FOOTNOTES:
[1] Touching the antiquity of the Chinese nation, the distinguished French author, J. P. Pauthier (“Chine,” Paris, 1839, pp. 20, 27), thus expresses himself: “Son histoire authentique qu’elle fait remonter avec ce charactère de certitude, jusqu’à la 61e année du règne de Hoang-ti, la première de leur premier cycle, 2637 ans avant notre ère.... Le cycle de 60 années dont les séries se suivent depuis la 61e année du règne de Hoang-ti, sans interruption et avec autant de régularité que les siècles dans les computs Européens.” And Saillant et Nyon (“Mémoires concernant l’histoire,” Vol. XIII. p. 76) add conclusively: “Depuis l’année courante (1769) jusqu’à la 2637e avant l’ère Chrétienne, qui répond exactement à la 61e du règne de Hoang-ti, on peut sans crainte de s’égarer, suivre un des plus beaux sentiers de l’histoire, pendant l’espace de 4406 ans.”
Incidentally, we may add that in his “History of Chaldea,” New York, 1866, pp. 195, 213, 364, Mr. Z. A. Ragozin says that that country can point to a monumentally recorded date nearly 4000 B.C.—more than Egypt can do—and he says, furthermore, “we cannot possibly accept a date later than 4000 B.C. for the foreign immigration, and, for the Shumiro-Accadian culture, less than 1000 years, thus taking us as far back as 5000 B.C. The date of 3750 B.C. is that of Naram-Sin, and 3800 B.C. is now generally accepted for Sargon of Agadê—perhaps the remotest authentic date yet arrived at in history. To such as are inclined to doubt the authenticity of these early dates, as well as the truthfulness of “the mensuration of divine periods,” and of “the observations of celestial bodies throughout the whole of time,” it will be interesting to note the following, taken from the Greek “Iamblichus” translation of Thomas Taylor, Chiswick, 1821, p. 318: “Proclus (in Tim., lib. iv. p. 277) informs us that the Chaldeans had observations of the stars which embraced whole mundane periods ... likewise confirmed by Cicero, who says (in his first book on Divination) that they had records of the stars for the space of 370,000 years, and by Diodorus Siculus (‘Bibl.,’ lib. xi. p. 118), who states that their observations comprehended the space of 473,000 years!”
[2] “Le monument le plus ancien (de pierre sculptée) signalé par le King-che-so porte sur une façade cette scène d’histoire: ‘Tcheou-Choung, régent de l’empire pendant la minorité de son neveu Tching-Ouang (1110 av. J. C.) reçoit les envois du roi des Yue-tchang-che.... Les anciens auteurs Chinois rapportent que ces ambassadeurs offrirent à la cour de Chine des éléphants et des faisans blancs et que pour leur retour Tcheou-Koung leur fit présent de chars qui montraient le sud.’” (“L’art Chinois,” par M. Paléologue, Paris, 1888, pp. 132–134; J. P. Pauthier, “Chine,” p. 87.)
[3] While the Greeks steered by the Great Bear, which, if a more visible, was a far more uncertain guide, the Phœnicians had, at an early time, discovered a less conspicuous but more trustworthy guide in the polar star, which the Greeks call The Phœnician Star (“History of Antiquity,” Prof. Max Duncker, translated by Evelyn Abbott, London, 1882, Vol. II. p. 293).
[4] The Etruscans “inquired, under the direction of technical rules, into the hidden properties of nature, particularly those of the electric phenomena.” “History of the Romans,” by Chas. Merivale, New York, 1880, Vol. II. p. 395. (Cicero, “De Divin.,” i. 41–42; Diod. Sic., v. 40; Senec., “Nat. Qu.,” ii. 32; Micali, “l’Italie,” ii. 246 foll.).
[5] In this Chapter I of Book II Gilbert says that Aristotle admits only of two simple movements of his elements, from the centre and toward the centre ... so that in the earth there is but one motion of all its parts towards the centre of the world—a wild headlong falling. Johannes Franciscus Offusius (the author of “De divina astrorum facultate,” Paris, 1570), says he distinguishes several magnetic movements, the first to the centre, the second to the pole, traversing seventy-seven degrees, the third to iron, the fourth to a loadstone.
[6] At p. 16, note No. 4, of his “Dawn of Civilization,” New York, 1894, Mr. G. Maspero says that the well-known French archæologist, Charles Théodule Deveria (1831–1871), was the first to prove that the Egyptians believed the sky to be made of iron or steel. This was done in his monograph entitled “Le fer et l’aimant, leur nom et leur usage dans l’ancienne Egypte,” published originally at Paris during 1872 in “Mélanges d’Archéologie,” Vol. I. pp. 2–10; also by M. Charas, in “l’antiquité Historique,” first edition, pp. 64–67, and at pp. 339–356, Vol. V. of the “Bibliothèque Egyptologique,” issued in Paris during 1897. So well established was the belief in a sky-ceiling of iron, says M. Charas, that it was preserved in common speech by means of the name given to the metal itself, viz. Bai-ni-pit (in the Coptic, Benipi, benipe)—metal of heaven. Reference is thereto made in “The Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature,” Vol. XIV. second series, p. 291, by Mr. J. Offord, Jr., who speaks of the splendid and exceedingly valuable papyrus in the Louvre “Catalogue des Manuscripts,” Paris, 1874, pp. 170–171 of M. Deveria, who frequently referred to it in the preparation of the monograph above alluded to upon Iron and the Loadstone in Ancient Egypt (“Zeitschrift für Ægyptische Sprache und Alterthumskunde”—Review founded by M. le Docteur H. Brugsch). Deveria says: “Cette matière céleste (dont parle Plutarque) devait être l’aimant, la substance d’Horus, la siderites des Romains, plutôt que le fer non-magnétique, substance typhonienne.... Ils disent aussi que la pierre d’aimant est un des os de Horus et le fer un des os de Typhon: c’est Manathon qui nous l’apprend.” For Deveria, see “La Grande Encyclopédie,” H. Lamirault et Cie., Paris, n. d., Vol. XIV. p. 375.
[7] The word calamita was first used by the Italians. It is employed by Petri de Vineis (Pierre des Vignes), Matthieu de Messine, the notary of Lentino, and by Guido Guinicelli of Bologna (Libri, “Hist. des Sc. Mathém.,” Vol. II. pp. 66–69). Consult likewise C. Falconet, “Dissert. Histor.,” Paris, 1746; “Le Journal des Sçavans” for July-December 1724, Vol. LXXV. pp. 22–28; W. Falconer, Vol. III. of the “Mem. of the Society of Manchester,” also “Bibl. Britan.,” 1798, Vol. VIII. p. 281.
In the “Essai d’un Glossaire Occitanien” (“Le Journal des Savants” for June 1820, pp. 369–370) it is said about M. de Rochegude that he discovered in “La Vie de St. Honorat de Lérins,” written by Raimont Féraut in 1300, the words caramida, caramita, which he interprets as calamite, aimant, boussole, and that he also read in the “Bergeries” of Remy Belleau (1528–1577) the words calamite ou aiguille aimantée. He found that Joachim du Bellay (1524–1560) had written “Comme le fer qui suit la calamite,” and Nicholas Rapin (1540–1608) “Tourne ma calamite,” but, after examining all the ancient works obtainable, he concluded that the poem of Raimont Féraut, admitted by him to have been translated from an old Latin MS., is the earliest publication containing the word adopted by many to designate the compass. The poem alluded to is the only one extant of Raimont Féraut—Raymond Féraudi de Thoard—a troubadour, long at the court of Charles II of Naples, who died about A.D. 1324 (“Biogr. Génér.”—Hœfer—Vol. XVII. p. 354).
[8] “If an adamant be set by iron, it suffereth not the iron to come to the magnet, but it draweth it by a manner of violence, from the magnet, so that though the magnet draweth iron to itself, the adamant draweth it away from the magnet” (Mediæval Lore, “Gleanings from Barthol. de Glanvilla,” by Robert Steele, London, 1893, Chap. IX. p. 32). The great “Liber de Proprietatibus Rerum,” which has been elsewhere cited in this compilation, was undoubtedly written by Glanvilla (who, according to Salimbene, author of the “Chronicles of Parma,” had been a professor of theology in the Paris University) before the year 1260, for, as Steele remarks, he cites Albertus Magnus, who was in Paris during 1248, but does not quote from either Vincent de Beauvais, Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon or Egidius Colonna, all of whom were in Paris during the second half of the thirteenth century.
[9] It is scarcely necessary to add that the afore-named method of suspension is impracticable. This curious problem was deemed worthy of a memoir by M. J. Plateau, communicated to the “Académie des Sciences” at its séance of November 28, 1864 (“Le Moniteur Scientifique,” par le Dr. Quesneville, Vol. VI. p. 1146).
[10] The “Historiæ Hierosolimitanæ” relates all that passed in the kingdom of Jerusalem from 1177 to the siege of Ptolemais inclusively (“History of the Crusades,” Joseph François Michaud, translated by W. Robson, Vol. I. p. 456).
[11] The Astrolabe.—For descriptions of astrolabes used by the Arabs, see pp. 338–357 of “Matériaux ... Sciences Mathém.,” by L. A. Sedillot, Paris, 1845, and for plates showing the construction of the compass and other nautical instruments of his time, consult Crescentio (Bartolomeo), “Nautica Mediterranea,” Rome, 1602.
The invention of the astrolabe is ascribed to Hipparchus, and Chaucer’s description in 1391 is the first book treating of it in time and importance. In Chaucer’s “Treatise on the Astrolabe,” he declares his intention of making use of the calendars of the reverend clerks John Somer and Nicholas of Lynne. His reference here is to the Minorite astronomer John Somer—Semur—Somerarius—and to the Carmelite Nicholas, who was lecturer in theology at Oxford (“Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Vol. LIII. p. 219).
See the illustrated description of an astrolabe by S. A. Ionides, in “Geog. Journ.” for Oct. 1904, pp. 411–417, accompanying references to other works treating of astrolabes; “Le Courrier du Livre,” Quebec, 1899, Vol. III. p. 159, alluding to three works on the astrolabe of Samuel Champlin and Geoffrey Chaucer; “Canada,” by J. G. Bourinot, London, 1897, p. 79, with cut of Champlin’s lost astrolabe made in Paris during 1603; also the entry for Nicholas Bion to be found herein at A.D. 1702.
[12] Vincent de Beauvais desired to facilitate the pursuit of learning by collecting into one large work everything useful to be known in art, history, natural science and philosophy, “so that the great edifice of science should be once more presented with all its halls and porticos forming one harmonious whole, domed over, if we may so express ourselves, with theology and surmounted by the Cross” (“Eccl. History,” Rohrbacher, Vol. XVIII. p. 444, quoted at pp. 86 and 89 of “Christian Schools and Scholars,” London, 1867). His “Speculum Majus,” of which the most trustworthy edition was that published at Strasbourg in ten large folio volumes during 1473, consisted of three parts: “Speculum Naturale,” 32 books and 3718 chapters; “Speculum Doctrinale,” 17 books and 2374 chapters; “Speculum Historiale,” 31 books and 3793 chapters, a total of 80 books and 9885 chapters (“Encycl. Britan.,” ninth ed., Vol. XXIV. p. 235; “Paris et ses historiens,” Paris, 1867, p. 100, note, indicating that, according to Fabricius, the “Speculum Naturale” mentions as many as 350 different names of Arabian, Greek and Latin authors). The influence of the mediæval encyclopædias of Vincent de Beauvais, Brunetto Latini and Bartholomew Anglicus on Western Literature of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is presented in Liliencron’s “Festrede,” München, 1876 (J. E. Sandys, “Classical Scholarship,” 1903, p. 558).
[13] In his “De Mineralibus” (Lyons ed. 1651, Treat. III. lib. ii. cap. 6, p. 243), Albertus says: “One angle ... is to the zohron (north) ... but another angle of the magnet opposite to it attracts to the aphron (south).” Cardan (“De Subtilitate,” Lugduni, 1663); Salmanazar (Book II. “of the Egyptian Hermitus, 19 stars, and 15 stones, and 15 herbs, and 15 figures”: “on one side the magnet attracts iron, on the other side repels it); Pietro d’ Abano (“Conciliator Differentiarum,” Mantuæ, 1472, Diff. 51, p. 104, or the 1520 Venice edition, p. 73: “know that a magnet is discovered which attracts iron on one side and repels it on the other”).
[14] Albertus was the first schoolman who lectured on the Stagirite, and who in his unbounded range of knowledge comprehends the whole metaphysical, moral, physical, as well as logical system of Aristotle (“History of Latin Christianity,” by the Rev. H. H. Milman, London, 1857, Vol. VI. pp. 270, 277). The first knowledge of the Aristotelian philosophy in the Middle Ages was acquired by translators of Aristotle’s works out of the Arabic. The Arabian commentators were considered the most skilful and authentic guides in the study of his system (“Hist. of the Reign of Charles V,” Robertson and Prescott, Philad., 1883, Vol. I. p. 308; Conring, “Antiq. Acad.,” Diss. III. p. 95, Supplem. p. 241; Murat, “Antiq. Ital.,” Vol. III. p. 392; “Aristotle and the Arabs,” at pp. 257–268 of “Classical Studies in Honour of Hy. Drissler,” New York, 1894; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1860, Vol. II. pp. 215–216).
[15] See “Omar Khayyám and his position in the History of Sufism,” to be found at end of the singularly attractive volume entitled “Sufi Interpretations ...” by C. H. A. Bjerregaard, New York, 1902. For an account of Omar Khayyám—Kheyyám (died in 1123), who was a very distinguished Persian philosopher, mathematician, poet and astronomer, also Director of the Bagdad Observatory, consult the ninth ed. of the “Encycl. Britann.,” Vol. XVII. pp. 771–772; “La Grande Encycl.,” Vol. XXV. pp. 372–373; “The Universal Cyclopædia,” Chas. Kendall Adams, New York, 1900, Vol. VIII. p. 588.
[16] Identified by some authors as John Peckham, a disciple of St. Bonaventura, who became Archbishop of Canterbury from 1278 to 1293 (“Christian Schools and Scholars,” by Augusta Th. Drane, London, 1867, Vol. II. p. 172).
[17] To Peregrinus is due the first inception of the terrella. He makes the magnet round, and says, “You must know that this stone bears in itself a likeness of the heavens and contains two points, one North and the other South, thus resembling the poles of the sky....” In his Memoria Prima, “Sopra P. P. de Maricourt,” 1868, P. D. Timoteo Bertelli Barnabita states (Chap. VI. p. 22) that, besides the terrella, Gilbert appropriated other observations and experiments of Peregrinus, and, farther on (Chap. VII. p. 28), he gives us the following extract from Thévenot: “L’on voit encore que la pluspart des choses que l’on attribue à Gilbert et qui luy ont donné la réputation de Père de la Philosophie de l’Ayman estaient scües dès le treizième siècle.” This, says he (in a note, pp. 28–29), is doubtless an exaggeration. That Gilbert took from P. Peregrinus his terrella and many excellent scientific plans on magnetism, the ideas of others also, is probable, but it is indubitable that much was his own, and that, for his time, his work is a veritable chef-d’œuvre of inductive and experimental method and the most finished treatise on magnetism which had up to that time appeared.
In this connection, Bertelli adds (Part III. p. 92): “We must conclude that historical truth was undoubtedly distorted when, for so long a period, it was asserted and repeated, without any sufficient mature investigation, that the famous William Gilbert of Colchester was the real and sole founder of magnetism and of the inductive method in experimental science. We certainly must not deny him the no small merit which is his due, nor the share he had in the discoveries at the commencement of the seventeenth century, but we must, likewise, confess that the copious collection of facts which he gives us, and the experimental and discursive method with which he presents them is neither altogether his own nor is it new” (see W. Wenkebach, “Sur Petrus Adsigerius,” Rome, 1865, p. 8; “Universal Lexicon,” Leipzig, 1741; N. Cabæus, “Phil. Magn.,” Ferrara, 1629, p. 23).
[18] In this same sense does Ristoro d’Arezzo write in his “La Compositione del Mondo ... del 1282,” transcribed by Enrico Narducci, Roma, 1859, pp. 172, 316, xi, xii. Ristoro calls the needle angola (lib. xxxix. p. 326,), which, says he, guides the mariner and which is itself directed (per la virtu del cielo) by the star called tramontane (pp. 110, 263–4, 326); see “Pietro Peregrino,” Bertelli, 1858, pp. 55, 130.
[19] Dr. Geo. Miller names (“Hist. Phil. Ill.,” London, 1849, Vol. I. p. 180, note) Guyot de Provins, Jacques de Vitry and Brunetto Latini, as referring to the compass. He adds that the Chronicle of France intimates the use of this instrument under the name of marinette towards the time of the first of the voyages of the Crusaders undertaken by Louis IX, and that Hughes de Bercy, a contemporary of that prince, speaks of it as well known in that country. For these reasons, says he, “the credit of the invention must be denied to Flavio de Melfi, or Flavio Gioia, a Neapolitan, who is commonly said to have constructed the first compass about the year 1302, on account of which the province of Principato, in which he was born, bears one of these instruments for its arms.
[20] It is interesting to note that the “Confessio Amantis,” which went through as many as four editions before the year 1560, is a huge work of nearly thirty-five thousand lines which was written at the desire of King Richard II of England between the years 1377 and 1393.
[21] Les Roses des Vents n’apparaissent pas sur les cartes avant le xvie siècle (“Annales de Géographie,” VI. 1897, p. 14 de la Bibliographie). See A.D. 1436 entry.
[22] Incidentally, it may be mentioned that when the laws of Castile were collected in a Code, during the reign of Alfonso the tenth, surnamed El Sabio, the learned, the compilers divided the work into seven volumes or parts (siete partidas) in order that each volume or part might be dedicated to one of the seven letters constituting Alfonso’s name (“Dedication of Books,” New York, 1881, pp. 17–18).
[23] See “Geographical Journal,” Vol. V. March 1895, No. 3, “Pre-Columbian Discovery of America,” pp. 222, 224, 226, for sketches of Andrea Bianco’s Map of 1448.
[24] In Kohl’s collection of early maps already alluded to as given in “Harv. Univ. Bull.,” Vol. III, reference is made (p. 175) to the portolano—A.D. 1426—of a Venetian hydrographer, Giacomo Giraldi, which has been preserved in the Biblioteca Marciana and which was reproduced at Venice by Ongania in 1881, also (p. 303) to the Map of America published during 1570 by Abraham Oertel—Ortell—b. 1527, d. 1598, and at p. 365 to the Map of the World by Joannes Oliva, A.D. 1613, as well as to an Atlas by Salvatore Oliva, A.D. 1620, showing both the Americas. In an article headed “The first true Maps,” to be found in “Nature” of December 15, 1904, pp. 159–161, mention is made that the oldest dated portolan is the first of Pietro Vesconte—Visconti—executed in 1311.
[25] For Nautonniez, see Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. I. part ii. p. 1193, also J-G. T. Græsse, “Trésor de Livres Rares,” Dresde, 1863, Vol. IV. p. 651, and Brunet, “Manuel,” p. 827, at which latter appears the statement of M. Frère to the effect that Guillaume de Nautonnier—Nautonniez—caused to be reprinted, under the above-named title of “Mécométrie de l’Eymant,” the “Dialogue de la Longitude” of Toussaincte de Bessard originally published at Rouen in 1574.
For the reported investigation of Pedro da Medina, who, Gilbert says, (“De Magnete,” Book IV. chap. viii.) does not accept variation and has with many errors disgraced the art of navigation, consult, preferably, the Venetia 1555 edition entitled “L’Arte del navegar,” Libro sesto, “Della Aguggia, over bossolo da navegar,” pp. cviii-cxvi. The leaf xxiii contains a Map of America. This last-named map of the Nuevo Mundo “may be taken to represent the results of Spanish discovery about 1540, Pedro da Medina having been the official examiner of pilots. It is interesting as showing the mouth of the Spirito Santo (the Mississippi) and the lands around the river and gulf of St. Lawrence. The Island of Cape Breton appears as part of Nova Scotia and of the mainland; but Newfoundland is represented as three islands, divided from Northern Canada by a much wider expanse of water than the actual Straits of Belle Isle. This is, however, a striking instance of the great extent of Medina’s geographical knowledge. The river Saguenay is shown at its entry into the St. Lawrence, which is also a remarkable feature in so early a map.”
[26] Behaim’s justly famous globe was made up from the authorities of Ptolemy, Pliny and Strabo, as well as from the reports of Marco Polo’s travels and the semi-fabulous travels of Sir John Mandeville (“English Cyclopædia,” Vol. I. p. 617).
[27] Aguilhas, in Portuguese, signifies needles: Walker, “Magnetism of Ships,” 1853, p. 2; Sir Thomas Browne, “Pseud. Epidem.,” Book II. p. 70.
[28] It is in the “Epistle Dedicatorie” to this work that Barlowe is shown to have been the first to make use of the word magnetisme.
[29] “Imperial Dict. of Universal Biography,” Vol. II. p. 626.
[30] The earth itself is a magnet according to Gilbert, who considered that the inflections of the lines of equal declination and inclination depend upon the distribution of mass, the configuration of continents, or the form and extent of the deep, intervening ocean basins. It is difficult to connect the periodic variations which characterize the three principal forms of magnetic phenomena (the isoclinic, the isogonic and the isodynamic lines) with this rigid system of the distribution of force and mass, unless we represent to ourselves the attractive force of the material particles modified by similar periodic changes of temperature in the interior of the terrestrial planet.... Of these lines, the isogonic are the most important in their immediate application to navigation, whilst we find from the most recent views that the isodynamic, especially those which indicate the horizontal force, are the most valuable elements in the theory of terrestrial magnetism (Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859–1860, Vol. I. pp. 180–181, 185; Vol. II. p. 334, wherein references are made to Gauss, “Resultate der Beob. des Magn. Vereins,” 1838, s. 21; Sabine, “Report on the Variations of the Magnetic Intensity,” p. 63).
[31] The reader is referred to Appendix I herein for “Accounts of early writers and others alluded to in Gilbert’s ‘De Magnete,’ not already disposed of throughout this Bibliographical History.” Gilbert says that only a few points touching the loadstone are briefly mentioned by Marbodeus Gallus, Albertus, Mattæus Silvaticus, Hermolaus Barbarus, Camillus Leonhardus, Cornelius Agrippa, Fallopius, Joannes Langius, Cardinal de Cusa, Hannibal Rosetius Calaber, all of whom repeat only the figments of others.
[32] Sir Kenelm Digby (“Treatise of the Nature of Bodies,” 1645, Chap. XX. p. 225) says that the manner in which Gilbert “arrived to discover so much of magnetical philosophy” and “all the knowledge he got on the subject, was by forming a little loadstone into the shape of the earth. By which means he composed a wonderful designe, which was to make the whole globe of the earth maniable; for he found the properties of the whole earth in that little body ... which he could manage and try experiments upon at his will....” In the note at p. 47 (P. Peregrinus, A.D. 1269), it will be seen that the terrella was constructed by both in practically the same manner: only Peregrinus considered it “a likeness to the heavens,” whilst Gilbert regarded it as the earth itself.
[33] The magnetized versorium consisted of a piece of iron, or needle, resting upon a point, or pin, and was put in motion, excited, by the loadstone or natural magnet. The non-magnetized versorium was made of any sort of metal, for use in electrical experiments (“De Magnete,” Book II. chap. ii.; Book III. chap. i.).
[34] Asterisks. As Gilbert remarks in his Author’s Preface, he has set over against “the great multitude” of his discoveries and experiments larger and smaller asterisks according to their importance and their subtility; all of his experiments having been, says he, “investigated and again and again done and repeated under our eyes.” There are, in all, 178 small and 21 large asterisks, some of them being attached to illustrations, of which latter there are as many as 84 throughout the work. See Appendix II herein.
[35] Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. I. p. 170, and Vol. II. pp. 717–718.
[36] Sir Wm. Thomson, “Good Words,” 1879, p. 445.
We have already indicated several modes of construction, notably at A.D. 1282 (Baïlak of Kibdjak), at A.D. 1558 (G. B. Porta), as well as at A.D. 1597 (Wm. Barlowe), and it is interesting to observe how all these vary, more particularly from the types described by Levinus Lemnius in the “De Occulta Naturæ Miracula,” mentioned at B.C. 1033, and by Martinus Lipenius in his “Navigatio Salomonis Ophiritica” noted at A.D. 1250.
[37] “Cosmos,” 1860, Vol. II. p. 341, or prior edition, 1849, Vol. II. p. 726.
[38] “Good Words,” 1879, with a facsimile of the title-page at p. 383.
[39] According to Dr. John Davy, this “De Mundo Nostro,” which is but little known, “is a very remarkable book, both in style and matter; and there is a vigour and energy of expression belonging to it very suitable to its originality. Possessed of a more minute and practical knowledge of natural philosophy than Bacon, his opposition to the philosophy of the schools was more searching and particular, and at the same time probably little less efficient” (“Memoirs of the Life of Sir Humphry Davy,” London, 1836, Vol. I. p. 311).
[40] Gilbert’s near kinsman, Rev. William Gilbert, of Brental Ely, in Suffolk.
[41] At the first chapter of Books I., III. and IV.
[42] “Philosophia magnetica in qua magnetis natura penitus explicatur....” An important work on the loadstone, in which the author often confutes the published treatise of Dr. Gilbert of Colchester, and quotes the inedited writings of L. Garzoni, who, even before Gilbert, had made researches respecting the magnet. A curious chapter in the “Philosophia” institutes a comparison between electrical and magnetical attraction (Libri, “Catalogue,” 1871, Part. I. p. 161).
[43] It is in the afore-mentioned Book IV. chap. i. that Gilbert makes mention of Norumbega, “the lost city of New England,” regarding which latter very interesting particulars will be found in the following publications: “Magazine of Amer. Hist.” for 1877, pp. 14, 321, and for 1886, p. 291; “New England’s Lost City Found”; Lang’s “Sagas of the Kings of Norway”; “Antiquitates Americanæ,” Royal Soc. of Copenhagen; Shea’s “Catholic Church in Colonial Days”; “Narrative and Critical History of America,” by Justin Winsor, Boston, 1889, Vol. II. pp. 451, 453, 459, 472; Vol. III. pp. 169–218; Vol. IV. pp. 53, 71, 88, 91–99, 101, 152, 373, 384; Vol. V. p. 479; R. Hakluyt, “The Principal Navigations,” Edinburgh, 1889, Vol. XIII. p. 162, note; J. G. Bourinot, “Canada,” London, 1897, p. 28; Horsford, “Cabot’s Landfall in 1497, and the site of Norumbega”; “Discovery of the Ancient City of Norumbega”; also “Defences of Norumbega.”
[44] “That which first occasioned this Discourse, was the reading of a little Pamphlet, stiled, Nuntius Inanimatus (by Dr. Francis Godwin); wherein he affirms that there are certain ways to discourse with a Friend, though he were in a close Dungeon, in a besieged City, or a hundred miles off.... After this, I did collect all such Notes to this purpose, as I met with in the course of my other Studies. From whence when I had received full satisfaction, I did for mine own further delight compose them into this method.”—The Author.
[45] In the second edition of Digby’s “The Immortality of Reasonable Soules” (“a treatise on the soul proving its immortality”), published during the year 1645, are to be found attractive portraits of himself and of his wife, Venetia Anastasia Stanley, daughter of Sir Edward Stanley, of Tongue Castle, one of the celebrated beauties of her day.
[46] Libri says (“Catal.,” 1861, Pt. II. p. 701) that the learned Jesuit, Schott, seems to have been very conversant with angels, for he not only dedicated his “Magia Naturalis” to an angel, but likewise another of his works, the “Magia Arithmetica,” wherein he indicates the total number of the angels in existence, that number being composed of sixty-eight numerical figures.
[47] “The meetings, from which the Royal Society originated, commenced about the year 1645, a number of persons having then begun to assemble for the consideration of all subjects connected with experimental inquiries; all questions of theology and policy being expressly precluded” (Dr. Geo. Miller, from Harris’s “Life of Charles II,” Vol. I. p. 7, London, 1766).
[48] In the entry at p. 223, Part I of Libri’s “Catal.” for 1861 it is said that, in the first volume of the works of A. S. Conti, who was the intimate friend of Sir Isaac Newton, we find for the first time mention of the fact that the aurora is supposed to be an electrical phenomenon.
[49] “La perte de l’illustre M. Huygens est inestimable, peu de gens le savent autant que moi; il a égalé, à mon avis, la réputation de Galilée et de Descartes, et, aidé par ce qu’ils avaient fait, il a surpassé leurs découvertes.” (Extracted from a letter written by Leibnitz to Bosange, July 26, 1695—“Journal des Savants,” for Nov. 1905, “Oeuvres complètes de Christian Huygens,” La Haye, 1905.)
[50] Just here we may refer to the fact—for it is a fact—that the electrical energy transmitted over a line, which may be many miles in length, really does not travel by the wire connecting the two points. It travels in the ether surrounding the wire. The wire itself is, in fact, the guiding core of the disturbances in the ether which proceed outward in all directions to unlimited distances. The guiding core or conducting wire is needed to focalize or direct the delivery of the energy. This curious conclusion of science, then, that the power from the power-station wire travels in the space around the wires led from the station, is one of the results of recent electrical studies, just as with light those studies begun by Maxwell and Hertz have led to the inevitable conclusion that the light of the candle, the light of a kerosene lamp, and the light of a gas burner are all in essence electrical phenomena, as are all forms of radiation in the ether (“Electricity During the Nineteenth Century,” Prof. Elihu Thomson, Washington, 1901).
[51] Mr. Andrew Crosse (1784–1855) was a distinguished English scientist, author of “Experiments in Voltaic Electricity,” 1815, alluded to in Phil. Magazine, Vol. XLVI. p. 421 and in Gilb. “Ann.,” Bd. XLI. s. 60. See “Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Vol. XIII. p. 223, and the many references thereto annexed.
[52] “The first sound theory of chemistry was denominated the antiphlogistic, in contradistinction to that of phlogiston, or the principle of inflammability, which was first proposed by Beccher (born at Spires in Germany in the year 1635) and then improved by Stahl, a native of Anspach, in honour of whom it has been commonly denominated the Stahlian theory. The difference between the two theories is briefly this, that according to the earlier a body is conceived to be deprived in combustion of a component principle, whereas according to the later a component part of the atmosphere is conceived to be combined with it” (Dr. Geo. Miller, from Thomson’s “History of Chemistry,” London, 1830, Vol. I. pp. 246, 250, and Vol. II. pp. 99–100).
[53] Ueber die Ursache und die Gesetze der atmosphärischen Elektricität. Von Prof. Franz Exner. Repertorium der Physik. Band XXII. Heft 7.
[54] Ueber Atmosphärischen und Gewitter Elektricität. Meteor. Zeits. 1, 2, 3 and 4, 1885.
[55] Memoir of National Academy of Sciences.
[56] (a) Report of Chicago Meteorological Congress. Part II. August 1893. (b) Zusammenstellung der Ergebnisse neuerer der Arbeiten über atmosphärische Elektricität. Von J. Elster und H. Geitel. Wissen. Beilage zum Jahresbericht des Herzoglichen Gymnasiums zu Wolfenbuttel, 1897.
[57] (a) Observations of Atmospheric Electricity. American Meteorological Journal, 1887. (b) Terrestrial Magnetism. December 1897.
Consult Sir Wm. Thomson (Lord Kelvin), “Reprint of Papers on Electro-statics and Magnetism,” London, 1884, second edition, pp. 192–239, Chapter (Article) XVI, “Atmospheric Electricity.”
[58] For Gauss and Weber: Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. I. pp. 172, 185–186; Vol. II. p. 720, and Vol. V, 1859, pp. 63, 71; “Encycl. Brit.,” 1879, Vol. X. p. 116, and the 1902 ed. Vol. XXXIII. p. 798; “Am. Journ. of Psych.,” Vol. IV. pp. 7–10; “New International Encycl.,” 1903, Vol. VIII. p. 159. The following curious array of figures is selected from Gauss’ many interesting calculations. He found that the earth’s magnetism is such as would result from the existence, in every cubic yard of its mass, of six magnetized steel bars, each weighing one pound. Compared with one such magnet, the magnetism of the earth is represented by 8,464,000,000,000,000,000,000 (“Am. Ann. of Sc. Dis.,” 1852, p. iii).
[59] Whewell, “Hist. of Induc. Sci.,” 1859, Vol. II. p. 244. It paved the way for his subsequent identification of the forces of electricity, galvanism and magnetism.
Prof. W. B. Rogers remarks that attempts to discover this connection had been made with galvanic piles or batteries whose poles were not connected by conductors, under the expectation that these would show magnetical relations, although in such cases the electricity accumulated at the extremities was evidently stagnant. It was reserved for Oersted first to bring into prominent view the fact that it was not while the electricity was thus at rest, but while it was flowing through the wire connecting the two poles, that it exhibited magnetic action, and that a wire thus carrying a current, while it had the power of affecting a magnetic needle, was in turn susceptible of being acted on by a magnet; and this was the initial step in the science of electro-magnetism.
[60] See the 1839 ed. of “Experimental Researches”: I, “Voltaic Electricity,” par. 268; II, “Ordinary Electricity,” par. 284; III, “Magneto-Electricity,” par. 343; IV, “Thermo-Electricity,” par. 349; V, “Animal Electricity,” par. 351.
[61] In English measure, the metre is ¹⁄₁₁ yd., the milligramme is ¹⁄₆₅ of a grain; the kilogramme is 2 lb. 3¼ oz.
[62] In the Summa of Theology was presented, says Ozanam Antoine Frédéric, a vast synthesis of the moral sciences, in which was unfolded all that could be known of God, of man and of their mutual relations—a truly Catholic philosophy.... Sixtus of Sienna and Trithemius both declare that St. Thomas explained all the works of Aristotle and that he was the first Latin Doctor who did so (“Christian Schools and Scholars,” p. 81).
It may also be added that, in the estimation of one of his biographers, the greatest of the many disciples of St. Thomas was, by far, Dante Alighieri, in whose “Divina Commedia” the theology and philosophy of the Middle Ages, as fixed by St. Thomas, have received the immortality which poetry alone can bestow.
[63] Almagest was the name given to the great work of Aboulwéfa and was afterwards often applied to astronomical writings treating of celestial phenomena in general. The word is of Greek, not Arabic, origin, and signifies a composition made up on a very extensive scale (“Journ. des Savants,” December 1843, p. 725, and March 1845, p. 150). Almagest was also the name given to the extensive astronomical work by Ptolemy of Alexandria, which established the Ptolemaic System as astronomical science for 1400 years, until overthrown by the system of Copernicus. Ptolemy’s work (originally entitled “The Great Composition”), the Arabs called by the Greek word, magisté, “greatest,” and, with the addition by Arabic translators of their article al, “the,” the hybrid name “Almagest” came into use (“Encycl. Amer.,” Vol. I. n. p.; “Encycl. Britan.,” Edin., 1886, Vol. XX).
[64] See résumé concerning the Astrolabe at A.D. 1235–1315—Raymond Lully.
[65] Sacro Bosco, here alluded to, is John Holywood or Halifax—in Latin, Johannes de Sacro Bosco or Sacro Busto—an English mathematician, said to have studied at Oxford and to have afterwards become a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Paris about the year 1230. Sacro Bosco was one of the first, in the Middle Ages, to avail himself of the Arabian writings on astronomy and is believed to have condensed pretty much all the science therein contained in his own well-known “Tractatus de Sphæra.” Of the latter, which was the second astronomical work to appear in print and which was first issued at Ferrara in 1472, there were, it is said, as many as twenty-four more editions published before the year 1500. Houzeau says this “Tractatus” was the standard for three centuries, and the writer in “La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XXIX. p. 44, states that there were more than seventy Latin editions of it published between the fifteenth and the seventeenth centuries.
He is also the author of numerous other works, including “De Astrolabio” and a very meritorious “Tractatus de Arte Numerandi,” which latter is reproduced at pp. 1–26 of the “Rara Mathematica” of Jas. Orchard Halliwell, London, 1839.
The best commentary ever written on the astronomy of Sacro Bosco is the “Commentarius in sphæram ... of Christopher Clavius,” called the Euclid of his country. Clavius was born at Bamberg in 1538, died at Rome in 1612, and, according to Houzeau, was the author of as many as twenty-six different works on mathematics and astronomy. An almost equally valuable Commentary on the Sphere of Sacro Bosco was written by the famous encyclopedist Cecco d’Ascoli (1257–1327) whose real name, as we have already been informed, was Francesco degli Stabili (Libri, “Hist. des Sc. Mathém.,” Vol. II. pp. 191–200, 525–526; Hœfer, “Hist. de l’Astronomie,” Paris, 1873, p. 285; Alex. Chalmers, “Gen. Biog. Dict.,” Vol. IX. pp. 1–3; Rose, “New Gen. Biog. Dict.,” Vol. VI. p. 153; “Encycl. Brit.,” 1876, Vol. V. p. 282; Bertelli, “Pietro Peregrino,” 1868, p. 129).
[66] Eudoxus, not before mentioned in this “Bibliographical History,” was a native of Cnidus, Asia Minor, who flourished about 370 B.C. He was a pupil of Plato, and is frequently mentioned by Aratus, Archimedes, Aristotle, Cicero, Hipparchus, Proclus, Ptolemy, Seneca, Strabo, Vitruvius and others. Cicero calls him the greatest astronomer that has ever lived, and Strabo quotes him as a very distinguished mathematician.
[67] Apollonius of Tyana, a Pythagorean philosopher who lived in first century after Christ and who, in the account of his extraordinary travels through India, reports having seen the precious stone pantarbes casting rays of fire, and attracting all other gems, which adhered to it like swarms of bees (“Engl. Cycl.,” Chas. Knight, Biography, Vol. I. p. 266).
[68] Comte (Isidore Auguste Marie François-Xavier) (1798–1857). Very celebrated French philosopher, founder of Positivism, called Le Fondateur de la religion de l’humanité. Consult: Caird (Edward), “The Social Philosophy and Religion of Comte.”
[69] With reference to the real discoverer, we can add here with propriety the words of John Fiske: “No ingenuity of argument can take from Columbus the glory of an achievement which has, and can have, no parallel in the whole career of mankind. It was a thing that could be done but once!”
[70] “... Aristotle adds that some say the earth being situated in the centre, is rolled around the pole, as it is written in the Timæus ... there are three significations of the pole with Plato. Thus, in the Phædo, he calls heaven the pole, and also the extremities of the axis about which the heaven revolves. But, in other places of the Timæus, and also in the present passage he calls the axis the pole” (“The Treatises of Aristotle,” Thos. Taylor, London, 1807, p. 235; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. p. 695, note). The Earth “is said by Plato to be conglobed about the pole, which is extended through the universe; because she (the Earth) is contained and compressed about its axis. For the axis also is the pole. And the pole is thus now denominated because the universe revolves about it ... on this account, the pole is said by Plato to be extended through the universe, as entirely pervading the centre of the Earth” (“The Six Books of Proclus,” Thos. Taylor, London, 1816, Book VII. chap. xxii. pp. 172–173).
[71] It was for a copy of the valuable works of this popular Arabian physician, which he borrowed from “La Faculté de Médecine” of Paris, that Louis XI had to deposit in pledge a large quantity of plate and had, besides, to procure a nobleman to join him as surety in a Deed binding himself under great forfeiture to restore these extraordinarily scarce books (Gabr. Naudé, “Additions à l’histoire de Louis XI,” par Comines, Vol. IV. p. 281). Rhazès was born and brought up at Rai, the most northern town of Irak Ajemi, where he is said to have died A.D. 923 or 932 (“Engl. Cycl.,” Vol. V. pp. 69–70).
[72] The School of Salerno and the introduction of Arabian sciences into Italy are discussed with learning and judgment by Muratori (Lodovico Antonio), “Antiquitates Italiæ Medii Aevi.,” Vol. III. pp. 932–940, and by Giannone (Pietro), “Istoria Civile del Regno di Napoli,” Vol. II. pp. 119–127). Consult, likewise, for the Salerno school, “Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages,” by Hastings Rashdall, Oxford, 1895, Chap. III. pp. 75–86, and also pp. 306–307, Vol. IV. part i. of the “History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages ...” of Ferdinand Gregorovius, tr. by Annie Hamilton, London, 1896.
[73] Extracted from “Information and Directions for Travellers,” by Mariana Starke, 8th ed., John Murray, London, 1832.
[74] Vol. III has at p. 688 an Index and an advertisement to the effect that two more volumes by Benjamin Motte will continue the work from 1700 to 1720.
[75] Benjamin Motte edited in 1721 an abridgment 1700–1720, in three volumes which “was very incorrect and was severely handled by a rival editor, Hy. Jones, fellow of King’s College, Cambridge” (“Dict. of Nat. Biogr.,” Vol. XXXIX. p. 194).
[76] These volumes, IV and V, are generally adopted, instead of those by Benjamin Motte, “a printer who had issued a bad abridgment of the same portion” before that of Henry Jones (“Dict. Nat. Biogr.,” Vol. XXX. p. 109).
[77] This volume is in two parts, separately paged, and is by some designated as the volume VI to take the place of one of those of Eames and Martyn.
[78] Volume VII is followed by an Index to the previous seven volumes.
[79] John Martyn published, between 1734 and 1756, five volumes comprising the Transactions from 1719 to 1750 (“Dict. of Nat. Biogr.,” Vol. XXXVI. p. 318). The last two volumes are marked Vol. X. parts i. and ii.
[80] Hutton’s Abridgment contains ... many biographical memoirs of deceased members of the Royal Society, as well as some rare tracts not readily found elsewhere.
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected silently.
2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the original.
3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have been retained as in the original.
4. Where appropriate, the original spelling has been retained.