Some Cranks and their Crotchets 431 



sees in this numeral the value of Pi, and further- 

 more informs us that 318 is the Gnostic symbol for 

 Christ, as well as the number of Abraham's trained 

 servants. Frequent use of it is made in the Great 

 Pyramid ; for example, multiplied by six it gives 

 the height of the king's chamber, and multiplied 

 by two it gives half the base side of that apart- 

 ment. Our author then puts the pyramid into a 

 sphere, and after this feat it is an easy transition 

 to Noah's flood, the zodiac, and modern ritualism. 

 Of similar purport, though more concise than this 

 octavo, is Dr. Watson Quinby's " Solomon's Seal, 

 a Key to the Pyramid," published at Wilmington, 

 Delaware, in 1880. From this little book we learn 

 that " in the early days of the world some one mea- 

 sured the earth, and found its diameter, in round 

 numbers, to be 41,569,000 feet, or 498,828,000 

 inches;" also that "Vishnu means Fish-Nuh, 

 Noah-the-Fish, in allusion to his sojourn in the 

 ark." Moreover, the Institutes of Manu were 

 written by Noah, since Maha-Nuh = Great-Noah ! 

 With equal felicity, Rev. Edward Dingle (in his 

 " The Balance of Physics, the Square of the Cir- 

 cle, and the Earth's True Solar and Lunar Dis- 

 tances," London, 1885, pp. 246) declares that 

 " my success, let it be held what it may, was 

 secured by cleaving to the Mosaic initiation of the 



