24G 



• KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Jan. 20, 1862. 



Keplor, asking if he could tlirow any liglit upon this 

 strange dislike. Mr. NichoUs replied that it had bf ja 

 strongly niiirked in Kepler's father and grandfather, 

 and was unusually strong in one of his brothers, bo 

 much .so, indeed, that he would tly at a Imtcher, even 

 when dressed in jiliiin elothes. These faets being 

 very striking, Mr. Hugijins- Kepler's master — wrote 

 details of them to Mr. Durwin, who was so much interested, 

 eonsidering the circuni.stances a clear instance of iidierited 

 antipathy, timt he sent aTi account of them to Xntare. 

 'I'he faets attracted much attention at the time, and various 

 tlieories were put forward to explain them. In connection 

 with this dislike to butchers shown by Kepler and his 

 relations, it is interesting to notice that a similar antipathy 

 is noted by .Jesse to dog-killers, as mentioned both by Lord 

 Bacon {'Sylva Sylvarum '), and Sir Kenelm Digby 

 (' Treatise on tlie Nature of Bodies'), as having been common 

 among dogs in their tinuj-s. The pass.age from Sir Kenelm 

 Digby 's Treatise runs thus : ' We daily see that dogs will 

 liave an aversion from glovei-s, that make their ware of 

 dogs' .skill ; they will bark at and be chuilish to them, and 

 not endure to come near them, tliough they never saw them 

 before.' Dog-killiug was an old custom in August." 

 Perhaps, after all this intense aversion to butchers, dog- 

 killers, and others who may be supposed to bear about them 

 some scent of blood, suggesting to the dog-mind the 

 slaughter of his kindred, may be an efl'ect of reasoning, 

 not, as I have suggested above, of instinct only. A dog 

 may argue that the scent can only be explained in one 

 way, and that the explanation is such as to suggest danger 

 to himself — " hinc illw lachrymfi.'' 



EXCAVATIONS AT THE PYRAMIDS. 



(From The Academy.) 

 The Tombs, Gheezeh Pyraniirls. Sov. 26, 1881. 



DURING the past six weeks excavations h.-ive been carried on by 

 me bere, under the anthoiisation of M. Maspero, not for 

 obtaining portable antiqnities, but for detidint; riuestions of archi- 

 tecture and measurement. Many poiiils of interest Ij.'ive boon un- 

 covered for the first time in modem history, though the work \va9 

 not on a large scale, and tho number of excavators never exceeded 

 twenty. There have been over 280 holes sunk, varying from a toot 

 deep to shafts twenty feet deep and trenches ninety fte t long. 



A brief notice of the work done may be worth giving at once, 

 without waiting for the conijilcte publication of it, along with my 

 survey of the pyramids (made dining (ivc months of last season), 

 to which it is a necessary sctiuol, for fixing the exact fiducial points 

 of the ancient construction.^. 



At the Great Pyramid, tlie entrance passage has been cleared 

 enough to cramine it throughout, and to enter the subterranean 

 chanibL'r freely. Some of tho loose gravel in the "grotto" of 

 the well has been moved, sliowing that there is a natural vertical 

 lissurc filled with the gravel. The casing and jiavemcnt of the 

 pyramid have been found in situ, at about the middle of the west, 

 east, and south sides ; it was already exposed on the north side, on 

 which alone it has been hitherto known. Tho outer edge of the 

 rock-cut bed of the pavement has been cleared in parts of tho sides, 

 and at the north-east and south-west corners. Tho great basalt 

 pavement has been cleared in parts, and tho edge of the rock- 

 cut bed of it has been traucd along the north-east and 

 south sides; but its junction with tho limestone pyramid 

 paving (which is at the same l>-vel) could not be found, as 

 both arc destroyed at that part. The ends of the great trenches 

 around the basalt pavement have been partly cleared. Tho bottom 

 and sides of the east-north-east troucli have been cleared in i)arts 

 to show the form. No bottom was found under nine feet of sand 

 in the north trench. Tho small north-north-east trench has been 

 cleared in parts up to its inner end at the basalt paving, where it 

 is much smaller, and forks into two. The various rock cuttings and 

 trenches north-east of the pyramid have been cleared and surveyed, 

 but refilled, as tho road passes over them. A piece of the casing 

 of the pyramid, found near tUo base on the west side, lias Greek 

 inscriptions, apparently I'to .... Sot .... (perhaps I'tolumy VIII., 



as the 8 i» round) ; anil .Murkos K over wliiVh is hammurcd 



rouKhlj' ... ni a j ... in Arabic. Nothing, lie.siiles a few frag- 

 ments with lingle leiteis, had bcin previously discovered of the 

 many inscriptions thai existed on the easing. 



.\t the second [lyramid the comers have been all cleaned. The 

 site of the edge of the easing has been found in six places near thoj 

 corners, and the casing itself uncovered at the south-west, 

 edge of the bed of the )iavcment has been found on the north an 

 west sides. The pcribolus walls of the pjmniid have Ijeen cleane 

 in many parts, showinj; that they are all carefully built, and not < 

 " heape'l stone rnbbish," as had been hitherto supposed. .VIso, th0 

 so-called " lines of stone rubbish " on the west side of the pjTan 

 prove to be all built walls, forming a series of long galleries about sixty 

 in number, each abour 100ft. long, Oft, wide, and 7 ft. high, wit« 

 end.s and thresholds of hewn limestone. They would suffice to hoose"" 

 two or three thousand men, and I can only suppose that they were 

 the workmen's barracks. Fragments of fine statues in diorite and 

 alabaster were found here, like those in the temple of this pyramid. 

 Tho great bank of chips on the south side of the Cyclopean wall! 

 north of the jiyramid proves to have retaining walls built in it to] 

 hold up the stuff. The peribolus wall on the south-south-ea-st of 

 the Jiyramid is of fine limestone, of good workmansliip, like most 

 of the tombs of the period. The enormous heaps of rubbish son'h 

 of this wall were slightly cut, and found to consist of tippeil cut, 

 stratified, clean chips of limestone, like the rubbish banks of the 

 Great Pyramid, but inferior stone, i 



At the third pyramid, the granite casing Iwis been uncovercdVt 

 its base in five places near the corners. The jjeribolus walls hate 

 been cleared in many parts all round, and found, in every case, n<f 

 to consist of heaped stones, but to have carefully-built vcrtii 

 faces, like tho second pyramid peribolus, but of inferior work ; ai 

 the wall on the south side is better built, and very wide. 



The small pyramids have not been cleared for Kick of time, up 

 tliey are rather deeply buried ; but a part of the rock-cut bed i<f 

 pavement of the northern one near the Great Pyramid was acci- 

 dentally uncovered clo.se to the edge of the bed of the basalt 

 pavement. 



Though I am obliged to suspend work here at present, yet I sU^ll 

 be very glad to receive any suggestions of points needing examiaa- 

 tion (addressed to Poste Kestante, Cairo) ; and, if they are pra^cti- 

 cablc, 1 may find an opportunity for further work two or tliree months 

 hence. 



When all the paperwork of this survey is finished, we shall know 

 the sizes and distances of the pyramids within a quarter of an inch ; 

 and there will be fresh soil for the growth of theories, ai thit Great 

 Pyramid proves to Ic several feei smaller than hitherto siippfiseJ, the 

 sockets not defining the casing at tho pavement levil, though 

 defining it, perhaps, at their own respective levels. 



W, M, Fl.IXDJRS PETHrE. 



[Let not 'pyrnmidalists despair. It will be just as easy to find] 

 all the features of the solar system in the Pynnnid >vith the new 

 mea.sures, as it was before. The newcoiiKidencos will be worth jnsf 

 as much, too, as the old ones. — En.] 



Mani'FAitvkk of G.ts from Woon, — When wood is burned, the 

 chief product of the combustioij is a gas called carbon dioxide or 

 carlionie aniiydryde (COj), i.e., one of carbon united with two of 

 oxygen. The gas is the same which gives tho effervescence to so<la- I i 

 water, &c. This fact is made use of in New York, by a process |l 

 called Wilkinson's, for the manufacture of wood-gas, COj is itself I" 

 a non-supporter of combustion, extinguishing a light when plunged 

 into a jar of this gas, when it is inhaled destroys life, as in the fatal 

 valley of Java (Johnston's "Chemistry of Common Lite"), or any- 

 where else where persons have got into an atmosphere where it jirc<lo- 

 minates. It we, however, get rid of one of oxygen in COj, i.e., reduce 

 CO J to CO, or carbonic oxide, wo obtain the " Wootl-gas " now used in 

 New York. This is done " by forcing tho gas through red-hot 

 charcoal" (abs. Chem. Soc. Jour.). By doing this we get rid of the 

 one of oxygon which was in excess, ami so obtain a gas which has 

 differont properties — for it is now a " .supjiorter " of combustion. 

 The gas needs very little piirificaiion, the dangerous, obnoxious, 

 and otherwise objectionable products being absent. Tho wood is 

 only drawn from the retorts twice a day, " to prevent too great an 

 accumulation of chareoal," whereas coke is withdniwn each time. 

 " 53, 8^)2 cub. feet of gas are produced fixjm a cord of wood, costing 

 525 dolUrs (about 21s.) per coni of 3,300 lb. The qnantity 

 of gas alone is thus four times a.< 'treat as that which can be 

 obtained from coal, costing an equal sum jier tcm as wood does per 

 cord." In New York, wood-gas is sometimes mixed with an inferior 

 coal-gas, forming what is known there under the name of " com- 

 mercial," which has a great candle jwwer.- F.CS. 



