July 30, 1891] 



NATURE 



309 



Mercy." The polarity of the magnetic needle would become 

 known to the Chinese of that city and its neighbourhood first. 

 The first who noticed the polarity would be some intelligent 

 person who communicated the fact as an unaccountable pecu- 

 liarity in an age when omens and portents were diligently 

 sought for in every natural object and phenomenon. 



The earliest author who mentions the "south-pointing 

 needle" lived in the fourth century B.C. There can be no 

 reasonable doubt that the polarity of the needle was known 

 at that time. The discovery of the fact must have preceded the 

 invention of any myth embracing it. As to the discovery, there 

 is no reason to suppose it was in any way foreign, because the 

 Chinese use an enormous number of needles, and have an 

 inexhaustible supply of ironstone. But though the polarity 

 was known, it was not turned to a practical use till the Tsin 

 dynasty, when landscapes began to be studied by the professors 

 of fengshui, or geomancy. There was at that time a general 

 belief in the magical powers of natural objects. This was a 

 Buddhist doctrine, and it took firm hold on the Chinese mind 

 of that age. The Chinese philosophers of those times taught 

 that indications of good and ill luck are to be seen all through 

 Nature. The polarity of the needle would take its place in 

 this category of thought. Though it is not distinctly mentioned 

 i by writers of the fourth century, yet to their disciples it became 

 an essential part of the landscape compass which the professors 

 oifengshui all use. Kwo Pu, the founder of this system, died 

 A.D. 324, and it was not till four centuries later that the 

 fcngshui compass began to assume its present form. The 

 compass used by the professors of geomancy for marking 

 landscape indications was first made about the eighth century. 

 It was of hard wood about a foot wide, and it had in the centre 

 a small well in which a magnetized needle floated on water. 

 On the compass were inscribed several concentric circles, as on 

 the wooden horizon of our globes. They embrace the twelve 

 double hours, the ten denary symbols, eight diagrams, and 

 other marks. This compass was used in preparing a geomantic 

 report of any spot where a house or tomb was to be constructed, 

 so that the construction might not be upon an unlucky site or 

 planned in an unlucky manner. At the same time there was 

 I living a Chinese who had studied Hindoo astronomy, and was the 

 \ Imperial astronomer, and also a Buddhist priest. He noticed 

 ' that the needle did not point exactly north, and that there was 

 ; a variation of 2° 95'. This variation went on increasing till a 

 century later— that is, till the ninth century. A professor of 

 geomancy then added a new circle to the compass. On this 

 improved compass the first of the twelve hours begins on the 

 new circle at 7^° east of north. 



The compass, it vvjll be observed, grew out of the old astro- 

 logical report or nativity paper, calculated from the position of 

 the stars, and prepared in the Han dynasty by astrologers as a 

 regular part of social life, especially when marriages were about 

 to be solemnized. Some of the old astronomical circles are 

 preserved in the new geomantic chart. This was the compass 

 used when Shen-kwa wrote on the south-pointing needle in the 

 eleventh century. This author mentions that any iron needle 

 acquires polarity by rubbing it on a piece of loadstone. He 

 alludes to the variation as a fact which he himself had observed, 

 and speaks of the south-pointing needle as an implement used 

 by the professors of geomancy. By them it was employed in 

 the form of a float upon water. After this, in 1 122, an ambas- 

 sador to Corea describes the use of the floating needle on board 

 ship while he made the voyage. This is the first instance, the 

 earliest by more than a century, of the use of the mariner's 

 compass on board ship, found as yet in any book, native or 

 foreign. The existence of the book in which this is recorded 

 settles the question of the first use of the mariner's compass at 

 sea in favour of the Chinese. At that time the needle floated on 

 water supported on a piece of wood, but in the Ming dynasty 

 some Japanese junks engaged in piracy were captured by the 

 Chinese, and the compass in use on board was found to have 

 the needle dry and raised on a pivot, while still pointing south- 

 ward. The Japanese had learned from the Portuguese navi- 

 gators to make a compass of this kind, and probably the needles 

 they used were brought from Europe. From this time, the 

 Chinese adopted the principle of a pivot, and made their com- 

 passes without a well of water in the middle to float the needle in. 

 Charts were probably used of a very rough kind, but how far 

 is not known. What is known is that the junk-master was 

 aware of the direction in which the needle must point to reach 

 the port to which he was going. In the Sung dynasty, em- 



NO. I 135, VOL. 44] 



bracing part of the tenth, as well as the eleventh, twelfth, and 

 part of the thirteenth centuries, Chinese junks went to Persia 

 and India, The Arabs trading to China directly would learn 

 at that time the use of the compass, and would apply it on board 

 their dhows. From them the Europeans learned this useful 

 invention. 



The credit of the discovery, both of the polarity of a mag- 

 netized needle and its suitability for use by mariners at sea must 

 therefore, according to this writer, be given to the Chinese. It 

 was China also that has the credit of having first noticed that 

 any iron needle may be polarized by rubbing it with a magnet, 

 In the thirteenth century the Arabs used a floating compass on 

 their dhows. The needle was made to float on the water by 

 attaching it crosswise to a cornstick or splinter of wood. A 

 magnet applied to it drew it into a north and south direction. 

 They would use Western notation to mark the quarters and 

 intermediate points on the horizon. When therefore the mariner's 

 compass was adopted from them, the Chinese 24 points were 

 not communicated. In the European compass the notation of 

 32 points is Western, and rests on the winds and the sun. In 

 the Chinese primitive mariner's compass the notation is that of 

 the professors of geomancy, and rests on the old astrological 

 division of the horizon into twelve double hours. From the 

 Arab account we learn, what the Chinese accounts do not tell 

 us, that the Chinese floated the needle by inserting it in a- 

 splinter of wood. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Royal College of Science.— The following scholarships, 

 prizes, and Associateships have been awarded for the session 

 1890-91 : — First year's scholarships to William Allan, Thomas 

 T. Bedford, Edwin Edser, and Herbert A, Clark ; second year's 

 scholarships to John W. Pickles and Sydney Whalley ; the 

 Edward Forbes Medal and prize of books for biology to Arthur 

 G. Butler ; the Murchison Medal and prize of books for geology 

 to Charles G. Cullis ; a Tyndall prize of books for physics, 

 Course I., to William Allan ; the De la Beche Medal for mining 

 to James G. Lawn ; the Bessemer Medal and prize of books for 

 metallurgy to Joseph Jefferson ; the Frank Hatton prizes of 

 books for chemistry to Herbert Grime and Lionel M. Jones. 

 Prizes of books have been given by the Department of Science 

 and Art in the following subjects : — Mechanics — Charles H, 

 Kilby, Charles P, Butler, Herbert A. Clark. Astronomical 

 Physics — Lawrence Parry and Samuel S. Richardson, Prac- 

 tical Chemistry — William A. C. Rogers. Mining — ^James G. 

 Lawn, Principles of Agriculture and Agricultural Chemistry — 

 Henry Wilkinson, Associateships of the Royal College of 

 Science have been awarded as follows: — Mechanics — 1st class, 

 Harold Busbridge and Ernest W. Rees ; 2nd class, Angus 

 Leitch. Physics — ist class, Sidney Wood ; 2nd class, William 

 Shackleton and Alfred B, Lishman. Chemistry — ist class, 

 Herbert Grime, Lionel M. Jones, Alfred Greeves, William A. 

 C. Rogers, and Morton Ware ; 2nd class, John G. Saltmarsh. 

 Biology (Zoology) — 1st class, Arthur G, Butler and James 

 Harrison. Geology — 1st class, William J. Smeeth. The 

 following Associateships, Royal School of Mines, have also been, 

 awarded : — Metallurgy — ist class, Joseph Jefferson, Alfred 

 Stansfield, John Eustice, and William F. P. Tindall ; 2nd class, 

 John D. Crabtree, Thomas S. Fraser, Henry T. Bolton, Ben- 

 jamin Young, Hugh F. Kirkpatrick-Picard, George J. Snelus, 

 James R. Crum, and Stanley H. Ford. Mining— ist class, 

 James G. Lawn, John Yates, Robert Pill, Theodore G. Cham- 

 bers, Algernon P. Del Mar, Nono Kitto, and George R. 

 Thompson ; 2nd class, Reginald Pawle, Charles C, Scott, Henry 

 Cavendish, Gustave Busch, George H. Gough, and Ben Howe. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



The American Meteorological y ournal ior ]\xx\e contains : — An 

 account of the meeting of the New England Meteorological 

 Society on April 18 last. The subject of discussion was weather 

 predicting. The general methods of predicting in the United 

 States and Europe were first described, and afterwards local and 

 long-range predictions were considered. Papers were read by 

 J.. Warren Smith, on the Signal Service weather forecasts ; W. 

 M, Davis, on European weather predictions ; -A, L. Rotch, on 



