Chapter XV: Book VI

Throughout this last Book, Gilbert glories in the Copernican theory, the open, unquestioned, advocacy and endorsement of which according to many seems, after all, to have been the object of the work. He maintains that the magnetic axis of the earth remains invariable; he treats of the daily magnetic revolution of the globes, as against the time-honoured opinion of a _primum mobile_, the fixed stars being at different distances from the earth; of the circular motion of the earth and of its primary magnetic nature, whereby her poles are made different from the poles of the ecliptic, as well as of the precession of the equinoxes and of the obliquity of the zodiac.

According to Humboldt,[37] Gilbert was the first to make use of the words _electric_ force, _electric_ emanations, _electric_ attraction, but, he says, there is not found in “De Magnete” either the abstract expression _electricitas_ or the barbarous word _magnetismus_ introduced in the seventeenth century. We likewise owe to Gilbert the words _equator_, _magneticum_, _terrella_, _versorium_ and _verticitas_, but not the word _pole_, which had before been used by P. Peregrinus and others.

The second edition of “De Magnete” appeared at Stettin in 1628, “embellished with a curious title-page in the form of a monument ... and a fantastic indication of the earliest European mariner’s compass, a floated lodestone, but floating in a bowl on the sea and left behind by the ship sailing away from it.”[38]

The third edition was also published at Stettin during 1633. Gilbert left, besides, a posthumous work, “De Mundo Nostro Sublunari Philosophia Nova,” Amsterdam, 1651, which latter, says Prof. Robison, consists of an attempt to establish a new system of natural philosophy upon the ruins of the Aristotelian doctrine.[39]

To give here such an analysis as Gilbert’s admirable work merits would be impracticable, but the short review of it made by Prof. Robison (at p. 209 of his “System of Mechanical Philosophy,” London, 1822) deserves full reproduction, as follows: “In the introduction, he recounts all the knowledge of the ancients on the subject treated, and their supine inattention to what was so entirely in their hands, and the impossibility of ever adding to the stock of useful knowledge, so long as men imagined themselves to be philosophizing, while they were only repeating a few cant words and the unmeaning phrases of the Aristotelian school. It is curious to mark the almost perfect sameness of Dr. Gilbert’s sentiments and language with those of Lord Bacon. They both charge, in a peremptory manner, all those who pretend to inform others, to give over their dialectic labours, which are nothing but ringing changes on a few trite truths, and many unfounded conjectures, and immediately to betake themselves to experiment. He has pursued this method on the subject of magnetism, with wonderful ardour, and with equal genius and success; for Dr. Gilbert was possessed both of great ingenuity, and a mind fitted for general views of things. The work contains a prodigious number and variety of experiments and observations, collected with sagacity from the writings of others, and instituted by himself with considerable expense and labour. It would, indeed, be a miracle if all of Dr. Gilbert’s general inferences were just, or all his experiments accurate. It was untrodden ground. But, on the whole, this performance contains more real information than any writing of the age in which he lived, and is scarcely exceeded by any that has appeared since. We may hold it with justice as the first fruits of the Baconian or experimental philosophy.” Elsewhere, Prof. Robison remarks: “It is not saying too much of this work to affirm that it contains almost everything we know of magnetism. His unwearied diligence in searching every writing on the subject and in getting information from navigators, and his incessant occupation in experiments, have left very few facts unknown to him. We meet with many things in the writings of posterior inquirers, some of them of high reputation and of the present day, which are published and received as notable discoveries, but are contained in the rich collection of Dr. Gilbert.”

The Rev. Wm. Whewell says in his “History of the Inductive Sciences” (Vol. III. p. 49) that in the “De Magnete,” a book of only 240 pages, upon which Dr. Gilbert has been engaged for nearly eighteen years, are contained “all the fundamental facts of the science, so fully examined, indeed, that, even at this day, we have little to add to them.”

Dr. John Davy remarks (“Memoirs of the Life of Sir Humphry Davy,” London, 1836, Vol. I. p. 309): “Gilbert’s work is worthy being studied, and I am surprised that an English Edition (translation) of it has never been published.” He also alludes to the well-known reproach thrown upon Gilbert’s philosophy by Francis Bacon, who, in his “De Augmentis Scientiarum,” observes that “Gilbert has attempted to raise a general system upon the magnet, endeavouring to build a ship out of materials not sufficient to make the rowing-pins of a boat.” On the other hand, Digby and Barlowe place Gilbert upon a level with Harvey, Galileo, Gassendi and Descartes (“Nouvelle Biographie Générale,” 1858, Vol. VIII. p. 494) while the celebrated historian of the Council of Trent, Fra Paolo Sarpi--who will not be thought an incompetent judge--names Gilbert, with Francis Vieta (the greatest French mathematician of the sixteenth century) as the only original writer among his contemporaries (“Lettere di Fra Paolo,” p. 31; Hallam, “Intro. to Lit.,” 1859, Vol. II. p. 464).

In Thos. Thomson’s “History of the Royal Society,” London, 1812, the “De Magnete” is thus alluded to: “Dr. Gilbert’s book on magnetism, published in 1600, is one of the finest examples of inductive philosophy that has ever been presented to the world. It is the more remarkable because it preceded the ‘Novum Organum’ of Bacon, in which the inductive method of philosophizing was first explained.” How far Gilbert was ahead of his time is best proven by the works of those who wrote on magnetism during the first few decades after his death. They contributed in reality nothing to the extension of this branch of physical science. Poggendorff, from whose “Geschichte der Physik,” p. 286, this is extracted, as already stated, calls Gilbert “the Galileo of Magnetism.” By Dr. Priestley, he was named “the Father of Modern Electricity.”

The tribute of Henry Hallam is to the following effect: “The year 1600 was the first in which England produced a remarkable work in physical science; but this was one sufficient to raise a lasting reputation for its author. Gilbert, a physician, in his Latin treatise on the magnet, not only collected all the knowledge which others had possessed on the subject, but became at once the father of experimental philosophy in this island, and, by a singular felicity and acuteness of genius, the founder of theories which have been revived after a lapse of ages, and are almost universally received into the creed of science. Gilbert was one of the earliest Copernicans, at least as to the rotation of the earth, and, with his usual sagacity, inferred, before the invention of the telescope, that there are a multitude of fixed stars beyond the reach of our vision” (“Introduction to the Literature of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,” London, 1859, Vol. II. p. 463).

In the “Principal Navigations ...” Edinburgh, 1889, Vol. XII. p. 10, Richard Hakluyt speaks of “... my worshipfull friend M. douctour Gilbert, a gentleman no lesse excellent in the chiefest secrets of the Mathematicks (as that rare iewel lately set forth by him in Latine doeth euidently declare) then in his oune profession of physicke.”

We conclude this account of Gilbert in the quaint words of old Dr. Fuller: “He has (said my informer[40]) the _clearness of Venice Glass_ without the _Brittleness_ thereof, soon _Ripe_ and long _lasting_ is his Perfection. He commenced _Doctor_ in _Physick_, and was _Physician_ to Queen _Elizabeth_, who stamped on him many marks of her Favour, besides an annuall Pension to encourage his studies. He addicted himself to _Chemistry_, attaining to great exactness therein. One saith of him that he was _Stoicall_, but not _Cynicall_, which I understand _Reserved_; but not _Morose_, never married, purposely to be more beneficial to his brethren. Such his _Loyalty_ to the Queen that, as if unwilling to survive, he dyed in the same year with her, 1603. His _Stature_ was _Tall_, Complexion Chearful, an Happiness not ordinary in so hard a student and so retired a person. He lyeth buried in _Trinity Church_ in Colchester under a plain monument.”

“_Mahomet’s Tombe_, at Mecha, is said strangely to _hang_ up, attracted by some invisible _Loadstone_, but the memory of this _Doctor_ will never fall to the ground, which his incomparable book ‘De Magnete’ will _support_ to eternity” (“The History of the Worthies of England Endeavoured by Thomas Fuller, D.D.,” London, 1662, p. 332--Essex).

In his Epistle to Dr. Walter Charleton, physician in ordinary to King Charles I (Epist. III. p. 15, Vol. XI of the Works of Dryden, London, 1803) the celebrated English poet predicts that:

“_Gilbert shall live till loadstones cease to draw
Or British fleets the boundless ocean awe._”

REFERENCES.--“La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XVIII. p. 930;
“Dictionary of National Biography,” London, 1890, Vol. XXI. p.
338; “Bibliographica Britannica,” London, 1757, Vol. IV. p.
2202; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. VIII. p. 123; “Freeman’s
Historic Towns” (Colchester), by Rev. E. L. Cutts, 1888, p.
172; “Beauties of England and Wales,” by E. W. Brayley and
John Britton, 1810, Vol. V. (Colchester) pp. 318–319; Cooper,
“Athenæ Cantabrigienses,” Cambridge, 1858; Anthony à Wood,
“Athenæ Oxonienses,” London, 1813, Vol. I; Thomas Wright, “Hist.
and Top. of the County of Essex,” 1866, Vol. I; “Journal des
Savants” for June 1859, Sept. 1870; Wm. Munk, “The Roll of
the Royal College of Physicians of London,” 1878, Vol. I. p.
77; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859–1860, Vol. I. pp. 158–159, note,
177, 179, 182, note; Vol. II. pp. xvii, 279–281, 334–335,
341–342; Vol. V. p. 58 for references to and extracts from Dr.
Gilbert’s work; Wm. Whewell, “Hist. of the Ind. Sciences,” Vol.
I. pp. 274–275, 394; Vol. II. pp. 192, 217–220, 224, 225, and
“Philosophy of the Ind. Sciences,” London, 1840, Vol. II. pp.
374–379; “Mémoires de Physique,” Lausanne, 1754, pp. 123, etc.;
“U.S. Magnetic Tables and Isogonic Charts for 1902,” L. A.
Bauer, pp. 1–77; “Popular Science Monthly,” August 1901, pp.
337–350 for “Gilbert of Colchester,” by Bro. _Potamian_, also
its translation in “Ciel et Terre” for Dec. 1, 1902, pp. 472–480
and for Dec. 16, 1902, p. 489; “New International Encyclopædia,”
New York, 1903, Vol. VIII. p. 368; “William Gilbert of
Colchester,” by Conrad Wm. Cooke, London, 1890 (reprinted from
“Engineering,” 1889); “William Gilbert of Colchester,” by
Dr. Silvanus P. Thompson, London, 1891; “William Gilbert of
Colchester,” a translation by P. Fleury Mottelay, New York and
London, 1893; “William Gilbert of Colchester,” a translation by
members of the Gilbert Club, London, 1900, to which is appended
a valuable collection of “Notes on the _De Magnete_” of Dr.
William Gilbert, by Dr. Silvanus P. Thompson, who therein also
gives an interesting bibliography of this great work; “William
Gilbert of Colchester,” a sketch of his magnetic philosophy
by Chas. E. Benham, Colchester, 1902; “Zur bibliographie von
W. Gilbert’s _De Magnete_,” Von. G. Hellmann (“Terrestrial
Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity” for June 1902); “Terr.
Magn. and Atm. Elect.,” Vol. II. p. 45 for “The Earth a Great
Magnet,” by J. A. Fleming; “The Earth a Great Magnet,” by
Prof. Alfred M. Mayer, New York, 1872; Philip Morant, “History
and Antiquities of Colchester,” London, 1748; Bacon, “Novum
Organum,” Leyden, 1650, pp. 263–265; Rees’ “Encyclopædia,”
1819, Vol. XVI. article “Gilbert”; “A Course of Lectures on
Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts,” by Thos. Young,
London, 1807, Vol. I. pp. 686, 747, 756; Vol. II. pp. 111,
324, 436; “Critical Dictionary of Engl. Literature,” S. Austin
Allibone, Philad., 1888, Vol. I. p. 668; “General Biographical
Dictionary,” John Gorton, London, 1833, Vol. II, mentioning
Wood’s “Athen. Ox.,” Hutchinson’s “Biog.-Med.,” and Aikin’s “G.
Biography”; _Phil. Trans._ for 1667, Vol. II. pp. 527–531, also
Baddam’s abridgments, London, 1739, Vol. III. p. 129 and London,
1745, Vol. I. p. 97.

=A.D. 1601.=--Brahé (Tycho--Tygge--Thyghe--Tyge), who has been several times mentioned in this compilation and is referred to by Gilbert (“De Magnete,” Book IV. chap. xii. also Book VI. chap. v.), was a distinguished Danish astronomer (_b._ 1546, _d._ 1601), the founder of modern astronomical calculations, whose investigations and records of the positions of the stars and planets made possible the brilliant discoveries of Kepler and Newton. As Humboldt expresses it, the rich abundance of accurate observations furnished by Tycho Brahé, himself the zealous opponent of the Copernican system, laid the foundation for the discovery of those eternal laws of planetary movements which prepared imperishable renown for the name of Kepler, and which, interpreted by Newton, proved to be theoretically and necessarily true, have been now transferred into the bright and glorious domain of thought as _the intellectual recognition of nature_ (“Cosmos,” 1860, Vol. II. p. 313).

As his very able biographer, Dr. J. L. E. Dreyer, of the Armagh Observatory, remarks in his admirable work (Edinburgh, 1890): “Without Brahé, Kepler never could have found out the secrets of the planetary motions, and, in the words of Delambre, ‘Nous ignorerions peut être encore le véritable système du monde.’ The most important inheritance which Tycho left to Kepler and to posterity was the vast mass of observations all which, Kepler justly said, ‘deserved to be kept among the royal treasures, as the reform of astronomy could not be accomplished without them ...’ at one breath blowing away the epicycles and other musty appendages which disfigured the Copernican system.... Tycho Brahé had given Kepler the place to stand on and Kepler did move the world!”

Brahé was the first to recognize the variation, _i. e._ the inequality, in the moon’s motion. In opposition to the opinion of Sédillot, M. Biot maintains that this fine discovery of Tycho by no means belongs to Abul-Wefa, and that the latter was acquainted not with the “variation” but only with the second part of the “evection” (“Cosmos,” 1860, Vol. II. p. 222, wherein are many references to the _Comptes Rendus_ and to the “Journal des Savants”).

The biographical division of the “English Cyclopædia,” 1866, Vol. I. pp. 898–903, gives a list of Brahé’s numerous writings, headed by his earliest publication, “De Nova Stella,” 1573, which is so extremely rare that, until 1890, when Dr. Dreyer gave a description of it, not a single historian of astronomy had ever seen it or been able to even give its title correctly (“Journal of Br. Astron. Assoc.,” Vol. XII. No. 2, p. 95; Houzeau et Lancaster, Vol. II. p. 598). A detailed account of its contents is given at pp. 44–56 of Dr. Dreyer’s 1890 work above alluded to, wherein we are further told of the protection given Brahé by the Landgrave William of Hesse-Cassel, as well as of the consequent aid so liberally extended by King Frederick II. Reference is likewise made to the fact that in December 1584 the King turned to Tycho for help, writing that he was under the impression he had returned a compass made by Tycho, believing there was something wrong with it; that, if this proved to be the case, Tycho was to send back the compass, but, if not, he was to make two new ones similar to the old one (F. R. Friis, “Tyge Brahé,” p. 147).

REFERENCES.--“Life of Tycho Brahé,” by Gassendi, containing the
“Oratio Funebris,” etc., of John Jessenius; Tessier “Eloges
des hommes illustres,” Vol. IV. p. 383; Blount, “Censura,”
etc.; “Epistolæ ad Joh. Keplerum,” 1718; Riccioli, “Chronicon
in Almagesto Novo,” Vol. I. p. 46; the biography by Malte-Brun
in the “Biog. Univ.,” wherein is to be found the list of all
of Tycho Brahé’s writings; “English Cycl.,” Supplement to
Biography, p. 376, at Scipione Chiaromonti, for “Anti-Tycho”;
“Bulletin de la Société Astronomique de France,” Janvier 1903;
“Journal des Savants,” Juin 1864; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1860,
Vol. III. pp. 158, 160, 162; “Nature” of Dec. 27, 1900, p. 206,
and “Nature,” Vol. LXV. pp. 5–9, 104–106, 181, as well as the
“Bulletin Astronomique,” Paris, Avril 1902, pp. 163–166, for
account of the celebrations of the Tercentenary of Tycho-Brahé’s
death, held at Prague and elsewhere, on Oct. 24, 1901, with
illustrations of his observatory, etc. etc.; “Geschichte der
Mathem. von Abraham G. Kästner,” Vol. II. pp. 376, etc., 613,
etc.; R. A. Proctor, “Old and New Astronomy,” 1892 _passim_;
“Biog. Génér.,” 1890, Vol. XLV. pp. 750, 755; “La Grande
Encycl.,” Vol. VII. pp. 962–963; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol.
XV. pp. 613–614; “Encycl. Brit.,” Edin., 1876, Vol. IV. p. 200.

Consult likewise for Abul Wefa: “Le Journal des Savants,” for
Nov. 1841, Sept. 1843, Mar. 1845 and Oct. 1871; Houzeau et
Lancaster, “Bibliog. Gén.,” 1887, Vol. I. pp. 598–600, and Vol.
II. pp. 92–93; “Bull. de la Soc. Acad. de Laon,” Janvier 1903,
pp. 40–48; Leopold Von Ranke, “History of England,” Vol. I. p.
367 and notes; Wm. Whewell, “Phil. of the Ind. Sc.,” London,
1840, Vol. II. pp. 386–388; Harold Höffding, “A Hist. of Mod.
Phil.,” translated by B. E. Mayer, London, 1900, Vol. I. p. 428.

=A.D. 1602.=--Blundeville (Thomas) publishes at London, “The Theoriques of the Seuen Planets,” etc., which, as the lengthy title goes to show, indicates “the making, description and vse of two ingenious and necessarie instruments for sea men to find out thereby the latitude of any place upon the sea or land, in the darkest night, that is, without the helpe of sunne, moone or starre; first invented by M. Dr. Gilbert, a most excellent philosopher, and one of the ordinarie physicians to Her Majestie.”

He had previously published, in 1589, “A briefe description of universal mappes and cardes and of their use; and also the use of Ptolemy his Tables,” which was followed, during 1594, by his well-known work on navigation. From the rare sixth edition of the latter (London, 1622) the curious title page is worth reproducing as follows: “M. Blundeville, His Exercises, contayning eight treatises, the titles whereof are set down in the next printed page: which treatises are very necessary to be read and learned of all Young Gentlemen that haue not beene exercised in such Disciplines and yet are desirous to haue knowledge as well in Cosmographie, Astronomie and Geographie, as also in the art of navigation, in which art it is impossible, to profit without the helpe of these or such like Instructions. To the furtherance of which Art of Navigation the sayd Master Blundeville especially wrote the said Treatises and of meere good will doth dedicate the same to all Young Gentlemen of this Realme.” The contents of this curious work treat of Arithmetic, Cosmography, Terrestrial and Celestial Globes, Peter Plancius, his Universal Map, Mr. Blagrau, his Astrolabe, The First Principles of Navigation, etc. etc.

The Mr. Blagrau here mentioned is John Blagrave, eminent English mathematician, author of “The Mathematical Jewel,” as well as of “The making and use of the familiar staffe,” of “The Art of Dialling,” and of “Astrolabium Uranicum Generale, a necessary and pleasunt solace and recreation for Navigators in their long journeying, containing the use of an instrument or astrolabe.” From the last named, it appears that Blagrave was a convert to the heliocentric theory of Copernicus (“New Gen. Biog. Dict.,” by Rev. H. J. Rose, London, 1850, Vol. IV. p. 277). The invention of the dipping needle by Mr. Blagrave was before the discovery of the change of the needle’s variation by Mr. Gellibrand (“Philos. Britan.,” Benj. Martin, London, 1771, Vol. I. p. 46).

REFERENCES.--“Gen. Biogr. Dict.” (Gorton), London, 1833, Vol. I;
Hutton’s abridgments of the _Phil. Trans._, London, 1739, Vol.
IV. p. 103; “Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Leslie Stephen, London, 1886,
Vol. V. pp. 157 and 271–272; “Gen. Biog. Dict.,” Alex. Chalmers,
London, 1812, Vol. V. pp. 370–371; “Biog. Univ.,” Paris, 1843,
Vol. IV. p. 397; “Nouv. Biog. Générale” (Hœfer), Paris, 1853,
pp. 170–171; Baddam’s abridgments of the _Phil. Trans._, London,
1739, Vol. IV. p. 103; “Ames’ Typog. Antiq.” (Herbert), pp. 693,
694, 697–701; Bloomfield’s “Norfolk,” Vol. LXIV. pp. 68–70;
Cooper’s “Athenæ Cantab.”; Davy’s “Suffolk Coll.,” Vol. LXXXIX.
p. 215; Hazlitt, “Coll. and Notes,” 1876, also the second series.

=A.D. 1609.=--Kepler (Johann), who succeeded Tycho Brahé in 1601 as astronomer to the German Emperor Rudolph II, is the author of a treatise “On the Magnet,” which was followed, during 1609, by his greatest work, the “Astronomia Nova.” The latter was deemed by Lalande of such importance that he considered it the duty of every astronomer to read it from beginning to end at least once in his lifetime.

The “Astronomia” contains the extraordinary book “on the motion of Mars,” and is said to hold the intermediate place, besides being the connecting link between the discoveries of Copernicus and those of Newton. Kepler’s doctrine is thus enunciated by Dr. Whewell (“Physical Astronomy,” Chap. I): “A certain Force or Virtue resides in the sun by which all bodies within his influence are carried around him. He illustrates (‘De Stella Martis,’ Chap. XXXIV. p. 3) the nature of this Virtue in various ways, comparing it to Light and to the Magnetic Power, which it resembles in the circumstances of operating at a distance, and also in exercising a feebler influence as the distance becomes greater.” In the Table of Contents of the work on the planet Mars, the purport of the chapter to which allusion has been made is stated as follows: “A Physical speculation, in which it is demonstrated that the vehicle of that virtue which urges the planets, circulates through the spaces of the universe after the manner of a river or whirlpool (vortex), moving quicker than the planets.” It will doubtless be found by any one who reads Kepler’s phrases concerning the _moving force_--the _magnetic nature_--the _immaterial virtue_ of the sun, that they convey no distinct conception, except so far as they are interpreted by the expressions here quoted: “A vortex of fluid constantly whirling around the sun, kept in this whirling motion by the rotation of the sun himself and carrying the planets around the sun by its revolution, as a whirlpool carries straws, could be readily understood; and though it appears to have been held by Kepler that this current and vortex was immaterial, he ascribes to it the power of overcoming the inertia of bodies, and of putting them and keeping them in motion, the only material properties with which he had anything to do. Kepler’s physical reasonings, therefore amount, in fact, to the doctrine of vortices around the central bodies and are occasionally so stated by himself; though by asserting these vortices to be ‘an immaterial species,’ and by the fickleness and variety of his phraseology on the subject, he leaves his theory in some confusion; a proceeding, indeed, which both his want of sound mechanical conceptions and his busy and inventive fancy might have led us to expect. Nor, we may venture to say, was it easy for any one at Kepler’s time to devise a more plausible theory than the theory of vortices might have been made. It was only with the formation and progress of the science of mechanics that this theory became untenable.”

REFERENCES.--“Kepler, sa vie et ses ouvrages,” in the “Journal
des Savants” for June, July and August 1847; Kepler’s
manuscripts, “Phil. Trans.,” Vol. XI. p. 27; Wm. Whewell, “Phil.
of the Ind. Sc.,” London, 1840, Vol. II. pp. 383–386; “Epistolæ
ad J. Keplerum,” published by M. G. Hansch in 1718; Houzeau
et Lancaster, “Bibliogr. Générale,” 1887, Vol. I. part i. pp.
612–614, detailing the contents of Kepler’s “Opera Omnia,” also
Vol. I. part ii. pp. 1315–1316, 1330–1331, 1383, and Vol. II.
pp. 175–176, 456–462 and 1581; Robert Small, “An Account of the
Astronomical Discoveries of Kepler,” London, 1804; Humboldt,
“Cosmos,” 1860, Vol. II. p. 710, notes, for Laplace, Chasles
and Brewster on the writings and theories of Kepler; “Jour.
des Savants” for June, July and August 1847; “Geschichte der
Mathem.,” Vol. III. p. 318, and Vol. IV. pp. 216, 311; Dr. Geo.
Miller, “Hist. Phil. Ill.,” London, 1849, Vol. III. notes at pp.
134–135; Fourth Dissert. of “Encycl. Brit.”; Whewell, “Hist. of
the Ind. Sc.,” 1859, Vol. I. pp. 291–311, 320, 386, 387, 415,
462, 532–534, and Vol. II. pp. 55, 56.

It will be well to look at the last-named work of Dr. Whewell for references to Jeremiah Horrox--Horrockes--(1619–1641), the celebrated young English scientist, who wrote in defence of the Copernican opinion in his “Keplerian Astronomy defended and promoted” (“Hist. of the Ind. Sc.,” Vol. I. Book V. chap. iii. p. 276, and Chap. V. p. 303), as well as for references to Giovanni Alfonso Borelli (1608–1679). Borelli, who has by many been erroneously called a pupil of Galileo, was a distinguished Italian physicist and astronomer, born at Naples in 1608, who founded what has been called the iatromathematical school, which, under the protection of Leopold of Tuscany, became known as the Accademia del Cimento. Whewell speaks of him in Vol. I. at Book VI. chap. ii. p. 323, at Book VII. chap i. pp. 387, 393, 394, and at Chap. II. pp. 303, 395, 405, 406. Horrox is mentioned, more particularly, by Houzeau et Lancaster (“Bibliog. Générale,” Vol. II. p. 167), also at pp. 12 and 220, Vol. II of Hutton’s abridgments of the _Phil. Trans._; while full accounts of the many important works of Borelli are to be found in “Biogr. Générale,” Vol. VI. pp. 700–701; Ninth “Britannica,” Vol. IV. p. 53; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. II. p. 1003; “Chambers’ Encycl.,” 1888, Vol. II. p. 328; “La Grande Encycl.,” Vol. VII. p. 405; Nicéron, “Mémoires,” Vol. VIII. p. 257; Vigneul-Marville, “Mélanges,” Vol. II. p. 122; Sachs, “Onomasticon Literarium,” V. 40; Hagen, “Memoriæ Philosophorum,” Frankfort, 1710.

=A.D. 1613.=--Ridley (Marke), “Doctor in physicke and philosophie, latly physition to the Emperour of Russia and one of ye eight principals or elects of the College of Physitions in London,” is the author of a small quarto entitled “A Short Treatise of Magnetical Bodies and Motions,” published in London, 1613. Of this treatise, Libri says that the author, in his preface, deals tolerantly with the many and varied theories concerning magnetic bodies, instancing many of the most notable from those of Pliny and Nicander to those of Robert Norman. He is particularly emphatic concerning the production of perpetual motion by means of the loadstone, finding it “by the experience of many ingenious practices ... impossible to be done.”

From the notice given him in “Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” 1896, Vol. XLVIII. pp. 285–286, we learn that in the above-named work, he claims acquaintance with William Gilbert, whom he commends as the greatest discoverer in magnetical science, and that after giving twenty-four chapters on the properties and description of the magnet, he discusses the variation of the compass and methods of estimating it in eight chapters, the inclinatory needle in eight others, concluding with a chapter on finding the longitude and one “of the matter of the magnetical globe of the earth by the needle.”

In 1617, he published “Animadversions on a late work entitled Magnetical Advertisement; or, Observations on the Nature and Properties of the Loadstone.”

=References.=--A. Watt, “Bibliotheca Britannica,” Vol. II. p.
804, at p. 75_g_ Vol. I. of which (article, “Wm. Barlowe”) is
“A briefe discovery of the idle animadversions of Marke Ridley,
M.D.,” upon a treatise entitled “Magneticall Advertisements,”
London, 1618. Consult also “The Lancet” of August 7, 1897,
p. 349; Munk’s “College of Phys.,” Vol. I. p. 106; Ridlon’s
“Ancient Ryedales,” p. 425.

=A.D. 1616.=--Schouten (Guillaume Cornelissen--Willem Cornelisz), Dutch navigator, indicates points lying in the midst of the Pacific and south-east of the Marquesas Islands in which the variation is null. Humboldt alludes to this (“Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. I. p. 182, and Vol. V. p. 59) and says, “Even now there lies in this region a singular, closed system of isogonic lines, in which every group of the internal concentric curves indicates a smaller amount of variation.”

For Schouten, consult “Relation,” published by Aris Classen, Amst., 1617; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. XIV. p. 375.

Under this same date, A.D. 1616, Chas. Pickering tells us that Wm. Baffin (Churchill Coll. and Anders. II. 268) continued North to “seventy-eight degrees,” as far as a Sound called by him “Thomas Smith’s,” where the compass varied “fifty-six degrees to the westward,” making the true North bear N.E. by E. The northern expanse of water received the name of “Baffin’s Bay” (“Chron. Hist. of Plants,” Boston, 1879, p. 933).

=A.D. 1617.=--Strada (Famianus), an Italian author and Jesuit priest, publishes his curious “Prolusiones Academicæ,” wherein he describes (lib. ii. prol. 6) a contrivance consisting of two magnetic needles attached to two dials each bearing a circle of letters so arranged that when one needle is made to point to any letter on one dial, the other needle points to the same letter upon the other dial.

The description is best given in his own words taken from the original Latin (Stradæ, “Prol. Acad.,” Oxoniæ, 1662, “Magnes cur ferrum aut aurum trahat,” pp. 326–335): “... If you wish your distant friend, to whom no letter can come, to learn something, take a disc or dial, and write round the edge of it the letters of the alphabet in the order in which children learn them, and, in the centre, place horizontally a rod, which has touched a magnet, so that it may move and indicate whatever letter you wish. Then a similar dial being in the possession of your friend, if you desire privately to speak to the friend whom some share of the earth holds far from you, lay your hand on the globe, and turn the movable iron as you see disposed along the margin of all the letters which are required for the words. Hither and thither turn the style and touch the letters, now this one, and now that.... Wonderful to relate, the far-distant friend sees the voluble iron tremble without the touch of any person, and run now hither, now thither; conscious he bends over it and marks the teaching of the rod. When he sees the rod stand still, he, in his turn, if he thinks there is anything to be answered, in like manner, by touching the various letters, writes it back to his friend....”

REFERENCES.--“The Student; or, Oxford and Cambridge Misc.,”
1750, Vol. I. p. 354; Abbé Moigno’s “Traité de Tel. Elec.,” p.
58; Addison (Joseph), “Spectator” for December 6, 1711, No. 241
(p. 273, Vol. II. London ed., 1854); the “Guardian” for 1713,
No. 119, and “Nature,” Vol. XVI. pp. 268, 269. Also “Academy and
Literature” of January 7, 1905. Zachary Grey, in 1744 edition of
Butler’s “Hudibras,” quotes from the “Guardian.”

=A.D. 1620.=--Bacon (Sir Francis), by many considered the greatest of English philosophers and philosophical writers (1561–1626), who was knighted in 1603, became Earl of Verulam in 1618 and Viscount St. Albans in 1620, produces the masterpiece of his genius, the “Novum Organum,” after having twelve times copied and revised it. The last-named work, observes Macaulay, “takes in at once all the domains of science--all the past, the present and the future, all the errors of two thousand years, all the encouraging signs of the passing times, all the bright hopes of the coming age.” Prof. Playfair says of it that “the power and compass of the mind which could form such a plan beforehand, and trace not merely the outline but many of the most minute ramifications of sciences which did not yet exist, must be an object of admiration to all succeeding ages.”

It was Sir John Herschel who remarked that “previous to the publication of the ‘Novum Organum’ natural philosophy, in any legitimate and extensive sense of the word, could hardly be said to exist.” In the address presented in 1623 by the University of Oxford to Sir Francis Bacon, he is represented “as a mighty Hercules who had by his own hand greatly advanced those pillars in the learned world which by the rest of the world were supposed immovable.”

Treating of the electric fluid, Bacon has given (“Physiological Remains,” London, 1648) a detailed list of attractive and non-attractive bodies and the results of his very extensive experiments and observations in physical science generally, as well as of the investigations contained in Dr. Gilbert’s work. To the latter, however, many allusions had already been made in Bacon’s “The Advancement of Learning,” published during 1605, two years before he was made Solicitor-General.

The most satisfactory analyzation of Bacon’s researches is to be found in the attractive edition of his complete works published by Spedding, Ellis and Heath, fifteen volumes, Boston, 1863. Therein will be seen the following references to the magnet and magnetic virtue:

Vol. I. p. 435 (note). In Gilbert’s philosophy, the earth’s
magnetic action is not distinguished from gravity (De Mundo, II.
c. 3). That the magnetic action of the earth or of a magnet is
confined to a definite orb, appears from a variety of passages
(see “De Magnete,” II. c. 7, and the definitions prefixed to
this work). Gilbert distinguished between the “Orb of Virtue”
which includes the whole space through which any magnetic action
extends, and the “Orb of Coition” which is _totum illud
spatium per quod minimum magneticum per magnetem movetur_. He
asserts that the orb of the magnetic virtue extends to the moon
and ascribes the moon’s inequalities to the effects it produces
(“De Mundo,” II. c. 19).

Vol. VIII. Aphorisms. “If, before the discovery of the magnet,
any one had said that a certain instrument had been invented
by means of which the quarters and points of the heavens could
be taken and distinguished with exactness ... it would have
been judged altogether incredible ...” (pp. 141–142). “The
‘Clandestine Instances’--which I also call ‘Instances of the
Twilight’ [the attraction or coming together of bodies]--and
which are pretty nearly the opposite of ‘Striking Instances....’
The most remarkable ‘Striking Instance’ is the magnet ... a
‘Clandestine Instance’ is a magnet armed with iron; or, rather,
the iron is an armed magnet ...” (pp. 224–226). “The polarity
of the iron needle when touched with the magnet” (p. 261).
“The magnetic or attractive virtue admits of media without
distinction, nor is the virtue impeded in any kind of a medium”
(p. 269). “There is no medium known by the interposition of
which the operation of the magnet, in drawing iron, is entirely
prevented” (pp. 285–286). “A piece of a magnet does not draw
so much iron as the whole magnet” (p. 301). “As for the help
derived from the virtue of a cognate body, it is well seen in
an armed magnet, which excites in iron the virtue of detaining
iron by similarity of substance; the torpor of the iron being
cast off by the virtue of the magnet” (p. 311). “There are
four virtues or operations in the magnet ... the first is the
attraction of magnet to magnet, or of iron to magnet, or of
magnetised iron to iron; the second is its polarity, and at the
same time its declination; the third, its power of penetrating
through gold, glass, stone, everything; the fourth, its power
of communicating its virtue from stone to iron, and from iron
to iron, without communication of substance” (p. 313). “But the
flight of iron from one pole of the magnet is well observed by
Gilbert to be not a flight strictly speaking, but a conformity
and meeting in a more convenient situation” (p. 315). “The
magnet endues iron with a new disposition of its parts and a
conformable motion, but loses nothing of its own virtue” (p.
318).

Vol. IX. In the fifth book of “De Augmentis Scientiarum,” these
questions are asked: (1) A magnet attracts a solid piece of
iron; will a piece of a magnet dipped in a dissolution of iron
attract the iron itself and so get a coating of iron? (2) Again,
the magnetic needle turns to the pole; does it, in so doing,
follow the same course as the heavenly bodies? (3) And, if one
should turn the needle the wrong way, that is, point it to the
South and hold it there for a while, and then let it go; would
it, in returning to the North, go round by the West rather than
by the East? (pp. 75–76).

Vol. X. This contains, at pp. 269–272, the “Inquiry respecting
the Magnet,” of which the original paper is to be found in Vol.
IV. pp. 121–125. In Dr. Rawley’s list of works composed by
Bacon, during the last five years of his life, this “Inquisitio
de Magnete,” first published in 1658, stands last but two. At
p. 335 this same Vol. X will be found an extract from “De fluxu
et reflexu maris” (“The ebb and flow of the sea”) relative to
the inquiry as to whether the earth itself is a magnet, as was
asserted by Gilbert.

Besides the “Clandestine Instances” or “Instances of the Twilight” alluded to above, mention could have been made more particularly of Bacon’s observations (in s. 3 of the “Nov. Organ.”) under the direct headings of “Instantiæ Citantes ... Supplementi ... Radii ... Magicæ,” as well as of “Motus Magneticus ... Excitationis ... Fugæ,” etc., which are fully explained at ss. 190–200 of Sir John Herschel’s “Discourse on the study of Natural Philosophy.”

They have been analyzed as follows:

_Instantiæ Citantes_, to which may be reduced the “discovery of
a moving magnetic fluid, or an action circular and perpendicular
to the electrical current, yet connected with it.”

_Instantiæ Supplementi_, such as the magnet which attracts iron
through many substances that may be interposed. Perhaps, says
he, “some medium may be found to deaden this virtue more than
any other medium; such an instance of _substitution_, would be
in the way of degree, or _approximation_”; that is, it would
approach toward destroying the magnetic virtue. Iron possesses,
perhaps, this quality in a more marked manner than any other
substance.

_Instantiæ Radii_, leading to the suggestion that there may
exist some kind of “magnetic virtue which operates by consent,
between the globe of the earth and heavenly bodies; or between
the globe of the moon and the waters of the sea; or between the
starry heavens and the planets, by which they may be drawn to
their apogees,” or greatest distances from the earth.

_Instantiæ Magicæ_, such as the loadstone animating a number of
needles without loss of its own magnetism.

_Motus Magneticus_, such as the attraction of the heavenly
bodies, from an idea, perhaps, that it might be due to a species
of magnetism.

_Motus Excitationis_, such as the new property which is given to
iron by the magnet without any loss of power by the latter.

_Motus Fugæ_, such as “the repulsion of electrified pith balls;
also of the similar poles of two magnets. In the latter case,
all the force of a strong man has proved insufficient to make
the two north poles touch each other.”

The last-named work of Sir John Herschel is alluded to, under the heading of “Prerogative Instances” (“Prærogativæ Instantiarum”) by Thomas Fowler, who calls attention to the fact that among the contemporaries of Francis Bacon by whom the Copernican theory was rejected are: Tycho Brahé (who, however--having died in 1601--did not live to become acquainted with the discoveries of Galileo); Vieta, the greatest mathematician of the sixteenth century (who died as early as 1603); Christopher Clavius (who was employed by Gregory XIII to reform the Calendar and was called the Euclid of his age); and possibly, from his silence, the famous mechanician Stevinus (Delambre, “Histoire de l’Astronomie Moderne”).

REFERENCES.--The works of Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor
of England, by Basil Montagu, 16 vols., London, 1825–1834,
and the review thereof made by Thomas Babington Macaulay
(“Essays,” 1855, Vol. II. pp. 142–254 (“Edinburgh Review,” July
1837); Dr. W. Windelbrand, “History of Philosophy,” New York,
1893, translated by Jas. H. Tufts, pp. 380–388; Dr. Friedrich
Ueberweg, “History of Philosophy,” translated by Geo. S.
Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. II. pp. 33–38; Leopold Von Ranke,
“History of England,” Vol. I. pp. 455–459, Vol. III. p. 383;
William Whewell, “The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences,”
London 1840, Vol. II. pp. 388–413; “Critical Dictionary of
English Literature,” S. Austin Allibone, Philad. 1888, Vol.
I. pp. 89–96; “Catalogue Général des livres imprimés de la
Bibliot. Nation.,” Paris, 1901, Vol. VI. pp. 236–253; Chas.
Wells Moulton, “Library of Literary Criticism,” Vol. I. pp.
638–669; “The Philosophical Works of Francis Bacon,” by John
M. Robertson, New York, 1905; “The Grammar of Science,” by
Karl Pearson, London, 1900, pp. 506–508; “Encycl. Britann.,”
Edinburgh, 1842, seventh edition, Vol. I. as per Index pages
16–17 and at “Dissertation First,” pp. 32–40; “Essai Theorique
... des connaissances humaines,” par G. Tiberghien, Bruxelles,
1844, Vol. II. pp. 409–419; Geo Miller, “History Philosophically
Illustrated,” London, 1849, Vol. II. p. 430; “Francis Bacon,”
by B. G. Lovejoy, London, 1888; “His Life and Character,” pp.
1–188, and “His Essays and Extracts,” pp. 19–277; “Francis
Bacon,” by Kuno Fisher, London, 1857; “Encycl. Brit.” ninth
edition, Vol. III. pp. 200–218; Bacon’s “Novum Organum,” by
Thomas Fowler, New York, 1881, and Oxford, 1889; “Histoire des
Sciences,” par F. L. M. Maupied, Paris, 1847, Vol. II. pp.
252–281, for “Enumeration Méthodique--Eléments--Analyse--des
ouvrages de Francis Bacon”; “Library of Useful Knowledge,” for
account of Lord Bacon’s “Novum Organum”; “Epitome of Electricity
and Galvanism,” Philad., 1809, pp. xvi, 105; Whewell, “History
of the Inductive Sciences,” Vol. I. pp. 339, 385, 494, 530; Van
Swinden, “Recueil de Mémoires ...” La Haye, 1784, Vol. II. pp.
355, 364, 369–370; and, for an exhaustive biographical account
of Francis Bacon, consult the “English Cyclopædia,” Vol. I.
pp. 470–476. It is stated by C. R. Weld in his “History,” Vol.
I. p. 64, that the establishment of the Royal Society was much
accelerated by the writings of Lord Bacon (Buchmeri, “Acad. Nat.
curi. Hist.”).

=A.D. 1620–1655.=--Bergerac (Savinien Cyrano de), a very witty French writer, is the author of a fragment on physics, as well as of a curious philosophical romance, “Histoire comique des états et empires de la lune,” a translation from which latter is here given, as in a measure suggesting the phonograph: “On opening the box, I found a number of metallic springs and a quantity of machinery resembling the interior of our clocks. It was, in truth, to me a book, indeed, a miraculous book, for it had neither leaves nor characters, and to read it, one had no need of eyes, the ears alone answering the purpose. It was only necessary to start the little machine, whence would soon come all the distinct and different sounds common to the human voice.”

Another translation reads as follows: “On opening the box I found inside a concern of metal, something like one of our watches, full of curious little springs and minute machinery. It was really a book, but a wonderful book that has no leaves or letters; a book, for the understanding of which the eyes are of no use--only the ears are necessary. When any one wishes to read, he winds up the machine with its great number of nerves of all kinds, and turns the pointer to the chapter he wishes to hear, when there come out, as if from the mouth of a man or of an instrument of music, the distinct and various sounds which serve the Great Lunarians as the expression of language.”

As has been said by one of his biographers, “amid the extravagance of some of his works, Bergerac nevertheless exhibited a pretty good acquaintance with the philosophy of Descartes.”

REFERENCES.--Article “Aeronautics” in the “Encycl. Brit.,” 1853,
Vol. II. p. 168; Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol. V. p. 730.

=A.D. 1621.=--Helmont (Jean Baptiste van), famous Belgian scientist, publishes in Paris his “De Magnetica,” etc. (on the magnetic cure of wounds). His theories on magnetism greatly resemble those of Paracelsus, but in his treatment of them he shows himself much superior to the Swiss alchemist, whom Dr. Hœfer says he took as his model. “Magnetism,” Van Helmont observes, “is an unknown property of a heavenly nature, very much resembling the stars, and not at all impeded by any boundaries of space or time.... Every created being possesses his own celestial power and is closely allied with heaven ... the spirit is everywhere diffused; and the spirit is the medium of magnetism ... it is not the spirits of heaven and of hell which are masters over physical nature, but the soul and spirit of man which are concealed in him as the fire is concealed in the flint.”

The above-named work of Van Helmont was “translated, illustrated and ampliated,” in 1650 by Dr. Walter Charleton, physician in ordinary to King Charles I, under the name of “A Ternary of Paradoxes.” From its interesting contents, we make the following extracts:

_Page 10._ “A loadstone placed upon a small trencher of wood,
floating on water, does instantly in one determinate point
_australize_, and in the other _septentrionate_ ... all which
various and admirable effects of the loadstone, thou maiest,
if thy judgement relish them, finde made good by multiplyed
observations, by William Gilbert, not many yeers past, a
physician in London, in his book, ‘De Magnete’: of which subject
no man ever writ more judiciously or experimentally: and by
whose industry the variation of the compasse may be restored....”

_Page 12._ “There is a book imprinted at Franekera, in the year
1611, by Vldericus Dominicus Balck, of the _Lamp of Life_. In
which you shall finde, out of Paracelsus, the true magneticall
cure of most diseases, as of the Dropsie, Gout, Jaundice, etc.”

_Page 15._ “Doth not the needle of the Mariner’s Compasse,
through a firme glasse, closely sealed up with melted soder (in
which there can be no pore or crany discovered) steer it self to
the Artick pole? ... wherefore the same numericall _accident_
streaming in one continued _radius_ from the loadstone into the
_aer_, passes through the glasse, and perhaps goes as farre as
to touch the pole it self....”

_Page 38._ “Wherefore the loadstone owes its polarity to a
natural inhærent faculty, flowing from its owne seminall
entity, and not to any forreigne alliciency, or attractive
influx transmitted from the north star. But that otherwise the
loadstone may, by its own instinct, be elevated towards the
Zenith, we have upon ocular demonstration found it true, by a
certain instrument invented by Guilielme Guilbert (the glory
of which excellent invention Ludovicus Fonseca hath lately
endeavoured to ravish) ... which by the spontaneous elevation of
the loadstone in a brasse ring suspended by a thread or small
wier, shews not only the latitude but also the altitude of the
pole, in all places of the earth.”

Page 39. “... the loadstone is endued with a _domestick pilot, a
directive faculty_, which guides it to some determinate place,
but is not at all attracted by the pole.”

Page 40. “The loadstone onely by the affriction of _Garlick_,
amits its _verticity_, and neglects the pole, conserving to
it self, in the meane time, its peculiar forme, materiall
constitution, and all other dependent proprieties. The reason,
because _Garlick_ is the loadstone’s proper Opium, and by it
that spirituall sensation in the magnet is consopited and layd
asleep.... Verily, that alliciency of the pole must be extreame
weake and of inconsiderable energy, which passing through so
many and so immense orbes of heaven, and striking through great
and firme buildings, and thick walls, cannot yet be of power
sufficient to pierce the thin juice of Garlick or the fume of
Mercury....”

Page 42. “There is therefore inhærent in the magnet an
_influentiall virtue_, which, being not obliged to the
propinquinty or comtiguous admotion of its object, is after
the nobler names of coelestiall influences, freely and without
interruption or languor transmitted so farre as to the pole it
self: since there is a spontaneous _eradiation_, or emission of
atomicall _radii_ from the body of the magnet to the pole.”

Page 74. “That the magnetisme of the loadstone and other
inanimate creatures is performed by a certaine naturall
sensation, the immediate anthrix of all sympathy, is a truth
unquestionable.”

Page 75. “For by one phansy it is directed to iron, and by
another to the pole ... the phansy of _amber_ delights to allect
strawes, chaffe, and other festucous bodies; by an attraction,
we confesse, observe obscure and weake enough, yet sufficiently
manifest and strong to attest an _Electricity_ or attractive
signature....”

REFERENCES.--“Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Vol. X. pp. 116–119,
containing a full list of Charleton’s works; Thomson, “Hist. of
the Roy. Soc.,” 1812, p. 3; Munk, “Coll. of Phys.,” 1878, Vol.
I. p. 390; “Journal des Savants” for February and March 1850,
June 1851; Mme. Blavatsky, “Isis Unveiled,” Vol. I. p. 170;
Eloy, “Dict. Hist. de la Médecine,” Vol. II. pp. 478–482; “Dict.
Hist. de la Médecine,” par. J. E. Dezeimers, Paris, 1839, Vol.
III. pp. 97–104; “Ency. Brit.,” ninth edition, Vol. XI. p. 638;
“History and Heroes of the Art of Medicine,” by J. Rutherfurd
Russell, London, 1861, pp. 197–204; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,”
Vol. IX. p. 158; Van Swinden, “Recueil,” La Haye, 1784, Vol.
II. pp. 351–352, 361–363; Joseph Ennemoser, “The History of
Magic,” London, 1854, Vol. II. pp. 242–253.

=A.D. 1623.=--Hervart--Heroart--Herwart--Hörwarth (Joannes Fridericus), son of Johann Georg Hervart ab Hohenburg, the well-known scientist (1554–1622), who during forty-five years occupied the post of Bavarian Chancellor under three reigning princes--completes his father’s work entitled “_Admiranda ethnicæ theologiæ ..._” which, Larousse says (“Dictionnaire Universel,” Vol. IX. p. 250), was published at Munich, 1624, and in which he demonstrates that the earlier Egyptian divinities were natural phenomena personified and adored under symbolic names. Michaud, who reiterates this (“Biographie Universelle,” Vol. XIX. p. 364), speaks of the edition which appeared at Munich in 1626, and he also states that, at the end of the latter, will be found “_Exacta temporum ... chronologiæ vulgaris errores_,” which is the continuation of the “_Chronologia Nova_,” left unfinished by the Bavarian Chancellor. This is, in fact, so mentioned in the only copy possessed by the British Museum, which was published by J. F. Hervart ab Hohenburg at Ingolstadii, 1623, and of which the title reads: “_Admiranda Ethnicæ Theologiæ Mysteria propalata. Ubi lapidem magnetem antiquissimis passim nationibus pro Deo-deocultum: et artem qua navigationes magneticæ per universum orbem instituerentur...._”

Libri’s “Catalogue,” 1861, Part I. p. 405, No. 3703, has the following entry: “_Admiranda Ethnicæ ... ubi Lapidem Magnetem antiquissimis Nationibus pro Deo cultum commonstratur_ ...” Ingolstadii, 1623. The work itself endeavours to prove that the loadstone’s properties were well known to the ancients.

The “General Biographical Dictionary” of Alexander Chalmers, London, 1814, Vol. XVII. p. 426, makes following entry: “Herwart (or Hervart) John George, Chancellor of Bavaria at the beginning of the seventeenth century, published some works wherein his learning was more displayed than his judgment, in supporting the most extravagant systems. Two of his works are: ‘_Chronologia nova et vera_,’ in two parts, 1622 and 1626, and ‘_Admiranda Ethnicæ Theologicæ Mysteria propalata, de antiquissima veterum nationum superstitione, qua lapis Magnes pro Deo habitus colebatur_,’ Monach, 1626, quarto. It was here asserted that the ancient Egyptians worshipped the magnet,” etc. (see Deveria, under B.C. 321).

REFERENCES.--Allusions to Hervart, made at p. 546, Vol. XXIV.
of Dr. Hœfer’s 1861 “Nouvelle Biographie Générale,” or at p.
546, Vol. XXVIII of the 1858 edition, and also at p. 163, Vol.
II of the “Bibliographie Générale de l’Astronomie,” by Houzeau
et Lancaster, Bruxelles, 1882. Likewise Chr. G. Jöcher,
“Compendiöses Gelehrten Lexicon,” Leipzig, 1787, Vol. II. p.
1969, and “A New General Biogr. Dict.,” London, 1850, Vol. VIII.
p. 304.

=A.D. 1624.=--Gunter (Edmund), professor of astronomy at Gresham College, publishes his work “Of the Sector, Cross-Staff, and other Instruments,” at Chap. V of the second book of which he gives the result of the eight observations he made on the variation of the variation “in various parts of the ground” at Limehouse on the 13th of June, 1622. His observations of the declination, as given by Prof. Gellibrand, are detailed at Chap. I of Walker’s “Ter. and Cos. Mag.,” Cambridge, 1866.

REFERENCES.--De La Rive, “Electricity,” etc., Vol. I. p. 165;
Poggendorff, “Geschichte der Physik,” Leipzig, 1879, p. 275.

=A.D. 1625.=--Carpenter (Nathaniel), Dean of Ireland, well-known mathematician, publishes at Oxford, “Geography delineated forth in two bookes, containing the sphæricall and topicall parts thereof,” wherein he thus alludes to Dr. Gilbert’s “De Magnete”: “Magneticall proprieties, I find in ancient writers, as little knowne as their causes; and if any matter herein were broached, it was merely conjectural, and depending on no certain demonstration; neither had we any certain or satisfactory knowledge of the thing vntill such time as it pleased God to raise vp one of our countrymen, D. Gilbert, who, to his euerlasting praise, hath trodden out a new path to Philosophie, and on the Loadstone, erected a large Trophie to commend him to posterity. This famous Doctor being as pregnant in witty apprehension as diligent in curious search of naturall causes, after many experiments and long enquiry, found the causes of most magneticall motions and proprieties hid in the magneticall _temper_ and constitution of the Earth, and that the earth it selfe was a meere magneticall body challenging all those proprieties, and more than haue expressed themselves in the Loadstone; which opinion of his was no sooner broached than it was embraced, and wel-commed by many prime wits as well English as Forraine. Insomuch that it hath of late taken large root and gotten much ground of our vulgar Philosophie.”

REFERENCES.--“Nature,” September 26, 1901; “Dict. of Nat.
Biogr.,” Vol. IX. pp. 161–162; Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol. IV. p.
438; Prince’s “Worthies” (1810), pp. 173–175, 603.

=A.D. 1625.=--Naudé (Gabriel), a celebrated French savant and one of the most learned of his day, also physician to King Louis XIII, and an intimate friend of Gassendi, is the author of “Apologie pour tous,” etc. (“Apology for great men falsely accused of magic”), of which other editions appeared in 1652, 1669 and 1712. The magico-theosophical philosophy, as Madame Blavatsky expresses it, is fully indicated in his work, and he proved to be the warmest defender of the doctrines of occult magnetism, of which he was one of the first propounders.

REFERENCES.--“Biog. Générale,” Vol. XXXVII. pp. 514–518;
P. Hallé, “Gab. Naudé Elogium”; N. Sanson, “Hist. Chr.
d’Abbeville,” 1653; Sainte Beuve, “Portraits Littéraires,” 1855;
Alf. Franklin, “Hist. de la Biblioth. Mazarine,” 1860.

=A.D. 1627.=--Hakewill (George), Archdeacon of Surrey, publishes at Oxford, England, the first edition of “An Apologie or Declaration of the Power and Providence of God,” the tenth chapter, fourth section of the third book of which alludes to the use of the “mariner’s compass or sea-card, as also of another excellent invention sayd to be lately found out upon the loadstone.” As the reviewer justly observes: “While perusing his description one can hardly imagine that the writer had not in his mind’s eye one of our modern telegraphic instruments ... and it will be seen that the date at which his work is written was nearly two hundred years prior to the first attempt made to communicate at a distance by means of magnetic needles.”

Hakewill alludes (“Apologie,” 1635, lib. ii. p. 97) to Hipparchus--Abraxis--“who reports that, in his time, the starre commonly called the Polar Starre, which is in the tayle of the lesser Beare, was twelve degrees and two-fifths distant from the Pole of the Æquator. This starre, from age to age, hath insensibly still crept nearer to the pole so that at this present it is not past three degrees distant from the pole of the Æquator. When this starre then shall come to touch the Pole, there being no farther place left for it to go forward (which may well enough come to pass with five or six hundred yeares) it is likely that then there shall be a great change of things, and that this time is the period which God hath prefixed to Nature” (see Morell’s “Elem. ... Phil. and Sc.,” London, 1827, pp. 116–119 _et seq._).

Mention of the star in the tail of Ursa Major is made by Gilbert, (“De Magnete”),[41] in connection (1) with Marcilius Ficinus, who, says he, seeks in that constellation the cause of the magnetic direction, as he believes that in the loadstone the potency of Ursa prevails and hence is transferred to the iron; (2) with Cardan, who assigns the cause of variation to its rising, for he thinks variation is always to be relied upon at the rising of the star; (3) with Lucas Gauricus, who holds that the loadstone beneath the tail of Ursa Major is ruled by the planets Saturn and Mars; (4) with Gaudentius Merula, who believes that the loadstone draws iron and makes it point North because it is of a higher order than is the iron in the Bear.

REFERENCES.--Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. IX. p. 26;
“Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Vol. XXIV. pp. 6–8; Walton and Cotton,
“Complete Angler,” New York and London, 1847, Part I. p. 118.

=A.D. 1628.=--Leurechon (Jean), a student belonging to the Order of Jesuits (1591–1670), who became the confessor of Charles IV of Lorraine, publishes, under the name H. Van Etten, “La Récréation Mathématique,” carefully revised editions of which were made by Claude Mydorge and Denis Henrion in 1630, 1638 and 1661. In these, Leurechon alludes to the reported transmission of intelligence by the agency of a magnet or other like stone, saying: “The invention is beautiful, but I do not think there can be found in the world a magnet that has such virtue.”

REFERENCES.--Georges Maupin, “Opinions touchant la
mathématique,” Paris, 1898, pp. 20–24; Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol.
X. p. 436; “Sc. Am. Suppl.,” Nos. 56, p. 881, and 384, p. 6125.

The curious title-page of the English version of Leurechon’s work, published by T. Cotes in 1633, merits reproduction: “Mathematicall Recreations, or a Collection of sundrie Problemes, extracted out of the Ancient and Moderne Philosophers, as secrets in nature, and experiments in Arithmeticke, Geometrie, Cosmographie, Horologographie, Astronomie, Navigation, Musicke, Optickes, Chimestrie, Waterworkes, Fireworks, etc., Fit for Schollers, Students, and Gentlemen ... lately compiled in French by Henry Van Hetten. And now delivered in the English tongue.”

Claude Mydorge, as stated in the “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XXXVII. p. 87, was a French scientist (1585–1647), a very close friend of Descartes, and, according to Baillet, was next to Vieta, the foremost mathematician of his day. The second edition of his “Examen du livre des Récréations Mathématiques (du Père Leurechon),” contains notes of Denis Henrion following the observations of Père Mersenne in “Universæ ...” Paris, 1639 (see Bouillet, “Vie de Descartes,” Vol. I. pp. 36–37, 149–150, and Vol. II. pp. 43, 76, 78, 325).

Denis Henrion was also a French mathematician, who died about 1640. He was the author of many very meritorious papers, notably of a “Traité des Globes et de leurs usages,” 1618, translated from the Latin of Robert Hues, 1593, 1594 (Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. IX. p. 192).

=A.D. 1629.=--Cabæus--Cabeo (Nicolaus), a learned Jesuit of Ferrara, describes (“Philosophia Magnetica”)[42] numerous experiments made by him to ascertain the possibility of two persons communicating intelligence by means of magnetized needles.

Cabæus was the first to observe electrical repulsion, and he thus announces his discovery in the tenth chapter of the above-named work: “Magnetic attractions and repulsions are physical actions which take place through the instrumentality of a certain quality of the intermediate space, said quality extending from the influencing to the influenced body.... Bodies are not moved by sympathy or antipathy, unless it be by means of certain forces which are uniformly diffused. When these forces reach a body that is suitable they produce changes in it, but they do not sensibly affect the intermediate space nor the non-kindred bodies close by it....”

The “Philosophia Magnetica” is the second Latin book published on electricity, Gilbert’s “De Magnete” being the first.

REFERENCES.--Becquerel, “Résumé,” Chap. III; Stuello, “Bibl.
Scrip. S. J.,” Rome, 1676; Francisco de Lanis, “Magist. nat. et
artis,” 1684; L. L. de Vallemont, “Description de l’aimant,”
1692, pp. 167, 170; Dechales C. F. Milliet, “Cursus seu Mundus
Mathem.,” 1674, 1690.

=A.D. 1632.=--Sarpi (Pietro)--Fra Paolo Sarpi--Father Paul--Paulus Venetus--Paolo Sarpi Veneto (_b._ 1552, _d._ 1623), who was the author of the celebrated history of the Council of Trent (“the rarest piece of history the world ever saw”) is referred to by Gilbert in “De Magnete,”