June5] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1894.
Thistakesthe powers of 7 up to 75, and it is perhaps not a mere
coincidencethatthe fifth powerof 10 is the highest expressedby a
singlenumeralin Egyptian arithmetic; the reason for thus tabulating
the powers of 7 is to be sought in the fact that 7 is the only
troublesomeprimenumberbelow10.
M. Rodet quotesthe following parallelfromthe Liber abaciof
Leonard of Pisa (saec.XII-XIII),p. 311. Septemvetulas vadunt
Romam; quarum quaelibet habet burdones 7 : et in quolibet
burdonesuntsacculi 7 ; et in quolibet sacculopanes 7 ; et quilibet
panis habet cultellos 7 ; et quilibet cultellus habet vaginas 7.
Quaeritursummaomniumpnedictorum.
TheEgyptiansumrecallsour nursery rhyme, " the house that
Jack built." The problemexpandedto its original formmust be :
" an old woman has seven houses,eachhousehas 7 cats, eachcat
catches 7 rats, eachrat eats 7 barleycorns, eachbarleycornproduces
7 bushels of grain. How many bushels of corn do the cats
save?"
Hereis a matter to engage the attention of the Folklore Society!
Nos.80, 81. Comparative tableof henu withheqat.
No. 80 commences with:—iriMVs^—« 1 1 1
l I 1 a
As to the tebh measure,the ^^-measures thatare in it, of the
store-keepersof the officials of the departments of the ar (govern
mentstores)."
The tablegives,in parallel columns,the two series : in the first
columnis the «<*.—. ' , heqat, whichshouldtherefore correspondtothe cS" J X (ebhof the heading. In the second columnisITlo\> henu,whichshouldcorrespondto the "khayu measures.*
Similarlyat Asyut we find the heqat and the kha opposedto each
other. Khety,in the Xth dynasty,says: " I was great in northern
wheat,the land wasin order (?), making the city to live by kha-* The passagemayimplythatthe Aid-measures wereconsideredto belong
especiallyto the officials of the ar.
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