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of Edinburgh, Session 1867 - 68 . 
at Gizeh, the 11 Great Pyramid,” as it is often termed, has been 
maintained — and particularly of late by Gabb, Jomard, Taylor, and 
Professor Smyth— not to be a royal mausoleum, but to be a 
marvellous metrological monument, built some forty centuries ago, 
as “ a necessarily material centre,” to hold and contain within it, 
and in its structure, material standards, “ in a practicable and 
reliable shape,” u down to the ends of the world,” as measures of 
length, capacity, weight, &c., for men and nations for all time— 
“ a monument” (in the language of Professor Smyth) “ devoted to 
weights and measures, not so much as a place of frequent reference 
for them, but one where the original standards were to be preserved 
for some thousands of years, safe from the vicissitudes of empires 
and the decay of nations.” Messrs Taylor and Smyth further hold 
that this Great Pyramid was built for these purposes of mensura- 
tion, under Divine inspiration — the standards being, through super- 
human origination and guidance, made and protected by it till they 
came to be understood and interpreted in these latter times. For, 
observes Professor Smyth, “ the Great Pyramid was a sealed book 
to all the world until this present day, when modem science, aided 
in part by the dilapidation of the building and the structural 
features thereby opened up— has at length been able to assign the 
chief interpretations.” Professor Smyth has, in his remarkable 
devotedness and enthusiasm, lately measured most of the principal 
points in the Great Pyramid ; and for the great zeal, labour, and 
ability which he has displayed in this self-imposed mission, the 
Society have very properly and justly bestowed upon him the 
Keith Medal. But the exactitude of the measures does not neces- 
sarily imply exactitude in the reasoning upon them ; and on what 
grounds can it be possibly regarded as a metrological monument and 
not a sepulchre, is legitimately the subject of our present inquiry. 
Mr Taylor ascribes to Noah the original idea of the metrological 
structure of the Great Pyramid. “ To Noah ” (observes Mr 
Taylor) “ we must ascribe the original idea, the presiding m ind, 
and the benevolent purpose. He who built the Ark was, of all men, 
the most competent to direct the building of the Great Pyramid. 
He was born 600 years before the Flood, and lived 350 years after 
that event, dying in the year 1998 b.c. Supposing the pyramids 
were commenced in 2160 b.c. (that is 4000 years ago), they were 
founded 168 years before the death of Noah. We are told ”(Mr 
