408 Lieut.-Col. A. R. Clarke on Standards of Length. [June 19, 



1st. As regards the common cubit, we have the statement of Herodotus 

 that the Egyptian cubit was equal to the Greek cubit. " that of Samos ; " 

 and we learn from the measurements of the Hecatompedon at Athens, 

 by Mr. Penrose, that the Greek foot was equal to 1-013 foot, or 12-156 

 inches, and consequently the Greek cubit was equal to 1*520 foot, or 

 18-240 inches. 



2nd. The] most recent measures of the base of the First or Great 

 Pyramid, that of King Cheops, viz. those made by the Royal Engineers 

 and Mr. Inglis, a civil engineer, give a mean length of 9120 inches, or 

 500 cubits of 18*240 inches for the side of the square base, or 750 

 Egyptian feet, each Egyptian foot being equal to 1*013 English foot. 



3rd. The Second Pyramid, according to the measures of Colonel 

 Howard Vyse and Mr. Perring, has a base of 707*5 feet square, or 

 700 x 1*011 feet. 



4th. The Third Pyramid has a base, according to Vyse and Perring, of 

 354*5 feet, or 350 Egyptian feet square, of 1*013 English foot exactly. 



We may therefore confidently assume that 1*013 foot was the true 

 length both of the ancient Greek and the ancient common Egyptian foot, 

 and that the length of the common Egyptian cubit was 18*240 inches. 



We have in the British Museum a double royal cubit, found in the 

 ruins of the Temple of Karnak in Egypt ; and I found its length to be 

 41*40 inches, and that of the single cubit consequently 20*70 inches, or 

 1*725 foot. 



The pyramid which stands in the middle of the three, before the 

 Great Pyramid (that of the daughter of King Cheops), has a base, 

 according to Vyse and Perring, of 172*5 feet square, and therefore 

 100 royal cubits square exactly. 



But the same authors give the breadths of no less than seven of the 

 passages in the pyramids, including the entrances to the Eirst, Second, 

 and Third Pyramids, all of 41*5 inches (two cubits of 20*750 inches). 



Doursther, from the measures of the nilometer at Elephantine and of 

 three or four cubits found in the ruins of Memphis, which almost 

 exactly correspond with each other, estimated the length of the royal 

 cubit at 20*721 inches (see Condee, * Dictionnaire des Poids et Mesures'). 



Looking to these facts, and feeling it almost certain that the common 

 and the royal cubit had some definite relation to one another, like that 

 between the link and foot of our own country (66 feet equal 100 links), 

 I infer that the most probable length of the royal cubit was 20*727 inches, 

 and that 88 royal cubits were equal to 100 common cubits of 18*240 inches. 



This does not admit of rigid demonstration. The dimensions of Vyse 

 and Perring seem to be given to the nearest half inch, and the measures 

 of length sold in this country differ from one another as much as the 

 length of the double cubit in the British Museum differs from its 

 estimated length. 



