,  was  straightway  wrapped  up  in  his  own  bur- 
nouse, and  thrust  down  the  entrance-passage  for  his 
burial,  when  the  Mohammedan  workmen  came  away  and 
closed  the  place  up,  as  it  turned  out,  for  1,000  years. 
And  if  the  poor  man's  bones  are  so  well  preserved  as  to 
have  allowed  of  their  safe  transport  to  London,  it  is  on 
account  of  the  short  time  they  have  been  sepultured, 
compared  with  anything  belonging  to  the  real  Fourth 
Dynasty  and  the  building  of  its  Pyramids." 

Of  Primeval  Shemite  Shepherds. 
That  simple  explanation,  therefore,  completely  settles 
the  value  of  the  mistaken  lumber  on  the  shelves  at  the 


Chap.XXIL]        the  great  pyramid.  423 

British  Museum ;  but  leaves  us  still  with  a  historical 
question  on  our  hands,  as  to  whether  there  were,  after 
all,  any  Hyksos  or  Shepherd  Kings  from  the  East, 
descendants  too  of  Shem,  rather  than  Ham  (for  of 
Hamites  there  were  always  enough  and  to  spare,  keepers 
of  their  own  sheep  too,  in  the  persons  of  the  Egyptians 
themselves),  in  Egypt  during  the  fourth  dynasty  ? 

Some  strangers  from  the  eastern  direction  were  in- 
deed continually  filtering  into  Lower  Egypt  through 
the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  the  natural  channel  of  immigra- 
tion in  all  ages  from  Asia,  and  the  path  by  which  the 
Egyptians  themselves  had  originally  come.  But  it  is 
our  more  particular  business  now  to  ascertain,  if  pos- 
sible, whether  during  the  period  of  that  particular  4th 
dynasty,  say  from  2300  to  2100  B.C.  (or  an  age  pre- 
vious to  the  calling  of  Abraham),  there  were  any  re- 
markable eastern  men  in  position  of  lordly  rule,  power, 
or  notoriety  in  the  Egyptian  land  :  and  whether  they 
either  had,  in  the  general  estimation  of  all  men,  any- 
thing to  do  with  the  building  of  the  Great  Pyramid ; 
or  were  likely  to  have  been  able  to  furnish  any  part  of 
its  design,  as  manifested  by  modern  science;  or  had  an 
interest  in  preserving  its  religiously  pure  character,  in 
the  midst  of  an  age  and  a  nation  given  up  to  the 
worst  forms  of  idolatry. 

What  then  does  history  say  to  the  point  ? 

History  is  scanty  enough,  every  one  will  allow,  for 
times  before  Abraham  ;  and  though  something  may  be 
occasionally  made  out  for  even  those  dates  in  such  a 
land  as  Egypt,  it  is  to  be  gained,  even  there,  only  by 
a  conflict  with  difficulties.  There  is  actually  a  dispute, 
for  instance,  between  the  Egyptologists  on  one  side, 
and  Alexandrian  classics  on  the  other,  whether  there 
was  ever  a  fourth  dynasty  at  all.  We  must,  therefore, 
when  everything  is  disputed  or  disputable,  interrogate 
either  party  very  closely. 


424  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  v. 

Egy^tologic  Details  of  Early  Kings. 

To  begin  with  the  Egyptologists;  the  literary  founda- 
tions for  what  they  assert,  are  confined  to  Manetho 
(270  B.C.),  or  to  what  has  come  down  to  us  of  his 
own  writings  in  fragments  of  authors  SOO  or  400  years 
later  ;  and  whose  words  may  be  conveniently  examined 
in  the  volume  of  "  Fragments,"  by  Isaac  Preston  Cory, 
of  Caius  College,  Cambridge  (1832  a.d.) 

There  then,  most  undoubtedly,  a  fourth  dynasty  is 
mentioned ;  but  it  begins  with  a  puzzling  statement  ; 
for  while  the  third  dynasty  is  simply  said  to  be  com- 
posed of  so  many  Memphite  kings,  and  the  fifth  dynasty 
of  so  many  Elephantine  kings,  this  fourth  dynasty  is 
stated  to  be  composed  of  "  eight  Memphite  kings  of  a 
different  race'^ 

This  is  a  curious  statement,  and  I  do  not  know  what 
it  means ;  but  the  list  proceeds  as  follows  for  the  kings 
concerned  : — 

(1)  Soris  reigned  29  years. 

(2)  Suphis  reigned  63  years.  He  built  tlie  largest  Pyramid;  which 
Herodotus  says  was  constructed  by  Cheops.  He  was  arrogant  towards 
the  gods,  and  wrote  the  sacred  book  ;  which  is  regarded  by  the  Egyptians 
as  a  work  of  great  importance. 

(3)  Suphis  II.  reigned  66  years. 

(4)  Mencheres  63  years. 

(5)  Rhatoeses  25  years. 

(6)  Bicheres  22  years. 

(7)  Sebercheres  7  years. 

(8)  Thampthis  9  years. 
Altogether  284  years. 

This  literary  foundation,  the  Egyptologists  further 
contend  that  they  can  confirm  in  all  its  main  par- 
ticulars from  the  monuments,  by  finding,  even  in  the 
Great  Pyramid  itself,  evidently  alluded  to  by  Manetho, 
rude  original  quarry-marks  with  two  royal  names  which 
they  interpret  Shofo  and  Noumshofo,  and  declare  to  be 
the  two  Suphises  mentioned  above  ;  while  they  find  the 
further  royal  name  of  Mencheres  in  the  third  Pyramid, 


Chap.  XXII.]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  425 

notoriously  a  later  construction  than  both  the  Great  and 
Second  Pyramids  ;  which  Second  Pyramid  is  elsewhere 
attributed  to  Suphis  II.,  as  the  Great  one  is  here  to 
Suphis  I. 

But  the  rest  of  the  sentence  attached  to  the  name  6f 
the  first  Suphis  is  a  difficulty  which  the  Egyptologists 
cannot  altogether  master.  They  can  understand,  for 
instance,  easily  enough,  that  he  either  built  the  Great 
Pyramid,  or  reigned  while  it  was  being  built ;  but  what 
was  his  "  arrogance  towards  the  gods  ? "  and  what  were 
the  contents  of  "  his  sacred  book  ?  " 

Of  all  these  things  the  Egyptologists  knew  nothing 
from  contemporary  monuments ;  although  they  can 
adduce  abundant  proof  therefrom,  that  Mencheres  of 
the  Third  Pyramid  was  an  out-and-out  idolater  of  the 
Egyptians.  That  was  the  "  piety  "  which  Baron  Bun- 
sen  praised  ;  while  Osburn,  though  he  condemned 
rather  than  praised,  so  far  allowed  what  the  other 
Egyptologists  founded  upon,  that  he  shows,  at  much 
length.  King  Mencheres  to  have  been,  not  indeed  the 
original  inventor  and  theotechnist  of  animal  and  other 
gods  for  his  countrymen, — but  the  greatest  codifier  in 
all  history  of  those  things.  He,  Mencheres,  was  the 
establisher,  too,  of  a  priesthood  for  those  things'  con- 
tinual service  ;  and  was  an  extender  of  the  mythological 
system  into  new  and  mysterious  ramifications  ;  the  very 
man,  in  fact,  who  put  Misraite  idolatry  into  that  en- 
snaring form  and  artistical  condition  with  Isis,  Osiris, 
Horus,  Typhon,  Nepthys,  and  all  the  rest  of  his  inven- 
tions, in  addition  to  the  older  Apis,  Mnevis,  and  the 
Mendesian  goat,  that  it  became  the  grand  national  and 
lasting  system  of  his  country, — monopolising  the  souls 
of  all  Egyptians  for  two  thousand  years,  and  even 
then  dying  hard. 

Mencheres  was,  in  point  of  fact,  in  and  for  the  land 
of  the    Nile,  just    what    the   too   eloquent  author,  of 


426  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

"  Juventus  Mundi,"  with  such  longing  admiration 
amounting  almost  to  ill-concealed  envy,  describes 
Homer  to  have  been  for  the  Greeks  in  the  same  line 
— viz.,  in  "  theotechny."  Worldly  success  in  which 
ethereal  art  or  elevated  occupation,  as  it  is  according  to 
Aim,  but  much  more  probably  an  abomination  before 
God, — the  English  Prime  Minister  (unhappily  not 
seeing  it  in  that  light)  declares  to  be  a  far  more  noble, 
more  satisfying  pinnacle  for  human  ambition,  than  any 
amount  of  excellence  whatever  either  in  poetry  or 
prose,  civil  administration,  or  even  military  glory. 

But  of  Shofo,  the  hieroglyphists  can  pick  up  but 
little,  if  anything,  positively  of  that  kind  of  informa- 
tion. The  worship,  indeed,  of  bulls  and  goats  had 
been  already  set  up  in  Egypt  during  the  previous 
dynasty,  so  that  he  found  it  in  force  on  succeeding  to 
the  throne  ;  and  it  perhaps  went  on  during  his  reign 
until  such  time  as  he  is  reported  on  one  hand  to  have 
become  "  arrogant  towards  the  gods,"  and  on  the  other 
to  have  closed  their  temples  and  stopped  their  public 
worship,  as  we  shall  now  see  detailed  on  turning  to  the 
Classic  authorities. 


Classic  Names  for  Early  Egyptian  Kings. 

Amongst  all  these  authors,  indeed — i.e.,  men  who 
either  were  Greeks  or  followed  the  Greeks  and  did  not 
know  Egyptian — whether  with  Herodotus  in  445  B.C., 
Eratosthenes  236  B.C.,  Diodorus  Siculus  60  B.C.,  and 
Strabo  0  B.C.,  there  is  no  fourth  dynasty  at  all :  nor,  for 
that  matter,  any  allusion  to  any  dynasty  or  arrange- 
ment by  dynasties  whatever.  "While  the  chronological 
order  of  the  kings  by  name,  is  at  one  point  altogether 
dislocated  from  its  sequence  in  the  Manethoan  dynasties ; 
the  kings'  names  of  the  very  early  fourth  dynasty  of 
the  Egyptologists,  being,  with  the  classics,  placed  after 


Chap.  XXIL]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  427 

those  which  are  found  in  the  comparatively  late  nine- 
teenth dynasty  of  the  same  Egyptologists. 

Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  *  explains  this  terrible  ana- 
chronism for  Herodotus  (and  if  for  him,  for  all  his 
copying  fellow-countrymen  and  successors  at  the  same 
time),  by  suggesting  that  he  (Herodotus)  was  furnished 
by  the  Egyptian  priests  with  two  separate  lists  of  kings' 
names  ;  and  as  they  read  out  to  him  (through  his 
interpreter,  he  not  understanding  Egyptian)  the  later 
one  first  (and  he  put  them  all  down  in  faith  as  he  heard 
them  in  one  long  row),  he,  of  course,  got  the  old  Mem- 
phite  sovereigns  coming  in  after  the  more  modern 
Thebans.  The  priests  began  with  the  Theban  kings 
of  the  19  th  dynasty,  because  they  were  fresh  in  their 
memory  ;  and  they  remembered  well  the  glorious  times 
of  their  priestly  order  under  those  reigns,  whereof, 
too,  they  told  the  innocent  Halicarnassian  a  variety 
of  pleasant,  gossiping  tales ;  and  only  when  that  stock 
was  ended,  did  they  touch,  very  unwillingly,  on  the 
Memphite  kings,  chiefly  of  the  fourth  dynasty,  and  the 
hard  times  the  priests  had  had  under  tkeifn. 

Some  such  explanation,  too,  of  the  dislocated  chro- 
nology of  the  Greek  history  of  Egypt,  must  apparently 
be  the  true  one  ;  for  the  whole  philosophy  of  archi- 
tecture, as  elaborated  on  ten  thousand  examples  by 
James  Fergusson,  makes  it  as  impossible  historically 
and  mechanically  for  the  Pyramids  of  Lower  Egypt 
to  have  followed  the  palace-temples  and  sculpture  of 
Upper  Egypt, — as  historically  and  socially  it  is  utterly 
impossible,  that  after  Thebes  had  once  risen  to  supreme 
power  in  Egypt,  the  rulers  there  would  have  allowed  by 
far  the  chief  work  of  their  age  to  be  executed  on  the 
borders  of  their  kingdom  in  the  "  provinces,"  or  near 
the    then   ancient,    decaying    and    conquered    city    of 

*  See  note  to  p.  199  of  Bawlinson's  "  Herodotus,"  vol.  ii. 


428 


OUR  INHERITANCE  IN 


[Part  V. 


Memphis.  As  well  might  we  expect  the  British  Parlia- 
ment to  give  its  largest  grants  for  the  year  to  Edinburgh, 
instead  of  London ;  and  men  will  have  to  wait  until 
the  whole  river  of  history  passes  by,  and  runs  itself 
absolutely  dry,  before  we  see  such  a  phenomenon  as 
that  ;  although  too  Scotland  was  never  fairly  conquered. 
Setting  aside,  then,  agreeably  with  Sir  Gardner  Wil- 
kinson and  all  the  Egyptologists,  this  one  large  fault  or 
mistaken  order  of  a  group  of  the  Egyptian  kings  in 
Greek  and  classic  authors, — from  Herodotus  in  445 
B.C.  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Galloway  and  Mr.  Samuel  Sharpe, 
in  1869  A.D., — as  simply  and  altogether  a  book-mistake 
of  theirs,  we  shall  find  in  the  smaller  details,  subsequent 
to  the  dislocation,  much  agreement.  As,  for  instance, 
in  the  names  of  the  three  successive  kings  of  the  three 
chief  and  successive  Pyramids  of  Jeezeh  ;  which  kings' 
names  are  always  given  in  their  proper,  or,  both  monu- 
mental, hieroglyphic,  and  Manethoan  sequence  to  each 
other ;  though  the  scholars  have  certainly  agreed  to 
accept  a  remarkable  variety  of  names  as  meaning  the 
same  word  or  man  ;  as  thus — 


Names  of  the  Builders  op  the  three  largest  Pyramids  op  Jeezeh 
according  to  various  authorities. 


Authorities. 

Of  the  Great 
Pyramid. 

Of  the  Second 
Pyramid. 

Of  the  Third 
Pyramid. 

Herodotus. 
Maneth.0. 

Eratosthenes. 

Diodorus    Si-") 
cuius.           j 

Modem            ( 
Egyptologists  j 

Cheops. 
Suphis  I. 
( Saophis            ] 
<  Comastes,    or  V 
(  Chematistes.    ] 

Chembres. 

Shofo. 
Shufu. 
Koufou. 

Chephren. 
Suphis  II. 

Saophis  II. 

Cephren. 

Nou-Shofo. 

Noum-Shufu. 

Shafre. 

M3^cerinus. 
Mencheres. 

(Mescheres 
(  Heliodotus. 

Mycerinus. 

Menkere. 
Menkerre. 

Chap.  XXII.]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  429 

Tlie,  Lives  of  the  Kings. 

But  what,  after  all,  is  there  in  a  name  ?  It  is  the 
character  of  each  individual  king  of  many  names,  which 
we  require  ;  and  especially  if  there  be  anything  in  it, 
which  may  indicate  whether  that  royal  personage  could 
have  built  the  Great  Pyramid. 

There  the  conversational  style  of  Herodotus  (the 
oldest  existing  author  in  the  world,  it  is  said,  next  to 
Moses),  dipping  deep  into  the  feelings  of  men,  will 
serve  us  better  than  the  bald  rigidity  of  hieroglyphic 
inscriptions  ;  though,  as  Herodotus  gathered  up  every- 
thing without  sifting  it,  and  as  between  the  purposed 
falsities  of  what  the  Egyptian  priests  often  related  to 
him,  in  a  language  which  he  did  not  understand  and 
his  interpreters  did  not  faithfully  translate  to  him, — it 
is  little  more  than  the  involuntary  evidence,  under  cross- 
examination,  that  can  be  trusted.  Here,  however,  as  a 
beginning,  are  his  own  simple  statements. 

(124)  "Cheops,"  according  to  the  Egyptian  priests,*  "on  ascending 
the  throne,  plunged  into  all  manner  of  wickedness.  He  closed  the 
temples,  and  forbade  the  Egyptians  to  offer  sacrifice,  conipelling  them 
instead  to  labour  one  and  all  in  his  service ;  viz.,  in  building  the  Great 
Pyramid." 

(128)  "  Cheops  reigned  fifty  years  ;  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother 
Chephren,  who  imitated  the  conduct  of  his  predecessor,  built  a  pyramid — 
but  smaller  than  his  brother's — and  reigned  fifty-six  years.  Thus,  during 
106  years  the  temples  were  shut  and  never  opened." 

(129)  "After  Chephren,  Mycerinus,  son  of  Cheops,  ascended  the 
throne.  He  reopened  the  temples,  and  allowed  the  people  to  resume  the 
practice  of  sacrifice.  He,  too,  left  a  pyramid,  but  much  inferior  in  size  to 
his  father's.  It  is  built,  for  half  of  its  height,  of  the  stone  of  Ethiopia  ;  " 
i.e.,  expensive  red  granite. 

(136)  "After  Mycerinus,  Asychis  ascended  the  throne.  He  built  the 
eastern  gateway  of  the  Temple  of  Vulcan  (Phtha);  and  being  desirous  of 
eclipsing  all  his  predecessors  on  the  throne,  left  as  a  monument  of  hia 
reign  a  pyramid  of  brick." 

Now  here  we  have  four  successive  kings,  each  of 
whom  erected  a  Pyramid ;  and  the  last  of  them  entered 

*  Ch.  124,  p.  199,  of  Rawlinson's  Translation  of  Herodotus,  vol.  ii. 
See  also  a  very  salutary  note,  No.  9,  on  p.  205,  by  Sir  G.  Wilkinson. 


430  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

into  the  work  no  less  enthusiastically  than  the  first. 
Therefore  it  could  not  have  been  Pyramid-building 
in  itself,  or  as  known  to,  and  understood  by,  the  natives, 
which  had  the  discriminating  effect  of  causing  the  two 
last  kings  to  be  approved,  and  the  two  first  to  be  hated, 
by  all  Egyptians  to  the  terrible  and  intense  degree  de- 
scribed by  successive  classic  authors.  This  difference  of 
estimation  must  have  risen  from  some  difference  of  pro- 
ceeding in  either  pair  of  kings ;  and  such  an  opposite 
manner  is  religiously  found  in  this  circumstance,  that 
the  two  first  kings  closed  the  temples,  and  stopped  the 
worship  of  the  bulls,  cats,  goats,  beetles,  and  other 
Egyptian  gods ;  while  the  two  last  kings  re-opened 
those  temples,  enlarged  them,  beautified  them,  and 
re-established  the  soul-degrading  theotechnic  inventions 
of  Egypt  in  greater  splendour  than  ever:  though,  too, 
they  were  the  very  idols  which  the  Lord  declares  "  He 
will  destroy,  and  cause  their  images  to  cease  out  of 
Noph." 

Tlie  Right  Man  at  last. 

But  there  is  more  than  this  to  be  gathered  from  the 
classic  records ;  for  there  comes  up  ampngst  them  a 
something  suggestive,  even  to  the  extent  of  a  ray  of 
positive  light,  upon  that  very  question  which,  even  to 
Diodorus  Siculus,  was  so  much  more  important  than 
who  were  the  kings  who  ordered,  viz.,  who  were  the 
architects  who  designed  or  built,  the  Pyramids ;  for 
Herodotus  further  states  : — 

**  (128)  The  Egyptians  so  detest  the  memory  of  these  (the  two  first)  kinpfs 
(Cheops  and  Chephren),  that  they  do  not  much  like  even  to  mention  their 
names.  Hence,  they  commonly  call  the  Pyramids  (the  Great  and  the 
Second)  after  Philition  (or  Philitis),  a  shepherd  who  at  that  time  fed  his 
flocks  ahout  the  place." 

Seldom  has  a  more  important  piece  of  truth  been 
unintentionally   issued    in  a  few  words.      Sir  Gardner 


Chap.  XXIL]        THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID.  43 ' 

Wilkinson,  in  his  note  to  that  passage,*  allows  at  once 
the  Hyksos,  or  Shepherd-princely,  character  and  stand- 
ing of  a  stranger  who  could  be  so  distinguished  in  con- 
nection with  the  greatest  of  the  monuments  of  Egypt ; 
and  is  only  anxious  to  guard  his  readers  as  to  the  par- 
ticular personage  alluded  to,  having  really  lived  in  the 
early  fourth  dynasty,  and  not  having  been  one  of  those 
later,  better  known,  but  totally  different  individuals  who 
figured  as  the  Shepherd  Kings  in  the  15  th,  16  th,  and 
17th  dynasties.  While  Mr.  Kawlinson,  in  another  note 
on  the  same  page,  seems  equally  ready  to  allow, — not 
only  that  Philitis  was  a  Shepherd  prince  from  Palestine, 
and  perhaps  of  Philistine  descent, — but  so  powerful  and 
domineering,  that  it  may  be  traditions  of  Ms  oppressions 
in  that  earlier  age,  which  mixed  up  afterwards  in  the 
minds  of  later  Egyptians  with  the  evils  inflicted  on 
their  country  by  the  subsequent  shepherds  of  the  better- 
known  dynasties ;  and  knt  so  much  fear  to  their 
religious  hate  of  "  Shepherd  "  times  and  that  name. 

If  this  theory  of  Mr.  Kawlinson's  be  correct,  we  may 
learn  something  further  of  the  Great  Pyramid's  fourth 
dynasty  Shepherd — Prince  Philitis — by  attending  to 
what  Manetho  has  written  of  the  subsequent  Shepherds ; 
and  especially  by  eliminating  therefrom,  certain  features 
which  cannot  by  any  possibility  be  true  of  those  men 
such  as  they  were  in  that  later  day.  For  thus  wrote 
the  Sebennyte  priest  :t — 

"  We  had  formerly  a  king  whose  name  was  Timeus. 
In  his  time  it  came  to  pass,  I  know  not  how,  that  God 
was  displeased  with  us  :  and  there  came  up  from  the 
East,  in  a  strange  manner,  men  of  an  ignoble  race,  who 
had  the  confidence  to  invade  our  country,  and  easily 
subdued  it  by  their  power  without  a  battle." 

This,  it  will  be  observed,  is  a  very  peculiar  phrase ; 

*  P.  207,  vol.  ii.,  of  Rawlinson's  "Herodotus." 
t  Cory's  "Fragments,"  p.  169. 


432  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

and  lends  much  colour  to  the  suggestion  that  Philitis 
was  enabled  to  exert  a  certain  amount  of  control  over 
King  Shofo  and  his  Egyptian  people,  not  by  the  vulgar 
method  of  military  conquest,  but  by  some  supernatural 
influence  over  their  minds. 

*'  All  this  invading  nation,"  Manetho  goes  on  to  say, 
"  was  styled  Hycsos,  that  is,  Shepherd  Kings ;  for  the 
first  syllable,  Hyc,  in  the  sacred  dialect  denotes  a  king ; 
and  Sos  signifies  a  shepherd,  but  this  only  according  to 
the  vulgar  tongue ;  and  of  these  is  compounded  the 
term  Hycsos  :  some  say  they  were  Arabians." 

Yet  if  they  were  Arabians,  why  did  they  not  return 
to  Arabia,  when  they  afterwards,  "  to  the  number  of  not 
less  than  240,000,  quitted  Egypt  by  capitulation,  with 
all  their  families  and  effects?"  And  went — where  to? 
"  To  Judsea,  and  built  there,"  says  Manetho,  "  a  city  of 
sufficient  size  to  contain  this  multitude  of  men,  and 
named  it  Jerusalem."  * 

Now  here  is  surely  a  most  important  tale,  if  anything 
written  in  books  by  ancient  authors  is  worthy  of  any 
modern  attention.  For,  making  all  due  allowance  for 
some  of  the  references,  and  much  of  the  expressed  hate 
and  abuse  being  due  to  the  more  modern  and  largely 
native  t  Egyptian  shepherds  of  the  15  th  to  the  17th 
dynasties  (and  who,  according  to  W.  Osburn,  were  chiefly 
conquered  and  oppressed  within  the  bounds  of  Lower 
Egypt  by  invasions  of  Thebans  and  fanatic  Ethiopians), 
we  have  as  much  as  testifies  to  the  earlier  and  truer 
Shepherd  Prince  Philitis,  after  having  long  controlled 
King  Shofo  during  the  very  time  that  the  Great 
Pyramid  was  building, — to  that  Prince  Philitis,  I  say, 
then  leaving  the  country  with  a  high  hand,  or  by 
special  agreement,  with  all  his  people  and  flocks, — pro- 
ceeding to  Judaea,  and  building  there  a  city  which  he 

*  Cory's  "Fragments,"  p.  173. 

t  According  to  William  Osburn  iu  his  '*  Monumental  History." 


Chap.  XXn.]       THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  433 

named  Jerusalem  ;  and  which  must  have  at  once  taken 
a  high  standing  among  the  primeval  cities  of  the  earth, 
if  he  made  it  large  enough  to  contain  not  less  than 
240,000  persons. 

Of  the  Early  Life  of  Melchizedek 

Now  the  man  who  did  that,  after  assisting  at  the 
foundation  of  the  Great  P3^ramid  in  2170  B.C.,  must 
have  been  a  contemporary  nearly  of,  but  rather  older 
than,  the  Patriarch  Abraham,  according  to  the  best 
Biblical  chronology.  Or  he  must  have  been,  as  to  age, 
standing,  country,  and  even  title,  very  nearly  such  a 
one  as  that  grandly  mysterious  kingly  character  to 
whom  even  Abraham  offered  the  tenth  of  the  spoils, 
viz.,  Melchizedek  ;  further  called  King  of  Salem,  which 
some  consider  to  have  been  Jeru-salem. 

The  Bible  does  not,  indeed,  directly  mention  Mel- 
chizedek's  ever  having  been  sent  into  Egypt  on  any 
special  mission  ;  the  grandest  of  missions,  if  then  to 
erect,  or  procure  the  erection  of,  a  prophetical  monu- 
ment which  was  only  to  be  understood  in  the  latter 
days  of  the  world ;  but  was  destined  then  to  prove  the 
Inspiration  origin  and  Messianic  character  of  its  design 
to  both  religious  and  irreligious.  But  the  Bible  does 
not  describe  anything  of  the  earlier  life  of  Melchizedek  ; 
though  it  has  allusions  elsewhere  which  may  possibly 
indicate  a  grand  occasion  in  the  life  of  one,  concern- 
ing whom  so  very  little  is  said,  though  by  whom  so 
much  must  have  been  done,  in  the  course  of  his  long, 
heaven-approved,  and  gloriously- terminating  career. 

In  Deuteronomy,  ch.  ii.,  for  instance,  there  appears 
something  of  the  kind  ;  when  Moses,*  encouraging  the 
Israelites  to  be  of  good  heart  in  their  march,  under 
Divine  favour,  out  of  Egypt  into  Palestine, — mentions 
two  other  and  long  preceding  occasions  on  which  God 

F    F 


434  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

liad  shown  similar  favour  to  other  peoples,  and  they 
were  established  successfully  in  consequence. 

First,  "  the  children  of  Esau  ;  "  and  afterwards,  ''  the 
Caphtorims  which  came  forth  out  of  Caphtor."  Or,  as 
alluded  to  again,  long  after  the  times  of  the  Exodus  (in 
Amos  ix.  7),  "  have  not  I  (the  Lord)  brought  up  Israel 
out  of  Egypt  and  the  Philistines  from  Caphtor  ?" 

This  Caphtor  alluded  to  on  both  occasions,  is  generally 
considered  to  mean  Egypt,  the  Pyramid  region,  too,  of 
Lower  Egypt ;  and  although  in  the  one  instance,  the 
people  are  spoken  of  as  Caphtorim,  that  may  imply 
not  necessarily  native  Egyptians,  but  men  who  had 
been  sojourning  in  that  country  for  a  season ;  even  as 
the  testimony  of  Herodotus  infers  that  Philitis  (a  name 
looked  on  by  some  as  implying  a  Philistian  descent  or 
country),  with  his  flocks  and  herdsmen  (appropriately 
then  called  Philistines  in  Caphtor),  had  been  doing 
during  all  the  thirty  years  occupied  in  the  preparations 
for,  and  then  the  building  up  of,  the  Great  Pyramid. 

In  short,  the  Biblical  evidence  touching  this  mighty 
and  most  unique  monument  of  sacred  and  prophetic 
purport,  is  deserving  of  more  intimate  and  peculiar 
study  than  we  have  yet  bestowed  upon  it. 


Chap.  XXIII.]       THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  4*35 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
« 

SUPERIOR    TESTIMONY. 

Biblical  Views  of  Metrology  in  General. 

TTIEWING  the  Great  Pyramid  first  of  all  as  a  monu- 
*  ment  of  metrology  alone,  that  subject  has  been 
shown  from  Scripture-  by  many  writers  (as  Michaelis,  in 
Germany ;  Paucton,  in  France ;  and  more  recently, 
John  Taylor,  in  England)  to  have  been  deemed  worthy 
of  Divine  attention,  or  providence,  for  the  good  of 
man  ;  such  instructions  as  the  following  having  been 
issued  through  the  approved  medium  of  inspired  men 
honoured  with  the  commands  of  Revelation,  viz.  : — 

"  Ye  shall  do  no  unrighteousness  in  judgment,  in  meteyard,  in  weight, 
or  in  measure. 

"Just  balances,  just  weights,  a  just  ephah,  and  a  just  hin,  shall  ye 
have  :  I  am  the  Lord  your  God,  which  brought  you  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt. 

"Therefore  shall  ye  observe  all  my  statutes,  and  all  my  judgments,  and 
do  them  :  I  am  the  Lord." — Leviticus  xix.  35 — 37. 

"  But  thou  shalt  have  a  perfect  and  just  weight,  a  perfect  and  just  mea- 
sure shalt  thou  have  :  that  thy  days  maybe  lengthened  in  the  land  which 
the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee." — Deuteronomy  xxv.  15. 

"  A  false  balance  is  abomination  to  the  Lord :  but  a  just  weight  is  his 
delight." — Proverbs  xi.  L 

"  A  just  weight  and  balance  are  the  Lord's  :  all  the  weights  of  the  bag 
are  his  work." — Proverbs  xvi.  IL 

"Thus  saith  the  Lord  God;  Let  it  suffice  jou,  0  princes  of  Israel: 
remove  violence  and  spoil,  and  execute  judgment  and  justice,  take  away 
your  exactions  from  my  people,  saith  the  Lord  God. 

"  Ye  shall  have  just  balances,  and  a  just  ephah,  and  a  just  bath. 

"  The  ephah  and  the  bath  shall  be  of  one  measure,  that  the  bath  may 
contain  the  tenth  part  of  an  homer,  and  the  ephah  the  tenth  part  of  an 
homer:  the  measure  thereof  shall  be  after  the  homer." — Ezekiel  xlv. 
9—11. 


436  OUR  INHERITANCE    IN  [Part  V. 

This  was  a  department  of  the  Holy  Service  which 
King  David  had  appointed,  in  his  days,  a  portion  of  the 
Levites  to  attend  to  ;*  and  his  son  Solomon  established 
the  grand  standards  of  measure  in  the  noblest  propor- 
tions :t  while  Moses  had  been,  in  his  still  earlier  day, 
exceedingly  particular  in  all  his  metrological  institutions, 
and  impressive  in  his  method  of  carrying  them  out;]];  his 
chief  standard  measures  being,  as  already  shown,  the 
earth  and  heaven  founded  standards  of  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid itself ;  if  they  were  not  also  those  which  had  been 
elaborated  (according  to  Josephus)  by  Seth  and  his 
descendants  in  opposition  to  the  bad  inventions  of  Cain, 
and  under  the  direct  approval  of  the  Almighty. 

With  the  structure  of  the  Pyramid  building,  indeed, 
in  its  main  design  and  ultimate  purposes  (though  never 
so  distinctly  or  categorically  alluded  to  in  Scripture,  as 
thereby  to  give  men  any  excuse  for  turning  aside  to  it, 
like  a  broken  bow,  for  any  kind  of  spiritual  worship),  the 
inspired  writers  of  both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
have  evinced  a  very  considerable  acquaintance.  And 
not  dry  knowledge  only;  for  those  men,  "gifted  with 
thoughts  above  their  thoughts,"  have  shown  an  amount 
of  feeling,  only  to  be  explained  by  a  holy  consciousness 
of  the  part  which  the  monument  is  one  day  to  serve,  in 
manifesting  forth  in  modes  adapted  to  these  and  the 
approaching  times,  the  original  and  ineffable  inspiration 
of  Scripture, — as  well  as  the  practical  reasons  for  ex- 
pecting the  return  of  our  Lord  to  an  undoubted  personal 
reign  for  a  miraculous  season  over  the  entire  earth. 

*  1  Chronicles  xxiii.  29. 

t  1  Kings  vii.  29  \  and  2  Chronicles  iv.  5. 

X  See  John  David  Michaelis,  of  Gottingen,  "  On  the  Plans  which 
Moses  took  for  the  Regulation  of  Weights  and  Measures  ;  "  at  pp.  454 — 
470  of  vol.  ii.  of  his  ''Hehrew  Weights  and  Measures."  See  also  my 
"Life  and  Work,"  pp.  498—507  of  vol.  iii. 


Chap.  XXIIL]       THE  GREA  T  PYRAMID,  437 

Old  Testament  Witnesses  to  the  Great  Pyramid. 

So  well,  too,  were  the  mechanical  steps  for  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Great  Pyramid  understood  (these  steps  being 
the  heavy  preliminary  works  of  preparation  and  subter- 
ranean masonry  described  by  Herodotus  as  having 
characterised  the  Great  Pyramid,  and  declared  by  Lepsius 
to  have  been  eschewed  in  every  other  pyramid  erected 
altogether  by,  and  for,  Cainite  Egyptian  idolaters), — so 
well,  I  say,  were  these  features  understood  by  the  in- 
spired writers,  that  the  mysterious  things  of  Nature, 
visible  to,  but  not  easily  apprehended  by,  men  in  the 
early  ages,  were  occasionally  described  in  terms  of 
these  more  exact  features  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

Thus,  when  we  read  in  Job  xxxviii.,  marginally  cor- 
rected, that  the  Lord  answered  the  patriarch  out  of  the 
whirlwind,  demanding  with  power, — 

""Where  wast  thou  when  I  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth  ?  declare, 
if  thou  knowest  understanding. 

'*  Who  hath  laid  the  measures  thereof,  if  thou  knowest  ?  or  who  hath 
stretched  the  line  upon  it  ? 

"  Whereupon  are  the  sockets  thereof  made  to  sink  ?  or  who  laid  the 
corner-  stone  thereof ; 

"When  the  morning  stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God 
shouted  for  joy  ?" 

— it  is  quite  plain  (since  at  least  John  Taylor  first  pointed 
it  out;  for  to  him  we  owe  almost  entirely  this  branch  of 
the  subject)  that  if  the  creation  of  the  earth  is  here 
alluded  to,  it  is  described  under  a  type  of  something 
else,  and  not  as  the  earth  .really  was  created  ;  or  both  as 
we  know  it  by  modem  science  to  be,  and  as  it  was 
described  in  chap.  xxvi.  of  the  same  book  of  Job,  in  the 
following  words  : — 

"  He  stretcheth  out  the  north  over  the  empty  place,  and  hangeth  the 
earth  upon  nothing." 

The  earliest  of  the  first  quoted  descriptions  might 
apply  to  the  building  of  any  ordinary  house  ;  but  as 


438  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

successive  practical  features  are  enumerated,  the  build- 
ing of  a  stone  pyramid  by  careful  measure,  and  in  the 
Promethean,  and  forethought,  manner  of  the  Great 
Pyramid,  on  a  previously  prepared  platform  of  rock,  is 
the  only  known  work  that  will  fully  correspond. 

The  stretching  of  the  line  wpon  it,  is  more  applicable 
to  the  inclined  surface  of  a  pyramid  with  an  angle  to 
the  horizon  of  51°  51',  than  to  the  vertical  walls  of  any 
ordinary  house ;  and —  after  the  pointed  and  most 
apposite  question,  "  Canst  thou  bind  the  sweet  influ- 
ence of  Pleiades?" — the  further  Divine  interrogation, 
— "  Knowest  thou  the  ordinances  of  the  heavens  ? 
Canst  thou  set  the  dominion  thereof  in  the  earth?" — 
has  been  happily  explained  very  lately  by  the  Rev. 
F.  R.  A.  Glover.  For  he  shows  it  to  be,  the  Great 
Pyramid's  chronological  use  of  the  grand  celestial  cycle 
of  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes,  taken  in  connection 
with  a  particular  polar  distance  and  meridian  transit 
of  the  circumpolar  star  a  Draconis ;  the  memorial  of 
which  stellar  position,  "dominant  in  the  earth,"  is 
exhibited  by  the  lower  portion  of  the  entrance-passage 
of  the  Great  Pyramid,  set  backwards  and  downwards 
into,  and  deep,  deep  into,  the  solid  rock  of  the  hill,  in 
precisely  such  a  direction  as  to  suit  the  critical  position 
of  that  star  under  the  influence  of  precession  at  the 
very  epoch  of  the  Pyramid's  foundation. 

But  what  was  meant  by  "  the  sockets  thereof  being 
made  to  sink," — might  have  been  uncertain,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  researches  of  the  French  savants  at  the 
Great  Pyramid  in  1800;  for  the}^  described,  without 
reference  to  this  sentence,  the  remarkable  sockets  which 
had  been  formed  in  the  previously  levelled  area  of  rock 
on  which  this  Pyramid  stands  ;  and  (with  the  assistance 
of  the  more  modern  investigations  in  1865)  the  manner 
in  which  each  of  the  lower  four  corner-stones  of  the 
Pyramid  were  fitted  into  these  prepared  hollows  in  the 


Chap.XXIIL]       the  great  pyramid.  439 

rock, — causing  them  to  become  at  once  the  fiducial 
points  from  which  all  measurers  have,  ever  since  then, 
stretched  their  measuring-lines  on  the  building. 

Four  of  the  five  corner-stones  of  the  Pyramid  are  thus 
indicated  as  of  Scriptural  notice  ;  while  the  fifth,  which 
is  in  fact  of  an  entirely  diverse  character  and  greater 
importance,  being  not  one  of  the  foundations,  but  the 
topmost  portion  of  the  whole  building,  is  alluded  to 
in  Job  separately ;  more  gloriously ;  and  even  as  being 
the  finishing  and  crowning  portion  of  the  whole  in- 
tended work.  For  when  that  topmost  corner-stone, 
emphatically  called  "  the  corner-stone,"  was  finally 
placed, — it  is  said  that  the  act  was  greeted  by  "  the 
morning  stars  singing  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God 
shouting  for  joy." 

The  Biblical  interpretation  of  the  passages  here 
alluded  to  is,  of  course,  "the  faithful  and  the  true 
converts;"  "as  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
they  are  the  sons  of  God."  And  all  such  who  were 
present  at  the  time,  rejoiced  in  seeing  the  completion  of 
the  Great  Pyramid  with  a  joy  far  exceeding  what  the 
erection  of  any  ordinary  building,  however  palatial, 
might  have  been  expected  to  give  them ;  for  their  cry, 
when  the  head-stone  of  this  one  "  great  mountain  was 
brought  out  with  shoutings,"  took  the  exquisite  form  of 
"  Grace,  grace  unto  it  !"*  And  if  they  so  cried,  and  it 
is  so  reported  in  the  Holy  Bible,  was  it  not  because 
they  recognised  that  that  stone  had  been  appointed  by 
Divine  wisdom,  and  in  the  mystery  of  God's  primeval 
proceedings  towards  man,  to  recall  some  essential  ideas 
connected  with  the  one  central  point  about  which  all 
Scripture  revolves ;  viz.,  the  Son  of  God,  His  incarnation 
and  sacrifice  for  the  salvation  of  man.  But  of  this  we 
shall  be  instructed  more  clearly  in  the  New  Testament. 

*  Zech.  iv.  7. 


4io  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 


l^ew  Testament  Allusions  to  the  Great  Pyramid. 

From  a  practical  worker  like  St.  Paul,  we  have  even 
a  most  methodical  illustration,  in  the  use  which  he 
makes  of  certain  constructive  differences  between  the 
four  lower  corner-stones,  and  the  single  corner-stone 
above  ;  constructive  differences  which,  if  applicable  to 
any  other  building  at  all,  are  only  fully  applicable  to 
the  wonderful  Great  Pyramid ;  for  his  words  are — 

"  Ye  are  fellow-citizens  of  the  saints,  and  of  the 
household  of  God  ;  and  are  built  upon  the  foundation 
of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being 
the  chief  corner-stone,  in  whom  the  whole  building,  fitly 
framed  together,  groweth  unto  an  holy  temple  in  the 
Lordr^ 

This  fitly  framing  of  the  whole  building  as  it  grows 
from  a  broad  base  upwards  into  one  corner-stone  above, 
and  which  is  called  the  chief,  the  upper,  corner-stone, — 
was  shown  by  John  Taylor  to  be  an  unmistakeable  allu- 
sion to  the  Great  Pyramid ;  and  this  same  noble  figura- 
tive employment  of  that  particular  topmost  stone,  viz., 
its  representation  of  the  Messiah,  and  His  crowning  the 
scheme  of  the  redemption  of  man, — is  one  frequently 
employed  in  Holy  Scripture ;  as  in  Psalm  cxviii.  2  2  ; 
in  the  Gospels,  and  the  Epistles.t  The  stone  is  there 
alluded  to,  not  only  as  the  chief  corner-stone,  "  elect 
and  precious,"  made  "  the  head  of  the  corner  "  (which 
is  only  perfectly  and  pre-eminently  true  of  the  topmost 
angle  of  a  pyramid),  but  as  having  been  for  a  long  time 
*'  disallowed  by  the  builders,"  and  existing  only  as  "  a 
stone  of  stumbling  and  a  rock  of  offence  to  them."| 

*  Ephes.  ii.  19.     See  also  J.  Taj^lor's  "  Great  Pyramid,"  pp.  208—243. 

t  Matt.  xxi.  42 ;  Mark  xii.  10  ;  Luke  xx.  17 ;  Acts  iv.  11 ;  1  Peter  ii.  4. 

X  In  the  important  theological  work  by  the  Rev.  John  Harrison,  D.D., 
"Whose  are  the  Fathers,"  there  is,  at  pp.  163—172,  a  very  able  repre- 
sentation of  the  special  exigences  of  mere  ecclesiasticism  in  the  narrow, 


Chap.  XXIII.]     THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  441 

*  The  simile  is  easily  and  perfectly  applicable  to  our 
Saviour's  appearance  on  earth  ;  yet  evidently,  from  the 
very  principle  of  all  such  figurative  allusions,  a  some- 
thing bearing  on  the  nature  of  the  figure  made  use  of, 
must,  Mr.  Taylor  urged,  have  been  existing  on  the  earth 
before  ;  or  it  would  never  have  been  employed. 

Now  we  know  that  the  Great  Pyramid  did  stand  on 
its  desert  hill  before  any  of  the  inspired  authors  wrote; 
and  also,  that  they  seem  to  have  been  spiritually  con- 
versant with  many  principles  of  its  construction,  although 
they  were  not  visitors  to  the  land  of  Egypt ;  and  it  is 
they  who  allude  to  some  notorious  objections  by  the 
builders  against  the  head  corner-stone,  while  their  work 
was  in  progress. 

What  were  these  ? 

The  stones  required  for  building  the  Great  Pyramid 
Avere  evidently,  from  the  quarry-marks  and  instructions 
to  the  masons  still  Legible  upon  some  of  them,  prepared 
at  the  quarries  according  to  the  architect's  orders  a  long 
time  beforehand.  For  the  vast  majority,  too,  of  stones, 
nothing  but  one  unvarying  figure,  rather  flattish  and 
chiefiy  rectangular,  was  required.  But  amongst  them, 
and  different  therefrom,  one  was  ordered  which  did  not 
chime  in  with  any  of  the  Egyptian  building  notions, 
certainly  not  of  their  temples,  tombs,  or  palaces.  For, 
in  place  of  being  cubic,  or  with  nearly  parallel  sides  and 
rectangular  comers,  this  single  stone  was  all  acutely 
angled,  all  sharp  points ;  so  that  turn  it  over  on  any 
side  as  it  lay  on  the  ground,  one  sharp  corner  was 
always  sticking  up  in  the  air  ;  as,  too,  could  not  but  be 
the  case  when  the  stone  was  a  sort  of  model  pyramid 

albeit  learned,  view  which  ecclesiastics  take  of  all  those  texts,  and  all  this 
long  line  of  symhology  founded  in  all  architecture  and  all  history.  For  the 
one  point  to  and  tor  which  everything  else  is  there  made  to  exist,  is,  the 
phrase  used  hy  our  Lord  to  Peter  (Matt.  xvi.  18)  ;  and  what  advantage 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has,  or  has  not,  though  it  is  denied  by  Pro- 
testants that  it  has  any,  over  other  Christian  churches,  in  consequence  of  it. 


442  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

in  itself,  with  five  sides,  five  corners,  and  sixteen  distinct 
angles.'"'' 

Such  a  stone  was  of  course  "  a  stone  of  stumbling 
and  a  rock  of  offence"!  to  builders  whose  heads  did 
not  understand,  and  hearts  did  not  appreciate,  the  work 
they  were  engaged  upon.  It  was  to  them  "  the  terrible 
crystal ; "  +  the  pointed  stone  "  on  which  whosoever 
shall  fall,  shall  be  broken;"  and  so  huge  a  stone  as  a 
coping  for  the  vast  structure  of  the  whole  Great 
Pyramid,  that  "on  whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it  will 
grind  him  to  powder."  § 

Yet  when  once  this  unique,  five-cornered,  and  many- 
angled  stone  was  raised  up  to  its  intended  place  on  the 
summit  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  the  propriety  of  its 
figure  must  have  appeared  evident  to  every  impartial 
beholder  ;  though  the  Egyptian  workmen,  as  may  be 
gathered  from  Herodotus,  forcibly  prevented  from 
breaking  out  into  open  opposition,  yet  went  on  con- 
cealing sinful  hatred  in  their  hearts ;  and  did — after 
the  deaths  of  Cheops  and  Chephren,  and  after  the 
Shepherd-Prince  Philitis  had  left  the  country — return 
with  renewed  vehemence  to  their  bestial  idolatry  under 
Mencheres,  "like  dogs  to  their  vomit  or  the  sow  that 
was  washed  to  her  wallowing  in  the  mire."  II 

For  such  determined  resisters  of  grace  was  surely 
prepared,  in  their  very  midst,  that  type  of  the  bottom- 
less pit,  the  subterranean  chamber  in  the  Great  Pyramid, 
yawning  to  receive  them  : — 

"  For  they  are  all  delivered  unto  death,  to  the  nether  parts  of  the 
earth,  in  the  midst  of  the  children  of  men,  with  them  that  go  down  to  the 
pit.'-' 

"This  is  Pharaoh  and  all  his  multitude,  saith  the  Lord  God." — 
Ezek.  xxxi.  14  and  18. 

But  again,  and  now  for  the  instruction  of .  back- 
sliding Israel,  this  prophetic  and  historic  monument — 

*  John  Taylor's  "Great  Pyramid,"  pp.  262—275. 


Chap.XXIIL]      the  great  pyramid,  443 

which,  like  Melchizedek,  had  no  predecessor,  was 
without  architectural  parentage  or  descent,  and  yet 
took  rank  at  once  as  the  greatest  of  all  architecture  up 
to  the  present  time, — this  more  than  historic  monu- 
ment, I  say,  seems  to  speak  to  us  in  the  words  of  the 
only  wise  Architect : — 

"I  have  declared  the  former  things  from  the  beginning;  and  they 
went  forth  out  of  my  mouth,  and  I  shewed  them ;  /  did  them  suddenly y 
and  they  came  to  pass." 

"  I  have  even  from  the  beginning  declared  it  to  thee ;  before  it  came  to 
pass  I  shewed  it  to  thee ;  lest  thou  shouldest  say,  Mine  idol  hath  done 
them,  and  my  graven  image  and  my  molten  image,  hath  commanded 
them." — Isa.  xlviii.  3  and  5. 

Never,  then,  was  there  any  building  so  perfect  as  the 
Great  Pyramid  in  fulfilling  both  the  earliest  words  of 
the  Lord  given  by  Inspiration,  and  also  the  New  Testa- 
ment types  of  the  Messiah.  And  if  the  Great  Pyramid 
is  not  mentioned  in  so  clear  a  manner  in  the  New 
Testament,  that  all  men  may  instantly  see  it,  whether 
by  name,  or  figure,  that  may  arise  from — as  circum- 
stances still  to  be  related  will  indicate — its  being  con- 
nected with  the  Second  and  future,  rather  than  with 
that  First  and  past.  Coming  of  Christ,  which  the  New 
Testament  was  mainly  to  chronicle  and  expound. 


444  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 


CHAPTEH  XXIV. 

PREPARATIONS    FOR  UNIVERSAL    METROLOGY. 

THOUGH  everything  else  may  fail  to  convince  some 
minds  that  our  nation  is  born  to  noblest  heritages; 
that  the  Biblical  history  of  mankind  (no  matter  what 
protoplasm  philosophers  on  one  side,  and  believers  in 
German  linguistic  theories  on  the  other,  may  choose  to 
aver)  is  a  living  and  material  reality  ;  and  that,  too,  not 
only  for  what  has  already  come  to  pass  in  history 
touching  the  favoured  family  of  the  Hebrews,  but  also 
for  the  working  out  of  the  prophecies  still  remaining  to 
be  accomplished  respecting  the  two  opposed,  and  distinc- 
tive, branches  of  that  people;  viz.,  the  Israelites  of  the 
captivity  of  the  Samarian  Kingdom  of  Israel  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  Jews  of  the  destruction  of,  and  dis- 
persion from,  Jerusalem  under  Titus,  on  the  other ; — 
though  everything  else,  I  add,  may  fail  to  convince 
some  minds,  that  our  nation  may  reasonably  consider 
itself  to  a  large  extent  descended  from  the  former 
(though  they  were  lost  to  the  view  of  mankind  2,500 
years  ago),  and  owes  its  present  unexampled  prosperity 
and  power  to  the  special  favour  of  God,  far  above 
its  own  intrinsic  deserts  (and  should  bow  in  humility 
and  adoration  accordingly), — the  most  convincing 
proof,  I  say,  of  these  things  to  some  minds  may 
be, — to  note  certain  recent  episodes  of  our  national 
history ;  and  to  mark  what  disasters  might  well  have 


i 


Chap.  XXIV.]       THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  445 

befallen  us  according  to  the  ruling  of  our  statesmen  for 
the  time  being,  whether  on  one  side  of  politics  or  the 
other, — yet  how  the  nation  was  preserved,  and  even 
strengthened,  notwithstanding. 

Shall  our  public  ministers  then  continue  in  their 
erring  courses  in  order  that  the  nation  may  abundantly 
prosper  ? — God  forbid  ;  that  were  to  tempt  God.  And 
though  the  whole  science  of  statesmanship  may  be  far 
too  mysteriously  deep  and  difficult  for  any  one  man  to 
presume  to  point  out  to  another  where  the  whole  duty 
of  a  Prime  Minister  lies, — yet  there  is  one  rather  neg- 
lected department  of  that  officer's  duty,  wherein  the 
very  nature  of  the  case  allows  of  clear  and  simple 
mathematical  views,  capable  of  all  men's  understanding, 
being  introduced ;  and  this  subject  is  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid's special  one  of  metrology  :  a  national  as  well  as 
sacred  matter  too,  though  not  yet  studied  from  that 
side  of  the  question  by  any  British  minister. 

A  worthy  science,  indeed,  long  ill  treated  and  despised 
of  almost  all  men,  is  metrology  ;  and  yet  there  cannot 
be  the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  that  we  are  now  on  the  eve 
of  movements  of  the  whole  human  race  in  connection 
with  it ;  all  educated  communities  beginning  now  to 
acknowledge  it  to  be  a  marvellous  power  with  germs  of 
political  influence  of  the  highest  order;  specially  adapted, 
too,  for  the  working  out  of  some  of  the  grandest 
developments  of  the  future.  Every  nation  until  now 
has  had  its  own  hereditary  system  of  weights  and 
measures  ;  curiously  intertwined  no  doubt  with  those 
of  other  nations  in  their  distant  primeval  origins,  vul- 
garized perhaps  and  even  largely  debased  in  times  of 
mediaeval  darkness,  as  well  as  pestiferously  meddled 
wdth  and  complicated  by  the  doctrinaires  of  new-born 
modern  and  o'ervaulting  schools, — but  still  there  was 
hitherto  something  more  or  less  national  to  every  nation 
in  its  metrology,  as 'in  its  language;  and  serving  the 


n 


446  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  V. 

same  purposes  as  tlie  diversity  of  tongues  in  keeping 
up  the  heaven-appointed  institution  of  nations; — the 
chief  characteristic  of  all  mankind  from  the  days  of  the 
dispersion  ;  unknown  before  that  event,  but  never  for 
one  moment  ceasing  since  then.  What,  therefore,  is 
likely  to  be  the  result  of  man  seeking  in  these  days, 
by  mean  of  his  own  devices,  to  undermine  that  institu- 
tion of  nations,  and  even  endeavouring  to  quench  it  off 
the  face  of  God's  earth  ? 

Whatever  the  result,  the  action  to  produce  it  has 
already  begun  ;  and  the  first  weapon  ordained  to  be 
used,  and  the  first  breach  to  be  made  in  the  barriers  of 
national  distinctions,  is  that  of  weights  and  measures. 
So  that,  without  probably  having  distinctly  contem- 
plated the  issue,  yet  most  of  the  existing  civilized 
nations  have  for  years  past  been  tending,  not  to  go 
forward,  but  to  bring  all  men  back  to  the  old,  old  state 
they  were  in  when  they  attempted  to  build  the  Tower 
of  Babel ;  and  from  which  nothing  drove  them  then, 
but  a  supra-natural  manifestation  of  the  power  of  God. 


Progress  of  the  Communistic  French  Metre. 


Several  centuries  ago,  and  even  less,  there  were  nearly 
a  hundred  varieties  of  linear  standards  in  use  through 
Europe,  but  one  of  them  after  another  has  latterly 
dropped  out  of  view,  until  it  was  reported  at  the 
French  Exposition  of  1867,  that  only  thirteen  could 
then  be  discovered  ;  and  since  that  epoch,  all  save 
three  or  four  of  them,  are  said  to  have  practically 
perished,  and  the  metre  to  be  gaining  adherents  from 
even  their  votarigs,  every  day.* 

"  There  'SaF^-therefore,"  says  the  pro-French  metric 
President  Barnard,  ''been  large  progress  made  toward 

*  **  The  Metrical  System,"  by  President  Barnard,  Columbia  College, 

U.S.,  1872. 


1 


Chap.  XXIV.]       THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  447 

uniformity,  and  the  most  important  steps,  and  the  most 
significant  steps,  are  those  which  have  been  taken  within 
our  own  century  !" — "No  man  not  totally  regardless  of 
the  history  of  the  past,  and  not  absolutely  blind  to  what 
is  taking  place  under  his  own  eye  in  the  present,  can 
possibly  pretend  to  believe  that  the  world  is  to  be  for 
ever  without  a  uniform  system  of  weights  and  measures  ; 
we  cannot  suppose  that  the  progress  already  indicated  is 
going  to  be  arrested  at  the  point  at  which  it  has  now 
reached  !  " — ■"  Of  the  two  systems,  therefore,  just  now 
indicated  as  the  systems  between  which  the  world  must 
choose,  unless  in  regard  to  this  matter  it  shall  hence- 
forth stand  still  for  ever, — one  or  the  other  must 
sooner  or  later  prevail !  ! "  And  he  considers  that  of 
these  two,  the  British  yard  and  the  French  metre,  the 
latter  is  certain  to  triumph  in  the  end. 

This  result  has  by  no  means  come  about  altogether 
spontaneously,  or  through  unseen  and  only  natural 
influences  ;  the  mind  of  man  has  had  much  to  do  with 
it,  and  it  has  been  the  one  polar  point  to  which  French 
ambition  has  alone  been  steady  and  true  during  the 
last  eighty  years  ;  always  working  for  it  whether 
sleeping  or  waking  :  whether  in  war  or  peace,  always 
endeavouring  to  throw  the  net  of  her  metrical  system 
of  weights  and  measures  over  other  nations  as  well  as 
her  own  people  ;  and  though  not  without  some  Im- 
perial ambition  to  chain  many  conquered  nations  to  the 
chariot  wheels  of  France,  yet  with  the  far  deeper  Com- 
munistic feeling  of  converting  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  into  one  great  people,  speaking  one  language  and 
using  but  one  weight  and  one  measure,  and  that  of 
human,  as  directly  opposed  to  Divine,  origination. 

France  had  been  consistent  in  her  own  case ;  she 
had  begun,  at  her  first  Revolution,  by  slaughtering  off 
all  the  accessible  individuals  of  her  reigning  family  ; 
who,  as  such,  were  the  very  type  and  symbol  to  the 


448  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

French  people  of  their  being  a  nation,  one  amongst 
many  nations  ;  or  of  their  living  under  that  post-Babel 
institution.  Having  then,  at  that  dreadful  close  of  the 
last  century,  killed  off,  as  far  as  she  then  could,  all  her 
royal  family,  her  priests  also,  and  openly  abrogated 
belief  in  the  God  of  Scripture,  she  (France)  could,  at 
that  time,  of  all  nations  consistently,  and  with  show 
of  demonstrable  reason,  become  the  champion  of  the 
metric,  or  anti-nation-existence  metrological  system ;  a 
system  since  then  everywhere  secretly  adopted  by  the 
Socialists,  Internationalists,  Communists  in  all  countries ; 
and,  strange  to  say,  by  certain  scientific  men  also,  in 
some  cases  claiming,  in  others  scorning,  to  be  reputed 
Christians. 

The  task  of  spreading  this  nationally  suicidal  scheme 
over  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  might  seem  at  first 
quite  Quixotic ;  and  would  be,  but  for  schemes  and 
forces  in  the  destiny  of  man,  which  man  knows  little  or 
nothing  about,  until  they  have  accomplished  their  ends 
and  left  him  to  rue  their  effects.  So  that  it  is  owing 
at  least  as  much  to  those  unseen  influences  as  to  the 
direct  action  of  any  visible  Frenchman,  that  the  French 
metric  system  has  been  going  forward  during  the  last 
few  years  of  history  at  a  continually  accelerated  rate  ; 
and  that  one  country  after  another  has  been  persuaded 
to  adopt  it,  until  suddenly  it  has  been  found,  to  our 
exceeding  astonishment  and  practical  isolation,  that 
almost  every  nation  in  Europe,  and  many  peoples  in 
Asia,  Africa,  and  America,  have  already  been  converted. 

France  herself,  strango  to  say,  has  not  profited  by 
the  system  either  in  war  or  peace.  In  war  she  has  been 
lately  defeated  with  greater  overthrows  than  even  the 
Persian  empire  of  old ;  and  the  fighting  faculty  has 
abandoned  her  soldiers  almost  as  completely  as  it  did  the 
Babylonians  towards  the  calamitous  end  of  their  once 
powerful  independence,  or  the  grandsons  of  the  soldiers 


Chap.  XXIV.]       THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  449 

of  Alexander  the  Great,  when  the  Romans  slaughtered 
them  in  battle  with  the  utmost  ease ;  while  in  peace, 
France's  commercial  transactions,  though  continually 
being  **  re-organized "  on  metrical  science,  remain  far 
below  those  of  Great  Britain.  Yet  still  she  (France)  calls 
upon  all  nations,  and  so  many  of  these  nations  answer  her 
call  with  delight,  and  madly  encourage  each  other,  to 
clothe  themselves  with  this  latter-day  invention  of  hers  ; 
which,  if  successful,  must,  in  so  far  as  it  goes,  tend  to 
decrease  the  nationality,  if  not  to  hasten  on  the  final 
disappearance,  of  every  nation  adopting  it. 

Only  three  years  ago  there  was  published  by  a 
committee  of  Columbia  College,  United  States,  an  excel- 
lent little  book  entitled  the  "  Metric  System."  Drawn 
up  chiefly  by  their  Professor  of  the  higher  mathe- 
matics (Charles  Davies),  and  approved  by  those  then  in 
power, — this  work  demonstrated  unsparingly  the  artifi- 
cial character  of  the  French  metrical  system,  the  innu- 
merable patches  which  it  required  in  practice  to  make 
it  hold  water  at  all,  the  errors  of  its  science,  its  inap- 
plicability to  the  ordinary  affairs  of  the  mass  of  human 
kind ;  and  concluded  with  reprinting  the  celebrated 
report  on  weights  and  measures  by  John  Quincey 
Adams  :  which  report,  after  indulging  in  the  utmost 
oratorical  vehemence  for  saying  whatever  could  be  said 
as  a  partisan  for  either  side  of  the  question  successively, 
concludes  with  recommending  all  good  United  States 
men  to  have  as  little  as  possible  to  do  with  the  French 
standards  ;  but  to  feel  hopefully  confident  that  the  in- 
evitable development  of  the  world's  history  would, 
sooner  or  later,  bring  up  some  far  better  system  for  the 
future  happiness  and  prosperity  of  mankind. 

But  three  short  years  have  so  accelerated  the  growth 
of  French  metric  influence,  or  the  predestined  metro- 
logical  temptation  and  trial  of  the  whole  world, — that  all 
the  parties  to  that  first  book  upon  thfe  Metre  seem  now  to 

G    G 


450  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pai.t  V. 

have  vanished  out  of  existence  ;  and  a  new  work,  with 
the  same  title  but  totally  opposite  principles,  was 
produced  last  year,  to  order  of  new  governors,  by  the  new 
President  (Barnard)  of  the  same  college.  An  enormous 
issue  of  this  last  book  is  now  being  thrown  off  for  dis- 
tribution gratuitously  far  and  wide,  and  (as  our  extracts 
from  it  have  already  indicated)  it  is  ecstatically  in  favour 
of  the  French  metric  system  being  adopted  by  all 
Americans  with  the  utmost  possible  speed.  And  when 
that  is  brought  about,  the  author  declares  that  Britain, 
Russia,  and  the  Scandinavian  countries  will  be  the  only 
known  dissentients  among  educated  peoples. 

Scandinavia,  however,  it  is  asserted,  has  already  been 
exhibiting  some  leanings  towards  the  metric  system ; 
Russia  is  in  the  hands  of  her  German  officials,  who  are 
all  now  metric  men,  both  at  home  and  abroad ;  and 
Britain  herself,  who  has  hitherto  successfully  resisted 
private  Bills  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  favour  of 
French  metricalism,  is  told  at  last  that  there  shall  be  a 
Government  Bill  next  year.  If  that  be  carried,  Russia 
and  Scandinavia  are  expected  immediately  to  yield  ;  and 
all  the  nations  of  the  world  will  then  have  .passed  through 
the  great  French  mill,  whose  whirling  stones  will  never 
cease  to  grind,  until,  excepting  only  those  sealed  by 
God,  "  it  has  caused  all,  both  small  and  great,  rich  and 
poor,  free  and  bond,  to  receive  a  mark  in  their  right 
hand  or  in  their  foreheads  ;  and  that  no  man  might  buy 
or  sell,  save  he  that  had  the  mark,  or  the  name  of  the 
beast,  or  the  number  of  his  name."   (Rev.  xiii.  16,  17.) 


Preparations  made  hy  the  British  Government. 

Meanwhile,  what  have  the  ministers  of  Great  Britain 
been  doing  either  to  fend  off  this  dire  calamity,  or  to 
embrace  and  make  the  most  of  this  happy  invention. 


Chap.  XXIV.]       THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  451 

whichever  of  the  two  they  may  deem  it  to  be  ?  In  parlia- 
mentary bills,  nothing  at  all :  and  in  private  study,  there 
is  reason  to  fear,  as  little.  Our  Prime  Minister's  last 
work  on  the  old,  old  subject  of  the  poems  of  Homer, 
came  out  almost  simultaneously  with  the  announcement 
from  Paris  of  twenty  nations  being  about  to  meet  there 
in  fraternal  union  and  international  congress  on  their 
growing  metric  system  ;  and  since  then,  cruelly  remind- 
ing of  Nero  playing  his  lyre  while  Rome  was  burning, 
the  same  eloquent  orator  has  written  on  the  superior 
glory  of  that  man  who  invented  a  fiddle,  over  him  who 
achieved  the  modern  locomotive,  the  support  of  millions 
on  millions  of  mankind  ! 

Perhaps  it  was  better  for  the  British  country  that  that 
minister  should  have  been  so  employed  ;  for  he  might 
have  done  worse  than  merely  let  us  drift  on  under 
other  guidance  than  his.  But  things  cannot  and  will 
not,  stop  there :  this  view,  the  pro-French  metric 
champion.  President  Barnard,  makes  very  plain.  We 
may  indeed  thus  far  have  been  saved  from  a  pit  of 
evil  vastly  more  profound  than  appears  on  the  surface ; 
but  politically  we  have  not  as  yet  reached  any  haven 
of  metrological  safety  ;  no  soundings  are  touched  ;  no 
secure  principles  for  anchoring  to,  reached  ;  and  no  argu- 
ments of  sufficient  power  to  stand  before  the  specious 
insinuations  of  French  metrical  agitators  have  yet  been 
uttered  in  the  House  of  Commons.  We  have  our 
ancient  national  measures  still,  but  with  all  their 
mediaeval  and  modern  imperfections  on  their  head  ;  and 
the  attacks,  open  and  concealed,  of  the  metrical  party 
upon  them  on  that  account,  are  unceasing.  That  party, 
moreover,  has  gained  over  the  School  Board  Commis- 
sion ;  the  new  office  of  the  Warden  of  the  Standards  has 
been  gorgeously  supplied  with  expensive  apparatus  for 
French  vacuum  weighing  and  measuring ;  and  men 
who    ought    to  have    died    rather  than  give  up  their 


452  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

opinions  of  a  dozen  years  ago,  have  swallowed  them 
all,  and  join  now  in  recommending  the  total  de- 
nationalization of  our  ancient  metrology. 

How  long  will  our  plastic  rulers,  accustomed  to  take 
demagogic  pressure  from  without,  in  place  of  principle, 
knowledge,  and  understanding,  stand  firm  against  such 
agitation  ? 

The  very  anxiety  of  President  Barnard  and  the 
metricalists  to  bring  on  the  final  struggle  as  between 
the  French  metre  and  the  English  yard,  shows  that 
they  have  good  reason  to  know  that  there  is  weakness 
in  the  supporters  of  the  latter.  Some  involuntary 
throbbing,  moreover,  in  the  pulse  of  humanity  is  now 
telling  all  nations,  with  deeper  truth  than  any  philo- 
sophy can,  that  these  are  the  last  times  of  this  dispensa- 
tion ;  and  that  we  are  now  or  never  to  decide  a  long,  long, 
future.  "  If  the  work  was  to  be  done  over  again,"  writes 
President  Barnard,  with  an  admirable  sense  of  justice, 
*'  the  French  metric  system  ought  to  adopt,  and  doubt- 
less would  adopt,  not  their  superficial  earth  measure 
the  metre,  but  the  Pyramid  axial  reference  of  the  cubit, 
on  account  of  its  immense  superiority  in  science.*  But 
it  is  not  to  be  done  over  again,"  he  says,  "  and  never 
can  or  will  be ;  we  must  choose  the  metrical  system  as 
it  is  now  or  not  at  all ;  it  has  already  been  taken  up 
by  half  mankind,  and  no  able  system  of  human  inven- 
tion will  ever  have  such  a  chance  of  universal  adoption  ; 
while  no  system  that  cannot  and  will  not  become  uni- 
versal, is  to  be  tolerated  for  a  moment.  Now  the  British 
yard,  or  its  third  part,  the  foot,"  adds  the  President, 
"  being  only  the  measure  of  one  nation,  will  always  be 

*  This  acknowledgment  of  President  Barnard,  at  pp.  93  and  94  of  his 
book,  does  him  immense  honour,  he  being  an  out-and-out  pro-metre  man; 
and  it  is  of  all  the  more  weight  that  he  gives  an  abler  discussion  of  the 
present  condition  of  the  earth-size  and  shape  question  by  modern  geodesic 
measure,  in  all  its  most  scientific  ramifications,  than  has  ever  yet  been 
seen  in  print,  in  a  readable  form. 


Chap.  XXIV.]       THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  453 

resisted  by  the  majority  of  nations, — therefore  the  metre 
must  in  the  end  gain  the  day." 


The,  Bione  jprepared  without  Hands. 

But  is  the  final  contest  only  between  the  metre  and 
the  British  yard  or  foot  ?  The  anti-metric  men  in  the 
House  of  Commons  have  hitherto  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing nothing  against  the  idea  ;  and  President  Barnard 
says,  both  that  it  is  so,  and  that  all  the  wealth  and 
numbers  of  mankind  throughout  all  the  world  are 
divided  on  these  two  sides  only.  He  does,  indeed,  allow 
in  one  place  that  there  is  a  phantom  of  a  third  side, 
viz.,  the  Great  Pyramid  metrology  ;  but  declares  that 
that,  having  only  a  religious  foundation,  will  never 
accumulate  any  large  party  about  it.* 

Since  the  days  of  Sennacherib  defying  the  God  of 
Israel,  was  there  ever  a  speech  more  likely  to  call  forth 
proof,  in  its  own  good  time,  that  the  arm  of  the  Lord  is 
not  shortened  ?  We  see  in  Scotland  already  what  the 
belief,  that  it  is  the  Lord  who  appointed  the  chrono- 
logical institution  of  the  week,  will  do  to  make  that 
one  time-measure  binding  on  a  whole  nation ;  and 
will  the  men  of  that  land  not  also  adhere  to  any  such 
other  weights  and  measures  in  the  future,  as  they  shall 


*  The  exact  words  are,  at  p.  56  : — "And  one  who,  like  Professor  Piazjd 
Smyth,  bases  his  metrologieal  theories  on  religious  grounds,  and  prefers 
tlie  Pyramid  inch  as  his  standard,  as  a  matter  of  conscience,  is  not  likely 
to  concentrate  around  him  a  very  powerful  party  of  opposition." 

Here  everything  in  the  way  of  linear  standards  for  the  Pyramid  system 
is  made  by  President  Barnard  to  rest  on  the  inch  ;  and  he  intensifies  that 
accusation  at  p.  73  by  writing : — "  C.  Piazzi  Smyth  almost  fanatically 
attaches  himself  to  the  inch,  a  measure  which  he  believes  with  implicit 
fiith  to  have  been  divinely  given  to  Cheops,  builder  of  the  Great 
Pyramid,  and  ai^ain  to  Moses  in  the  wilderness;  and  in  what  he,  no 
doubt,  reyjards  as  the  great  work  of  his  life,  ho  uses  no  other  term  to 
express  the  largeist  dimensions."  I  can  only  therefore  refer  my  readers 
to  all  that  I  have  written  in  this  book,  as  well  as  others,  upon  the  grand 
standard  of  the  Pyramid,  and  the  only  one  certainly  common  to  it  and 
Moyes,  being  the  cubit. 


454  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  V. 

come  in  time  to  understand  were  likewise   appointed 
from  the  same  Divine  source  ? 

President  Barnard,  in  stating  the  conquests  of  the 
French  metrical  system  at  the  utmost,  bows  involun- 
tarily to  the  religious  element ;  by  the  act  of  stating,  not 
merely  that,  the  metre  has  been  adopted  by  160,000,000 
men,  but  by  that  number  of  civilized  people  "in 
Christian  lands."  Yet  in  that  case,  if  those  inhabitants 
are  truly  Christian,  will  not  they  all,  as  well  as 
Britons,  delight  to  obey  in  the  end,  whatever  shall 
be  proved  to  have  been  appointed  by  Christ  in  the 
beginning  of  the  world  ?  Especially  if  in  evident  an- 
ticipation of  present  and  future  times  ;  viz.,  of  "  the 
last  days,  when  scoffers  are  to  appear,  walking  after 
their  own  lusts  and  saying,  Where  is  the  promise  of 
His  Coming  (Christ's  Second  Coming  as  a  King)  ?  for 
since  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all  things  continue  as  they 
were  from  the  beginning  of  creation." 

The  Parties  to  the  Final  Contest. 

It  is,  indeed,  most  curiously  but  intimately,  between 
the  French  metre  and  the  Messianic  Great  Pyramid  cubit, 
that  the  final  contest  must  come  ;  for  the  present  Britfsh 
weights  and  measures,  as  established  by  recent  parlia- 
mentary laws  only,  are  evidently  doomed  to  fall. 

Now  the  metric  and  the  Pyramid  systems,  though  on 
every  other  point  utterly  opposed,  are  yet  in  this  one 
feature,  perfectly  similar  to  each  other ;  viz.,  that  they 
both  tend  to  break  down  the  post-Babel  separation  of 
men  into  nations,  and  combine  them  all  into  one  grand 
government  :  but  then,  how  is  this  principle  carried  out, 
by  whom,  for  whom,  and  to  what  ends,  in  either  case  ? 

The  French  metric  system,  though  it  is  not  a  hundred 
years  old,  is  wanted  by  its  promoters  to  override  every- 
thing else  in  the  world,  of  whatever  age,  and  whatever 
origin.     All  nations  are  to  bow  down  to  it ;  and  though 


€hap.  XXIV.]      THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  455 

it  is  found,  as  it  has  been  at  every  essential  point,  full  of 
scientific  blunders,  and  teeming  with  sacrifices  of  the 
comforts  and  conveniences  of  the  poor  and  many,  to  the 
mere  crotchets  of  a  few  doctrinaires  in  the  upper  classes, 
— it  is  never  to  be  altered,  never  improved  on,  never 
replaced  in  its  rule  over  all  mankind  by  anything  else 
of  similar  human  invention ; — no,  not  though  the  pre- 
sent order  of  human  life,  national  distinctions  ex- 
cepted, goes  on  upon  this  earth,  as  the  human  prophets 
of  the  system  say  it  will,  for  so  very  many  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  millions  of  years  that  the  physical  earth 
itself  will  have  grown  out  of  shape  and  size  to  that 
degree,  as  to  become  totally  unfit  to  serve  as  a  standard 
of  reference  for  the  mighty  metre,  the  grand  symbol  of 
human  rule  in  man,  for  man,  and  by  man  himself  alone. 
Wherefore  President  Barnard  already,  in  concert  with 
other  metricalists,  though  introducing  the  metre  to  the 
world,  first  of  all  as  a  scientific  earth-measure,  yet 
finally  allows  that  they  do  not  care  whether  it  is,  or  is 
not,  of  that  character;  for  they  intend,  by-and-by,  to 
shut  out  all  commensurable  reference  to  the  heavens 
above  and  the  earth  below ;  and  simply  adopt,  within  a 
closed  chamber,  a  particular  bar.  of  metal  made  by  man, 
as  the  grand  metrological  term  in  which  all  men, — of 
many  nations  originally,  but  soon,  they  think,  to  be 
swept  together  into  one  vast  commune, — shall  live  and 
move  and  have  any  understanding  of  material  things. 

The  Great  Pyramid  system,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the 
oldest  metrological  system  in  the  history  of  the  world ; 
has  its  traces  extensively  among  European  peoples  ;  and 
is  next  to  perfect  in  all  those  scientific  points  where  the 
French  system  fails.  It  is  moreover  full  of  benevolence 
and  compassion  for  the  poor  and  needy,  besides  teaching 
that  their  anguish  and  woes  will  last  but  a  few  years 
more  ;  for  then,  agreeably  with  the  Scriptures,  Christ 
himself  will  again  descend  from  heaven,  this  time  with 


456  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

angels  and  archangels  accompanying,  and  will  give  to 
man  at  last  that  perfect  and  righteous  government  which 
man  alone  is  incapable  of;  and  so  shall  the  Saviour 
reign  over  all  nations  brought  under  his  one  heavenly 
sceptre,  until  that  Millennial  termination  arrives,  when 
time  shall  be  no  more  ;  and  the  mystery  of  God  with 
regard  to  the  human  race  will  be  accomplished. 

HuTKian,  versus  Divine,  Ultimate  Rule. 

Even  within  the  moderate  bounds  of  only  one  nation, 
and  for  a  short  space  of  time,  how  totally  insufficient  is 
the  best  human  government,  to  check  the  evils  of 
humankind  ! 

With  all  England's  present  wealth  and  science,  or  not- 
withstanding it  all,  pauperism  is  increasing  in  the  land  ; 
rich  men  are  richer,  but  poor  men  are  more  numerous 
and  more  hopelessly  poor,  and  chiefly  in  the  great  cities  ; 
for  there,  in  truth,  the  distressed,  the  miserable,  the  sick, 
the  vicious,  the  under-educated,  the  persecuted  and  the 
persecutors  of  society,  multiply  beyond  the  rate  of  all 
government,  all  philanthropy,  to  procure  any  permanent 
relief  or  hope  of  amendment.  A  good  country  landlord 
may  perhaps  be  able  to  supervise,  help,. and  befriend  to 
some  limited  extent  every  person  in  his  little  provincial 
community  of  men  of  humble  ambition  and  simple  life  ; 
but  in  the  large  towns,  whence  the  great  wonders  of 
modern  civilization  emerge — there,  in  precise  proportion 
as  the  towns  are  large,  and  a  few  of  the  inhabitants 
rich  beyond  all  measure — there  the  houses  of  the  dregs 
of  the  population,  and  the  progressive  debasement  of 
humanity  are  beyond  belief,  and  go  on  increasing  every 
day ; — recalling  with  awe  the  denunciations  of  Scrip- 
ture against  those  who  join  house  to  house  beyond 
human  power  of  controlling  results.* 

*  "  The  truth  is  that  our  wealthy  and  upper  classes  do  not  fully  realize 
the  manifold  dangers  to  society  arising  in  the  overcrowded  dwellings  of 


Chap.  XXIV.]       THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  457 

But,  throw  all  nations  into  one  vast  community  or 
family  of  the  human  kind,  as  the  universal  adoption  of 
the  French  metrical  system  would  be  the  beginning  of, — 
and  then,  no  matter  whether  the  movement  had  been 
made  sicker  (Scottic^  for  surer)  by  the  First  French 
Revolution  plan  of  decapitating  all  members  of  royal 
families,  and  whether  socialistic  communes  had  been 
established  in  more  or  fewer  lands, — the  scales  for  doing 

the  poor.  They  see  only  the  wonderful  advances  made  every  day  in 
whatever  can  add  to  the  comforts,  conveniences,  pleasures,  and'  luxuries 
of  their  own  living.  They  never  dream  that  their  wealth,  splendour,  and 
pride,  is  surrounded  by  a  cordon  of  squalor,  demoralization,  disease,  and 
crime." 

"  The  higher  classes  are  slow  to  realise  the  fact,  that  in  all  our  large 
centres  of  population  there  is  an  ever-increasing  amount  of  poverty, 
immorality,  and  disease." 

"From  statistical  returns  in  London,  bearing  on  the  condition  of  St. 
Giles's,  it  appears  that  there  were  in  one  district  600  families,  and  of  these 
570  severally  occupied  but  one  room  each.  In  another,  of  700  families,  550 
occupied  but  one  room  each.  In  another  district,  out  of  500  families,  450 
occujied  one  room  each.  Jn  one  of  these  rooms,  12  feet  by  13  feet,  by  7^ 
feet  high,  eight  persons  lived.  In  another  room,  13  feet  by  5  feet,  by  6^ 
feet  high,  five  children  and  their  parents  lived." 

"  In  Manchester  small  houses  are  packed  together  as  closely  as  possible, 
and  in  them  are  stowed  away  an  enormous  amount  of  the  poorer  part  of  the 
population.  Six  persons  in  one  room, — only  one  room  to  live  in,  sleep  in, 
and  in  which  to  transact  all  the  avocations  of  life." 

"  In  Liverpool,  26,000  houses  are  occupied  by  families  in  single  rooms, 
or  a  third  of  the  whole  population  exists  under  these  unsatisfactory  con- 
ditions,— producing  disease,  immorality,  pauperism,  and  crime  ;  truth  and 
honesty  are,  to  human  beings  so  debased,  mere  names." 

**  Our  railway  extensions,  street  improvements,  the  erection  of  new 
houses,  public  and  other  buildings,  rendered  necessary  by  our  ever- 
increasing  prosperity,  act  with  the  force  of  a  screw,  forcing  decent  families 
to  quit  comfortable  houses,  and  in  many  cases  they  have  no  alternative 
but  to  accept  shelter  in  already  over-crowded  and  demoralised  neighbour- 
hoods, where  there  is  little  light,  drainage,  water,  or  ventilation,  and  no 
proper  convenience  for  natural  wants— and  what  happens  ?  After  a  few 
weeks  the  strong  man  is  bowed  down,  and  the  children  are  left  an  increase 
of  pauperism  to  society." — Extract  from  the  "Social  Crisis  in  England," 
by  W.  Martin:  Birmingham,  1873. 

"  At  the  Manchester  City  Police  Court  lately,  a  man  and  woman, 
baby-farmers,  living  at  126,  Knightly  Street,  Queen's  Road,  wore  charged 
with  the  murder  of  a  ffjmale  infant.  They  wore  also  charged  with  attempt' 
ing  to  murder  two  female  infants  and  one  male.  The  former  were  dis- 
covered lying  together  on  some  dirty  straw,  covered  with  an  old  damp 
blanket;  the  latter  was  being  nursed  by  a  boy,  and  the  woman  was 
detected  in  the  act  of  trying  to  conceal  the  body  of  the  dead  child.  Two 
ounces  of  mouldy  flour  was  the  only  eatable  thing  found  in  the  house." — 
Edinburgh  daily  paper,  1873. 


458  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  v. 

mercantile  business  and  for  speculating  on  in  every 
element  of  life,  must  enlarge  enormously  :  v/iththe  inevit- 
able result,  on  one  side,  of  a  few  clever  geniuses  making 
more  colossal  fortunes,  whether  honestly  or  otherwise, 
than  ever ;  but  on  the  other  side,  of  the  wretchedness, 
the  woe,  the  wickedness,  and  the  degradation  of  the  chief 
mass  of  the  population  going  on  increasing  in  all  large 
centres  of  gathering  together,  and  becoming  more  terrible 
in  the  long  future  ages  than  anything  chronicled  yet. 

Contrast  this  inevitable  outcome  of  human  rule,  in- 
creasing infinitely  in  disaster  if  continued  for  unlimited 
time  unchecked  by  anything  above  the  laws  of  nature  as 
philosophers  see  them  now, — with  the  sacred  system  of 
the  Messiah's  monarchy  when  He  shall  be  in  presence 
and  power  over  all.  .  A  faint  idea  of  only  one  of  the 
characteristics  of  that  kingdom  was  given  in  the  happy 
condition  of  equality  in  health  and  relative  prosperity, 
in  the  camp  of  the  Israelites,  when  setting  forth  out 
of  Egypt  with  Moses ;  not  under  human  rule  only,  but 
under  the  guidance  also  of  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant : 
and  when  "  there  was  not  one  Aveak  one  amongst  them." 

What  are  all  the  triumphs  of  human  learning  to  that 
glorious  result  in  a  great  nation  ;  and  where  has  anything 
like  it  been  seen  either  before  or  since  ? 

But  in  place  of  approaching  such  a  desirable  consum- 
mation for  our  perishing,  yet  increasing,  millions,  modern 
science  and  the  churches,  politics,  war,  and  police, 
are  swerving  further  and  further  from  it  every  day. 
Yet  poor  science,  in  so  far  as  it  is  for  once  truly  so 
called,  often  maligned  and  never  wealthy, — viz.,  the 
exact  mathematical  science  of  such  men  as  the  late 
Archdeacon  Pratt,  and  which  was  "  not  at  variance  with 
Revelation," — has  yet  proved  herself  of  precious  service 
to  all  mankind,  if  she  has  enabled  us  in  the  present 
day  of  growing  doubts,  and  hearts  failing  them  for  fear. 


Chap.  XXIV.]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  459 

to  read  off  the  great  pre-historical,  and  prophetic, 
monument  of  Melchizedek  in  the  land  of  Egypt ;  an( 
to  find  that,  besides  scientific  metrological  knowledge, 
it  utters  things  which  have  been  kept  secret  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world  ;  things  which  not  even  the 
Apostles  were  permitted  to  know  of,  1840  years  ago, 
viz.,  times  and  seasons  which  are  in  God's  power  alona. 
Wherefore  thus  it  is,  that  the  Gre9,t  Pyramid  is  now, 
and  only  now,  beginning  to  announce  that  a  termination 
to  the  greatest  misery  of  the  greatest  numbers  of  human 
beings,  or  to  their  continuing  indefinitely  under  mere 
human  rule,  whether  of  kings  or  of  republics, — is  v^ 
length  drawing  nigh, 


4bo  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

GENERAL    SUMMATION  :    SECULAR   AND    SACRED. 

T  ET  US  now  cast  a  rapid  glance  over  the  principal 
-*-^  results  obtained  in  the  course  of  our  long  research. 

(1.)  The  Great  Pyramid,  an  entirely  prehistoric  monu- 
ment, is  found,  though  in  Egypt,  not  to  be  of  Egypt ; 
i.e.,  belonging  to,  or  participating  with,  anything  spiri- 
tually characteristic  of  that  land  and  people  in  their 
long  course  of  rebellion  against  the  God  of  Revelation. 

(2.)  By  being  in  Egypt,  which  is  central  to  the  land 
surface  of  the  whole  world,  the  Great  Pyramid  becomes 
similarly  central  to  the  Kosmos  of  man's  earthly  life  and 
habitation  :  but  yet  has  no  Egyptian  building  to  compete 
with  it  for  architectural  intention  to  be  in  that  remark- 
able position  ;  because  it  alone  visibly  stands  with  appro- 
priate topographical  attributes,  over  the  outspring  of  that 
country's  delta,  or  rather  fan-shaped,  area  of  soil.  At 
the  centre  of  physical  origination  of  the  Lower  Egyptian 
land,  therefore,  the  Great  Pyramid  was  placed ;  yet  by 
virtue  of  the  sector-shape,  both  at  the  centre,  and  also  at 
one  side,  of  it, — -just  as  with  that  "  altar  or  pillar  to  the 
Lord  in  the  midst  of  the  land  of  Egypt,"  and  "  at  the 
border  thereof"  which  is  to  be  manifested  in  the  last  day 
(Isaiah  xix.  18 — 20)  :  expressly  to  serve  at  that  ultimate 
time  "for  a  sign  and  witness  unto  the  Lord  of  Hosts," 
as  well  as  for  a  parable  and  wonder  to  all  intervening 
ages  (Jeremiah  xxxii.  18 — 20). 


Chap.XXV.1         the  great  pyramid,  461 

(3.)  At  every  structural  point  at  which  it  is  examined 
with  sufficient  minuteness,  ability  and  knowledge,  the 
Great  Pyramid  is  found  not  only  unlike  the  most  charac- 
teristic buildings  of  the  ancient  people  of  Egypt,  but 
is  actually  antagonistic  to  them.  Especially  is  this  the 
case  in  ih€,iT  inveterate  tendencies  to  idolatry,  animal 
worship,  assertions  of  self-righteousness,  Cainite  boastings 
of  themselves,  with  contempt  and  hatred  of  all  other 
peoples.  And  while  all  these  native  and  indigenous 
buildings,  together  with  the  gigantic  stone  idols  of 
Egypt,  are  doomed  in  the  Scriptures  to  bow  down,  and 
their  country  to  become  the  basest  of  kingdoms, — the 
Great  Pyramid  is  alluded  to  in  the  most  honourable 
manner,  both  in  the  New  and  Old  Testaments  ;  its  head- 
stone being  even  taken  as  a  type  of  the  Messiah  ;  and 
its  being  brought  forth  to  view,  having  been  described 
there,  as  a  sight  which  caused  the  morning  stars  to  sing 
together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  to  shout  for  joy,  with 
ci-ies  of  *'  Grace,  grace  unto  it !  " 

(4.)  The  Great  Pyramid,  in  a  land  where  all  other 
characteristically  Egyptian  buildings  are  profusely  deco- 
rated and  covered  from  top  to  bottom,  and  both  inside 
and  out,  with  inscriptions  of  portentous  length  and  size 
both  in  writing,  painting,  and  sculpture, — the  Great 
Pyramid  has,  in  and  upon  its  finished  parts,  "^'"^  no  decora- 
tion, no  painting,  no  inscription,  no  destination  given 
to  it,  in  any  human  language  under  the  sun. 

And  yet,  while  no  other  Egyptian  buildings  can  speak 
to  their  own  absolute  dates,  and  have  set  all  the  scholars 
of  mankind  grievously  astray  on  impossible,  ridiculous, 
and  totally  anti-Biblical  chronologic  schemes, — the  Great 
Pyramid  sets  forth  its  own  absolute  date  on  unerring 
grounds  of  astronomical  science.  Whereupon,  being 
already  allowed  by  the  best  Egyptologists  to  be  relatively 

*  Excepting,  therefore,  the  oft-mentioned  rude  qnany-marks  on  the 
rough  atouei*  iu  Col.  Vyse'a  "  Hollows  of  Conbtruction.'* 


462  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part 

older  than  all  other  known  buildings  of  any  kind  of 
pretence,  whether  in  Egypt  or  any  other  part  of  the 
ancient  world, — the  Great  Pyramid  takes  at  once  the 
lordly  position  of  prescribing  limits  in  time  to  all  those 
other  buildings,  or  we  may  say  to  all  architecture  what- 
ever ;  and  those  Pyramid  limits  are  now  found  to  be  in 
an  eminent  manner  confirmatory  of  Holy  Scripture. 

(5.)  While  every  other  ancient  structure  of  Egypt, 
and  in  so  far  of  the  world,  was  built  for  its  own  time 
and  its  then  owners,  and  has  had  in  their  day  its  utili- 
sation, its  attendants,  worshippers,  frequenters  or  in- 
habiters,  either  living  or  dead, — the  Great  Pyramid  has 
had  no  use  ever  made  of  it :  no  living  man  could  enter  its 
stone-filled  passages  when  finished  ;  no  dead  body  either 
was,  or  could  have  been  regularly  deposited  there  ;  the 
coffer  or  so-called  sarcophagus  is  too  broad  to  pass  in 
any  way  through  the  lower  part  of  the  first  ascending 
passage  ; — the  king  of  that  time,  according  to  triple 
historical  tradition,  and  recently  found  local  indication, . 
was  buried  elsewhere  ;  neither,  until  the  last  very  few 
years,  was  the  building  in  any  degree  understood  by  any 
nation,  though  all  nations  have  guessed  at  its  hidden 
mystery,  its  parable  in  stone ;  a  prophetic  and  portentous 
parable,  long  since  thrown  in  the  very  way  of  the  ungodly 
in  order  that,  "  seeing  they  might  see  and  not  perceive, 
and  hearing  they  might  hear  and  not  understand." 

A  thousand  years  ago  Al-Mamoun  broke  violently  into 
the  building,  but  discovered  nothing  of  its  design  as  now 
known  ;  and  though  others  smashed  many  of  the  stones, 
chipped  the  edges  of  more,  and  performed  whatever 
mischief  man  could  perform  with  axes,  hammers,  and  fire, 
— yet  they  have  no  more  prevented  certain  grand  ideas 
with  which  the  whole  was  fraught  in  the  beginning  of 
the  world,  coming  to  be  appreciated  in  these  last  very 
few  years, — than  did  the  destruction  of  the  Temple  of 
Solomon  and  the  carrying  away  of  all  its  golden  vessels 


Chap.  XXV.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  463 

to  assist  in  the  service  of  idols  in  Babylon, — prevent 
the  accomplishment  of  the  Hebrew  prophecies  touching 
their  chief  end,  the  appearance  of  the  Saviour  of  Man- 
kind among  the  Jews  in  Jerusalem. 

(6.)  What  then,  is,  or  is  to  be,  the  end  or  use  for 
which  the  Great  Pyramid  was  built  ? 

The  confident  public  is  too  apt  to  override  this  ques- 
tion with  the  far  lower  demand  to  be  promptly  told,  "Who 
built  the  Great  Pyramid,  and  what  was  his  name  ? " 

If  you  mean  who  plodded  at  fulfilling  in  masonry  the 
orders  given  to,  and  exacted  from,  them  according  to 
patterns  furnished  (some  of  which  are  still  to  be  seen 
on  the  Pyramid  Hill  in  the  azimuth  trenches  and  the 
trial  passages),* — I  answer,- — the  subjects  of  the  Fourth 
Dynasty's  Egyptian  king,  Cheops  in  Greek,  Shofo  or 
Khoufou  in  Coptic ;  and  they  were  legion. 

But  if  you  mean  who  furnished  the  design  of  the 
building  and  saw  to  its  being  realised, — even  as  the 
authorship  of  Milton's  "  Paradise  Lost  "  was  a  far  higher 
work  than  the  hand  labour  of  him  who  first  set  it  up 
in  type, — the  answer  is,  Philitis  in  Greek,  Shem  or 
Melchizedek  in  Scripture. 

And  now,  those  answers  to  interposed  calls  being 
rendered,  let  us  return  to  the  practical  end  for  which 
the  Great  Pyramid  was  both  designed  and  built.  The 
manner  of  that  end  appears — on  putting  facts  together 
— to  have  been,  to  subserve  in  the  fifth  thousand  of 
years  of  its  existence  certain  pre-ordained  intentions  of 
God's  will  in  the  government  of  this  world  of  man.  For 
the  Pyramid  was  charged  by  God's  inspired  Shepherd- 


♦  A  description  of  both  of  these  very  remarkable  features,  unexplain- 
able  on  any  but  the  strictest  *'  Promethean,"  and  scientific,  theory,  is 
given  on  pp.  125  and  185  of  vol.  ii.  of  '*  Life  and  Work."  While  an 
account  of  the  happy  manner  in  which  W.  Petrie  was  enabled  to  elicit 
the  "  testimony  of  the  trenches "  in  favour  of  the  circle-squaring  iu- 
tentiotial  figure  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  is  to  be  fotmd  in  my  "  Antiquity  of 
latoiloctual  Man,"  at  pp.  191—193. 


464  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  v. 

Prince,  in  the  beginning  of  human  time,  to  keep  a 
certain  message  secret  and  inviolable  for  4,000  years,  and 
it  has  done  so  ;  and  in  the  next  thousand  years  it  was 
to  enunciate  that  message  to  all  men,  with  more  than 
traditional  force,  more  than  the  authenticity  of  copied 
manuscripts  or  reputed  history, — and  that  part  of  the 
Pyramid's  usefulness  is  now  beginning. 

Only  as  yet  beginning ;  wherefore  let  no  one  jump 
too  hastily  at  what  the  whole  purpose  may  eventually 
prove  itself  to  be.  I,  at  least, — who  have  been  drawn 
on  by  a  train  of  events  too  wonderful  for  me  to  resist, 
to  devote  my  best  energies  to  this  work ;  in  presence  of 
which,  I  by  myself  am  of  the  weakest  of  the  things  of 
the  world, — I  presume  not  to  speak  to  any  other  than 
such  parts  of  the  building  as  have  already  practically 
developed  themselves.  Herein,  too,  enough  seems  now 
to  have  shone  forth  to  enable  any  one  to  state  roundly, 
that  the  message  wherefor  the  Great  Pyramid  was  built, 
is  largely  of  a  duplicate  character  ;  or  thus — 

(a.)  To  convey  a  new  proof  to  men  in  the  present 
age,  as  to  the  existence  of  the  personal  God  of  Scripture  ; 
and  of  His  actual  supra-natural  interferences,  in  patri- 
archal times,  with  the  physical,  and  otherwise  only  sub- 
natural,  experience  of  men  upon  earth.  Or  to  prove 
in  spite,  and  yet  by  means,  of  modern  science  which 
in  too  many  cases  denies  miracles,  the  actual  occurrence 
of  an  ancient  miracle  ;  and  if  of  one,  the  possibility  of 
all,  miracles  recorded  in  Scripture  being  true. 

(b.)  In  fulfilment  of  the  first  prophecy  in  Genesis, 
which  teaches,  together  with  all  the  prophets,  that  of 
the  seed  of  the  woman  without  the  man,  a  truly  Divine 
Saviour  of  Mankind,  was  to  arise  and  appear  amongst 
men  ;  a  man  apparently  amongst  men  ;  in  poverty,  too, 
and  humility  ;  in  further  fulfilment  thereof,  the  Great 
Pyramid  was  to  prove, — that  precisely  as  that  coming 
was  a  real  historical  event,  and  took  place  at  a  definite 


Chap.  XXV.]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  465 

and  long  pre-ordained  date, — so  His  second  coming, 
when  He  shall  descend  as  the  Lord  from  heaven,  with 
the  view  of  reigning  over  all  mankind  and  ruling  them 
all  with  one  Divine  seeptre,  and  under  one  all-just, 
beneficent,  omnipotent  sway,  that  that  great  event  will 
likewise  be  Kistorical,  and  will  take  place  at  a  definite 
and  also  a  primevally  pre-arranged  date. 

Now  let  us  look  a  little  closer  into  the  first  of  these 
two  reasons,  or  purposes  ;  viz. — 

(A.) 

In  an  age  when  writing  was  a  rarity  indeed,  and  barely 
more  locomotion  was  indulged  in  by  any  of  mankind 
than  merely  to  roam  with  flocks  and  herds  from  summer 
to  winter  pasturage  and  vice  versa,  and  this  only  in  little 
more  than  one  central  region  of  the  earth, — in  that 
primitive  age  it  was  announced  that  the  day  would 
come,  when  of  the  multiplication  of  books  there  should 
be  no  end, — when  knowledge  should  bo  wonderfully 
increased,  and  men  run  to  and  fro  over  the  whole  earth, 
even  as  they  are  doing  now  by  railway  and  steamer  from 
London  to  the  very  Antipodes.  In  the  interests  of 
commerce  they  do  it  every  day ;  and  in  the  interests  of 
science,  they  are  on  the  eve  of  specially  doing  it  from 
every  country  of  Europe  and  America,  at  unlimited  ex- 
penditure of  national  wealth, — though  only  to  gain  a 
little  more  knowledge  of  the  exact  numbers  to  be  set 
against  a  particular  datum  in  astronomy  which  has 
already  been  ascertained  within  a  hundredth  of  the 
whole  amount,  and  has  had  thousands  and  tens  of  thou-- 
sands  of  money  spent  upon  it.  And  all  these  countries 
are  highly  encouraged  and  applauded  for  so  continuing* 
to  spend  their  national  resources  and  results  of  taxation 
of  the  people,  because  this  is  the  scientific  age  of  the 

H    H 


46^  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  Y; 

world,  when  science-knowledge  to  the  most  minute  and 
microscopic  degree  has  so  excessively  developed  amongst 
mankind,  that  every  one  is  open-mouthed  for  science  ; 
and  science  is  supposed  to  enter  into,  and  support,  and 
deserve  the  best  of,  every  ramification  of  life. 

Therefore,  it  would  seem  to  be,  that  an  Omniscient 
mind  which  foresaw  in  the  beginning  the  whole  history 
of  the  world  under  man,  ordained  that  the  message, 
arguments,  proofs,  of  the  Great  Pyramid  should  not  be 
expressed  in  letters  of  any  written  language  whatever, 
whether  living  or  dead  ; — ^but  in  terms  of  scientific  facts, 
or  features  amenable  to  nothing  but  science,  i.e.,  a  medium 
for  the  communication  of  ideas  to  be  humanly  known 
and  interpretable,  only  in  the  latter  day.  The  employ- 
ment of  a  written  language,  moreover,  would  have  been  a 
restricted  mode  of  conveying  the  message  essentially  and 
characteristically  to  one  nation  alone  ;  whereas  the  Pyra- 
mid's message  was  intended  for  all  men,  even  as  Christ's 
kingly  reign  at  His  second  coming  is  to  be  universal. 

Trace,  too,  the  several  scientific  steps  by  which  this 
purpose  of  the  Great  Pyramid  is  being,  and  has  been, 
accomplished  ;  and  note  how  each  and  every  one  of  those 
steps,  while  of  the  most  important  class  for  all  science,  is 
yet  of  the  simplest  character  to  be  looke'd  on  as  being 
any  science  at  all : — so  that  the  poor  in  intellect,  and 
neglected  in  education,  who  are  the  many,  may  partake 
of  it,  as  well  as  the  more  highly  favoured  who  are  only 
a  very  few. 

Not  in  the  day  of  the  Great  Pyramid  at  all,  but  rather 
since  the  revival  of  learning  in  Europe,  no  'pure  miathe- 
Tnatical  question  has  taken  such  extensive  hold  on  the 
human  mind  as,  the  "  squaring  of  the  circle."  Quite 
right  that  it  should  be  so,  for  a  time  at  least,  seeing  that 
it  is  the  basis  alike  of  practical  mechanics  and  high  astro- 
nomy. But  as  its  correct  quantity  has  been  ascertained, 
now  more  than  one  or  two  hundred  years  ago,  and,  under 


Chap.  XXV.]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  4.6^,. 

the  form  of  tt,  or  the  proportion  of  the  diameter  to  the: 
circumference  of  a  circle,  is  found  in  almost  every 
text-book  of  mathematics  to  more  decimal  places  than 
there  is  any  practical  occasion  for  (see  page  xvi.), — 
men  might  rest  content  and  go  on  to  other  subjects. 
But  numbers  of  them  do  not,  and  will  not ;  hardly 
a  year  passes  even  in  the  present  day,  but  some  new; 
squarer  of  the  circle  appears.  Generally  a  self-educated 
man,  and  with  the  traditional  notion  in  his  head, 
that  the  proportion  of  length  between  the  one  line- 
already  straight  and  the  other  to  be  made  straight  in  a. 
circle,  has  never  been  ascertained  yet ;  and  that  either 
the  Academy  of  Sciences  in  Paris  or  the  Royal  Society 
of  London  has  offered  a  large  reward  to  whoever  will 
solve  the  problem  :  so  down  he  sits  to  the  task,  and 
sometimes  he  brings  out  a  very  close  approximation  to. 
the  first  few  places  of  figures  in  the  fraction,  by  prac-. 
tical  mechanics ;  and  sometimes  by  erroneous  geometry 
he  produces  a  very  wide  divergence  indeed.  But  occa- 
sionally the  most  highly-educated  university  mathema- 
ticians also  enter  the  field,  and  bring  out  perchatice 
some  new  algebraic  series,  by  which  a  more  rapid  con- 
vergence than  any  yet  invented  to  the  true  numbers  of  tt 
may  be  obtained  ;  see  for  instance  such  a  case  in  the  last 
volume  (XVII.)  of  that  most  important  one  now  amongst 
the  scientific  serials  of  the  world,  the  Smithsonian  con-, 
tributions  to  knowledge  (Washington,  1873) ;  besides  its 
references  to  similarly  intended  formulae  in  other  recent 
mathematical  works.  Wherefore  that  numerical  expres- 
sion 3  14159 -h&c,  is  shown  on  all  hands  and  in  all 
countries,  to  be  one  of  the  most  wonderful,  lasting,  char 
racteristic,  and  necessary  results  of  the  growth  of  science 
for  all  kinds  and  degrees  of  intellectual  men  ;  and  in  an 
increasing  proportion  as  they  arrive  at  a  high  state  o^ 
civilization,  material  progress,  and  practical  development. 
Is  it  not  then  a  little  strange,  that  the  first,  aspect 


468  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

which  catches  the  eye  of  a  scientific  man  looking  with 
science  and  power  at  the  ancient  Great  Pyramid,  is,  that 
its  entire  mass,  in  its  every  separate  particle,  all  goes  to 
make  up  one  grand  and  particular  mathematical  figure 
expressing  the  true  value  of  tt,  or  3 '141 59  +  &c. 

If  this  was  accident,  it  was  a  very  rare  accident ;  for 
none  of  the  other  thirty-seven  known  pyramids  of  Egypt 
contain  it.*  But  it  was  not  accident  in  the  Great 
Pyramid,  for  the  minuter  details  of  its  interior,  as 
already  shown,  signally  confirm  the  grand  outlines  of 
the  exterior,  and  show  again  and  again  those  peculiar 
proportions,  both  for  line  and  area,  wliich  emphatically 
make  the  Great  Pyramid  to  be,  as  to  shape,  a  tt  shaped, 
and  a  tt  memorializing,  Pyramid  ;  or  the  earliest  demon- 
stration known  of  the  numerical  value  of  that  particular 
form  of  squaring  the  circle  which  men  are  still  trying 
their  hands  and  heads  upon.f 

Physical  Science  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

Again,  in  physics,  as  a  further  scientific  advance  on 
the  foundation  of  pure  mathematics,  is  there  any  ques- 
tion so  replete  with  interest  to  all  human  kind  as, 
what  supports  the  earth ;  when,  as  Job  truly  remarked, 
it  is  hung  from  nothing,  when  it  is  suspended  over 
empty  space,  and  yet  does  not  fall  ?     In  place,  indeed, 


♦  The  learned  Dr.  Lepsius  enumerates  sixty-seven  pyramids ;  where- 
upon Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  remarks,  with  irresistible  pMthos  of  modesty 
and  feeling,  "  hut  it  is  unfortunate  that  the  sixty-seven  pyramids  cannot 
now  he  traced." 

t  In  further  reference  to  the  ante-chamher  case  in  chap,  x.,  where  the 
Ahhe  Moigno  had  already  produced  the  neat  expression,  from  its  measure 

in  inches,  of  — 2  =  tt,  —  Professor  Hamilton  L,  Smith,    including   the 

anterior  and  posterior  passages  with  the  length  of  the  ante-chamher,  and 
taking  account  also  of  the  breadth,  similarly  in  Pyrairid  inchps,  finds, 
in  those  terms,  (1  -f-  ,r)  X  10;  (tt  -f  tt"^)  X  5 ;  and  (tt^  +  tt^)  X  5,— 
all  of  them  given  well  within  the  limits  of  error  of  the  best  modem 
measures,  as  set  forth  in  "  Life  and  Work,"  vol.  2. 


Chap.  XXV.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  469 

of  falling  destructively,  tli6  earth  regularly  revolves 
around  a  bright  central  orb,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
obtain  therefrom  light  and  heat  suitable  to  man,  and 
day  and  night.  What  is  the  nature,  then,  of  that  path 
which  the  earth  so  describes,  and  what  is  the  distance 
of  the  physical-life  luminary  round  w^hich  it  now 
revolves,  but  into  which  it  would  fall  straightway  as  to 
its  final  bourne  and  be  destroyed  by  fire,  if  that  onward 
movement  were  arrested  ?  As  in  squaring  the  circle, 
so  in  measuring  the  distance  of  the  earth's  central  sun, 
both  learned  and  unlearned  have  been  working  at  the 
question  for  2,300  years,  and  are  still  for  ever  employing 
themselves  upon  it ;  and  nothing  that  all  nations  can  do, 
whether  by  taking  their  astronomers  away  from  other 
work,  or  enlisting  naval  and  military  officers  as  tem- 
porary astronomers,  and  furnishing  them  profusely  with 
instruments  of  precision  of  every  serviceable  science, 
and  sending  them  to  every  inhabitable,  and  some  unin- 
habitable, parts  of  the  earth,  is  thought  too  much  to 
devote  to  this  question  of  questions  in  physics  for  the 
future  behoof  of  a  world  grown  scientific.  Yet  ilmre  is 
the  numerical  expression  for  that  cosmical  quantity  nailed 
to  the  mast  of  the  Great  Pyramid  from  the  earliest 
ages  ;  for  it  is  its  mast  or  vertical  height,  multiplied  by 
its  own  factor,  the  ninth  power  of  ten,  which  is  the 
length  all  modem  men  are  seeking,  and  struggling,  and 
dying,  and  will  continue  to  die,  in  order  to  get  a 
tolerably  close  approach  to  the  arithmetical  figure  of: 
and  this  accurate  sun-distance  at  the  Pyramid  is  accom- 
panied by  an  exhibition  of  the  space  travelled  over 
during  a  whole  circle  of  the  earth's  revolution,  and  the 
time  in  which  it  is  performed. 

And  if  from  solar-system  quantities  we  turn  to  matters 
of  our  own  planet  world  in  itself  alone, — does  not  every 
inhabitant  thereof  yearn  to  know  its  size  ;  and  yet  was 
not  that  impossible  to  all  men,  of  all  the  early  ages,  to 


'47P  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  v. 

attain  with  any  exactness  ?  In  illustration  whereof  it  is 
recorded,  that  the  Deity  confounded  Job  at  once  with 
the  words  :  "  Hast  thou  perceived  the  breadth  of  the 
earth  ?     Declare  if  thou  knowest  it  all."  * 

And  the  only  answer  that  Job,  one  of  the  chief  and 
wisest  men  of  the  earth  at  that  time,  could  return, 
was — 

"  Therefore  have  I  uttered  that  I  understood  not ; 
things  too  wonderful  for  me,  which  I  knew  not. 
Wherefore  I  abhor  myself,  and  repent  in  dust  and 
ashes."  f 

But  precisely  that  thing  which  all  mankind  from 
the  Creation  up  to  the  day  of  Job,  or  of  Moses,  had  not 
accomplished,  and  had  no  idea  or  power  how  to  set 
about  to  perform  it,  and  did  not  make  even  any  rude 
attempts  in  that  direction  during  the  following  2,500 
years — -though  they  do  know  it  now  with  considerable 
accuracy — was  not  only  well  known  to  the  author  of 
the  design  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  but  was  there  em- 
ployed as  that  most  useful  standard,  in  terms  of  which 
the  base-side  length  is  laid  out ;  or  with  accurate  decimal 
reference  to  the  earth's  peculiar  figure,  its  polar  com- 
pression, the  amount  thereof,  and  the  most  perfect 
method  of  preserving  the  record  for  all  men. 

Who  but  the  Lord  could  have  done  that  wonder 
above  man's  power  then  to  do  ?  For,  "  Have  ye  not 
known  ?  have  ye  not  heard  ?  hath  it  not  been  told  you 
from  the  beginning  ?  have  ye  not  understood  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world  ?  It  is  He  that  sitteth  upon 
the  circle  of  the  earth."  It  is  He  also  "Who  hath 
measured  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  and 
meted  out  heaven  with  the  span,  and  comprehended 
the  dust  of  the  earth  in  a  measure,  and  weighed  the 
mountains  in  scales  and  the  hills  in  a  balance."  J 

*  Job  xxxviii.  18.  f  Job  xlii.  3,  6. 

'■  -  J  Isaiah  xl.  12,  21,  and  22. 


1 


Ghap.  XXV.]  THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  471 

Who,  indeed,  but  the  God  of  Israel  could  have 
performed  this  last-mentioned  still  greater  wonder  than 
any  mere  linear  measure,  so  far  as  its  exceeding  diffi- 
culty to  men  even  in  the  present  scientific  generation 
is  concerned ;  and  could  have  actually  introduced,  both 
into  the  King's  Chamber  Coffer,  and  the  said  chamber 
itself,  an  expression  for  the  next  most  important  quality, 
after  size,  of  the  earth-ball  we  live  upon — viz.,  its 
"  mean  density ;"  besides  expressing  in  the  base  dia- 
gonals of  the  Pyramid  the  enormous  cycle  of  years 
composing  the  earth's  disturbed  rotation  or  precession 
period  of  the  equinoxes  ;  a  period  six  times  as  long  as 
the  whole  historic  life  of  man  yet  accomplished,  and 
the  only  known  phenomenon  for  keeping  longest  records, 
suitable  at  once  to  all  degrees  and  states  of  men. 

Science  not  the  Great  Pyramid's  Final  Object. 

Yet  with  all  this  amount  of  science  brought  before 
us  out  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  yea  even  with  all  this 
quintessence  of  scientific  results,  let  us  not  be  run  away 
with  by  the  notion  of  some, — that  to  teach  science, 
was  the  beginning  and  end  for  which  that  building  was 
erected.  Certain  men,  I  do  indeed  know  only  too  well, 
"will  not  go  astray  in  that  direction ;  for  they  have 
already  wandered  off  into  the  opposite  error  of  assum- 
ing, that  the  many  successive  results  deduced  from  the 
measures  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  cannot  be  each  and 
every  one  of  them  intentional,  or  indicative  of  any 
wisdom  of  Divine  Inspiration, — because  each  of  them, 
after  the  first,  was  a  necessary  mathematical  result 
from,  and  consequence  of,  any  Pyramid  whatever,  if  it 
had  a  shape  and  size  so  far  given. 

This  reasoning  is  strangely  short-sighted ;  because  in 
the  first  place,  both  the  shape  and  size  required  the  supe- 
rior mind  to  choose  and  decide  them ;  and   then,  no 


472  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

second  or  third  cosniical  result  has  been  yet  deduced, 
from  any  necessary  subsidiary  features  in  the  size  of  the 
Great  Pyramid,  without  introducing,  at  the  same  time,  a 
second  or  third  unit  of  measure  of  diverse  order,  and 
connected  with  the  first,  by  no  features  of  the  mere 
geometry  of  the  Pyramid,  but  rather  by  allied  physical 
researches  and  Biblical  readings.  As,  for  instance,  after 
the  whole  vertical  height,  undivided,  was  appropriated 
for  sun-distance, — ^then  the  unit  of  a  sacred  Hebrew  cubit 
was  employed  for  the  days  of  the  year  when  applied  to 
the  base-side  length  ;  and  finally  the  earth's  axis  com- 
mensurable inch  for  the  amount  of  a  year's  precession, 
in  conjunction  with  the  length  of  the  base-diagonals. 
While  the  earth's  mean  density,  if  expressed  in  the  same 
inches  cubed,  is  obtained,  not  from  the  same  parts  or 
any  necessary  deductions  from  those  parts  of  the  whole 
Pyramid,  but  from  the  totally  independent  features  of 
the  King's  Chamber  and  the  Coffer ;  which  were  abso- 
lutely separate  results  of  the  mind  of  the  designer  of 
the  whole  structure,  and  are  to  be  found  in  no  other 
Pyramid,  temple,  or  tomb  whatever.  ' 


Further  Fallings  Away  from  Simple  Fact  and  Truth. 

Another  class  of  modern  educationists,  however,  have 
lately  deviated  towards  still  another  point  of  the  compass 
of  error  ;  as  thus  : — Throughout  all  Sir  Isaac  Newton's 
dissertation  on  cubits,  he  dwells  on  nothing  more  for- 
cibly, and  explains  nothing  more  clearly,  than  the  abso- 
lute antithesis  between  the  cubit  of  the  Hebrews  and 
the  cubit  of  the  Egyptians.  Each  of  them  was  sacred  to 
its  own  party  ;  but,  while  the  sacredness  of  one  of  them 
is  confirmed  by  Scripture,  the  sacredness  of  the  other  is 
sinfulness  there  ;  it  is  profane  in  Scripture.  Yet  some 
men  have  been  lately  deceived  into  fancying  that  there 


Chap.  XXV.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  473 

are  just  as  many  glorious  cosmical  coincidences  in  the 
size  of  the  sacred  Great  Pyramid  and  its  parts  when 
measured  by  the  profane  cubit  of  idolatrous  Egypt,  as 
by  the  cubit  which  Moses  told  the  Israelites  was  the 
cubit  of  the  Lord  their  God. 

This  cannot  be,  if  the  Pyramid  contains  original 
Messianic  allusions.  But  it  may  be  ahnost  so ;  for  again 
and  again  Scripture  warns  us  to  beware  of  temptation 
and  the  wiles  of  the  tempter, — that  sin  can  put  on  so 
specious  an  appearance  of  sanctity,  that  almost  all  men 
shall  be  carried  away  by  its  devices  ;  and  the  danger 
will  never  be  greater  than  in  the  very  last  times 
immediately  preceding  the  Lord's  Second  Coming ;  for 
then  Anti-Christ  shall  appear  personally,  giving  out 
that  he  is  Christ,  and  working  such  signs  and  wonders 
as  shall  deceive,  if  it  were  possible,  even  the  very  elect. 

A  nearly  parallel  case,  in  the  ancient  land  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  (recorded  doubtless  for  our  guidance),  is 
that  of  the  enchantments  of  Pharaoh's  Egyptian  priests 
with  their  rods,  against  the  heaven-performed  miracles 
of  Aaron's  rod.  The  enchantments  of  either  side  for 
a  while  were  almost  the  same,  for  either  party  turned 
their  respective  rods  into  serpents  large  or  small ;  but 
in  the  end,  Aaron's  grand  rod  swallowed  up  all  the 
unholy  brood  of  petty  snakes  from  the  rods  of  the  Egyp- 
tian priests  :  and  then  those  unhappy  men  were  totally 
unable  to  go  on  any  further  with  their  enchantments. 

Now  apply  this  case  to  the  metrological  rods  still 
surviving, — viz.,  the  sacred  cubit  of  Moses  on  one  side, 
and  the  profane  cubit  of  Egypt  on  the  other,  and  both 
of  them  in  the  Great  Pyramid.  The  former  has  its  first 
grand  acknowledgment  of  its  really  ruling  there  for  the 
Lord  its  originator,  in  giving  forth  the  days  of  tbe  year, 
when  applied  as  the  standard  of  measure  to  the  side  of 
the  base  of  the  whole  structure  ;  i.e.,  the  side  of  the 
ancient  base,  divided  by  the  days  of  the  year,  gives  the 


474  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

length  of  the  sacred  cubit  of  Moses,  and  shows  it  to  be 
the  lO^th  part  of  the  earth's  semi-axis  of  rotation  in 
length.  But  the  profane  cubit  of  Egypt  is  not  so  pro- 
duced, or  producible  by,  or  from,  any  of  the  leading 
dimensions  either  of  the  bodies  of  the  solar  system,  or 
of  the  Great  Pyramid.  No,  indeed,  it  is  only  by  going 
to  a  much  smaller  part — the  King's  Chamber,  and 
chopping  up  its  length  into  twenty  little  bits,  that  then 
an  approximate  representative  of  the  profane  cubit  of 
Egypt,  20-61,  rather  than  20-7,  Pyramid  inches  long, 
is  obtained ;  and  some  secondary  physical  phenomena 
are  said  to  be  evenly  commensurable  therewith. 

But  what  Pyramid  authority  is  there  for  any  Chris- 
tian, for  sacred  purposes,  chopping  up  that  grand  unit, 
the  King's  Chamber  length,  into  twenty  parts  and  pro- 
ducing all  this  vermin  swarm  ?  None  that  I  know  of, 
for  there  is  no  twenty  marked  in  the  room  ;  and  the 
floor  length  is,  in  actual  fact,  one  noble  whole,  which 
no  one  should  dare  unauthorizedly  to  destroy  as  such. 

Yet  still,  what  one  given  scientific  reason,  intellectual 
men  are  obstinate  in  asking,  can  be  shown,  for  preserving 
that  lenofth  of  the  Kinof's  Chamber  untouched  ?  It  is 
a  fact,  so  far ;  but  does  it  mean  anything  in,  and  by, 
that  whole  length  ;  a  length  which,  so  far  as  we  can 
superficiaUy  see,  says  nothing  in  favour  of  the  sacred 
Hebrew  cubit,  or  decimal  numeration,  or  notable  Pyra- 
mid parts, — but  rather  the  contrary  ?  Up  to  July, 
1873,  I  myself  had  not  the  slightest  idea ;  and  it  was 
only  when  in  pain  and  distress  at  the  falling  away  of 
some  of  my  best  friends  towards  both  the  profane  cubit 
of  Egypt,  and  the  sidereal  year  of  a  few  doctrinaires  and 
two  of  the  Pyramid  measurers  only,  in  place  of  going  to 
the  solar  year  of  all  humanity  and  of  all  of  the  Pyramid 
measurers  taken  fairly, — that  suddenly,  not  by  my  own 
penetration,  but  rather  by  a  veil  being  withdrawn  from 
my  eyes,  I  suddenly  understood  what  had  been  before 


Chap.  XXV.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  475 

me  for  eight  years,  as  well  as  published  for  six  years  to 
all  the  world,  and  yet  had  never  been  guessed  at  either 
by  me  or  the  world. 

The  length  of  the  King's  Chamber,  as  taken  from 
the  mean  of  all  my  measures  (because  far  more  numerous 
than  those  of  any  one  else),  is  41 2 '132  Pyramid  inches  : 
it  is  moreover  the  longest  granite  line  in  the  Pyramid, 
and  admirably  adapted,  with  its  level  position,  polished 
rectangular  ends,  and  uniform  temperature,  for  a  good 
measure  being  made  of  it.  Indeed,  it  is  the  best 
modern  measured  line  of  the  best  preserved  of  the 
ancient  parts  of  the  whole  Great  Pyramid.* 

But  still,  demand  the  querists,  why  was  not  so  con- 
spicuous a  length  made  a  round  number  of  sacred  cubits  ? 

Because  it  was  intended  to  typify  reasons  as  well 
as  facts,  I  am  now  enabled  to  reply ;  for  it  expresses,— 
1,  the  length  of  the  base-side  of  the  whole  Great  Pyra- 
mid, agreeably  with  the  mean  of  all  the  direct  measures 
thereof ;  2,  its  vertical  height ;  3,  its  tt  shape  ;  4,  the 
metrological  combination  of  sacred  cubits  and  earth- 
commensurable  inches ;  and,  5,  the  absolute  length  of 
that  sacred  cubit  which  was  ordained  of  God,  in  after- 
ages,  to  Moses  and  the  Israelites. 

*  My  original  measures  of  the  King's  Chamber  are  given  in  "  Life  and 
Work,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  101,  102,  in  British  inches,  and  with  the  mean  taken 
rouglily.  They  are  also  given  similarly  at  page  178  of  this  book.  Here, 
with  the  same  original  numbers,  they  are  turned  from  British  into  Pyra- 
mid inches,  and  the  mean  taken  more  exactly,  or  to  three  places  of 
decimals ;  introducing  the  breadths  observed  also ;  a  necessary  refine- 
ment, now  that  from  Mr.  James  Simpson's  sums  of  the  squares  (see  page 
181),  the  breadth  of  the  chamber  may  be  inferred  to  be  theoretically  and 
exactly  half  of  the  length,  and  •wilh  the  following  result  for  the  final 
mean  of  the  whole  : — 

[412-182 
412-182 
Final  means  for  each  element,  giving  double  J 

weight  to  the  lengths  directly  measured  .  ^  412'054 

412-054 

412188 


Grand  mean  of  all  the  elements  concerned  =  412*132  P.  in. 


476  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

All  these  several  things  out  of  one  and  the  same  set 
of  numbers  ? 

Yes,  out  of  one  and  the  same  set  of  numbers,  when 
used  on  certain  principles  of  calculation  of  which  plain 
indications  are  given  on  the  walls  of  the  ante-chamber 
to  the  King's  Chamber  by  the  original  builders  ;  viz., 
the  diameters  of  a  circle  and  square  of  equal  area  with 
each  other  ;  together  with  a  reference  of  this  theorem  to 
a  length  of  four  times  103  inches  and  a  fraction  long.* 

That  length  can,  of  all  lengths  thereabouts,  of  course 
be  no  other  than  the  41 21 32  of  the  King's  Chamber 
floor  itself. 

Now  412*132  is,  no  doubt,  an  awkward-looking 
fractional  and  uneven  number,  bearing  no  easy  or 
self-evident  proportion  to  the  known  length  of  base-side 
or  vertical  height  of  Great  Pyramid,  or  to  Pyramid 
numbers  of  inches,  or  cubits,  or  to  the  value  of  tt. 
But,  following  the  hint  given  in  the  ante-chamber 
(Captain  Tracey's  most  suggestive  discovery),  and 
calling  those  412-132  Pyramid  inches  41 2 '132 
Pyramid,  or  sacred,  cubits  (of  25  such  inches  each), — 
consider  that  number,  I  say,  of  cubits  the  diameter  of  a 
circle  ;  and  then, — 


*  Four  lines  of  thut  length,  deeply  and  grandly  cut,  are  on  the  south 
wall  of  the  ante-chamber.  We  have  already  taken  them  as  symbolising 
a  division  of  that  Wall-surface,  transversely  into  5;  as  they  do,  and  have 
led  us  from  that  circumstance  to  recognise  thw  division  of  the  walls  of  the 
King's  Chamber  into  five  courses.  But  they  do  not,  therefore,  cease  to  be 
four  lines;  four  lines,  too,  of  a  certain  length.  The  exact  original 
length  is  now  a  problem,  for  the  lower  part  of  them  is  broken  away  in 
the  general  modern  breakage  of  the  top  of  the  anle-chamber's  south 
doorway,  and  it  niay  have  been  as  much  as  105*6  inches  (viz.,  the  dif- 
ference between  the  height  of  the  doorway  and  that  of  the  ante-cham- 
ber), if  the  lines  were  continued  to  the  very  corner.  But  wliile  that 
original  completeness  is  not  proved,  the  105-6  is  quite  close  enough  to 
412-132 

— '  and  distant  from  any  other  competing  line,  for  all  the  ante- 
chamber's purposes  as  a  mere  synopsis  of  what  is  to  he  found  in  the 
King's  Chamber,  to  refer  one  to  the  412- 132,  and  leave  all  cxa;titu(ie  to 
be  obtained  from  that  length,  as  there  laid  down,  in  one  whole  accurate 
quantity. 


Chap.  XXV.] 


THE  GREAT  PYRAMID. 


477 


(1).  That  circle  has  equal  area  with  a  square  (see 
coraputation  below  *),  each  side  of  which  measures 
365-242  +  &C.  sacred  cubits  ;  or  is  equal  in  those  cubits 
to  the  length  of  the  socket  side  of  the  Great  Pyramid 
from  the  mean  of  all  the  measures  ;  and  equal  also,  in 
days,  to  the  universally  acknowledged  number  of  days 
and  parts  of  a  day  in  a  mean  solar  tropical  year;  i.e., 
a  solar  year  for  the  general  times  and  season  purposes 
of  all  mankind. 

Next  (2),  consider  that  same  length  of  412-132 
cubits  to  be  the  side  of  a  square, — that  square  is  of 
equal  area  with  a  circle  whose  radius  z=z  232-520  H-&C. 
sacred  cubits  \'\  also  =  the  already  concluded  height  of 
the  Great  Pyramid  from  all  the  measures  ;  equal  also, 
when  reduced  back  from  cubits  to  inches,  very  nearly 
to  the  mean  of  the  two  distinct  heights  which  the 
King's  Chamber  so  curiously  possesses  in  simultaneous 


412-132  =  diameter  of  a  circle 
Find  ita  area  . 


Add  log.  of  ^ 

Log.  area  of  required  circle 
Find  length  of  square  of  equal  area  . 

Log.  side  required 

Nat.  number  of  side  required 

t  412-132  =  Bide  of  pquare     . 

Find  area  of  that  square 

Log.  of  area  required 
Find  radius  of  circle  of  equal  area 
Subtract  log.  of  — 


Log.  diameter 

Nat.  number  of  diameter 

Kadi  us  required 


=  log.  2-6150363 
X   2 


5-2300726 

.  =  9-8950899 

.  ==  5-1251625 

.  2)5-1251625 

.  =  2-5625812 
.  =  365-242 -I- &c 

log.  2-6150363 
X  2 

.  =  6-2300726 

6-2300726 

.  =  9-8950899 

6-3349827 
-r  2 

=  2-6674914 

=  465041 

=  232-620-1-  kt. 


478  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V: 

existence  ;  or  to  double  the  11 6*26  length  of  the  ante- 
chamber floor. 

Further  (3),  the  diameter  of  a  circle  having 
232*520  +  &c.  for  radius  :  {is  to)  the  periphery  of  a  square 
whose  side  length  =  365*242 +  &c..  of  the  same  units 
:  :  1  :  TT,  the  grand  and  leading  Pyramid  proposition. 

(4.)  When  Pyramid  inches  inside  the  King's 
Chamber  are  found  to  tally  with  sacred  cubits  measured 
outside  the  Great  Pyramid  to  the  1,000th  part  of 
unity,  not  only  in  giving  a  coincidence  in  numbers, 
but  in  assigning  a  good  scientific  reason  for  them, — 
we  cannot  but  allow  that  those  Pyramid  inches  and 
those  sacred  cubits  were  acknowledged  and  used  by  the 
designer  of  the  entire  structure.      And  finally, 

(5.)  The  absolute  length  of  the  sacred  cubit  of  the 
Great  Pyramid  and  Moses,  is  deducible  now  to  the  ten- 
thousandth  of  an  inch  from  a  direct  measure  of  the 
most  glorious  and  best  preserved  part  of  the  ancient 
structure,  viz.,  the  King's  Chamber,  on  being  simply 
computed  according  to  the  modern  determination  of 
the  value  of  tt  and  length  of  the  year ;  and  comes  out 
from  the  local  measure  of  412*545  British  inches  to  be 
2  5  -0  2  5  0  -f-  &c.  British  inches. 

In  which  case  that  whole  quantity  of  length  of  the 
King's  Chamber  floor  has  an  importance  of  symbology 
and  signification  in  its  integrity,  which  enables  it  in  a 
moment  to  overcome  and  swallow  up  all  that  artificial 
'brood  of  little,  useless,  profane  cubits  which  ill-advis6d 
persons  had  attempted  to  manufacture  out  of  its  supposed 
cutting  up  ;  and  defies  them  to  produce,  in  terms  of  their 
units,  or  by  means  of  their  enchantments,  overthrown 
like  those  of  the  old  Egyptian  priests,  anything  of  equal 
importance  to  men,  religion,  and  history, — either  in 
the  Pyramid's  structure  or  the  cosmical  order  of  nature. 

These  modern  Pharaonists  have  even  brought  them- 
selves under  more  solemn  cognizance  ;  for — 


Chap.  XXV.]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  479 

"  Produce  your  causes,  saith  the  Lord ;  bring  forth  your  strong  reaaons, 
gaith  the  God  of  Jacob. 

"  Let  them  brinu:  them  forth  and  shew  us  what  shall  happen :  let  them 
show  the  former  things,  what  they  be,  that  we  may  consider  them,  and 
know  the  latter  end  of  them ;  or  declare  us  things  for  to  come." — 
Isaiah  xli.  21,  22. 

— i.e.,  things  which  the  scientific  and  sacred  theory  of 
the  Great  Pyramid  seems  to  enunciate  in  its  second 
part, — 

(B.) 

This  second  part  of  the  end  wherefore  the  Great 
Pyramid  was  built,  I  have  already  said,  appears  to  begin 
somewhat  thus;  viz.,  to  show  the  reality,  and  the  settled, 
as  well  as  long  pre-ordained,  times  and  seasons  for  each 
of  the  two  comings  of  Christ.  Both  for  that  one  which 
has  been,  i.e.,  which  was  1873  years  ago,  and  under  whose 
then  commenced  spiritual  dispensation  we  are  still  living  ; 
and  also  for  that  other  one,  in  kingly  glory  and  power, 
which  is  yet  to  beam  upon  us. 

When,  that  second  coming  has  been  appointed  to  take 
place,  must  be  a  most  momentous  question  ;  and  is  one  to 
which  I  can  only  reply,  that,  so  far  as  the  Great  Pyramid 
seems  to  indicate  at  present  in  the  Grand  Gallery,  the 
existing  Christian  dispensation  must  first  close  (in  some 
partial  manner  or  degree),  the  saints  be  removed,  and 
a  period  of  trouble  and  darkness  commence ;  for  how 
long,  it  is  difficult  to  say,  seeing  that  the  scale  of  a 
Pyramid  inch  to  a  year  appears  to  change  there. 

Very  long  the  time  can  hardly  be,  if  the  Pyramid 
standards  of  the  metrology  of  that  universal  kingdom, 
the  only  successful  universal  kingdom  that  there  ever 
will  be  on  earth,  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Christ,  are 
already  beginning  to  appear  from  out  of  the  place  of 
security  where  they  were  deposited  in  the  beginning  of 
the  world. 

But  that  place  of  security,  the  Great  Pyramid,  is  ia 
Egypt.     Is  Egypt  ready  to  receive  the  Lord  ? 


48o  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

Of  Egypt  in  the  latter  day,  incomprehensibly  won- 
derful things  are  recorded  in  Scripture.  It  is  apparently 
to  be  the  first  of  the  three, — Egypt,  Assyria,  and  Israel ; 
and  the  Lord  of  Hosts  shall  bless  it,  saying,  "  Blessed  be 
Egypt  my  people,  and  Assyria  the  work  of  my  hands, 
and  Israel  mine  inheritance."    (Isaiah  xix.  24,  25.) 

But  previously  to  that  day,  and  after  the  Great  Pyramid 
shall  have  become  manifested  as  a  sign  and  a  witness  to 
the  Lord  of  Hosts, — there  shall  go  up  a  great  cry  unto 
the  Lord  from  the  land  of  Egypt :  "for  they  shall  cry 
unto  the  Lord  because  of  the  oppressors,  and  he  shall 
send  them  a  saviour  and  a  great  one,  and  he  shall  deliver 
them.  And  the  Lord  shall  be  known  to  Egypt,  and  the 
Egyptians  shall  know  the  Lord  in  that  day,  and  shall 
do  sacrifice  and  oblation ;  yea,  they  shall  vow  a  vow 
unto  the  Lord  and  perform  it.  And  the  Lord  shall 
smite  Egypt ;  he  shall  smite  and  heal  it ;  and  they  shall 
return  even  to  the  Lord,  and  he  shall  be  entreated  of 
them  and  shall  heal  them." 


The  New  Policy  of  Old  Egypt 

Now  what  is  this  great  cry  to  go  up  unto  the  Lord 
from  Egypt  and  because  of  the  oppressors  ? 

Of  old,  all  men  who  drank  the  waters  of  the  Nile  on 
either  side  of  the  lower  part  of  the  course  of  that  river, 
say  from  Assouan,  say  even  from  the  Second  Cataract  in 
Nubia  down  to  the  sea, i.e., from  the  very  furthest  distance 
that  can  pretend  to  any  Coptic  civilization  or  people, — 
all  these  men  were  considered  to  belong  to  Egypt. 

But  within  the  last  few  years  an  insane  ambition,  or 
a  hardening  of  the  heart,  has  touched  the  Court  at 
Cairo,  to  apply  the  ancient  proverb  to  length  all  along 
the  stream,  as  well  as  distance  on  either  side  of  the 
lower  part  only  ;  and  to  maintain,  that  all  lands  through 
which  the  Nile  flows,  and  from  which  it  comes  (though 


Chap.  XXV.]         THE  GREAT  PYRAMID,  481 

those  lands  have  remained  utterly  unknown  to,  and  un- 
visited  by,  Egyptians  from  the  beginning  of  the  world), 
belong  by  right  to  Egypt.  The  main  reason,  as  yet 
given  forth,  why  modern  Egypt  should  have  a  right  to 
attack  and  take  possession  of  the  other  Nile  countries, 
and  not  they,  take  Egypt,  seems  to  be, — that  Egypt  is  the 
only  one  of  them  all  which  has  astonished  and  delighted 
mankind  (but  oftended  God)  through  forty  centuries  with 
.triumphs  of  ornamental  architecture,  glories  of  sculpture, 
and  mysteries  of  painting  and  wisdom.  Wherefore  every 
zealous  paid  servant  of  the  Egyptian  state  has  now  to 
argue  this  case  to  the  outside  world ;  and  to  maintain 
victoriously  against  all  comers,  that  His  Highness  the 
Khedive,  being  the  direct  successor  of  Rameses  the 
Great,  is  fully  justified  in  sending  up  armies  to  make 
war  on  all  men  and  countries  so  far  as  they  may  be 
found  eventually  on  the  course  of  the  Nile  ;  because  he 
has  an  hereditary  right  forcibly  to  annex  them  all,  even 
right  away  into  the  southern  hemisphere,  and  bring 
them  under  Egypt's  inevitable  Pharaonic  rule. 

The  scheme  has  a  certain  air  of  grandeur  about  it ; 
so  majestically  ignoring  all  ordinary  ideas  of  what  con- 
stitutes a  casus  belli ;  and  the  very  notion  of  present- 
day  Turks,  who  cannot  draw  at  all,  and  are  bound  by 
their  religion  to  eschew  everything  in  the  shape  of 
human  portraiture, — the  idea  of  them  of  all  men  claiming 
the  reward  due  to  Egypt's  ancient  artistical  skill,  and  her 
sculptured  idolatry  too, — is  rich  beyond  expression.  But 
the  wisdom  wherewith  the  subtle  measures  for  accomplish- 
ing the  purpose  are  being  taken,  is  a  feat  transcending 
diplomacy  ;  and  yet, — "  the  Egyptians  are  men,  and  not 
God  ;  and  their  horses  flesh,  and  not  spirit ;  "^^  wherefore 
out  of  those  very  steps  and  means,  as  the  pride  that  goeth 
before  a  fall,  it  may  be  that  the  close  of  the  Turkish 
rule  will  come. 

Isaiah  xxx.  1,  3. 
I   I 


482  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Part  V. 

Slave-holders  possess  Egypt 

In  setting  up  again,  and  in  a  new  French  garden,  as 
the  officials  of  the  Khedive  are  now  doing,  the  statues 
of  Rameses,  and  the  stone  and  metal  idols  of  old  Egypt, 
in  order  to  claim  aesthetic  credit  with  European  dilet- 
tanti (who  themselves  dabble  far  too  much  in  the 
accursed  thing),  these  Egypto-Turks  are  losing  their 
only  claim,  as  Mohammedans,  to  any  favour  from  the 
God  of  Israel  over  the  reprobate,  image  and  relic-wor- 
shipping. Christians  of  the  East.  These  degraded  men 
being  apparently  the  wretches  who,  though  plagued  by 
the  locust  and  scorpion-like  Saracen  armies  that  pro- 
ceeded out  of  the  smoke  from  the  bottomless  pit,  yet, 
to  the  last,  "  repented  not  of  the  works  of  their  hands, 
that  they  should  not  worship  devils,  and  idols  of  gold 
and  silver,  and  brass  and  stone,  and  of  wood  ;  which 
neither  can  see,  nor  hear,  nor  walk."  (Rev.  ix.  20.)  And 
the  Khedive's  ruse  of  sending  up  a  large  army  to  the 
sources  of  the  Nile,  under  an  Englishman  forsooth,  to 
annex  all  the  negro  countries  he  should  discover,  to  the 
slave-power  of  Egypt, — for  the  pretended  purpose  of 
putting  down  the  slave-trade,  when  its  result  can  only  be 
to  give  into  the  slave-holding  hands  of  the  Egyptian 
Government  more  extensive  and  uncontrolled  supplies 
of  slaves  than  ever, — while  that  ruse  carries  deception 
to  a  point  beyond  which  probably  the  arch-deceiver 
himself  could  no  further  go,  it  may  be  the  very  item  that 
was  required  to  fill  the  catalogue  of  woe,  and  bring  the 
question  of  the  slavery  of  mankind  to  its  last  footing. 

The  English  emancipation  was  great ;  the  Russian 
greater ;  the  American  still  greater  ;  but  the  Egyptian, 
may  prove  to  be  the  greatest  of  all ;  for  with  it,  the  slavery 
of  Constantinople  and  of  the  Mohammedans  generally, 
will  fall  too  ;  and  that  slavery  of  theirs  includes  another 
horror  within  itself,  far  beyond  all  that  Christian  slavery 


Chap.  XXV.]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  483 

ever  did ;  for  it  requires  Government  manufactories  for 
converting  boys  into  odious  machines,  fit  to  guard  the 
multitudinous  hareems  of  rich  Mohammedans  ;  and  the 
pains,  the  woes,  the  slaughter  amongst  the  poor  innocents, 
before  the  fell  purpose  of  their  tyrant  masters  is  accom- 
plished, can  be  known  to  God  alone. 

''  Oh,  but  when  the  slaves  do  reach  Cairo  (for  these 
heinous  manufactories  are  a  long  way  up  the  river),  they 
are  well  treated,"  say  some  would-be  apologists  for  the 
secret  system  of  slave-marts  which  they  know  go  on  in 
Egypt,  in  spite  of  all  the  counter  protestations  to  Europe 
by  a  Government  which  profits  by,  and  uses,  them.  ' '  When 
the  slaves  do  reach  Cairo,"  say  these  well-meaning  but 
weak  apologists,  "they  get  considerate  masters,  enter  rich 
households,  and  pass  far  more  easy,  comfortable  lives, 
than  any  of  the  independent  Arab,  or  Coptic,  fellahs  in 
their  agricultural  villages." 

"  But  the  principle  is  bad,"  insists  a  man  of  sterner 
mould,  ''and  the  results  must  therefore  be  degrading 
to  the  master  as  well  as  the  slave  ;  not  to  say  anything 
of  all  the  previous  and  some  following  cruelties,  which 
shall  make  so  many  afficted  ones  in  the  land  of  Egypt, 
cry  to  the  Lord  because  of  the  oppressors.  And  though 
the  Lord  may  have  long  tarried,  the  time  will  come,  and 
the  Great  Pyramid  indicates  it  to  be  near,  when,  in  some 
supranatural  manner,  God  shall  send  them  a  saviour  and 
a  great  one,  and  he  shall  deliver  them." 


The  Egypt  of  the  Lord  Christ. 

If,  then,  the  present  possessors  of  Egypt  be  not  those 
of  whom  the  Lord  Christ  is  likely  to  say  (at  least,  in  their 
present  and  most  unrepenting  state),  when  His  personal 
reign  begins, — *'  Blessed  be  Egypt,  my  people,  and 
Assyria,  the  work  of  my  hands,  and  Israel,  mine  in- 


484  OUR  INHERITANCE  IN  [Pakt  V. 

heritance," — who  are  those  favoured  ones,  in  and  for 
Egypt,  likely  to  be  ? 

Of  the  present  localities  of  the  ancient  Assyrians,  we 
do  not  know  much,  though  there  is  a  growing  idea  that 
they  have  drifted  with  the  human  current  of  history 
westward  from  their  original  habitats,  and  are  now  to 
be  found  amongst  those  whom  the  ethnologists  delight 
to  call  Indo-Germans  ;  but  who  seem  phlegmatically  con- 
tent to  be,  and  remain,  an  inland,  continental  people 
without  a  single  foreign  possession.  But  of  Israelites 
our  nation  is  now  becoming,  even  year  by  year,  through 
means  of  the  works  of  John  Wilson  and  Edward  Hine, 
far  less  blind  than  it  has  been  through  all  the  previous 
period  of  its  occupation  of  these  Isles  of  the  Sea  which 
contain  us  now ;  from  whence  too  we  have  overflowed 
both  to  rule  with  order,  enlightened  justice,  and  a  firm 
hand  among  many  Eastern  nations,  and  to  occupy  and 
make  to  blossom  the  ''  desolate  heritages  "  of  distant 
parts  of  the  earth.  While  the  resemblance  of  our 
earliest  Saxon,  or  Ephraiifnite,  metrology  to  the  system 
of  the  Great  Pyramid,  both  gives  us  a  species  of  "  Inherit- 
ance" interest  in  that  building,  and  may  include  some- 
thing else  still  more  noble  in  connection  with  the  coming 
universal  Messianic  kingdom  :  when,  "  All  the  ends  of 
the  world  shall  remember,  and  turn  unto  the  Lord  :  and 
all  the  kindreds  of  the  nations  shall  worship  before  him." 
That  is,  when  such  kingdom  of  the  Lord's  shall  at  last 
be  established.     But  before  then, — what  ? 

Only  last  year,  when  the  Abbd  Moigno,  in  Paris,  was 
advocating  amongst  his  countrymen,  with  a  heavenly 
patriotism  higher  than  all  patriotism  usually  so-called,  the 
weights  and  measures  of  the  Great  Pyramid ;  and  pleading 
for  them  as  belonging  to  that  government  whose  Father 
and  King  is  God, — he  was  met  by  a  noted  savant  of  the 
Academy  with  the  argument,  "  No  !  let  us  keep  to  our 
own  invented  French   metre ;    because    Great    Britain, 


1 


Chap.  XXV.]        THE  GREAT  PYRAMID.  485 

with  an  inch  so  very  like  the  Great  Pyramid's  inch, 
would  have  a  glorifying  advantage  over  us  if  that  ancient 
system  were  to  be  universally  adopted."'"" 

Alas !  has  national  rivalry  or  national  envy  driven 
modern  Frenchmen  to  so  suicidal  a  policy  as  this ! 
And  at  the  same  time,  has  national  apathy,  if  not 
apostacy,  brought  some  Englishmen  so  low,  that  it  is 
even  now,  within  these  last  very  few  years,  that  they 
have  begun  to  talk  about  abolishing  their  own  heredi- 
tary measures,  and  propose  to  throw  in  their  metrolo- 
gical  lot  with  the  all-compelling  republic,  to  be  perhaps  for 
a  moment,  under  the  Communistic  French  metric  system, 
and  amid  the  general  drifting  (which  is  now  going  on) 
of  all  the  classically  descended  nations  into  infidelity. 

If,  on  the  one  hand,  in  the  coming  contest  of  the 
standards  of  measure,  the  promises  of  God  made  to  our 
nation  of  old,  are  abundant  beyond  what  the  heart  of 
man  could  conceive ; — on  the  other,  our  responsibilities, 
perhaps  dangers,  are  most  grave.  For  though  on  one 
side  we  are  Scrip turally  told  (in  connection  with  the  pre- 
parations for  setting  up  the  Messiah's  kingdom),  that  it 
shall  be  "  when  God  has  bent  Judah  for  Him,  filled 
the  how  with  Ephraim,  and  raised  up  thy  sons,  0  Zion, 
(Israelites  of  both  houses,)  against  thy  sons,  0  Greece^ 
and  made  thee  as  the  sword  of  a  mighty  man," — 

Let  us  "be  not  high-minded  but  fear,"  when  on  the 
other  side  we  also  read,  in  the  same  undying  scroll, — 
*'  The  children  of  Ephraim,  being  armed  and  carrying 
bows,  turned  back  in  the  day  of  battle." 

May  the  Lord  in  his  mercy,  preserve  all  those  who 
have  once  put  their  hand  to  the  plough,  from  ever 
looking  back. 

•  "Lea  Mondes,"  November  7,  1872,  p.  393. 


APPENDICES. 


APPENDIX    I.— MR.  WAYNMAN  DIXON'S  CASING-STONE. 

II.— DPt.  GRANT'S  CRUCIAL  PYRAMID  INVESTI- 
GATIONS. 

III.— DR.  LEIDER'S  SUPPOSED  PYRAMID. 

IV.— MR.  JAMES  SIMPSON'S  FURTHER  PYRAMID 
CALCULATIONS. 

v.— RUDE  STONE  MONUMENTS  VERSUS  THE 
GREAT  PYRAMID. 

VI.— RECENT  ATTEMPTS  TO  SHORTEN  BOTH 
THE  GREAT  PYRAMID'S  BASE-SIDE  AND 
THE  PROFANE  CUBIT  OF  EGYPT. 


I.] 


APPENDICES, 


489 


ME.  WAYNMAN  DIXON'S  CASINa-STONE. 


nPHIS  fine  example  of  one  of  tlie  old  casing-stones  of  the 
-*-  Great  Pyramid,  is  a  recent  acquisition  in  further  illus- 
tration of  Chapter  II.,  and  was  discovered  by  Mr.  Wajmman 
Dixon,  C.E.,  in  1872,  loose,  and  forming  part  of  the  mediaeval 
hill  of  rubbish  on  the  north  side  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

Not  only  is  it  the  largest  casing-stone  fragment  which  has 
yet  been  brought  to  Europe,  but  it  has  this  superior  feature 
of  interest  above  aU  known  examples;  viz.,  that  it  has 
portions  of  the  two  original,  worked,  end  surfaces,  as  well  of 
the  top,  bottom,  and  sloping  front. 

It  is  therefore  the  only  casing-stone  from  the  Great  Pyramid 
of  which  we  know,  or  may  measure,  the  ancient  length  from 
one  end  side  to  the  other.  Eor  although  the  far  larger 
casing-stones  in  situ  discovered  by  Colonel  Howard-Vyse  near 
the  middle  of  the  north  foot  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  might 
easily  have  been  measured  in  similar  length, — and  perhaps 
were,  before  being  mischievously  broken  to  pieces  by  night 
depredators,  as  related  by  the  Colonel, — still  no  actual 
measures  of  the  length  of  those  stones  are  extant,  so  far  as  I 
am  aware. 

There  is  not  indeed  any  theoretical  necessity,  in  view  of  the 
first  and  chief  purpose  for  which  casing-stones  of  the  Great 
Pyramid  are  usually  interrogated  (viz.,  the  angle  of  slope  or 
bevel  of  the  front,  compared  with  the  horizontal  planes  of  the 
top  and  bottom  surfaces  of  the  stone),  that  we  should  know 
their  length  from  side-end  to  side-end.  But  in  the  example  of 
this,  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon's  casing-stone,  when  its  length  was 
at  last,  and  very  recently,  measured  by  him,  it  was  found  so  very 
close  to  the  formal  quantity  of  25  inches,  as  inevitably  to  raise 


490  APPENDICES.  [I 

some  question  whether  tliat  lengtli  had  been  intended.  For 
such  intention  would  have  been  equivalent  in  that  place,  both 
to  exhibiting  the  length  of  the  linear  symbolical  standard  of 
the  Great  Pyramid,  and  showing,  by  its  proportion  to  the 
whole  base-side  length  of  the  monument,  the  number  of  days 
and  parts  of  a  day  in  a  year, — a  piece  of  practical  astronomy 
far  in  advance  of  all  men  in  that  early  age. 

This  at  present  unique  stone,  then,  having  been  kindly  pre- 
sented to  me  by  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon,  has  been  formally 
deposited  in  the  Library  of  the  Royal  Observatory,  Edin- 
burgh, at  15,  Royal  Terrace,  and  is  roughly  of  the  following 
leading  dimensions : — 

20*6  inches  high,  from  level  bottom  to  level  top  surface ; 

36'7      ,,       deep,  or  from  front  to  back,  at  the  bottom  ; 

20-3      „       ^      „  „  „  „  top;  _ 

26-2      ,,       in  slope,  from  bottom  foot  up  to  top  of  sloping  bevelled  face;  and 

25-5      „       long,  from  side  end  to  side  end,  at  front. 

But  on  attempting  to  arrive  at  much  accuracy  of  measure- 
ment, there  are  several  further  details  to  be  taken  into 
account,  as  thus  ; — The  original  worked  surface  forming  the 
back  of  the  stone,  is  entirely  gone  or  broken  away,  and  only 
fragments  (sometimes  much  less  than  the  half)  of  each  of  the 
other  five  worked  surfaces  remain.  Hence  a  necessary  pre- 
liminary -to  any  exact  measure  proved  to  be,  the  making  up 
of  each  broken  surface-plane  to  its  ancient  completeness  of 
superficies  by  appl3dng  thereto  either  a  flat  drawing-board  or 
a  sheet  of  plate-glass  held  in  contact  position. 

Even  this  method,  unfortunately,  was  not  quite  accurate  or 
fair  to  the  ancient  masons,  because  the  full  truth  of  their  sur- 
faces was  intended  by  them  to  be  tested  only  by  the  circum- 
ferential border  thereof, — ^the  central  region  of  every  surface, 
except  the  bevelled  slope,  being  slightly  lowered  beneath  the 
borders ;  and  in  no  case  is  there  now  any  opportunity  of 
measuring  all  across  one  of  these  surfaces,  or  from  border  to 
border.  Making,  however,  between  such  parts  of  any  worked 
surface  as  were  still  extant,  the  best  compromise  which  the 
case  admitted  of,  the  following  results  have  been  obtained 
since  the  earlier  chapters  of  this  book  were  written : — 

1.  The  top  and  bottom  surfaces  of  the  stone  are  not  quite 
parallel ;  for,  while  their  mean  distance  apart  (or  height)  is 
20*63  British  inches,  their  particular  distance  is, — 


I.]  APPENDICES.  491 

(1)  At  back  of  stone      .     on  east  side  =•  20-41,  and  on  west  side  =  20-42 

(2)  At  front  top    ...         „        „      =20-62         „  „         =20-65 

(3)  At    front   top,  pro- 

duced 80  as  to  be 
vertically  over  the 
front  foot  of  the 
stone,     ....         „        „      =20-78        „  „        =20-71 

2.  The  errors,  or  variations  of  height  seen  above,  are  evi- 
dently of  a  nature  which  would  have  tended  to  being  cor- 
rected, had  the  back  borders  of  both  bottom  and  top  surfaces 
been  in  place.  But  it  is  otherwise  with  the  length  of  the 
stone  from  side-end  to  side-end,  both  at  different  heights,  and 
still  more  at  different  distances  from  front  to  back ;  for  the 
error  there  is  not  only  in  the  other  direction,  but  is  far 
larger ;  and  is  directly  of  such  a  kind,  as  to  make  the  back  of 
the  stone  broader  than  the  front,  or  to  cause  it  to  be  wedged  in 
and  held  fast  when  built  into  place.  And  this  was  the  very 
feature  of  Great  Pyramid  masonry,  combined  often  with  stone 
cramps,  which  gave  Colonel  Yyse  so  much  trouble  when 
excavating  into  the  south  side  of  the  monument ;  for  he  could 
only  get  each  stone  out  by  breaking  it  into  pieces  in  situ,  and 
drawing  it  forth  piecemeal.  Accordingly  we  find  for  Mr. 
Dixon's  casing-stone, — 

Length  from  end  side  to  end  side,  at  back  foot        .         .         .  =  28-2  ins. 
„  „  „  at  back  top         .        .         .  ==  27-8  „ 

„  „  „  at  front  top         .         .         .  =  26-2  „ 

„  „  „  at  front  at  middle  level      .  =  26-6  „ 

„  „  „  at  front  foot  at  lowest  level  =  24*9  „ 

3.  Hence  the  sloping  or  bevelled  front  of  the  stone  cannot 
be  said  to  be  accurately,  or  simply,  25  inches  long  from  side 
end  to  side  end.  It  is  indeed  of  that  length  at  a  level  of 
about  6  inches  above  its  base,  because  it  is  0*3  inch  shorter 
than  that  at  the  very  base,  and  1*2  inches  longer  at  the  top  ; 
but  that  is  a  very  different  thing  from  being  25  inches  broad 
all  the  way  up  and  all  the  way  down. 

4.  The  vertical  height  of  the  stone  having  been  determined 
=  20-63  inches,  to  within  '01  inch  at  the  best  part  of  the 
block  for  measuring  the  slope  length  of  the  bevelled  front ; 
and  the  latter  having  been  determined  to  be  somewhere 
between  26*22  and  2624  inches  ;  that  is  equivalent  to  saying 
(after  trigonometrical  computation)  that  the  angle  of  slope  is 
between  51°  53'  15"  and  51°  49'  55".     And  these  quantities 


492  APPENDICES.  [I. 

evidently  contain  the  theoretical  angle  of  the  Great  Pyramid, 
51°  51'  14",  between  them  very  fairly. 

The  angle  of  the  stone  might  perhaps  have  heen  obtained 
closer  than  the  limits  of  the  3  minutes  above  given,  had 
the  mass  been  either  larger,  or  in  that  exceptionally  fine 
state  of  preservation  which  Colonel  Yyse's  magnificent  ex- 
amples in  situ  were  in,  when  he  discovered  them.  But  this 
other  example  which  we  are  discussing,  besides  having 
experienced  some  tremendous  violence  by  falls  or  blows  (as 
testified  to,  by  its  great  conchoidal  bases  of  fractures)  has 
certainly  weathered  somewhat,  even  on  the  best-preserved 
parts  of  its  front  slope ;  so  that  near  the  bottom  thereof,  in 
one  place,  there  is  part  of  a  fossil  shell  (a  very  unusual  feature 
too  in  the  Mokattam  limestone)  sensibly  projecting  above  the 
general  surface,  and  capable  of  vitiating  the  result  of  measure, 
if  not  specially  guarded  against,  by  0'05  of  an  inch,  amounting 
there  to  8'  of  angle. 

"Wherefore  it  is  more  than  ever  to  be  regretted,  that 
Colonel  Yyse's  two  colossal  casing-stones,  so  exquisitely 
preserved  almost  intact  for  4,000  years,  or  from  the  primeval 
and  prehistoric  days  of  the  earth  down  to  the  year  l-SST  a.d., 
have  been  wiKuUy  destroyed  within  the  last  forty  years  of 
the  scientific  and  educated  age  of  the  modern  world,  for  no 
known  object. 


IL]  APPENDICES.  493 


II. 

DE.  JAMES  GEANT,  OF  CAIEO,  ON  SOME  CEUCIAL 
POINTS  OF  SIZE  AND  STEUOTUEE  IN  THE 
GEEAT  PYEAMID.  By  Letter  dated  8th  December, 
1873. 

(a)  the  coffer's  pathway  into  its  present  abode. 

Prelimina/ry  Explanation  hy  P.  S. 

Although  it  is  usually  held,  on  the  sepulchral  theory  of  the 
Egyptologists,  that  the  passages  of  the  Great  Pyramid  were 
formed,  both  in  size  and  angle,  for  nothing  but  the  convenience 
of  introducing  the  coffer,  or  sarcophagus,  to  its  present  final 
resting-place,  yet  there  are  some  remarkable  limitations 
opposed  to  that  idea  by  leading  mechanical  features,  thus : — 

1.  The  cofi'er  being,  without  any  lid,  of  the  same  height 
as  the  door  of  the  King's  Chamber,  within  the  fraction  of  an 
inch, — and  an  orthodox  granite  sarcophagus  lid  having  always 
stood  6  or  7  inches  higher  than  the  sarcophagus  itself, — the 
cofi'er  could  only  have  been  introduced  lidless,  or  not  in 
sarcophagus  fashion  at  all. 

2.  Even  lidless,  the  cofi'er  could  not  have  been  got  in  under 
the  corner  in  the  ceiling  of  the  entrance-passage  when  trying 
to  pass  from  that  passage  into  the  first  ascending  passage. 

Both  of  these  objections  are  generally  admitted  by  every  one 
who  has  been  at  the  Great  Pyramid,  measuring-rod  in  hand ; 
but  the  latter  of  the  two  difficulties  was  recently  sought  to  be 
obviated  by  the  suggestion  thrown  out  by  a  London  engineer 
— that  the  cofi'er  had  never  been  required  to  turn  the  above- 
mentioned  comer,  because,  instead  of  being  introduced  into 
the  Pyramid  by  the  descending  entrance-passage,  it  had  been 
brought  into  an  unknown  chamber  on  the  base  level,  from 


494  APPENDICES.  [H. 

whence  lie  conceived  that  an  ascending  passage  commenced  to 
rise,  in  the  exact  angular  line  of  the  first  ascending  passage 
produced  downwards,  through  the  floor  of  the  entrance- 
passage  and  the  masonry  beneath  it. 

This  would  evidently  have  been  a  complete  method  of 
avoiding  the  one  alleged  difficulty  of  turning  a  corner,  if 
indeed  such  a  lower  chamber  and  continuation  passage 
really  existed;  but  though  the  engineer  went  out  to  the 
Grreat  Pyramid,  and  bored  in  divers  directions,  he  could  dis- 
cover no  symptoms  of  either  one  or  the  other.  The  question 
was  then  started,  whether,  even  if  such  a  passage  did  exist, 
the  cofi'er  could  pass  end  first  (and  also  without  a  lid)  through 
the  whole  length  of  the  known  and  existing  Pyramid  passages 
to  the  King's  Chamber.  And  then  came  up  the  circumstance, 
hitherto  chronicled  only  in  ''Life  and  Work,"  that  the  lowest 
part  of  the  first  ascending  passage  is  so  much  contracted  in 
breadth,  in  order  to  enable  the  conical  granite  block  there  to 
act  as  a  cork-portcullis,  that  the  coffer  could  not  get  through 
by  an  amount  of  about  0-3  of  an  inch. 

The  engineer,  however,  refused  to  accept  these  measures, 
and  after  going  to  the  place,  announced  that  he  had  found 
that  the  coffer  wouU  pass  the  contracted  point  by  a  quarter  of 
an  inch  clear ;  a  statement  which  both  raised  hopes  again  in 
many  minds  that  the  lower  chamber  and  passage  really 
existed,  and  even  produced  some  indignation  against  my 
measures  in  ''Life  and  Work"  being  so  erroneous^  "that  by 
themselves  they  would  have  prevented  any  search  being  made 
for  so  promising  an  addition  to  our  knowledge  of  the  Pyra- 
mid's interior." 

Now  my  measures  of  the  breadth  of  the  coffer,  and  the 
breadth  of  that  contracted  part  of  the  first  ascending  passage, 
had  not  been  made  either  relatively  to  each  other  or  with  the 
knowledge  of  any  important  question  depending  on  a  com- 
bination of  the  two ;  each  had  been  measured  by  itself  in 
absolute  terms  at  the  several  times  I  was  in  each  part  of  the 
Pyramid  referred  to ; — and  they  were  only  confronted  with  each 
other  several  years  after  the  thus  separately  obtained  results 
had  been  printed.  Knowing  therefore,  on  one  side,  how  pos- 
sible it  is  for  any  one  to  make  a  larger  error  in  two  separate 
■  absolute  measures,  than  in  a  difference  ;  but  on  the  other 
side,  that  no  one  who  measured  the  end  of  the  coffer  simply 
and  hastily  in  the  present  day,  would  get  either  the  original 


II-.]  APPENDICES.  495 

breadtli  of  that  end,  or  the  present  breadth  of  the  chief  part 
of  the  length  of  the  vessel  (by  reason  of  the  chipping  that 
has  been  perpetrated  all  the  way  up  and  down  the  corner 
edges,  requiring  special  methods  of  elimination,  and  not  easy 
ones,  in  the  darkness  of  the  King's  Chamber), — knowing,  I 
say,  these  conflicting  practical  difficulties,  I  requested  Dr. 
Grant,  if  his  manifold  official  employments  should  permit  him 
so  to  do,  to  go  out  to  the  Great  Pyramid  from  Cairo,  and  make 
a  new  and  careful  mensuration  of  the  two  breadths,  one  after 
the  other,  with  the  same  measuring-rod,  and  with  attention 
to  the  coffer's  peculiarities  of  fracture  mentioned  above. 
This  he  has  now  happily  done,  and  describes  thus, — 
*'  On  December  5th  I  went  out  to  the  Pyramid,  taking  Mr. 
Waller  (an  English  dentist  in  Cairo)  with  me.  For  the 
breadth  of  the  lower  end  of  the  ascending  passage,  I  measured, 
not  as  you  did,  the  breadth  of  the  portcullis  stopping  it  up, 
but  the  breadth  of  the  passage  itself,  at  that  point.  Not,  how- 
ever, that  that  should  make  any  sensible  difference,  for  I 
don't  think  it  would  be  possible  to  insert  the  thinnest  kind  of 
paper  between  the  portcullis  and  the  passage  wall. 

''  The  result  of  my  measurement  confirms  yours,  viz.,  the 
coffer  in  King's  Chamber,  although  turned  straight  into  axis 
of  ascending  passage,  could  not  have  been  passed  along  it. 

«• 

Lower  End  of  AscBNDixa  Passage,  measured  close  to  North  End 
OP  Portcullis,  in  British  Inches. 

Breadtli  from  east  to  west,  across  top  or  north  edge  .     38-38 

Ditto,  across  middle 38'44 

Ditto,  across  bottom  or  south  edge    ....     38*12 


Coffer  in  King's  Chamber. 

Breadth  of  north  end 38-62 

Breadth  of  south  ead 38-76 

"These  are  my  measures,  and  I  can  vouch  for  their  accu- 
racy within  \  inch. 

"•  I  think  this  strengthens  the  theory  of  the  coffer  having 
served  some  other  purpose  than  that  of  a  sarcophagus,  as  all 
sarcophagi  have  been  introduced  to  their  chambers  hy  the 
passages  leading  to  themP 


4q6  appendices,  [II. 

(b)  comparative  qualities  of  material  and  work  of 
several  granite  parts  of  great  pyramid. 

Writes  Dr.  Grant :  '-'■  Mr.  Waller  has  taken  for  me  a  perfect 
cast  or  rather  impression  of  the  boss  on  the  granite  leaf,  also 
of  a  normal  part  of  the  ante-chamber,  also  of  a  normal  part  of 
wall  of  King's  Chamber,  and  also  of  a  normal  part  of  outside 
of  coffer. 

''  These  show  distinctly  that  the  coffer  has  had  a  finer  polish 
than  the  walls  of  the  chamber  containing  it ;  still  the  King's 
Chamber  has  been  remarkably  well  polished,  only  the  granite 
appears  of  a  coarser  grain  than  that  of  which  the  coffer  is 
composed. 

''Neither  the  ante-chamber,  nor  granite  leaf,  nor  boss 
have  been  polished,  but  simply  very  accurately  picked.  Be- 
tween granite  leaf  and  north  wall  of  ante-chamber  no  attempt 
seems  to  have  been  made  even  to  level  the  surface  of  that 
part  of  the  wall,  so  that  on  the  east  side  there  is  quite  a  large 
bulging  on  the  granite  wall." 

(c)  This  part  of  the  letter  refers  to  a  small  peculiarity  of 
one  of  the  five  ''pigeon-holes  "  on  either  side  of  the  chasm  at 
the  north  beginning  of  the  Grand  Gallery  (see  Plate  XIII.), 
and'  also  to  the  oblique,  cruciform  stones  let  into  the  wall, 
over  against  each  of  the  holes  in  the  ramp,  beginning  with 
the  fourth  from  the  north  end.  But  this  inquiry  is  not  yet 
concluded  (see  p.  380). 


IILl  APPENDICES, 


III. 

DE.  LEIDEE'S  SUPPOSED  PYEAMID. 

The  late  venerable  and  Eev.  Dr.  Leider,  of  Cairo,  enlarged 
much  to  me,  in  December,  1864,  on  the  beauty  (in  German- 
English)  of  a  little  pyramid  which  was  just  visible  on  the 
western  horizon,  or  far  away  in  the  Libyan  desert,  as  seen 
from  the  summit  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

In  April,  1865,  on  ascending  that  monument,  I  verified  the 
account  so  far,  that  there  was  out  there  in  that  direction  a 
conical  eminence,  which  might  be  either  a  natural  hill  or  a 
rounded  and  ruined  pyramid,  I  could  not,  at  so  great  a  dis- 
tance, say  which." 

Only  after  my  return  home  did  I  fully  appreciate  the 
singularity,  if  the  eminence  was  a  pyramid,  of  such  an  erec- 
tion being  found  so  far  away  from  the  desert  frontier  line  of 
Egypt,  when  all  her  other  pyramids  conform  closely  thereto. 
I  made  inquiries,  therefore,  far  and  wide  as  to  any  traveller, 
living  or  dead,  having  been  into  the  desert  in  that  direction, 
but  without  success.  In  the  meanwhile,  both  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Leider  were  dead ;  and  three  different  parties  whom  I  had 
successively  primed  on  this  particular  pyramid  subject  when 
they  were  going  out  to  Egypt,  failed  to  perform  their  promised 
little  piece  of  exploration. 

At  last,  in  1872,  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon,  fortified  by  the 
companionship  of  Dr.  Grant,  of  Cairo,  took  the  field.  A  for- 
midable party  of  their  special  acquaintances  among  the 
pjramid  Arabs  rushed  to  accompany  them,  on  camels,  with 
long  guns  and  ancient  battle-axes ;  and  after  a  ten-hours' 
march  into  the  thirsty  and  barren  desert,  westward  from 
the  Great  Pyramid,  they  reached  the  conical  mound — the 
veritable  Dr.  Leider's  pyramid;  but,  as  it  turned  out,  not 
a  true  or  built  pyramid,  or  artificial  structure  of  any  kind ; 

K  K 


498  APPENDICES.  [III. 

merely  a  natural  eminence;  to  which  fact  a  reef  of  rock 
cropping  out  near  the  summit  sufficiently  and  immediately 
attested. 

A  useful  negative  was  thus  given  to  sundry  pyramid  specu- 
lations, on  a  passage  from  Josephus,  touching  the  second  of 
the  two  scientific  monuments  built  by  the  righteous  descend- 
ants of  Seth  in  their  anti-Cainite  visit  to  the  land  of  Siriad, 
which  had  been  flying  about  for  several  years  ;  and  the  party 
was  rewarded  in  the  way  of  natural-history  science  by  find- 
ing close  to  the  hill  the  remains  of  a  petrified  forest,  in  the 
shape  of  silicified  and  jasperised  trunks  of  trees ;  some  of 
them  remarkably  well  preserved,  and  others  worn  out  of 
shape  by  the  long  ages  of  driving  desert  sand  which  they 
had  been  exposed  to.  But  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon  and  Dr. 
Grant  having  visited  the  scene  of  this  geological  discovery  of 
theirs  several  times  since  then,  a  further  and  fuller  account 
may,  I  believe,  shortly  be  expected  from  their  pens. 


IV.]  APPENDICES,  499 


lY. 

ME.  JAMES   SIMPSON'S  FUETHEE  PYEAMID  CAL- 
CULATIONS: m  A  Letter  from  Himself. 

Edinburgh,  \bth  December^  1873. 

My  dear  Sir, 

I  have  the  pleasure  to  return  the  four  letters  on  Great 
Pyramid  measures  which  you  kindly  sent  me  on  8th  current, 
and  in  doing  so  would  take  the  opportunity  of  mentioning 
the  following  points,  some  of  which  you  may  not  have 
noticed. 

As  before  stated,  the  diagonal  of  either  end  of  King's 
Chamber  bears  to  length  of  Pyramid's  base  the  same  pro- 
portion nearly,  that  one  day  bears  to  the  number  of  days  in  a 
lunation.  The  error  is  however  too  great  to  be  neglected, 
for  it  makes  the  base-side  9127'84  Pyramid  inches,  instead 
of  9131-05,  or  more  than  three  inches  too  short.  Yet  the 
relation  seems  intentional ;  for  when  all  four  sides,  of  the  base 
are  taken  as  the  measure  of  a  lunation,  then,  instead  of  the 
above-mentioned  diagonal,  we  have  the  circuit  of  the  King's 
Chamber  floor — equal  to  12  of  the  chamber's  units,  and  also 
to  the  24  arris  lines  of  the  coffer — as  a  not  altogether 
unfitting  representative  of  the  cycle  of  a  day.  To  represent 
the  year  on  the  same  scale  would  however  require  a  circle 
with  radius  71,871  inches.  In  connection  with  this  it  maybe 
noted  that  the  King's  Chamber  floor  consists  of  two  squares, 
each  of  which  has  an  area  in  exact  decimal  miniature  of  the 
surface  of  a  sphere  described  about  the  sun,  at  the  mean 
distance  of  the  earth ;  in  other  words,  each  half  of  the  floor 
would  receive  1-1 0^2  of  the  rays  of  a  vertical  sun,  shining 
constantly  upon  it,  or  the  whole  floor  would  intercept  the 
same  fraction  of  its  rays,  shining  12  hours  out  of  the  24. 
This  decimal  relation  is  a  simple  deduction  from  the  theorem 


500  APPENDICES.  [IV. 

which,  connects  the  King's  Chamber's  proportions  with  the 
Pyramid's  vertical  height,  and  that  which  connects  the 
vertical  height  with  the  sun's  mean  distance.  The  division 
of  the  said  sphere-surface  into  lO^^  equal  areas  is  in  a  manner 
contemplated  in  the  origin  of  the  Pyramid  :  for,  dividing  the 
sphere's  equator  into  10^^  equal  parts  for  meridians,  and  its 
axis  into  10^^  equal  parts  for  latitude  planes, — these  parts 

will  be  respectively  365*242  and —  inches.     The  portion 

of  the  sun's  surface  corresponding  to  one  of  these  parts  would 
be  about  -9148  square  inch. 

It  is  a  fact  curious  enough  in  itself,  and  which  perhaps 
furnished  the  Pyramid  builders  with  a  natural  precedent  for 
their  extensive  adoption  of  the  same  ratio, — that  the  volume 
of  the  sun  is  so  nearly  1-10^  of  that  of  the  sphere  just  referred 
to ;  the  mean  radius  for  the  sun  which  would  give  that  ratio 
exactly,  being  426,272  British  miles.  Prom  which  it  would 
also  follow  that  the  sun's  volume  is  10^^  times  that  of  a 
sphere  whose  radius  is  the  height  of  the  Pyramid :  for  the 
latter  sphere  is  to  the  sphere  of  the  earth's  mean  distance 
from  sun,  as  1  :  lO^x^  ;  and  lO^x^  divided  by  10^  is  lO^o. 

There  is  another  and  smaller  sphere  which  may  have  some- 
thing to  say  here.  You  have  shown  that  Solomon's  '^  Molten 
Sea"  was,  as  to  its  general  form,  almost  certainly  a  hemi- 
sphere, and  its  hollow  contents  a  remarkable  gauge  of  the 
size  and  weight  of  the  earth.  If  its  outer  diameter  were 
250*4756  Pyramid  inches,  or  but  a  fraction,  greater  than  the 
10  S.  cubits  assigned  to  it,  the  contents  of  the  whole  sphere 
would  be  just  1-10^^  of  the  sun.  And  nearly  the  same  result 
would  be  brought  out  by  considering  its  form  as  slightly 
spheroidal,  so  as  to  make  the  vessel  a  perfect  model,  on  a 
scale  of  1-2,000, 000th,  of  one  hemisphere  (in  equatorial  section) 
of  the  earth.  Then,  if  the  hollow  interior  were  similar,  and 
its  contents  50x71,588  Pyramid  cubic  inches, — or  l-20th  of 
the  sphere  described  about  the  King's  Chamber, — the  thick- 
ness of  the  brass,  varying  from  5*7244  and  5*7229  on  the 
principal  equatorial  axes,  to  5*7146  on  the  polar  axis,  would 
be  eminently  expressive,  in  inch-units,  of  nearly  the  same 
earth-density  as  is  denoted  by  such  interior  capacity — namely, 
5*727. 

There  is  implied  in  the  foregoing  a  certain  near  commen- 
surability  in   size   between  the  earth  and  sun,    which   can 


I 


IV.]  APPENDICES.  501 

be  readily  shown  by  comparing  both  with  the  Pyramid's 
altitude.  Let  the  mean  diameter  of  the  earth  (say  501, 106, 000 
Pyramid  inches)  be  divided  by  a  million,  and  by  the  cube 
root  of  10  ;  the  result  will  be  232-5924,  or  the  number  of  S. 
cubits  in  5814-81  inches,  while  the  theoretical  height  of  the 
Pyramid  is  5813-01,  or  1-8  inch  less.  Letting  this  difference 
pass,  it  will  be  seen  that  if  the  earth's  mean  diameter  were 
half  as  great  as  it  is,  the  volume  of  the  earth  would  then  be 
10^^  times  the  sphere  whose  radius  is  the  Pyramid's  height, 
while  the  sun  is  10^^  times  the  same,  and  is  therefore  = 
1,250,000  earths.  But  in  order  that  this  should  be  exactly 
true,  the  earth's  mean  diameter  would  require  to  be  500,950,000 
Pyramid  inches. 

The  ratio  of  the  Pyramid's  height  to  the  earth's  diameter 
is  the  duplicate  or  square  of  that  of  the  earth's  ellipticity  at 
some  one  meridian — the  ratio  to  the  mean  diameter  being 
l-293'606th,  which  is  probably  not  far  from  the  ellipticity  of 
the  Pyramid's  own  meridian.  Let  E  =  linear  value  of  this 
ratio,  M  =  earth's  mean  diameter  (or  its  diameter  at  the 
Great  Pyramid  ?),  and  A  =  Pyramid's  height.     Then 

A:E:  :  E:  M;  orAM=:E2 

and  expressing  M  in  terms  of  A  (see  preceding  paragraph), 

A  (40,000  v^To  A)  =  E2;  or  40,000  \/iTA2  =  E^ 
Square  root  of  which  =.  im  V\^  k    =  E 

And  100  ^10  A    -% 

From  this  and  previous  propositions  it  appears  that 
(neglecting  small  differences)  the  Pyramid's  height  is  commen- 
surable, in  terms  of  integral  powers  and  roots  of  10,  with — 

1.  The  difference  between  the  polar  and  some  one  equa- 
torial radius  of  the  earth  ; 

2.  The  earth's  mean  semi-radius ; 

3.  The  sun's  mean  radius ;  and, 

4.  The  mean  distance  of  the  sun,  or  moan  radius  vector  of 
the  earth's  orbit ; 

or  with  decimal  parts  of  these  quantities. 


502  APPENDICES.  [IV. 

The  theory  of  squares  in  Queen's  Chamber  gives  for  the 
cuhic  diagonal  of  that  room  356*915  Pyramid  inches.  This  is 
doubtless  nearer  the  truth  than  the  356-04  derived  from  your 
mean  measures,  which  are  uncorrected  for  wall-incrustations, 
— and  accords  very  nearly  with  another  theoretical  quantity 
obtained  as  follows.  Ten  million  is  the  number  of  S.  P. 
cubits  in  the  earth's  semi-axis  of  rotation,  or  of  50-inch  cubits 
in  the  whole  axis.  If  10,000,000  square  inches  be  formed 
into  a  circle,  the  diameter  of  that  circle,  divided  by  10,  will 
be  356'8246,  or  the  cubic  diagonal  of  Queen's  Chamber.  But 
356-8246  is  the  diameter   of  a  sphere   whose   contents   are 

=  1000  coffers  divided  by  3,  or  -3-  71,365  ;  and  356-8246  x 

l^is  also  71,365.     Again,   if  10,000,000  cubic  inches  (the 
5 

capacity  of  the  Queen's  Chamber)  be  formed  into  a  sphere, 
the  diameter  of  that  sphere,  divided  by  10,  wiU  be  26*73008, 
or  the  interior  breadth  of  the  coffer ;  and  267*3008  squared 
is  71,449.  A"  more  direct  connection  between  Queen's 
Chamber  and  coffer  is  this,  that  the  cubic  diagonal  of  the 
former  is  just  4  times  the  cubic  diagonal  of  the  interior  of 
the  latter :  356-8246  ~  4  =  89-206  ;  or  356-915  -r  4  =  89-229  ; 
as  compared  with  89-168  from  your  mean  measures  of  coffer. 
Hence,  if  10,000,000  square  cubits  be  taken,  and  made  into  a 
circle,  that  circle  will  have  a  diameter  of  89,206  inches,  = 
1000  coffer  diagonals.  But  it  is  possible  th-at  the  4  interior 
diagonals  of  this  vessel  (perhaps  also  the  4  exterior  dia- 
gonals) were  purposely  of  different  lengths.  For  instance, 
the  mean  length  of  the  Pyramid's  arris  lines^  divided  by  100, 
is  either  89-0946  or  89*3404,  according  as  the  base-side  is 
called  365*242  or  366*25  S.  cubits;  and  the  latter  number 
cubed  gives  10  times  the  coffer's  contents,  or  713,090  cubic 
inches;  while  the  mean  (89*2175)  agrees  with  the  coffer 
diagonals  derived  above  from  Queen's  Chamber. 

If  the  cubic  diagonal  of  the  exterior  of  the  coffer  were  4 
times  the  interior  breadth,  or  106-920  (my  measures  however 
give  only  106*468),  it  would  make  the  circumscribed  sphere 
just   one-tenth   of  that  inscribed   in  the  King's  Chamber's 

height :  for  230*3886  -^  y'To'=  106*912. 

Perhaps  the  coffer's  size,  shape,  and  position  in  the 
Pyramid  may  be  indicated  in  the  following  way.     Mr.  F. 


IV.]  APPENDICES.  503 

Petrie  lias  observed  that  it  stands  at  a  level  of  100  times 
its  own  height,  below  the  Pyramid's  summit : — 

Let  40*9954  (King's  Chamber  semi-diagonal -r- 2  tt)  = 
least  or  central  height  of  coffer ;  then  Pyramid's  height, 
O813-01,  —4099-54  =  1713-47,=  level  of  toj^  of  coffer 
above  Pyramid's  base. 

Let  41*4096  =  greatest  or  corner  height  of  coffer ;  then 
5813-01  —  4140-96  =  1672-05,  =  level  of  hottom  of  coffer 
above  Pyramid's  base. 

And  the  square  roots  of  1713*47  and  1672*05  are  41*4 
and  40*9  nearly. 

Let  5813-01  be  divided  into  two  parts,  such  that  the 
square  root  of  the  less  shall  be  1-1 00th  of  the  greater, 
these  parts  will  be 

ia)  4117*57, 

(J)  1695-44, 
and  will  represent  the  mean  level  of  coffer,  or  level  of  its 
centre.  And  the  square  root  of  (5)  =  41*1757  is  the  coffer's 
mean  height;  while  the  square  root  of  [a)  =  64*1683  is 
the  mean  of  its  mean  length  and  breadth :  which  dimen- 
sions, combined  with  a  proportion  of  3  :  7  for  length  and 
breadth,  give  for  cubic  contents  of  exterior  142,704,  or 
71,352  X  2. 

Also  if  4117*57  be  taken  as  radius,  then  circumference 
(or  perimeter  of  plane  through  Pyramid  at  level  of  coffer's 
centre)  =25,871*5  or  the  years  in  Precession  Period; 
agreeing  closely  with  cubic  diagonal  of  King's  Chamber, 
measuring  to  foot  of  walls,  X  100,  =  25,873. 

As  the  sum  of  the  24  arris  lines  of  coffer  is  =  circuit  of 
King's  Chamber  floor,  their  mean  length,  and  also  the 
difference  between  length  and  breadth  of  base,  will  be 
51*5165  inches,  =  diameter  of  a  sphere  whose  contents  are 
71,588,  which,  though  larger  than  most  of  the  values  for 
coffer's  contents,  seems  entitled  to  some  weight,  as  it  is 
repeated  in  the  sphere  described  about  King's  Chamber. 

It  would  appear  that  the  numbers  3,  5,  7,  and  10  (whose 
sum  is  25)  play  a  prominent  part  in  both  the  King's  and 
Queen's  Chamber,  with  this  difference,  that  while  in  the 
King's  Chamber  3  is  coupled  with  7,  and  5  with  10, — as  in 
the  arrangements  of  the  coffer,  tt  proportions,  and  general 
*'fiftiness"  of  the  room; — in  the  Queen's  Chamber  it  is  3 


504  APPENDICES.  .  [IV. 

that  is  associated  with  5,  and  7  with  10, — as  in  the  3x5 

arrangement  of  the  squares,  the  7  sides  and  10  angles  of  the 

room,  its  5  X  3  an  is  lines,  and  its  10'''  inches'  capacity. 

I  am,  my  dear  Sir, 

Yours  very  truly. 

Professor  Piazzi  Smyth,  JAMES  SIMPSON. 

15,  Royal  Terrace. 


Postscript. 
king's  chamber  heights. 

With  reference  to  the  collection  of  my  theoretic  results  for 
the  size  of  the  King's  Chamber  in  Pyramid  inches  at  p.  181, 
it  is  correct  so  far  as  it  goes,  but  would  have  been  completer 
for  all  the  other  problems  to  be  solved — ^besides  the  one  you 
were  then  treating  of,  viz.,  my  sums  of  the  squares — if  you 
had  added  the  second  height  which  the  room  possesses  ;  and 
which,  if  the  first  height  =  230-3886,  is  according  to  your 
measures  at  the  place,  =  230-3886  +  5*0  Pyramid  inches ; 
say  235-3886. 

My  theoretic  results  acknowledge  the  necessity  of  such  a 
second  height  to  the  room;  for  while  its  geometrical  sym- 
metry and  some  connections  with  outside  of  Pyramid,  as  well 
as  an  apparent  reference  to  the  earth's  size  and  density  (in 
height  H-  a  density  of  5-70424  being  =  to?  side  of  a  cube 
equal  to  the  earth),  depend  on  and  come  out  excellently  with 
the  first  height ;  the  cubic  capacity  of  20  million  inches,  and 
the  TT  relation  between  length  of  room  and  circuit  of  north  or 
south  wall — ^results  not  less  important  to  a  scientific  monu- 
ment— only  come  out  on  using  the  second  height.  At  the 
same  time,  however,  theory  is  not  able  to  assign  in  every 
case  one  and  the  same  precise  value  to  the  increment  of 
second  over  first  height;  for  in  one  problem  it  makes  the 
quantity  4*85,  in  another  5-11  Pyramid  inches,  indicating  on 
the  mean  5-0  inches  very  nearly.  "While  finally,  the  reference 
from  chamber  length  to  vertical  height  of  Grreat  Pyramid 
demands  a  chamber  height  almost  equal  to  the  mean  of  the 
two  heights  ;  viz.,  232-52  Pyramid  inches.  A  quantity,  how- 
ever, specially  known  to  the  architect,  its  exact  half  being 
represented  in  the  116-26  length  of  the  ante-chamber,  mul- 
tiplied by  50  in  place  of  25. 

J.  S. 


v.]  APPENDICES.  CO; 


v.. 

BUDE  STONE  MONUMENTS  VERSUS  THE  GEEAT 
PYEAMID. 

Under  tlie  first  half  of  the  above  title,  the  chief  philosophic 
architect  of  our  time,  James  Fergusson,  D.O.L.,  has  published 
during  the  last  year  an  important  octavo  volume  of  532  pp., 
and  234  illustrations:  and  the  book  is  abundantly  descrip- 
tive of  rough  Cyclopean  stone  circles,  such  as  Stonehenge, 
Avebury,  Stanton-Drew,  &c.,  and  of  all  the  occasional  rows 
or  groups  of  stones  which,  however  rough,  have  evidently 
been  brought  to  their  places  and  set  up  by  the  hand  of  man, 
and  are  now  known  as  dolmens,  kistvaens,  menhirs,  crom- 
lechs, trilithons,  &c.,  &c.,  both  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa. 

After  brushing  away  the  dust  of  supposed  prehistoric,  and 
with  some  persons  even  geologic,  ages  of  antiquity ;  and  after 
disestablishing  the  Druids  from  temples  they  were  only  theo- 
retically promoted  to,  long  after  they  had  disappeared  from 
the  surface  of  the  earth  under  the  sword  of  the  E-omans — 
Mr.  Fergusson  successfully  shows  (avoiding  indeed  the  earlier 
chambered  tumuli  of  Lydians,  Pelasgi,  Etruscans,  &c.,  and 
keeping  chiefly  to  the  extreme  west  of  Europe) — he  shows,  I 
repeat,  that  the  dates  of  all  the  chief  examples  of  these  rough 
and  rude  stone,  or  stone  and  earth,  erections  are  certainly 
confined  within  periods  of  from  300  to  900  a.d.,  and  were 
commemorative  chiefly  of  the  successful  military  exploits  of 
those  various  new  peoples  who  appeared  in  Europe  at  that 
time  from  the  North  and  East,  and  established  themselves  on 
the  ruins  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

In  so  far  this  author's  subject  has  nothing  in  common  with 
the  Great  Pyramid,  whether  in  its  perfection  of  finish  or 
vastly  earlier  date  of  erection ;  yet  for  all  that  is  the  Great 
Pyramid  lugged  into  his  book,  and  with  such  an  effort  at 


5o6  APPENDICES.  [V. 

mischief  to  the  sacred  and  scientific  Pyramidal  theory,  that  a 
few  words  in  explanation  of  what  he  considers  he  has  accom- 
plished towards  that  destructive  end  and  aim  of  his  ambition, 
may  not  be  thought  unsuitable  here. 

Under  pretended  cover,  then,  of  following  the  method  of  the 
Pjnramid  scientific  theorists,  Mr.  Fergusson  demurely  speaks 
of  the  size  of  his  rude  stone  circles  (which  he  knows  were 
built  some  1,200  years  ago)  being,  as  a  rule,  either  100  feet, 
or  100  metres,  in  diameter. 

Whatever  may  be  said  for  the  feet,  of  course  Mr.  Fer- 
gusson understands,  and  no  one  better,  that  the  old  circle 
builders  could  not  have  had  any  modern  French  metre 
among  them :  but  he  asserts  that  such  a  standard  is  what 
legitimately  comes  out,  as  the  rule,  when  the  scientific 
Pyramid  methods  of  theorising  are  applied  to  the  measui'es 
of  the  size  of  his  stone  circles  ;  and  that  he  therefore  and 
thereby  not  only  obtains  a  short  and  easy  method  of  de- 
scribing their  size,  but  also  of  reducing  to  absurdity  what- 
ever has  recently  been  written  for  the  sacred  and  scientific 
character  of  the  Great  Pyramid.  And  yet  he  is  so  mortally 
afraid  of  his  character  being  injured  in  London  society, 
by  any  one  possibly  supposing  that  he  has  admitted  the 
truth  of  the  smallest  part  of  the  said  sacred  and  scientific 
theory  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  merely  because  he  has  touched 
upon  it  at  all, — that  although  he  has  "  Piazzi  Smyth  his 
theories  "  in  his  index, — ^yet  the  subject-matter  so  alluded  to 
does  not  appear  in  the  large  and  readable  letterpress  of  Mr. 
Fergusson' s  book,  but  in  the  almost  invisible  small  print  of 
a  note,  and  even  then  with  the  following  bashful  apology  for 
himself:  — 

''I am  almost  afraid  to  allude  to  it,  even  in  a  note,  lest  any 
one  should  accuse  me  of  founding  any  theory  upon  it,  like 
Piazzi  Smyth's  British  inches  in  the  Pyramids,  but  it  is  a 
curious  coincidence  that  nearly  all  the  British  circles  are  set 
out  in  two  dimensions.  [Mark  that,  if  you  please,  gentle 
reader:  Nearly  all  the  British  circles  are  set  out  in  two 
dimensions.]  The  smaller  class  are  100  feet,  the  larger  are 
100  metres,  in  diameter.  They  are  all  more  than  100  yards. 
The  latter  measure  (metres)  is,  at  all  events,  certainly  acci- 
dental, so  far  as  we  at  present  know,  but  as  a  nomenclature 
and  memoria  technica,  the  employment  of  the  term  may  be 
useful,  provided  it  is  clearly  understood  that  no  theory  is 


v.] 


APPENDICES. 


507 


based  upon  it:"  and  there  then  follow  throughout  Mr.  Fer- 
gusson's  book  his  frequent  allusions  to  the  stone  circles,  as 
being  either  100  feet,  or  100  metre^  circles. 

Now,  though  in  the  above  extract  I  could  not  but  be 
shocked  at  the  learned  architectural  D.O.L.'s  triple  blunder 
of  ''''  Piazzi  SmyWs  discovery  of  British  inches  in  the  Pyra- 
mids,"— in  place  of  ^^  John  Taylor^  discovery  of  earth-com- 
mensurahle  inches  being  founded  upon  in  the  unique,  primeval, 
and  anti-Egyptian  design  of  the  Great  Pyramid;''^  still  I 
thought  myself  bound  to  accept,  until  the  contrary  had  been 
proved,  that  the  celebrated  Mr.  Fergusson  had  really  alighted 
on  a  very  curious  numerical  coincidence  having  the  degree  of 
closeness  alone  recognised  in  modern  Grreat  Pyramid  theoris- 
ing, amongst  his  rude  stone  circles.  In  which  case,  all  honour 
to  Mr.  Fergusson,  no  matter  what  the  consequences  of  his 
discovery  might  ultimately  prove  to  be. 

With  the  best  desire  therefore  to  appreciate  the  truth  and 
cogency  of  James  Fergusson' s  remarkable  7?w(?,  I  have  noted 
one  after  another,  as  they  came  up,  the  following  measures  of 
the  stone  circles,  out  of  his  own  hook:— 


Page 


51, 
b5, 
62, 
62, 
62, 
63, 

75, 
76, 
78, 
78, 
85, 
124, 
124, 
127, 
139, 
139, 
140, 
141, 
146, 
149, 
149, 
149, 
158, 
160, 
160, 
161, 
161, 


chambered  tumulus,  stated,  in  diameter 

.  = 

24 

fee 

"sacred"  stone  circle,  by  scale,  in  diameter  = 

80 

)> 

great  stone  circle,  stated,  in  diameter 

.    z=. 

1200 

>» 

smaller  circle,  stated,  in  diameter 

•    =: 

350 

)f 

still  smaller,  stated,  in  diameter  . 

.    = 

325 

n 

two    interior    circles,   each,   by    scale,  ii 

1 

diameter 

.     ZZ. 

150 

» 

stone  circle,  stated,  in  diameter  . 

.     z=. 

138  to  155 

n 

do.                do. 

,     ZZ 

45  to    51 

i* 

Silbury  tumulus,  stated,  base  diameter 
do.            do.            top  diameter 

.     z=. 

652 

it 

,   zz 

102 

n 

mound,  stated,  diameter     . 

zz. 

198 

)» 

stone  circle,  stated,  diameter 

zz 

60 

»» 

do.            do. 

.   z= 

60 

» 

do.            do. 

n: 

330 

» 

circular  platform,  stated,  diameter 

=z 

167 

>f 

rampart,  stated,  circumference  -f-  tt 

= 

261 

>» 

stone  circle,  by  scale,  diameter   . 

r: 

140 

ft 

tumulus,  stated,  diameter   . 

— 

70  to    80 

tt 

oval  ring,  stated,  diameter . 

zz. 

156  to  243 

tt 

stone  circle,  stated,  diameter 

zz 

345  to  378 

ft 

do.                do. 

.    zz 

129 

„ 

do.                do. 

:::; 

96 

tt 

cist  circle,  by  scale,  diameter 

zz 

65 

l» 

stone  circle             do. 

,    zz 

160 

»t 

do.                do. 

.   = 

102 

tt 

do.                do. 

zz 

80 

tt 

do.               do. 

zz 

63 

tt 

5o8 


APPENDICES, 


age  161,  stone  circle,  by  scale,  diameter 

=     57 

„     161,             do.                do. 

=     50 

„     161,             do.                do. 

=     40 

„     182,             do.                do. 

=  120 

„     182,             do.                do. 

=     80 

„     182,              do.                 do. 

=     60 

„     182,              do.                 do. 

=     40 

„     194,  oval  mound            do. 

-  430  to  550 

„     194,  curved  mound        do. 

r=    140 

,,     194,  circular  mound       do. 

=    110 

„     19  i,              do.                 do. 

=     75 

„     202,  stone  circle,  stated,  diameter 

=  333 

„     214,             do.                do. 

=   116 

„     228,  circular  rampart     do. 

=  580 

„     241,  stone  circle              do. 

=  340 

„     241,              do.                 do. 

=  104 

„     259,              do.                do. 

=     60  to  100 

„     259,              do.                 do. 

=     42 

„     262,              do.                do. 

=1     60 

„     264,              do.                do. 

.   -  »46 

„     266,  tumulus                   do. 

=     70 

„     266,  stone  circle              do. 

.   =  100 

„      266,  tumulus                   do. 

.  =     60 

„     266,  stone  circle             do. 

.   =:     80 

feet. 


Now  when  we  find  here,  that  out  of  more  than  fifty  of  Mr. 
Fergusson's  own  examples,  only  one  of  them  measures  100 
feet,  and  not  one  of  them  100  metres,  and  that  the  remainder 
vary  from  24  to  1,200  feet  in  diameter, — it  is  pretty  plain 
that  he  must  have  a  positive  deficiency  in  some  part  of  his 
head  touching  numbers,  though  a  large  ambition  in  his 
heart  to  immortalise  himself  therein.  And  as  to  his  accom- 
panying dread  of  being  possibly  suspected  in  the  London 
clubs  of  having  become  a  veritable  scientific  Grreat  Pyramid 
theorist,  through  means  of  his  fallacious  100-metre  circle 
discovery, — so  that  he  conceals,  at  the  same  time  that  he 
publishes,  such  supposed  discovery  by  consigning  it  to  the 
small  print  only  of  a  note  at  the  foot  of  a  page,  and  covered 
over,  even  there,  with  a  particular  apology: — alas!  it  may 
rather  remind  other  men  of  a  certain  courtier  in  Asia  Minor, 
who,  while  bursting  with  desire  to  tell  of  Ms  then  recent, 
and  too  wonderful,  discovery,  yet  was  so  timid  about  it 
withal,  that  he  must  needs  go  far  away  from  the  haunts  of 
men,  dig  a  hole  by  the  bank  of  a  secluded  river,  breathe 
into  it  the  suicidal  words,  that  ''Midas  has  the  ears  of  an 
ass,"  and  then  hastily  fill  in  the  earth  again :  but  which 
refused  to  retain  the  secret  so  confided  to  it ;  for  the  sedges 
which  afterwards  grew  over  the  place,  whenever  a  wind  of 


v.] 


APPENDICES, 


509 


heaven  rustled  among  their  leaves,  still  murmured  forth, 
*'  Midas  has  the  ears  of  an  ass." 

But  Mr.  Fergusson  is  not  always  timid,  for  how  he  does 
delight  to  stamp  upon  painstaking  Dr.  Stukely,  the  lion  of 
200  years  ago,  who  himself  measured  and  mapped  in  the  field 
so  many  of  the  rude  stone  circles.  That  work  was  perhaps 
Dr.  Stukely' s  forte;  wherefore,  when  Mr.  Fergusson,  at  his 
own  p.  149,  makes  such  a  mull  as  to  name  a  ciicle  of  345 
feet  in  diameter,  ''a  100 -metre  circle,"  100  metres  amounting 
only  to  328*09  feet,  why  did  he  not  remember  to  say  that  his 
predecessor.  Dr.  Stukely,  had  remarked  two  centuries  ago 
on  many  of  those  old  circles  having  been  laid  out  in  round 
numbers  of  the  far  older,  and  indeed  contemporaneous,  'pro- 
fane cubit  of  Egypt ;  especially  when  that  cubit,  being  taken 
in  its  double  form  of  the  cubit  of  Karnak,  is  equal,  in  its 
100  midtiple,  to  exactly  345  feet,  or  the  very  quantity  which 
Mr.  Fergusson  had  then  before  him  to  explain,  if  he  could, 
without  sinning  against  both  mensuration  truth  and  the 
sequence  of  history  ? 

But  there  is  worse  to  come. 


THE  AECHITECTURAL   FACTS   OF   THE   GREAT   PYRAMID. 


In  his  p.  31,  speaking  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  Mr.  Fergus- 
son  truly  allows  it  to  be  ''  the  most  perfect  and  gigantic  speci- 
men of  masonry  that  the  world  has  yet  seen;"  and  that, 
according  to  mere  human  methods  of  developmei^t  and  pro- 
gression, almost  infinite  mjrriads  of  years  must  have  intervened 
between  the  first  rude  tumuli,  or  stone  sepulchres  erected  in 
Egypt,  and  the  building  of  such  a  pyramid. 

But  in  that  case  there  ought  to  be  vastly  more  stone  monu- 
ments in  Egypt  hefore  the  day  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  than 
after  it,  especially  as  in  the  dry  Egyptian  climate  we  are  told 
again  and  again  that  '*  nothing  decays ;"  and  then  comes  the 
stunning  announcement,  both  from  Mr.  Fergusson,  Dr. 
Lepsius,  and  every  good  Egyptologist,  that  there  are  no 
monuments  at  all  in  Egypt  older  than  the  Great  Pyramid. 
The  Great  Pyramid,  therefore,  according  to  all  the  known 
facts  of  the  longest  known  country  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
led  oft'  the  art  of  stone  architecture  in  Egypt  in  a  sudden  uprise 
to  excellency,  or  a  totally  difi'erent  manner  from  all  human 


510  APPENDICES.  [Y. 

experience  of  what  always  is,  and  must  be,  wlien  man  works 
by  bis  own  powers  alone,  unassisted  by  direct  Divine  inspi- 
ration. 

Of  this  astounding,  and  humanly  unexplainable,  abyss  of 
nothing  of  architectural  remains  at  all  before,  but  an  abun- 
dant train  after,  the  majestic  Grreat  Pyramid, — Mr.  Fergusson 
says  in  another  foot-note,  ''  it  is  so  curious  as  almost  to  justify 
Piazzi  Smyth's  wonderful  theories  on  the  subject." 

And  what  does  Mr.  Pergusson  therefore  do  ?  Does  he 
consent  to  the  cogency  of  these,  as  well  as  all  the  other, 
facts  of  his  own  professional  science,  and  his  own  still  more 
peculiar  methods  of  philosophising  upon  them  in  order  to 
elicit  the  monumental  history  of  man ;  and  confess,  that  so 
far  as  they  go,  they  do  lead  to  nothing  less  than  a  Divine 
intervention  in  the  history  of  man  having  here  occurred  in 
the  primeval  times  of  the  human  race ;  to  the  end  that  this, 
even  still  unequalled,  glory  of  building,  the  Great  Pyramid, 
appeared  suddenly  on  the  stage  of  history  ;  as  when  the  Lord 
says  through  Isaiah  (xlviii.  3),  ''I  did  them  suddenly  and 
they  came  to  pass  "  ? 

Nothing  of  the  kind.  The  unhappy  man  merely  wraps 
his  mantle  of  prejudice  more  tightly  than  ever  around  him  ; 
and  after  actually  attempting  to  thrust  down  the  throats  of 
the  public  the  same  improper  unction  which  he  has  been 
applying  to  keep  down  the  conscience-pricks  of  his  own  soul, 
exclaims,  in  the  forced  words  of  endeavour  to  shame  the  facts 
— '*  But  there  is  no  reason  whatever  to  suppose  that  the  pro- 
gress of  art  in  Egypt  differed  essentially  from  that  elsewhere. 
The  previous  examples  are  lost,  and  that  seems  all." 

That  all,  indeed  !  Why,  that  is  admitting  everything ;  and 
implies  the  destruction  and  total  disapi)earance,  without  leav- 
ing a  wrack  behind  in  the  most  preservative  of  all  climates, 
of  more  architecture  than  is  now  standing  on  the  surface  of 
the  whole  globe:  and  the  admission  may  further  worthily 
include  what  Mr.  Fergusson  nowhere  allows  (though  the 
Great  Pyramid  scholars  do),  viz.,  the  truth  of  the  Noachic 
deluge,  the  dispersion  of  mankind  according  to  the  Bible, 
and  the  innate  wickedness  of  the  human  heart. 


VL]  APPENDICES.  ^i 


VI. 

EECENT  ATTEMPTS  TO  SHOETEN  BOTH  THE  GEEAT 

PYEAMID'S  BASE-SIDE  AND  THE.PEOFANE 

EGYPTIAN  CUBIT. 

The  following  short  paper, — having  been  sent  to  the  Eoyal 
Society  of  London  on  October  27th,  1873,  and  not  having  been 
heard  of  again  by  me,  except  that  it  was  received  there,  up 
to  the  time  of  going  to  press  with  this  Appendix  in  January, 
1874,  it  is  printed  here  in  the  interests  of  truth  and  fact. 

P.  S. 

On  the  Length  of  a  Side  of  the  Bme  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  ly 
Piazzi  Smyth,  F.R.S. 

My  attention  has  been  directed  to  the  abstract  of  a  paper 
in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Eoyal  Society  for  June,  1873 
(pp.  407  and  408),  through  its  having  led  Professor  Clerk 
Maxwell  into  a  serious  error  in  an  Egyptian  allusion  ventured 
by  him  in  his  otherwise  most  admirable  address  on  "  Mole- 
cules "  before  the  British  Association  lately  at  Bradford. 

The  error,  published  by  so  influential  a  body,  is  far  too 
grave  to  be  passed  over;  because,  not  only  does  it  fight 
against  the  time-honoured  conclusions  of  the  first  Egyptolo- 
gists of  the  age  as  to  what  was  *'  the  common  "  and  indeed 
universal  cubit  length  of  ancient  Egypt ;  not  only  too  does  it 
imply  a  metrological  equality  between  Egypt  and  Greece, 
instead  of  Egypt  and  Babylon — but  because  the  new  length 
now  assigned  to  the  so-called  "common"  cubit  of  Egy|)t  is 
only  brought  in  at  all  by  its  author.  General  Sir  Henry 
James,  E.E.,  by  means  of — 

1.  An  unfair  selection,   twice   repeated,   of   the  modern 


512  APPENDICES.  [VL 

measured  lengths  of  the  base-side  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 
And— 

2.  A  meaning  attributed  by  him  to  certain  words  in 
Herodotus,  making  them  tell  the  very  opposite  story  to  what 
they  were  intended  by  their  real  author  to  do. 

These  things  were  indeed  shown  by  me,  in  their  simple 
and  true  light,  in  Yol.  XIII.  of  the  '^  Edinburgh  Astronomical 
Observations,"  pp.  E  67 — E  72.  But  as  Sir  Henry  James  now 
returns  to  his  errors  as  though  they  had  never  been  ques- 
tioned, and  produces  them  as  part  of  the  regular  work  of  the 
Ordnance  Survey  of  Great  Britain ;  and  as  they  are  moreover 
on  the  present  occasion  issued  to  the  world  (in  abstract  at 
least)  under  the  name  of  the  Eoyal  Society,  and  have  been 
further  spread,  with  damaging  effect  to  the  truth  in  the 
minds  of  many,  by  the  British  Association — on  all  these 
accounts  it  seems  necessary  to  make  some  public  protest  in 
the  name  and  for  the  sake  of  the  three  noblest  attributes  of 
scientific  man,  viz.,  accurate  measuring,  truth  stating,  and 
just  doing,  with  a  glowing  allusion  to  which  Professor  Clerk 
Maxwell  closed  his  able  and  eloquent  discourse. 

OF  THE  LENGTH  OF  A  SIDE  OF  THE  SQUARE  BASE  OF  THE  GREAT 
PYRAMID,  AS  MEASURED  BY  MODERN  SCIENCE. 

''The  most  recent  measures  of  the  Great  Pyramid's  base 
side,"  says  Sir  Henry  James,  in  the  'Eoyal  Society's  Proceed- 
ings,' "  are  those  made  by  the  Eoyal  Engineers  and  Mr.  Inglis, 
a  civil  engineer,  and  give  a  mean  length  of  9,120  British 
inches."  Whereupon  Sir  Henry  James  adopts  that  quantity 
as  exactly  proving  an  hypothesis  lately  invented  by  himself, 
and  mentions  no  other  competing  measures. 

Yet  Sir  Henry  James  knew  of  other  measui'es,  and  quite 
worthy  ones  too  of  being  brought  into  the  general  mean 
determination.  For  while  in  that  very  Proceedings'  paper  he 
quotes  Colonel  Howard- Yyse  and  Mr.  Perring  for  the  base- 
side  lengths  of  several  other  pyramids,  though  he  does  not 
quote  them  there  for  the  more  important  Great  Pyramid's 
base-side  length, — he  not  only  did  quote  those  authors  in  a 
former  paper  in  1867  for  that  feature  of  that  pyramid,  but  he 
erected  them  then,  under  the  name  of  Colonel  Howard- Yyse 
alone,  into  his  sole  authority,  not  even  allowing  Mr.  Inglis's 
result  at  that  time  to  appear  by  the  side  of  it. 


VI.]  APPENDICES.  513 

And  the  reason  why  Sir  Henry  James  quoted  so  honourably 
Vyse's  9,168  inch  measure  and  extinguished  Mr.  Inglis's 
9,110  inch  measure  in  1867,  was  because  he  (Sir  Henry 
James)  had  just  then  published  an  hypothesis  declaring  that 
the  Great  Pyramid's  base-side  ought  to  measure  9,168  British 
inches.* 

While  the  reason  on  the  contrary  why  Sir  Henry  James 
does  not  now  continue  to  quote  Yyse's  9,168  inch  measure, 
but  in  place  of  it  adopts  Inglis's  9,110  (after  having  meaned 
it  with  his  own  men's  9,130)  inch  measure,  is, — because  he 
has  now  dropped  his  first  hypothesis,  and  adopted  another 
of  totally  different  construction  and  requiring  only  9,120 
inches  to  measure  the  Great  Pyramid's  base-side. 

In  face  of  a  method  so  unusual  in  science,  as  this  alternate 
selection  of  some,  and  concealment  of  other  data  to  suit 
quickly  successive,  and  rashly  launched,  hypothetical  views, 
it  is  but  a  small,  and  yet  a  proper,  point  for  the  Poyal  Society 
to  be  further  informed  of;  viz.,  that  Mr.  Inglis's  measures 
should  not  be  quoted  by  any  one  (and  least  of  all  by  any 
general  commanding,  and  profiting  in  name  and  fortune  by 
the  acts  of,  British  subalterns  and  soldiers),  under  Mr.  Inglis's 
name  alone ;  seeing  that  he,  Mr.  Inglis,  was  sent  to  the 
Pyramid  by  his  then  master,  Mr.  Alton,  to  do  whatever  he 
did  for  Mr.  Alton  at  his  (Mr.  Alton's)  expense,  and  according 
to  his  (Mr.  Alton's)  previous  arrangements  for  it  also  on  the 
ground. 

Mr.  Inglis,  moreover,  was  assisted  by  me  when  at  the 
Pyramid  in  finding  two  out  of  his  four  station  points,  when 
all  his  own  efforts  had  failed ;  and  his  final  mensuration 
results  were  communicated  to  me  by  Mr.  Aiton  for  the  first 
and  only  full  and  authentic  publication  they  have  had  yet, 
viz.,  in  my  book,  ''  Life  and  Work,"  published  in  April,  1867. 
All  these  circumstances  too  have  been  knowingly  Aeglected 

*  See  Athenceum,  November  16, 1867,  p.  650.  The  hypothesis  was,  tliat 
the  sole  reason  wherefore  the  Great  Pyrainid  had  been  built  of  its  actual 
basal  size  was,  to  allow  a  side  ot  the  base  to  measure  360  cubits  of  26-488 
inches  each.  That  number  was  stated  by  Sir  Henry  James  to  amount  to 
764  feet=  9,168  inches,  which  made  the  accord  appear  perl*  ct  with  Vyse's 
measure  of  9,168  inches.  But  afterwards  it  was  pointed  out  to  Sir  Henry 
Jamei  that  360  x  25-488  amounted  to  9,175-68  inches ;  and  as,  moreover,  he 
could  not  find  any  authority  for  an  ancient  cubit  26-488  inches  long,  ho 
abandoned  that  scheme  and  subsequently  invented  a  new  one,  which  has 
landed  him  in  a  totally  different  set  of  numbers. 


5 1 4  APPENDICES.  [YI. 

by  Sir  Henry  James,  whose  first  entry  into  the  Pyramid 
subject  was  an  attack,  in  November,  1867,  upon  the  book 
which  contained  them  all;  the  attack  beginning  in  these 
words : — 

"Ordnance  Survey  Office,  Southampton, 
"  November  9,  1867. 

"  The  publication  of  the  elaborate  work  on  the  Great  Pyramid  of  Egypt, 
by  Professor  Piazzi  Smyth,  has  led  me  to  an  examination  of  the  propor- 
tions and  dimensions  of  this  Pyramid " 

But  although  Sir  Henry  James  may  now  choose  to  throw 
Colonel  Howard-Yyse  and  Mr.  Perring's  measure  overboard, 
— and  has  led  both  the  Poyal  Society  and  Professor  Clerk 
Maxwell  unwittingly  to  confirm  the  act, — the  Eoyal  Society 
may  be  assured  that  the  French  nation  has  not  abandoned 
our  greatest  Pyramid  explorer.  Neither  has  that  gallant 
people  forgotten  their  own  Academicians  in  the  most  scientific 
of  all  military  expeditions.  On  the  contrary,  they  cherish 
the  remembrance  that  it  was  their  savants  of  the  Egypto- 
Prench  Academy  under  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  who  first  dis- 
covered two  of  the  only  true  station  points  for  Great 
Pyramid  base-side  measuring,  and  ascertained  the  length  of 
that  base-side  by  their  measures  (certainly  not  inferior  in 
care  and  skill  to  those  of  any  one  who  has  been  there  since) 
to  be  9,163  English  inches. 

Indeed,  it  so  chances  that  within  the  last  few  weeks  there 
have  been  discussions  in  Paris,  in  the  learned  Abbe  Moigno's 
journal,  ^'Les  Mondes,"  as  to  whether,  on  one  side,  a  certain 
M.  Bufeu  was  right  in  recently  taking,  as  the  only  worthy 
authorities  for  the  Great  Pyramid's  base-side  length,  the 
Napoleonic  Academicians  and  Colonel-Howard  Yyse,  giving 
a  mean  of  9,166  inches;  or,  on  the  other  side,  the  Eoyal 
Society  and  Sir  Henry  James  in  keeping  back  those  mea- 
sures and  publishing  a  selection  of  other  persons'  measures 
only,  implying  a  length  of  no  more  than  9,120  inches. 

But  as  this  subject  is  pretty  certain  now  to  be  attended 
to  in  the  interests  of  international  justice  by  more  able  men 
than  mygelf, — I  hasten  on  to  the  second  part  of  this  short 
paper,  or  to  what  Herodotus  did  really  say  in  the  passage 
referred  to. 


VL]  APPENDICES.  5 1 5 

STATEMENT   BY   HERODOTUS   TOUCHING   THE   LENGTH   OF   THE 
EGYPTIAN    CUBIT. 

As  regards  "  the  common  cubit "  of  Egypt,  says  Sir  Henry 
James  in  the  ''  Proceedings  of  the  Eoyal  Society,"  and  already 
quoted  from  thence  to  the  whole  British  Association, — **  we 
have  the  statement  of  Herodotus  that  the  Egyptian  cubit  was 
equal  to  the  Greek  cubit,  that  of  Samos." 

Three  years  ago  I  had  the  honour  of  showing,  before 
classicists  as  well  as  scientists,  that  Herodotus  made  no  such 
statement  about  the  Grreek  cubit.  He  said  that  the  Egyptian 
cubit  was  equal  to  the  cubit  of  Samos ;  but  Samos  was  not 
Greece.  It  was  on  the  contrary,  for  the  dates  referred  to, 
the  opposite  of  Greece ;  especially  in  the  eyes  of  Herodotus, 
who  regarded  it  as  Asian  and  Persian ;  and  the  first  attack 
upon  it  by  the  Lacedaemonian  Dorians,  he  terms  their  expe- 
dition into  Asia,  words  which  the  E-ev.  Canon  Eawlinson  de- 
clares are  emphatic  as  to  the  sense  in  which  Herodotus  used 
the  term  Samian. 

In  this  sense  also,  and  with  its  metrological  application 
as  well  (or  of  the  Samian  cubit  being  of  the  same  length  as 
the  Egyptian,  viz.,  20-7  inches  nearly,  and  both  of  them  the 
same  as  the  Babylonian  of  500  B.C.),  the  phrase  of  Herodotus 
was  understood  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton  nearly  two  centuries 
ago ;  also  by  our  own  chief  Egjrptologist,  Sir  Gardner  Wil- 
kinson ;  and  likewise  by  the  learned  Babylonian  scholar,  Dr. 
Brandis,  of  Berlin,  with  almost  all  other  authorities. 

Hence,  unless  the  Eoyal  Society  is  consenting  that  a 
general  officer  of  the  Eoyal  Engineers  shall  ride  over  both  all 
the  facts  and  all  the  best  interpreters  of  the  facts  from  Sir 
Isaac  Newton  downwards,  they  can  hardly  object  to  my 
bringing  up  once  again,  in  the  interests  of  the  world,  the 
most  notable  metrological  equation  of  all  antiquity ;  viz.,  that 
the  Samian  cubit,  which  the  Egyptian  cubit  was  said  to  be 
equal  to  by  ''  the  Father  of  History,"  was,  together  with  the 
then  contemporary  Asiatic  cubit,  =  20*7  British  inches  in  length 
±0-1  inch  nearly.  Hence  we  may  be  absolutely  certain  that 
the  Samian  cubit  of  Herodotus  was  not  18'24  British  inches 
long  only,  as  was  the  Greek  cubit ;  and  then  see  the  unhappy 
I)osition  in  which  Sir  Henry  James  has  placed  himself  and  the 
Eoyal  Society. 

He,  erroneously  imagining  that  the  Samian  cubit  was  no 


41 


5 1 6  APPENDICES.  [VI. 

more  than  18*24  inches  long,  not  only  freely  announced,  on 
his  own  authority,  the  other  day  that  the  Great  Pyramid 
was  built  to  have  a  measured  length  of  base-side  =  500 
of  those  cubits,  viz.,  9,120  British  inches;  but,  in  order  to 
show  an  appearance  of  confirmation  of  his  idea,  he  actually 
proceeded  a  second  time  to  misrepresent  the  list  of  modern 
observations  of  the  base-side  of  the  Grreat  Pyramid,  by  drop- 
ping out  now  the  biggest  ones  and  taking  up  only  the  smallest 
ones ;  and  the  Boyal  Society  has  pubKshed  the  perverted 
result. 

REAL   LENGTH    OF   THE    GREAT   PYRAMID'S   BASE-SIDE. 

Modern  surveyors,  even  with  the  true  Great  Pyramid's 
base  station  points  given  them  to  measure  between,  have 
been  lamentably  wide  of  each  other,  whether  they  have 
measured  one  side  only,  or  all  four,  and  then  taken  a  mean 
of  the  sides,  of  what  every  observer  assumes  to  be  a  squarej. 
horizontal  plane. 

But  though  wide  of  each  other,  the  four  chief  and  extreme 
authorities  may,  I  trust,  be  regarded  as  both  honest  and  not 
very  far  from  equal  to  each  other  in  ability.  Whence,  if  the 
results  of  different  observers  were — 

(1)  French  Academicians  in  1799  and  1800,  on  the  )         o  ic-^   r?  -4-    • 

north  side  only ^  =  y,lbd  i3rit.  ms. 

(2)  Howard-Vyse  and  Perring  in  1837,  on  the  north  \         q  ^rt 

side  only J  =   y,lb« 

(3)  Aiton  and  Inglis  in  1865,  mean  of  all  four  sides*      =   9,110          „ 

(4)  Ordnance  Surveyors  in  1869,  mean  of  all  four  \  o  ion 

sides )   "~  ^'^'^^  " 

— modern  science,  I  presume,  cannot  pretend  to  say  that  the 
true  result  should  be  anywhere  else  than  near  the  mean  of 
the  whole. 

This  was  the  conclusion  which  I  came  to  in  1867; 
deducing,  for  reasons  given  in  "  Life  and  Work,"  9,140  British 
inches,  as  the  real  Great  Pyramid  original  and  intended 
base-side  length.  A  length,  too,  which  I  have  been  enabled 
to  find  within  the  last  few  months,  is  remarkably,  even 
brilliantly  and  exactly,  confirmed  by  the  mathematical  rela- 

*  In  the  Aiton  and  Inglis  individual  measures  of  each  side,  the  north 
side  appears  aa  9,120  Biitish  inches  ;  indicating  a  constant  difference  in 
their  measures  ua  compared  with  those  cited  here  as  1  and  2. 


TL]  APPENDICES,  517 

tions  of  tlie  mucli  more  accurate  measures  (chiefly  taken  by 
two  Professors  of  Astronomy,  separated  from  each  other  by 
230  years)  of  the  King's  Chamber,  so-called,  in  the  Great 
Pyramid.  But  as  tliat  striking  case  is  already  discussed  at 
length  in  a  work  now  at  the  press,  I  will  not  detain  the 
Society  any  further  \^ith  it  at  the  present  time. 


TEIE    ENTRANCE    PASSAGE  OF    THE    GREAT    PYRAMID. 

Towards  the  end  of  his  abstract-paper  in  the  ''Royal 
Society's  Proceedings,"  Sir  Henry  James  alludes  to  the 
breadth  of  the  entrance  passage  of  the  Great,  as  well  as  of 
other,  Pyramids  ;  but  quotes  only  certain  measures  nearly  forty 
years  old,  and  taken  to  no  more  refinement  than  the  nearest 
half-inch. 

As  such  a  proceeding  misrepresents  both  the  present-day 
literature  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  and  its  metrical  capabilities 
also, — may  I  request  that  the  Poyal  Society  will  be  pleased 
to  accept  the  following  copy  of  jny  measures,  taken  in  1865 
and  published  in  1867,*  of  both  the  height  and  breadth  of 
the  Great  Pyramid's  entrance-passage,  at  several  different 
points  in  the  course  of  its  length,  and  registered  in  all  cases 
to  the  nearest  hundredth  of  an  inch. 

P.  S. 

lo,  Royal  Tekrace,  Edinburgh, 
October  27,  1873. 


CONCLUDIXG   WORDS    ON   JANUARY   24tH,    1874. 

This  morning's  post  has  brought  important  news,  both 
public  and  private. 

The  public  news  is  to  the  startling  effect,  that  Parliament 
has  been  suddenly  dissolved.  If  this  should  prevent  Govern- 
ment from  performing  their  promise  of  bringing  in  a  Metrical 
Bill  this  year,  it  will  add  yet  another  example  to  the  many 
previous   ones,   already   alluded  to   on  page   214,    of  such 

*  These  measures  being  chiefly  the  same  as  those  which  appear  on 
page  311  of  this  book,  need  not  be  repeated  here. 


5i8  APPENDICES.  -  [VI. 

intended  bills  having  again  and  again  been  broken  without 
Land. 

The  private  news  is  a  letter  from  the  Royal  Society  of 
London,  rejecting  and  returning  me  the  original  MS.  forming 
the  subject  of  Appendix  YI.,  on  the  plea  of  a  secret  sub- 
committee of  their  own  having  reported,  that  it  was  not  of  a 
nature  suited  for  reading  before  the  Society. 

Looking  to  the  errors  and  something  worse  of  the  previous 
antagonist  paper  from  the  Southampton  Office,  which  wm 
thought  suitable  by  the  officers  of  the  Society  to  be  read,  and 
honourably  printed  too,  first  in  the  Society's  "Proceedings" 
and  afterwards  in  its  "Transactions," — and  comparing  them 
with  the  simple  contents  of  this  plain  paper  in  reply,  which 
the  secret  committee  (the  Star-chamber  of  the  Society)  will 
not  allow,  for  suitability  s  sake,  to  be  read  nor  to  appear  in 
any  way  before  the  meetings, — the  general  public  may  form 
their  own  conclusions, — 

1.  As  to  whether  the  Eoyal  Society  really  desires  its  pub- 
lications, in  matters  relating  to  the  science  of  the  Great 
Pyramid,  to  represent  "  accurate  measuring,  truth-stating,  and 
justice  doing ;  "  or,  the  exact  opposite  of  those  things  ?   And, 

2.  How  far  modern  science  by  itself  alone,  ruling  in  high 
places  of  the  earth,  is  likely  to  satisfy  the  hopes  of  perishing 
humanity  through  all  time  to  come  ? 


INDEX, 


ABD-ALLATIF,  an  Arabian  author 
on  the  Great  Pyramid.  356 
Abel  and  Cain,  contest  between,  10 
Absolute    temperature    in    the    King's 

Chamber  of  Great  i'yxamid,  168 
Acts,  328,  440 

Adams,  John  Quincey,  199,  233,  449 
Adderley,  Mr.,  on  bushels,  203 
Age  of  exploration,  381 
Agnew,  H.  C,    "Letters  on  the  Pyra- 
mids," 94 
Air  channels,  348—352 
Air  channels,  discovered  by  Col.  Howard- 

Vyse,  93 
Air  channels  in  Queen's  Chamber,  363— 

365 
Airy,  Sir  G.  B.,   38,   63,   160,    163,   210, 

372 
Alton    and    Inglis,    32,    178,    393,    513, 

516 
Al-Mamoun,  Caliph,   79-82,  86—88,  92, 

307,  351,  356,  357,  380,  422,  462 
American  "  Joiunal  of  Science  and  Art," 

361,  362 
Amos,  434 

Angle  measures,  26,  27,  269 
Angle  of  rise  of  Great  Pyramid,  26 
Anglo-Saxon  chaldron,  228 

„    com  measure,  108 

„    ignorance  of  granite,  112 

„     race,  37 
Anomalies  corrected  by  Great  Pyramid 

system,  265 
Antagonist  of  the  Great  Pyramid  theory, 

193 
Ante-chamber,  measures  of  the,  186 

„    symbolisms,  14G,  186 
"Antiquities  Description,"  20 
Antiquity  of  intellectual  man,  145,  175, 

242 
Apology  for  the   errors   of  earlier  ob- 
servers, 21 
Arabs  stopped  up  ventilating  channels, 

171 
Architectural  facts  of  the  Great  Pyramid, 

209,  210 
Armstrong,  Sir  "W.,  245 
Arris  lities,  careful  measure  of,  26 
Arthur's  Seat,  Ordnance  Suivey  experi- 
ment on,  159,  163 


Astronomical  law  with   regard   to   the 
Great  Pyramid,  313 

,,    Orientation,  popular  ideas  of,  59,  60 
Astronomy  of  the  entrance  passage,  312 
Athenaeum,  6,  23,  40,  513 
Austrian  Meteorological  Society,  170 
Authorities  for  the  names  of  the  buildera 

of  the  three  pyramids,  428 
Authors,  variety  o^  and  their  measures, 

16 


B 


Baily,  Francis,  119, 161—163, 168, 175, 20G, 

207 
Baird,  Sir  David,  97 
Barnard,  President,  44,  446,  450-455 
Barometric  pressure,  266 
Base-side  lengths,  31,  32,  511,  512 

„  measures  by  French  Academicians 
and  Howard  Vyse,  20,  516 

,,  original,  not  present,  size,  required 
to  test  John  Taylor's  proposition, 
17 

„    variations  of  measures  of,  33,  516 
^Beginning   of    reference   to   the    Great 

Pyramid's  numbers,  35 
Biblical  views  of  Metrology  in  general, 

435 
Biblical  w  eek,  376—378 
Birch,  Dr.  Samuel,  6,  309,  408,  416,  416 
Birch,  Dr.  Thomas,  M.A.  (of  1737),  850 
Bird's  copy  of  Exchequer  yard  standard, 

247 
Bonaparte,  16,  65,  101, 188 
Boss  on  the  granite  leaf,  190 
Bramah,  161 
Brandis,  Dr.,  288,  615 
Brettell,  Mr.  (C.E.),  23 
British  Association,  121,  511,  512 
British  Government,   weights  and  meo- 

Bui  es,  450 
British  inch,  36,  37,  247 

„    Metrology,  199 
Brugsch  Bey,  408,  416 
Briinnow,  Dr.,  calculation  of  stars  in  the 

Pleiades,  325,  326 
Bryant,  421 
Brougliam,  Lord,  226 
Bunsen,  Baron,  412,  418 
Buri*ctinu8,  dcsoription  of  the  limestone 

in  the  Qroat  Fyrtuuid  passage*!  8Utt 


520 


INDEX. 


Capacity  measures,  tables  of,  229,  230 
„    references  in  the  Queen's  Chamber, 

185 
„    relations  between  King's  Chamber 
and  coffer,  183 
Cartouches  of    King  Cheops   foimd  in 

Wadee  Maghara,  111 
Casey,  Mr.,  176,  384,  385,  390,  391,  393, 

394,  396,  398 
Casing-stone,  Mr.  Dixon's,  489 — 493 
Casing-stones,  Howard-Vyse's,  22 

„      Howard-Vyse's,  found  large,  25 
„      search  for,  16,  17 
„      Dixon's  search  in  Cairo  for,  17 
,,      Sir  J.  Herschel's  angle  of  the, 

23 
„      Howard-Vyse's   angle   of    sup- 
ports, J.  Taylor's  proposition, 
24 
Catalogue  of  the  Boulak  museum,  415 
Cavendish,  Mr.,  160,  162,  165 
Caviglia,  Signor,  75,  78,  381 
Ceiling  of  King's  Chamber,  352—355 
Celsius,  258 

Challenger,  H.M.S.,  letters  from,  213 
Chalmers,  Dr.,  219 
Champollion,  407,  408 
Cheop's  coffin !  144 
Chisholm,  Mr.,  207,  208 
Christison,  Sir  R.,  252 
Chronicles,  431,  436 
Chronology,  essence  of,  34 
Clarke,  Dr.,  97,  113,  148,  307,  381 
Clarke,  Colonel  Ross,  44,  159,  372 
Classic  antiquity  on  the  interior  of  the 
Great  Pyramid,  78 
„    names  for  early  Egsrptian  kings, 
426 
Cobden,  Mr,,  211,  212 
Cocker,  Mr.,  233 
Coffer,  capacity  of  the,  143 
„    capacity    size  by  Joseph   Jopling, 

125 
„    capacity  size  by  John  Taylor,  123    « 
„    contents  of  pure  water,  231 
„    cubic  contents,  145 
„    determination  ofcapacity  by  Greaves 

and  Vyse,  106 
„    drawing  in  the  French   work    on 

Egypt  of  the,  131 
„    ledge,  anomaly  of  the,  130 
„    measured  in  British  inches,  134 — 

141 
„    often  measured,  99 
„    Perring's  drawings  of  the,  131,  133 
„    sarcophagus   theory  of  the,   141— 

143 
„    Taylor's  suggested  use  of  the,  118 
,,    weight,  temperature,  and  pressure 

data  for  the,  172,  173 
„    why  of  that  size,  118 
Coloured  Pyramid,  116 
Commensui  abilities    in    the    Pyramid, 

151—153 
Communistic  French  metre,  progress  of 

the,  446 
Confirmations,  174 — 176 
Corner-sockets,  discovery  of,  20 
.,       measurements  of  the,  29 
Cory,  J.  P.,  *'  Fragments,"  by,  424, 431, 432 


Coventry,  Andrew,  375 
Crucial  test,  390—402 
Cubit,  Greek,  33,  515 

„    hereditary  measures  of  the,  252,  253 

„    lengths,  by  Sir  G.  Wilkinson,  289 

„    of  Egypt,  36,  515,  516 

„    of  Great  Pyramid,  36 

„    of  Memphis,  299 

„    of  Persia,  288 

„    of  Samos,  286,  287,  515 

„    old  Egyptian,  285 

,,    origination  of  the  profane  Eastern, 
291 

„     sacred,  36 

„    sacred,  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  295, 
298 — 302 

„    sacred,  of  the  Hebrews,  281,  294 
Cubits,  Dr.  Hincks  on,  288 

„    of  ancient  renown,  282 
Cumberland,  Bishop,  294 


Davies,  Prof.  C,  449; 
Davison's  chamber,  354 
Date  of  Great  Pyramid,  313,  316 
Day,  Mr.,  176 
„    on  the  area  of  the  Pyramid's  right 

section,  13 
„    on  the    excentric    position  of  the 

boss,  192 
„    on  the  shape  of  the  coffer,  368 
Day  and  year  standard  indicated  in  the 
Pyramid,  29 
„    standard  of  lineal  measure  at  the 
Great  Pyramid,  36 
"  Dead  Book"  of  tlie  Egyptians,  290,  291 
Defterdar  Bey,  20 
De  Launay,  M.,  50 
De  Morgan,  Prof.,  175 
Density  and  temperature,  146 
De  Saulcey,  408 
Deuteronomy,  435 

Differential  chronology  of  the  Egyptolo- 
gists, 410—413. 
Diodorus  Siculus,  91,  426,  430 
Director  of  the  Ordnance  Survey,  mis- 
reads a  passage  in  Herodotus,  28G 
,,    of  the  Ordnance    Survey   on   the 
Egyptian  cubit,  285 
Divine  inspiration,  31 
Dixon,  Mr.  John,  155,  156,  364 
„    Mr.  Waynman,  16,  20,  134,  135, 144, 
155,  191,  359,   363,   365,   366,   394, 
395,  399,  401,  497,  498 
,,    Mr.    Waynman,   great   measuring 
work  in  first  ascending  passage, 
366 
,,    Mr.  Waynman,  made  cast  of  boss, 

191 
,,    Mr.  Waynman,  measures  by,  395 
„    Mr.  Waynman,  on  air-channels  in 

Queen's  Chamber,  363—365 
„    Mr.  Waynman,  requested  to  make 
special  measures,  394 
Dufeu,  M.,  126,  127,  514 


Earth  and  Pyramid  analogies  bv  John 
Taylor,  40 


INDEX. 


521 


Earth-axis   and    year,    commensurable 

result  indicated,  34 
Earthquakes  unusual  in  Egypt,  16 
Earth's  density,  closely  appi-oximated  to, 
371—373 
„    equatorial  diameter,  31 
„    mean  density,  157 
,,    mean  density.  Captain  R.  Clarke's 

result  for,  372 
„    mean  density,  mountain  determina- 
tion of  the,  158 
,,    mean  density,  natural  philosophy 
determination  of  the,  160  • 

.,    mean  density,  Sir  G.  B.  Airy's  result 

for  the,  372 
„    Polar-axis,  latest  determination  of, 
43 
Edinburgh    astronomical    observations, 

284,  287,  512 
Egmont,  Lord,  149 
Egypt  of  the  Lord  Christ,  4a3 
Egyptian  cubit,  length  of  the  profane,  28, 
36,  37,  515,  516 
„    dynasties,  table  of,  412 
„    hieroglyphics  versvs  Greek  scholar- 
ship, 408 
Egypto-Arabians  held  the  Pyramids  in 
esteem,  80 
„     -French  Academy  of  1799,  132,  514 
Egyptologic  details  of  early  kinjs,  424 

—426 
Egyptologists'  date  of  Great  Pjrramid, 
315,  316 
,,    ideas  of  pyramids,  75,  76 
,,    portcullis  system,  153 
Engineer-general,  questionable  theories 
of  an,  155,  156 
, ,    officers  employed  on  trigonometrical 
surveys,  42 
Enquiry  into  the  data,  14 
Entrance  passage  of  the  Great  Pyramid, 

517 
Ephesians,  440 

Equal  surface  projection,  68,  265,  266 
Equality  of  areas,  181 
Equatorial  and  other  diameters  of  the 

earth,  45 
Eratosthenes,  426 
European  mind  enters  into  the  question 

of  the  Great  Pyramid,  90 
Exchequer  standard  ell,  248 
iixodus,  333,  338,  4M,  473 
Ewart,  Mr.,  212,  214,  221 
Ezekiel,  280,  435,  442 


Fahrenheit's  thermometer,  257 
Fallings  away  from  simple  fact,  472 
Fergusson,  James,  64,  412,  427,  505—510 
Fiffure  of  the  earth  and  sun  distance,  40 
First  discovery  of  John  Taylor's,  12,  14 
Foot  measures,  254 

„    of  man,  size  of,  27 

,,    standard  unsuitable  for  w  on   the 
Pyramid's  scale,  27 
Forbes,  Professor  J.  D.,  162 

„    Mr.,  travels  (in  1776),  114 
Fox  Talbot,  Mr.,  28;^ 
Freemasons'  inarks,  128 

„    on  the  origin  of  the  coffer,  128 


French  Academicians,  121, 1.S6, 188,  305 
Academicians  base-side  length,  31, 

515,  516 
Academicians   made    first    socket 

measure,  22 
and   Howard-Vyse  base-side  mea- 
sures, 20,  512—516 
Metre,  37 

Metre's  derivation,  38 
Metric  System,  37,  38 
metrical    reference    for     capacity 

measure,  119 
metrical  system,  217 
metrical  temperature  and  pressure, 

261,  262 
observed  depth  and  height  of  the 

coffer,  132 
philosophers'  metrological  scheme, 

37,  38 
savants  on  the  passages  of  the  Great 

Pyramid,  305 
Further   confirmations   of   J.    Taylor's 
proposition,  25 


Galloway,  Rev.  W.  B.,  "  Esrypt's  Record 
of  Time,"  388,  410 
„    Rev.  W.  B.,  on  Egyptian   kings' 
names,  426 
Gteneral  summation,  secular  and  sacred, 

460 
Genesis,  334, 433,  464 
Geodesic  science,  growth  of,  38 
„    science,  knowledge  of  at  the  Great 
Pyramid,  39 
Geogrraphical    aptitudes    of  the    Great 

Pyramid,  65 
Gteography  and  the  exterior,  1 
Geometrical  derivation  of  the  passage 
angle,  188,  189 
„    proportions  of  the  Great  Pyramid, 
12,13 
Gibbon's  accoimt  of  Al  Mamoim,  79 
Gibson,  Mr.  Mihier,  212 
Gliddon,  Mr.,  59,  97,  333 
Glover,  Rev.,  F.R.A.,  176,  373,  438 
Goodsir,  Rev.  J.  T.,  176,  290,  347 
Graham,  standards  compared  by,  24.8 
Grand    gallery's   cubical   commensura- 

bilities,  378,  379 
Grander  Pyramid  and  Solar  Analogy,  48 
Granite,  ancient  and  modem  ignorance 
of,  113—116 
„    leaf,  154 

„    leaf,  place  of  the  bos*  on  the,  191 
„    the  material  of  the  coffer,  109 
„    where  used  in  the  Great  Pyramid, 
117 
Grant,  Dr.,  of  Cairo,  16,  134,  497,  498 
„    Dr.,  of  Cairo,  assists  Mr.  Dixon  at 

the  Pyramid,  363,  366,  396 
„    Dr.,  of  Cairo,  on   Mariette  Bey's 

wonderful  stone,  416,  416 
, ,    Dr.,  of  Cairo,  on  some  crucial  points 
in  the  Great  Pyramid,  493,  496 
Great  Pyramid,  alleged  error  of  its  orien- 
tation, 60 
„    all  the  other  pyramids  unlike  the, 

69 
„    Al  Mamoun  at  the,  81— » 


522 


INDEX. 


Great  Pyramid,  always  the  favourite  one, 

80 
„    an  anthropological  monument,  47 
,,    an  effective  surveying  signal,  65 
„    architectural  facts,  509,  510 
,,    before  science,  53 
„    comer-sockets,  uncovering  all  four, 

32 
„    directors  of  the  building  were  not 

Egyptian,  69 
„    earth's  density  number  in  the,  164 
„    expresses  the  value  of  ir,  26 
„    free  from  aU  idolatrous  inscriptions, 

5 
„    geographical  indications  in  the,  55 
„    geographical  position,  a  testimony 

against  some  earth  theories,  62 
„    grand  standards,  224 
„    height  of,  49 
„    history  and  the  interior,  71 
„    latitude  of  the,  61 
„    linear    standard    contrasted    with 

French  metre,  37 
„    made  of  a  particular  size,  34 
„    meridian,  67,  68 
„    metrology  of  time,  276,  277 
„    Mr.  Heniy  Mitchell  on  the  position 

of  the,  65,  66 
„    no  Freemasons'  marks  in  or  on  the, 

129 
„    non-idolatrous,  64 
„    not  of  Egypt,  8,  9 
„    number    of  wall    courses    in   the 

King's  Chamber  of  the,  149 
„    orientation  of,  opposed  by  all  early 

structures,  64 
„    orientation  of  the  sides  of  the,  55 
,,    position  as  described  in  Isaiah  xix., 

20,  67 
„    position  in  the  delta  land  of  Egypt, 

65 
,,    present  appearance  of  the,  16 
„    quasi-copies  of  the,  7 
„    scenes  transacted  in  the,  171 
„    scientific  knowledge  of  the,  11 
„    shape  of  the,  49 
,,    subterranean  chamber  of  the,  74 
„    use  of  a  polar  star  by  the,  316 — 

318 
,,    versus  rude  stone  monuments,  505, 

510 
„    why  was  it  built,  and  who  built  it  ? 

9,10 
„    Sphinx   consigned    to    its   proper 

place,  413—417 ;    no    community 

between  it  and  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid, 357 
Greaves,  Prof.,  16,  57,  102,  127,  299,  307, 

309,  353 
, ,    con\  ersation  with  Dr.  Harvey,  348— 

350 
i    „    description  of  the  passages,    306, 

308 
'    „    figurative   expression    misled   Jo- 

mard,  177 
,,    first  named  the  granite  leaf,  154 
„    his  useful  work  at  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid, 58 
„    on  the  bxiilder  of  the  Great  Pjrra- 

mid, 91 
„    on  the  nature  of  the  stone  of  the 

coffer.  111 


Prof.,  on  the  wall  courses  in 
King's  Chamber,  147 
„    the  Oxford  astronomer  (in   1637), 
103—106 
Greek  cubit,  33,  515 
Gregory,  Dr.  Olinthus,  14 
Grey,  Sir  George,  208 


Haliburton,  R.  G.  on  the  Pleiades,  321 

Saroun  al  Raschid,  79,  82 

Harrison,  Dr.,  440 

Harvey,  Dr.,  348,  349,  350 

Heat  and  pressure,  257 

Heat,  angle,  money,  time,  257—277 

Hebiew  measures,  Bishop  Cumberland 

on,  294 
Hekekyan  Bey,  126—128 
Hereditary  inch  measures,  255 
Herodotus,  6,  9,  19,  49,  78,  92,  104,  287, 

288,  345,  391,  4-26-430,  437,  512,  514 
Herschel,  Sir  John,  23,  175,  297,  324 

„    advocates  the  inch  as  the  unit  stan- 
dard, 220—223 

„    confirmed    J.  Taylor's    earth   and 
Pyramid  analogies,  40,  41 

„    on  the  astronomical  law  with  regard 
to  the  Pyramid,  313-316 

„    on  the  diameter  rather  than  the 
circumference  of  a  circle,  38 

,,    on  weights  and  measures,  220,  221 
Hierologists  and  chronologists,  405—408 
Hincks,  Dr.,  419,  420 
Hine,  Edward,  484 
Hipparchus,  320 
History  and  the  interior  of  the  Great 

Pyramid,  71 
Hooke,  Dr.,  57,  58,  61 
Hopkins,  Mr.  Evan,  on  earth's  motion, 

62 
Human  religious  history,  389,  390 
Human  versus  divine  ultimate  rule,  456 
Hume,  Joseph,  372 
Hutton,  159 


Ibn  Abd  Alkokm,  81 
Inches  typified  in  the  granite  leaf,  189 
IngUs,  Mr.,  150,  513 

International   appendix    to    Great   Py- 
ramid capacity  measure,  229 

,,    linear  measure,  252,  253 

,,    weight  measure,  242 
Intellectual  man,  antiquity  of,  145,  175, 

242 
Introductory   statement    touching    the 

Great  Pyramid,  3 
Iron  measuring-rod  of  Prof.  Greaves,  177 
Isaiah,  2,  198,  373,  404,  443,  470,  480,  481, 

510 


James,  Sir  H.,  32,  49,  159,  372,  511—515, 
517 

Jeezeh,  its  varieties  of  orthography,  4 
,    Jeremiah,  p.  vi. 
I   Jerusalem,  when  founded,  432 


INDEX. 


%n 


Job,  Book  of,  72,  334,  336,  373,  437,  438, 

470 
Jomard,  M.,  19,  56,  95,  96,  132,  133,  169, 

170,  177,  305,  353 
Jopling,  Joseph,  125 
Josephus,  292,  293,  29S,  338,  342,  493 
Joseph  Well,  city  of  Cairo,  169 
"  Juventus  Mundi,"  425,  428 


Kamak,  double  cubit  of,  124,  509 

KeUy,  Dr.,  200,  205,  215,  229,  253 

Kepler,  51 

Key  signs  of  the  Great  Pyramid's  archi- 
tect, 356 

Khedive,  his  highness  the,  481 

King  Charles  I.'s  astronomer,  308 

King,    Mr.    Clarence,    on    atmospheric 
pressure,  263,  264 

Kmg's    Chamber    and   coffer   mutually 
commensurable,  150 
„    its  temperature,  168 
„    measures,  178,  182 

Kings,  341,  436 

Kitto,  294,  338 


La  Caille,  51 
Land  and  sea  miles,  270 
Lane,  Mr.,  148,  178,  412 
Latitude,  further  test  by,  61 
Law,  H.,  14 

Law  of  Egyptian  pyramid  building,  76 
Layard,  Mr.,  on  Fieemasons'  marks,  128 
Legend  on  the  Pyramid  of  Dashoor,  352 
Loider's,  Dr.,  supposed  pyramid,  497 
Length  and  breadth  of  the  Ark  of  the 
Covenant,  337 

„    and  breadth  of  the  coffer,  134,  135 
"„    in    Britisli    inches   of    hereditary 
measures,  252—256 

„    measure  by  Prof.  Greaves  of  the 
coffer,  105 

„    measures  of  the  coffer,  100, 136—141, 
145 

„    of  the  ante-chamber,  186—188 

„    of  the  base-side  of  the  Great  Py- 
ramid, 31—33,  331 

„    of  the  earth's  polar  axis,  41 — 44 

„    of  the  Egyptian  cubit,  36,  515,  516 

„    ofthe  King's  Chamber,  177—182, 475 
—478 

„    of  the  Queen's  Chamber,  185 

„    standard  of,  employed  in  the  Great 
Pyramid,  27 

„    true  base-side,  17,  21 

„    varieties  of  measures  of,  32,  33 
Lepsius,  Dr.,  6,  76—79,  97.  142,  391,  408, 

411—413,  468 
"Les  Mondes,"  187,  486,  614 
Letronne,  97 
'"Letters  on  the  Pyramids,"  by  H.  C. 

Agnew,  94 
Le  Verrier,  M.,  60,  167 
Leviticus,  436 
Lewis,  Sir  G.  C,  vtnxu  Egyptologists, 

408,  409 
•'  Lite  and  Work,"  26, 32, 60,  149, 176,  270, 

295,  327,  369,  374,  377,  888,  892,  897— 

401,  463,  476,  618,  516 


Lindsay,  Lord,  on  the  wall  courses  in  the 

King's  Chamber,  148 
Linear  and  superficial  measure,  244 

„    relations  between  the   coffer   and 
King's  Chamber,  182 
Lives  of  the  Kings,  429 
Louis  Napoleon,  216 
Luke,  St.,  440 


M 


Macdonald  of  Aberdeen,  114 

MacKay,  Rev.  Dr.,  176 

Magna  Charta,  199,  200 

Maitland,  Ken  mure,  387 

Manetho,  6,  104,  333,  409,  412,  424,  428. 

431,  432 
Mariette  Bey,  383,  408, 412,  414r-416 
Mark,  St.,  440 
Martin,  W.,  457 
Maskelyne,  Dr.,  158,  169 
Mason  di,  account  of  the  Great  Pyramid 

by,  89 
Masonry  of  first  ascending  passage.  366 
Matthew,  St.,  440,  442 
Maxwell,  Prof.  Clerk,  511,  514 
Mean  temperature  of  the  habitable  earth. 

266,  267 
Measures  of  boss  on  granite  leaf,  192 

„    of  casing-stone,  by  Mr.  Brettell, 

„    of  coffer  to  be  accepted  or  declined, 
102,  103 

„    of  stone  circles,  by  James  Fergus- 
son,  507,  508 

„    tested  for  accuracy,  395,  396 
Mechanical  data,  348—352 
Mediaeval  Arabian  learning  on  the  in- 
terior of  the  Great  I'yramid,  79 
Melchizedek,  433,  463 
Mencheres  built  the  Third  Pyramid,  418 

„    the  codifier  of  gods  for  his  country- 
men, 425 
Mensuration  data  at  the  disposal  of  the 

New  Theorists,  177 
Mental  accomi>animent8  of  several  fsiots, 

68,69 
Menzies,  Robert,  387—390 
Metric  system,  by  President  Barnard, 
44,460 

„    by  Professor  0.  Davies,  449 
Michaelis,  337,  436,  436 
Mina,  or  stone  ball  weight,  disoussion  on. 

364 
Missing  ramp  stone,  382 
Mitchell,  R§v.  John,  160 

5,    Henry,  U.S.,  66,  66,  67,  176 
Mixed  presence  of  two  cubits,  sacred  and 

profiane,  298 
Modem  astronomers  proving  the   sun 

distance  could  not  have  been  moasiu'ed 

in  the  age  of  the  Groat  1'yr.tmid,  61 
Modem  measures  of  the  coffer,  lOO 

„    measures  of  the  passages,  aiu 

,,    promiscuous  quarrying,  366 
Moigno,  Abb6,  187,  484,  614 
Mokattam  limestone,  116 
Money,  270, 271 
Moses  and  the  wisdom  of  the  EffyptiMM^ 

828—330 
Mosque  of  Sooltaa  Hassan,  16 


524 


INDEX. 


Mummies  of  the  Old  Empire  have  not 

come  do-wn  to  our  age,  418 
Mummy  of  recent  date,  part  of  it  found 

in  Third  Pyramid,  419 
Murray's  Handbook  for  Egypt,  332,  356 
Murtedi,  an  Arabian  author,  307 


N 


Names  of  the  builders  of  the  three  largest 

Jeezeh  Pyramids,  428 
Napoleon  Bonaparte,  101, 188,  514 
New  hierologists,  407 
New  policy^  Old  Egypt,  480 
New  school  of  Pyramia  theorists,  176 
New  Testament  allusions  to  the  Great 

Pyramid,  440 
New  theorists,  mensuration  data  at  the 

disposal  of  the,  177 
Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  30,  96,  158,  220,  295— 

299,  337,  339,  340,  472,  515 
Niebuhr,  351 
Non-Egyptian  character   of  the    Great 

Pyramid,  9 
Norden,  Captain,  351 
Normal  clock  of  Paris  Observatory,  167 

„    of  Pulkova  Observatory,  167 
Norris,  Dr.,  283 
Notes  on  Egypt,  by  T,  Sopwith,  126,  302 

„    on  the  Great  Pyramid,  by  Sir  H. 
James,  32 
Nouet,    M.,   observations    to   test   the 

orientation  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  56 
Numbers  for  the  vertical  height  of  the 

Great  Pyramid,  25 
Numerous  abstracts  by  Howard- Vyse,  15 


Objections,  beginnings  of,  18 
Objector,  first.  19 

„    second,  20 
Observed  temperatures  at  or  near  the 

Great  Pyramid,  169,  170 
O'Farrell,  Mr.,  49 
Of  the  number  five,  330 
Opinion  of  Brugsch  Bey  on  Mariette's 

wonderful  stone,  417 
Oppert,  M.,  on  the  Babylonian  cubit,  288 
Ordnance  officers,  attempt  to  turn  the 
Pyramid  cubit  into  ridicule,  47 

.,    survey  of  Great  Britain,  512 

„    surveyors,  516 
Orientation  of  Chaldean  buildings,  64 

„    of  Great  Pyramid,  60 

„    of  the  sides  of  the  Great  Pyramid, 
55 
Origines  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  37 
Osburn,  W,,  283,  408,  412,  413,  416,  418, 

432 
*'  Otia-CEgyptiaca,"  by  G.  R.  Gliddon,  59 


Parliamentary    reports    on  'standards, 

206—217 
Parties  to  the  final  contest,  454 
Passage,  astronomy  of  the  entrance,  312 — 

318 


Passages,  modem  measures  of  the,  310— 
312 

„    of  the  Great  Pyramid,  description 
of  the,  306—310 
Paucton,  M.,  435 
"  Penny  Cyclopaedia,"  204,  226 
Pentateuch,  334 
Perigal,  Mr.  Henry,  143 
Perring,  Mr.,  24,  131,  191,  346,  359,  360, 

382,  512,  514,  516 
Persian  invasion,  74 
Peter,  St.,  440,  442 
Petrie,  Mr.  F.,  150,  176,  180 

„    W.,  48,  49,  50,  173,  369,  371 
Philitis,  384—387,  430-432,  442,  463 
Philosophical  Society,  Glasgow,  metrolo- 

gical  discussion  at  the,  236 
Physical  science  at  the  Great  Pyramid, 

468 
Pin-ch-un,  a  learned  Chinese  envoy,  6 
Playfair,  Prof.,  60,  159 
Pleiades  year,  318—327 
Pliny,  19,  78,  111 
Pocock,  Dr.,  on  the  wall  courses  in  King's 

Chamber,  148 
Poets  of  El  Kahireh,  88 
Poole,  Mr.,  77 

Popular  ideas  of  astronomical  orienta- 
tion, 59 
Porphyry,  Egyptian  quarries  of,  110 
Possibility  of  azimuthal  change  in  the 

earth's  crust,  56 
Pratt,  Archdeacon,  458  y 

Precession  of  the  equinoxes,  273,  319 
Primeval  Shemite  shepherds,  422,  423 
Probable  error  statements   in  modem 

scientific  work,  163 
Proverbs,  435 
Psalms,  485 
Ptolemy,  102 
Pulkova   Observatory,  on  temperature, 

166 
Pyramid,  and  British,  capacity  measures, 
229 

„    and  early  English  inch  compared, 
248 

„    arithmetic,  225 

,,    capacity  measure,  225 — 230 

„    coffer,  99 

„    explanation  of  the  word,  98 

„    inch,  35 

„    of  Dashoor,  spoliation  of,  20 

„    researches   by   John    Taylor,    296, 
297,  300 
Pyramid  stm-distance,  49 

„    theorems  by  Mr.  J.  Simpson,  368 — 
373,  375 

„    weight  measure,  231,  255 
Pyramids  and  the  Pentateuch,  344 
„    of  Egypt,  the  ancient,  2 


Qualities  of  the  coffer's  "quarter"  mea- 
sure, 107  rks, 

Quarry  ma'  or  6 

"  Quarter,'        the  corn  measure,  98 

"  Quarterly  Journal  of  Science"  for  Octo- 
ber, 1873,  127 

Queen's  Chamber,  air  channels,  363 — 366 
„    measures  in,  359—362 


INDEX. 


5^5 


Queen's  Chamber,  uses  of,  359 
Uueipo's,  Don  Vincent,  metrology,  288 


R 


Ramp-stone,  who  knocked  it  out  of  its 

phice,  382—384 
Ramps  and  the  well's  mouth,  379 — 382 
Rawlinson,  Canon,  64,  287,  412,  427,  429, 

431,515 
Real  length  of  the  Great  Pyramid's  base- 
side,  516 
Reaumur,  258 

Recent  discovery  at  the  Sphinx,  414 — 417 
Reflections  on  the  numbers  as  measured, 

101 
Reich,  Prof.,  of  Freyberg,  161 
Relations  of  King's  Chamber  to  coffer, 

367—371 
"  ReUgions  of  the  World,"  by  W.  Os- 

bum,  347 
Representative  antagonist   of  Pyramid 

Theory,  193 
Researches  at  the  Jeezeh  Pyramids  by 

Howard- Vyse,  75 
Revelation,  450 
Richardson,  Dr.,  148 
Rigaud,  Prof.,  354 
Rigid  inqmry  into  the  base-side  length  of 

Great  Pyramid,  31 
Romans,  p.  iii. 
Roscoe,  Mr.,  261 
Rossellini,  M.,  408 
Rotation  of  earth's  axis,  30 
PkOyal    Observatory  of   Edinburgh,    its 
rock  thermometers,  167 

„     Society  of  Edinburgh,  fragments  of 
casing-stones  deposited  at  the,  26 

„    Society  of  London,  51 1—513, 514 
Rubbish  moimds  at  the  Great  Pyramid, 

25 
Rude  stone  monuments  versus  the  Great 

Pyramid,  505—510 


Sacred  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  337—340 
,,    in  time  as  well  as  sp  ice,  300 
,,    pronounced  to  be  Messianic,  386 — 

388 
„    touching  the  Great  Pyramid,  384— 
386 

Samos,  island  of,  287 

Sandys,  Georg .,  9'J 

Saurid  Ibn  Salhouk,  80,  81 

Havile,  Rev.  B.  Wrey,  62,  63 

Saxon  metrology,  233,  484 

Sohihallion,  Mount.  158 

Schubert,  M.  de,  38 

Science  not  the  Great  Pyramid's  final 
object,  47 

Scientific  references    for  capacity  mea- 
sure, 118 

Scottish  Covenanters'  phrase,  172 

Scrip' ural  allusions  : — 
Genesis,  334,  433,  4<54 
Kxodus,  333,  338,  434,  473 
Leviticus,  435 
Deuteronomy,  435 
Pentateuch,  334 


Scriptural  allusions  [conXinvjtd) : — 

Kings,  341,  436 

Chronicles,  341,  436 

Job,  72,  334,  335,  373,  437,  438,  470 

Psalms,  485 

Proverbs,  435 

Isaiah,  2, 198, 373,  404,  443, 470,  480,  481, 
510 

Jeremiah,  p.  vi. 

Ezekiel.  280,  435,  442 

Amos,  434 

Zechariah,  439,  485 

St.  Matthew,  440,  442 

St.  Mark,  440 

St.  Luke,  440 

Romans,  p.  iii. 

Ephesians,  440 

St.  Peter,  440,  442 

Revelation,  450 
Secret  sign  in  Great  Pyramid,  358 
Seven  homilies  by  Rev.  J.  T.  Goodsir,  290 
Shape  of  Great  Pyramid  independently 

discovei  ed,  49 
Sharpe,  Mr.  Samuel,  428 
Shaw.  Dr.,  149 
Sheddsxd  Ben  Ad,  80 
Sheepshanks,  Rev.  R.,  160 
Shepherd  Kings,  418—422 

„    Bryant  on  the,  421 

„    Osbum  on  the,  420,  432 

„    Vyse's  reasonings  on  the,  420—422 
Shuckburgh,  246 
Sidebotham,-  Mr.  Joseph,  133 
Sidereal  day,  274 
Silliman's  American  "  Jom-nal  of  Science 

and  Art,"  186 
Simms,  Mr.,  161 
Simpson,  Mr.  J.,  176,  179,  180—185,  368, 

370—375,  378,  379,  475,  499—504 
Sinai  Survey,  Royal  Engineers  returning 

from,  32 
Slaveholders  possess  Egypt,  482,  483 
Smith,  Mr.  Benjamin,  214 
Smith,  Prof.  H.  L„  176,  180, 185,  861, 362, 

868,  370,  468 
Social  crisis  in  Englanl,  457 
Solar  day,  275,  276 
Solomon's  molten  sea,  340—343,  500 
Sopwith,  Mr.,  126,  :W9 
Specific  gravities,  240,  241 
„    gravit.-,  235 

„    standard  of  Pyramid  weight  men- 
sure,  241 
Speculations   on  the  Metrology  of  the 

Great  Pyramid  by  Sir  J.  Newton,  96 
Squaring  of  the  circle,  13,  26 
Standard  measures,  names  of,  283 
„    of  length  employed  in  Great  Pyra- 
mid, 27 
Standards  Commission,  219 
Stanley,  Dciua,  and  the  Sphinx,  414 
Statement  by  Herodotus  touching  the 

length  of  the  Egyptian  cubit,  516,  616 
Stewart,  Professor  Balfour,  406 
Stone  circles,  measures  of,   by   Jumoa 

Fcrgusson,  607,  608 
Stonenenge,  summer  solstice  is  now  at,  62 
Stone  prepared  without  liands,  463 

„    structures  and  pyramids,  348—847 
Strabo,  19,  78,  426 

Structural  isolation  of  the  Qreat  Pyim- 
mid,  78 


5^6 


INDEX. 


Struve,  M.  Otto,  166 
Sttikely,  Dr.,  509 

8un-distance  as  Bupposed    at   different 
ages  of  the  world,  51 

„    Great  Pyramid,  50 

„    MM.  Le  Verrier  and  Delaunay  on 
the,  50 
Survey  of  Great  Britain,  scale  of  map  of, 

250—252 
Symbolic  hints  from  the  ante-chamber, 

153 
System,  Great  PjTamid's  metrological, 

276 


Table  of  capacity,  corn  measures,  229, 230 

„    dynasty  of  ancient  E^pt,  412 

„    earth's  size  in  P3Tamid  inches,  45 

„    Great  Pyramid  length  measure,  249 

„    measures  of  the  Pyramid's  coffer, 
100 
f   „    Pyramid  and  British  linear  mea- 
sure, 249,  252—255 

„    Pyramid  weight  measure,  232 

„    specific  gravities,  240 

„    system  of  angle  measures,  269 
■    „    temperatures,  268 

„     the  Pyramids  of  Egypt,  413 

„    weight  measure,  232,  235 
Tables  of  coffer  measures,  135 — 141 

„    measures  from  "Life  and  Work," 
397—402 

„    Professor  H.  L.  Smith's  measures, 
369—370 

.,    the  suras  of  the  squares,  178 — 181 
Talbot,  Mr.  Eox,  283 
Taylor,  John,  9,  10,  12,  14,  17,  18,  21,  24, 

25,  27,  35,  38,  39,  40,  46,  49,  97,  98,  108, 

109,  118,  123, 124,  143,  175,  209,  224,  229, 

247,  297,  341,  436,  437, 442 
Temperature  and  density,  146 

„    corrections,  164—168 
Temperatures  and  pressures  in  weighing, 
239 

„    in  Pyramid  thermometer  degrees, 
268 
Test,  crurial,  390 
"ThaHa,"  by  Herodotus,  287 
The  right  man  at  last,  430 
T  lermo-dynamics,  257 
Thermometers,  257—260 
Time,  duration  of,  271 

„    measures  in  the  Great  Pyramid,  304 

„     sacred  and  prophetic,  374 — 376 

„    unlimited  divisibility  of,  271 
Times  on  our  weights  and  measures,  211 
Tombic  theory,  92 

„    M.  Jomard  on  the,  96 

,,    receives  a  shake,  95 
Tompkins,  Henry,  344 
Tracey,  Captain,  176,  187, 190, 192 
Transcendentalisms  of  the  Great  Pyramid 

astronomy,  321—327 
Trial  of  hypothesis  of  Mr,  Casey,  396— 

398 
Troughton,  246 
True  primeval  astronomical  orientation, 

64 


Unexplained    feature    in    the    Queen's 

Chamber  air-channels,  365 
Universal  metrology,  444 
Useful  factors  in  calculation,  14 
Uses  of  the  Queen's  Chamber,  359—3 


Variety  of  authors  and  their  measures, 

16 
Venetian,  M.,  description  of  granite,  112 
Venus,  Sim-transit  preparations  for,  51, 

52 
Virgil,  the  Pleiades  in  the  days  of,  319, 

320 
Vyse,  Col.  Howard-,  5,  6.  15—22,  24,  26, 

29,  32,  78,  90,  93,  94,  97,  99,   102,   103, 

106,  131,  171,  178,  191,   286,  307,   313, 

316,  346,  356,  379,  382,  413,  419,   422, 

461,  512,  514,  516 


W 


Wagner,  M.,  of  Pulkova,  166 

Wall  courses  of  King's  Chamber,  descrip- 
tions of,  147—149 

Wallace,  Dr.,  analysis  of  Pyramid  mor- 
tar, 364 

Warden  of  the  standards,  32,  285,  451 

Weales,  Mr.,  256 

Wealth,  the  number  of  the  beast,  by 
John  Taylor,  209 

Weights  and  measures  derived  from  the 
Great  Pyramid,  39 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  102 

What  standards  would  suit  ir  on  the 
scale  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  28 

What  the  ancients  knew  of  the  interior 
of  the  Great  Pyramid,  73 

Whewell,  Dr.,  160 

Wild,  Mr.  James,  pyramid  construction 
discovered  by,  77 

Wilde,  Sir  W.,  on  the  wall  courses  in  the 
King's  Chamber,  148 

Wilkinson,  Sir  Gardner,  16,  59,  83,  95, 
289,  332,  356,  364,  382,  408,  427,  428, 
468,  514 

Wilson,  John,  484 

Wingate,  Mr.,  233 

Woolhouse's  weights  and  measures,  256 

World's  surface  constant  to  the  cardinal 
directions,  63 


Yard  unit,  246 
Young,  Dr.,  203,  205 


Zechariah,  439.  485 
Zodiacs,  Egyptian,  405,  407 


VlhTUB   AND   CO.,    PBINTKaS,    CITY   BOAD,    LONDON. 


\ 


UNIVERSITY  or  TOR( 
LIBRARY 


Do   not 
remove 
the   card 
from   this 
Pocket. 


I 


Acme   Library   Card   Pocket 

Under  Pat.  "  Ref.  Index  File." 
Made  by  LIBRARY  BUREAU