134
LIFE
ences.*
A N D
V O Y A G E S
OF
[BOOK
III.
They apprehended that the compass was about to lose
its mysterious virtues, and, without this guide, what was to become of them in a vast and trackless ocean ? Columbus tasked his science and ingenuity for reasons with which to allay their terror.
He observed that the direction of
the needle was not to the polar star, but to some fixed and invisi ble point. The variation, therefore, was not caused by any fallacy in the compass, but by the movement of the north star itself, which, like the other heavenly bodies, had its changes and revo lutions, and every day described a circle round the pole.
The
high opinion which the pilots entertained of Columbus as a pro found astronomer gave weight to this theory, and their alarm subsided.
As yet the solar system of Copernicus was unknown:
the explanation of Columbus, therefore, was highly plausible and ingenious, and it shows the vivacity of his mind, ever ready to meet the emergency of the moment.
The theory may at first
have been advanced merely to satisfy the minds of others, but Columbus appears subsequently to have remained satisfied with it himself.
The phenomenon has now become familiar to us, but
we still continue ignorant of its cause.
It is one of those myste
ries of nature, open to daily observation and experiment, and apparently simple from their familiarity, but which on investiga tion make the human mind conscious of its limits; baffling the experience of the practical, and humbling the pride of science. * Las Casas, Hist Ind.,lib. i. cap. 6.