Mr. Perigal o» the Mode of Constructing the Pyramids. 411 



[N.B. In the diagrams the thickness of the planks and the consequent slope 

 are exaggerated to make the operation more distinct and evident. The last 

 diagram is a cross section, the others are longitudinal sections.] 



Should any of the stones have been short, and consequently 

 have afforded insufficient leverage for one man's weight to tilt 

 them, he might have carried a load ; or planks might have been 

 made fast at the top so as to project beyond the ends of the 

 stone for him to v^^alk along; or two or more men might have 

 been employed in traversing the stone ; or various other expe- 

 dients might, obviously, have been adopted to tilt the stone. 

 The wood probably underwent some preparatory process by 

 which it was condensed and its elasticity destroyed, perhaps 

 by being subjected to very heavy pressure when sodden with 

 boiling water. 



Thus "the properties of the lever and of the centre of gravity 

 were brought into co-operation, so that the weight to he lifted 

 was itself the pri7icipal elemetit of the lifting power.'' Figura- 

 tively speaking, the stone was made to raise itself by 



MEANS OF ITS OWN WEIGHT. 



In this manner, with the aid of a few dozen planks, a couple 

 of men (one traversing the stone while the other arranged the 

 planks) might have conducted to the top of the great Pyramid 

 the largest stone used in its construction ; thus corrobora- 

 ting the assertion of the Egyptian priests, as stated by Hero- 

 dotus, that the "stones were raised from step to step hy the aid 

 of short pieces of wood', which, being portable and easily ma- 

 naged, might be removed or transferred as often as they deposited 

 a stone ; or different sets might have been employed for every 

 range of steps." By this simple process, also, a few men might 

 have raised Stonehenge in a single night, if the requisite stones 

 were provided and placed in readiness near the spot, without 

 any previous or subsequent indication of the means by which 

 it was effected ; affording the Druids a favourable opportunity 

 of practising upon the ignorance and credulity of the multi- 

 tude by ascribing its erection to supernatural agenc}'. 



In conclusion, I may add, that in looking over a good many 

 works on Egypt and its antiquities, I have not succeeded in 

 meeting with any direct proof that this system was the very 

 method, or one of the methods, actually practised by the Egyp- 

 tians; but perhaps the following quotation may be interpreted 

 into something like presumptive evidence of its probability, as 

 the fracture of the obelisk in the middle, as there described, is 

 an accident very likely to have occurred in the attempt to 

 move the shaft by such a process, if the stone happened to be 

 brittle, or its breadth and thickness too small for its length. 

 " III one of the quarries at E'Sooan (Syene) is a granite obe- 



