54 . COSMOS. 



dynasty of Han, Roman legates came by sea by way of Ton- 

 quin to China. The application of the magnetic needle to 

 European navigation was, however, not owing to so transient 

 a source of intercourse ; for it was not until its use had be- 

 come general throughout the whole of the Indian Ocean, 

 along the shores of Persia and Arabia, that it was introduced 

 into the West in the 12th century, either directly through 

 the influence of the Arabs or through the agency of the Cru- 

 saders, who since 1096 had been brought in contact with 

 Egypt and the true O^ental regions. In historical investi- 

 gations of this nature, we can only determine with certainty 

 those epochs which must be considered as the latest limits 

 beyond which it would be impossible for us to urge our in- 

 quiries. In the politico-satirical poem of Guyot of Provins, 

 the mariner's compass is spoken of (1199) as an instrument 

 that had been long known to the Christian world ; and this 

 is also the case in the description of Palestine, which we owe 

 to the Bishop of Ptolemais, Jaques de Vitry, and which was 

 completed between the years 1204 and 1215. Guided by 

 the magnetic needle, the Catalans sailed along the northern 

 islands of Scotland as well as along the western shores of 

 tropical Africa, the Basques ventured forth in search of the 

 whale, and the Northmen made their way to the Azores (the 

 Bracir islands of Picigano). The Spanish Leyes de las Par- 

 tidas (del sabio Eey Don Alomo el nono), belonging to the first 

 half of the 13th century, extolled the magnetic needle as " the 

 true mediatrix (medianera) between the magnetic stone (la 

 piedra) and the north star." Gilbert also, in his celebrated 

 work De Magnete Pkysiologia Nova, speaks of the mariner's 

 compass as a Chinese invention, although he inconsiderately 

 adds that Marco Polo, " qui apud Chinas artem pyxidis di- 

 dicit," first brought it to Italy. As, however, Marco Polo 

 began his travels in 1271, and returned in 1295, it is evident, 

 from the testimony of Guyot of Provins and Jaques de Vi- 

 try, that the compass was, at all events, used in European 

 seas from 60 to 70 years before Marco Polo set forth on his 

 journeyings. The designations zohron and aphron, which 

 Vincent of Beauvais applied, in his Mirror of Nature, to the 

 southern and northern ends of the magnetic needle (1254), 

 seem to indicate that it was through Arabian pilots that Eu- 

 ropeans became possessed of the Chinese compass. These 

 designations point to the same learned and industrious nation 

 of the Asiatic peninsula whose language too often vainly ap- 

 peals to us in our celestial maps and globes. 



