TABLE OF CONTENTS HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE UNABRIDGED AND ABRIDGED EDITIONS " OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY "PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS"; Also, LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ST. AUGUSTINE Frontispiece “La Cité de Dieu, translatée et exposée par Raoul de Presles." Taken from the manuscript in the Musée de Chantilly, by permission of the executors of Monsieur le Duc d'Aumale. CAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS Facing page Page taken from the earliest known edition of the "Naturalis Historiae "De Naturali Auscultatione." Title-page of the Paris 1542 edition. This belonged to Dr. William Gilberd, when at Cambridge, and is inscribed with his name and with that of Archdeacon Thomas Drant. (From the library of the late Silvanus P. Thompson). "La Bible." Page 93 verso of MS. Fr., No. 25405, Variorum Poëmata, in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. "Speculum Naturale." Page taken from the (Argentorati) 1473 issue, la première édition et la plus rare de toutes. In the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, Paris. BRUNETTO LATINI "Li Livres dou Trésor." Page taken from the XVth Century MS. (originally copied by Jean du Quesne), No. 191, Trésor de Sapience, in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. DANTE ALIGHIERI "La Divina Commedia," Mantuae 1472, the first page of what is by many regarded as the oldest edition of the earliest known poem written in the Italian language. Now in the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, Paris. PETRUS PEREGRINUS. "Epistola... de Magnete." The earliest known treatise of experimental science. Original photographic reproduction of first page of the almost illegible MS. No. 7378 A; page 67 recto (embraced in a geometrical treatise), now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. PETRUS PEREGRINUS. Facsimile of Bodleian MS., No. 7027 (MS. Ashmole No. 1522), folio 186 verso, being Chap. II, Part II, of the "Epistola. . . de Magnete," wherein is described the earliest known pivoted compass. 43 44 46 52 CHRISTOPHer columBUS Facing page Between 64 and 65 Photographic reproduction of his letter, March 21, 1502, to Nicolo Oderigo, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS Between 64 and 65 Translation of the letter written by him to Nicolo Oderigo, shown here on opposite plate; made into English by Mr. Geo. A. Barwick, B.A., of the British Museum. Permission to copy both the original letter and its translation was given by Messrs. B. F. Stevens and Brown, London. CECCO D'ASCOLI . Last page of the earliest known edition of his "Acerba," Venetia, 1476. 524 524 "De Divinis Institutionibus." Page taken from the Sublacensi 1465 edition, called by Joannis Vogt inter rariora typographiae incunabula rarissimum. In the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, Paris. "Traitte que le docteur P. Nunes fit sur certaines doubtes de la Navigation." Page 9 verso of MS. Fr. No. 1338, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. 530 THE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM FROM B.C. 2637 TO A.D. 1821 B.C. 2637.-This date has been conclusively shown to be the earliest one at which history notes anything resembling the application of the magnetic influence. It is related that, during this sixty-first year of the reign of Hoang-ti (Yeou-hioung-che, also named Koung-fun and Hiuen-yuen), the emperor's troops, who were pursuing the rebellious prince Tchéyeou (Tchi-yeou), lost their way, as well as the course of the wind, and likewise the sight of their enemy, during the heavy fogs prevailing in the plains of Tchou-lou. Seeing which, Hoang-ti constructed a chariot upon which stood erect a prominent female figure which indicated the four cardinal points, and which always turned to the south whatever might be the direction taken by the chariot. Thus he succeeded in capturing the rebellious prince, who was put to death. Some say that upon this chariot stood a needle, to denote the four parts of the world. That, states the French author writing in 1736, would "indicate the use of the compass, or something very similar to it. . . and it is unfortunate that the device has not been explained more fully." REFERENCES.-Du Halde, "Description de la Chine "La Haye, 1736, Vol. I. pp. 270-271; B.C. 2634, Klaproth, "Boussole," pp. 33, 34, 71, 74, 76, 79, 82; Azuni, Boussole," Paris, 1809, pp. 186, 214; Staunton's "China," London, 1797, Vol. I. p. 446; "Encycl. Metrop.," Vol. III. P. 736; Buffon, "La Terre," Vol. I. p. 304; Davis, "The Chinese," 1844, Vol. III. p. 14; Humboldt, Cosmos," 1848, Vol. V. p. 51, for Ed. Biot in Comptes Rendus, Vol. XIX. 1844, p. 822; Dr. A. T. Thompson, translation of Salverte's "Philosophy of Magic," 1847, Vol. II. chap. xi. p. 222 (note), wherein he alludes to Davies' "Early History of the Mariner's Compass"; "British Annual," 1837; Saillant et Nyon, "Mémoires concernant l'Histoire," Paris, 1788, Vol. XIII. pp. 234-235, giving chronological tables of the history of China, also p. 227 relative to Hoangti; P. Etienne Souciet, "Observations," Paris, 1732, Vol. II. pp. 94-95. Hoang-ti (Hoang, supreme king), third in the "Period of the Five Emperors (Claude Augé, Nouveau Larousse," Vol. V. P. 134), regarded as the founder of the Chinese Empire, died at the age of 121, after reigning 100 years, B.C. 2598. Mailla (Joseph B |