Chapter XV: Act 1899: are other codes of law designed for incorporation in special (1)

acts creating companies for the construction of railways or the supply of water, gas or electric light. A distinguishing feature of these companies is that, being sanctioned by the legislature for undertakings of public utility, the policy of the law will not allow them to be broken up or destroyed by creditors. It gives creditors only a charge--by a receiver--on the earnings of the undertaking--the "fruit of the tree."

_3. British Companies Abroad._

The status of British companies trading abroad, so far as Germany, France, Belgium, Greece, Italy and Spain are concerned, is expressly recognized in a series of conventions entered into between those countries and Great Britain. The value of the convention with France has been much impaired by the interpretation put upon the words of it by the court of cassation in _La Construction Lim_. According to this case the nationality of a company depends not on its place of origin but on where it has its centre of affairs, its principal establishment. The result is that a company registered in Britain under the Companies Acts may be transmuted by a French court into a French company in direct violation of the convention. The convention with Germany, which is in similar terms to that with France, has also been narrowed by judicial construction. The "power of exercising all their rights" given by the convention to British companies has been construed to mean that a British company will be recognized as a corporate body in Germany, but it does not follow from the terms of the convention that any British company may as a matter of course establish a branch and carry on business within the German empire. It must still get permission to trade, permission to hold land. It must register itself in the communal register. It must pay stamp duties.

Foreign companies may found an affiliated company or have a branch establishment in Italy, provided they publish their memorandum and articles and the names of their directors. Where no convention exists the status of an immigrant corporation depends upon international comity, which allows foreign corporations, as it does foreign persons, to sue, to make contracts and hold real estate, in the same way as domestic corporations or citizens; provided the stranger corporation does not offend against the policy of the state in which it seeks to trade.

There is, however, a growing practice now for states to impose by express legislation conditions on foreign corporations coming to do business within their territory. These conditions are mainly directed to securing that the immigrant corporation shall make known its constitution and shall be amenable to the jurisdiction of the courts of the country where it trades. Thus, by the law of Western Australia--to take a typical instance,--a foreign company is not to commence or carry on business until it empowers some person to act as its attorney to sue and be sued and has an office or place of business within the state, to be approved of by the registrar, where all legal proceedings may be served. New Zealand, Manitoba and many other states have adopted similar precautions; and by the Companies Act 1907, s. 35; C.A. 1908, s. 274 foreign companies having a place of business within the United Kingdom are required to file with the registrar of joint stock companies a copy of the company's charter or memorandum and articles, a list of directors, and the names and addresses of one or more persons authorized to accept service of process. Special conditions of a more stringent nature are often imposed in the case of particular classes of companies of a quasi-public character, such as banking companies, building societies or insurance companies. Regulations of this kind are perfectly legitimate and necessary. They are in truth only an application of the law of vagrancy to corporations, and have their analogy in the restrictions now generally imposed by states on the immigration of aliens.

_4. Company Law outside the United Kingdom._

_Australia._--Company law in Australia and in New Zealand follows very closely the lines of company legislation in the United Kingdom.

In New South Wales the law is consolidated by Act No. 40 of 1899, amended 1900 and 1906. In Victoria the law is contained in the Acts Nos. 1074 of 1890 and 355 of 1896; in Queensland in a series of Acts--No. 4 of 1863, No. 18 of 1899, No. 10 of 1891, No. 24 of 1892, No. 3 of 1893, No. 19 of 1894 and No. 21 of 1896; in South Australia in No. 56 of 1892, amended by No. 576 of 1893; in Tasmania by Nos. 22 of 1869, 19 of 1895 and 3 of 1896; in Western Australia by No. 8 of 1893, amended 1897 and 1898.

In New Zealand the law was consolidated in 1903.

_Canada._--The act governing joint stock companies in Canada is the Companies Act 1902, amended 1904. It empowers the secretary of state by letters patent to grant a charter to any number of persons not less than five for any objects other than railway or telegraph lines, banking or insurance.

Applicants must file an application--analogous to the British memorandum of association--showing certain particulars--the purposes of incorporation, the place of business, the amount of the capital stock, the number of shares and the amount of each, the names and addresses of the applicants, the amount of stock taken by each and the amount and mode of payment. Other provisions may also be embodied. A company cannot commence business until 10% of its authorized capital has been subscribed and paid for. The word "limited" as part of the company's name is--as in the case of British companies--to be conspicuously exhibited and used in all documents. The directors are not to be less than three or more than fifteen, and must be holders of stock. Directors are jointly and severally liable to the clerks, labourers and servants of the company for six months' wages. Borrowing powers may be taken by a vote of holders of two-thirds in value of the subscribed stock of the company.

_South Africa._--In Cape Colony the law is contained in No. 25 of 1892, amended 1895 and 1906; it follows English law.

In Natal the law is contained in Nos. 10 of 1864, 18 of 1865, 19 of 1893 and 3 of 1896.

In the Orange Free State in Law Ch. 100 and Nos. 2 and 4 of 1892.

For the Transvaal see Nos. 5 of 1874, 6 of 1874, 1 of 1894 and 30 of 1904.

In Rhodesia companies are regulated by the Companies Ordinance 1895--a combination of the Cape Companies Act 1892, and the British Companies Acts 1862-1890.

_France._--There are two kinds of limited liability companies in France--the _societe en commandite_ and the _societe anonyme_. The _societe en commandite_ corresponds in some respects to the British private company or limited partnership, but with this difference, that in the _societe en commandite_ the managing partner is under unlimited liability of creditors; the sleeping partner's liability is limited to the amount of his capital. The French equivalent of the English ordinary joint stock company is the _societe anonyme_. The minimum number of subscribers necessary to form such a company is (as in the case of a British trading company) seven, but, unlike a British company, the _societe anonyme_ is not legally constituted unless the whole capital is subscribed and one-fourth of each share paid up. Another precaution unknown to British practice is that assets, not in money, brought into a company are subject to verification of value by a general meeting. The minimum nominal value of shares, where the company's capital is less than 200,000 fcs., is 25 fcs.; where the capital is more than 200,000 fcs., 100 fcs. The _societe_ is governed by articles which appoint the directors, and there is one general meeting held every year. A _societe anonyme_ may, since 1902, issue preference shares. The doctrine that a corporation never dies has no place in French law. A _societe anonyme_ may come to an end.

_Germany._--In Germany the class of companies most nearly corresponding to English companies limited by shares are "share companies" (_Aktiengesellschaften_) and "commandite companies" with a share capital (_Kommanditgesellschaften auf Aktien_). Since 1892 a new form of association has come into existence known by the name of partnership with limited liability (_Gesellschaften mit beschrankter Haftung_), which has largely superseded the commandite company.

[Sidenote: The "share company."]

In forming this paid-up company certain preliminary steps have to be taken before registration:--

1. The articles must be agreed on;

2. A managing board and a board of supervision must be appointed;

3. The whole of the share capital must be allotted and 25%, at least,
must be paid up in coin or legal tender notes;

4. Reports on the formation of the company must be made by certain
persons; and

5. Certain documents must be filed in the registry.

In all cases where shares are issued for any consideration, not being payment in full in cash, or in which contracts for the purchase of property have been entered into, the promoters must sign a declaration in which they must state on what grounds the prices agreed to be given for such property appear to be justified. In the great majority of cases shares are issued in certificates to bearer. The amount of such a share--to bearer--must as a general rule be not less than L50, but registered shares of L10 may be issued. Balance sheets have to be published periodically.

Limited partnerships.

Partnerships with limited liability may be formed by two or more members. The articles of partnership must be signed by all the members, and must contain particulars as to the amount of the capital and of the individual shares. If the liability on any shares is not to be satisfied in cash this also must be stated. The capital of a limited partnership must amount to L1000. Shares must be registered. Insolvent companies in Germany are subject to the bankruptcy law in the same manner as natural persons.

For further information see a memorandum on German companies printed in the appendix to the _Report of Lord Davey's Committee on the Amendment of Company Law_, pp. 13-26.

_Italy._--Commercial companies in Italy are of three kinds:--(1) General partnerships, in which the members are liable for all debts incurred; (2) companies in _accomodita_, in which some members are liable to an unlimited extent and others within certain limits; (3) joint stock companies, in which the liability is limited to the capital of the company and no member is liable beyond the amount of his holding. None of these companies needs authority from the government for its constitution; all that is needed is a written agreement brought before the public in the ways indicated in the code (Art. 90 et seq.). In joint stock companies the trustees (directors) must give security. They are appointed by a general meeting for a period not exceeding four years (Art. 124). The company is not constituted until the whole of its capital is subscribed, and until three-tenths of the capital at least has been actually paid up. When a company's capital is diminished by one-third, the trustees must call the members together and consult as to what is to be done.

An ordinary meeting is held once at least every year. Shares may not be made payable "to bearer" until fully paid up (Art. 166). A company may issue debentures if this is agreed to by a certain majority (Art. 172). One-twentieth, at least, of the dividends of the company must be added to the reserve fund, until this has become equal to one-fifth of the company's capital (Art. 182). Three or five assessors--members or non-members--keep watch over the way in which the company is carried on.

_United States._--In the United States the right to create corporations is a sovereign right, and as such is exercisable by the several states of the Union. The law of private corporations must therefore be sought in some fifty collections or groups of statutory and case-made rules. These collections or groups of rules differ in many cases essentially from each other. The acts regulating business corporations generally provide that the persons proposing to form a corporation shall sign and acknowledge an instrument called the articles of association, setting forth the name of the corporation, the object for which it is to be formed, the principal place of business, the amount of its capital stock, and the number of shares into which it is to be divided, and the duration of its corporate existence. These articles are filed in the office of the secretary of state or in designated courts of record, and a certificate is then issued reciting that the provisions of the act have been complied with, and thereupon the incorporators are vested with corporate existence and the general powers incident thereto. This certificate is the charter of the corporation. The power to make bylaws is usually vested in the stockholders, but it may be conferred by the certificate on the directors. Stockholders remain liable until their subscriptions are fully paid. Nothing but money is considered payment of capital stock except where property is purchased. Directors must usually be stockholders.

The right of a state to forfeit a corporation's charter for misuser or non-user of its franchises is an implied term of the grant of incorporation. Corporations are liable for every wrong they commit, and in such cases cannot set up by way of protection the doctrine of _ultra vires_.

See for authorities _Commentaries on the Law of Private Corporations_,
by Seymour D. Thompson, LL.D., 6 vols.; Beach on _Corporations_, and
the _American Encyclopaedia of Law_. (E. MA.)

COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, a term employed to designate the study of the structure of man as compared with that of lower animals, and sometimes the study of lower animals in contra-distinction to human anatomy; the term is now falling into desuetude, and lingers practically only in the titles of books or in the designation of university chairs. The change in terminology is chiefly the result of modern conceptions of zoology. From the point of view of structure, man is one of the animals; all investigations into anatomical structure must be comparative, and in this work the subject is so treated throughout. See ANATOMY and ZOOLOGY.

COMPARETTI, DOMENICO (1835- ), Italian scholar, was born at Rome on the 27th of June 1835. He studied at the university of Rome, took his degree in 1855 in natural science and mathematics, and entered his uncle's pharmacy as assistant. His scanty leisure was, however, given to study. He learned Greek by himself, and gained facility in the modern language by conversing with the Greek students at the university. In spite of all disadvantages, he not only mastered the language, but became one of the chief classical scholars of Italy. In 1857 he published, in the _Rheinisches Museum_, a translation of some recently discovered fragments of Hypereides, with a dissertation on that orator. This was followed by a notice of the annalist Granius Licinianus, and one on the oration of Hypereides on the Lamian War. In 1859 he was appointed professor of Greek at Pisa on the recommendation of the duke of Sermoneta. A few years later he was called to a similar post at Florence, remaining emeritus professor at Pisa also. He subsequently took up his residence in Rome as lecturer on Greek antiquities and greatly interested himself in the Forum excavations. He was a member of the governing bodies of the academies of Milan, Venice, Naples and Turin. The list of his writings is long and varied. Of his works in classical literature, the best known are an edition of the _Euxenippus_ of Hypereides, and monographs on Pindar and Sappho. He also edited the great inscription which contains a collection of the municipal laws of Gortyn in Crete, discovered on the site of the ancient city. In the _Kalewala and the Traditional Poetry of the Finns_ (English translation by I. M. Anderton, 1898) he discusses the national epic of Finland and its heroic songs, with a view to solving the problem whether an epic could be composed by the interweaving of such national songs. He comes to a negative conclusion, and applies this reasoning to the Homeric problem. He treats this question again in a treatise on the so-called Peisistratean edition of Homer (_La Commissione omerica di Pisistrato_, 1881). His _Researches concerning the Book of Sindib[=a]d_ have been translated in the _Proceedings_ of the Folk-Lore Society. His _Vergil in the Middle Ages_ (translated into English by E. F. Benecke, 1895) traces the strange vicissitudes by which the great Augustan poet became successively grammatical fetich, Christian prophet and wizard. Together with Professor Alessandro d'Ancona, Comparetti edited a collection of Italian national songs and stories (9 vols., Turin, 1870-1891), many of which had been collected and written down by himself for the first time.

COMPASS (Fr. _compas_, ultimately from Lat. _cum_, with, and _passus_, step), a term of which the evolution of the various meanings is obscure; the general sense is "measure" or "measurement," and the word is used thus in various derived meanings--area, boundary, circuit. It is also more particularly applied to a mathematical instrument ("pair of compasses") for measuring or for describing a circle, and to the mariner's compass.

The mariner's compass, with which this article is concerned, is an instrument by means of which the directive force of that great magnet, the Earth, upon a freely-suspended needle, is utilized for a purpose essential to navigation. The needle is so mounted that it only moves freely in the horizontal plane, and therefore the horizontal component of the earth's force alone directs it. The direction assumed by the needle is not generally towards the geographical north, but diverges towards the east or west of it, making a horizontal angle with the true meridian, called the magnetic variation or declination; amongst mariners this angle is known as the variation of the compass. In the usual navigable waters of the world the variation alters from 30 deg. to the east to 45 deg. to the west of the geographical meridian, being westerly in the Atlantic and Indian oceans, easterly in the Pacific. The vertical plane passing through the longitudinal axis of such a needle is known as the magnetic meridian. Following the first chart of lines of equal variation compiled by Edmund Halley in 1700, charts of similar type have been published from time to time embodying recent observations and corrected for the secular change, thus providing seamen with values of the variation accurate to about 30' of arc. Possessing these data, it is easy to ascertain by observation the effects of the iron in a ship in disturbing the compass, and it will be found for the most part in every vessel that the needle is deflected from the magnetic meridian by a horizontal angle called the deviation of the compass; in some directions of the ship's head adding to the known variation of the place, in other directions subtracting from it. Local magnetic disturbance of the needle due to magnetic rocks is observed on land in all parts of the world, and in certain places extends to the land under the sea, affecting the compasses on board the ships passing over it. The general direction of these disturbances in the northern hemisphere is an attraction of the north-seeking end of the needle; in the southern hemisphere, its repulsion. The approaches to Cossack, North Australia; Cape St Francis, Labrador; the coasts of Madagascar and Iceland, are remarkable for such disturbance of the compass.

The compass as we know it is the result of the necessities of navigation, which have increased from century to century. It consists of five principal parts--the card, the needles, the bowl, a jewelled cap and the pivot. The card or "fly," formerly made of cardboard, now consists of a disk either of mica covered with paper or of paper alone, but in all cases the card is divided into points and degrees as shown in fig. 1. The outer margin is divided into degrees with 0 deg. at north and south, and 90 deg. at east and west; the 32 points with half and quarter points are seen immediately within the degrees. The north point is marked with _fleur de lis_, and the principal points, N.E., E., S.E., &c., with their respective names, whilst the intermediate points in the figure have also their names engraved for present information. The arc contained between any two points is 11 deg. 15'. The mica card is generally mounted on a brass framework, F F, with a brass cap, C, fitted with a sapphire centre and carrying four magnetized needles, N, N, N, N, as in fig. 2. The more modern form of card consists of a broad ring of paper marked with degrees and points, as in fig. 1, attached to a frame like that in fig. 3, where an outer aluminium ring, A A, is connected by 32 radial silk threads to a central disk of aluminium, in the centre of which is a round hole designed to receive an aluminium cap with a highly polished sapphire centre worked to the form of an open cone. To direct the card eight short light needles, N N, are suspended by silk threads from the outer ring. The magnetic axis of any system of needles must exactly coincide with the axis passing through the north and south points of the card. Single needles are never used, two being the least number, and these so arranged that the moment of inertia about every diameter of the card shall be the same. The combination of card, needles and cap is generally termed "the card"; on the continent of Europe it is called the "rose." The section of a compass bowl in fig. 4 shows the mounting of a Thomson card on its pivot, which in common with the pivots of most other compasses is made of brass, tipped with osmium-iridium, which although very hard can be sharply pointed and does not corrode. Fig. 4 shows the general arrangement of mounting all compass cards in the bowl. In fig. 5 another form of compass called a liquid or spirit compass is shown partly in section. The card nearly floats in a bowl filled with distilled water, to which 35% of alcohol is added to prevent freezing; the bowl is hermetically sealed with pure india-rubber, and a corrugated expansion chamber is attached to the bottom to allow for the expansion and contraction of the liquid. The card is a mica disk, either painted as in fig. 1, or covered with linen upon which the degrees and points are printed, the needles being enclosed in brass.

A, Bowl, partly in section. N, Hole for filling, with screw plug.
B, Expansion chamber. O, O, Magnetic needles.
D, The glass. P, Buoyant chamber.
G, Gimbal ring. Q, Iridium pivot.
L, Nut to expand chamber when R, Sapphire cap.
filling bowl. S, Mica card.]
M, Screw connector.

Great steadiness of card under severe shocks and vibrations, combined with a minimum of friction in the cap and pivot, is obtained with this compass. All compasses are fitted with a gimbal ring to keep the bowl and card level under every circumstance of a ship's motion in a seaway, the ring being connected with the binnacle or pedestal by means of journals or knife edges. On the inside of every compass bowl a vertical black line is drawn, called the "lubber's point," and it is imperative that when the compass is placed in the binnacle the line joining the pivot and the lubber's point be parallel to the keel of the vessel. Thus, when a degree on the card is observed opposite the lubber's point, the angle between the direction in which the ship is steering and the north point of the compass or course is at once seen; and if the magnetic variation and the disturbing effects of the ship's iron are known, the desired angle between the ship's course and the geographical meridian can be computed. In every ship a position is selected for the navigating or standard compass as free from neighbouring iron as possible, and by this compass all courses are shaped and bearings taken. It is also provided with an azimuth circle or mirror and a shadow pin or style placed in the centre of the glass cover, by either of which the variable angle between the compass north and true north, called the "total error," or variation and deviation combined, can be observed. The binnacles or pedestals for compasses are generally constructed of wood about 45 in. high, and fitted to receive and alter at pleasure the several magnet and soft iron correctors. They are also fitted with different forms of suspension in which the compass is mounted to obviate the mechanical disturbance of the card caused by the vibration of the hull in ships driven by powerful engines.

The effects of the iron and steel used in the construction of ships upon the compass occupied the attention of the ablest physicists of the 19th century, with results which enable navigators to conduct their ships with perfect safety. The hull of an iron or steel ship is a magnet, and the distribution of its magnetism depends upon the direction of the ship's head when building, this result being produced by induction from the earth's magnetism, developed and impressed by the hammering of the plates and frames during the process of building. The disturbance of the compass by the magnetism of the hull is generally modified, sometimes favourably, more often unfavourably, by the magnetized fittings of the ship, such as masts, conning towers, deck houses, engines and boilers. Thus in every ship the compass needle is more or less subject to deviation differing in amount and direction for every azimuth of the ship's head. This was first demonstrated by Commander Matthew Flinders by experiments made in H.M.S. "Investigator" in 1800-1803, and in 1810 led that officer to introduce the practice of placing the ship's head on each point of the compass, and noting the amount of deviation whether to the east or west of the magnetic north, a process which is in full exercise at the present day, and is called "swinging ship." When speaking of the magnetic properties of iron it is usual to adopt the terms "soft" and "hard." Soft iron is iron which becomes instantly magnetized by induction when exposed to any magnetic force, but has no power of retaining its magnetism. Hard iron is less susceptible of being magnetized, but when once magnetized it retains its magnetism permanently. The term "iron" used in these pages includes the "steel" now commonly employed in shipbuilding. If an iron ship be swung when upright for deviation, and the mean horizontal and vertical magnetic forces at the compass positions be also observed in different parts of the world, mathematical analysis shows that the deviations are caused partly by the permanent magnetism of hard iron, partly by the transient induced magnetism of soft iron both horizontal and vertical, and in a lesser degree by iron which is neither magnetically hard nor soft, but which becomes magnetized in the same manner as hard iron, though it gradually loses its magnetism on change of conditions, as, for example, in the case of a ship, repaired and hammered in dock, steaming in an opposite direction at sea. This latter cause of deviation is called sub-permanent magnetism. The horizontal directive force on the needle on board is nearly always less than on land, sometimes much less, whilst in armour-plated ships it ranges from .8 to .2 when the directive force on land = 1.0. If the ship be inclined to starboard or to port additional deviation will be observed, reaching a maximum on north and south points, decreasing to zero on the east and west points. Each ship has its own magnetic character, but there are certain conditions which are common to vessels of the same type.

Instead of observing the deviation solely for the purposes of correcting the indications of the compass when disturbed by the iron of the ship, the practice is to subject all deviations to mathematical analysis with a view to their mechanical correction. The whole of the deviations when the ship is upright may be expressed nearly by five co-efficients, A, B, C, D, E. Of these A is a deviation constant in amount for every direction of the ship's head. B has reference to horizontal forces acting in a longitudinal direction in the ship, and caused partly by the permanent magnetism of hard iron, partly by vertical induction in vertical soft iron either before or abaft the compass. C has reference to forces acting in a transverse direction, and caused by hard iron. D is due to transient induction in horizontal soft iron, the direction of which passes continuously under or over the compass. E is due to transient induction in horizontal soft iron unsymmetrically placed with regard to the compass. When data of this character have been obtained the compass deviations may be mechanically corrected to within 1 deg.--always adhering to the principal that "like cures like." Thus the part of B caused by the permanent magnetism of hard iron must be corrected by permanent magnets horizontally placed in a fore and aft direction; the other part caused by vertical soft iron by means of bars of vertical soft iron, called Flinders bars, before or abaft the compass. C is compensated by permanent magnets athwart-ships and horizontal; D by masses of soft iron on both sides of the compass, and generally in the form of cast-iron spheres, with their centres in the same horizontal plane as the needles; E is usually too small to require correction; A is fortunately rarely of any value, as it cannot be corrected. The deviation observed when the ship inclines to either side is due--(1) to hard iron acting vertically upwards or downwards; (2) to vertical soft iron immediately below the compass; (3) to vertical induction in horizontal soft iron when inclined. To compensate (1) vertical magnets are used; (3) is partly corrected by the soft iron correctors of D; (2) and the remaining part of (3) cannot be conveniently corrected for more than one geographical position at a time. Although a compass may thus be made practically correct for a given time and place, the magnetism of the ship is liable to changes on changing her geographical position, and especially so when steaming at right angles or nearly so to the magnetic meridian, for then sub-permanent magnetism is developed in the hull. Some vessels are more liable to become sub-permanently magnetized than others, and as no corrector has been found for this source of deviation the navigator must determine its amount by observation. Hence, however carefully a compass may be placed and subsequently compensated, the mariner has no safety without constantly observing the bearings of the sun, stars or distant terrestrial objects, to ascertain its deviation. The results of these observations are entered in a compass journal for future reference when fog or darkness prevails.

Every compass and corrector supplied to the ships of the British navy is previously examined in detail at the Compass Observatory established by the admiralty at Deptford. A trained observer acting under the superintendent of compasses is charged with this important work. The superintendent, who is a naval officer, has to investigate the magnetic character of the ships, to point out the most suitable positions for the compasses when a ship is designed, and subsequently to keep himself informed of their behaviour from the time of the ship's first trial. A museum containing compasses of various types invented during the 19th century is attached to the Compass Observatory at Deptford.

The mariner's compass during the early part of the 19th century was
still a very imperfect instrument, although numerous inventors had
tried to improve it. In 1837 the Admiralty Compass Committee was
appointed to make a scientific investigation of the subject, and
propose a form of compass suitable alike for azimuth and steering
purposes. The committee reported in July 1840, and after minor
improvements by the makers the admiralty compass, the card of which is
shown in figs. 1 and 2, was adopted by the government. Until 1876,
when Sir William Thomson introduced his patent compass, this compass
was not only the regulation compass of the British navy, but was
largely used in other countries in the same or a modified form. The
introduction of powerful engines causing serious vibration to compass
cards of the admiralty type, coupled with the prevailing desire for
larger cards, the deviation of which could also be more conveniently
compensated, led to the gradual introduction of the Thomson compass.
Several important points were gained in the latter: the quadrantal
deviation could be finally corrected for all latitudes; frictional
error at the cap and pivot was reduced to a minimum, the average
weight of the card being 200 grains; the long free vibrational period
of the card was found to be favourable to its steadiness when the
vessel was rolling. The first liquid compass used in England was
invented by Francis Crow, of Faversham, in 1813. It is said that the
idea of a liquid compass was suggested to Crow by the experience of
the captain of a coasting vessel whose compass card was oscillating
wildly until a sea broke on board filling the compass bowl, when the
card became steady. Subsequent improvements were made by E. J. Dent,
and especially by E. S. Ritchie, of Boston, Massachusetts. In 1888 the
form of liquid compass (fig. 5) now solely used in torpedo boats and
torpedo boat destroyers was introduced. It has also proved to be the
most trustworthy compass under the shock of heavy gun fire at present
available. The deflector is an instrument designed to enable an
observer to reduce the deviations of the compass to an amount not
exceeding 2 deg. during fogs, or at any time when bearings of distant
objects are not available. It is certain that if the directive forces
on the north, east, south and west points of a compass are equal,
there can be no deviation. With the deflector any inequality in the
directive force can be detected, and hence the power of equalizing the
forces by the usual soft iron and magnet correctors. Several kinds of
deflector have been invented, that of Lord Kelvin (Sir William
Thomson) being the simplest, but Dr Waghorn's is also very effective.
The use of the deflector is generally confined to experts.

_The Magnetism of Ships._--In 1814 Flinders first showed (see
Flinders's _Voyage_, vol. ii. appx. ii.) that the abnormal values of
the variation observed in the wood-built ships of his day was due to
deviation of the compass caused by the iron in the ship; that the
deviation was zero when the ship's head was near the north and south
points; that it attained its maximum on the east and west points, and
varied as the sine of the azimuth of the ship's head reckoned from the
zero points. He also described a method of correcting deviation by
means of a bar of vertical iron so placed as to correct the deviation
nearly in all latitudes. This bar, now known as a "Flinders bar," is
still in general use. In 1820 Dr T. Young (see Brande's _Quarterly
Journal_, 1820) investigated mathematically the magnetism of ships. In
1824 Professor Peter Barlow (1776-1862) introduced his correcting
plate of _soft_ iron. Trials in certain ships showed that their
magnetism consisted partly of hard iron, and the use of the plate was
abandoned. In 1835 Captain E. J. Johnson, R.N., showed from
experiments in the iron steamship "Garry Owen" that the vessel acted
on an external compass as a magnet. In 1838 Sir G. B. Airy
magnetically examined the iron steamship "Rainbow" at Deptford, and
from his mathematical investigations (see _Phil. Trans._, 1839)
deduced his method of correcting the compass by permanent magnets and
soft iron, giving practical rules for the same in 1840. Airy's and
Flinders's correctors form the basis of all compass correctors to this
day. In 1838 S. D. Poisson published his _Memoir on the Deviations of
the Compass caused by the Iron in a Vessel_. In this he gave equations
resulting from the hypothesis that the magnetism of a ship is partly
due to the permanent magnetism of hard iron and partly to the
transient induced magnetism of soft iron; that the latter is
proportional to the intensity of the inducing force, and that the
length of the needle is infinitesimally small compared to the distance
of the surrounding iron. From Poisson's equations Archibald Smith
deduced the formulae given in the _Admiralty Manual for Deviations of
the Compass_ (1st ed., 1862), a work which has formed the basis of
numerous other manuals since published in Great Britain and other
countries. In view of the serious difficulties connected with the
inclining of every ship, Smith's formulae for ascertaining and
providing for the correction of the heeling error with the ship
upright continue to be of great value to safe navigation. In 1855 the
Liverpool Compass Committee began its work of investigating the
magnetism of ships of the mercantile marine, resulting in three
reports to the Board of Trade, all of great value, the last being
presented in 1861.

See also MAGNETISM, and NAVIGATION; articles on Magnetism of Ships and
Deviations of the Compass, _Phil. Trans._, 1839-1883, _Journal United
Service Inst._, 1859-1889, _Trans. Inst. Nav. Archit._,
1860-1861-1862, _Report of Brit. Assoc._, 1862, _London Quarterly
Rev._, 1865; also _Admiralty Manual_, edit. 1862-1863-1869-1893-1900;
and Towson's _Practical Information on Deviations of the Compass_
(1886). (E. W. C.)

_History of the Mariner's Compass._

The discovery that a lodestone, or a piece of iron which has been touched by a lodestone, will direct itself to point in a north and south position, and the application of that discovery to direct the navigation of ships, have been attributed to various origins. The Chinese, the Arabs, the Greeks, the Etruscans, the Finns and the Italians have all been claimed as originators of the compass. There is now little doubt that the claim formerly advanced in favour of the Chinese is ill-founded. In Chinese history we are told how, in the sixty-fourth year of the reign of Hwang-ti (2634 B.C.), the emperor Hiuan-yuan, or Hwang-ti, attacked one Tchi-yeou, on the plains of Tchou-lou, and finding his army embarrassed by a thick fog raised by the enemy, constructed a chariot (Tchi-nan) for indicating the south, so as to distinguish the four cardinal points, and was thus enabled to pursue Tchi-yeou, and take him prisoner. (Julius Klaproth, _Lettre a M. le Baron Humboldt sur l'invention de la boussole_, Paris, 1834. See also Mailla, _Histoire generale de la Chine_, tom. i. p. 316, Paris, 1777.) But, as other versions of the story show, this account is purely mythical. For the south-pointing chariots are recorded to have been first devised by the emperor Hian-tsoung (A.D. 806-820); and there is no evidence that they contained any magnet. There is no genuine record of a Chinese marine compass before A.D. 1297, as Klaproth admits. No sea-going ships were built in China before 139 B.C. The earliest allusion to the power of the lodestone in Chinese literature occurs in a Chinese dictionary, finished in A.D. 121, where the lodestone is defined as "a stone with which an attraction can be given to a needle," but this knowledge is no more than that existing in Europe at least five hundred years before. Nor is there any nautical significance in a passage which occurs in the Chinese encyclopaedia, _Poei-wen-yun-fou_, in which it is stated that under the Tsin dynasty, or between A.D. 265 and 419, "there were ships indicating the south."

The Chinese, Sir J. F. Davis informs us, once navigated as far as India, but their most distant voyages at present extend not farther than Java and the Malay Islands to the south (_The Chinese_, vol. iii. p. 14, London, 1844). According to an Arabic manuscript, a translation of which was published by Eusebius Renaudot (Paris, 1718), they traded in ships to the Persian Gulf and Red Sea in the 9th century. Sir G. L. Staunton, in vol. i. of his _Embassy to China_ (London, 1797), after referring to the early acquaintance of the Chinese with the property of the magnet to point southwards, remarks (p. 445), "The nature and the cause of the qualities of the magnet have at all times been subjects of contemplation among the Chinese. The Chinese name for the compass is _ting-nan-ching_, or needle pointing to the south; and a distinguishing mark is fixed on the magnet's southern pole, as in European compasses upon the northern one." "The sphere of Chinese navigation," he tells us (p. 447), "is too limited to have afforded experience and observation for forming any system of laws supposed to govern the variation of the needle.... The Chinese had soon occasion to perceive how much more essential the perfection of the compass was to the superior navigators of Europe than to themselves, as the commanders of the 'Lion' and 'Hindostan,' trusting to that instrument, stood out directly from the land into the sea." The number of points of the compass, according to the Chinese, is twenty-four, which are reckoned from the south pole; the form also of the instrument they employ is different from that familiar to Europeans. The needle is peculiarly poised, with its point of suspension a little below its centre of gravity, and is exceedingly sensitive; it is seldom more than an inch in length, and is less than a line in thickness. "It may be urged," writes Mr T. S. Davies, "that the different manner of constructing the needle amongst the Chinese and European navigators shows the independence of the Chinese of us, as theirs is the worse method, and had they copied from us, they would have used the better one" (Thomson's _British Annual_, 1837, p. 291). On the other hand, it has been contended that a knowledge of the mariner's compass was communicated by them directly or indirectly to the early Arabs, and through the latter was introduced into Europe. Sismondi has remarked (_Literature of Europe_, vol. i.) that it is peculiarly characteristic of all the pretended discoveries of the middle ages that when the historians mention them for the first time they treat them as things in general use. Gunpowder, the compass, the Arabic numerals and paper, are nowhere spoken of as discoveries, and yet they must have wrought a total change in war, in navigation, in science, and in education. G. Tiraboschi (_Storia della letteratura italiana_, tom. iv. lib. ii. p. 204, et seq., ed. 2., 1788), in support of the conjecture that the compass was introduced into Europe by the Arabs, adduces their superiority in scientific learning and their early skill in navigation. He quotes a passage on the polarity of the lodestone from a treatise translated by Albertus Magnus, attributed by the latter to Aristotle, but apparently only an Arabic compilation from the works of various philosophers. As the terms _Zoron_ and _Aphron_, used there to signify the south and north poles, are neither Latin nor Greek, Tiraboschi suggests that they may be of Arabian origin, and that the whole passage concerning the lodestone may have been added to the original treatise by the Arabian translators.

Dr W. Robertson asserts (_Historical Disquisition concerning Ancient India_, p. 227) that the Arabs, Turks and Persians have no original name for the compass, it being called by them _Bossola_, the Italian name, which shows that the thing signified is foreign to them as well as the word. The Rev. G. P. Badger has, however, pointed out (_Travels of Ludovico di Varthema_, trans. J. W. Jones, ed. G. P. Badger, Hakluyt Soc, 1863, note, pp. 31 and 32) that the name of Bushla or Busba, from the Italian _Bussola_, though common among Arab sailors in the Mediterranean, is very seldom used in the Eastern seas,--_Dairah_ and _Beit el-Ibrah_ (the Circle, or House of the Needle) being the ordinary appellatives in the Red Sea, whilst in the Persian Gulf _Kiblah-n[=a]meh_ is in more general use. Robertson quotes Sir J. Chardin as boldly asserting "that the Asiatics are beholden to us for this wonderful instrument, which they had from Europe a long time before the Portuguese conquests. For, first, their compasses are exactly like ours, and they buy them of Europeans as much as they can, scarce daring to meddle with their needles themselves. Secondly, it is certain that the old navigators only coasted it along, which I impute to their want of this instrument to guide and instruct them in the middle of the ocean.... I have nothing but argument to offer touching this matter, having never met with any person in Persia or the Indies to inform me when the compass was first known among them, though I made inquiry of the most learned men in both countries. I have sailed from the Indies to Persia in Indian ships, when no European has been aboard but myself. The pilots were all Indians, and they used the forestaff and quadrant for their observations. These instruments they have from us, and made by our artists, and they do not in the least vary from ours, except that the characters are Arabic. The Arabs are the most skilful navigators of all the Asiatics or Africans; but neither they nor the Indians make use of charts, and they do not much want them; some they have, but they are copied from ours, for they are altogether ignorant of perspective." The observations of Chardin, who flourished between 1643 and 1713, cannot be said to receive support from the testimony of some earlier authorities. That the Arabs must have been acquainted with the compass, and with the construction and use of charts, at a period nearly two centuries previous to Chardin's first voyage to the East, may be gathered from the description given by Barros of a map of all the coast of India, shown to Vasco da Gama by a Moor of Guzerat (about the 15th of July 1498), in which the bearings were laid down "after the manner of the Moors," or "with meridians and parallels very small (or close together), without other bearings of the compass; because, as the squares of these meridians and parallels were very small, the coast was laid down by these two bearings of N. and S., and E. and W., with great certainty, without that multiplication of bearings of the points of the compass usual in our maps, which serves as the root of the others." Further, we learn from Osorio that the Arabs at the time of Gama "were instructed in so many of the arts of navigation, that they did not yield much to the Portuguese mariners in the science and practice of maritime matters." (See _The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama_, Hakluyt Soc, 1869; note to chap. xv. by the Hon. H. E. J. Stanley, p. 138.) Also the Arabs that navigated the Red Sea at the same period are shown by Varthema to have used the mariner's chart and compass (_Travels_, p. 31).

Again, it appears that compasses of a primitive description, which can hardly be supposed to have been brought from Europe, were employed in the East Indies certainly as early as several years previous to the close of the 16th century. In William Barlowe's _Navigator's Supply_, published in 1597, we read:--"Some fewe yeeres since, it so fell out that I had severall conferences with two East Indians which were brought into England by master Candish [Thomas Cavendish], and had learned our language: The one of them was of Mamillia [Manila] in the Isle of Luzon, the other of Miaco in Japan. I questioned with them concerning their shipping and manner of sayling. They described all things farre different from ours, and shewed, that in steade of our Compas, they use a magneticall needle of sixe ynches long, and longer, upon a pinne in a dish of white _China_ earth filled with water; In the bottome whereof they have two crosse lines, for the foure principall windes; the rest of the divisions being reserved to the skill of their Pilots." Bailak Kibdjaki, also, an Arabian writer, shows in his _Merchant's Treasure_, a work given to the world in 1282, that the magnetized needle, floated on water by means of a splinter of wood or a reed, was employed on the Syrian seas at the time of his voyage from Tripoli to Alexandria (1242), and adds:--"They say that the captains who navigate the Indian seas use, instead of the needle and splinter, a sort of fish made out of hollow iron, which, when thrown into the water, swims upon the surface, and points out the north and south with its head and tail" (Klaproth, _Lettre_, p. 57). E. Wiedemann, in _Erlangen Sitzungsberichte_ (1904, p. 330), translates the phrase given above as splinter of wood, by the term wooden cross. Furthermore, although the sailors in the Indian vessels in which Niccola de' Conti traversed the Indian seas in 1420 are stated to have had no compass, still, on board the ship in which Varthema, less than a century later, sailed from Borneo to Java, both the mariner's chart and compass were used; it has been questioned, however, whether in this case the compass was of Eastern manufacture (_Travels of Varthema_, Introd. xciv, and p. 249). We have already seen that the Chinese as late as the end of the 18th century made voyages with compasses on which but little reliance could be placed; and it may perhaps be assumed that the compasses early used in the East were mostly too imperfect to be of much assistance to navigators, and were therefore often dispensed with on customary routes. The Arab traders in the Levant certainly used a floating compass, as did the Italians before the introduction of the pivoted needle; the magnetized piece of iron being floated upon a small raft of cork or reeds in a bowl of water. The Italian name of _calamita_, which still persists, for the magnet, and which literally signifies a frog, is doubtless derived from this practice.

The simple water-compass is said to have been used by the Coreans so late as the middle of the 18th century; and Dr T. Smith, writing in the _Philosophical Transactions_ for 1683-1684, says of the Turks (p. 439), "They have no genius for Sea-voyages, and consequently are very raw and unexperienced in the art of Navigation, scarce venturing to sail out of sight of land. I speak of the natural _Turks_, who trade either into the _black Sea_ or some part of the _Morea_, or between _Constantinople_ and _Alexandria_, and not of the Pyrats of _Barbary_, who are for the most part Renegado's, and learnt their skill in Christendom. ... The Turkish compass consists but of 8 points, the four Cardinal and the four Collateral." That the value of the compass was thus, even in the latter part of the 17th century, so imperfectly recognized in the East may serve to explain how in earlier times that instrument, long after the first discovery of its properties, may have been generally neglected by navigators.