ecially differ from the
others. "There is nothing" (observes Professor Smyth) "in the
stone-upon-stone composition of the Great Pyramid which speaks of the
mere building problem to be solved there, as being of a different
character, or requiring inventions by man of absolutely higher order
than elsewhere." But the Great Pyramid has been imagined to contain some
hidden symbols and meanings. For "it is the manner of the Pyramid"
(according to Professor Smyth) "not to wear its most vital truths in
prominent outside positions."

ALLEGED METROLOGICAL OBJECT OF THE GREAT PYRAMID.

By several authorities the largest[242] of the group of pyramids at
Gizeh, or "Great Pyramid," has been maintained--and particularly of late
by Gabb, Jomard, Taylor, and Professor Smyth--not to be a royal
mausoleum, but to be a marvellous metrological monument, built some
forty centuries ago, as "a necessarily material centre," to hold and
contain within it, and in its structure, material standards, "in a
practicable and reliable shape," "down to the ends of the world," as
measures of length, capacity, weight, etc., for men and nations for all
time--"a monument" (in the language of Professor Smyth) "devoted to
weights and measures, not so much as a place of frequent reference for
them, but one where the original standards were to be preserved for some
thousands of years, safe from the vicissitudes of empires and the decay
of nations." Messrs. Taylor and Smyth further hold that this Great
Pyramid was built for these purposes of mensuration under Divine
inspiration--the standards being, through superhuman origination and
guidance, made and protected by it till they came to be understood and
interpreted in these latter times. For, observes Professor Smyth, "the
Great Pyramid was a sealed book to all the world _until_ this present
day, when modern science, aided in part by the dilapidation of the
building and the structural features thereby opened up--has at length
been able to assign the chief interpretations." Professor Smyth has, in
his remarkable devotedness and enthusiasm, lately measured most of the
principal points in the Great Pyramid; and for the great zeal, labour,
and ability which he has displayed in this self-imposed mission, the
Society have very properly and justly bestowed upon him the Keith Medal.
But the exactitude of the measures does not necessarily imply exactitude
in the reasoning upon them; and on what grounds can it be possibl