New-York tribune., 1874-05-21
THE "ROYAL SOCIETY,""

SCOTLAND WAS TREATED
TO the Edftor OF The Tribune
SIR: Hitherto anything published under the
ausplces of the Royal Society ,ndon has been consid
cred worthy OF utmost credence. Such trust can 10
longer be reposed In all its official statements cannot
beleye that the Fellows large have consented TO the
peryersIons OF truth lately issued In the name OF the
society bu; they the less responsible or free
from blame in permitting officers who can lena thein
selves TO such peryersions to continue in their exalted
nostons. have before me pamphlet, puDllshed III
London March, 1874, containing the correspondence be-
twcen the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Prof. e.
Plazzi smyth and the President OF the Royal society
and the Royal Society represented by is officers ap
pears in a very unenviable position. Differences III
onnion from those who at least in their own estima-
LION are the leaders in the worlds progress, The ad-
yanced thiukers." cannot, it seems, he for moment
tolerated. Tie late passage at arms between Mr Proc
tor and the Astronomer Royal Of Great Britain, Pror
Airy in which latter suff red most, has determined
tne Mutual Admiration Society (Which can permit no
dscoycry or improvement which originates outside the
charmed circle be worth anything to MP at once all
Interference in the bud AZ Tor justice or TRUTH mat Is
| altogether a secondary question.
Al the late meeting OF the British Association at Brad
ford Prof Clerk Max well, f. Il s., was unwilingly led
into an error in statement as to the lengh Oh the
Eyyp,n cnoit in of his eloquent ana excel
lent lecture on Molecules. II is true that he used the
erroneous statement in such manner that no partlcu-
| done; but SUN ne ndi All Tue duInoihy Va
the pubIshed transactions" and Proceedings OF the
Rova Society to back MIN. aud he thought these might
he trusted TO correct the unfortunate blunder pub
shed under their sanction the Astronomer Royal Tor
Scotland addressed "A communication 10 the hDyai DO
ciety Of which he memb n, and after very long
| interval, he Informed that suD-coinmttee' 10
whom the paper had been referred had reported was
not of nature suited for public reading before the
Society,"" Now the paper itself, which IA puDisheu III
| fuu in the pamphlet to which have alluded, Is
very short one. it certainly does present Gen. oir
Henry James r. f. +. K g., in very enyiable hght;
and as the said Chief OF the Ordnance Survey Is one
| of the members OF the Mutual Admiration DO
| oiotv of course paper could not come
| before the Royal Society at large, to be
| publicly read. and thus given 20 the world
The errors question, published under the sanction OF
the Royal Society all from the very ridiculous
theories of this gallant Knght IN reference to the Great
Pyramid in Egypt. The first theory. enunciaed in The
| AAeHquBi, in "a communication dated "Ordnance
! Survey Office, Southampton Nov. Q, 1867" gave
| that the sole reason whcrefor the Great Pyra
| mid had been built of ts actual basal size was
| 10 allow a side the base TO measure 800 cunts
of 25ss inches each aud the base-sie length was
stated bv Sir Henry Jsmes TO 76i feet=9l63 inches
and AS this was the actual Of Col Howard
vyse that most worthy pyramid explorer the accord
seemed perfect. II was afterward pointed out to Sir
Henry that 36)x254ss amounts to 97jC3 inches instead
of"xactly 76. feet he had statedan arlthmctical
bluuder from the "Chief of the Ordnance Survey "
which, II committed by any boy in our public schools
would be considered worthy good thrashing. More
over he coud ni authority for the ancient cubIt Of
| 254ss inches long and ne let that cubit drop
The next attempt was the classical line, and
was the old saw "A little learning dangerous
thing" better illustrated Finding SOM wherein a
translation | presume, and perhaps a quotation-thc
Egyptian mentioned by the Father of History "
as equal in length to the samiaa. he INN n'dlatcly
Jumps NJ the conclusion, "Sanos2 Why, that's Gre
! eian here we have 1.-THE ,yphal ana Grccian
cubits are identicalw And forthwith the Egyptian
cubit was pronounced h. "a inches length the
founding of all the tmehonered Egyptologist Sir
Gardner wilkinson, for example and that learned Baby
onan scholar, Dr. Brands OF Berlin. or sir Isaac New
on and au Ost all other auth0rcs. who have supposed
al about ,nche in length He in utter Ignorance
that when Eerodotus wrote, sAnos was regarded a.
Asian and Persian, and the rst attack upon it by the
Lacedemousn Dorans he tert.s their Expedition iute
Asia. Qhak2, 55 see, also, 5jl All OF which, long ago
vas expounded by the Rev. Csson Rawlinson. Now in
giving this new length OF tine common Egyptian cubt
requiring hssc-side length Of che Great Pyramid TO
9I2O inches In order that s mig contain them he
ignores Howard Vyse, his great authority before ig
noyes all the splendid of French savants ana
the laborfou f'rof Smyth and selects
two OF the smallest measurements he eau find Even
here he puts a par with the work OF his pet en-
Sineers that OF young engineer. who performed the
work In measuring singlehanGsd and all 10 get this
cooked nuuber 9l2O inches tSlch is ten inches less
than his engineers obtained, and TO his new
Samo ptian cutit. To their credit IL said that the
measurement OF !e Royal Engineers taken by itself
does come what is the best of all the
best measurements hitherto made, though stll much
too small, il aeesrd any weight to yyse aud tue
t'reDch satahts
These blusders were published in tie "Proceedings
nj the learned Royal Society OF Lsndon " for June
,s7a In his communication the iOciey correcting
them Prof. SDytl claims that the pew length was
brought in by its author, Gen. Sir Henry Jlales
Y e. by meaus OF a. an Unfair selection among the
tandard modern measured lengths OF the bascsde OF
the Great Pyramid and o. a meaning attributed 10
certain words In Uerodotus, making them tell the very
opposta story TO what they were Intended 10 do No
wonder the Admiration Club was ashamed 10 let the
world know these missatements Of facts and classic
unders and determined to snuff oGt the light OF Plazz
smyth instantly, as the Astronomical Society ought TO
have done Richard A. Proctor's. And here comes the
sorries part the whole business On the 7th Feb
ruary 1874 Prot Piazz Smyth addressed letter to the
President Of the Royal Society as follows
SIR: With reference 10 my letter OF last Oct e. for.
paper the length OF side OF the base the Great
pyramid" intended TO correct the on the same
hject printed by the Secretary On 1873, first IN their
Proceedings, and subsequently, In their Transactions
and with also To the rejection and return OF
nh said paper 10 the ~ ult by the Secretary
On the plea by subcommittee OF ITS nor being of
nature suited for public reading before the society
beg to say that having thus failed In all that can do 10
omen the eyes OF the Society to whether they are
seeking accurate measuring truth stating, and tee.
DOING the exact opposite thereof In con
cerning the m0st ancient aud exalted monument OF IN
telec ual and religious man the face OF the earth
there ls nothing left me but come out OF tbe
s I a v hg Hasl.x nn.r.