Jan. C, 1882.] 



KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



193 



MAGAZINE OF SGIENCE 



PLAlNLTlf QRBEJ -£XACTLT DE SCRIB£D 



LOXDOX: FRIDAY, JAyUAl^Y (,, 1882. 



Contexts of No. 10. 



PA6B 



ireat Pyramid. By the 



r (lUiulra(ed) 1«3 j 



Links. Part I. By Dr. ' 



1 Wilson, F.L.8., &c. I 



■Iraled) 195 



nee in Animals 196 I 



/ctric Telegraph. By W. 



198 



PAGK 



CoRBBSFOA-DENCB :— The Weather 

 Forecasts, &c. — A Correction : 

 Date of Menes — Personal Iden- 

 tity wrsin Tattoo Marks— Thaw- 

 ing Ice— DilBciiltT o£ Obtaining 

 Knowlbdgs — Our Unbidden 

 Guests— The Pole Star and Pre- 



.•;l' Wheel (lUiutrated) 



inetsand Solar Spots 199 



>Wth a Three-Inch Tele- 



,IUuitrated) 201 



illed Tunnel-Worm 302 



:: Paradox 302 



, of Toads 202 



4c. 



207 



Queriee 210 



Keplies to Queries 211 



Answers to Correspondents 212 



Notes on Art and Science 213 



Our Mathematical Colomn 214 



Our ^Vhist Column 215 



Our Chess Column 215 



THE GREAT PYRAMID. 



By THE Editor. 



IT seems to me a misfortune that the researches made by 

 Professor Piazzi Smyth into the proportions, position, 

 . . of the Great Pyramid, should have their value and 

 ■st impaired by being associated with wild, visionary 

 ! i«s. As De Morgan said long since, Smyth's views 

 paradox of a very high order, backed by a great 

 tity of useful labour, the results of which will be 

 available by those who do not receive the pai'adoxes.'' 

 t it has been said (the question has been asked me 

 iiedly, not only in this country, but in America and 

 lustralasia), how can the numerous coincidences which 

 iProfesscr Smyth has shown to e-xi;t between pyramid 

 Ftatures and the most advanced astronomy of our day 

 N plained without supposing that the builders of the 

 .:iiid were acquainted with a number of astronomical 

 laiTS. which yet could hardly have come to tlieir knowledge 

 unless tliey were divinely inspin^d ? Or, if some higher 

 civihsation existed before the building of the Pyramid, and 

 |the facts in question were discovered as they have been 

 jre-discovered by modern astronomers, how is it that we 

 |have no traces of such civilisation older tlian the Great 

 jPyramid itself? To these questions anotlier lias been 

 iadded, especially for my own benefit, viz., this : — How can 

 ithe great number of the coincidences be regarded as an 

 larguinent against their significance? How can they be said 

 1*0 prove too much 1 



r It appears to me that if we carefully study what the 



fatures of the Great Pyramid may be regarded as certainly 



ing, we shall readily distinguisli the diflerence between 



'. rong and the right way of using the argument from 



tomcidence. 



! We find first, in all the Egyptian Pyramids, the evidence 

 of an astronomical plan; and in tlie Great Pyramid we 

 find evidence that such a plan was carried out with great 

 skill, and with an attention to points of detail which shows 

 that, for some reason or other, the edifice was required to be 

 most carefully built in a special astronomical position. It 

 '■'.atters little at this stage of the inquiry whether we 



suppose the Pyramid was erected for astronomical oliscrva- 

 tion or not. It was cei-tainly constructed in acconlance 

 with astronomical observations of great accuracy, and con- 

 ducted with great skill. Moreover, it is obvious that to 

 obtain such accuracy, the building was made to serve, while 

 it was being built, the purpose of an astronomical obser- 

 \atoiy. Just as the astronomer in our own time uses the 

 instrument he is setting up to adjust and make exact the 

 position of the masomy on which it stands, so the builders 

 of the Great Pyramid' used the passages which they made 

 within it to determine, with the greatest accuracy attain- 

 able by them, the proper position of each part of it, up to 

 the so-called King's Chi^mber, at least, and probably higher. 



So much is certain. ^JTEvery feature thus far discovered 

 in the Great Pyramid^ ^corresponds with this theory, and 

 some features can be explained on no other. 



I have shown at som^.length elsewhere — but the matter 

 scarcely needs demonstrtJIon — that the only possible way in 

 which the Pyramid coul(^|Jave been oriented so accurately 

 as it has been, was by stellar observations. Of all obser- 

 vations for that pui-posaj <^se made on the Pole-star of the 

 time would have been ^Me most effective. If there is a 

 star which the astronomer observes less than another when 

 using his observatory for^that chief of all purposes to 

 which a great public obswrvatory, at any rate, can be 

 applied, it is the Pole-star, simply because that star moves 

 so slowly round its small circle. But for determining the 

 direction of the true north point (and also for determining 

 latitude) the Pole-star is invaluable. No astronomer who 

 thinks over the problem at all, can fail to see that the 

 builder of the Great Pyramid would have been driven by 

 the requirements of his case to make just such a slant 

 descending passage as that which opens out (now that the 

 casing-stones have been removed) on the northern side of 

 the Pyramid, not far above its base. It is equally certain 

 that such a descending passage would have been directed 

 to the position of the Pole-star when it was due north and 

 at its lowest. The position of the Pole-star when exactly 

 above the pole woidd have been just as well suited for 

 determining the direction of the true north, but the slant 

 passage would have had to run deeper down into the solid 

 rock to give the same degree of accuracy, and the extra 

 lal)Our would have been wasted. 



When, after marking the position of the base, the ques- 

 tion of obtaining the true level came to be considered, only 

 one method eflective enough to give the required accuracy 

 would have been available — viz., the use of water, flooding 

 the squared space cut out in the solid rock. A difficult and 

 costl}' task, doubtless, in itself, but a mere nothing con- 

 sidered with reference to the labour and cost to which the 

 builders were prepared to go. For this purpose, the de- 

 scending passage would have to Vie temporarily plugged ; 

 and as soon as the water-level had been marked at several 

 stations on each side of the base, the plug could be removed, 

 and the water run off into the pit which had been excar 

 vated underneath. A depth of a few inches of water all 

 over the base would have sufficed for this purpose, but 

 more probably a mere channel all round the base was 

 prepared. 



After thus orienting the base by aid of the Pole-star, 

 and levelling it by using a property of liquids which was, 

 of course, well known to them, the architects would place 

 layer after layer, carrying towards the north the passage 

 for observing the Pole-star, so that as each layer was 

 placed, the work of orienting, and possibly of levelling, 

 might be repeated, and an ever - increasing exactitude 

 secured. 



But they would know that ere loug the direct pole-star 

 observations would fail them ; for the passage would pre- 



