PYRAMIDS 



64 19 



PYRARGYRITE 



Pyramids. 



Based upon th 



Reconstruction of the Pyramids of Abusir as they were built by the kings of the Vth dynasty, c. 3500 B.C. 



e beautiful reconstruction ky Herr Borthardt, the German Egyptologiit, in hit Qrabdenkmal det Konigs Se-user-ra" 



Pyramids. Game played on a 

 billiard-table. Fifteen coloured 

 balls are arranged in the form of a 

 compact pyramid, or triangle, the 

 ball forming the apex of the tri- 

 angle resting on a spot, called the 

 pyramid spot, midway between the 

 centre spot and the billiard spot 

 on the table, and the base of the 

 triangle towards the top cushion. 

 The game is usually played by two 

 persons, although sides of any con- 

 venient number can be formed, 

 who use a sixteenth white ball 

 alternately. The game consists en- 

 tirely of winning hazards, the object 

 being to pocket more of the col- 

 oured balls than one's opponent. 



The order of play having been 

 determined, A plays from the D at 

 the coloured balls. If he pockets 

 one or more he continues his 

 innings, playing from where the 

 white ball stops until failure occurs, 

 when it is B's turn to proceed. 

 Should a player pocket the white 

 ball one point is deducted from his 

 score, and a coloured ball previ- 

 ously pocketed is placed on the 

 pyramid spot, or, if that is occupied, 

 as near to it in a straight line from 

 the top cushion as possible. If the 

 striker who runs in, i.e. pockets or 

 loses the white, has not previously 

 scored a red ball, he is said to owe 

 one, and the next ball he takes is x 

 replaced on the table, the stroke 

 not counting to him, except that 

 his penalty is nullified. When all 

 the coloured balls but one have 

 been pocketed, the white is used 

 by the first striker as the cue ball, 



and the coloured one by his oppo- 

 nent. Should either player then 

 run in a pocket, or give a miss, it 

 counts to his opponent, and the 

 game is over. 



As played by leading profession- 

 als it gave great scope for skill. 

 Their method, usually, was to pay 

 very little attention to scoring 

 during the early stages of the game, 

 but to manoeuvre until an oppor- 

 tunity presented itself of taking 

 several balls in an innings. In this 

 connexion it is recorded that in a 

 private match the late William 

 Cook and the (then) younger 

 Roberts played for two hours, at 

 the end of which period both were 

 owing three balls. There was once 

 a professional pyramid champion- 

 ship. The last time it was con- 

 tested was at the Guildhall 

 Tavern, London, in March, 1875, 

 when the late W. Cook defeated D. 

 Richards. See Billiards ; Snooker. 



Pyramids, BATTLE OF THE. 

 Battle fought near Embabeh, 

 Egypt, in which Napoleon Bona- 

 parte defeated the Mamelukes 

 under Murad Bey, July 21, 1798. 

 The Egyptian forces, totalling 

 about 37,000, were drawn up be- 

 tween the Nile and the Pyramids 

 of Gizeh, with a smaller force of 

 1,000 Mamelukes under Ibrahim 

 on the further river-bank. Soon 

 after dawn Bonaparte's five divi- 

 sions, in square formation, ad- 

 vanced. In spite of a furious Mame- 

 luke charge against Desaix's divi- 

 sion, the French routed their 

 en^my, captured Embabeh, and 



drove its defenders into the river. 

 Many escaped by swimming, but 

 over 1,000 were drowned and 600 

 killed. The French losses were 

 light, and two days later Bonaparte 

 entered Cairo. Before this battle 

 Bonaparte, addressing his troops, 

 is believed to have used the famous 

 phrase, " Soldiers, remember that 

 from these Pyramids forty cen- 

 turies look down upon you ! " See 

 Egypt : History. 



Pyramus. In Babylonian 

 legend, a youth who loved a 

 maiden named Thisbe, and, their 

 parents refusing consent, used to 

 talk with her through a chink in a 

 wall. Having resolved to marry, 

 the pair agreed to meet under a 

 mulberry bush by the tomb of 

 Ninus, and flee together. Thisbe 

 reached the rendezvous first, but 

 was frightened away by a lion. 

 Pyramus then arrived, and finding 

 a veil which Thisbe had dropped, 

 stained by contact with the lion's 

 gory jaws, concluded that she had 

 fallen a victim to the brute, and 

 killed himself with his own hand. 

 Thisbe, returning to find Pyramus 

 dead, killed herself also. In 

 memory of the tragedy the fruit 

 of the mulberry was red ever after- 

 wards. The story is told by Ovid 

 in his Metamorphoses, and is made 

 use of by Shakespeare in A Mid- 

 summer Night's Dream. 



Pyrargyrite (Gr. pyr, fire; 

 argyros, silver). In mineralogy, a 

 sulph-antimonite of silver. Dark 

 red to black in colour, it is one of 

 the valuable silver ores. See Silver. 



