Masonic
Horseshoe with the
47th Problem
of Euclid
This is a "lucky"
Masonic Horseshoe that used to hang over a Masons front door! It
pictures the working tools of Freemasonry and the All-Seeing Eye into the
framework of Euclid's 47th Problem.
The forty-seventh problem of
Euclid's first book, which has been adopted as a symbol in the Master's
Degree, is thus enunciated: "In any right-angled triangle, the
square which is described upon the side subtending the right angle is equal to
the squares described on the sides which contain the right angle."
Thus, in a triangle whose perpendicular is three feet, the square of which is
nine, and whose base is four feet, the square of which is sixteen, the hypotenuse,
or subtending side, will be five feet, the square of which will be
twenty-five, which is the sum of of nine and sixteen. This interesting
problem, on account of its great utility in making calculations and drawing
plans for buildings, is sometimes called the Carpenter's Theorem.
For the demonstration of this
problem the world is indebted to Pythagoras, who, it is said, was so elated
after making the discovery, that he made an offering of a hecatomb, or a
sacrifice of a hundred oxen, to the gods. The devotion to learning which
this religious act indicated in the mind of the ancient philosopher has
induced Freemasons to adopt the problem as a memento, instructing them to be
lovers of the arts and sciences.
