The time at which the attractive property of the magnet was discovered, is by no means known; certain, however, it is, that mankind were acquainted with it at a very early period. Father Kircher endeavours to prove that the Jews were aware of the magnet's singular property of attracting iron; and from Plutarch, it appears that the Egyptians were not ignorant of it. Pythagoras, Ptolemy, and several other ancient philosophers, knew and admired this wonderful property of the magnet. Thales and Anaxagoras were so struck with it, as to imagine that the magnet had a soul; and Plato said that the cause of its attraction was divine. But the directive property of the magnet was not known to the ancients. To the simple application of this property, which was either discovered or introduced into Europe about 500 years ago, mankind is indebted principally for the discovery of a new continent nearly equal to the old one, for an extensive commerce between the most distant nations, and for an accurate knowledge of the shape and size of the world we inhabit. The use of the magnetic needle was not known in Europe before the thirteenth century. The honour of its discovery has been much contested; but by the consent of most writers, it seems to belong to Flavio Gioja of Amalfi. He lived in the reign of Charles of Anjou, who died in 1309; and it was, it is said, in compliment to this Sovereign that Gioja distinguished the North Pole by the emblem of France, the fleur-de-lis. Du Halde, in his book upon China, indeed, intimates that the use of the magnetic needle was known to the ancient Chinese. Speaking of the Emperor Hoang-ti, when he gave battle to Tchi-Yeou, he says: "He, perceiving that thick fogs saved the enemy from his pursuit, and that the soldiers rambled out of the way and lost the course of the wind, made a car which showed them the four cardinal points. By this method he overtook Tchi-Yeou, made him prisoner, and put him to death. Some say that there were engraven on this car, on a plate, the characters of a rat and a horse, and underneath was placed a needle to determine the four parts of the world. This would amount to the use of the compass, or something near it, being of great antiquity and well attested." In another place, speaking of certain ambassadors, Du Halde says: "After they had their audience of leave, in order to return to their own country, Tcheou-Kong gave them an instrument, which on one side pointed towards the north, and on the opposite side towards the south, to direct them better on the way home, than they had been directed in coming to China. The instrument was called Tchi-ran, which is the same name as the Chinese now call the sea-compass by; this has given occasion to think that Tcheou-Kong was the inventor of the compass." This happened in the twenty-second cycle, about 1040 years before Christ; but, notwithstanding the assertions of Du Halde, strong reasons have been adduced against the mariner's compass being known among the ancient people of China and of Arabia. The French also have laid claim to the discovery of the compass, and in the Imperial Library at Paris there is a poem, contained in a curious quarto manuscript of the thirteenth century, on vellum, in which the mariner's compass is evidently mentioned; but still it appears that the Neapolitan, Flavio Gioja, if not the original discoverer, was at least the first who used the mariner's compass, or constructed it for the use of vessels in the Mediterranean.