1871.] The Great Pyramid in Egypt. 203 



the socket line of the east side of base ; (2) on the same line 

 of the north side; and (3) on the axis of the entrance 

 passage, at something less than five minutes of angle : and 

 these limits will probably be smaller when the chief line on 

 which the architect relied, viz., the axis of the " Grand 

 Gallery," can be measured in azimuth as I did measure it 

 in altitude. 



Again, my suggested geometrical diagram depending on 

 the 7r proportion, and producing the passage-angle already 

 alluded to, requires for some of its further developments a 

 standing point in 30 N. latitude. 



Is the Great Pyramid, then, so placed ? 



It is, and it is not, I may perhaps be allowed to answer. 

 At all events, it is nearer than any of the other pyramids ; 

 for, while the Aboo Roash abortion is several whole miles 

 too far north, and the Great Pyramid (being, by my mea- 

 sures, in 29 58' 51" latitude) is more than one mile too far 

 south, all the other known pyramids are further south still. 



Indeed, the exact position of the parallel of 30 latitude in 

 that meridian is right down in the hollow alluvial plain in 

 front, or northward, of the Great Pyramid ; a region impos- 

 sible for secure foundation. Rather, therefore, than incur 

 that danger, would it not be better to put up with the error 

 of 1' g" in the angle of some of the lesser features of the 

 building ? Perhaps so ; though meanwhile it may be 

 doubted whether the error on the original intention really 

 amounts even to the third part of 1'; for there are two ways 

 of viewing the introduction of 30 latitude, or the symbolical 

 elevation by so much of the polar point of the sky. 



Shall it be, for instance, in a perfectly abstract manner, 

 and as though the earth with all that is thereon were merely 

 a mathematical point in space : or shall it be as the earth is 

 in nature, where man can only view the polar star by 

 gazing through the intervening medium of a refracting 

 atmosphere, without which he could not live ? 



The former method would perhaps be preferred by the 

 scientific few, but the latter is more adapted to the appre- 

 hensions of the greater number of the multitudes of man- 

 kind. Neither, therefore, can be altogether omitted in a 

 monument both scientific and anthropological. Wherefore, 

 as the former principle requires 30 o' o", and the latter 

 29 58' 23" (or a latitude where the polar point, raised by 

 refraction, would become 30 to the eye), we take a mean 

 between the two, viz., 29 59' 12", and find the Great 

 Pyramid so very near thereto as necessarily to throw us back 



