The Cedarville Review 2018

PROSE 39 Nonfiction by Brianna Martinez WHAT IS LOST Historians believe the compass was invented around 250 BC when the Han Dynasty ruled China. Before that, people generally relied on the direction of the sun. The first compasses were made of lodestone, a naturally magnetized ore of iron. Most of the early compass designs were magnetized needles attached to a piece of wood or cork that floated freely in a dish of water. Later, compasses were made of iron needles, magnetized by striking them with a lodestone. In the early 20th century, the liquid-filled magnetic compass replaced all other compass types in economically developed countries. Now compasses are composed of steel and cobalt needles, with plastic or steel for the outer compass, clearly etched in silver on its top and bottom and each side the initials N, S, E, W. Most compasses also mark the combination of directions located between any two perpendicular tick marks: Northwest, Southeast, Northeast, Southwest. Whenever the tinny, magnetic needle rotates and points North, travelers reorient themselves and hopefully find out where they’re supposed to be going. Compasses have always been used to gain a sense of direction. While first used to locate places on land, decades after its invention people began using compasses for navigation on the vast blue ocean. Now compasses are made specifically for individual occupations: thumb compasses are used by mountain climbers, gyrocompasses direct ships towards “true North,” the Qibla compass guides Muslims’ prayers towards Mecca.