NOTES. XVll 



( 55 ) p. 52. Kosmos, Bd. i. S. 194 and 435, Anm. 31 (English edition, 

 p. 176 and Note 161). Aristotle himself (de Anima, i. 2) speaks only of 

 the " animation" of the loadstone as an opinion of Thales. Diogenes Laertius, 

 however, distinctly extends the opinion to amber, saying, " Aristotle and Hippias 

 maintain from Thales' doctrine," &c. The sophist Hippias of Elis, who 

 thought he knew everything, occupied himself with natural philosophy, and 

 thus with the most ancient traditions of the physiologic school. The " attracting 

 breath of air" which, according to the Chinese physicist Kuopho, " blows or 

 breathes through loadstone and amber," reminds us, according to Buschmann's 

 linguistic Mexican investigations, of the Aztec name for the magnet : " tlaibio- 

 anani tetl," signifying "the stone which draws to itself by breath" (from 

 " ihiotl," breath ; and " ana," draw). 



( 56 ) p. 52. The information respecting this remarkable apparatus, extracted 

 . by Klaproth from Penthasaoyan, is found in greater detail in Mung-khi-pi-than; 



Comptes rendus, t. xix. p. 365. Why is it that in the last-named memoir, as 

 also in a Chinese Herbal, it -is said that the cypress points to the west and the 

 magnetic needle points to the south ? Is it intended to refer to a more or less 

 luxuriant development of the branches according to " aspect" as respects the 

 sun or some prevailing wind? 



( 57 ) p. 58. Kosmos, Bd. ii. S. 469 472 (English edition, Note 405). In 

 the time of Edward III. of England, when, as Sir Nicholas Harris has shown 

 (History of the Royal Navy, 1847, vol. ii. p. 180), it was customary to sail by 

 the compass, then called " sailstone dial," " sailing needle," or " adamant," we 

 see that in the expenses of fitting out "the king's ship the George," in the year 

 1345, mention is made of sixteen "hour-glasses" bought in Flanders. This, 

 however, is by no means a proof of the use of the log. Hour-glasses (the " ampol- 

 letas" of the Spaniards) were used, as is evident from the statements of Enciso 

 in Cespedes, long before the employment of the log, " Echando punto por fan- 

 tasia" in the " corredera de los perezosos," i. e. without casting out a log. 



( 5S ) p. 58. Compare Kosmos, Bd. i. S. 427, Anm. 11, and 429, Anm. 14 

 (English edition, Notes 141 and 144); Bd. ii. S. 373. 381, 382, and 515, 

 Anm. 70 72, and 517, Anm. 88 (English edition, p. 331, 332, and 339. 

 340, Notes 510. 512. and 528). 



( 59 ) p. 59. Compare Gilbert, Physiologia nova de Magnete, lib. iii. cap. 8, 

 p. 124. That magnetism can be imparted to iron for a considerable time, was 

 said in a general way by Pliny, but without mentioning rubbing (Kosmos, Bd. i. 

 S. 430, Anm. 19; English edition, Note 149). Gilbert's derisive remark on 

 the " vulgaris opinio de montibus magneticis aut rupe aliqua magnetica, de 

 polo phantastico a polo mundi distante," is worthy of notice. The alterations 



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