OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 703 



the "Royal Astronomical Society's Memoirs," vol. ix. p. 40, wherein the com- 

 parison made by Graham, in 1743, before deputations from the Government and 

 the Royal Society, is described as having shown that the Queen Elizabeth ell's 

 45 inches exceeded the quantity of 45 such inches as the same Queen's yard con- 

 tained 36 of, by 00494 inch. But our present parliamentary yard, though de- 

 scended from Queen Elizabeth's yard, is not identical with what it is, or was, in 

 that day, because, for one reason, it is copied immediately from " Bird's yard," 

 and that from the Royal Society's yard, and that from " the Tower yard," and 

 that only from Queen Elizabeth's standard measure, and so badly, that all these 

 subsequent yards are about 00075 inch larger than their intended prototype. 

 Applying which correction to the former statement for the ell, we conclude that 

 measure to have its 45 inches equal to 45-0419 of such inches as the present 

 British standard yard contains 36 of 



Now, inasmuch as 45 pyramid, or truly earth-commensurable inches =45*0446 

 of these present standard inches, our first determination, so far as it can be 

 trusted for the ell's inches, shows that they were as nearly earth-commensurable 

 as anything that modern science could well have desired. 



This is surely a strange additional episode to the many curious ones already 

 cited in the history of the Great Pyramid, and our own national metrology ; and 

 has appeared, therefore, to be worthy of further research, especially as certain 

 subsequent comparisons made about fifty years after Graham's, and cited by 

 Mr Baily, at page 48 of the same Essay, seem to throw doubt upon it. In 

 short, nothing but a modern measure of the Elizabeth ell could now be looked 

 on as fully satisfactory ; and, being unable to visit London myself, I requested 

 my friend Colonel Strange, late astronomical-assistant on the Indian Trigono- 

 metrical Survey, and gifted with remarkable understanding in all practical instru- 

 mental affairs, to kindly undertake the task for me. This labour the Colonel 

 entered on immediately after having obtained, by formal application to H. M. 

 Exchequer and Treasury, the requisite leave to examine their ancient standards. 



The process which he adopted— aided partly by Mr Chisholm, chief clerk, 

 and by Mr Chany, junior clerk and oflBcial comparer for the Exchequer, both of 

 whom, in their respective departments, he speaks of in high terms, as well for 

 their zeal in the experiment, as for practical skill — seems to have been equiva- 

 lent to laying off* the length of the modern Government standard yard on the old 

 Elizabeth ell, from one end of it ; and then transferring to a slip of brass the 

 i outstanding portion of the other end of the ell, viz., 9 inches, more or less. This 

 method is excellent in principle, because it throws all the anomalies of the 45 

 inches into 9 only, where they can be easily measured, and in a state subject to 

 ' very little thermometrical expansion ; while in practice, if I may judge from the 

 veritable brass slip which Colonel Strange has sent me, with the fiducial lines 

 almost microscopically delicate, the method has been carried out so well, that J 



VOL in. PART III. 9 c 



