Picture
at left: Magnetite ore
(Click on
the picture for an
enlarged view). This
is the stone
with which it all began. One can say here like in the Bible "
at the
beginning was the… magnetite". It
is a black mineral also
called magnetic iron-ore, crystalizing in the cubic system. Its
chemical
formula
is Fe3O4. Its ability to
magnetize
a metal needle and make it feel the Earth's
magnetism
made it possible to discover the world beyond the ocean's horizon. In
reality, the compass needle doesn't "point North" but aligns
itself along the lines of the magnetic
forces between the Earth's poles. For several centuries, the only
possibility to magnetize a needle was to rub it with a big magnetite
cristal.
Since they were part of the invaluable instruments
set on
board, they were set in a non ferrous frame (picture at right: XIXth C.
silver magnet case, Musée de la Marine, Paris)
We intentionally decided not to speak of the
invention of the compass
.
This instrument was not designed by a lone genious. As a
matter of fact, several important steps had to be taken
before a fully functional instrument existed. We decided thus to quote
the short but excellent introduction
published almost exactly a century ago in a German book (
Der Kompass, by A.
Schück, 1911, see bibliography below). He himself quoted a
Swedish author whose ideas he completed. Schück apparently
possessed a translation into English , the original of which we hope to
find some day (this is our own translation of the German text!):
(Quotation start)
One cannot say that the compass was invented one day. One should
rather speak of the discory of a natural force and of the aplication of
its effects which led to the making of some predecessor of the
compass. A.
E. Nordenskiöld formulated this clearly in his book
Periplus
(translated into English by Francis A. Bather,
Stockholm, 1897) VI. Portolano's, page 47 and foll.:
"One must distinguish four steps:
1) The discovery of an ore with electro-magnetical capacities i.e. that
can attract iron. Only one exists in large quantities on the Earth's
surface, it's the
magnetite.
2) The discovery of the fact that steel or hardened
iron can be magnetised when rubbed against a magnetite crystal.
3) The discovery of the fact the magnet, i.e. magnetised iron as soon
as
it is hung or placed onto a pivot, so that it can rotate freely, will
always point to the same direction or more precisely will align itself
within a certain angle of a north-south axis.
4) Realising that this magnetised needle can be used as a means
of orientation".
(Quotation end).
The mineral and the
phenomenon of magnetism were known in the Western and Eastern
antique civilizations.
- Plinius
the Elder writes that Nicander of Colophon reported,
that a shepherd called
Magnes
had noted (in very ancient times) that the nails of his shoes and the
iron ferrule of his staff clung to the rocks on Mount Ida (...
magnes appellatus est ab
inventore, ut auctor est Nicander in Ida repertus invenisse autem fertur clavis
crepidarum, baculi cuspide haerentibus, cum armenta pasceret).
This ore was found near a city called Magnesia, so it is not clear
where the designation really comes from: maybe the city was named
after the ore's name. See also Thales of Milet's theory below.
- Another legend is known as well in the Mediterranean as in the Arabic
world, saying that the iron nails of ships sailing too near of a
certain island were pulled out the boards...
It is now
generally admitted that the compass is
a Chinese invention or discovery.
Extensive research work was conducted by missionaries in China and by
western sinologists like especially the German linguist who
lived in
Paris Julius H. Klaproth who laid down the result of his studies one
year before his death in a booklet entitled
Lettre
à M. le baron A. de Humboldt sur l'invention de la
boussole (Letter to Baron A. de Humboldt, on the
invention of the mariner's compass
, 1834).
The description of space always was very important in the
Chinese philosophy because some directions have a positive or
negative value (yang/yin or dragon/phenix opposition).
For the ancient Chinese, the magnetic needle pointed South, the
direction towards which the emperor (seated with his back turned to the
North star) was looking at. This physical property was used very early
in an instrument comprising two components: one was a sort of square
plate, the other was a spoon-shaped pointer made of
magnetite (picture: go to
WIKIPEDIA
/ compass - It was essentially used for
fortune telling (geomancy, Feng Shui).
Many
authors have supposed that a system called South pointing chariot
(zhi3 nan2 che1)
was functioning with a magnetic compass. It is
described in
Wikipedia (South pointing Chariot) as a
purely mechanical device without any magnetical component.
(Drawings:
south pointing chariots reproductions by Klaproth
from the Chinese encyclopedia San
thsaï thou hoei dated 1609 -at left- and
in the great Japanese encycl. -at r.- Click on the
drawing for an enlarged view).
See also compass category
Religion /
Chinese Tradition and Feng Shui.
Another almost comprehensive reference book citing all known sources in
the
Western and Eastern litterature was written by another German author (a
captain with the imperial commercial Navy called A. Schück,
Der Kompass) a few years before the first World War. This fact may be the reason why
these two works are very little known outside Germany. Some of the
following ideas were inspired by them. The three volumes of
Der Kompass also display pictures of hundreds of compass roses from all over
the world,
starting with the oldest ones known (16th C.) through to the most modern systems
and
designs - i.e. when the book was printed... (see
Nautical / Chetwynd).
The use of a magnetized needle occured in China approximately at the
end of
the 1st millenium A.D. It was laid down on a swimming device made of
wood
or bamboo placed in a bowl of water. This rudimentary technology was
then passed over to the only other seafaring people with whom some sort
of commercial contacts existed, the Arabs.
This chronology cannot be proven though since there are no
written
testimonies.
It is often said that the word used in the Mediterranean to
designate the compass (bussola) comes from the italian bossolo (a box
made of "box wood". It can as well have been copied from the arabic
word
el-mouasaléh
(sharp point, sting), the
transformation of M into B being common in several
arabic dialects (Klaproth, p.
29) and also in our western languages (Giacomo - Jacob etc.). The
designation
al-konbas
(from the Italian
il
compasso)
appeared much later, after this simple instrument had been
technologically
improved (see below). This linguistic and
historical transmission
is not agreed upon by everybody. It has been substantiated by Klaproth
but the fact that he was German and demonstrate that the invention was
not
the product of the superior Western
civilization could explain that this theory was not taken
seriously at least in France. It seems that the Arabs just transmitted
the Chinese device but didn't deal a lot with it. They may have
considered it as a simple gadget that could not compete with their
highly precise and well developed methods for navigating, based on
their excellent astronomical knowledge and mathematical skills. They
apparently didn't know or
use the improved compass when the Portuguese seafarers reached the
Indian Ocean at the end the 15th C. The latters reported that the Arabs
used a sort of
concave fish-shaped needle able to swimm and that it was
magnetized on demand.
(Picture at
r.: Il Millione or The travels of Marco Polo (1307), Bibl.
Nat.
Paris)
Starting from the bare mineral crystal, the different steps consisted
first in carving it so that it could work as a pointer (that was the
"spoon"). The next step was to magnetize a metallic needle and
to
design a system that allowed it to move freely e.g. floating
on a
piece of bamboo (approx. 8th C. in China). This system was called
calamita in
Italian and thi sname was taken over in the Mediterranean. The calame was a piece of reed cut so as
to write with it like the feather later on. It already
was used in ancient Egypt and
until the 12th C. Some authors have wrongly supposed that the needle
laid on two sticks looked like a frog and was thus called
calamita in
Italian. But this is wrong. The word calamita refers to the material.
The name still exists in the Latin designation (
bufo calamita =
"reed frog") of the natterjack toad (see WIKIPEDIA).
The mariner's compass as we know it today is the result of major
technological improvements that occurred in the late 13th or the
early 14th C. Some gifted compass makers had first the idea of
placing the needle on a pivot and second to stick a disk of paper on
which a drawing of the main wind directions was painted. Most authors
have attributed these
achievements to a single genius called Flavio di Gioia.
The Legend of Flavio di
Gioia
At least during two centuries, several authors (one of them being a
legate of the Pope called
Flavius
Blondus)
described the compass but also wrote that either the
inventor of the
system was not known or that it was designed by a mariner called
Gioia who lived in Amalfi near Naples. In the late 16th C., the city historian Scipio
Mazzella of Naples suddenly wrote that the compass was
invented exactly in 1302 (!) by Flavio di Gioia (in
Descrittione del regno di Napoli,
Napoli 1588, 2nd Issue, 1601, p. 65). Since then, almost all authors
(excepted serious researchers) have repeated this and one can read it
everywhere. Unfortunately, there is no evidence and this is very
probably only a legend. Fact is that the sailors of Naples in those
days had special ties with
the Arabic world and were the only ones being allowed by them to sail
and deal on the eastern Mediterranean and north African
coasts.
NOTES:
rW. Gilbert wrote (
De Magnete,
London, 1600) "In the kingdom of Naples, a scientist living in Amalfi
and called Johannes Goia is said to have shown in 1300 how to use
a compass, as Flavius Blondus reports."
Another author, Guillaume de Nautonnier
wwrote (in
La
mécométrie,
Toulouse T. 1, 1603, p.
8) " This instrument, the use of which was no longer known, was
re-invented by a citizen of Amalfi called Gioia as this is
reported by Flavius."
The Rose of the Winds
Before the compass rose was divided into 360 degrees, several systems
were used to represent the horizon's full circle. The
Chinese
chose different numbers of signs, the Arabs chose stars and
constellations and
the Christians the main winds blowing in the
Mediterranean
(see details in Miscellaneous/Cardinals and in Compass types/Religion). Whoever had the idea to glue a picture of
the winds on a magnetic needle made it very easy for a sailor to follow
a determined direction. This part of the invention is generally
attributed to the above mentioned Flavio di Gioia. This device made it
possible to navigate by barely turning the ship's bow in the
direction of a certain wind (rumb) indicated on the compass
rose.
QUOTATIONS
(Parts of the following text was copied and adapted from The Medieval Technology Pages by Paul J. Gans).
"There seems to be a reference to a south-pointing spoon* in a
manuscript
of the Han dynasty written in 83 AD. Another reference of the same
period states that the jade collectors of Cheng carried a "south
pointer" with them so that they would not lose their way [Gies, p. 94
- s. Sources below].
Magnetized needles used as direction pointers are attested in the
8th century AD in China, and between 850 and 1050 they seem to have
become common as navigational devices on ships. [Gies, p. 94]
Lynn White dates such use a bit later, citing dates of 1089-93
and 1116 for mention of magnetized needles being used for geomancy and
1119 and 1122 for use as a mariner's compass. [White, p. 132]
The first mention of the directional compass (as opposed to magnets
themselves) in the Western world occurs in a long satirical poem (2700
verses called
the Bible)
written by the French poet
Hugue de Bercy (also called
Guyot de Provins,
Guyot being a diminutive form of Hugue, Hugp Bertius, Hugue de Berzel
etc.). He made therein the first known precise description of the mariner's
compass. He was a monk in Clervaux and Cluny and travelled a lot. He
reproached to the pope of Rome
that he was not for the Christians
the same thing than the compass
for the sailors (see details and exerpt below in Bibliography).
The next older mention is to be found
in
Alexander Neckam's
De
naturis rerum (On
the
Natures of Things) probably written in Paris in 1190 [Gies, p. 157]. He
also was a Man of God and lived in Paris for some time. We can thus
assume that Neckham knew Bercy/Guyot's description.
The first Moslem mention of the
compass occurs in a Persian story of
1232-3. The first Arabic mention occurs in 1242. White notes that the
Arabic word for compass is
al-konbas
(from the Italian
il
compasso) a further indication of
transmission from the West [White, p. 132].
Left:
Print in a German book (also published in Dutch in 1745) "Der
Kompassmacher" (the compass maker)
One must consider here two aspects which are not sustained by any
(written) evidence but cannot be neglected because of the simple logic
of the facts. It can thus be assumed that the instrument had
already been known
by seafarers for a long time and that its
existence was also
known
among many people unless the comparison would not have been understood
by the readers of the story. An additional aspect is the fact
that
the few ones who possessed
such an instrument would have much probably kept it secret as
long
as
possible since
they derived a commercial advantage of the higher speed of
delivery, since they would no longer be sailing along the coast but
straight to their destination harbours across the open sea.
It is noted that Neckham's book was widely read by the
end of the century, and that the historian
of the cruisades Jacques de Vitry considered
in 1218 the compass as a necessity for maritime navigation
(Historiæ
Hierosolimitanæ, cap. 89). By 1225 it was in
use in Iceland [White, p. 132].
It is thus reasonable to assume that the actual date of the
introduction of
the compass to Europe predates Guyot's and Neckham's notes of it by
a number of
years. Considering how slowly information was spreading in those days,
the middle of 12th C. seems plausible.
Milestones on
the way of compass development in the Western world
- 6th c. B.C. : the Greek philosopher Thales of Milet thinks
that
magnetite has a soul that attracts parent stones like iron.
- 12th C. A.D.:
the Icelandic author Arc Frode
(1027-1148)
writes that ship captains in the Mediterranean utilize an instrument
that they call "leading stone"
(lodestone).
- 1181: Hugue de Bercy/Guyot de Provins writes
that the French captains use a needle, which they "lighten up" by
rubbing it
against a stone that they call
amanière
(from aimant - attracting) and which is also called in the
Mediterranean
calamite (calame
= writing stiletto),
"Une
pierre laide et noirette / an ugly black stone
Où le fer volontiers se
joint," / which attracts iron.
- 1269: Pierre Pèlerin de Méricourt
writes (original words in Latin): " [the compass]
is the instrument that guide you
to cities and islands.
"
- 1302/1303 (?): Invention of the rotating rose of winds (see above
Legend of Flavio die Gioia).
- 1492: Columbus notes a discrepancy between the direction given by
the North star (geographical North pole) and
the magnetic North pole indicated by his compass (
declination) while
he sails about 200 miles west of the island called El
Hierro (Canary).
- XVIth C.: a German priest called Georg Hartmann living in Nuremberg
studies the phenomenon of the declination and has the intuition of the
inclination.
First measurements of the declination are made in 1541 in
Paris and in 1580 in London.
- 1576: the British manufacturer of nautical instruments Robert
Normann describes the phenomenon of the inclination.
- XVIIth C.: a Portuguese priest called Burrus (Lisboa)
transfers onto a spherical map of the Earth the declination values
measured at different places and joins them with lines which we now
call
isogonic.
The British astronomer Halley (1656-1742) improves them in 1700 during
an expedition intended to measure the exact position of the Empire's
colonies.
Bibliography
Gies:
Frances and Joseph Gies,
Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel
subtitled "Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages".
HarperPerennial, 1995 (paper) ISBN 0-06-016590-1
White:
Lynn White, Jr.,
Medieval Technology and Social
Change, Oxford, 1962 (paper). ISBN 0-19-500266-0
-
William Gilbert, physician at
the court of Elizabeth,
wrote
the treatise "
De
magnete, magneticisique corporibus" (Guiliemi Gilberti,
"On the Magnet") in
1600.
-
Julius H. Klaproth,
Lettre
à M. le Baron A. de Humboldt (1834). Klaproth
was a German linguist (sinologist) who studied and quoted many ancient
Chinese sources (pic. at right,
original
French text online. An English translation of the
first five pages is also available online in Google
Books:
The
monthly magazine, p. 570).
- A very good but special (anti-religious) French teaching book,
La Boussole (1885
- picture at left) describing all aspects of the compass manufacture and
history incl. metallurgy among other
things (the author's name - probably an alias - is indicated
as Mme de
C***).
- A. Schück,
Der Kompass (
1911,
3 vol.). A comprehensive encyclopedia of the complete knowledge about
compasses'
history and technology
was written by the German captain who quoted probably all
known sources. It contains hundreds of coloured
pictures of nautical compass cards from the very early ones kept in
Museums through to the most modern
designs of his time (e.g. Chetwynd) and is currently being reprinted
(2009-2010,
see picture
at right).
Picture
at left: Magnetite ore (Click on
the picture for an
enlarged view). This
is the stone
with which it all began. One can say here like in the Bible "at the
beginning was the… magnetite". It
is a black mineral also
called magnetic iron-ore, crystalizing in the cubic system. Its
chemical
formula
is Fe3O4. Its ability to magnetize
a metal needle and make it feel the Earth's magnetism
made it possible to discover the world beyond the ocean's horizon. In
reality, the compass needle doesn't "point North" but aligns
itself along the lines of the magnetic
forces between the Earth's poles. For several centuries, the only
possibility to magnetize a needle was to rub it with a big magnetite
cristal.
Since they were part of the invaluable instruments
set on
board, they were set in a non ferrous frame (picture at right: XIXth C.
silver magnet case, Musée de la Marine, Paris)
Many
authors have supposed that a system called South pointing chariot (zhi3 nan2 che1)
was functioning with a magnetic compass. It is
described in Wikipedia (South pointing Chariot) as a
purely mechanical device without any magnetical component. 
Gies:
Frances and Joseph Gies, Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel
subtitled "Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages".
HarperPerennial, 1995 (paper) ISBN 0-06-016590-1
