81 4 Mr HARRIS'S Experimental Inquiries concerning 



is the circumstance of the force becoming less and less, until the 

 polarity of the weaker magnet appears to be so counteracted by 

 induction, that the repulsion is at length superseded by attrac- 

 tion *. Hence, the repulsive power of one magnet, as measured 

 by its force on the similar pole of another, will never be equal 

 to the attractive power, as measured by its force on the same 

 pole, except the magnets happen to be of very powerful intensi- 

 ties, or opposed to each other nearly at the limit of their action, 

 when the tendency of the inductive influence begins to be felt, 

 without the polarity of the magnets having undergone a sensible 

 change. 



50. The curious phenomena of magnetic repulsion, which fol- 

 low when two similar polarities are opposed to each other, 

 would hence seem to arise from the tendency of the inductive 

 influence to cause a new polar arrangement, which action the 

 established polarities resist ; so that the repulsion will be more 

 or less evident, as the magnets are of greater or less intensity, 

 or are separated by a greater or less distance. Thus, when one 

 of the poles of a weak magnet is opposed to the same pole of a 

 magnet having a great intensity, the pole of the weak magnet, 

 if the distance between them be small, is instantly reversed, and 

 the repulsion is not apparent, but a weak attractive effect is ob- 



* Although the polarity of the small magnet in these experiments seemed to be 

 reversed, inasmuch as the repulsion was superseded by attraction even before con- 

 tact, yet the new polarity by induction did not appear to be permanent, since the re- 

 pulsion again obtained when the distance was increased. Thus, both the phenomena 

 of attraction and repulsion ensued, merely by varying the distance in a small degree 

 between the magnet*. The forces indicated at near approximations with the repell- 

 ing poles, are only given in illustration of the curious fact, that the pole of the weaker 

 magnet becomes reversed before contact. We cannot consider them as quite accu- 

 rate for any purpose of calculation, as the suspended magnet, in consequence of the 

 great repulsive force, is thrown out of its perpendicular direction. 



