OBELISK. An obelisk is a lofty monu mental four-sided shaft diminishing upwards with the sides gently inclined, but not so as to terminate in an apex at the top. Small obelisks were sometimes of sandstone or gra nite, but the larger Egyptian obelisks are all of the red granite of Syene; and it is certainly astonishing how such enormous masses of that material could be quarried out and after wards removed and placed in their position. When the Romans became masters of Egypt, they removed many of these monuments to their own capital, among others that now known as the Obelisk of the Lateran. This is the largest obelisk now known, its shaft being 105 feet (although it has been reduced, a por tion at the lower part having been cut off in' consequence of being fractured), and two of its sides 9 feet 81 inches, the other two 9 feet; it weighs about 445 tons. In the present century, the labour of bringing away and re erecting an obelisk nearly equal to some of the largest removed by the Romans has been ac complished by the French. The raising of this
obelisk upon a granite platform prepared for it in the Place de in Concorde at Paris was a remarkable operation. An inclined plane lead ing from the river Seine up to a platform of rough masonry level with the top of the pedestal was formed, and the obelisk, having been placed on a kind of timber car or sledge, was dragged up by means of ropes and cap stans. One edge of its base having been brought to the edge of the pedestal, it was reared perpendicularly by ropes and pulleys attached to the heads of ten masts, five on each side ; and within about three hours the operations were completed.
The largest Egyptian obelisk hitherto brought over to England is that which was removed from the island of Philce by Belzoni, and which is now erected at Kingston Hall, Dorsetshire. It is a monolith or single stone of red Egyptian granite, 22 feet 1 inch in length, and its larger end orbase 2 feet 2 inches square, the other being 1 foot 51 inches.