406 Mr. Perigal on the Mode of Constructing the Pyramids. 



bility, beyond the sphere of military purposes, that I men- 

 tioned it to Dr. Faraday. I wrote to him yesterday, in con- 

 sequence of his having written to me upon the present occa- 

 sion, and I doubt not he will have great pleasure in showing 

 you my letter and diagram. 



I trust that the time and trouble you have bestowed upon 

 the subject may not be without their fruits; the illustrations 

 by your diagrams will not lose their value, nor will the fact of 

 its having slumbered a quarter of a century in the exclusive 

 exercises of the artilleryman render less interesting the public 

 demonstration of a principle which had been buried a hundred 

 times as long in the Pyramids of the Ptolemies and Pharaohs. 



Royal Laboratory. Woolwich, I am> Sir, yours very truly, 



September 21, 1844. C C. DanSEY. 



Part I. Description of a Process supposed to have been adopted 

 by the Egyptians to raise the Stones from step to step ifi the 

 Construction of the Pyramids. 



For two or three thousand years, or more, it has been a 

 matter of wonder, and a favourite subject of surmise and in- 

 quiry, how the ancient Egyptians contrived to elevate to their 

 places the enormous masses of stone of which the Pyramids 

 are constructed ; such being the magnitude of these structures 

 and the supposed difficulties surmounted in their erection, that 

 the great Pyramid was designated one of the seven " wonders 

 of the world." What kind of engines were employed (if any 

 were used), or what expedients were adopted to raise the pon- 

 derous stones, has continued a mystery to the present time; 

 although various methods have been suggested, more or less 

 practicable, not one of these conjectures has been considered 

 a satisfactory solution of the problem which has baffled the 

 learned and ingenious for so many ages. 



Chronologers assert that the great Pyramid of Gizeh is from 

 4000 to 5000 years old. Herodotus, who visited Egypt about 

 2200 years ago, gives the following account of its erection, as de- 

 scribed by the priests who then had charge of the Pyramids : — 



" They told me likewise that Cheops, who succeeded 

 Rhampsinitus, oppressed the Egyptians with hard labour; 

 appointing some to receive the stones that were dug out of the 

 quarries in the Arabian mountains and to convey them down 

 lo the Nile ; and when they had been transported in vessels 

 to the other side of that river, he appointed others to receive 

 them, and to drag them to the mountain called the Libyan. 

 Ten years were spent in constructing the causeway along which 

 they drew the stones. Twenty years were spent on the Py- 

 ramid, which is quadrilateral, every face containing eight 



