14 Results of the discovery of Magnetism. 



means also, Vasco de Gama sailed round the Cape 

 of Good Hope and discovered a new route to India ; 

 and in the year 1500, another Portuguese Captain, 

 Cabral, was driven across the Atlantic, discovered 

 Brazil, and was enabled by the aid of the magnet, 

 to send back a ship to Lisbon with news of the 

 discovery. By its assistance also Magellan dis- 

 covered Patagonia and the South Pacific Ocean ; 

 and by the completion of that voyage the Earth 

 was first circumnavigated and proved to be a globe. 



The geographical discoveries of the Portuguese, 

 made by means of the magnet, produced great 

 national results ; they profoundly changed the 

 balance of power and wealth among European 

 nations, by changing the direction of navigation 

 and of the great streams of commerce between 

 Europe and the East. They gave a mortal blow to 

 Italy and the cities of the Mediterranean, by trans- 

 ferring Eastern commerce to Spain and Portugal : 

 and Egypt ceased to be the greatest route of 

 commerce from Europe to India. 



A singular contract relating to geographical 

 research was made in the fifteenth century, between 

 King Alphonso, of Portugal, and Ferdinand Gomez, 

 of Lisbon, by which the latter engaged to navigate 

 a ship and explore the coast of Africa, and to dis- 

 cover not less than three hundred miles of coast 

 every year, the measurement to be made from Sierra 

 Leone, 



