probably made in Edinburgh
000-190-002-325-C
© National Museums Scotland |
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Scale
This boxwood scale was made in 1881, probably by Bryson of Edinburgh. It appears to have been made for Charles Piazzi Smyth, and was probably one of a number distributed among friends and supporters in a controversy about the unit of construction of the Great Pyramid: others are known to survive.
The scale is is divided into five Great Pyramid Inches. It is stamped 'BRYSON EDINBURGH 1881' and inscribed on the reverse 'Dec 1882 from/my friend C. Piazzi Smyth, Esq, Edinburgh, Astronomer Royal Scotland'.
Each Great Pyramid inch is .001 of an inch longer than the British inch. Charles Piazzi Smyth noted that 25 Pyramid inches were one ten-millionth of the earth's semi-axis of rotation, and this, he claimed, made the Pyramid inch the most scientific unit ever proposed as a standard of length.
Record details
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| Online ID: |
000-190-002-325-C |
| Image Rights Holder: |
National Museums Scotland |
| Project: |
0098: National Museums Scotland
Project description | View all records in project |
| Ref: |
National Museums Scotland T.1983.205 |
| Date: |
1881
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| Material: |
Boxwood. Inscription: BRYSON EDINBURGH 1881; Dec. 1882 from / my friend C Piazzi Smyth, Esq, Edinburgh, Astronomer Royal Scotland
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| Dimensions: |
127 mm x 25 mm x 6 mm
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| What: |
Scale, boxwood
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| Subject: |
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| Who: |
Bryson, Edinburgh (Maker)
C. Piazzi Smyth (Inscribed on the scale)
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| Where: |
Scotland, Midlothian, Edinburgh
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| Event: |
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| Description: |
Divided scale in boxwood signed by Bryson of Edinburgh, 1881
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| References: |
- C. Piazzi Smyth, Life and Work at the Great Pyramid, 3 vols., Edinburgh, 1867. C. Piazzi Smyth, Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid, 4th edition London, 1880, esp. Part III National Weights and Measures and also those of the Great Pyramid, pp 227-328.
- For James Mackay Bryson, see T.N. Clarke et al., Brass & Glass: Scientific Instrument making Workshops in Scotland. Edinburgh: national Museums of Scotland, 1989, pp 112-122, esp. p.113.
- H.A. Bruck and M.T. Bruck, The Peripatetic Astronomer: the Life of Charles Piazzi Smyth. Bristol, Adam Hilger, 1988, esp. chs. 6 and 7, pp 95-134,
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