=B.C. 1022.=--At this period the Chinese magnetic cars held a floating needle, the motions of which were communicated to the figure of a spirit whose outstretched hand always indicated the south. An account of these cars is given in the “Szuki” (Shi-ki), or “Historical Memoirs of Szu-ma-thsian” (Szu-matsien), which were written early in the second century B.C., and are justly considered the greatest of all Chinese historical works, containing, as they do, the history of China from the beginning of the empire to the reign of Hiao-wou-ti, of the Han dynasty. REFERENCES.--“Les peuples Orientaux,” Léon de Rosny, Paris, 1886, pp. 10, 168, 240; Johnson’s “Encyclopædia,” Vol. I. p. 929; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” Vol. II. 1849, p. 628; Klaproth, “Boussole,” 1834, p. 79, for further allusion to a passage in the Thoung-Kian-Kang-Mou, already referred to under date B.C. 2637. =B.C. 1000–907.=--Homer, the greatest of epic poets, called the father of Greek poetry, and who, according to Enfield (“History of Philosophy,” Vol. I. p. 133), flourished before any other poet whose writings are extant, relates that the loadstone was used by the Greeks to direct navigation at the time of the siege of Troy. The latter construction has been placed upon several passages in Homer, the most important being found in Book VIII of the “Odyssey.” As this appears to be the first attributed allusion to the compass, it is deemed worth while to give herein several interpretations of the original Greek. The selections made are as follows: “In wond’rous ships, self-mov’d, instinct with mind; No helm secures their course, no pilot guides; Like man intelligent, they plough the tides. * * * * * Though clouds and darkness veil th’ encumber’d sky, Fearless thro’ darkness and thro’ clouds they fly.” Alexander Pope, “The Odyssey of Homer,” London, 1818, p. 135. “...; for here In our Phæacian ships no pilots are, Nor rudders, as in ships of other lands. Ours know the thoughts and the intents of men. To them all cities and all fertile coasts Inhabited by men are known; they cross The great sea scudding fast, involved in mist And darkness, with no fear of perishing Or meeting harm.” Wm. Cullen Bryant, “The Odyssey of Homer,” Boston, 1875, Vol. I. p. 174. “For unto us no pilots appertain, Rudder nor helm which other barks obey. These ruled by reason, their own course essay Sparing men’s mind ... Sail in a fearless scorn of scathe or overthrow.” Philip Stanhope Worsley, “The Odyssey of Homer,” London, 1861, Vol. I. p. 198. “For all unlike the ships of other men, Nor helm nor steersman have our country’s barks, But of themselves they know the thoughts of men; ... and wrapped in gloom and mist O’er the broad ocean gulfs they hold their course Fearless of loss and shipwreck....”