ANCIENT CHINESE COMPASS. 



CHAPTER XL 



THE FIRST MENTION OF THE LOADSTONE IN HISTORY — ITS EARLY NAMES THE 



FIRST MENTION OF ITS DIRECTIVE POWER — A POEM UPON THE COMPASS SIX 

 HUNDRED YEARS OLD — FRIAR BACON'S MAGNET — THE LOADSTONE IN ARABIA 

 — AN EYE-WITNESS OF ITS EFFICIENCY IN THE SYRIAN WATERS IN THE YEAR 

 1240 — THE MAGNET IN CHINA — EARLY MENTION OF IT IN CHINESE WORKS — 



THE VARIATION NOTICED IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY OTHER DISCOVERIES 



MADE BY THE CHINESE — MODERN ERRORS — FLAVIO GIOIA — THE ARMS OF 

 AMALFI — ALL RECORDS LOST OF THE FIRST VOYAGE MADE WITH THE COMPASS 

 BY A EUROPEAN SHIP. 



We have arrived at a momentous epoch in the history of the 

 sea. It was at this period that the mariner's compass was — we 

 do not say invented — but introduced into European navigation. 

 That this admirable instrument, which, in half a century, 

 changed the face of the earth, by leading to the discovery of 

 America and thus proving the sphericity of the world, should 

 remain unclaimed by its author, and that we are unable to point 

 to him who thus blessed and benefited his race, must always be 

 a subject of regret. So far from being able to name the indi- 

 vidual to whom the invention is due, it has long been deemed 

 impossible to fix even upon the nation who first used the needle 

 at sea. We hope, however, by availing ourselves of recent re- 

 searches made in France, to arrive at a conclusion not only 



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