Chapter VI: Book 32: , chap. i) says: “This fish, if touched by a rod or spear, at (1)

a distance paralyzes the strongest muscles, and binds and arrests the feet, however swift.”

“The very crampe-fish _tarped_, knoweth her owne force and power, and being herself not benummed, is able to astonish others” (Holland “Plinie,” Book IX. chap. xlii.).

“We, here, and in no other place, met with that extraordinary fish called the _torpedo_, or numbing fish, which is in shape very like the fiddle fish, and is not to be known from it but by a brown circular spot about the bigness of a crown-piece near the centre of its back” (Ausonius, “Voyages,” Book II. chap. xii.).

REFERENCES.--“Encycl. Metr.,” IV. p. 41; “Encycl. Brit.,”
article “Electricity”; Jos. Wm. Moss, “A Manual of Classical
Biography,” London, 1837, Vol. I. pp. 105–186, for all the
Aristotle’s treatises, also Commentaries and Translations;
Jourdain (Charles et Amable), “Recherches ... traductions
latines d’Aristotle,” Paris, 1843; Fahie, “Hist. of Elec.
Teleg.,” p. 170; “Sci. Amer.,” No. 457, pp. 7301, 7302;
“Aristotle,” by Geo. Grote, London, 1872; Humboldt, “Cosmos,”
1859–1860, Vols. I and II _passim_, Vol. III. pp. 13–15, 29–30,
124; “Journal des Savants,” for Feb. 1861, March and May 1872,
also for Feb., May and Sept. 1893.

Aristotle is alluded to in Gilbert’s “De Magnete,” at Book I.
chaps. i. ii. vii. xv. xvi. xvii.; Book II. chaps. i.[5] iii.
iv.; Book V. chap. xii.; Book VI, chaps. iii. v. vi.

=B.C. 341.=--Æneas, the tactician, believed to be the same Æneas of Stymphale alluded to by Xenophon, invented a singular method of telegraphing phrases commonly used, especially in war. These were written upon exactly similar oblong boards placed at the dispatching and receiving stations, where they stood upon floats in vessels of water. At a given signal the water was allowed to flow out of the vessel at each station, and, when the desired phrase on the board had reached the level of the vessel, another signal was made so that the outflow could be stopped and the desired signal read at the receiving station.

REFERENCES.--Laurencin, “Le Télégraphe,” Chap. I; “Penny
Encycl.,” Vol. XXIV. p. 145; “Michaud Bio.,” Paris, 1855, Vol.
XII. pp. 459–460.

=B.C. 337–330.=--From the well-known work by Mme. Blavatsky (“Isis Unveiled,” New York, 1877) the following curious extracts are made regarding “The Ether or Astral Light” (Vol. I. chap. v. pp. 125–162):

“There has been an infinite confusion of names to express one and the same thing, amongst others, the Hermes-fire, the lightning of Cybelè, the nerve-aura and the fluid of the magnetists, the od of Reichenbach, the fire-globe, or meteor-_cat_ of Babinet, the physic force of Sergeant Cox and Mr. Crookes, the atmospheric magnetism of some naturalists, galvanism, and finally, electricity, which are but various names for many different manifestations or effects of the same all-pervading causes--the Greek Archeus....” Only in connection with these _discoveries_ (Edison’s Force and Graham Bell’s Telephone, which may unsettle, if not utterly upset all our ideas of the imponderable fluids) we may perhaps well remind our readers of the many hints to be found in the ancient histories as to a certain secret in the possession of the Egyptian priesthood, who could instantly communicate, during the celebration of the Mysteries, from one temple to another, even though the former were at Thebes and the latter at the other end of the country; the legends attributing it, as a matter of course, to the “invisible tribes” of the air which carry messages for mortals. The author of “Pre-Adamite Man” (P. B. Randolph, at p. 48) quotes an instance, which, being merely given on his own authority, and he seeming uncertain whether the story comes from Macrinus or some other writer, may be taken for what it is worth. He found good evidence, he says, during his stay in Egypt, that one of the Cleopatras actually sent news by a wire to all of the cities from Heliopolis (the magnificent chief seat of sun-worship) to the island of Elephantine, on the Upper Nile.

Further on, Mme. Blavatsky thus alludes to the loadstone:

“The stone magnet is believed by many to owe its name to Magnesia....” We consider, however, the opinion of the Hermetists to be the correct one. The word _magh_, _magus_, is derived from the Sanscrit _mahaji_, meaning the great or wise ... so the magnet stone was called in honour of the Magi, who were the first to discover its wonderful properties. Their places of worship were located throughout the country in all directions, and among these were some temples of Hercules, hence the stone--when it became known that the priests used it for their curative and magical purposes--received the name of Magnesian or Herculean stone. Socrates, speaking of it, says: “Euripides calls it the Magnesian stone, but the common people the Herculean” (Plato, “Ion”--Burgess--Vol. IV. p. 294). In the same Vol. I. of “Isis Unveiled” we are likewise informed that Electricity in the Norse legends is personated by Thor, the son of Odin, at Samothrace by the Kabeirian Demeter (Joseph Ennemoser, “History of Magic,” London, 1854, Vol. II.; J. S. C. Schweigger, “Introd. to Mythol. through Nat Hist.,” Halle, 1836), and that it is denoted by the “twin brothers,” the Dioskuri. Also that the _celestial_, pure fire of the Pagan altar was electrically drawn from the astral light, that magnetic currents develop themselves into electricity upon their exit from the body, and that the first inhabitants of the earth brought down the heavenly fire to their altars (J. S. C. Schweigger in Ennemoser’s “Hist. of Magic,” Vol. II. p. 30; Maurus Honoratus Servius, “Virgil,” Eclog. VI. v. 42).

=B.C. 321.=--Theophrastus, Greek philosopher, first observed the attractive property of the _lyncurium_, supposed by many to be the _tourmaline_, and gave a description of it in his treatise upon stones (“De Lapidibus,” sec. 53; or the translation of Sir John Hill, 1774, chap. xlix.-l., p. 123). This crystal was termed _lapis lyncurius_ by Pliny in his “Nat. Hist.,” and _lapis electricus_ by Linnæus in his “Flora Zeylanica” (U. Aldrovandus, “Mus. Metal.”; Philemon Holland, “The Historie of the World,” commonly called “The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus,” London, 1601).

Theophrastus and Pliny speak of this native magnet as possessing, like amber, the property of attracting straw, dried leaves, bark and other light bodies. The different sorts of loadstones, of which the best were blue in colour (as stated by Taisnier, Porta, Barthol. de Glanville and others), are thus alluded to by Pliny (“Nat. Hist.,” lib. xxxvi. cap. 16): “Sotacus describes five kinds: the Æthiopian; that of Magnesia, a country which borders on Macedonia; a third from Hyettus, in Boetia; a fourth from Alexandria, in Troas; and a fifth from Magnesia, in Asia” (Porta, “Natural Magick,” Book VII. chap. i.). He further says that iron cannot resist it; “the moment the metal approaches it, it springs toward the magnet, and, as it clasps it, is held fast in the magnet’s embrace.” It is by many called _ferrum vivum_, or quick iron.[6]

Claudian speaks of it as “a stone which is preferred to all that is most precious in the East.... Iron gives it life and nourishes it” (Claudian, Idyl V; Ennemoser, “Hist. of Magic,” Vol. II. p. 27).

Hippocrates, the father of medical science, calls it “the stone which carries away iron.”

Epicurus, an Athenian of the Ægean tribe, says: “The _loadstone or magnet_ attracts iron, because the particles which are continually flowing from it, as from all bodies, have such a peculiar fitness in form to those which flow from iron that, upon collision, they easily unite.... The mutual attraction of _amber_ and like bodies may be explained in the same manner.”

Hier. Cardan intimates that “it is a certain appetite or desire of nutriment that makes the loadstone snatch the iron....” (“De Subtilitate,” Basileæ, 1611, lib. vii. p. 381).

Diogenes of Apollonia (lib. ii. “Nat. Quæst.,” cap. xxiii.) says that “there is humidity in iron which the dryness of the magnet feeds upon.”

Cornelius Gemma supposed invisible lines to stretch from the magnet to the attracted body, a conception which, says Prof. Tyndall, reminds us of Faraday’s lines of force.

Lucretius accounts for the adhesion of the steel to the loadstone by saying that on the surface of the magnet there are hooks, and, on the surface of the steel, little rings which the hooks catch hold of.

Thales, Aristotle, Anaxagoras of Clazomenæ and the Greek sophist Hippias, ascribe the loadstone’s attractive virtue to the _soul_ with which they say it is endowed. Humboldt (“Cosmos,” article on the Magnetic Needle) says _soul_ signifies here “the inner principle of the moving agent,” and he adds in a footnote: “Aristotle (“De Anima,” I. 2) speaks only of the animation of the magnet as of an opinion that originated with Thales.” Diogenes Laertius interprets this statement as applying also distinctly to amber, for he says: “Aristotle and Hippias maintain as to the doctrine enounced by Thales.”

The native magnet appears to have long been known in nearly every quarter of the globe (Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1848, Vol. V., and Harris, “Rudimentary Magnetism,” Parts I and II).

In the Talmud, it is called _achzhàb’th_, the stone which attracts; in the Aztec, _tlaihiomani tetl_, the stone that draws by its breath; in the Sanscrit, _ayaskânta_, loving toward iron; in the Siamese, _me-lek_, that which attracts iron; in the Chinese, _thsu-chy_, love stone, also _hy-thy-chy_, stone that snatches up iron; in the French, _l’aimant_, and in the Spanish, _iman_, loving stone; in the Hungarian, _magnet kö_, love stone; while in the Greek it is called _siderites_, owing to its resemblance to iron.

For _lyncurium_ of the ancients see _Phil. Trans._, Vol. LI. p. 394, and Hutton’s “Abridgments,” Vol. XI. p. 419.

Euripides (“Fragmenta Euripidis,” Didot edit., 1846, p. 757) called it _lapis herculaneus_, from its power over iron, and it was also known as _lapis heracleus_, doubtless because the best was, at one time, said to be found near Heraclea in Lydia (Plato, “Ion”--Burgess--Vol. IV. p. 294; see, besides, Blavatsky, “Isis Unveiled,” Vol. I. p. 130; Hervart (J. F.), Ingolstadii, 1623).

It has likewise been designated as follows: Chinese, _tchu-chy_, directing stone; Icelandic, _leiderstein_, leading stone; Swedish, _segel-sten_, seeing stone; Tonkinin, _d’ànamtchûm_, stone which shows the south; and, by reason of its great hardness, the Greeks called it _calamita_; the Italians _calamita_; the French _calamite_, also _diamant_; the Hebrews _khalamish_ or _kalmithath_, and the Romans _adamas_, while _adamant_ was the name given to the magnetic needle (compass) by the English of the time of Edward III (T. H. H. Martin, “De l’aimant, de ses noms divers et de ses variétés,” Paris, 1861; Buttmann, “Bemerkungen ... des Magnetes und des Basaltes,” 1808, Band II.; G. A. Palm, “Der Magnet in Alterthum,” 1867).[7]

“This stone adamas is dyuers and other than an Magnas, for yf an adamas be sette by yren it suffryth not the yren come to the magnas, but drawyth it by a manere of vyolence fro the magnas” (Trevisa, “Barth, de Prop, reb.,” XVI. 8).[8]

“The adamant cannot draw yron if the diamond lye by it” (Lyly, “Euphues,” sig. K. p. 10).

“Right as an adamound, iwys, can drawen to hym sotylly the yren” (“Rom. Rose”).

“In Ynde groweth the admont stone ... she by her nature draweth to her yron” (Caxton, “Myrrour,” II. vii. 79).

“The adamant placed neare any iron will suffer it to be drawen away of the lode stone” (Maplet, “Greene Forest,” I.).

“You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant; but yet you draw not iron; for my heart is true as steel” (Shakespeare, “Midsum. Night’s Dream,” Act. ii. sc. 1).

“As sun to day, as turtle to her mate, as iron to adamant” (Shakespeare, “Troilus and Cressida,” Act iii. sc. 2).

“The grace of God’s spirit, like the true load stone or adamant, draws up the yron heart of man to it” (Bishop Hall, “Occas. Medit.,” 52.).

“The adamant ... is such an enemy to the magnet that, if it be bound to it, it will not attract iron” (Leonardus, “Mirr. Stones,” 63).

According to Beckmann (Bohn, 1846, pp. 86–98) the real _tourmaline_ was first brought from Ceylon (where the natives called it _tournamal_), at the end of the seventeenth century or beginning of the eighteenth century (see A.D. 1707).

It is classed by Pliny as a variety of carbuncle (lib. xxxvii. cap. vii.). John de Laet says (“De Gemmis,” 1647, 8vo, p. 155): “The description of the _lyncurium_ does not ill agree with the hyacinth of the moderns.” Watson thinks likewise (“Phil. Trans.,” Vol. LI. p. 394) and so does John Serapion-Serapio Mauritanus--Yuhanna Ibn Serapion Ben Ibrahim (alluded to by Gilbert, “De Magnete,” Book I. chap. i.) in his “Lib. de simplicibus medicinis,” Argent. 1531, fol. p. 263; and Anselm Boèce de Boot, Flemish naturalist (“Gem. et Lap. Hist.,” Leyden, 1636); while Epiphanius (“De Gemmis,” XII.) states that he could find in the Bible no mention of the _lyncurium_, which latter he also believes to have been the hyacinth. On the other hand, the Duke de Noya Caraffa (“Recueil de Mém. Æpinus,” Petersb. 1762, 8vo, p. 122) considers the _tourmaline_ to be identical with the _theamedes_ of the ancients (Pliny, lib. xx. 50, and xxxvi., 25; Cardan, “De Subtilitate,” lib. vii. p. 386).

The _betylos_ has doubtless been likewise named in this connection. Strabo, Pliny, Helancius--all speak of the electrical or electro-magnetic power of the betyli. They were worshipped in the remotest antiquity in Egypt and Samothrace as magnetic stones “containing souls which had fallen from heaven,” and the priests of Cybelè wore a small _betylos_ on their bodies (Blavatsky, “Isis Unveiled,” Vol. I. p. 332).

REFERENCES.--Enfield, “Dict. Phil.,” I. 152: Marbodeus Gallus,
1530–1531 Friburg, pp. 41 and 1539, Cologne, p. 39; Bostock’s
“Pliny,” Book XXXVII. chap. xii.; Azuni, “Boussole,” 1809, p.
37; Venanson, “De l’invention de la Boussole Nautique,” Naples,
1808, pp. 27–29; Thomas, “Sc. An.,” 1837, p. 250. See also
De Noya, “Encycl. Brit.,” 1855, VIII. p. 529, and Priestley,
“History of Electricity,” 1775, p. 293; A. Cæsalpini, “De
Metallicis,” Romæ, 1596; Th. Browne, “Pseudodoxia Epidemica,”
1650, p. 51; St. Isidore, “Originum,” lib. xvi. cap. 4; Corn.
Gemma, “De Natura Divinis,” lib. i. cap. 7; Alb. Magnus, “De
Mineral.,” lib. ii.; Joseph Ennemoser, “History of Magic,”
Vol. II. pp. 27, 29, 51; Julius Solinus, “De Mirabilibus,”
cap. 34; Johann S. T. Gehler, “Physik. Wörterbuch,” article
“Magnetismus”; Joannes Langius, “Epistolarum Med.,” Epist.
lxxv. For extract of Serapio’s work see Fernel’s “Coll. ...
Greek Writers,” 1576. Consult likewise “Collection des anciens
Alchimistes Grecs,” par M. Marcellin Berthelot, Paris, 1887, p.
252: _siderites_, _aimant_ ou _magnes_, _ferrum vivum_, mâle et
femelle--with references to Dioscorides, Pliny and Lexicon Alch.
Rulandi.

For Pliny, see also “Manual of Classical Biography,” by Jos. Wm.
Moss, London, 1837, Vol. I. pp. 473–504.

“For lyke as ye lodestone draweth vnto it yron: so doeth
beneficence and well doyng allure all men vnto her.”--Udal.
Markè, c. 5.

=B.C. 285–247.=--Ptolemy (Ptolemæus II, surnamed _Philadelphus_, or the brother-loving, son of Ptolemy _Soter_) ordered Timochares, the architect of the palace, to suspend the iron statue of Arsinoë in the temple of Pharos.

Although Pliny says (lib. xxxiv. cap. 14) that the statue was never completed owing to the death of both Ptolemy and his architect, Ausonius (Decimus Magnus), Roman poet (A.D. 309–393), asserts the contrary in his most important work, “Mosella” (vv. 314–320), translation of Mr. de la Ville de Mirmont, the first edition of which was published by Ugollet at Venice in 1499. Therein it is said: “Timochares (and not Dinochares, Dinocrates, Demochrates or Chirocrates) suspended the statue in mid-air (_dans les hauteurs aëriennes du temple_).... Under the ceiling-vault crowned with loadstones, a bluish magnet draws, by means of an iron hair, the young woman it holds in its embrace.”

“Dinocrates began to make the arched roofe of the temple of Arsinoë all of magnet, or this loadstone, to the end, that within that temple the statue of the said princesse made of yron, might seeme to hang in the aire by nothing” (Holland, “Plinie,” Book XXXIV. cap. 14).

King Theodoric alludes (Cassiodor, “Variar,” lib. i. epist. 45) to a statue of Cupid in the temple of Diana at Ephesus (one of the seven Wonders of the World), and St. Augustine (“De Civitate Dei,” XXI. 6) speaks of a bronze figure in the temple of Serapis at Alexandria, both suspended by means of a magnet attached to the ceiling.[9]

REFERENCES.--De Mirmont, “La Moselle,” 1889, “Commentaire,”
pp. 93 and 95; St. Isidore, “Originum,” lib. xvi. cap. 4; G.
Cedrinus, “Compend. Hist.,” cap. 267; Knight’s “Mech. Dict.,”
Vol. II. p. 1370; Knight’s “Cyclopædia,” Vol. I. p. 363; J.
Ennemoser, “Hist. of Magic,” Vol. II. p. 35; Ath. Kircher,
“Magnes,” 1643, lib. ii. prob. vi.; Dinochares, with translation
of poem (Claudian, Idyl V) at pp. 61–62 of “Antique Gems,” by
Rev. C. W. King, London, 1866; Vincent de Beauvais, “Spec.
Mai,” Douai, 1624, Vol. I., lib. viii. cap. 34; Alb. Magnus,
“De Mineralibus,” 1651, lib. ii. cap. 6, p. 243; Ausonio
Lucius Ampelius, “Lib. Memorialis,” Paris, 1827, cap. viii.;
T. H. Martin, “Observ. et Théories,” 1865, pp. 5–7; Thos.
Browne, “Pseud. Epidem.,” 1658, Book II. p. 79; W. Barlowe’s
“Magneticall Advertisements,” 1616, p. 45; “Simonis Maioli ...
dies Caniculares, seu Colloqui, XXIII,” 1597, P. 782; Ruffinus,
“Prosper d’Aquitaine”; Porta, “Magia Naturalis,” lib. vii.
cap. 27; “Mosella,” in Wernsdorf’s “Poetæ Latini Minores”; E.
Salverte, “Phil. of Magic,” 1847, Vol. II. p. 215.

=B.C. 200.=--Polybius, a Greek statesman and historian, describes (lib. x. cap. 45, “General History”) his optical telegraph--_pyrsia_--because the signals were invariably produced by means of fire-lights--an unquestionable improvement upon the modes of communication which had been previously suggested by Cleoxenes and Democritus. It consisted of a board upon which the twenty-four letters of the Greek alphabet were arranged in five columns, one space being vacant. The party signalling would hold up with his left hand a number of torches indicating the column from which the desired letter was to be taken, while in the right hand he would hold up to view as many torches as were necessary to designate the particular letter required.

REFERENCES.--Rollin’s “Ancient History, 9th Dundee,” Vol VI.
p. 321; “Emporium of Arts and Sciences,” Vol. I. pp. 296–299;
“Penny Encycl.,” Vol. XXIV. p. 145. A good cut of the Polybius
telegraph will be found at p. 2 of “Wireless Telegraphy,” by Wm.
Maver, Jr., New York, 1904, and a very detailed account of all
known fire signals is given at pp. 148 and 373, Vol. IV of “The
History of Herodotus,” by Geo. Rawlinson, London, 1880.

=B.C. 60–56.=--Lucretius (Titus Lucretius Carus), Roman poet, alludes to the magnet in his poem “De Rerum Natura” (“The Nature of Things”), thus translated by Dr. Thomas Busby, London, 1813, Book VI. vv. 1045–1059:

“Now, chief of all, the Magnet’s powers I sing,
And from what laws the attractive functions spring.
(The Magnet’s name the observing Grecians drew
From the Magnet’s region where it grew.)
Its viewless, potent, virtues men surprise;
Its strange effects they view with wondering eyes,
When without aid of hinges, links or springs,
A pendent chain we hold of steely rings,
Dropt from the stone; the stone the binding source,
Ring cleaves to ring, and owns magnetic force;
Those held superior those below maintain;
Circle ’neath circle downward draws in vain,
While free in air disports the oscillating chain.
So strong the Magnet’s virtue as it darts
From ring to ring and knits the attracted parts.”

A rendering by Thomas Creech, A.M., London, 1714, Book VI. vv. 894–989, likewise deserves reproduction here:

“Now sing my muse, for ’tis a weighty cause.
Explain the Magnet, why it strongly draws,
And brings rough Iron to its fond embrace.
This, Men admire; for they have often seen
Small Rings of Iron, six, or eight, or ten,
Compose a subtile chain, no Tye between;
But, held by this, they seem to hang in air,
One to another sticks and wantons there;
So great the Loadstone’s force, so strong to bear!

* * * * *

First, from the MAGNET num’rous Parts arise,
And swiftly move; the STONE gives vast supplies;
Which, springing still in Constant Streams, displace
The neighb’ring air and make an EMPTY SPACE;
So when the STEEL comes there, some PARTS begin
To leap on through the VOID and enter in.

* * * * *

The STEEL will move to seek the STONE’S embrace,
Or up or down, or t’ any other place,
Which way soever lies the EMPTY SPACE.”

The transmission of the magnetic attraction through rings or chains is also alluded to in Plato’s “Ion,” p. 533, D. E. Ed. Stephanus; by Pliny, lib. xxxiv. cap. 14; St. Augustine, “De Civitate Dei,” XX. 4; Philo, “De Mundi Opificio,” D. ed., 1691, p. 32; likewise by the learned Bishop Hall, “The English Seneca,” as follows: “That the loadstone should by his secret virtue so drawe yron to it selfe that a whole chaine of needles should hang by insensible points at each other, only by the influence that it sends downe from the first, if it were not ordinary, would seeme incredible” (“Meditations,” 1640, con. 3, par. 18).

REFERENCES.--“Le Journal des Savants” for January 1824, p. 30.
also for March 1833, June 1866 and December 1869; Plutarch,
“Platon. Quæst.,” Vol. II. p. 1004, ed. par.; St. Isidore,
“Etymologiarum, Originum,” lib. xvi., iv.; the Timæus (Bohn,
1849, Vol. II. p. 394); Platonis, “Io,” Lugduni, 1590, pp. 145,
146; “Houzeau et Lancaster, Bibliographie Générale,” Vol. I.
part i. pp. 440–442; Geo. Burgess, tr. of Plato’s “Ion,” London,
1851, Vol. IV. pp. 294–295 and notes.

=A.D. 50.=--Scribonius Largus, Designationus, Roman physician, relates (Chaps. I. and XLI. of his “De Compositione Med. Medica”) that a freedman of Tiberius called Anthero was cured of the gout by shocks received from the electric _torpedo_, and Dioscorides advises the same treatment for inveterate pains of the head (“Torpedo,” lib. ii.). Other applications are alluded to by Galen (“Simp. Medic.,” lib. xi.; Paulus Ægineta, “De Re Medica,” lib. vii.; “Encycl. Met.,” article “Electricity,” IV. p. 41). See also Bertholon, “Elec. du Corps Humain,” 1786, Vol. I. p. 174.

Fahie states (“History of Electric Telegraphy,” p. 172) that, along the banks of the Old Calabar River, in Africa, the natives employ the electrical properties of the _gymnotus_ for the cure of their sick children. They either place the ailing child close by the vessel of water containing the animal, or the child is made to play with a very small specimen of the fish.

REFERENCES.--“La Grande Encycl.,” Vol. XXIX. p. 831; Humboldt,
“Voyage Zoologique,” p. 88; “New Gen. Biogr.,” London, 1850,
Vol. XI. p. 501; “Larousse Dict.,” Vol. XIV. p. 427; “Hœfer
Biogr.,” Vol. XLIII. p. 654.

=A.D. 121.=--The Chinese knew of old the magnet, its attractive force and its polarity, but the most ancient record made of the peculiar property possessed by the loadstone of communicating polarity to iron is explicitly mentioned in the celebrated dictionary “Choue-Wen,” which Hin-tchin completed in A.D. 121, the fifteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Ngan-ti of the Han dynasty.

This dictionary contains a description of the manner in which the property of pointing with one end toward the south may be imparted to an iron rod by a series of methodical blows, and alludes to (“Tseu”) the “stone with which a direction can be given to the needle.”

“In Europe it has been thought that the needle had its chief tendency to the north pole; but in China the south alone is considered as containing the attractive power” (Sir G. Staunton, “Account of an Embassy,” London, 1797, Vol. I. p. 445).

Le Père Gaubil, who was sent to China in 1721 and died in Pekin 1759, says (“Histoire ... de la dynastie de Tang,” in “Mémoires concernant ...” Vol. XV) that he found, in a work written towards the end of the Han dynasty, the use of the compass distinctly marked to distinguish the north and the south. He also states, though doubtless erroneously, that that form was given it under the reign of Hian-Tsoung.

With reference to the magnetic attraction to the pole, it is well to bear in mind that no allusion whatsoever is made thereto by any of the writers of classical antiquity. This much has already been stated under date B.C. 1000–907. It certainly appears to have escaped the attention of the ancient Greeks and Romans, whose admiration, according to the learned French physician Falconet (“Dissert. Hist. et Crit.”), was excited solely by the attractive property of the loadstone.

The Rev. Father Joseph de Acosta (“Natural and Moral History of the Indies,” translation of C. R. Markham, lib. i. cap. 16) thus alludes to the above subject: “I finde not that, in ancient bookes, there is any mention made of the vse of the Iman or Loadstone, nor of the Compasse (_aguja de marear_) to saile by; I beleeve they had no knowledge thereof.... Plinie speakes nothing of that vertue it hath, alwaies to turne yron which it toucheth towards the north.... Aristotle, Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Lucretius, Saint Augustine, nor any other writers or Naturall Philosophers that I have seene, make any mention thereof, although they treat of the loadstone.”

Thomas Creech, in the notes to his translation of Lucretius’ “De Natura” says: “Nor indeed, do any of the ancients treat of this last (the directive) power of the loadstone ... and Guido Pancirollus justly places it among the modern inventions.”

REFERENCES.--Klaproth, “La Boussole,” Paris, 1834, pp. 9, 10,
66; Azuni, “Boussole,” Paris, 1809, p. 30; “English Cycl.”--Arts
and Sciences--Vol. V. p. 420; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1848, Vol. II.
p. 628; John Francis Davis, “The Chinese,” London, 1836, Vol.
II. pp. 221, etc., or the 1844 edition, Vol. III. p. 12; Geo.
Adams, “Essay ...” 1785, p. 428.

=A.D. 218.=--Salmasius, in his Commentary upon Solinus, asserts that, at this date, amber was known among the Arabs as _Karabe_, or _Kahrubá_, a word which, Avicenna states, is of Persian origin and signifies the power of attracting straws; the magnet being called _Ahang-rubá_, or attractor of iron.

REFERENCES.--“Encycl. Met.,” Vol. IV. p. 41; Fahie, “Hist. of
Elec. Teleg.,” p. 29.

=A.D. 232–290.=--Africanus (Sextus Julius), an eminent Christian historical writer, author of a chronicle extending from the date of the creation to A.D. 221, as well as of an extensive work entitled “Kestoi,” states that the Roman generals perfected a system for readily communicating intelligence by means of fires made of different substances.

REFERENCES.--Shaffner, “Teleg. Man.,” 1859, p. 19; Appleton’s
“Cyclopædia,” 1871, Vol. XV. p. 333.

=A.D. 235.=--It is related that one Makium, who was ordered by the Chinese emperor to construct “a car which would show the South” succeeded in doing so, and thus recovered the secret of manufacture which had for some time been lost. The “Amer. Journ. of Science and the Arts” (Vol. XL. p. 249) adds that, from this date, the construction of a magnetic car seems to have been a puzzle ... and the knowledge of the invention appears to have been confined within very narrow limits. Humboldt says that the magnetic wagon was used as late as the fifteenth century of our era; the “American Journal” states that it cannot be traced later than 1609.

=A.D. 265–419.=--What is by many believed to be the earliest reliable, distinct mention or actually printed record of the use of the magnet for navigation, appears in the justly prominent Chinese dictionary or rather encyclopædia, “Poei-wen-yun-fou,” wherein it is mentioned that there were during this period (that of the second Tsin dynasty) ships directed to the South by the _ching_ or needle. It is likewise therein stated that the figure then placed upon the magnetic cars represented “a genius in a feather dress” and that, when the emperor went out upon state occasions this car “always led the way and served to indicate the four points of the compass.”

REFERENCES.--Homer at B.C. 1000–907; Davis, “The Chinese,” Vol.
III. p. 12; Klaproth, “Boussole,” pp. 66, 67; Johnson, “Univ.
Cycl.,” Vol. I. p. 927. ed. 1877; Miller, “Hist. Phil. Illust.,”
London, 1849, Vol. I. p. 180.

In a later work called “Mung-khi-py-than” will be found the following: “The soothsayers rub a needle with the magnet stone, so that it may mark the south; however, it declines constantly a little to the east. It does not indicate the south exactly. When this needle floats on the water it is much agitated. If the fingernails touch the upper edge of the basin in which it floats, they agitate it strongly; only it continues to slide and falls easily. It is preferable, in order to show its virtues in the best way, to suspend it as follows: Take a single filament from a piece of new cotton and attach it exactly to the middle of the needle by a bit of wax as large as a mustard seed. Hang it up in a place where there is no wind. Then the needle always shows the south; but among such needles there are some which, being rubbed, indicate the north. Our soothsayers have some which show the south and some which show the north. Of this property of the magnet to indicate the south, like that of the cypress to show the west, no one can tell the origin.”

=A.D. 295–324.=--Koupho, Chinese physicist as well as writer, and one of the most celebrated men of his age, compares the attractive property of the magnet with that of amber animated by friction and heat. In his “Discourse on the Loadstone” he says: “The magnet attracts iron as amber draws mustard seeds. There is a breath of wind that promptly and mysteriously penetrates both bodies, uniting them imperceptibly with the rapidity of an arrow. It is incomprehensible.”

REFERENCES.--Klaproth, “Boussole,” p. 125; Humboldt, “Cosmos,”
1848, Vol. V. p. 51; Libri, “Hist. des Mathém.,” Vol. I. p. 381,
note 2.

=A.D. 304.=--St. Elmo (St. Erasmus) Bishop of Formiæ, in ancient Italy, who suffered martyrdom about this date at Gæta, is the one after whom sailors in the Mediterranean first named the fires or flames which by many are believed to be of an electric nature and which appear during stormy weather, either at the yardarms, mastheads, in the rigging, or about the decks of a vessel. When two flames are seen together, they are called Castor and Pollux, “twin gods of the sea, guiding the mariner to port,” and are considered by seamen an indication of good luck and of fine weather; but when only one flame is visible it is called Helena, and is supposed to be an evil omen, the beacon of an avenging God luring the sailor to death.

St. Elmo’s fire is also known to the Italians as the fire of _St. Peter_ and of _St. Nicholas_, to the Portuguese as _San Telmo_ and as _Corpos Santos_, and to the English sailors as _comazant_ or _corposant_.

The historian of Columbus’ second voyage says that during the month of October 1493 “St. Elmo appeared on the topgallant-masts with seven lighted tapers.” It is also alluded to by Pliny, “Nat. Hist.” lib. ii. cap. 37; by Stobæus, “Eclogarum Phys.,” I. 514; Livy, “Hist.,” cap. 2; Seneca, “Nat. Quæst.,” I. 1; by Cæsar, “de Bello Africano,” cap. 6 edit. Amstel., 1686; and by Camoëns, “Os Lusiades,” canto v. est. 18.

“Last night I saw St. Elmo’s stars,
With their glimmering lanterns all at play
On the tops of the masts and the tips of the spars,
And I knew we should have foul weather to-day.”

Longfellow, “Golden Legend,” Chap. V.

“... Sometimes I’d divide,
And burn in many places--on the topmast,
The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet and join....”

Shakespeare, “The Tempest,” Act i. sc. 2.

REFERENCES.--“Nouvelle Biographie Générale,” Vol. XVI. p.
179; “Grand Dict. Univ. du xix^e siècle” of Pierre Larousse,
Vol. VII. p. 786; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. p. 245;
Becquerel, “Traité Expér.,” 1834, Vol. I. p. 34, and his
“Résumé,” Chap. I; Le Breton, “Histoire,” 1884, p. 43; “La
Lumière Electrique,” Juin 1891, p. 546, likewise Procopius,
“De Bello, Vandal,” lib. ii. cap. 2; William Falconer’s
“Observations,” etc. in Vol. III. p. 278 of “Mem. Lit. and Ph.
Soc. Manchester,” 1790 (translated in Italian, 1791), for an
account of the flames appearing upon the spear points of the
Roman legions.

=A.D. 400.=--Marcellus Empiricus, who was _magister officiorum_ in the reign of Theodosius the Great (379–395) states in his “De Medicamentis Empiricis,” Venetiis, 1547, P. 89, that the magnet called _antiphyson_ attracts and repulses iron. This, adds Becquerel in his “Résumé,” Chap. III, further proves that these properties were known in the fourth century.

REFERENCES.--Klaproth, “Boussole,” 1834, p. 12; Harris,
“Magnetism,” I and II; “New Gen. Biogr. Dict.,” London, 1850,
Vol. IX. p. 475.

=A.D. 425.=--Zosimus (Count), Greek historian, who lived under Theodosius II (401–450), “sometime advocate of the Treasury of the Roman Empire,” wrote the history of that empire from the reign of Augustus to the year A.D. 410, wherein he is the first to call attention to the electrolytic separation of metals, _i. e._ that the latter acquire a coating of copper upon being immersed in a cupreous solution.

REFERENCES.--Gore, “Art of Electro-Met.,” 1877, p. 1, or the
London 1890 edition, p. B; “A treatise on Electro-Metal.,” by
Walter G. McMillan, London, 1890, p. 2; “Journal des Savants”
for June 1895, pp. 382–387; Dr. Geo. Langbein’s treatise,
translated by W. T. Brannt, Chap. I; “Nouvelle Biogr. Gén.”
(Hœfer), Vol. XLVI. p. 1022; Schoell, “Hist. de la Littér.
Grecque”; Pauly, “Real Encycl. ... Alterthums”; “Biogr. Univ.”
(Michaud), Vol. XLV. p. 606; “Nouveau Larousse,” Vol. VII. p.
1429.

=A.D. 426.=--Augustine (Aurelius, Saint), the most prominent of the Latin Fathers of the Church, finishes his “De Civitate Dei,” which he began in 413, and which is considered the greatest monument to his genius. He was probably the most voluminous writer of the earlier Christian centuries. He was the author of no less than 232 books, in addition to many tractates or homilies and innumerable epistles (“Books and their Makers, during the Middle Ages,” Geo. Haven Putnam, New York, 1896, Vol. I. p. 3). In the “De Civitate Dei” he tells us (Basileæ, 1522, pp. 718–719) of the experiment alluded to herein at A.D. 1558. This had better be given in his own words (“De Civitate Dei,” lib. ii. cap. 4, Dod’s translation, Edinburgh, 1871):

“When I first saw it (the attraction of the magnet), I was thunderstruck (_vehementer inhorrui_), for I saw an iron ring attracted and suspended by the stone; and then, as if it had communicated its own property to the iron it attracted and had made it a substance like itself, this ring was put near another and lifted it up, and, as the first ring clung to the magnet, so did the second ring to the first. A third and fourth were similarly added, so that there hung from the stone a kind of chain of rings with their hoops connected, not interlinking but attached together by their outer surface. Who would not be amazed by this virtue of the stone, subsisting as it does, not only in itself, but transmitted through so many suspended rings and binding them together by invisible links? Yet far more astonishing is what I heard about the stone from my brother in the episcopate, Severus, Bishop of Milevis. He told me that Bathanarius, once Count of Africa, when the Bishop was dining with him, produced a magnet and held it under a silver plate on which he placed a bit of iron; then as he moved his hand with the magnet underneath the plate, the iron upon the plate moved about accordingly. The intervening silver was not affected at all, but precisely as the magnet was moved backward and forward below it, no matter how quickly, so was the iron attracted above. I have related what I have myself witnessed: I have related what I was told by one whom I trust as I trust my own eyes.”

REFERENCES.--“Vie de St. Augustin,” by Poujoulat, second
edition, Paris, 1852, and by G. Moringo, 1533; Possidius,
also Rivius, “Vitæ de St. Augus.”; L. Tillemont, “Mémoires
Eccles.,” 1702 (the 13th Vol. of which is devoted to an
elaborate account of his life and controversies); Bindemann,
“Der heilige Augustinus,” 1844; Butler, “Lives of the Saints”;
Lardner, “Credibility of the Gospel History,” Vol. VI. part
i. pp. 58–59, and Vol. X. pp. 198–303; Neander, “Geschichte
der Christlichen Religion und Kirche”; Pellechet, “Catalogue
Général des Incunables,” 1897, pp. 339–370; Alfred Weber,
“History of Philosophy,” tr. by Frank Thilly, New York, 1896,
pp. 188–198; “St. Augustine’s City of God,” tr. by Rev. Marcus
Dods, Edinburgh, 1871, Vol. II. book xxi. pp. 420, 457;
“Journal des Scavans,” Vol. XIV. for 1686, pp. 22–23, mentions
the above-named experiment and the effect of diamond on the
loadstone; “Journal des Savants” for Sept. 1898; Ueberweg,
“Hist. of Philosophy” (Morris’ tr., 1885), Vol. I. pp. 333–346.

=A.D. 450.=--Aëtius (Amidenus), Greek physician, informs us (Aëtii, op. lib. xi. cap. 25) that “those who are troubled with the gout in their hands or in their feet, or with convulsions, find relief when they hold a magnet in their hand. Paracelsus recommended the use of the magnet in a number of diseases, as fluxes, hæmorrhages, etc., while Marcellus (“Steph. Artis. Med. Princip.,” II. p. 253) and Camillus Leonardus (“Speculum Lapidum,” lib. ii.) assert that it will cure the toothache.”

During the year 1596, Jean Jacques Vuccher published “De Secretis” (“The secrets and marvels of Nature”), wherein, at p. 166, he thus advises the application of a loadstone for curing the headache: “_La pierre d’aymant appliquée et mise contre la teste, oste toutes les douleurs et maux d’icelle-ce que nostre Hollerius escrit comme l’ayant prins_ [sic] _des commentaires des anciens_.” And, in 1754, Lenoble constructed magnets that were readily used in the treatment of various diseases (“Practical Mechanic,” Vol. II. p. 171).

The application of the magnet for the relief of various complaints is treated of at pp. 334–335, Vol. II. of J. Ennemoser’s “History of Magic,” where will be found a list of works containing accounts of the oldest and most extraordinary known cures on record. Additional references to cures by the magnet, as well as with iron or amber--besides those named more particularly at A.D. 1770 (Maxim. Hell) and at A.D. 1775 (J. F. Bolten)--are to be found in the following works:

Avicenna, “Canona Medicinæ,” Venice, 1608, lib. ii. cap. 470;
Pliny, “Natural Historie,” Holland tr., 1601, Chap. IV. p. 609;
Hali Abas, “Liber totius medicinæ,” 1523, lib. i.; Serapio
Mauritanus, “De simplicibus medicinis,” Argent., 1531, pp.
260, 264; Antonius Musa Brasavolus, “Examen omnium simplicium
medicamentorum,” Rome 1536; Santes de Ardoynis Pisaurensis,
“Liber de Venenis” (Venetiis, 1492), Basilæ, 1562; Oribasius,
“De facultate metallicorum,” lib. xiii.; Joannes Baptista
Montanus, “Metaphrasis Summaria ...” 1551; G. Pictorio, in his
poem published at Basel in 1567, or in the 1530–1531 editions
of “Marbodei Galli Poetæ vetustissimi de lapidibus pretiosis
Enchiridion” (J. A. Vander Linden, “De Scriptis Medicis,” 1651,
pp. 210–211); Rhazès, “De simplicibus, ad Almansorem,” Venetiis,
1542, lib. ult. cap. 295; Joannes Lonicerus (author of “De
Meteoris,” Frankfort, 1550), “In Dioscoridæ Anazarbei de re
medica ...” 1543, p. 77; Matthæus Silvaticus, “Opus Pandectarum
Medicinæ,” 1498, 1511, 1526 (1541), cap. 446; Petrus de Abano,
“Tractatus de Venenis,” 1490, also “Conciliator Differentiarum
Philosophorum” (1496), 1520, 1526; Nicolaus Myrepsus, “Liber de
compositione medicamentorum,” 1541, 1549, 1567, 1626; Joannes
Manardus, “Epistolarum medicinalium” (Basilæ, 1549); Dioscorides
Pedacius, “De materia medica,” Spengel ed., 1829, Chap. CXLVII.
or in the 1557 ed. p. 507, or in the translation made by Joannes
Ruellius in 1543; Nicholas Monardus, “Joyfull newes out of the
new-found worlde,” Frampton tr., London, 1596; Arnaldus de
Villa Nova, “Tractatus de virtutibus herbarum” (1499); Amatus
Lusitanus, “Enarrationes Eruditissimæ,” 1597, pp. 482, 507;
Gabriellus Fallopius, “De Simplicibus Medicamentis purgentibus
tractatus,” and “Tractatus de compositione Medicamentorum,”
Venetiis, 1566, 1570; Joannes Langius, “Epistolarum Medicinalium
...,” Paris, 1589; Petri Andriæ Mathiolus, “Commentarii ...
Dioscoridis ... de materia medica,” 1598, p. 998; W. Barlowe,
“Magneticall Advertisements,” 1616, p. 7, or the 1843 reprint;
Albertus Magnus, “De Mineralibus” (1542), lib. ii.; Oswaldus
Crollius, “Basilica Chimica,” 1612, p. 267; Nicolaus Curtius,
“Libellus de medicamentis ...” Giessæ Cattorum, 1614; Rudolphi
Goclenii--Goclenius--“Tractatus de magnetica curatione,” 1609,
1613, also “Synarthosis Magnetica,” Marpurgi, 1617 (Eloy “Dict.
Hist. de la Méd.,” Vol. II. pp. 359–360); Luis de Oviedo,
“Methodo de la Coleccion y Reposicion de las medicinas simples,”
1622, p. 502; W. Charleton, “A Ternary of Paradoxes of the
Magnetic cure of Wounds,” 1650; the “Pharmacopœia Augustana,”
Augsburg, 1621, p. 182; Patrick Brydone in “Phil. Trans.,”
Vol. L. pp. 392, 695, and Vol. LXIII. p. 163. Consult also the
abridgments by Hutton, Vol. XI. p. 262, Vol. XIII. p. 415;
Waring’s “Bibliotheca Therapeutica,” London, 1878.

“The magnet ... gives comfort and grace, and is a cure for many complaints; it is of great value in disputes. When pulverised, it cures many burns. It is a remedy for dropsy” (I Sermone ... di F. Sacchetti ... § 18).

According to Dias, “the magnet reconciles husbands to their wives,” and Platea remarks that “it is principally of use to the wounded,” while Avicenna says “it is a remedy against spleen, the dropsy and alopecian.”

For additional information, consult J. Beckmann’s “History of Inventions,” Bohn, 1846, Vol. I. p. 43, and the article “Somnambulism” in the “Encyclopædia Britannica.”

=A.D. 543.=--The Japanese say that at about this date the Mikado received from the Court of Petsi in Corea “the wheel which indicates the south.”

REFERENCE.--Knight, “Mechanical Dictionary,” Vol. II. p. 1397.

=A.D. 658.=--As shown by Kaï-bara-Tok-sin, in the “Wa-zi-si,” the first magnetic cars were constructed during this year in Japan; the loadstone was not, however, discovered in that country until A.D. 713, when it was brought from the province of Oomi (Klaproth, “Boussole,” p. 94). The “Journal of the Franklin Institute” (Vol. XVIII. for 1836, p. 69), gives a description and illustration of one of these magnetic chariots, taken from the thirty-third volume of the Japanese Encyclopædia.

=A.D. 806–820.=--Between these dates, under the Thâng dynasty, were first made the cars called _Kin-Koung-yuan_, which were magnetic chariots similar to those previously known, but bearing in addition a drum and a bell. Both the latter were struck at regular intervals by an erect male figure placed at the head of the car (“American Journal of Science and the Arts,” Vol. XL. p. 249).

A critic named Tchen-yn admits, as already indicated herein under the A.D. 235 date, that the knowledge of the mode of construction of the magnetic cars was by no means general. “I know well,” adds he, “that, at the time of the Thâng, under Hien-toung (who ascended the throne 806 A.D., and reigned seventeen years) a chariot was made which always showed the four parts of the earth, in imitation, it was said, of those constructed at the time of Hoang-ti.... Upon it stood the figure of a spirit, whose hand always pointed to the south.”

REFERENCES.--“Mémoires concernant l’histoire ...” by Saillant et
Nyon, Paris, 1776–1788, Vol. XIII. p. 234; Klaproth, “Boussole,”
p. 72.

=A.D. 968.=--Kung-foo-Whing is said to have invented a method of transmitting sound through wires by means of an apparatus called _thumthsein_, although no trace whatever of the latter is to be found in any of the numerous authorities herein quoted.

=A.D. 1067–1148.=--Frode (Ari Hinn--Ara Hin--or the Wise), Arius Polyhistor (Ari Prestrinha Frodi Thorgillsun), Icelandic historian, “than whom there is no higher authority,” was the first compiler of the celebrated “Landnama-Bok,” which contains a full account of all the early settlers in Iceland, and is doubtless the most complete record of the kind ever made by any nation.

In it, he says that, at the time Floke Vilgerderson left Rogoland, in Norway, about A.D. 868, for another visit to Gardansholm (Iceland), of which he was the original discoverer, “the seamen had no loadstone (_leiderstein_) in the northern countries,” thus showing, according to Prof. Hansteen, that the directive power of the needle and its use in navigation were known in Europe in the eleventh century. In this manner is given the first intimation of the knowledge of the mariner’s compass outside of China. The passage quoted above is by many supposed to be an interpolation, for it is not found in several manuscripts, and it has even been asserted (“Br. Ann.,” p. 296), that its origin does not antedate the fourteenth century, thus strengthening the claims of the French in behalf of Guyot De Provins.

REFERENCES.--“Landnama-Bok,” Kiœbenhaven, 1774, T. I. chap. ii.
par. 7; John Angell, “Magnet. and Elect.,” 1874, p. 10; Lloyd,
“Magnetism,” p. 101; “Pre-Col. Disc. of Am.,” De Costa, pp.
xxiii and 11; “Bull. de Géogr.,” 1858, p. 177; “Good Words,”
1874, p. 70; Klaproth, “Boussole,” p. 40; Hansteen, “Inquiries
Concerning the Magnetism of the Earth,” and “Magazin für
Naturvidenskaberne Christiana,” I. 2, “Encycl. Metrop.,” Vol.
III. p. 736; the 1190–1210 entry herein.

=A.D. 1111–1117.=--Keou-tsoungchy, Chinese philosopher and writer, gives, in the medical natural history called “Pen-thsao-yan-i,” written by him under the Soung dynasty, the earliest description of a water compass found in any Chinese work, viz.: “The magnet is covered over with little bristles slightly red, and its superficies is rough. It attracts iron and unites itself with it; and, for this reason, it is commonly called the stone which licks up iron. When an iron point is rubbed upon the magnet, it acquires the property of pointing to the south, yet it declines always to the east, and is not perfectly true to the south.... If the needle be passed through a wick or a small tube of thin reed, and placed upon water, it will indicate the south, but with a continual inclination towards the point _ping_, that is to say, East five-sixths South.”

In the “Mung-khi-py-than,” also composed under the Soung dynasty, it is stated that fortune-tellers rub the needle with the loadstone in order to make it indicate the south.

REFERENCES.--_Comptes Rendus_, Vol. XIX. p. 365; “Am. Journal
Sc. and Arts,” 1841, XL. p. 248; Davis, “The Chinese,” 1844,
Vol. III. p. 13; Becquerel, “Elec. et Mag.,” p. 58; Klaproth,
“Boussole,” pp. 67–69, 95; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. p.
656, and Vol. V. p. 52; Knight, “Mech. Dict.,” Vol. II. p. 1397;
Humboldt, “Examen Critique,” Paris, 1836, Vol. III. p 34.

=A.D. 1160.=--Eustathius, Archbishop of Thessalonica, relates in his commentary on the Iliad of Homer, that Walimer, father of Theodoric and King of the Goths, used to emit sparks from his body; also that a certain philosopher observed sparks occasionally issuing from his chest accompanied with a crackling noise.

Leithead tells us that streams of fire came from the hair of Servius Tullius, a Roman King, during sleep, when he was about seven years of age (Dionysius, “Antiq. Rom.” lib. iv.; Pliny, “Hist. Nat.” lib. ii. cap. 37); that Cardan alludes to the hair of a certain Carmelite monk emitting sparks whenever it was rubbed backward (“De Rerum Varietate,” lib. viii. cap. 43); that Father Faber, in his “Palladium Chemicum,” speaks of a young woman whose hair emitted sparks while being combed, and also refers to allusions made in the same line by Thomas Bartholinus, “De Luce Animalium,” Lugd. 1647, p. 121; Ezekiel di Castro, “De Igne Lambente”; Johann Jacob Hemmer, “Trans. Elec. Soc. Mannheim,” Vol. VI; and _Phil. Trans._, Vol. V. pp. 1, 40.

REFERENCES.--Eustath in Iliad, E. p. 515, ed. Rom.; “Encycl.
Brit.,” 1855, VIII. p. 571; Priestley, “History of Electricity,”
London, 1775, pp. 128, 129; _Phil. Trans._, abridged, Vol. X.
pp. 278, 343, 344, 357.

=A.D. 1190–1210.=--Guyot de Provins, minstrel at the Court of the Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa), gives the first French mention of the water compass in a manuscript “politico-satirical” poem entitled “La Bible,” to be found in the Bibliothèque Nationale. It is therein said that sailors were at that time in the habit of rubbing needles upon the ugly brown stone called _marinière_, “to which iron adheres of its own accord,” and that, as soon as placed afloat upon a small piece of straw in the water, the needles would point to the North. The passage alluding to the compass has been copied by D. A. Azuni, member of the Turin Academy of Sciences, from the original manuscript, and is given entire, with the French translation, at p. 137 of his “Dissertation ...” second edition, Paris, 1809:

“De notre père l’apostoile (le pape)

* * * * *

Ils l’appellent la tresmontaigne

* * * * *

Par la vertu de la marinière,
Une pierre laide et brumière,
Ou li fers volontiers se joint....”

The passage is also given by Klaproth, at pp. 41–43, and by Venanson, at p. 72, of their respective works already cited; likewise by Bertelli, p. 59 of his Memoir published in 1868.

Sonnini (C. S.), in Buffon “Minéraux,” Vol. XV, p. 100, says that Azuni has successfully established the claims of France to the first use of the mariner’s compass. Other writers herein, who follow in their order, will doubtless show to the satisfaction of the reader that, as the Arabs possessed it at the same time, they must have received it from the Chinese, and therefore transmitted it to the Franks during the first Crusades, as stated by Klaproth in his “Lettre à M. de Humboldt,” Paris, 1834, pp. 64–66.

REFERENCES.--Becquerel, “Traité d’Elect. et de Magn.,” Vol. I.
p. 70; Bertelli, “Mem. sopra P. Peregrino,” 1868, p. 59; R.
M. Ferguson, “Electricity,” 1867, p. 43; J. F. Wolfart, “Des
Guiot von Provins,” Halle, 1861; “Bulletin de Géographie,”
1858, p. 177; Barbazan, “Fabliaux,” Vol. II. p. 328: Becquerel,
“Résumé,” Chap. III; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. pp.
628–630; “Amer. Journ. Sc. and Arts,” Vol. XL. p. 243; “Guiot
von Provins,” in Meyers Konvers. Lex., Vol. VIII. p. 81;
“Encycl. Met.,” Vol. III. p. 736, gives a verbatim copy of part
of Guyot’s poem, with its literal translation; Libri, “Hist. des
Sc. Mathém.,” Paris, 1838, Vol. II. p. 63; “Encycl. Met.,” Vol.
XII. p. 104; J. Lorimer, “Essay on Magnetism,” London, 1795; Sir
John Francis Davis, “The Chinese,” Vol. III. p. xii, or “China,”
London, 1857, pp. 184–187; Whewell, “Hist. of Ind. Sc.,” Vol.
II. p. 46.

=A.D. 1204–1220.=--Jacobus de Vitry, Cardinal Bishop of Ptolemais, in Syria, one of the Crusaders, thus speaks of the compass in his “Historiæ Hierosolimitanæ,”[10] cap. 89 and 91: “The Magnet [_diamant_, as shown under the B.C. 321 date] is found in the Indies.... It attracts iron through a secret virtue; after a needle has touched the loadstone, it always turns toward the North Star, which latter is as the world’s axis and is immobile, while the other stars turn around it; that is why the compass is so useful to navigators, _valde necessarius navigantibus_.”

REFERENCES.--Azuni, “Boussole,” p. 140; Venanson, “Boussole,”
p. 77; Klaproth, pp. 14, 43–44; Poggendorff, Vol. II. p. 1184;
Becquerel, “Elec. et Magn.,” Vol. I. p. 70; Knight, “Mech.
Dict.,” Vol. II. p. 1397.

=A.D. 1207.=--Neckam (Alexander of), 1157–1217, Abbot of St. Mary’s, alludes in his “De Utensilibus” to a needle carried on board ship, which, being placed upon a pivot and allowed to take its own position of repose, “showed mariners their course when the Polar Star is hidden.” In another work, “De Naturis Rerum” (lib. ii. cap. 89), he writes: “Mariners at sea, when, through cloudy weather in the day, which hides the sun, or through the darkness of the night, they lose the knowledge of the quarter of the world to which they are sailing, touch a needle with a magnet which will turn around until, on its own motion ceasing, its point will be directed toward the North (Chappell, “Nature,” No. 346, June 15, 1876; Thomas Wright, “Chronicles and Memoirs ... Middle Ages,” 1863).

REFERENCES.--“La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XXIV. p. 898; Hœfer,
“Nouv. Biogr. Générale,” Vol. XXXVII. p. 570.

=A.D. 1235–1315.=--Lully (Raymond) of Majorca (often confounded with Ramond Lull, who is the author of several alchemical books and of whose biography very little is known), was, by turns, a soldier, a poet, a monk, a knight, a missionary and a martyr, and is referred to by Humboldt as “the singularly ingenious and eccentric man, whose doctrines excited the enthusiasm of Giordano Bruno when a boy, and who was at once a philosophical systematizer and an analytical chemist, a skilful mariner and a successful propagator of Christianity.”

During the year 1272 Lully published his “De Contemplatione,” which was followed by “Fenix de las maravillas del orbe” in 1286, and by his “Arte de Naveguar” in 1295. In these he states that the seamen of his time employed instruments of measurement, sea charts and the magnetic needle (_tenian_, _los mareantes_, _instrumento_, _carta_, _compas y aguja_), and he describes the improvements made in the astrolabes (designed for the determination of time and of geographical latitudes by meridian altitudes and capable of being employed at sea) from the period that the astrolabium of the Majorcan pilots was in use.

The application of the astrolabe to navigation, Mr. Irving says (“Hist. of the Life ... of Columbus,” London, 1828, Vol. I. pp. 76–78), was “one of those timely events which seem to have some thing providential in them. It was immediately after this that Columbus proposed his voyage of discovery to the crown of Portugal.”

Lully also confirms the fact that the Barcelonians employed atlases, astrolabes[11] and compasses long before Don Jaime Ferrer penetrated to the mouth of the Rio de Ouro, on the western coast of Africa, which was about fifty years after the date of the last-named work.

Incidentally it may be added that Lully, posing as an alchemist, is said to have in the presence of the English King, Edward I, converted iron into gold, which latter was coined into rose-nobles (Bergman, “Hist. of Chem.”; Louis Figuier, “L’Alchimie et les Alchimistes,” Paris, 1860, p. 148).