7 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and paintings of Mexico, and by the oldest portrait-pottery of Peru. 

 All alike show markedly non-Indian features, while they often closely 

 resemble modern European types. Ancient crania, too, have been 

 found in all these countries, presenting very different characters from 

 those of any of the modern indigenous races of America. 1 



There is one other striking example of a higher being succeeded 

 by a lower degree of knowledge, which is in danger of being forgot- 

 ten because it has been made the foundation of theories which seem 

 wild and fantastic, and are probably in great part erroneous. I 

 allude to the Great Pyramid of Egypt, whose form, dimensions, struct- 

 ure, and uses, have recently been the subject of elaborate works by 

 Prof. Piazzi Smyth. Now, the admitted facts about this pyramid are 

 so interesting and so apposite to the subject we are considering, that I 

 beg to recall them to your attention. Most of you are aware that 

 this pyramid has been carefully explored and measured by successive 

 Egyptologists, and that the dimensions have lately become capable 

 of more accurate determination, owing to the discovery of some of 

 the original casing-stones and the clearing away of the earth from 

 the corners of the foundation, showing the sockets in which the cor- 

 ner-stones fitted. Prof. Smyth devoted many months of work with 

 the best instruments in order to fix the dimensions and angles of all 

 accessible parts of the structure ; and he has carefully determined 

 these by a comparison of his own and all previous measures, the best 

 of which agree pretty closely with each other. The results arrived 

 at are : 



1. That the pyramid is truly square, the sides being equal and the 

 angles right angles. 



2. That the four sockets on which the first four stones of the cor- 

 ners rested are truly on the same level. 



3. That the directions of the sides are accurately to the four cardi- 

 nal points. 



4. That the vertical height of the pyramid bears the same propor- 

 tion to its circumference at the base as the radius of a circle does to 

 its circumference. 



Now all these measures, angles, and levels, are accurate, not as an 

 ordinary surveyor or builder could make them, but to such a degree 

 as requires the very best modern instruments and all the refinements 

 of geodetical science to discover any error at all. In addition to this 

 we have the wonderful perfection of the workmanship in the interior 

 of the pyramid, the passages and chambers being lined with huge 

 blocks of stones fitted with the utmost accuracy, while every part of 

 the building exhibits the highest structural science. 



In all these respects this largest pyramid surpasses every other in 

 Egypt- Yet it is universally admitted to be the oldest, and also the 

 oldest historical building in the world. 



1 Wilson's "Prehistoric Man," third edition, vol. ii., pp. 12:>, 144. 



