But if, as the Rev. Joseph A. Seiss and others pretend, the scientific attainments required for the construction of such enduring monument surpassed those of the learned men of Egypt, we must, of necessity, believe that the architect who conceived the plan and carried out its designs must have acquired his knowledge from an older people, possessing greater learning than the priests of Memphis; unless we try to persuade ourselves, as the reverend gentleman wishes us to, that the great pyramid was built under the direct inspiration of the Almighty. Nearly all the monuments of Yucatan bear evidence that the Mayas had a predilection for number SEVEN. Since we find that their artificial mounds were composed of seven superposed platforms; that the city of Uxmal contained seven of these mounds; that the north side of the palace of King CAN was adorned with seven turrets; that the entwined serpents, his totem, which adorn the east façade of the west wing of this building, have seven rattles; that the head-dress of kings and queens were adorned with seven blue feathers; in a word, that the number SEVEN prevails in all places and in everything where Maya influence has predominated. It is a FACT, and one that may not be altogether devoid of significance, that this number SEVEN seems to have been the mystic number of many of the nations of antiquity. It has even reached our times as such, being used as symbol[TN-26] by several of the secret societies existing among us. If we look back through the vista of ages to the dawn of civilized life in the countries known as the _old world_, we find this number SEVEN among the Asiatic nations as well as in Egypt and Mayab. Effectively, in Babylon, the celebrated temple of _the seven lights_ was made of _seven_ stages or platforms. In the hierarchy of Mazdeism, the _seven marouts_, or genii of the winds, the _seven amschaspands_; then among the Aryans and their descendants, the _seven horses_ that drew the chariot of the sun, the _seven apris_ or shape of the flame, the _seven rays_ of Agni, the _seven manons_ or criators of the Vedas; among the Hebrews, the _seven days_ of the creation, the _seven lamps_ of the ark and of Zacharias’s vision, the _seven branches_ of the golden candlestick, the _seven days_ of the feast of the dedication of the temple of Solomon, the _seven years_ of plenty, the _seven years_ of famine; in the Christian dispensation, the _seven_ churches with the _seven_ angels at their head, the _seven_ golden candlesticks, the _seven seals_ of the book, the _seven_ trumpets of the angels, the _seven heads_ of the beast that rose from the sea, the _seven vials_ full of the wrath of God, the _seven_ last plagues of the Apocalypse; in the Greek mythology, the _seven_ heads of the hydra, killed by Hercules, etc.