The following is a specimen of the poem of Marbodeus:
_Magnetes lapis est inuentus apud Trogloditas,_ _Qu[=e] lapid[=a] genetrix nihilominus India mittit._ _Hic ferruginei cognoscitur esse coloris,_ _Et ui naturæ uicinum tollere ferrum._ _Ededon magus hoc primum ferè dic[=i]tur usus,_ _Conscius in magica nihil esse potentius arte._ _Post illum fertur famosa uenefica Circe_ _Hoc in præstigijs magicis specialiter usa._
This poem was reprinted (1854) in Migne's _Patrologia_. In 1799 Johann Beckmann issued an annotated variorum edition of Marbodeus (_Marbodi Liber Lapidvm sev de Gemmis_..., Göttingæ, 1799), in which there is a bibliography of the poem, the first edition of which appears to have been publisht in 1511, at Vienna, thirteen other editions being described. Beckmann adds many illustrative notes, and a notice of the Arabian Evax, who is supposed to have written the treatise _de lapidibus_. Not the least curious part is a French translation alleged to have been written in 1096, of which Chap. XIX. on the Magnet begins thus:
Magnete trovent Trogodite, En Inde e precieus est ditte. Fer resemble e si le trait, Altresi cum laimant fait. Dendor lama mult durement. Qi lusoit a enchantement. Circe lus a dot mult chere, Cele merveillose forciere, &c.
[43] PAGE 7, LINE 21. Page 7, line 28. _echeneidis._--The _echeneis_, or sucking-fish, reputed to have magical or magnetic powers, is mentioned by many writers. As an example, see Fracastorio, _De Sympathia et Antipathia_, lib. i., cap. 8, _De Echineide, quomodo firmare nauigia possit_ (Giunta edition, Venet., 1574, p. 63). For other references to the _Echeneis_ see Gaudentius Merula (_op. citat._) p. 209. Also Dr. Walter Charleton, _Physiologia Epicuro Gassendo-Charltoniana_ (Lond., 1654), p. 375. Compare p. 63, line 3.
[44] PAGE 7, LINE 33. Page 7, line 43. _Thomas Hariotus_, etc.--The four Englishmen named were learned men who had contributed to navigation by magnetic observations. Harriot's account of his voyage to Virginia is printed in Hakluyt's _Voyages_. Robert Hues (or Hood) wrote a treatise _on Globes_, the Latin edition of which appeared in 1593 (dedicated to Sir Walter Raleigh), and the English edition in 1638. It was republisht by the Hakluyt Society, 1889. Edward Wright, the mathematician and writer on navigation, also wrote the preface to Gilbert's own book. Abraham Kendall, or Abram Kendal was "Portulano," or sailing-master of Sir Robert Dudley's ship the _Bear_, and is mentioned in Dudley's _Arcano del Mare_. On the return of Dudley's expedition in 1595, he joined Drake's last expedition, which sailed that year, and died on the same day as Drake himself, 28 January, 1596. (See _Hakluyt_, ed. 1809, iv., p. 73.)