Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-03-17

related to the worship of the heavenly
bodies, or the Microscopy of the skies, and
what was then deemed science, astrology.
1t will be interesting to glance at the
points ne makes in his latest paper on the
subject, especially as some very good, but
timid, people were deprived of their peace
Of mind two or three years ago byprophecies
Of dire mishaps to overtake this mundane
sphere, between 1851 and 1885, on account of
a supposed correspondence between the
length of the chief gallery of helargestof the
pyramids, and the number 1881, as well as
its visual direction toward the Pole star
and the relation Of the planets at time
when the great con junction took place Pro-
lessor Proctor first considers the vast an
tiquity of the massive pile, built to last
forever, and the stones of which, the
geologist finds, have lasted already aeons of
years for every day that the pyramid itself
has existed. It is the most ancient and
impressive of mans works. The masonry
of the great pyramid amounted to nearly
1000, 600 cubic feet, from which the vast
The very slabs of the subterranean cham
Der in their immensity were brought some
500 miles, by which some idea is given Of
the time consumed III the construction,
supposed to be l64 years. Labor was
cheap, life little valued by the despotic
rulers Of that era, and the population was
more than vast in that region, hence the
pyramids were not, in one sense, costly
structures. That they were national an.
dertskings must be true, for only by pub
lie revenues and direction could they have
been erected. Whether they were associated
with the religion of the people becomes,
even at this day, very interesting ques-
ton. Professor Proctor replies in the
affirmative. His reasons are: The pyra-
mids were intended to cover the bodies Of
kings, but they had other purposes. If
they were tombs they had associa-
ton with religious belief. The Egyptian
belief embraced that of future
state, and a resurrection of the
body the form they laid down was to be
theirs again, hence the extreme care taken
of i. in death. Cheops, the builder of the
great pyramid, is recorded as a pious
king. From the religion which the Jews
brought out of Egypt, we know that Egyp.
tian religion included tie worship of the
powers of nature, and chiefly of the host
of heaven. Astronomical relations we
know were considered in the Jewish cere-
monial. Sunrise and sunset were the
times for sacrifices the movements of the
moon and the planets for other observances,
as well as the passage of the sun over the
celestial equator accordingly, for the cele-
bration of the feast of the Passover, and
descendingly for the feast of the Taberna-
cles, and SO on. The efforts made to di.
vorce that people from the worship of the
sun, moon and stars, show what hold it
had taken upon the Jewish mind. Very
intense, Their, must have been the belief of
the Egyptians to have 80 impressed their
captives. Then consider the care taken to
place the pyramid, with the four sides fac
ing the cardinal points, and which was dc.
complished with minuteness scarcely at.
tainable now by the best astronomical and.
! mathematical instruments made. Why was
! this? Because it had relation to the re.
| ligion of the builders. If we put ourselves
4 in the place OF those builders, having their
knowledge of mathematical science,
one is led to precisely such peculiari
ties of structural detail as are found
in the pyramid all the features which
have had so many fanciful interpretations
are found to be essential to the exact
or;entation of the pyramid. There was
an object in this, and it must have had con.
neotion with the religion of the builders
III some way. All theoretic contestants
agree that the orientation is there. The
only exact way of squaring the base was
by a slant passage through the solid rock
directed on the pole star when passing the
me.idian below the pole. After awhile, as
the structure grew, the passage would reach
the face of the pyramid, and the orienta-
ton could no longer be corrected by pole
star observation. Reflection OF beam of
| light from the star from saltwater sur.
face could be then used, and another pass.
age be carried up southwark until the
south face of the pyramid should be
reached. Such passage, just as it is
found in the great pyramid, must incline
at the same angle to the horizon as the
first, and the point Of juncture, where the
reflector had to be, is perfect, and the
stones there are fitted with such excep-
tional closeness as to have been regarded
as piece of profound symbolization. But
the Mechanically beautiful method by
which the orientation was secured, lie seen
il the grand gallery into which the second
ascending passage opens. 1t was closed
after the death Of Cheops, bus considering
it IS it was prior thereto, it is found to
command long vertical slice of the south.
ern sky precisely divided in half by the
vertical line of the meridian. The walls of
the gallery are ashanti to suit architectural
reouiremeats, but vertical to meet the
wants of the astronomer. The long VERT.
cal steps, shallow horizontally the dimin.
ishing cross breadth Of the long lofty
slice, as the pyramid diminishes TO
ward the top, insures architectural
stability, and means astronomical observa-
ton, especially with reference to time.
All this aeeords with the belief that The |