THE GREAT PYRAMID OF EGYPT.

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WITH AN ENGRAVING.

BY WILLIAM COOKE, D.D.

Y young friends have often heard or read of the seven wonders of the world. Well, the great Pyramid was one of them, the greatest wonder among the seven, and now the only one of them remaining. As a wonder in the world, it has attracted the gaze of monarchs, captains, philosophers, and travellers of all lands for thousands of years. Orpheus, Musæus, Lycurgus, Solon, Pythagoras, Plato, Plutarch, and a host of ancient kings and sages, have visited this sight, and expressed their amazement and awe as they stood before this stupendous monument. Modern philosophers, antiquarians, and travellers have come thousands of miles to see it, and to take notes of its dimensions and scientific proportions. Dr. Ferguson, one of the highest authorities in ancient architecture, speaks of it as the oldest, the largest, and the most perfect stone building known upon earth." Not only so, but it embodies great scientific truths which no other buildings do or ever did within the history of man. If it was deemed a wonder in former times from its magnitude and antiquity, it is a greater wonder now, when its scientific indications are discovered. Let us, then, take a hasty glance at this gigantic structure.

1. What is the magnitude of the Pyramid? Its foundation is so extensive that it covers thirteen English acres. Its height is so lofty that it rises 82 feet higher than the cross on the top of the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. Herodotus, who saw it above 2,000 years ago, and obtained information from the priests and learned men of Egypt, says that it occupied 100,000 men for the period of twenty years in its erection. It measures 764 feet on each side of its base, and its height 764. Its foundation is the solid natural rock, which was cut down and levelled for the purpose. It is built of immense blocks of limestone, and at first was covered with casing stones, which were levelled to the surface, made smooth, and polished, so that for thousands of years the Pyramid shone under the bright light of the Egyptian sun, like a mountain of silver.

2. What is the shape of the Pyramid? Not the shape of a house, or a palace, or a temple; but that peculiar angular shape which you see in the picture before you; for that picture represents a section of the Pyramid. This huge building is exactly square at the bottom; but its four sides, as they rise, gradually slope or incline towards each other, each forming a regular perfect angle, such as you see in the picture, and ascending to a point at the top. The top, however, in its present state is broken, and forms a sort of platform

about 32 feet square; but at first, and for more than 2,000 years after its erection, the top was a fine point in which all the four angles met; its summit being then above thirty feet higher than the present platform.

3. Where is the Pyramid situated? In Egypt, at a place called Geezah, very near the great city of Memphis, the metropolis of Egypt, where the mighty Pharaohs lived; the city where Joseph was once a prisoner in a dungeon, and afterwards a mighty prince, the second in power to Pharaoh himself; and the place, also, where Moses and Aaron performed in God's name those ten great wonders which shook the kingdom of Egypt to its very foundation.

4. When was the Pyramid erected? More than 4,000 years ago. Herodotus learned from the Egyptians that the Pyramid was built in the reign of King Cheops, of the fourth dynasty; and that was more than 2,000 years before the birth of our Lord. It was built during the life of Shem; possibly Shem was its architect. Therefore Abraham, Joseph, and Moses beheld this great structure towering aloft when they were on their mission in the land of Egypt. There are many other Pyramids in Egypt, but none equal to this. 5. For what purpose was the Pyramid erected? Was it for a temple? No, for there is no entrance except one, and that is about sixty feet above the foundation; and the entrance is so narrow as not to admit any person to stand upright. Indeed, any one would have to stoop and creep along to get into the building; and when inside he would find no space large enough to accommodate a number of worshippers. Moreover, there is no idol or image, no altar or inscription of any kind, inside or outside the building.

Was the Pyramid meant for a tomb? No. Some persons once thought so, and supposed it was intended as a great mausoleum for King Cheops. But that king was buried elsewhere, and his tomb has lately been discovered in another place. If not a buryingplace for King Cheops, then for no one else; for there is no sign of any one having been buried there. The building is nearly solid, but there is in the upper cavity a sort of stone coffer; but this has no inscription, and it is the opinion of scientific men that the stone chest, or coffer, was intended for a standard of measurement, for it has exactly the capacity of the Hebrew laver.*

What, then, was the purpose of this Pyramid? Has it some scientific purpose? Yes; this was no doubt the design of the great Pyramid. Sir Isaac Newton conjectured this, and his opinion has been confirmed by recent discoveries. The following facts prove this, for

6. The Pyramid itself is an exact mathematical figure. Its base is a perfect square; each base line is exactly of the same length; each angle at the base is a right angle; and each of its sloping sides

* I must refer my young friends to the engraving, and request them to observe the letters of the alphabet which are intended to indicate the few internal passages and spaces which are in the Pyramid. By studying these they will get a correct idea of the Pyramid.

is of the same angular form-is also exactly of the same dimensions; and the whole is a perfect geometrical figure. This implies most certainly that its architect understood the science of geometry or mathematics, and renders it very probable that he intended the building to embody some scientific truths.

7. The Pyramid is situated nearly in the very centre of the land surface of the earth; as if the architect had selected the fittest place for the zero of longitude for all nations. Examine a good map, and you will find this is the fact.

8. The Pyramid is fixed geodesically. This is a hard word, you say; but let us make it plain. The word means just this. The building is so fixed that its four sides meet the four points of the compass; and that not roughly or generally so, but exactly so; indeed, so scientifically exact as to excite the wonder of philosophers when they examine it. Now this is just the position which all astronomers give to their observatories for the purpose of making astronomical observations; and the fact of its being built upon a solid rock, and resting upon it in a grooved socket sunk into the rock, was the more likely to secure its permanent stability from age to age. Such, indeed, is the fact.

9. The proportions of the Pyramid are such as square the circle. Ah! there you are again, you say, using such big words that young people cannot understand you. Well, I hope not, my young friend. I think I can make it plain. You know what a circle is? Yes. You know also what the diameter of a circle is? Yes; it is a line drawn right across the centre of a circle. Very good. Well now, bow many times will it take the length of the diameter to equal the length of a line all round the circumference of the circle? Try it for yourself. Well, you say, it takes three times the length of the diameter to equal a line passing all round the circumference. Very true; but it takes a little more than that. But how much more? Ah! that is the question that puzzles philosophers; they they cannot tell exactly the proportion, for it runs into something like infinity. Yet they can ascertain very near the quantity. The nearest point to which mathematicians can get is this: as 1 is to three, with 14159, &c., decimals. Now it is a very remarkable fact that the Pyramid, though it is a perfect square at the bottom, and perfectly angular in its four sides, yet its proportions are such as to present a demonstration of the squaring of the circle in the above ratios. This is exhibited not only in its outside proportions, but also in its inside proportions, and that many times over and over again. Now when I tell you that the squaring of the circle is a problem of very great importance in mechanics, and also in high astronomy, you will be astonished to learn that this problem has been thus embodied in stone for thousands of years and this fact again proves the high mathematical knowledge of the architect of this monument, although he lived nearly 2,000 years before Euclid was born!

10. The length of each of the base lines of the Pyramid, divided by the sacred cubit, gives out 365 and nearly a quarter of another cubit, and this is the number of days in the year. For, as every Sunday scholar knows, there are 365 days and nearly a quarter of another day in a year. Now, how do we dispose of this odd quarter of a day? Why, every fourth year we add those four quarters of a day together, and thus make them into another day; and that day we add to the month of February, making it 29 days instead of 28; and this year we call leap year. So if you add the four odd fractions of the cubit together which are over in each base line of the Pyramid, you get nearly another cubit; and thus you see that the base of the Pyramid indicates the true length of the solar year, 365 days, nearly 6 hours. It was a very long time-indeed, some thousands of years-before the wisest men of the heathen world could fix exactly the true length of the year. But this important truth was embodied scientifically and exactly in the great Pyramid, by its architect, above 4,000 years ago, while the nations of the earth were as yet in their infancy! How wonderful the knowledge necessary for this!

11. The proportions of the great Pyramid represent the true distance of the sun from the earth. But I leave this for the present, lest I should be too long and too tedious for my young friends. But if you are interested in this matter, I will explain it in another number of the JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR, and tell you also some other wonderful things.

DAISY BANK; OR, SISTER ELLEN'S MINISTRY. BY J. CAPES STORY.

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CHAPTER XV.

JIMMY JORTIN'S FRIENDS.

SUNDAY School is not designed for a lodging house, and Jimmy Jortin did not find the one in which he took refuge to answer the purpose well. The wind, which was high that night, awoke him repeatedly. It shook the windows, made the doors creak, and, finding its way into the building by a hundred chinks and crannies, whistled along the passages to such a degree that to Jimmy's troubled mind it seemed as though a thousand ghosts and hobgoblins were besieging the building.

However, Jimmy made the best of the hard seat on which he lay, and of the strange circumstances in which he was placed, and, as we have already said, he fell asleep. Presently the stillness of the night was broken by the early footfall of persons whose duty it was to be first at their various places of work to light the engine fires, open workshop doors, and prepare the way for their fellowworkpeople who would follow by-and-by. And then about halfpast five the streets became busy, for the schoolroom was near large

manufactories whose many labourers were now assembling to begin the toil of another week.

As soon as there was sufficient light in the schoolroom, Jimmy arose and turned to work as well. He knew the closet in which Mr. Norlan's brushes and dusters were kept, and, as the rooms were in the disorder from their use on the previous day, he occupied the time until eight o'clock in sweeping and setting the forms in position, just as he knew Mr. Norlan would have done himself.

An accident which occurred towards the close of this operation led to his discovery. Jimmy had placed a number of forms upon one another, to clear the way for his brush; and as he was taking them down again he had the misfortune to let one slip, which in its turn knocked down another, and all together made a great noise, which did not a little startle the inmates of the adjoining chapelkeeper's house. Mr. Norlan, who was then in the act of dressing, rushed out immediately, and, looking through one of the schoolroom windows, saw something going on which he could not understand. He tried the door, but found it locked, as he expected. Rad naving brought the key with him, he soon gained an entrance, and there, to his great surprise, stood Jimmy Jortin, with a duster in his hand, having now nearly completed his morning task.

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Why, Jimmy," exclaimed Mr. Norlan, in a tone of wonder, "what are you doing here, lad?"

Jimmy looked at his friend with a smile, for he was certainly glad to see him, yet he was unable to speak; and in an instant the smile upon his face gave place to the cloud of sorrow and the rain of tears.

"Come, Jimmy," said the kind old man, "tell me all about this. You're in trouble I see; let me know what is the matter, and how you come to be here this morning."

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Well," answered Jimmy, "I've come here because I've no work and I've no home."

"Oh, I see," said Mr. Norlan, quick to guess the rest; "then you've had it out with your master about the book in the stable, I suppose; there's been a sort of reckoning up between you; is that it, lad?"

Jimmy told him that it was so, and related the whole of the events which had transpired on the previous day; how late in the evening he had come to Mr. Norlan's house for shelter, and how it happened that he found at last a refuge in the schoolroom, where at length he was found.

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Ah, well, lad, I'm not at all surprised to hear it. Indeed, I think I told you to look out for stormy weather, didn't I? So the rains have descended, and the floods have come, but your house isn't washed away yet, lad. No, no; I'm right glad that it's had a bit of good rock under it-a bit of that rock they call principle, character, the true grit. Keep your house on the rock, Jimmy, I say, then it's all right anyhow. But, bless me, you must be as