1871.] The Great Pyramid in Egypt. 197 



to lie outside the base when near the middle of the sides, and 

 inside at the corners. By just such a quantity, moreover — 

 if the pyramid be taken in progress of construction, or 

 without its final sheet of casing stones — that the projection 

 of the circle at the middle of the side has been shown by 

 W. Petrie to be coincident with the common axis of two of 

 that remarkable system of azimuth trenches just mentioned ; 

 while rectangular offsets from the places near the corners, 

 where the circle's circumference enters the square base, 

 define the very precisely cut and broad rectangular ends of 

 the two self-same trenches. 



After this, it is needless to add that Herodotus's puzzling 

 statement of the height of the pyramid being equal 

 to the length of the side of the base, when interpreted 

 by John Taylor as referring to square measure, and meaning 

 that the area of one of the sides was equal to the square of 

 the height, does really give as its angle 51 49', or closer 

 than many of the modern measures ; and that a very lately 

 started idea, or that a rise of nine for every ten of distance 

 in the diagonal of a pyramid's base, would give a quantity 

 differing only a few seconds from 51 51' 14" — all this I 

 say is needless, because these ideas with merely closely 

 similar but not identical angles, and many other ideas 

 which are vastly simpler — but vastly further off, too, from 

 the angular truth as measured — have no such additional 

 testimony of intention from the builders themselves, as the 

 it theory has. Inside the pyramid, too, we may truly say, as 

 well as outside, for a corollary of the same theory assigns 

 the angle for both the descending and ascending passages ; 

 and when the longest length and most carefully constructed 

 part of any of them, viz., the Grand Gallery, came to be 

 measured by myself, — with instruments, both mechanical 

 and astronomical, the like of which for power of accuracy 

 had never been taken inside the Pyramid before, — the mean 

 result, though in the hands of some previous explorers 

 differing several degrees, was 26 17' 32", the computed angle 

 being 26 18' 10". While the closely approximate it value 

 itself is found again, permeating both the peculiar arrange- 

 ments of the antechamber* and the proportions of the coffer ,t 

 that ultimate treasure of the final and innermost " King's 

 Chamber" of the Great Pyramid. 



Let it be further noted, too, by the assistance of the 



* As shown by Captain Tracey, R.A., in a paper about to be read before the 

 Royal Society, Edinburgh. 



t St. John Vincent Day, the discoverer. See his published " Papers on the 

 Pyramid ; " also his folio book " Plates and Notes on Pyramids." 



