(50) CHOISY (Auguste), _L’Art de bâtir chez les Égyptiens_, published at 76 Rue de la Seine, Paris, 1904.—The author, in this work, gives what he considers to have been the ancient methods of building, together with his ideas as to those of the transportation and erection of monoliths. The chapters on construction do not come within the province of this volume. Obelisks are dealt with on pages 121 to 127. Under the heading of ‘extraction’, he gives some suggestions, or rather assertions, as to the manner in which the obelisk was given a curved surface, but none as to the quarry work. In his notes on transport by water, he favours the method described by Pliny (section 34 of this volume), which we know is not confirmed by an examination of the Aswân quarries. As to the method he proposes for the transport of obelisks, it is extremely laborious; the obelisk was heaved up by a series of levers acting on both sides simultaneously, {50} being packed from below after each heave. Figure 11, taken from his book, makes this clear. When the obelisk was sufficiently high, an embankment was constructed so as to make a ramp leading _down_ in the direction in which it was desired to travel, and the obelisk was pulled, butt foremost, along the ramp until it reached ground-level again, the process being repeated for the whole journey. His method for erecting an obelisk is, to me, mechanically unsound. Figure 12 is taken from his book; referring to it, he says: “Soulevons le bloc (fig. 11), en ayant soin de maintenir le remblai d’appui par les bajoyers. Arrivés à une hauteur telle que _a′_, passons, par-dessous, des traverses _c_ et un tourillon _n_. A ce moment rien n’empêche de déblayer les terres et d’établir en sous-œuvre une glissière _g_. La glissière faite, remplaçons par du sable les terres enlevées; retirons les traverses _c_ et affouillons le sable. L’obélisque, pivotant autour du tourillon _n_, va s’incliner suivant _a″_ et arriver à l’aplomb de sa base _b_. Il suffira pour empêcher d’aller trop long, de réserver en _d_ un arrêt qui le contre-bute du pied, et de retenir le sommet par des haubans.” [Illustration: Fig. 11.] [Illustration: Fig. 12.—Choisy’s suggestion for erecting an obelisk.] He does not tell us of what material the ‘tourillon’ _n_ is to be made in order to stand the enormous strain, neither does he give any details as to the material of the ‘glissière’ which would allow the point of the sled to slide along it without burying itself.