Nilometer

Lanchester concludes that “words longer mean what they once did. It is not a process intended to deceive, but, like the Nilometer, it confines knowledge to a priesthood—the priesthood of people who can speak money.”

From Forbes ● Aug. 7, 2014

All these things were regulated by the indications of the Nilometer.

From Xerxes Makers of History by Jacob Abbott

Here is to be seen the Nilometer, a square well connected with the Nile, having in its centre an octagonal column on which is inscribed Arabian measures.

From Due West or Round the World in Ten Months by Maturin Murray Ballou

Now they stood again in the first hall, and, pointing to the Nilometer, Amram said, "Famine!"

From Historical Miniatures by August Strindberg

We know that the column of the Nilometer has been frequently repaired, which fact explains the apparent discrepancy between the height of the gauge as given in Benjamin's narrative and the figures just mentioned.

From The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela by Benjamin of Tudela