Chapter XIV: Part 14

Variation of the compass, 7, 46, 79, 116, 151-163, 166, 167, 180.
variation at the Azores, 4, 154, 156, 167.
versorium, magnetick, definition of, *vj.
use of, 13, 115, 147.
versorium, non-magnetick, use of, 48, 49, 50.
verticity, 28, 115, 119-147.
acquired, 67, 68, 84, 85, 104, 123, 125, 129, 138, 139, 141, 142, 211.
in iron plates touched by loadstone, 84.
in iron sphere, 85.
how, in iron, 123, 139, 212.
in bracket in tower of St. Augustine's Church, Rimini, 141.
similar at ends of rod touched in middle, 84, 129.
by percussion, 139.
through interposed matter, 67.
not in bodies other than magnetick, 142.
æquator separates two kinds of, 79.
possessed by the earth, as a "Cause," 117.
change of, through change of mass, 72.
definition of, *vj.
described, 119, 120, 121.
destroyed by heat, 66, 93, 124.
earth produces it in loadstone and iron, 42, 140, 211, 212.
excited through greater distances in iron than in air, 104.
exists in all shapes of loadstone, 76.
helps the earth to keep its orbit, 224.
inhærent in wrought iron, 31, 115.
as a magnetick motion, 46.
mutation of, 120, 137.
magnitude of earth prevents variation of, 163, 164.
none acquired by iron rubbed on æquator of terrella, 148.
not affected by position of loadstone, 144.
of one loadstone as affected by another, 69, 138.
opposite, acquired by iron touched by loadstone, 115, 125, 129.
parts having same repel, 122, 133.
pole of, where last contact is, 149.
strengthened in versoria, 147-150.
strength of, decreases at once in both poles, 146.
Villa nova, Arnaldus de, 2, 7.
vincentina, the, 48.
Vincent's Rock, gem of, 54.

Weather affects electricks, 48, 53, 55, 56.
weighing the magnetick force, 108.
Wright, Edward, his prefatory address, *iij _bis_, 7.
wrought iron is magnetick, 29, 139.

Youth preserved by loadstone, 32.

Zeilam, the king of, 32.
Zimiri, 11.
Zoroaster, 209.

{247} THIS TREATISE BY WILLIAM GILBERT, OF COLCHESTER, PHYSICIAN OF LONDON, ON THE MAGNET, WAS FIRST PUBLISHT IN THE LATIN TONGUE IN LONDON IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD M.D.C.; THIS ENGLISH TRANSLATION, WHICH WAS COMPLETED IN THE YEAR M.C.M., IS PRINTED FOR THE GILBERT CLUB, TO THE NUMBER OF TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES, BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND COMPANY, AT THE CHISWICK PRESS, TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.

* * * * *

NOTES

ON THE

DE MAGNETE

OF

DR. WILLIAM GILBERT

PRIVATELY PRINTED

LONDON MCMI

"For out of olde feldes, as men seith,
Cometh al this newe corn fro yeer to yere;
And out of olde bokes, in good feith,
Cometh al this newe science that men lere."
--_Chaucer._

"I finde that you have vsed in this your tr[=a]slation greate art,
knowledge, and discretion. For walking as it were in golden fetters (as
al Translators doe) you notwithstanding so warilie follow your Auctor,
that where he trippeth you hold him vp, and where he goeth out of the
way, you better direct his foote. You haue not only with the Bee sucked
out the best iuyce from so sweete a flower, but with the Silke-worme as
it were wouen out of your owne bowels, the finest silke; & that which
is more, not rude & raw silke, but finely died with the fresh colour of
your owne Art, Invention, and Practise. If these Adamantes draw you not
to effect this which you haue so happilie begunne: then let these
spurres driue you forward: viz. Your owne promise, the expectation of
your friends, the losse of some credit if you should steppe backe, the
profit which your labours may yeeld to many, the earnest desire which
you yourselfe haue to reviue this Arte, and the vndoubted acceptation
of your paines, if you performe the same."--(Prefatory epistle of John
Case, D. of Physicke, printed in R. Haydocke's translation of _The
Artes of Curious Painting_, of Lomatius, Oxford, 1598.)

"This booke is not for every rude and unconnynge man to see, but for
clerkys and very gentylmen that understand gentylness and
scyence."--_Caxton._

CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.

* * * * *

{ij}

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF _DE MAGNETE_.

I. (THE LONDON FOLIO OF 1600.) _Fol. *j. title_ GVILIELMI GIL | berti colcestren | sis, medici londi- | nensis, | DE MAGNETE, MAGNETI- | cisqve corporibvs, et de mag- | no magnete tellure; Physiologia noua, | plurimis & argumentis, & expe- | rimentis demonstrata. | _Printer's Mark_ | Londini | excudebat Petrvs Short anno | MDC. || _*j verso_ Gilbert's coat of arms. || _*ij_ Ad Lectorem || _*iij verso_ Ad gravissimvm doctissimvmqve ... || _*vj_ Verborum quorundam interpretatio. || _*vj verso_ Index capitum. || p. 1. GVILIELMI GILBERTI | DE MAGNETE, LIB. I. || p. 240. FINIS. | Errata. Without any colophon, printer's Mark, or date at end. _Folio. 8 ll. of preliminary matter._ ABCDEFGHIKLMNOPQRSTV, _all ternions, making 120 numbered leaves. One blank leaf at front and one at end. Page 114 at end of Liber II. blank. A folded woodcut plate inserted between p. 200 and p. 201. Woodcut initials, headlines and diagrams. All known copies except one have ink corrections in several pages, particularly pp. 11, 22, 47._

II. (THE STETTIN QUARTO OF 1628.) _Four preliminary unnumbered leaves, viz._ (1) _Bastard title_ GULIELMI GILBERTI | Tractatus | DE MAGNETE || _verso_ blank; (2) _Engraved title._ TRACTATVS | Siue | PHYSIOLOGIA NOVA | DE MAGNETE, | MAGNETICISQVE CORPO- | RIBVS ET MAGNO MAGNETE | tellure Sex libris comprehensus | ã | Guilielmo Gilberto Colcestrensi, | Medico Londinensi | ... Omnia nunc diligenter recognita & emen- | datius quam ante in lucem edita, aucta & figu- | ris illustrata operâ & studio | Wolfgangi LOCHMANS I.U.D. | & Mathemati: | Ad calcem libri adjunctus est Index Capi- | tum Rerum et Verborum locupletissimus | EXCVSVS SEDINI | Typis Gotzianis Sumptibus | _Ioh: Hallervordij._ | Anno MDC.XXVIII || _verso_ blank; (3) Præfatio; (4) Amicorum Acclamationes (verses) || _verso_ blank. _Sig._ A Ad Lectorem Candidum. _Sig._ A2 _verso_ Ad Gravissimum Doctissimum[=q] Virum. _Sig._ B2 Verborum quorundam interpretatio. _Verso_ blank, followed by twelve engraved plates numbered I. to XII. _Sig._ B3 is numbered as p. 1, and begins GVILIELMI GILBERTI | DE MAGNETE. | LIBER I. _Sig._ C _begins as p. 5_; _Sig._ D as p. 13; and so forth. The collation therefore is: 4 ll. unnumbered, ABCDEFGHIKLMNOPQRSTVXYZAaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiKkLlMm, _all fours. Pagination ends on_ p. 232, _which has Sig._ H_3 _in error for_ Hh_3, _being the end of the text. Verso of_ Hh_3 blank. Index capitum _begins fol._ [Hh_4] _and_ with Index Verborum _continues to verso of_ Mm_3. _Last leaf_ [Mm_4] _contains Errata, and instructions to binder to place plates: verso_ blank. _Quarto. Woodcut initials and diagrams. Without any colophon, printer's Mark, or date at end._ In some copies the engraved title differs, having the words _Ioh: Hallervordij._ replaced by the word _Authoris_.

{iij} III. (THE STETTIN QUARTO OF 1633.) _Four preliminary unnumbered leaves_, viz., (1) _title._ Tractatus, sive Physiologia Nova | de | MAGNETE, | Magneticisq; corporibus & magno | Magnate tellure, sex libris comprehensus, | a GUILIELMO GILBERTO Colce- | strensi, Medico Londinensi. | ... Omnia nunc diligenter recognita, & emendatius quam ante | in lucem edita, aucta & figuris illustrata, opera & studio D. | WOLFGANGI LOCHMANS, I.U.D. | & Mathematici. | Ad calcem libri adiunctus est Index capitum, Rerum & Verborum | locupletissimus, qui in priore æditione desiderabatur | SEDINI, | Typis GOTZIANIS. | ANNO M.DC. XXXII. || _verso_ blank; (2) Præfatio; (3) Amicorum acclamationes (verses) || _verso_ Claudianus de Magnete (verses); (4) _ibid._ _Sig._ A Ad Lectorem Candidum. _Sig._ A2 _verso_ Ad Gravissimum Doctissimumq. Virum. _Sig._ B2 Verborum quorundam interpretatio; _verso_ blank. _Sig._ B3 is numbered as p. 1, and begins GVILIELMI GILBERTI | DE MAGNETE. | LIBER I. _Sig._ C begins as p. 5; _Sig._ D as p. 13; and so forth. The Collation therefore is: 4 _ll._ unnumbered, A _to_ Mm, _all fours_. Pagination _ends on p. 232, which bears Sig._ H3 _in error for_ Hh3. _Verso of Sig._ Hh3. Errata. Index capitum _begins_ Hh4, _and with_ Index Verborum _extends to verso_ of Mm3. _The last leaf_ [Mm4] _bears the Instructions to binder, with verso_ blank. _There is no colophon, printer's Mark, or date at end. Quarto. Woodcut initials, and diagrams. Twelve etched plates of various sizes inserted._

With the exception of the preliminary matter and the Instructions to binder, the pagination is the same as in the edition of 1628, the pages in the body of the work being reprinted word for word; though with exceptions. For example, p. 18 in Ed. 1633 is one line shorter than in Ed. 1628. The etched plates are entirely different. It has been thought from the pagination being alike that these two editions were really the same with different plates, titles, and preliminary matter. But they are really different. The spacing of the words, letters and lines is different throughout, and there are different misprints. The watermarks of the paper also differ.

IV. (THE BERLIN "FACSIMILE" FOLIO OF 1892.) This is a photozincograph reproduction of the London folio of 1600. It lacks the ink emendations on pages 11, 22, 47, &c., found in the original, and is wanting also in some of the asterisks in the margins.

V. (THE AMERICAN TRANSLATION OF 1893.) Frontispiece portrait || _p. i. title_ WILLIAM GILBERT | OF COLCHESTER, | physician of London, | on the | Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies, | and on | the great magnet the earth. | A new Physiology, | demonstrated with many arguments and experiments. | A translation by | P. Fleury Mottelay, | ... | New York: | John Wiley & Sons, | 53 East Tenth Street | 1893. || _p. ii_ bears imprint of Ferris Bros. _Printers_, 326 Pearl Street, New York. || _p. iii._ reduced reproduction of title of 1600 edition || _verso_ the Gilbert arms || _p. v._ Translator's Preface || _p. ix._ Biographical Memoir || _p. xxxi._ Contents || _p. xxxvii._ Address of Edward Wright || _p. xlvii._ Author's Preface. || _p. liii._ Explanation of some terms. || pp. 1-358 text of the work. || p. 359 reduced reproduction of title of 1628 edition. || p. 360 _ditto_ of 1633 edition. || p. 361 _ditto_ of Gilbert's _De Mundo Nostro_ of 1651. || pp. 363 to 368 General Index. || Pages _xxx_, _xlvi_, _lii_, and 362 are blanks. There are no signatures. Octavo. Diagrams reduced from woodcuts of the folio of 1600. Some copies bear on title the imprint | London: | Bernard Quaritch, | 15 Piccadilly. ||

* * * * *

{1}

NOTES ON THE _DE MAGNETE_ OF DR. WILLIAM GILBERT.

During the work of revising and editing the English translation of _De Magnete_, many points came up for discussion, requiring critical consideration, and the examination of the writings of contemporary or earlier authorities. Discrepancies between the texts of the three known editions--the London folio of 1600, and the two Stettin quartos of 1628 and 1633 respectively--demanded investigation. Passages relating to astrology, to pharmacy, to alchemy, to geography, and to navigation, required to be referred to persons acquainted with the early literature of those branches. Phrases of non-classical Latin, presenting some obscurity, needed explanation by scholars of mediæval writings. Descriptions of magnetical experiments needed to be interpreted by persons whose knowledge of magnetism enabled them to infer the correct meaning to be assigned to the words in the text. In this wise a large amount of miscellaneous criticism has been brought to bear, and forms the basis for the following notes. To make them available to all students of Gilbert, the references are given to page and line both of the Latin folio of 1600 and of the English edition of 1900. S. P. T.

[1] _THE GLOSSARY:_

Gilbert's glossary is practically an apology for the introduction into the Latin language of certain new words, such as the nouns _terrella_, _versorium_, and _verticitas_, and the adjectival noun _magneticum_, which either did not exist in classical Latin or had not the technical meaning which he now assigns to them. His _terrella_, or [Greek: mikrogê], as he explains in detail on p. 13, is a little magnetic model of the earth, but in the glossary he simply defines it as _magnes globosus_. Neither _terrella_ nor _versorium_ appears in any Latin dictionary. No older writer had used either word, though Peter Peregrinus (_De Magnete_, Augsburg, 1558) had described experiments with globular loadstones, and pivotted magnetic needles suitable for use in a compass had been known for nearly three centuries. Yet the pivotted needle was not denominated _versorium_. Blondo (_De Ventis_, Venice, 1546) does not use the term. Norman (_The Newe Attractiue_, London, 1581) speaks of the "needle or compasse," and of the "wyre." Barlowe (_The Navigators Supply_, London, 1597) speaks of {2} the "flie," or the "wier." The term _versorium_ (literally, the _turn-about_) is Gilbert's own invention. It was at once adopted into the science, and appears in the treatises of Cabeus, _Philosophia Magnetica_ (Ferrara, 1629), and of Kircher, _Magnes sive de Arte Magnetica_ (Coloniæ, 1643), and other writers of the seventeenth century. Curiously enough, its adoption to denote the pivotted magnetic needle led to the growth of an erroneous suggestion that the mariners' compass was known to the ancients because of the occurrence in the writings of Plautus of the term _versoriam_, or _vorsoriam_. This appears twice as the accusative case of a feminine noun _versoria_, or _vorsoria_, which was used to denote part of the gear of a ship used in tacking-about. Forcellini defines _versoria_ as "funiculus quo extremus veli angulus religatur"; while _versoriam capere_ is equivalent to "reverti," or (metaphorically) "sententiam mutare." The two passages in Plautus are:

EUT. Si huc item properes, ut istuc properas, facias rectius,
Huc secundus ventus nunc est; cape modo vorsoriam;
Hic Favonius serenu'st, istic Auster imbricus:
Hic facit tranquillitatem, iste omnes fluctus conciet.
(in _Mercat._ Act. V., sc. 2.)

CHARM. Stasime, fac te propere celerem recipe te ad dominum domum;
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cape vorsoriam
Recipe te ad herum.
(in _Trinum._ Act. IV., sc. 3.)

The word _magneticum_ is also of Gilbert's own coinage, as a noun; as an adjective it had been certainly used before, at least in its English form, _magneticall_, which appears on the title-page of William Borough's _Discourse of the Variation of the Compasse_ (London, 1596). Gilbert does not use anywhere the noun _magnetismus_, _magnetism_. The first use of that noun occurs in William Barlowe's _Magneticall Aduertisements_ (1616), in the _Epistle Dedicatorie_, wherein, when speaking of Dr. Gilbert, he says "vnto whom I communicated what I had obserued of my selfe, and what I had built vpon his foundation of the _Magnetisme_ of the earth." Gilbert speaks of the _virtus magnetica_, or _vis magnetica_; indeed, he has a rich vocabulary of terms, using, beside _virtus_ and _vis_, _vires_, _robur_, _potestas_, _potentia_, _efficientia_, and _vigor_ for that which we should now call _magnetism_ or _the magnetic forces_. Nor does he use the verb _magnetisare_, or its participle, _magnetisatus_: he speaks of _ferrum tactum_, or of _ferrum excitatum a magnete_. In spite of certain obscurities which occur in places in his work, he certainly shows a nice appreciation of words and their use, and a knowledge of style. One finds occasionally direct quotations from, and overt references to, the classic authors, as in the references to Plato and Aristotle on page 1, and in the passage from the Georgics of Vergil on p. 21. But here and there one finds other traces of unmistakable scholarship, as in the reference to goat's wool on p. 35, or in the use, on p. 210, of the word _perplacet_, which occurs in the letter of Cicero _ad Atticum_, or in that of _commonstrabit_, occurring on p. 203, and found only in Cicero, Terence and Plautus; whilst the phrase on p. 3, in which Gilbert rallies the smatterers on having lost both their oil and their pains, has a delightfully classical echo. {3} The term _orbis virtutis_, defined by Gilbert in the glossary, and illustrated by the cuts on pages 76, 77, and 96, might be effectively translated by _sphere of influence_, or _orbit within which there is sensible attraction_. It has been preferred, however, to translate it literally as the _orbe of virtue_, or _orbe of magnetick virtue_. This choice has been determined by the desire to adopt such an English phrase as Gilbert would himself have used had he been writing English. T. Hood, writing in 1592 in his book _The Vse of both the Globes_, in using the word _orbe_, says that the word _globe_ signifies a solid body, while a _sphere_ is hollow, like two "dishes joyned by the brimme"; "The Latines properly call _Orbis_ an Orbe"; "Moreouer the word _Sphaera_ signifieth that instrument made of brasen hoopes (wee call it commonly a ringed Sphere) wherewith the Astronomers deliuer unto the nouices of that Science the vnderstanding of things which they imagine in the heauen." Further, Dr. Marke Ridley in his _Treatise of Magneticall Bodies and Motions_ (1613), has a chapter (XIIII) "Of the distance and Orbe of the Magnets vertue," throughout which the term Orbe is retained. Sir Thomas Browne also writes of "the orb of their activities."

The word _Coitio_, used by Gilbert for the mutual force between magnet and iron, has been retained in its English form, _coition_. Gilbert evidently adopted this term after much thought. The Newtonian conception of action and reaction being necessarily equal had not dawned upon the mediæval philosophers. The term _attraction_ had been used in a limited sense to connote an action in which a force was conceived of as being exerted on one side only. Diogenes of Apollonia, Alexander Aphrodiseus, Democritus, and others, conceived the magnet to draw at the iron without the iron in any way contributing to that action. Saint Basil specially affirms that the magnet is not drawn by iron. On the other hand, Albertus Magnus had conceived the idea that the iron sought the magnet by a one-sided effort in which the magnet took no part. Gilbert had the wit to discern that the action was mutual, and to mark the new conception he adopted the new term, and defined it as it stands in his glossary. It is "a concourse or concordancy of both," and to emphasize his meaning he adds, "not as if there were an [Greek: helktikê dunamis] but a [Greek: sundromê]" not a tractile power, but a running together. The adjective [Greek: helktikê] is obviously related to the verb [Greek: helkô], I draw: but its meaning puzzled the subsequent editors of the text, for in the two Stettin editions of 1628 and 1633, the phrase appears in the respective forms of [Greek: helêtikê dunamis] and [Greek: helkustikê dunamis]. In Creech's English version of Lucretius (edition of 1722, p. 72a, in the footnote) is the commentary "Galen, disputing against Epicurus, uses the term [Greek: helkein], which seems likewise too violent." It may be noted that the same verb occurs in the passage from the _Io_ of Plato quoted below. The term [Greek: sundromê] applied by Gilbert to explain his term _Coitio_ is used by Diodorus for the mutual onset of two hostile forces.

A picturesque sentence from Sir Thomas Browne's _Pseudodoxia Epidemica_ (London, 1650, p. 51) sets the matter succinctly forth. "If in two skiffs of cork, a Loadstone and Steel be placed within the orb of their activities, the one doth not move the other standing still, but both hoist sayle and steer unto each other; so that if the Loadstone attract, the Steel hath also its attraction; for in this action the Alliency is reciprocall, which jointly felt, they mutually approach and run into each others arms." {4} The page and line references given in these notes are in all cases first to the Latin edition of 1600, and secondly to the English edition of 1900.

[2] PAGE 1, LINE 28. Page 1, line 28. _Plato in Ione._--The passage in the _Io_ of Plato is in chap. v. Socrates addressing the poet Io tells him that his facility in reciting Homer is not really an art: [Greek: theia de dunamis, hê se kinei hôsper en têi lithôi, hên Euripidês men Magnêtin ônomasen, hoi de polloi Hêrakleian. kai gar autê hê lithos ou monon autous tous daktulious agei tous sidêrous, alla kai dunamin entithêsi tois daktuliois, ôst au dunasthai tautou touto poiein, hoper hê lithos, allous agein daktulious, hôst' enioth' hormathos makros panu sidêriôn kai daktuliôn ex allêlôn êrtêtai pasi de toutois ex ekeinês tês lithou hê dunamis anêrtêtai.] The idea is that as the loadstone in attracting an iron ring will make it into a magnet, which can in turn act magnetically on another ring, and this on yet another, so the inspiration of the Muse is transferred to the poet, who in turn hands on the inspiration through the reciter to the listener. After further expanding the same idea of the transference of influence, Socrates again mentions the magnet (chap. vii.): [Greek: Oisth' oun hoti outos estin ho theatês tôn daktuliôn ho eschatos, hôn egô elegon hupo tês Hêrakleiôtidos lithou ap' allêlôn tên dunamin lambanein, ho de mesos su ho rhapsôdos kai hupokritês, ho de prôtos autos ho poiêtês? ho de theos dia pantôn toutôn helkei tên psuchên hopoi an boulêtai tôn anthrôpôn, k.t.l.] (Edition Didot of 1856, vol. i., p. 391; or Stephanus, p. 533 D).

There is another reference in Plato to the magnet, namely, in the _Timæus_ (p. 240, vol. ii., Edit. citat.). See the Note to p. 61.

The reference by Euripides to the magnet occurs in the lost play of Oeneus, in a fragment preserved by Suidas. See _Fragmenta Euripidis_ (Ed. Didot, 1846, p. 757, or Nauck's edition, No. 567).

[Greek: hôs Euripidês en Oinei; tas brotôn gnômas skopôn, hôste Magnêtis lithos tên doxan helkei kai methistêsin palin.]

[3] PAGE 1, LINE 28. Page 1, line 29. The brief passage from Aristotle's _De Anima_ referring to Thales is quoted by Gilbert himself at the bottom of p. 11.

[4] PAGE 2, LINE 1. Page 1, line 29. The edition of 1628 inserts commas between Theophrastus and Lesbius, and between Julius and Solinus, as though these were four persons instead of two.

[5] PAGE 2, LINE 8. Page 2, line 5. _si allio magnes illitus fuerit, aut si adamas fuerit_. An excellent version of this myth is to be found in Julius Solinus, _Polyhistor, De Memorabilibus_, chap. lxiv., of which the English version of 1587, by A. Golding, runs thus: "The Diamonde will not suffer the Lodestone to drawe yron unto him: or if y^e Lodestone haue alreadie drawne a peece of yron to it, the Diamond snatcheth and pulleth away as hys bootye whatsoever the Lodestone hath taken hold of." Saint Augustine repeats the diamond myth in his _De Civitate Dei_, lib. xxi. Baptista Porta says (p. 211 of the English version of 1658): "It is a common Opinion amongst Sea-men, That Onyons and Garlick are at odds with the Loadstone: and Steers-men, and such as tend the Mariners Card are forbid to eat Onyons or Garlick, lest they make the Index of the Poles drunk. But when I tried all these things, found them to be false: for not onely breathing and belching upon the Loadstone after eating of Garlick, did not stop its vertues: but when it was all anoynted over with the juice of Garlick, it did perform its office as well as if it had never been touched with it: and I could observe almost not the least difference, lest I should make void the endeavours of the Ancients. {5} And again, When I enquired of Marines, whether it were so, that they were forbid to eat Onyons and Garlick for that reason; they said, they were old Wives fables, and things ridiculous; and that Sea-men would sooner lose their lives, then abstain from eating Onyons and Garlick."

The fables respecting the antipathy of garlick and of the diamond to the operation of the magnet, although already discredited by Ruellius and by Porta, died hard. In spite of the exposure and denunciations of Gilbert--compare p. 32--these tales were oft repeated during the succeeding century. In the appendix to Sir Hugh Plat's _Jewel House of Art and Nature_, in the edition of 1653, by D. B. Gent, it is stated there (p. 218): "The Loadstone which ... hath an admirable vertue not onely to draw Iron to it self, but also to make any Iron upon which it is rubbed to draw iron also, it is written notwithstanding, that being rubbed with the juyce of Garlick, it loseth that vertue, and cannot then draw iron, as likewise if a Diamond be layed close unto it."

Pliny wrote of the alleged antipathy between diamond and goat's blood. The passage as quoted from the English version of Pliny's _Natural Historie of the World_, translated by Philemon Holland (London, 1601, p. 610, chap, iv.), runs: "But I would gladly know whose invention this might be to soake the Diamond in Goats bloud, whose head devised it first, or rather by what chance was it found out and knowne? What conjecture should lead a man to make an experiment of such a singular and admirable secret, especially in a goat, the filthiest beast ... in the whole world? Certes I must ascribe both this invention and all such like to the might and beneficence together of the divine powers: neither are we to argue and reason how and why Nature hath done this or that? Sufficient is it that her will was so, and thus she would have it."

[6] PAGE 2, LINE 22. Page 2, line 22. _Machometis sacellum._ Gilbert credits Matthiolus (the well-known herbalist and commentator on Dioscorides) with producing the fable as to Mahomet's coffin being suspended in the air by a magnet. Sir Richard Burton, in his famous pilgrimage to El Medïnah in 1855, effectually disposed of this myth. The reputed sarcophagus rests simply on bricks on the floor. But it had long been known that aerial suspension, even of the lightest iron object, in the air, without contact above or below, was impossible by any magnetic agency.

In Barlowe's _Magneticall Aduertisements_ (London, 1616, p. 45) is the following: "As for the Turkes _Mahomet_, hanging in the ayer with his yron chest it is a most grosse untruth, and utterly impossible it is for any thing to hange in the ayer by any _magneticall_ power, but that either it must touch the stone it selfe, or else some intermediate body, that hindreth it from comming to the stone (like as before I haue shewed) or else some stay below to keepe it from ascending, as some small wier that may scantly bee seene or perceived."

[7] PAGE 2, LINE 26. Page 2, line 26. _Arsinoes templum._--The account in Pliny of the magnetic suspension of the statue of Arsinoe in the temple built by Chinocrates is given as follows in the English version (London, 1601) of Philemon Holland (p. 515): "And here I cannot chuse but acquaint you with the singular invention of that great architect and master deviser, of Alexandria in Ægypt _Dinocrates_, who began to make the arched roufe of the temple of _Arsinoe_ 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. But prevented he was by death {6} before hee could finish his worke, like as king _Ptolomæe_ also, who ordained that temple to be built in the honour of the said _Arsinoe_ his sister."

There are a number of similar myths in Ausonius, Claudian, and Cassiodorus, and in the writings of later ecclesiastical historians, such as Rusinus and Prosper Aquitanus. The very meagre accounts they have left, and the scattered references to the reputed magical powers of the loadstone, suggest that there existed amongst the primitive religions of mankind a _magnet-worship_, of which these records are traces.

[8] PAGE 2, LINE 37. Page 2, line 41. _Brasevolus_ [or _Brasavola_].--The list of authorities here cited consists mostly of well-known mediæval writers on _materia medica_ or on minerals: the last on the list, _Hannibal Rosetius Calaber_, has not been identified.

The following are the references in the order named by Gilbert:

Antonio Musa Brasavola. _Examen omnium simplicium medicamentorum_, Section 447 (Lugdun., 1537).

Joannes Baptista Montanus. _Metaphrasis summaria eorum quæ ad medicamentorum doctrinà attinet_ (Augustæ Rheticæ, 1551).

Amatus Lusitanus. _Amati Lusitani in Dioscoridis Anazarbei de materia medica libros quinque_ (Venet., 1557, p. 507).

Oribasius. _Oribasii Sardiani ad Eunapium libri 4 quibus ... facultates simplicium ... continentur_ (Venet., 1558).

Aetius Amidenus. _Aetii Amideni Librorum medicinalium ... libri octo nunc primum in lucem editi_ (Greek text, Aldine edition, Venet., 1534). A Latin edition appeared in Basel, 1535. See also his _tetrabiblos ex veteribus medicinæ_ (Basil., 1542).

Avicenna (Ibn Sinâ). _Canona Medicinæ_ (Venice, 1486), liber ii., cap. 474.

Serapio Mauritanus (Yuhanná Ibn Sarapion). In hoc volumine continentur ... _Ioan. Sarapionis Arabis de Simplicibus Medicinis opus præclarum et ingens ..._ (edited by Brunfels, Argentorati, 1531, p. 260).

Hali Abbas ('Alí Ibn Al 'Abb[=a]s). _Liber totius medicinæ necessaria c[=o]tinens ... quem Haly filius Abbas edidit ... et a Stephano ex arabica lingua reductus_ (Lugd., 1523, p. 176 _verso_).

Santes de Ardoniis (or Ardoynis). _Incipit liber de venenis quem magister santes de ardoynis ... edere cepit venetiis die octauo nou[=e]bris_, 1424 (Venet., 1492).

Petrus Apponensis (or Petrus de Abano). The loadstone is referred to in two works by this author.

(1) _Conciliator differentiarum philosophorum: et precipue medicorum clarissimi viri Petri de Abano Patauini feliciter incipit_ (Venet., 1496, p. 72, _verso_, Quæstio LI.).

(2) _Tractatus de Venenis_ (Roma, 1490, cap. xi.).

Marcellus (called Marcellus Empiricus). _De Medicamentis_, in the volume _Medici antiqui omnes_ (Venet., 1547, p. 89).

Arnaldus (Arnaldus de Villa Nova). _Incipit Tractatus de virtutibus herbarum_ (Venet., 1499). See also _Arnaldi Villanovani Opera omnia_ (Basil., 1585).

Marbodeus Gallus. _Marbodei Galli poetae vetustissimi de lapidibus pretiosis Enchiridion_ (Friburgi, 1530 [1531], p. 41).

Albertus Magnus. _De Mineralibus et rebus metallicis_ (Venet., 1542, lib. ii., _de lapidibus preciosis_, p. 192). There is a reference to the loadstone {7} also in a work attributed falsely to Albertus, but now ascribed to Henricus de Saxonia, _De virtutibus herbarum, de virtutibus lapidum_, etc. (Rouen, 1500, and subsequent editions). An English version, _The Secrets of Albertus Magnus of the vertues of hearbs stones and certaine beasts_ was publisht in London in 1617.

Matthæus Silvaticus. _Pandectæ Medicinæ_ (Lugduni, 1541, cap. 446).

Hermolaus Barbarus. His work, _Hermolai Barbari Patritii Veneti et Aqvileiensis patriarchæ Corollarii Libri quinque ..._ Venet., 1516, is an early herbal. On p. 103 are to be found descriptions of _lapis gagatis_ and _lapis magnes_. The latter is mostly taken from Pliny, and mentions the alleged theamedes, and the myth of the floating statue.

Camillus Leonardus. _Speculum Lapidum_ (Venet., 1502, fol. xxxviii.). An English translation, _The Mirror of Stones_, appeared in London in 1750.

Cornelius Agrippa. _Henrici Cor. Agrippæ ab Nettesheym ... De Occulta Philosophia Libri Tres_ (Antv., 1531). The English version _Of the Vanitie and uncertaintie of Artes_ was publisht in London, 1569, and again later.

Fallopius (Gabriellus). _G. F. de simplicibus medicamentis purgantibus tractatus_ (Venet., 1566). See also his _Tractatus de compositione medicamentorum_ (Venet., 1570).

Johannes Langius. _Epistolarum medicinalium volumen tripartitum_ (Paris, 1589, p. 792).

Cardinalis Cusanus (Nicolas Khrypffs, Cardinal de Cusa). _Nicolai Cusani de staticis experimentis dialogus_ (Argentorati, 1550). The English edition, entitled _The Idiot in four books_, is dated London, 1650.

[9] PAGE 3, LINE 1. Page 2, line 42. _Marcellus_.--"Marcellus Empiricus, médecin de Théodose-le-Grand, dit que l'aimant, appelé _antiphyson_, attire et repousse le fer." (Klaproth, _Sur l'invention de la boussole_, 1834, p. 12.) The passage from Marcellus runs: "Magnetes lapis, qui antiphyson dicitur, qui ferrum trahit et abjicit, et magnetes lapis qui sanguinem emittit et ferrum ad se trahit, collo alligati aut circa caput dolori capitis medentur." (Marcellus, _de Medicamentis_: in the volume _Medici antiqui omnes, qui latinis literis morborum genera persecuti sunt_. Venet., 1547, p. 89.)

[10] PAGE 3, LINE 11. Page 3, line 9. _Thomas Erastus_.--The work in question is _Dispvtationvm de Medicina nova Philippi Paracelsi, Pars Prima: in qua quæ de remediis svperstitiosis & Magicis curationibus ille prodidit, præcipuè examinantur à Thoma Erasto in Schola Heydebergensi, professore_. (Basiliæ, 1572. Parts 2 and 3 appeared the same year, and Part 4 in 1573.)

Gilbert had no more love for Paracelsus than for Albertus Magnus or others of the magic-mongers. Indeed the few passages in Paracelsus on the magnet are sorry stuff. They will mostly be found in the seventh volume of his collected works (_Opera omnia_, Frankfurt, 1603). A sample may be taken from the English work publisht in London, 1650, with the title: _Of the Nature of Things, Nine Books; written by Philipp Theophrastus of Hohenheim, called Paracelsvs_.

"For any Loadstone that Mercury hath but touched, or which hath been smeered with Mercuriall oyle, or only put into Mercury will never draw Iron more" (p. 23).

"The life of the Loadstone is the spirit of Iron; which may bee extracted, and taken away with spirit of Wine" (p. 32).

[11] PAGE 3, LINE 13. Page 3, line 11. _Encelius_ (or _Entzelt_, Christoph) {8} wrote a work publisht in 1551 at Frankfurt, with the title _De re metallica, hoc est, de origine, varietate, et natura corporum metallicorum, lapidum, gemmarum, atque aliarum quæ ex fodinis eruuntur, rerum, ad medicine usum deservientium, libri iii_. This is written in a singular medley of Latin and German. Gilbert undoubtedly took from it many of his ideas about the properties of metals. See the note to p. 27 on _plumbum album_.

[12] PAGE 3, LINE 20. Page 3, line 21. _Thomas Aquinas._--The reference is to his commentaries upon the _Physica_ of Aristotle. The passage will be found on p. 96 _bis_ of the Giunta edition (Venet., 1539). The essential part is quoted by Gilbert himself on p. 64.

[13] PAGE 3, LINE 39. Page 3, line 45. _pyxidem._--The word _pyxis_, which occurs here, and in the next sentence as _pyxidem nauticam_, is translated _compass_. Eleven lines lower occurs the term _nautica pyxidula_. This latter word, literally the "little compass," certainly refers to the portable compass used at sea. Compare several passages in Book IV. where a contrasting use is made of these terms; for example, on pp. 177 and 202. Calcagninus, _De re nautica_, uses the term _pyxidecula_ for an instrument which he describes as "vitro intecta." On p. 152, line 9, Gilbert uses the non-classical noun _compassus_, "boreale lilium compassi (quod Boream respicit)," and again on p. 178, line 3.

[14] PAGE 4, LINE 2. Page 4, line 2. _Melphitani._--The inhabitants of Amalfi in the kingdom of Naples. The claim of the discovery or invention of the mariners' compass in the year 1302 by one Joannes Goia, or Gioia, also named as Flavio Goia, has been much disputed. In Guthrie's _New System of Modern Geography_ (London, 1792, p. 1036), in the Chronology, is set down for the year 1302:

"The mariner's compass invented, or improved by Givia, of Naples. The flower de luce, the arms of the Duke of Anjou, then King of Naples, was placed by him at the point of the needle, in compliment to that prince."

In 1808 an elaborate treatise was printed at Naples, by Flaminius Venanson with the title, _De l'invention de la Boussole Nautique_. Venanson, who cites many authorities, endeavours to prove that if Gioia did not discover magnetic polarity he at least invented the compass, that is to say, he pivotted the magnetic needle and placed it in a box, with a card affixed above it divided into sixteen parts bearing the names of the sixteen principal winds. He alleges in proof that the compass-card is emblazoned in the armorial bearings of the city of Amalfi. This view was combatted in the famous letter of Klaproth to Humboldt publisht in Paris in 1834. He shows that the use of the magnetized needle was known in Europe toward the end of the twelfth century; that the Chinese knew of it and used it for finding the way on land still earlier; that there is no compass-card in the arms of the city of Amalfi; but he concedes that Gioia may have improved the compass in 1302 by adding the wind-rose card. The most recent contributions to the question are a pamphlet by Signorelli, _Sull' invenzione della Bussola nautica, ragionamento di Pietro Napoli Signorelli, segretario perpetuo della Società Pontaniana; letto nella seduta del 30 settembre 1860_; Matteo Camera's _Memorie Storico-diplomatiche dell' antica città e ducato di Amalfi_ (Salerno, 1876); and Admiral Luigi Fincati's work _Il Magnete, la Calamita, e la Bussola_ (Roma, 1878). An older mention of Gioia is to be found in Blundevile's _Exercises_ (3rd edition, 1606, pp. 257-258). See also Crescentio _della Nautica Mediterranea_, (Roma, 1607, p. 253), and Azuni, _Dissertazione sull' origine della bussola nautica_ (Venezia, 1797). {9}

There appears to be a slip in Gilbert's reference to Andrea Doria, as he has confounded the town of Amalfi in Principato Citra with Melfi in Basilicata.

One of the sources relied upon by historians for ascribing this origin of the compass is the _Compendia dell' Istoria del Regno di Napoli_, of Collenuccio (Venet., MDXCI.), p. 5.

"Nè in questo tacerò Amalfi, picciola terra, & capo della costa di Picentia, alia quale tutti quelli, che'l mar caualcano, vfficiosamente eterno gratie debono referire, essendo prima in quella terra trovato l'vso, & l'artificio della calamita, & del bussolo, col quale i nauiganti, la stella Tramontana infallibilmente mirando, direzzano il lor corso, si come è publica fama, & gli Amalfitani si gloriano, nè senza ragione dalli piu si crede, essendo cosa certa, che gli antichi tale instromento non hebbero; nè essendo mai in tutto falso quello, che in molto tempo è da molti si diuolga."

Another account is to be found in the _Historiarum sui temporis_, etc., of Paulus Jovius (Florent., 1552), tom. ii., cap. 25, p. 42.

"Quum essem apud Philippum superuenit Ioachinus Leuantius Ligur a Lotrechio missus, qui deposceret captiuos; sed ille negauit se daturum, quando eos ad ipsum Andream Auriam ammirantem deducendos esse iudicaret. Vgonis uerò cadauer, ut illudentium Barbarorum contumeliis eriperetur, ad Amalphim urbem delatum est, in ædeque Andreæ apostoli, tumultuariis exequiis tumulatum. In hac urbe citriorum & medicorum odoratis nemoribus æquè peramoena & celebri, Magnetis usum nauigantibus hodie familiarem & necessarium, adinuentum suisse incolæ asserunt."

Flavius Blondus, whom Gilbert cites, gives the following reference, in which Gioia's name is not mentioned, in the section upon Campania Felix of his Italy (_Blondi Flavii Forlinensis ... Italia Illustrata_, Basiliæ, 1531, p. 420).

"Sed fama est qua Amalphitanos audiuimus gloriari, magnetis usum, cuius adminiculo nauigantes ad arcton diriguntur, Amalphi suisse inuentum, quicquid uero habeat in ea re ueritas, certû est id noctu nauigandi auxilium priscis omnino suisse incognitum."

There is a further reference to the alleged Amalphian in Caelius Calcagninus _De re nautica commentatio_. (_See Thesaurus Græcarum Antiquitatum_, 1697, vol. xi., p. 761.) On the other hand Baptista Porta, who wrote in Naples in 1558 (_Magia Naturalis_) distinctly sets aside the claim as baseless.

William Barlowe, in _The Navigators Supply_ (1597, p. A3), says: "Who was the first inuentor of this Instrument miraculous, and endued, as it were, with life, can hardly be found. The lame tale of one _Flauius_ at _Amelphis_, in the kingdome of _Naples_, for to haue deuised it, is of very slender probabilitie. _Pandulph Collenutius_ writing the Neapolitane historie telleth vs, that they of _Amelphis_ say, it is a common opinion there, that it was first found out among them. But _Polidore Virgil_, who searched most diligently for the Inuentors of things, could neuer heare of this opinion (yet himselfe being an Italian) and as he confesseth in the later ende of his third booke _de inventoribus rerum_, could neuer vnderstand anything concerning the first inuention of this instrument."

According to Park Benjamin (_Intellectual Rise in Electricity_, p. 146) the use of the pivotted compass arose and spread not from Amalfi at the hands of Italians in the fourteenth century, but from Wisbuy, at the hands of the Finns, in the middle of the twelfth century. {10}

Hakewill (_An Apologie or Declaration of the Power and Providence of God_, London, 1673, pp. 284-285) says:

"But _Blondus_, who is therein followed by _Pancirollus_, both _Italians_, will not haue _Italy_ loose the praise thereof, telling vs that about 300 yeares agoe it was found out at Malphis or Melphis, a Citty in the Kingdome of _Naples_ in the _Province_ of _Campania_, now called _Terra di Lovorador_. But for the Author of it, the one names him not, and the other assures vs, he is not knowne: yet _Salmuth_ out of _Ciezus & Gomara_ confidently christens him with the name of _Flavius_, and so doth _Du Bartas_ in those excellent verses of his touching this subject.

"'W' are not to _Ceres_ so much bound for bread,
Neither to _Bacchus_ for his clusters red,
As Signior _Flavio_ to thy witty tryall,
For first inventing of the Sea-mans dyall,
Th' vse of the needle turning in the same,
Divine device, O admirable frame!'

"It may well be then that _Flavius_ the _Melvitan_ was the first inventor of guiding the ship by the turning of the needle to the _North_: but some _German_ afterwards added to the _Compasse_ the 32 points of the winde in his owne language, whence other Nations haue since borrowed it."

[15] PAGE 4, LINE 14. Page 4, line 14. _Paulum Venetum_.--The reference is to Marco Polo. He returned in 1295 from his famous voyage to Cathay. But the oft-repeated tale that he first introduced the knowledge of the compass into Europe on his return is disposed of by several well-established facts. Klaproth (_op. citat._, p. 57) adduces a mention of its use in 1240 in the Eastern Mediterranean, recorded in a work written in 1242 by Bailak of Kibdjak. And the passages in the Iceland Chronicle, and in Alexander of Neckham are still earlier.

[16] PAGE 4, LINE 17. Page 4, line 17. _Goropius_. See _Hispanica Ioannis Goropii Becani_ (Plantin edition, Antv., 1580), p. 29. This is a discussion of the etymologies of the names of the points of the compass: but is quite unauthoritative.

[17] PAGE 4, LINE 23. Page 4, line 26. _Paruaim_.--Respecting this reference, Sir Philip Magnus has kindly furnisht the following note. A clue to the meaning of _Parvaim_, which should be written in English letters with a _v_, not a _u_, will be found in _2 Chronicles_, iii. 6. In the verse quoted the author speaks of gold as the gold of Parvaim, [Hebrew: WHAZAHAB ZHAB PARWAYIM], and [Hebrew: PRWYM] Parvaim is taken as a gold-producing region. It is regarded by some as the same as Ophir. The word is supposed to be cognate with a Sanskrit word _pûrva_ signifying "prior, anterior, oriental." There is nothing in the root indicating gold. A form similar to Parvaim, and also a proper name, is Sepharvaim, found in _2 Kings_, xix. 13, and in _Isaiah_, xxxvii. 13, and supposed to be the name of a city in Assyria.

[18] PAGE 4, LINE 35. Page 4, line 41. Cabot's observation of the variation of the compass is narrated in the _Geografia_ of Livio Sanuto (Vinegia, 1588, lib. i., fol. 2). See also Fournier's _Hydrographie_, lib. xi., cap. 10.

[19] PAGE 4, LINE 36. Page 4, line 42. _Gonzalus Oviedus_.--The reference is to Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdès. _Summario de la Historia general y natural de las Indias occidentales_, 1525, p. 48, where the author speaks of the crossing of "la linea del Diametro, donde las Agujas hacen la {11} diferencia del Nordestear, ò Noroestear, que es el parage de las Islas de los Açores."

[20] PAGE 5, LINE 8. Page 5, line 11. _Petri cujusdam Peregrini_.--This opusculum is the famous letter of Peter Peregrinus written in 1269, of which some twenty manuscript copies exist in various libraries in Oxford, Rome, Paris, etc., and of which the oldest printed edition is that of 1558 (Augsburg). See also Libri, _Histoire des Sciences Mathématiques_ (1838); Bertelli in Boncompagni's _Bull. d. Bibliogr._ T. I. and T. IV. (1868 and 1871), and Hellmann's _Rara Magnetica_ (1898). A summary of the contents of Peregrinus's book will be found in Park Benjamin's _Intellectual Rise in Electricity_ (1895), pp. 164-185.

[21] PAGE 5, LINE 12. Page 5, line 15. _Johannes Taisner Hannonius._--Taisnier, or Taysnier, of Hainault, was a plagiarist who took most of the treatise of Peregrinus and publisht it in his _Opusculum... de Natura Magnetis_ (Coloniæ, 1562), of which an English translation by Richard Eden was printed by R. Jugge in 1579.

[22] PAGE 5, LINE 18. Page 5, line 23. _Collegium Conimbricense_.--This is a reference to the commentaries on Aristotle by the Jesuits of Coimbra. The work is _Colegio de Coimbra da Companhia de Jesu, Cursus Conimbricensis in Octo libros Physicorum_ (Coloniæ, sumptibus Lazari Ratzneri, 1599). Other editions: Lugd. 1594; and Colon., 1596. The later edition of 1609, in the British Museum, has the title _Commentariorum Collegii Conimbricensis in octo libros physicorum_.

[23] PAGE 5, LINE 25. Page 5, line 31. _Martinus Cortesius_.--His _Arte de Navegar_ (Sevilla, 1556) went through various editions in Spanish, Italian, and English. Eden's translation was publisht 1561, and again in 1609.

[24] PAGE 5, LINE 26. Page 5, line 33. _Bessardus_.--Toussaincte de Bessard wrote a treatise, _Dialogue de la Longitude_ (Rouen, 1574), which gives some useful notes of nautical practice, and of the French construction of the compass. Speaking of the needle he says: "Elle ne tire pas au pole du monde: ains regarde, au Pole du Zodiaque, comme il sera discoursu, cy apres" (p. 34). On p. 50 he speaks of "l'aiguille Aymantine." On p. 108 he refers to Mercator's _Carte Générale_, and denies the existence of the alleged loadstone rock. On p. 15 he gives the most naïve etymologies for the terms used: thus he assigns as the derivation of _Sud_ the Latin _sudor_, because the south is hot, and as that of _Ouest_ that it comes from _Ou_ and _Est_. "Come, qui diroit, Ou est-il? à scauoir le Soleil, qui estoit nagueres sur la terre."

[25] PAGE 5, LINE 28. Page 5, line 35. _Jacobus Severtius_.--Jacques Severt, whose work, _De Orbis Catoptrici sev mapparvm mvndi principiis descriptione ac usu libri tres_ (Paris, 1598), would have probably lapsed into obscurity, but being just newly publisht was mentioned by Gilbert for its follies.

[26] PAGE 5, LINE 30. Page 5, line 38. _Robertus Norman_.--Author of the rare volume _The Newe Attractiue_, publisht in London, 1581, and several times reprinted. This work contains an account of Norman's discovery of the Dip of the magnetic needle, and of his investigation of it by means of the Dipping-needle, which he invented. He was a compassmaker of the port of London, and lived at Limehouse.

[27] PAGE 5, LINE 32. Page 5, line 40. _Franciscus Maurolycus_.--The work to which the myth of the magnetic mountains is thus credited is, _D. Francisci Abbatis Messanensis Opuscula Mathematica_, etc. (Venet, MDLXXV, p. 122a). "Sed cur sagitta, vel obelus à vero Septentrione, quandoque ad dextram, {12} quandoque ad sinistram declinat? An quia sagitta, sicut magnes (cuius est simia) non verum Septentrionem, sed insulam quandam (quam Olaus Magnus Gothus in sua geographia vocat insulam magnetum) semper ex natura inspicere cogitur?"

[28] PAGE 5, LINE 35. Page 5, line 43. _Olaus Magnus_.--The famous Archbishop of Upsala, who wrote the history of the northern nations (_Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus_), of which the best edition, illustrated with many woodcuts, appeared in Rome in 1555. An English edition entitled _A Compendious History of the Goths, Swedes, and Vandals, and Other Northern Nations_ was printed in London in 1658; but it is much abbreviated and has none of the quaint woodcuts. The reference on p. 5 appears to be to the following passage on p. 409 (ed. 1555). "Demum in suppolaribus insulis magnetum montes reperiuntur, quorum fragmentis ligna fagina certo tempore applicata, in saxeam duritiem, et vim attractivam convertuntur," or the following on p. 89: "Magnetes enim in extremo Septentrionis veluti montes, unde nautica directio constat, reperiuntur: quorum etiam magnetum tam vehemens est operatio, ut certis lignis fagineis conjuncti, ea vertunt in sui duritiem, & naturam attractivam." On p. 343 is a woodcut depicting the penalties inflicted by the naval laws upon any one who should maliciously tamper with the compass or the loadstone, "qui malitiosè nauticum gnomonem, aut compassum, & præcipuè portionem magnetis, unde omnium directio dependet, falsaverit." He was to be pinned to the mast by a dagger thrust through his hand. It will be noted that the ships carried both a compass, and a piece of loadstone wherewith to stroke the needle.

There is in the Basel edition of this work, 1567, a note _ad lectorem_, on the margin of Carta 16a, as follows:

"Insula 30 milliarium in longitud. & latitud. Polo arctico subjecta.

"Vltra quam directorium nauticum bossolo dic[~u] uires amittit: propterea quòd ilia insula plena est magnetum."

This myth of the magnetic mountains, probably originating with Nicander, appears, possibly from an independent source, in the East, in China, and in the tales of the Arabian Nights.

Ptolemy gives the following account in his _Geographia_ (lib. vii., cap. 2):

[Greek: Pherontai de kai allai sunecheis deka nêsoi kaloumenai Maniolai en ais phasi ta sidêrous echonta hêlous ploia katechesthai, mêpote tês Hêrikleias lithou peri autas genomenês, kai dia touto epiourois naupêgeisthai.] Some editions omit the name of the Manioles from the passage.

No two authorities agree as to the place of these alleged magnetic mountains. Some place them in the Red Sea. Fracastorio, _De Sympathia et Antipathia_, cap. 7 (_Opera omnia_, Giunta edition, 1574, p. 63), gives the following reason for the variation of the compass:

"Nos igitur diligentius rem considerãtes dicimus causam, [~q] perpendiculum illud ad polum vertatur, esse montes ferri, & magnetis, qui sub polo sunt, vt negociatores affirmant, quorum species per incredibilem distantiam vsque ad maria nostra propagata ad perpendiculum vsq;, vbi est magnes, consuetam attractionem facit: propter distantiam autem quum debilis sit, non moueret quidem magnetem, nisi esset in perpendiculo: quare & si non trahit vsq; ac. principium, vnde effluxit, at mouet tam[~e], & propinquiorem facit, quo potest. Quod si naues sorte vllæ propinquiores sint illis montibus, ferrum omne ear[~u] cuellitur, propter quod nauigijs incolæ vtuntur clauis ligneis astrictis."

In the last chapter of his _De Sympathia_, Fracastorio returns to the subject {13} in consequence of some doubts expressed by Giambattista Rhamnusio, seeing that the loadstones in the Island of Elba do not sensibly deflect the magnet. Fracastorio replies thus (p. 76, _op. citat._):

"Primum igitur vtrum sub Polo sint. Magnetis mõtes, nec ne, sub ambiguo relinquamus, scimus enim esse, qui scribãt planas magis esse eas regiones, de quo Paulus Iouius E[~p]us Nucerinus Lucul[~e]tus historiar[~u] nostri t[~e]poris scriptor, circa eã Sarmatiæ partem, quæ Moscouia n[~u]c dicitur, diligent[~e] inquisitionem ab incolis fecit, qui ne eos etiã inueniri montes retulere, qui Rhyphei ab antiquis dicti sunt: meminimus tam[~e] nos quasdam chartas vidisse earum, quas mundi mappas appellãt, in quibus sub polo montes notati erant (qui Magnetis montes inscripti fuerant). Siue igitur sint, siue non sint ij montes, nihil ad nos in præsentiarum attinet, quando per montes polo subiectos cathenam illam montium intelligimus, qui ad septentrionem spectant tanti, & tam vasti, ac Ferri & Magnetis feraces: qui, & si magis distant à nostro mari, [~q] Iluæ insulæ montes, potentiores tamen sunt ad mouendum perpendiculum propter abundantiam & copiã Ferri, & Magnetis. Fortasse autem, & qui in Ilua est Magnes, non multæ actionis est in ea minera: multi enim d[~u] in minera sunt, minus valent, [~q] extracti, [~q] spirituales species sua habeant impedimenta: signum autem parum valere in sua minera Iluæ insulæ Magnetem, [~q] tam propinquus quum sit nauigijs illac prætereuntibus, perpendiculum tamen non ad se cõuertit."

Aldrovandi in the _Musæum Metallicum_ (Bonon., 1648, p. 554) gives another version of the fable:

"Nonnulli, animadversa hac Magnetis natura, scripserunt naves, quibus in Calecutanam regionem navigatur, clavis ferreis non figi, ob magneticorum frequentiam scopulorum, quoniam facilè dissolverentur. Sed Garzias in Historia Aromatum id fabulosum esse tradidit: quandoquidem plures naues Calecutanæ regionis, & illius tractus, ferreis clauis iunctas obseruauit: immò addidit naues in insulis Maldiuis ligneis quidem clauis copulari, non quia à Magnete sibi metuant, sed quoniam ferri inopia laborant."

According to Aldrovandi (p. 563, _op. citat._) the magnetic mountains are stated by Sir John Mandeville to be in the region of Pontus.

Lipenius in his _Navigatio Salomonis Ophritica illustrata_ (Witteb., 1660), which is a mine of curious learning, in discussing the magnetic mountains quotes the reply of Socrates to the inquirer who asked him as to what went on in the infernal regions, saying that he had never been there nor had he ever met any one who had returned thence.