i8 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6 1 



Prof. G. P. Merrill, Curator of Geology, U. S. National Museum, 

 has kindly sent me the following data on large stones lately quarried : 



Quarry Destination 



Ston.v Cr., West Point, 

 Conn. N. Y. 



Size 



4i'x6'x6' 



Ha Howell. Hall of Rec- 36'io"x4'io" 

 Me. ords. N.Y 



Badger Eros 

 Q u i n c y , 

 Mass. 



Barre, Vt. 



M ausoleum 

 Yice-Pres- 

 G. A. Ho- 

 bart 



J. J. and F. Stoop.Hunt- 

 P. Trea- ington 

 nor Hast- Mansion, 

 i n g s - o n- 5th a v e . 

 the - Hud- and 57th 

 son, N. Y- St.. N. Y. 



72" diam. 



34 



22 XI5 XI! 



Weight. 



100 tons 



no tons 



43 tons 



24 tons 



Kind of Stone 



Branford 

 Red Granite 



Granite 



Granite 



Several of the obelisks quarried and moved by the Egyptians were 

 double the size of any of these and weighed several times as much : 



The estimated height of the Lateran obelisk is 105 feet 6 inches and 

 its weight 510 tons; Cleopatra's Needle in New York is 69 feet 

 6 inches high and weighs 224 tons. The obelisk still in the quarry at 

 Syene is 95 feet long and it is estimated to weigh 770 tons, which may 

 be a greater weight than the Egyptians could move. 



The monolith has a religious significance in Arabia and is used to 

 designate a place of prayer in some parts of Asia Minor. The present 

 distribution of these monoliths marks the distribution of that pagan 

 worship or abomination the Israelites repeatedly tried to root out but 

 without success. 1 These " high places of worship " formerly found 



310 tons. This lathe was designed and patented by engineers of Boston, and 

 was constructed in Philadelphia. (American Geologist, Vol. 27, No. 1, January, 

 1 901, p. 66.) 



1 Whether or not we accept the theory that the church spire and minaret is 

 the surviving homologue of the ancient obelisks marking places of prayer, the 

 absence of steeples in synagogues is often quoted as a protest against these indi- 

 cations of heathen worship. 



Although the Israelites were commanded not to set up an image of stone 

 (eben maskith) they often used stones for commemoration, as when Joshua 

 erected 12 stones in Gilgad after crossing the Jordan. 



