226 



♦ KNO\VLEDGE • 



[Jan. 13, 1882. 



THE PYRAMID OF MEYDOOM. 

 By Amelia B. Eowarhs. 



TO o]*!) the Pvnimid of Mpydoom was one of tlic uiifullilli'd 

 lirojccta of tlio Into Sfariotto Taslia. Prof. Maspcro takes 

 Efvptologists by fiur|>risc in achiuviiip this ;frcat work iluriii;; the 

 tirsi weeks of liis socoihI year's cauipai(ni. For more than a month 

 it hail Ix-en known to a few of Iiis |>rivnto fricmls that lie hail a fran^r 

 of fellaheen nt work npon this pyramid; hut the secret lias been 

 faitlifitlly kept ; and not till success was actually achieved was it 

 oven suspected in the public offices and liotels of Cairo. 



The Pyramid of Moydoom, situate about a mile and a-lialf to the 

 north-west of the villaj^e of Meydoom, is built in three staffes, each 

 inclined at an an^'le of 71° 10'. It rises to a height of 122ft. 

 from tliu midst of a hi^di hill of fallen masonry and rubble. 

 The first stage shows a lieiglit of CD ft. ; the second measures 

 20J ft. ; the third, which is much ruined, measures 32 ft. in lieight. 

 The outer masonry is of admirable workmanship, and consists of 

 polished blocks of JIuknttam limestone. The general effect of the 

 stnicture is very imjiosing. It has been aptly comimred to the 

 keep of a Xorman castle, if we can imagine a keep built in three 

 gnperimposed stages. Archaeologists have till now believed that 

 this pyramid was inviolate. Dominating a vast burial-field con- 

 taining the tnastaha.':, or bnilt sepulclues, of many nobles and 

 " royal relatives " of Scneferoo, the last king of the Third Dynasty, 

 it is supposed to be the pyramid of that monarch. It would in 

 such case be of earlier date than the pyramids of Ghcezeh. 



Professor JIaspero began his work by opening a vertical trench 

 down the northern face of the mound out of which the pyramid 

 rises; the first result being to show that the masonry goes down to 

 the level of the desert, and that the mound is entirely formed of 

 accumulated sand and debris. Pi-ofessor Maspcro believes this debris 

 to be very ancient, and thinks it may even date as far back as the 

 end of the New Empire. The entrance was found precisely in the 

 centre of the north face of the lirst stage, about 20 metres above 

 the level of the plain ; which would give about 134 feet for the 

 actual height of the first stage as now laid bare. This entrance 

 was opened on the 13th of last month. It gave access to 

 a descending passage about 1 m&tre 60 centimetres square. 

 The incline of this passage is very steep, and for the first 

 10 metres it is lined with masonrj' finer, it possible, than that of 

 the external facing. At a depth of 10 metres the passage strikes 

 the living rock, and becomes in its continuation an excavated 

 sloping shaft of the same dimensions as before. The pyramid, for 

 at least half its height, is therefore fonned upon a core of rock, 

 around which the jiyramidal structui-e is elevated. About 5 metres 

 from the entrance there was once a '*stopj5er" stone, which closed 

 the mouth of the jiassagc. This "stopper" has disappeared; but 

 the construction of the j)assage shows that it was contrived quite 

 differently from the portcullis-stones of the Gheezch pyramids. 

 There is no void in the roofing above where it is placed. It must, 

 therefore, have been inserted after the nmmmy was laid in the 

 sepulchre; then filled up to the level of the outer wall, 

 and covered with the same reri-tcment, so leaving no ex- 

 ternal trace. The removal of this stone must have been 

 effected at a very distant time, there being three hieratic 

 inscriptions of the jieriod of the XXth DjTiasty scrawled upon the 

 ceiling at the very point which the stone formerly occupied. These 

 inscriptions, written in accordance with a brief formula common to 

 the Jepoch, merely record the visit of two Egyptian tourists — the 

 scribe Sokari anci the .scribe Amenmes. Hence it would seem that 

 the pyramid of Jleydoom was open, and Wsited by the curious, as 

 early as the XXth Dynasty. The descending passage has been 

 cleared to the depth of -R) metres, without any lauding, branch- 

 passage, or chamber having yet been reached. Thus far, the struc- 

 tural arrangement seems to reproduce the internal plan of the 

 Great Pyramid. The work is of extreme difficulty, owing to the 

 want of air and light, and the overwhelming heat. The workmen 

 faint from time to time, and have to be carried out. Prof. Maspero 

 finds it impossible to stay inside for moro than half-an-hour tflge- 

 her. — From the Academ y. 



VEtJETABLE POISONS. 



TllK evidence in refi'rence to the death of Percy Malcolm .lohn 

 was of a chnracter which seems to leave no doubt that the 

 deceased was jioisoned by aconitinc, however or by whom it may 

 have been administered. Tlic medicinal <|ualitics proper to various 

 of the moat active members of the vegetable kingdom, such as 

 opium, hemlock, aconite, hellebore, cinchona, and others, have long 

 been known to be due to the presence in their jnices of substances 

 called their active principles, and known chemically as alkaloids. Of 



these, ([uinine, the active principle of cinchona bark, and morphia, 

 the active principle of opinm, are of snch comparatively slender 

 potency that they are constantly admvniatered in medicine, and 

 their names have become household words — e\en to the extent, in 

 the case of morphia, that it has lost its original French designation 

 of morphine, and has become 'Latinised or Anglicised in common 

 use. When the active principles were first discovered, they were 

 almost entirely manufactured or separated in Prance, for the 

 reason that the process recpiired the enipIojTnent of a large 

 quantity of rectified spirit or pure alcohol, and that the excise 

 duties on alcohol had not then been relaxeil in favour of chemictgj 

 manufactures, and were practically proliibitorv- in this country. 

 The analysis of vegetable poisons, in quest of the active principles 

 which they might contain, fell almost exclusively into the hands of 

 French chemists ; and hence these active principles, when separated 

 and identified, were naturally called by French names. With 

 those which are so powerful as to be dai gerons in any but 

 the most skilful hands, and which have never l>een popu- 

 larly known or talked about, the French terminology- has been 

 commonly retained ; and hence the active principle of helle- 

 bore is still called veratrine, and that of aconite acoiiitine. The 

 aconite itself is the plant known to botanists as Acmiitui-i yapellus, 

 and familiar in many old-fashioned country gardens as monkshood, 

 and its graceful form, dark and deeply indented foliage, and tall 

 spikes of large dark blue flowers, are attendant npon one of the 

 most deadly poi.=ons which are contained in the vegetable kingdom. 

 The root bears a superficial resemblance to horseradish, and there 

 have been numerous instances in which this resemblance has led to 

 fatal consequences. It cannot strictly be said to resemble horse- 

 radish in taste, but it produces upon the tongue a peculiar sensa- 

 tion of tingling, followed by prolonged nmabnoss ; and it has 

 been eaten as horseradish over and over again, in sufficient 

 quantities to cause the deaths of many persons, and serions 

 illness to many others. When such is the virulence of the root 

 itself, it cannot be matter for surprise that its alkaloid, or active 

 principle, separated from every inert constituent, should be dan* 

 gerous to man in a dose of the fiftieth of a grain, and fatal in the 

 dose of a tenth of a grain ; or that it should produce, in an intensi- 

 fied degree, the peculiar tongue sensation which is produced by 

 chewing the plant itself. It is by these characteristics that the 

 analysts. Dr. Stevenson and Dr. Dnpre, have bocn able to identify 

 aconitine as the poison which proved fatal to the deceased. 



The vegetable alkaloid?, when administered for criminal pur- 

 poses, were long thought to present peculiar d-fficidties to chemists. 

 The fatal dose might be so small in absolute amount as to be easily 

 lost among the other ingredients of a meal, or the other consti- 

 tuents of the animal body ; and the substances themsi'lves do not 

 offer the facilities for analysis with wliich we are f.'uniliar in the case 

 of the mineral poisons. A preparation having a metallic base, such 

 as arsenic or antimony, is practically indestructible ; for, if it is 

 swallowed in sufficient quantities tocause death, this base must always 

 be present in the remains in a condition in which it can be separated 

 and identified by processes of the simplest kind, with which it is 

 the business of every medical student to be familiar. The alka- 

 loids, on the other hand, instead of haviig permanent bases 

 peculiar to themselves, are con\posed of the same elements which 

 build up the fabric of the body, and of the food from which its sus- 

 tenance is derived, and there are very few of them which, 

 in the presence of any tests, j-ield reactions that can be 

 described as ])0sitively characteristic. In these circumstances 

 physiology has come to the help of chemistry, and the 

 practice which is pursued is, in the fii-st instance, to 

 treat the contents of the stomach, or tie s-nbst.ince of the 

 ^Hscera, in such a way as to extract from then any alkaloid which 

 they may contjiin, and then to test this extra t by its effects when 

 administered to small animals, instead of by its l)eha^^our in con- 

 tact with re-agents. The evidence of Dr. Stevenson is to the effect 

 that he made an extract from the matters subntitted to him for 

 analysis, and that he administered minute quantities of this extract 

 by injecting it under the skin of mice, which therenpon died with 

 symptoms of aconite jioisoning. It fnither ]>rofluccd upon his own 

 tongue and upon that of Dr. Dupre the characteristic tingling and 

 numbness which would be produced by aconite, and which lasted from 

 four to six hours ; and, finally, some mice were jioisoned with gennino 

 aconitine, and their syn\i)toms were compared with those exhibited 

 by the mice poisoned by the extract. In this way the chemists 

 were able to arrive at a conclusion which they appear to have 

 placed beyond dispute. The body of the deceased contained 

 aconitine enough to have killed a dozen people ; and no one who 

 had swallowed the alkaloid in the amount in which it was shown 

 to have been jiresent could have hail, from the lirst moment, even 

 the smallest chance of escape. In its legitimate uses, indeed, 

 oconitine is scarcely ever employed by physicians except as an 

 external application. A minute quantity of it is sometimes pro- 



