=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 Hoang-ti; 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 A. M. de Moyriac de) in his “Histoire ... traduite du Thoung-Kian-Kang-Mou,” Paris, 1777, Vol. I. p. 28, makes the latter date 2599, as do likewise, Dr. Hœfer (“Nouvelle Biographie Générale,” Paris, 1858, Vol. XXIV. pp. 817–819) and Pierre Larousse (“Grand Dict, du XIX^e Siècle,” 1873, Vol. IX. p. 317), but Michaud (“Biogr. Univer.,” 1857, Vol. XIX. pp. 476–477) says he reigned from 2698 to 2577 B.C., and, in “La Grande Encyclop.,” Vol. XX. pp. 157–158, we are told that the correct period is 2697–2597 B.C. (“L’art de vérifier les dates,” Paris, 1819, Vol. IV. p. 8).