84 THE INTELLECTUAL RISE IN ELECTRICITY. 



their augurs, corresponding to the Chinese geomancers, 

 knew the cardinal points, and were able to fix them, and 

 the alignments of the Etruscan walls, and especially of the 

 tunnels and sewers, are made with an accuracy which it is 

 difficult to explain, unless the use of the needle be sup- 

 posed. As for the existence of Chinese record evidence, 

 and the absence of like proof concerning a similar employ- 

 ment of the magnet by other nations, this finds a ready 

 explanation in the unchanging permanence of the Chinese 

 community and its customs, over a vast period of time, 

 during which state after state of the Western world has 

 risen and fallen. The noteworthy fact is not that such 

 early records exist, but that their character is so doubtful, 

 and their number so few. 



It is true that the actual Chinese record, indicating 

 familiarity with the compass afloat, is somewhat earlier in 

 date than the first European record of similar purport, but 

 on the other hand the latter, as will hereafter be abund- 

 antly shown, describes the instrument in use as one which 

 European navigators had long known. Moreover, the 

 construction of the first European compass clearly demon- 

 strates it to be the product of an evolution which, in view 

 of the slow intellectual and inventive progress of the time, 

 must have extended over a period far greater than the 

 interval which separates the two epochs. 



Further than this I am impressed by the fact that I have 

 been unable to find any series of connecting links by which 

 Chinese knowledge of the instrument could have been 

 brought to Europe, during the twelfth century or earlier, 

 through channels of navigation and trade, and that in 

 reviewing such possibilities of communication as have 

 been suggested serious doubts have always appeared. 

 On the other hand, it may be said that it does not follow 

 that the intelligence spread through any of the regular 

 channels of international intercourse, but may have come 

 through chance travel between Europe and the far East. 

 Against this hypothesis stands the fact that the presence 





