The times., 1898-02-20


showing such great stones in process
of transportation, are NEST interesting.
They exhibit immense numbers of men
in the act of pulling the .sleds on which
are loaded the blocks OF rock On the
! stone blocks are Tugs or projections.
left purposely for the attachment OF
the hempen ropes. Perched on the front
end OF the sled. in each picture, is seen
the figure Of a man. WHO is giving or
ders. He is shouting to the men,
''Heave. hot heave hos' and encour-
aging their efforts. Immediately in
front of the sled are men who are busy
laying fresh rollers. to help things
along. while in the rear other men are
manipulating great beam that serves
as lever to lift the sled behind. Mean
while, with guy ropes and shore poles,
men who walk on both sides keep the
mass from inclining too much either
way. Many other men carry bundles
of rollers in tEsir arms. and others yet
drag carts on which huge coils of ropes
are placed Soldiers armed with
swords and sticks, are placed at inter-
tVals in the ranks of workInen, urging
them on with threats and blows. Wa
ter-carriers bear Jars of that liquid re-
freshment. and fellow assigned to
/ that duty pours oil upon the track in
front of the sled to grease ii.
1t was in this way that the blocks of
stone from the quaIries of Turra We're
carried down to, :, the Nile bank and
| there they were pulled and pushed up
On RATS, which conveyed them ten
miles down the river and to the oppo-
site bank at Ghizeh. There they were
unloaded upon sleds again and drag
ged in the manner already described TO
the site of the pyramid. Prof. Mcclure
.I.r.t H.. 4srax- a,1
shaping of the great stone blocks was
accomplished while they We're being
moved by workmen on top of them.
This would have been easily managed.
and would have saved much time. OF
course, when a stone of ten or twenty
tons was being dragged the addition
al weight of five or six men would not
have counted
So. if this surmise be accepted, the
stonecutters were pecking away at
the block with stone hammers and
chopping at it with stone chiseis while
it was on its way down the Nile and on
its slow journey from the river bank at
Ghizeh to its final destination. In this
way they were able to get rid of enough
Of its weight while in transit to com
pensate for the extra load represented
by their own avoirdupois. Pictures on
the monuments show that they used
piece of string for determining plane
surfaces. and doubtless they gave the
final polish by rubbing smooth stones
and sand Thus the stone block ar
rived at the pyramid site finished and
ready to be placed in position.
Students of this subject up to date
have been greatly puzzled to imagine
how the stone blocks We're lifted into
position. The pyramid of Cheops was
IL. .s.,t, coll
as the Washington MonuElent-and it
seemed obvious that its builders must
have been acquainted with important
principles of engineering in order to
solve such a problem. But Prof. Nc
Guire finds a way OF getting over the
difficulty that is both simple and easy.
He declares that there is only one way
in which the thing could have been ac-
complished, and that that was 4 method
well known to the ancients. 1t was by
means of an inclined plane that the
stones We're raised.
Suppose that the Washington Monu-
ment We're yet to be erected and that
there were no such contrivant es aFaila-
bic as derTicks, steam hoists, ,pu,leys and
other modern mechanical Inventions
How would the engineer manage?
There is but one conceivable method
that he could adopt, ard that would be
70 build an inclined plane of earth or
other material, up which the stones
could be dragged and pushed by main
force Such an inclined plane would
have TO be half a mile--perhaps a mile
long in order to make an altitude of
500 feet attainable, with a practicable
grade. But if that were the only way
it would have to be adopted. no mat
ter how gigantic the labor involved.
This then is the solution of the puz-
zie of pyramid building. 1t was the
method adopted in the construction Of
all the pyramids and several of them
rival IN size the so-called great pyra-
mid, supposed TO have been put up by
King Cheops. otherwise known as Su-
phis. who reigned at some time be-
tween 5000 B. c. and 2000 3. c. Nobody
KNOWS the date more accurately.
MIR. Flinders Petrie, the famous Egypt
ologist, has declared that the Egyptians
of 5000 or 5000 years ago made use
9f tubular drills. the art of using which
has only recently been rediscovered.
These drills were of bronze, Which metal
by the aid of an art since lost, Nhey had
learned to harden so that il did the
work Of steel. The implements were set
with sapphires, as modern drills are set
with diamonds. for cutting stone. They
had bronze saws too, similarly hard
ened, and provided with sapphires for
teeth, to cut stone: and there is even
satisfactory evidence, according to Mr.
Petrie. that they employed circular
saws, likewise gemmed. Some Of the
drills Were five inches In diameter and
must have required pressure of one or
two tons when used. The reason why
none of these drills and saws has been
found in the ruins is that they were
royal property, and. as such. We're care
fully preserved by the Pharao1s.
Prof. Mcclure. with the cold -blooded
hammer of demonstra ble fact, knocks
TO flinders all OF these attractive theories
of Mr.. Flinders Petrie. He admits that
the ancient Egyptians knew the use of
the tubular drill; nobody would attempt
to deny that But. inasmuch as such
drill Of soft bronze. or even of bamboo,
with the help OF sharp sand and water,
viii do exactly the same work there is
scarcely any need of indulging in theo-
retical ''pipe-dreams' on the subject of
sapphire teeth and steel-iike bronze. The
same remark applies to saws, inasmuch
as a toofhless blade of soft bronze, with
sand. will cut through any stone, how
ever hard. Today like method is en-
pIoyed everywhere, with sand and
blade of soft iron, for cutting marble
and other stones. Respecting the cir
cular saw" theory, there is no evidence
worth discussing.
To throw light on the use of drills,
Prof Mcclure shows reproductions Of
numerous ancient Egyptian sculptures
in which these tools are being employed.
The method exhibited Is wholly primi-
tive, two men working at each instru-
ment and causing ii to revolve by pull
ing cord back and forth. The process
has been initiated by Prof. Mcclure in