alleged Divine
inspiration as a measure of capacity (and, according to M. Jomard,
probably of length also) for all men and all nations, for all time,--and
particularly for these latter profane times,--is, in simple truth,
nothing more and nothing less than--an old and somewhat misshapen stone
coffin.

STANDARD OF LINEAR MEASURE IN THE GREAT PYRAMID.

The standard in the Great Pyramid, according to Messrs. Taylor and
Smyth, for _linear_ measurements, is the length of the base line or
lines of the pyramid. This, Professor Smyth states, is "_the function
proper of the pyramids base_." It is professed also that in this base
line there has been found a new mythical inch--one-thousandth of an
inch longer than the British standard inch; and in the last sections of
his late work Professor Smyth has earnestly attempted to show that the
status of the kingdoms of Europe in the general and moral world may be
measured in accordance with their present deviation from or conformity
to this suppositious pyramidal standard in their modes of national
measurement.[253] "For the linear measure" (says Professor Smyth) "of
the base line of this colossal monument, viewed in the light of the
philosophical connection between time and space, has yielded a standard
measure of length which is more admirably and learnedly
earth-commensurable than anything which has ever yet entered into the
mind of man to conceive, even up to the last discovery in modern
metrological science, whether in England, France, or Germany."

The engineers and mathematicians of different countries have repeatedly
measured arcs of meridians to find the form and dimensions of the earth,
and the French made the metre (their standard of length), 1/10,000,000
of the quadrant of the meridian. Professor Smyth holds that the basis
line of the pyramid has been laid down by Divine authority as such a
guiding standard measure.

* * * * *

_What, then, is the exact length of one of its basis lines?_ The sides
of the pyramid have been measured by many different measurers. Linear
standards have, says Professor Smyth, "been already looked for by many
and many an author on the sides of the base of the Great Pyramid, even
before they knew that the terminal points of those magnificent base
lines had been carefully marked in the solid rock of the hill by the
socket-holes of the builders." But--as in the case of the cubic
capacity of the coffer--these meas