writing, by means of Hieroglyphics, is evidently more imperfect than that of Alphabetic writing, it may be more ancient. Upon this subject, the late Sir George Cornewall Lewis makes some valuable remarks in his "Historical Survey." "The Egyptologists do not indeed pretend that any great amount of historical knowledge has been "hitherto derived from hieroglyphic inscriptions. They profess to have read certain names of kings which they identify variously with names in Manetho's lists; "but they do not assert that the inscriptions furnish "either a coherent chronology, or events in the reigns "of the kings. Brugsch, in his work on the Primeval History of Egypt, lays it down, that the ancient Egyptians had no Era, that they denoted events only "by the year of the king's reign, and that this mode of "reckoning affords no materials for a chronological system. The meagreness of the historical information "which Bunsen and Brugsch profess to have extracted "from the hieroglyphical inscriptions must be apparent "to every reader. Bunsen, indeed, speaks of ancient "Egypt as the 'monumental' nation; but its monu"ments are colossal buildings, not intelligible inscrip"tions containing historical records. If the hiero"glyphical writings, which have been interpreted, have "been interpreted correctly, and if they may be taken "as a sample of the rest, we may be satisfied that there "is nothing worth knowing. The work of Sir Gardner "Wilkinson, upon Ancient Egypt, which speaks to "the eye, is far more instructive than the efforts to "address the mind through the restored language of "the Egyptians. It may be feared that the future "discoveries of the Egyptologists will be attended with "results as worthless and as uncertain as those "which have hitherto attended their ill-requited and "barren labours."* Greaves, in his "Discourse of the Romane foot and "Denarius; from whence, as from two principles, the "Measures and Weights, used by the Ancients, may be "deduced," makes the following important state ment: 66 "If any shall find some little difference from some originals, as five or six grains in the English pound, "and it may be one or two parts of a thousand in the English foot, different from the standards in the "Exchequer, or the Tower, or at Winchester, or some "other place, it is not much to be wondered. For I "have found as great differences in collating the English "standards themselves." Thus Greaves prepares us to expect that difference in his measure which Raper affirmed he had found, and which Dr. Hussey supposed to be as much as two in 1,000 parts of the English foot or inch. The same difference is doubtless to be expected at the present day, but it is of less moment now than it formerly was, since we can restore the full measure whenever we please, as Sir John Herschel has shown us, in his Letter on the Modular Unit; ‡ and whether we add the thousandth part of an inch, or twice that quantity, it is practically of no real importance. The Man of Science can supply the defect at any time, when he is engaged in calculations which require the addition to be made; and, on all other occasions, it is not worth naming. The Unwritten Revelation, made to mankind 4,000 years ago, gave rise to most of the measures which have since * Historical Survey of the Astronomy of the Ancients. 8vo 1862, p. 395. + London, small 4to, 1647, page 120. See p. 39, following. 20 AN ESSAY ON THE STANDARDS, ETC. occupied the minds of men, however diversified they seem. By that Revelation it was made known, to a few persons at first, that Time was a Measure of Space, and that, while the Earth was revolving on its axis, it made a perfect measurement of itself every twenty-four hours. It would be easy to shew in what manner this was done; but the following results, with regard to the Pyramid foot of 1.0909 English, the Greek foot of 1.0101 English, and the English foot, may be sufficient for this place. The EARTH, in twenty-four hours, reveals itself in a direct line under the SUN, to the extent of 120,000,000 Pyramid feet of 1.0909; or, of 129,600,000 Greek feet of 10101; or, of which are all the same measure. This is the Circumference of the Earth. But this measure may be as perfectly represented by 1,570,907,520 Inches, which will serve the better for comparison. To denote the Diameter, requires TWENTY MILLIONS OF CUBITS, each of TWENTY-FIVE ENGLISH INCHES-a New Measure with us, but probably the earliest of all Measures. The totalis 500 Millions of Inches which, multiplied by 3·1416,* is equal to 1,570,800,000. The difference is 107,520 Inches, in the entire circumference, being very nearly the thousandth part of an Inch, required to be added to Greaves's measure, and possibly to the Inch of the present day, to compensate for what it may have lost in 4,000 years. If we wish to make the Inch theoretically perfect, we have only to add one-thousandth part to it, as Sir John Herschel proposes. It must be admitted, that within this limit, all measures are identical for any useful purpose. * See Great Pyramid, p. 81, Hindoo Ratio. 21 BRIEF MEMOIR OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. AN Why it was Built. Offered as a Communication to be read before N opinion has long been entertained, that the Pyramids of Gizeh were intended for the Tombs of Kings, and that the Stone Coffers, found in them, were their Sarcophagi. But, at the commencement of the present century, certain men of science, who accompanied the French expedition into Egypt, endeavoured to show that the Great Pyramid might have had a scientific object. M. Jomard thought that the present Egyptian cubit was intended to be contained 400 times in the side of the base of the Great Pyramid, and the common cubit, 500 times; as also that the side was the 480th part of a degree of the meridian proper to Egypt. The real Measures, however, fail to support any of these conclusions; and, after a lapse of more than fifty years, this theory is held to be as far from verification as it was at the commencement of the century; yet, it is in this direction, if in any, that we may hope to find a satisfactory answer to the question, "Why was the Great Pyramid built?" For if it were constructed on scientific principles, an accurate estimate of its measures would, perhaps, reveal its purpose. As a Sepulchre, of course, we could not expect it to be constructed on any well-defined system of proportion; and further scrutiny would be hopeless on that supposition. The measures of the side of the base of the Great Pyramid, made by many different persons, at different times, seem so little to correspond with each other, that, at first sight, we can discover no chance of reconciling them. In English feet, they are represented, according to the best authorities, by the following figures; 693, 728, 746, and 764 feet, the smallest of these numbers being the earliest of all recent measurements making any claims to accuracy; and the largest being the latest of all. These several stages have one striking peculiarity running through them they differ from each other apparently by a regular series of increasing numbers. From 693 to 728, there is an increment of 35 feet (or twice 171); from 728 to 746, of 18 feet; and from 746 to 764, of 18 feet. We might suppose, from this general result, that in some way or other the various measures are capable of adjustment; and, that if the right principle of increase were ascertained, the whole might be brought into some kind of harmonious relation. Unless this could be done, we should have no ground to proceed upon; but, if it could be satisfactorily established, that the various measures formed part of one uniform system, the difference between them, instead of obstructing, would assist us in our inquiries after that original measure, which must first be discovered before we can advance any farther. The blocks of stones, which constitute the four lowest tiers of the Great Pyramid, as it now stands, are about 4 feet 10 inches in perpendicular height, and gradually diminish, as they approach the top of the structure, to 2 feet 2 inches. In 1637, Mr. John Greaves, Savilian Professor of Astronomy in the University of Oxford, measured the |