CHAPTER II

THE CONSTRUCTION OF A BETTER INSTRUMENT FOR THE SAME PURPOSE

In this chapter I will describe the construction of a better and more efficient instrument. Select a vessel of wood, brass or any solid material you like, circular in shape, moderate in size, shallow but of sufficient width, with a cover of some transparent substance, such as glass or crystal; it would be even better to have both the vessel and the cover transparent. At the centre of this vessel fasten a thin axis of brass or silver, having its extremities in the cover above and the vessel below. At the middle of this axis let there be two apertures at right angles to each other; through one of them pass an iron stylus or needle, through the other a silver or brass needle crossing the iron one at right angles. Divide the cover first into four parts and subdivide these into 90 parts, as was mentioned in describing the former instrument. Mark the parts north, south, east and west. Add thereto a ruler of transparent material with pins at each end. After this bring either the north or the south pole of a lodestone near the cover so that the needle may be attracted and receive its virtue from the lodestone. Then turn the vessel until the needle stands in the north and south line already marked on the instrument; after which turn the ruler towards the sun if day-time, and towards the moon and stars at night, as described in the preceding chapter. By means of this instrument you can direct your course towards cities and islands and any other place wherever you may wish to go by land or sea, provided the latitude and longitude of the places are known to you. How iron remains suspended in air by virtue of the lodestone, I will explain in my book on the action of mirrors. Such, then, is the description of the instrument illustrated below. (See Figs. 2 and 3.)