335 
of Edinburgh, Session 1867 - 68 . 
author, positively giving as my theoretical reason for the coffer 
having been made in ancient days the size it now proves to be, 
not the noble, appropriate, and earth-reference reason which I have 
published, — but something totally opposite, chronologically foolish 
beyond expression, and which, so far as I know, never either 
entered my head or escaped my lips on any occasion whatever. 
I subjoin the two statements, in order that the Council of the 
Society may judge for themselves : — 
“ Life and Work," vol. iii. p. 151. 
“ A cubic space is to be formed, 
“ with sides having a length equal 
“ to one ten-millionth of the earth’s 
“ axis of rotation, or 50 Pyramid 
“ inches. A tenth part of such space, 
“or 12,500 cubic inches (agreeably 
“ with the Coptic interpretation of 
“ the name of Pyramid), is then to 
“ be filled with matter of the mean- 
“ density, or specific gravity of the 
“ earth as a whole. In which case, 
“ such a mass will form the grand 
“ weight standard of the Pyramid ; 
“ while the space occupied by an 
“ equal weight of pure water at a 
“ given temperature, will form the 
“ grand capacity standard of the 
“ Great Pyramid ; or, as we believe, 
“ will represent, and be represented 
“ by, the cubic contents of the 
“ hollow of the coffer. 
And further on it is shown, that 
the mean density of the earth is 
nearly 57 times that of water at a 
temperature of 68° F ahr. Whence the 
theoretical expression for the coffer’s 
capacity is, — = 71,250, 
Pyramid cubic inches. 
Arabian Authorities. 
There is only one more circumstance which I have time to 
notice, connected with this Proceedings' author’s account of the 
coffer, but that one is said to have procured him many believers. 
vol. v T . 2 x 
Proceedings’ paper, p. 249. 
“ Professor Smyth holds that 
“ theoretically its (the coffer’s) 
“capacity ought to be 71,250 
“ ‘ pyramidal’ cubic inches, for that 
“ cubic size would make it the exact 
“ measure for a chaldron, or practi- 
“ cally the vessel would then contain 
“ exactly four quarters of wheat.” 
