514 Notices of Books. [October, 



Egyptian cubit; in illustration whereof he gives, in his table 5, five 

 different sets of measures of the said monolithic stone box, 

 coffer, or sarcophagus. 



Of these sets of measures, the first one is intituled as being 

 " by the computation of Piazzi Smith and Joseph Jopling." 



Now, if the first name is intended for mine, I have to say 

 that Joseph Jopling is now dead, and I never saw him during 

 life, and never worked in concert with him in anything; and 

 though I have read some of his writings, I never approved of 

 his hypothetical ideas about the size of the coffer, but, on the 

 contrary, maintained that they were very erroneous. What I have, 

 at any time, published for the size of the coffer as my own 

 results were the means of very numerous measures taken by 

 myself at the place — more numerous, indeed, than all the pub- 

 lished measures yet taken by anyone and everyone in modern 

 times (see my " Life and Work at the Great Pyramid," vol. ii.) 

 and very different in result or amount from the numbers attri- 

 buted to me by M. Dufeu, with what object I do not pretend to 

 know. 



The fourth column of measures set forth by M. Dufeu is 

 labelled as being by Professor Greaves, the Oxford Astronomer, 

 whom the author seems to consider a very late authority on 

 the Pyramid, and a great deal more trustworthy than me; yet 

 he died two hundred and thirty years ago, and all his measures 

 were taken merely at a single visit on one particular day to 

 the Pyramid, with a janissary guarding the entrance all the time. 



The fifth set of measures M. Dufeu entitles " notre 

 mesure;" and yet, such title notwithstanding, I am compelled 

 to dispute that the numbers which he gives could really have 

 been measured upon the coffer of the king's chamber in the 

 Great Pyramid, by any " savant" whatever. 



My special reasons for thus declining to accept the statement 

 of a Member of the Egyptian Institute, are, that if the gentleman 

 himself, or any friend of his, had really measured each of the 

 six elements of the coffer, as he has recorded them, to o*ooi 

 of an inch, he could not have failed to have discovered that 

 one side at one part of its height was longer than the other 

 by a whole inch ; that three of the sides are curved and not 

 flat ; and that there is a quasi sarcophagus ledge of large size 

 cut out of the substance of the top of all the four sides, raising 

 very serious questions as to how the measures are to be taken ; 

 yet not one word on any of these most noteworthy features is 

 there throughout the whole book. 



In conclusion, though the author is on every few pages de- 

 claring that his theory is entirely new, and that he is therefore 

 a hero to publish it, I am sorry to say that it is not more new 

 than it is true ; for the greater part of it was invented, written, 

 and printed for private circulation in 1863, by Hekekyan Bey, 

 an old Armenian officer now resident in Cairo ; was discussed 



