SUMMARY. x l x 



discoveries of the close of the fifteenth and the beginning of the six- 

 teenth century on the rich abundance of the ideal world, cannot be 

 thoroughly understood until we have thrown a glance on the ages which 

 separate Columbus from the blooming period of cultivation under the 

 Arabs. That which gave to the age of Columbus the peculiar character 

 of an uninterrupted and successful striving for an extended knowledge 

 of the earth, was the appearance of a small number of daring minds 

 (Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, Duns Scotus, and William of Occam), 

 who incited to independent thought and to the investigation of sepa- 

 rate natural phenomena ; the revived acquaintance with the works of 

 Greek literature ; the invention of the art of printing ; the missionary 

 embassies to the Mogul Princes, and the mercantile travels to Eastern 

 Asia and South India (Marco Polo, Mandeville, and Nicolo de'Conti) ; 

 the improvement of navigation ; and the use of the mariner's compass or 

 the knowledge of the north and south pointing of the magnetic needle, 

 which we owe to the Chinese through the Arabs pp. 613-629. Early 

 expeditions of the Catalans to the western shores of Tropical Africa; dis- 

 covery of the Azores; general atlas of Picigano of 1367. Relations 

 of Columbus to Toscanelli and Martin Alonso Pinzon. The more 

 recently known chart of Juan de la Cosa. The South Pacific and its 

 islands pp. 629-650. Discovery of the magnetic line of no variation 

 in the Atlantic Ocean. Inflection observed in the isothermal lines 

 a hundred nautical miles to the west of the Azores. A physical 

 line of demarcation is converted into a political one ; the line of de- 

 marcation of Pope Alexander VI. of the 4th of May, 1493. Know- 

 ledge of the distribution of heat ; the line of perpetual snow is recog- 

 nised as a function of geographical latitude. Movement of the waters 

 in the Atlantic Ocean. Great beds of sea-weed pp. 650-663. Extended 

 view into the world of space; an acquaintance with the stars of the 

 southern sky; more a sensuous than a scientific knowledge. Improve- 

 ment in the method of determining the ship's place; the political 

 requirement for establishing the position of the papal line of demarcation 

 increased the endeavour to discover practical methods for determining 

 longitude. The discovery and first colonisation of America, and the 

 voyage to the East Indies round the Cape of Good Hope coincide with 

 the highest perfection of art, and with the attainment of intellectual 

 freedom by means of religious reform, the forerunner of great political 

 convulsions. The daring enterprise of the Genoese seaman is the first 

 link in the immeasurable chain of mysterious events. Accident, and 

 not the deceit or intrigues of Amerigo Vespucci deprived the continent 

 of America of the name of Columbus. Influence of the new world on 

 political institutions, and on the ideas and inclinations of the people 

 of the old continent pp. 664-680. 



^ VII. Period of great discoveries in the regions of space. The applica- 

 tion of the telescope A more correct view of the structure of the uni- 

 verse prepared the way for these discoveries. Nicholas Copernicus was 

 engaged in making observations with the astronomer Brudzewski at 

 Cracow when Columbus discovered America. Ideal connection between 

 the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by Peurbach and Regiomontanua 



