Note 7 — AN UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY OF THE MARINE. (continued 3)

It is necessary to observe here, that the principal, and indeed the only circumstance in which Knight’s compasses are superior to those which have hitherto obtained, is, that their needles being tempered much higher than usual, are thereby enabled to contain a much greater quantity of the magnetical stream, which is certainly a real advantage. But, on the other hand, experience sufficiently proves, and truth obliges us to remark, that the methods he has taken to ballance the card with more accuracy than had been formerly attempted, have rendered it by far too delicate to encounter the shocks of a tempestuous sea.