Adams, Walter M.: The house of the hidden places: a clue to the creed of early Egypt from Egyptian sources (London, 1895)

v.]

Illuminator and Illuminate.

IS I

The general form determined, what propor-
tions shall the dimensions assume, or in other
words, at what angle shall the sides converge
towards the invisible vertex ? The earth in
her orbit gives reply. For as that planet
moves around the sun in an (approximately)
circular path, while each ray travels towards
it in a direct line, the relation between the
illuminating force and the illuminated body
may be expressed by the relation between the
radius and the circumference of a circle. But
this relation is such that the altitude of a
Pyramid when bearing the same ratio to its
base-circuit subtends an angle of about 51° 50'.
And that is the Angle of Elevation of the
Grand Pyramid. Nor is this most important,
and indeed dominating, measure due to acci-
dent ; since the angle in question is the most
marked, and almost the only feature, which
the lesser and later Pyramids share with the
Pyramid of Light, so that it forms the
masonic sign whereby the inferior buildings

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