The Great Pyramid.

THE GREAT PYRAMID .

Bt BBO . JOHN CHAPMAN , P . B . M . S ., P . PBOV . G . D . DEVON .

( Continued from page 123 . ) CONSTRUCTION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID . * 1 TTE have previously indicated that certain lessons are to be drawn ( torn VV the Great Pyramid , and also that other cosmical and ethical truths will be gathered from the pointing of the building . Let us therefore now

regard the whole structure as removed out of sight , leaving nothing but the naked rock that has been levelled to receive the building , and which is 13 * 340 P . acres in extent . Some imagine that the superstructure is the only object of wonder that the building contains . This is a great mistake . In the natural rock there are excavations , the secrets of which , when revealed , may

prove as important as _ those already explored . The difficult task of drilling the descending passage at an angle of 26 ° 18 ' 10 " , leading to the subterranean chamber , and the complicated entrance into that chamber , as well as the mysterious squaring of its walls and roof , leaving the basement in such an uneven and remarkably irregular form , stamp the excavations with a skill

as well as a mystery , that is not yet understood . This chamber has been regarded by some as intended to typify the condition of this earth before it received the beautifying touch of " the Great Architect of the Universe . " This we leave to those who are given to such lively imaginations , but we certainly feel safe in affirming that such an apartment is not only unlike the

other pyramids , but also very unlike a place of sepulture for the distinguished remains of one who so highly appreciated a finely-masonified apartment . In this decision we are in perfect agreement with Dr . C Piazzi Smyth , who

la the most trustworthy authority we can find upon the Great Pyramid . The great care and difficulty attending the excavation of this descending passage , with its circumscribed area of 17 * 21 by 11 * 56 inches , is more than is generally regarded .

Again , if we follow the aperture in the rock , known as " the well " ( although it never could have been intended as such ) , we find in the grotto , through the researches of Dr . J . A . S . Grant , of Cairo , that there is firmly embedded in the wall a . granite block . Will the removal of this granite block prove the entrance to another passage ? Throughout the whole building

the use of granite is especially connected with important compartments , or portions of compartments , < fec , and therefore we opine for this a special interest not yet revealed . The indefatigable labours of Mr . Waynman Dixon , in endeavouring to find another passage , have been intercepted by the

superstition , or stupidity , of the Egyptian authorities , but no doubt , in course of time , there will not only be another passage discovered , but also a chamber , that will form the solution of the thirty-sixth course of Masonry , as a basement storey , for what may yet prove to be a true time-recording passage for the House of Judah .

If the will of Heaven towards the house of Judah be as distinctly marked in the Great Pyramid as that which distinguishes the House of Israel in the building , then we may anticipate the discovery of another passage and chamber that shall mark the various epochs in Judah's history since the commencement of the Christian dispensation , and also indicate the time when

Israel and Judah shall be re-united and " become one stick " in the hand of the Lord of Hosts . It may be premised that we are unable to find these dimensions in the horizontal passage and Queen ' s Chamber , while some have vainly tried to prove that this passage has been set apart to mark the history of the two tribed people . Seeing , however , that we have not at present data

on which to establish this proposition , we will for the present conclude the underground investigations by remarking how complicated and difficult the task must have been to work out such an outlet into tne termination of the descending passage ere it merged into the " Hades , " or subterranean chamber .

The horizontal courses of limestone , measuring from three to nine feet in length , that rise within each other to the summit , form the great feature that strikes the mind , as the eye rests upon the Pyramid . The first course of stone is carefully cemented to the live rock , which has been excavated so as to form the basement or first course in tbe building , and is counted as the

first step or course , of which there probably were originally some 209 or 210 , without the " head stone of the corner , " which would constitute the topmost casing stone . In cementing the several blocks of stone in horizontal sheets , we find the first three rise to a height of 135 inches , the last of which touches

the elbow of the ascending passage . The live-rock course , and its first cemented block , measure together 79 inches , while the third is the most massive course in the whole building , being not less than 56 inches ; the only nearest course in bulk being the thirty-sixth , which is 50 inches .

Caliph AI Mamoun , in the year A . D . 820 , successfully entered the building by forcing an entrance in the north angle of the Pyramid . He quarried a large hole about 300 inches west from the mouth of the entrance passage , in the centre of the north side of the building . He pierced the fifth course of Masonry , and , in a very irregular form , forced his way down to the third

course , and eventually reached as high as the seventh . It was between these two last-named courses that he discovered the inter-section of the entrance and ascending passages , and thus effected an entrance into the building . The sixteenth course , which is 30 inches in thickness , forms the mouth of

the entrance passage , and gives it an elevation of 599 inches . The courses of stone vary in their thickness , ranging from 20 inches to 56 inches . Some have supposed that these courses of stone rise above each other in something like uniform order , from a massive foundation course up to one of very small

The Great Pyramid.

dimensions for the summit . This is not the case . While the third course is composed of blocks 56 inches in thickness , tho fifteenth course is only 28 inches , * and , ascending up to the twentieth , we then find it reaching 38 inches ; the dimensions of the several courses varying throughout , the thirty-sixth course being , as we have already stated , 50 inches , while the thirty-fifth course is only 24 inches .

The remainder of the upper part of the structure is not so variable , the several courses ranging from 42 inches to 20 inches ; and , from the one hundred and twentieth course to the summit , from 30 inches to 20 inches Following the interior construction , by the outward courses of masonry , we find that the twenty-fifth course ( the true cubic number ) points to the commencement of the Grand Gallery , and also to the level of the horizontal passage leading to the Queen ' s or " Cubit" Chamber ; while the fiftieth

course ( the double cubit ) gives the upper termination of the Grand Gallery , and the basement for the King ' s Chamber . These we take as remarkable features in the erection according to design ; and not as singular coincidences . In cementing course upon course we might proceed to the summit , giving that which has already yielded to the observation of the Pyramid student ; but as there is much that is not yet understood , it will best serve the cause of truth if we leave the problematic in the hands of the future , so that misconception may not cloud the vision in the search for knowledge .

Having completed the courses of masonry , we have now to deal with the casing of the building , which we are informed was composed of massive blocks of white limestone , which , when taken from the quarries on the east side of the Nile , were of a very soft nature and easy to manipulate . They certainly do not bear that character now , for they are not only very hard and durable , but they appear to be cauterised by a film hard almost as iron ;

and as firm as the cement to which they are attached . The removal of almost the whole of these casing stones makes it difficult to ascertain their original dimensions , but the two found in situ by Col . Haward Vyse , fortunately measured by him before they were soon after broken up by the Arabs , and the one which was discovered by Mr . Waynman Dixon loose in the rubbish , and sent as a present to Professor C . Piazzi Smyth , Boyal Observatory , Edinburgh , combined with the innumerable chips * that have

been gathered from the debris , satisfactorily prove the angle of inclination , and so establish the height , on the given base-breadth dimensions of the building . Heredotus entertained the idea that these casing stones were fixed and cemented from the summit downwards , for he states that " the summit of the Pyramid was first of all finished , descending thence they regularly completed the whole . " It needs no stretch of the imagination to accept this view of the closing in of the building .

Having regard , therefore , to the various sources of information upon the construction of the Great Pyramid , and carefully laying aside the artistic idea of an African slave being the Architect of this divinely-inspired building , let us rather accept the Inspired volume that marks it out as " an altar unto the Lord , in the midst of the land of Egypt , and a pillar at the border thereof

to the Lord . And it shall be for a sign and a witness unto the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt . " Discarding the exploded theory of the Great Pyramid being the mausoleum for the mummied remains of old King Cheops , let us regard its light as being vouchsafed to us not only as ft " sign and a witness " to the Lord of Hosts , but as a safe standard by which some of the greatest scientific truths extant may be tested .

In prosecuting our researches in connection with the Scientific , Historic , and Prophetic revelations of the Great Pyramid , we wish to acknowledge our indebtedness to that distinguished Pyramid Scholar , Dr . C . Piazzi Smyth ( late Astronomer Boyal for Scotland ) , whose indefatigable labours in connection with the subject has given him a pre-eminence over every other student who has grappled with the interpretation of this mighty building . ( See " Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid , " by Professor C . Piazzi Smyth . )

While entering into the labours of such eminent Pyramidists as Dr . G Piazzi Smyth , Captain B . W . Tracey , B . N ., Charles Casey , and others , we trust that we shall be able , with cautious and tentative steps , to tread the paths that they have opened up , and , by so following their discoveries , be able to furnish substantial arguments on which our triple theme may be established . ( To be continued . )

Southampton Masonic Hall Company.

SOUTHAMPTON MASONIC HALL COMPANY .

AT the annual meeting of shareholders , Bro . Morris Miles in the chair , the Director ' s Beport for the year 1895 again recorded satisfaction with the * financial condition of the Company . After tbe payment of all expenses there was an available balance in hand of £ 166 0 s 8 d , as against £ 193 19 s last year , the decrease being accounted for by the large amount transferred to the reserve fund in 1895 , in anticipation of special expenditure . The Directors had resolved to transfer the sum of £ 27 6 s lOd to the reserve fund . Which

would then stand at £ 95 17 s 3 d . The balance , £ 138 13 s lOd , they recommended should be appropriated to the payment of a dividend at 4 } per cent , per annum , free of income tax . This distribution compares with 4 per cent , last year . The Directors retiring by rotation were Bros . Clark , Le Feuvre , Miles , and Thomas , who offered themselves for re-election , and the Auditors Bros . Longland and Boughton-Smith also offered themselves for re-election . The report was duly adopted , on the proposition of the chairman ; the retiring Directors and Auditors being afterwards re-elected .

* Alec Dobree , the Arab who attended Piazzi Smyth in his measures of the Great Pyramid in 1865 , has since then formed a little museum , for sale to tourists , of fragments of casing stones " with the angle perfect . " But we are told by a friend , recently returned from Egypt , that he complains grievously that " so very small a proportion only of the travellers know anything about the importance of the peculiar casing stone angle . "