TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 103 



On a Plan for Preventing the Stealing of Letters by Letter Carriers. 

 By the Rev. F. O. Morris. 



Mr, Morris proposes that a stamp (similar to the one at present in use) be im- 

 printed on a slip of paper about half an inch wide and twice the length of a folded 

 letter; the price a penny, as at present. Let this stamped slij) be put through the 

 letter, which may be done either before or after it is folded, and then be doubled in- 

 wards, so as for the ends to meet. It will keep in by the mere doubling down, but 

 if additional security be thought desirable, these ends may be fastened together with 

 a wafer, &c. Let this stamped slip be directed, as well as the letter itself, by the 

 writer, and let it be stamped at ihe office where it is put in, as well as where it 

 arrives, as also the letter itself, as is done with the latter at present. When such 

 letters arrive at their destination, let the slips be pulled out, and filed, or those of 

 each day put by themselves, for any fixed time, for reference if necessary. Detection 

 would thus, on inquiry, immediately follow the detention of any letter. 



On the probable Mode of Constructing the Pyramids. 

 By Henry Perigal, Jun. 



The author, after quoting from Herodotus the description of the building of the 

 great Pyramid, and commenting on the magnitude of some of the stones employed 

 in it, and of others found in the ruins at Baalbec, gives the following explanation of 

 his views. 



There appears to be no evidence to prove that the architects of the Pyramids 

 were acquainted with any contrivances or combinations equivalent to what would be 

 called machines or engines, according to the modern acceptation of the words ; on 

 the contrary, it seems much more probable that their gigantic undertakings were 

 accomplished by some very simple means; which simplicity (leading to the notion 

 that the means were self-evident) was perhaps the very reason that no record was 

 kept, or transmitted to posterity, of their mode of operation. With this conviction, 

 on the assumption that the statement of Herodotus might be founded on fact, I en- 

 deavoured to discover in what manner such prodigious blocks could have been elevated, 

 from step to step, merehi by the aid of short pieces of wood, when the idea occurred to 

 me that they might have been so raised by some such system as the following 

 process: — 



Each block of stone, shaped and prepared for use before it left the quarry, was 

 conveyed across the Nile (advantage being taken of the periodical inundations) on 

 rafts, or other appropriate vessels, to the causeway described by Herodotus; along 

 which it was dragged on rollers, or on sledges if the stone was smoothed or polished, 

 by the labour of men (or of cattle), to a convenient locality adjoining the Pyramid, 

 where it remained till wanted ; thence it was conducted to the first step of the Pyra- 

 mid on rollers. To get the rollers underneath wedges were used, if it lay on the hard 

 rock; otherv^ise the earth was removed from beneath one-half of the stone, the 

 director or superintendent having placed himself upon the further end to pz'event it 

 from tilting over too soon. 



Next, the director having walked on the top to the other end, the stone (over- 

 balanced by the leverage of his weight) tilted into the hollow in the ground, when 

 rollers were placed under the other half of it. 



The director having walked back again the stone was tilted on to the rollers, and 

 conveyed to its destination at the foot of the Pyramid ; where, perhaps, it was trans- 

 ferred in a similar way to larger rollers. 



Then commenced the lifting process. All but one roller being removed, that one 

 being as nearly as possible under the centre of gravity, the stone was tilted as before, 

 while flat boards or planks were placed beneath ; and upon these boards another 

 very much narrower to act as a fulcrum : all being about the same length, proportioned 

 to the width of the stone. 



The director having walked to the other end the stone was tilted on to the boards, 

 and similar planks were piled beneath by the side or parallel to the others, but a 

 degree higher or more in number; and upon them also a narrow fulcrum-slip, upon 

 which the stone was then tilted. 



