Page:Stirling William The Canon 1897.djvu/48

26 time of Elizabeth. The Druids were credited by Julius Cæsar, and other writers, with a considerable knowledge of astronomy, and must consequently have possessed a set of measures, but whether the original British standard of the Druids was preserved during the Roman and subsequent invasions, and is that which now survives, is uncertain. In any case the following coincidences may be pointed out, and need not be regarded as being purely accidental. The number of British miles in the mean diameter of the earth is in round numbers 7,920. The polar diameter is 7,899, and the equatorial diameter is 7,926, giving 7,918 as the exact mean. But 7,920, being a more convenient number, may be accepted as the reputed amount. Now the British furlong contains 7,920 inches. It also contains 220 yards and no fathoms, which are respectively the diameter and radius of the earth's orbit measured by the diameter of the sun. A mile contains 1,760 yards, and an equilateral triangle, inscribed within in the orbit of Saturn measured by the diameter of the sun, measures about 1,760 diameters on each of its sides. Therefore the British standard records three important measures of the cosmic system. Assuming that these coincidences are the result, not of accident but of design, we are led to the conclusion that at some time, possibly very remote, the dimensions of the cosmos were ascertained, and introduced into the standard measures inherited by the English people. Another coincidence, lately discovered, is that the English quarter measure is exactly a quarter of the capacity of the coffer of the Great Pyramid, which suggests a connection between our measures and those of the builders of Egypt. There are other reasons for supposing that this coincidence between the English standard and that of the Great Pyramid