Vol. II. p. 59.—“Wherever the magnet has grown—there, a certain attractive power exists, just as colocynth is purgative and the poppy is anodyne....”
Mr. A. E. Waite says (Vol. II. p. 3) that the ten books of Paracelsus’ Archidoxies stand in the same relation to Hermetic Medicine as the nine books Concerning the Nature of Things stand to Hermetic Chemistry and to the science of metallic transmutation.
References.—Biography of Paracelsus, in Larousse, “Dict Univ.,” Vol. XII. pp. 171–172, in F. Hartmann, 1887, and in the ninth ed. of the “Encycl. Brit.,” Vol. XVIII. pp. 234–236; Van Swinden, “Recueil,” etc., La Haye, 1784, Vol. I. pp. 356–358; Gilbert, “De Magnete,” Book I. chaps. i. and xiv., also Book II. chap. xxv.; “Journal des Savants” for November 1849; Walton and Cotton, “Complete Angler,” New York and London, 1847, pp. 212–213, for notes regarding Paracelsus, Robert Fludd, Jacob Behmen and the Rosicrucians; “Dictionnaire Historique de la Médecine,” N. F. Eloy, Mons, 1778, Vol. III. pp. 461–471; “History and Heroes of the Art of Medicine,” J. Rutherfurd Russell, London, 1861, pp. 157–175; “Histoire Philosophique de la Médecine,” Etienne Tourtelle, Paris, An. XII. (1804) Vol. II. pp. 326–346; “History of Magic,” Joseph Ennemoser, London, 1854, Vol. II. pp. 229–241.
At p. 55 of the first supplement to “Select. Bibliog. of Chemistry,” by H. C. Bolton, Washington, 1899, mention is made of the Paracelsus Library belonging to the late E. Schuberth of Frankfort-on-the-Main ... as containing 194 titles of works on Paracelsus and 548 titles of works relating to Paracelsus and his doctrines; the section on Alchemy embracing as many as 351 titles.
A.D. 1492.—Columbus, Colombo, Colon (Christopher), the discoverer of America., is the first to determine astronomically the position of a line of no magnetic variation (on which the needle points to the true north) the merit of which discovery has, by Livio Sanuto, been erroneously attributed to Sebastian Cabot. (Livio Sanuto, “Geographia distincta in XII libri ...” wherein the whole of Book I is given to reported observations of the compass and to accounts of different navigators.)
Columbus did not, as many imagine, make the first observations of the existence of magnetic variation, for this is set down upon the charts of Andrea Bianco, but he was the first who remarked, on the 13th of September, 1492, that “2½ degrees east of the island of Corvo, in the Azores, the magnetic variation changed and passed from N.E. to N.W.” Washington Irving thus describes the discovery (“History ... Ch. Columbus,” Paris, 1829, Vol. I. p. 198): “On the 13th of September, in the evening, being about two hundred leagues from the island of Ferro (the smallest of the Canaries), Columbus, for the first time, noticed the variation of the needle, a phenomenon which had never before been remarked. He perceived, about nightfall, that the needle, instead of pointing to the North Star, varied about half a point, or between five and six degrees to the north-west, and still more on the following morning. Struck with this circumstance, he observed it attentively for three days and found that the variation increased as he advanced. He at first made no mention of this phenomenon, knowing how ready his people were to take alarm; but it soon attracted the attention of the pilots, and filled them with consternation. It seemed as if the laws of nature were changing as they advanced, and that they were entering into another world, subject to unknown influences (Las Casas, ‘Hist. Ind.,’ l. i. c. 6). They apprehended that the compass was about to lose its mysterious virtues; and, without that guide, what was to become of them in a vast and trackless ocean? Columbus tasked his science and ingenuity for reasons with which to allay their terrors. He told them that the direction of the needle was not to the polar star but to some fixed and invisible point. The variation, therefore, was not caused by any fallacy in the compass, but by the movement of the North Star itself, which, like the other heavenly bodies, had its changes and revolutions, and every day described a circle around the pole. The high opinion that the pilots entertained of Columbus as a profound astronomer gave weight to his theory, and their alarm subsided.”
Humboldt says: “We can, with much certainty, fix upon three places in the Atlantic line of no declination for the 13th of September, 1492, the 21st of May, 1496 and the 16th of August, 1498.”
References.—“Columbus and his Discoveries,” in the “Narrative and Critical History of America,” by Justin Winsor, Boston, 1889, Vol. II. pp. 1–92; “Christopher Columbus, His life, work ...” by John Boyd Thacher, 1903; Giov. Bat. Ramusio, “Terzo volume delle Navigationi e Viaggi ...” 1556; Dr. Geo. Miller, “History Phil. Illust.,” London, 1849, Vol. II. pp. 216–219; David Hume, “History of England,” London, 1822, Vol. III. pp. 387–398; Guillaume Libri, “Histoire des Sciences Mathématiques en Italie,” Halle, 1865, Vol. III. pp. 68–85; “Columbus, a Critical Study,” by Henry Vignaud, London, 1903; Weld, “Hist. Royal Society,” Vol. II. p. 429; Thos. Browne, “Pseudodox. Epid.,” 1658, Book II. pp. 68–69; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. I. p. 174; Vol. II. pp. 636, 654–657, 671–672, and Vol. V. (1859) pp. 55–56, 116; Knight, “Mech. Dict.,” Vol. II., pp. 1374, 1397; Poggendorff, “Geschichte der Physik,” Leipzig, 1879, p. 270; “Raccolta di documenti e studi publicati della R. Com. Columb. pel 40 Centenario alla scoperta dell’America,” Roma, 1892; Humboldt, “Examen Critique ... progrès de l’astronomie nautique,” Paris, 1836, Vol. I. pp. 262–272, etc.
It may be worth noting here that the ashes of Columbus, removed from the Cathedral of Havana, were placed in a mausoleum at Seville, November 17, 1902 (“Science,” Dec. 12, 1902, p. 958).
Amongst the numerous claimants to the discovery of America, some have placed the great navigator Martin Behaim—Behem—(1430–1506), who received his instruction from the learned John Müller (Regiomontanus) and became one of the most learned geographers as well as the very best chart maker of his age. Cellarius, Riccioli and other writers assert that Behaim had, before Columbus, visited the American Continent, while Stuvenius shows, in his treatise “De vero novi orbis inventore,” that the islands of America and the strait of Magalhæns were accurately traced upon the very celebrated globe called the “World Apple” completed by Behaim in the year 1492, and which is still to be seen in Behaim’s native city of Nürnberg.[26] (See Mr. Otto’s letter to Dr. Franklin, in the second volume of the “Transactions of the American Philosophical Society held at Philadelphia for promoting useful knowledge,” likewise Humboldt, “Examen critique de l’histoire de la Géographie,” Vol. II. pp. 357–369; “The Reliquary,” London, Vol. VI. N.S. Jan.-Oct. 1892, pp. 215–229; Justin Winsor, “Narrative and Critical History of America,” Boston 1889, Vol. II. pp. 104–105; “Geogr. Jour.,” Vol. V. March 1895, p. 228.)