The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1879-12-25
THE PYRAMID OF CHEOPS.

Does it ForetelI the End of the World:
Prof. Proctor Maintains that 1t Does Not,
and Explains His Views of Its purpose
and Meaning-Plazzi Smyth's Measure
ments. sfa 1888
from the New York SUM-
Prof. Richard A. Proctor's lecture on
"The Great Pyramid: Its Purpose and
Meaning" in Chickering Hall yester-
day afternoon, was attended by very
large and intelligent audience. A very
lively interest has of late been excited
in the great pyramid by the close ap-
proach of the year 1882. According to
Prof. Plazzi Smyth, the famous Scotch
astronomer, and those who interpret its
meaning as he does, the pyramid con-
tains certain secret signs which indicate
that in 1882 something is to happen Sc
riously involving the destiny of the hu-
man race; perhaps the end of the world.
This theory supposes that the great
pyramid was erected by divine aid, and
that it was intended to preserve these
prophecies through ages, until men,
rightly instructed, should unravel their
meaning. Prof. Proctor has no SYM
pathy, it might almost be said no pa
tience, with this theory. He began by
saying that he did not propose to adj
vance any special theory to account for
the great pyramid, although he had de-
cided opinions about it. 1t has been
supposed that the pyramids We're in
tended as a protection against floods or
sand storms; that they were built for
tombs; that they served as vast treas
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temples, and that they were astronom-
ical observatories. The notion that the
great pyramid, or, as it is sometimes
called, the Pyramid of Cheops, after
the name of the king who built it.,
was vast treasure house, led Al Ma
noun to break into it, at great cost
and labor, but he got nothing for his
pains.
As to its being a tomb, the lecturer
said, it does not seem reasonable to sup
pose that kings would spend a large part
of their lives and vast amount of treas
ure merely in preparing tombs for them
selves. As to the pyramid having been
either temple or an observatory, it
must be said that the present condition
of the work can not be taken as an in
dication of what purposes it may have
subserved before it was finished in the
form in which we see it,. The great
pyramid was once covered on all its
faces with smoothed stone fitted so close
that not crack was to be seen; but
modern Egyptians have stripped off
these facing stones and used them in
constructing their buildings, so that the
huge TANKS of the pyramid have a rough
and unfinished look, and its apex is
gone.
The second pyramid, built by the
brother of Cheops, is nearly as large as
| the other, but it is not constructed in the
same way, and was not as fine work.
1t is absolutely certain, Prof. Proctor
said, that none but astronomers were
the builders of the great pyramid, be-
cause the plan of it is so nearly perfect
astronomically. If a modern astrono-
mer had no telescope, but had unlimited
command of money and labor, he would
desire to erect just such structure as
the great pyramid is, to supply the
place of the telescope. 1t would give
him what he would especially desire, a
perfectly firm structure, and definite
lines along which to look in particular
direction at the heavenly bodies. Sup
posing that such was the object of the
pyramid of bCheops, the astrono-
mers who had it constructed be-
ing, probably, unacquainted with
logarithmic tables such as we possess,
would wish to deal with the simplest
possible angles in their calculations.
1ps,I 10, ,o1r = Ia
tude for their observatory that would
not involve any difficult angles in obser-
vations depending on the elevation of
the pole and the equator of the heavens.
Theoretically the very best latitude that
they could select would be the parallel
of thirty degrees north; and that is Just
what they did select The position of
the great pyramid is so close to that
parallel that it seems almost certain that
the astronomers, its builders, obtained
the latitude by observations of both the
pole star and the sun, the former being
elevated one-third of the distance from
the horizon to the point overhead, and
the latter two-thirds of that distance. 1t
is very probable that they knew nothing
of the apparent displacement of the
heavenly bodies, caused by the retrac-
ton of the atmosphere, and if they did
not, the discrepancies that they would
find between the result of their Observa-
tons upon the sun and those upon the
pole star would lead them to strike
fair mean between the results, giving,
as a modern astronomer would do,
greater weight to the pole star method;
and SO they would be led to place the
pyramid just where they did place it.
The belief that the pyramid builders
calculated the position of their work be-
fore beginning it is supported by the
;faetthat the plateau of rock on which the
great pyramid stands ends abruptly at
that point, and the parallel of 80 de-
grees north latitude, as the pyramid
builders calculated it, is SO close to the
edge of the rock that they had to bank
up the edge with cobble stones before
beginning their building.
They would require a perfectly flat
surface of considerable extent, and this
was furnished in the base of the pyra-
mid. This base was about 762 feet
square, but SO well did they level it that,