“The magnet ... gives comfort and grace, and is a cure for many complaints; it is of great value in disputes. When pulverised, it cures many burns. It is a remedy for dropsy” (I Sermone ... di F. Sacchetti ... § 18). According to Dias, “the magnet reconciles husbands to their wives,” and Platea remarks that “it is principally of use to the wounded,” while Avicenna says “it is a remedy against spleen, the dropsy and alopecian.” For additional information, consult J. Beckmann’s “History of Inventions,” Bohn, 1846, Vol. I. p. 43, and the article “Somnambulism” in the “Encyclopædia Britannica.” =A.D. 543.=--The Japanese say that at about this date the Mikado received from the Court of Petsi in Corea “the wheel which indicates the south.” REFERENCE.--Knight, “Mechanical Dictionary,” Vol. II. p. 1397. =A.D. 658.=--As shown by Kaï-bara-Tok-sin, in the “Wa-zi-si,” the first magnetic cars were constructed during this year in Japan; the loadstone was not, however, discovered in that country until A.D. 713, when it was brought from the province of Oomi (Klaproth, “Boussole,” p. 94). The “Journal of the Franklin Institute” (Vol. XVIII. for 1836, p. 69), gives a description and illustration of one of these magnetic chariots, taken from the thirty-third volume of the Japanese Encyclopædia. =A.D. 806–820.=--Between these dates, under the Thâng dynasty, were first made the cars called _Kin-Koung-yuan_, which were magnetic chariots similar to those previously known, but bearing in addition a drum and a bell. Both the latter were struck at regular intervals by an erect male figure placed at the head of the car (“American Journal of Science and the Arts,” Vol. XL. p. 249). A critic named Tchen-yn admits, as already indicated herein under the A.D. 235 date, that the knowledge of the mode of construction of the magnetic cars was by no means general. “I know well,” adds he, “that, at the time of the Thâng, under Hien-toung (who ascended the throne 806 A.D., and reigned seventeen years) a chariot was made which always showed the four parts of the earth, in imitation, it was said, of those constructed at the time of Hoang-ti.... Upon it stood the figure of a spirit, whose hand always pointed to the south.” REFERENCES.--“Mémoires concernant l’histoire ...” by Saillant et Nyon, Paris, 1776–1788, Vol. XIII. p. 234; Klaproth, “Boussole,” p. 72. =A.D. 968.=--Kung-foo-Whing is said to have invented a method of transmitting sound through wires by means of an apparatus called _thumthsein_, although no trace whatever of the latter is to be found in any of the numerous authorities herein quoted.