325 
of Edinburgh, Session 1867-68. 
Nor do I see any prospect of that gentleman ever understanding 
the mode of construction of that noblest work of the world 4000 
years' ago, viz., the Great Pyramid ; and how vastly it differs from 
all the moats, tumuli, howes and barrows which he will insist on 
comparing it to, and confusing it with,* until he has himself both 
ascended and descended the ancient monument, climbing up each 
of the steep steps of its colossal masonry courses (without any 
assistance from Arabs or other attendants), and measuring every 
such step carefully, from bottom to top of the pyramid, and top to 
bottom ; and comparing such collections of measures, made on 
every face, and every arris line of the structure. 
A long and painful process, and perhaps a little dangerous;—- 
but one whose teaching cannot be ignored by any unwilling 
scholar, so easily as the contents of a printed book. 
* As to the total diversity in quality of construction between the Great 
Pyramid of Egypt, and the little more than mounds of mud and pebble stones 
forming the barrows of Ireland, frequent testimonies are borne in the volumes 
of Colonel Howard Yyse — volumes known to the Proceedings' author, but 
seldom quoted by him, when they tend to elevate one’s conceptions of the Great 
Pyramid. As an example of the very important character of some of these 
omitted witnesses to exceeding perfection of work in one of the earliest, if 
not the very earliest, of stone buildings now existing, or ever existing, upon 
the earth ; and which has stood there through all the human historic period, — 
an august witness of what took place under the sun in primeval ages of 
which we have no other contemporary record, I insert the following from 
pp. 261 and 262 of the first volume of Colonel Howard Vyse’s “Pyramids of 
Gizeh.” The Colonel is speaking of the two casing stones which he dis- 
covered by excavating down, through the rubbish accumulated in modern 
times, to the middle of the north side of the base of the Great Pyramid ; 
and says of them — 
“ They were quite perfect, had been hewn into the required angle before 
“ they were built in, and had then been polished down to one uniform sur- 
“ face ; the joints were scarcely perceptible, and not wider than the thickness 
“ of silver paper ; and such is the tenacity of the cement with which they 
“ are held together, that a fragment of one, that has been destroyed, 
“ remained firmly fixed in its original alignement, notwithstanding the lapse 
“ of time and the violence to which it had been exposed. The pavement 
“ beyond the line of the building was well laid, and beautifully finished ; but 
“ beneath the edifice it was worked with even greater exactness, and to the 
“ most perfect level, in order, probably, to obtain a lasting foundation for the 
“ magnificent structure to be built upon it. I consider that tho workman- 
“ ship displayed in the King’s Chamber, in this pavement, and in the casing 
“ stones, is perfectly unrivalled ; and there is no reason to doubt that the 
“ whole exterior of this vast structure was covered with the same excellent 
“ masonry.” 
