A Letter to the members of the Anglo-Biblical Institute, dated Sept. 7,
1858, and signed 'Herman Heinfetter.'[191] (Broadsheet.)
This gentleman is well known to the readers of the _Athenaeum_, in which,
for nearly twenty years, he has inserted, as advertisements, long arguments
in favor of Christians keeping the Jewish Sabbath, beginning on Friday
Evening. The present letter maintains that, by the force of the definite
article, the _days_ of creation may not be consecutive, but may have any
time--millions of years--between them. This ingenious way of reconciling
the author of Genesis and the indications of geology is worthy to be added
to the list, already pretty numerous. Mr. Heinfetter has taken such pains
to make himself a public agitator, that {95} I do not feel it to be any
invasion of private life if I state that I have heard he is a large
corn-dealer. No doubt he is a member of the congregation whose almanac has
already been described.
The great Pyramid. Why was it built? And who built it? By John Taylor,
1859,[192] 12mo.
This work is very learned, and may be referred to for the history of
previous speculations. It professes to connect the dimensions of the
Pyramid with a system of metrology which is supposed to have left strong
traces in the systems of modern times; showing the Egyptians to have had
good approximate knowledge of the dimensions of the earth, and of the
quadrature of the circle. These are points on which coincidence is hard to
distinguish from intention. Sir John Herschel[193] noticed this work, and
gave several coincidences, in the _Athenaeum_, Nos. 1696 and 1697, April 28
and May 5, 1860: and there are some remarks by Mr. Taylor in No. 1701, June
2, 1860.