54 THE INTELLECTUAL RISE IN ELECTRICITY. 



The review of Greek knowledge of the magnet, already 

 made, is, perhaps, in itself sufficient to show how slight 

 must be the basis for any hypothesis that the compass is 

 of Hellenic origin. The commerce of ancient Greece was 

 of limited extent, and did not involve long voyages her 

 ships, in fact, entering the Turrhene seas in constant fear 

 of the Etruscans. They were held as interlopers on the 

 west coast of Italy even up to 533 B. C., 1 the carrying trade 

 meanwhile being mainly confined to the Carthaginian 

 and Etruscan fleets. Nevertheless much has been written 

 in support of the theory that Homer was familiar with 

 the compass because, in the Odyssey, he speaks of the 

 Phocian ships which sailed u tho' clouds and darkness veil 

 the encumbered sky" the argument being that ships 

 could not possibly u fly fearless' 1 through darkness and 

 clouds, unless provided with a binnacle and its appurten- 

 ances. 2 Such contentions are hardly worthy of serious 

 consideration. The application of similar reasoning to the 

 passage in the same poem which mentions 



" Wondrous ships, self-moved, instinct with mind, 

 No helm secures their course, no pilot guides, 

 Like man, intelligent they plough the tides," 3 



might with equal propriety be taken to show the famili- 

 arity of the bard with steam, and possibly electric, propul- 

 sion, or even with the still unsolved problem of automatic 

 steering. 



The long voyages of the sailors of Sidon and Arvad have 

 led many to regard the compass as of Phoenician origin, 

 under the assumption that such journeys could not have 

 been made without its help. The writers of the seven- 

 teenth century are fond of asserting that the Phoenician 



1 Gray : History of Etruria, I, 173. 



2 W. Cook : An Inquiry into the Patriarchal and Druidical Religion. 

 London, 1874. Cook's argument is upheld by Salverte: Philosophy of 

 Magic (trans, by Thomson), N. Y., 1847, vol. II. 



8 Odyssey, viii, 610. 



