PYRAMUS AND THISBE 



PYRITE 



The Second and Third Pyramids of the Gizeh 

 group are also massive structures, their perpen- 

 dicular heights being 450 feet and 204 feet re- 

 spectively. The second was built by Chephren, 

 the successor of Cheops, and the Third by My- 

 cerinus, the successor of Chephren. There are 

 three small pyramids south of the last named, 



SIZE OF STONES IN THE GREAT PYRAMID 

 In the Great Pyramid there are 2,300,000 

 stones. Their average weight is two and a half 

 tons each, but some of them weigh fifty tons each. 

 The builders displayed an accuracy almost equal 

 . to opticians' work, but on a scale of acres instead 

 of inches. The blocks were fitted and squared 

 with an accuracy seldom equaled in building 

 operations to-day. How the immense rocks were 

 hoisted to their places is not known. 



supposed to have been erected for other mem- 

 bers of the Royal family. There are in exist- 

 ence about seventy-five Egyptian pyramids, ar- 

 ranged in groups that extend in a north and 

 south direction from Abu Roash to Medum, on 

 west side of the Nile. Many of these are 

 in ruins, but all are interesting subjects for 

 study. B.M.W. 



Consult Petrie's Pyramid* and Temples of 

 Qizeh; Proctor's The Great Pyramid. 



PYRAMUS, pir'amus, AND THISBE, thiz' 

 m Greek legend, two unfortunate young 

 lovers whose home was in Babylon. They lived 

 in adjoining houses, but their parents were so 

 averse to the idea of their marriage that they 

 were not allowed to see each other and had to 

 carry on their courtship through a small open- 

 ing in the wall. Finally, they planned to meet 

 by moonlight beneath a certain mulberry 

 outside the city. Thisbe arrived first, but was 

 frightened by a lion and fled, dropping her veil, 

 which the lion caught and tore with his bloody 

 mouth. When Pyramus reached the spot some 



time later, he saw the lion and the blood- 

 stained veil, and fancying that Thisbe had been 

 killed, stabbed himself with his dagger. Thisbe 

 on her return found his deady body, and seizing 

 the dagger, plunged it into her own bosom. 

 The fruit of the mulberry tree, which had up to 

 that time been white, changed to blood red. 



PYRENEES, pir'eneez, a mountain chain 

 which forms an almost impassable barrier be- 

 tween France and Spain. The Pyrenees extend 

 from east to west for a distance of 280 miles 

 from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean 

 and cover an area of over 20,000 square miles. 

 Their average height is only about 3,500 feet, 

 but in the central ranges there are several peaks 

 over 10,000 feet in altitude. In this section the 

 culminating point of the mountains is reached 

 in Mont Maladetta, which is 11,168 feet above 

 the sea. Most of the glacier fields on the Pyre- 

 nees are found on the northern slopes of the 

 central ranges, the total glacial area being con- 

 siderably less than that of the Alps. The scen- 

 ery of the Pyrenees, too, is inferior in grandeur 

 to the Alpine. As there are but two passes 

 across these mountains that are suitable as 

 wagon roads the Col de la Perche and the Col 

 de Somport the chain as a whole is a barrier 

 to commerce, and France and Spain trade with 

 each other chiefly by sea. On the northern 

 slopes of the mountains there are several well- 

 known watering places, and on the south slope 

 of the Eastern Pyrenees is Andorra, one of the 

 smallest republics in the world. See ANDORRA. 



Consult O'Connor's Travels in the Pyrenees; 

 Baring-Gould's Book of the Pyrenees. 



PYRITE, pi' rite, or PYRITES, pir' riteez. 

 History tells us that the first settlers who came 

 to Jamestown, Va., in search of gold discovered 

 a yellow substance in the rocks of that vicinity 

 which they took for the treasure they were 

 seeking. They mined a shipload of this sub- 

 stance and sent it to England, so the story 

 goes, believing they had become immensely 

 wealthy; but when this "gold" was tested by 

 fire it separated into a black, worthless mass, 

 and a volume of ill-smelling gas. This sub- 

 stance was pyritc or iron pyritc, a compound of 

 iron and sulphur, which because of the inci- 

 dent mentioned, and others like it, is often 

 termed fool's gold. Pyrite has a brassy, yellow 

 color, and is very hard and brittle. It often oc- 

 curs in crystals in the form of cubes, and forms 

 beautiful cabinet specimens. Most of it, how- 

 . occurs in veins in rock. It is used exten- 

 sively in the manufacture of sulphuric acid 

 (which see). Copper pyrite is a compound of 



