The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-03-22
The MaPimeT's Compass known
from Time IHRmnemOrial.

It has been usual to assume that nau-
teal science never existed anywhere
much anterior to the beginning of the
fourteenth century and that such things
as the mariners compass, the astrolabe,
and other scientific instruments to aid
navigation, were not heard of previous
to that age. The mariners compass, it
has been said, was. invented by FlaviO
Gioja, at Pantava, near Amalti, in Italy,
in the year 1902. again one of these
exact dates that mean so exceedingly
little-ride year 1904 for the creation Of
the worldly Unfortunately for the pres
tige of orthodox wisdom, it is certain
that the magnetic needle was in use
thousands of years previous to Gioja's
time, and that the mariners compass
was a well-knOwn instrument among
European nayigatOrs at least q hundred
al dtwenty years before 1909. This last
fact | am going to prove first.
Raymond Lully, i'll his "FeniT de las
MdyuuiLlaS del Orbe," published in 1886,
states that the seamen Of his time used
the magnetic needle. "Teni0n," he says,
IS los mdrcdnteS ~instrWmentO, cdrt0, compass
ydqujd." A Latin letter Of Peter Adsiger,
written in 1869, and quoted i'll Rees's
Encyclopedia, speaks of the mariners
compass as if it had been in use for 4
long time, gives a very particular des-
criptiOn Of it, and says: "Take notice
that the magnet, as we'll as the needle
that has been touched by it, does not
point exactly to the poles; the South
point declining a little to the West, and
the North point to the East In the
year 1850, the mariners compass was
very fully described in a poem of one Of
the PrOvencalT rOubadOurs, named Guy
OF de PrOvins. He describes the magnet,
the method of preparing the needle, and
the certainty with which it points to the
polar star, PeStOile Quj ne Sc muet. He
states that the needle, fixed to bits Of
straw, was made to swim on water in a
dish. Then it turned steadily to the pole
and could not deceive; but was a sure
guide to the marinerin the darkestnight.
"Puis Sc tourne Ia pOintc toute
COntre restOile, 81 sans dOuto
Que ia nus HON men dOutera
Ne ia pOr rien ne fausSepa."
To GuyOt de Provinsthe mariners COM
pass was one fthe common things which
had been in use very long and mighthave
existed from time immemorial.
We must necessarily admit, as HUNS
loldt does in his Cosmos, that the mar
iner's compass was brought to Europe
by the Arabians. He says: "TheArabic
designations Zophrona and Aphron (South
and North), given by Vincenz Of Beau
vais, in his FSpeculum Natura,' to the
two points of the magnetic needle, indi-
cate the channel and the people whence
the Western countries received their
knowledge. Humboldt suggests that the
Arabians may h~avereceived the compass
from the Chinese who,. as l am going to
show, had used it for times immemorial;
but that seems not to me to be the source
from which they got it. Twill, however,
speak of that later.
The oldest Chinese annalists mention
that Emperor HOang-Ti, who diedin the
year 1897 B. c., vanquished a rebel by
the aid Of magnetic wagons" by which
he always was able to find his way and
keep his direction. Under the reign of
Emperor Tching-Wang Q116-1079 B. CO.
we find these magnetic wagons" men
toned again. An embassy from YOue-
Tchang, a Southern maritime country,
came to the court of this Emperor bring
ing a present of white p~heasants. The
minister eheOu-KOung gave the return
ing ambassadors wagons showing the
South" to aid them on their Journey
home. The construction Of these wag-
ons shows that the Chinese already as
early as at least 5000 years before Christ
were acquainted with the physical quail
ties of the magnetic needle; but, as they
were not then, and never have been,
much of a seafaring people, their keen
practical sense Taught them to construct
a land-compass, that must have been of
incalculable utility in those old times
when very few roads were made yet and
the geOgraphicalknowledge undoubted-
ly, was very limited. Arather astonish-
ing circumstance is that the Chinese
magnetic wagons" of old, just as their
mariners compass of to-day, marked the
South as the, chief point when the we'll
known property Of the magnetic needle
is to point to the North; but the singu-
larity of this fact ceases, when we take
into consideration that the first applica-
ton the Chinese made Of theneedle was
to find the South. With the barbaric
Nomad tribes North of their country
they had no communication and the
Chinese empire then only comprised
some of the Northern provinces of what
we now call China proper. Thus we
will find it quite natural thatthis people.
though knowing perfectly well that the
magnetieneedle was attracts towardthe
North pole, nevertheless in preference
marked the opposite point, and that the
Chinese word for the South (tchi-nan)
became the name for all applications OF
the magnet with the principal mark at
the Southern end Of the needle.
But, as | have said, Humboldt was, nc
doubt, mistaken when he supposed the
Arabians to have received their knowl-
edge to the mariners compass from the
Chinese. They had not to go so far.
In the very oldesttimes, perhaps thous,
ands Of years before history commences