Quod tibi tali modo consulo cxpcrirc: . . . Et si tunc 

 lapis moveatur secundum ccli motum, gaudeas tc esse 

 assecutum secretum mirabilc; si vero non, imperilie tue, 

 potiusquam nature, defectus imputelur. In hoc autcm 

 situ, scu modo positionis, virtutes lapidis huius estimo 

 conservari proprie, ct in reliquis sitibus ccli virtutein eius 

 obsecaii, seu cbctari, potiusquam conservari puto. Per 

 hoc autem instrumentum excusaberis ab omni horologio; 

 nam per ipsum scire poteris Ascensus in quacumquc hora 

 voiueris, et omnes alias ccli dispositiones, quas querunt 

 Astrologi. 



As the heavens move eternally, so the spherical load- 

 stone must be a "perpetuum mobile". 



Another of the scholars whose explanation of the 

 loadstone Gilbert noted with approval was Cardinal 

 Nicholas of Cusa.'^ The latter's references to it were 

 not as direct as those of St. Thomas, but he did use it 

 as an image .several times to provide a microcosmic 

 example of the relation of God to his creation. From 

 this one can infer that he explained the preternatural 

 motion of the magnet and the iron by impressed 

 qualities, the heavens being the agent for the load- 

 stone, and the loadstone, the agent for iron. 



In the Idiota de sapientia the Cardinal used the 

 image of the magnet and the iron to provide a con- 

 crete instance of his "coincidentia oppositorum," to 

 illustrate how eternal wisdom, in the Neoplatonic 

 sense, could, at the same lime, be principle or cause of 

 being, its complement and also its goal.^^ 



.Si igitur in omni dcsiderio vitae intellectualis attendcres, 

 a quo est intellectus, per quod movetur et ad quod, in tc 

 comperires dulcedinem sapientiae aeternae illam esse, quae 

 tibi facit desiderium tuum ita dulce et delectabile, ut in 

 inerrabili aff'ectu feraris ad eius comprehensionem tanquam 

 ad immortalitatem vitae tue, quasi ad ferrum et magnetem 

 attendas. Habet enim ferrum in magnete quoddain sui 

 effluxus principium; et dum magnes per sui praesentiam 

 excitat ferrum grave el ponderosum, ferrum mirabili 

 dcsiderio fertur etiam supra motum naturae, quo secundum 

 gravitatem deorsum tendere debet, et sursum movetur 

 se in sue principio uniendo. Nisi enim in ferro es.sct 

 quaedam praeguslatio naturalis ipsius magnetis, non 

 moverelur plus ad magnclem r|uam ad aliuin lapidcm: et 



" However, lie may not always have approved of him. .See 

 M:74; "Overinquisitive theoloi;ians, too, seek to lie;ht up God's 

 mysteries and things beyond man's understanding by means 

 of the loadstone and amber." 



2' Nicholas of Cusa (Nicolaus Cusancus), Xicotaus von Cues, 

 Texte seiner philosophischm Schriflen, ed. A. Petzelt, Stuttgart, 

 1949, bk. 1, Idiola de sapientia, p. 306 (quoted in Gilbert, M:104). 

 It is interesting that Cusa held that the loadstone has an in- 

 clination to iron, as well as the converse! 



nisi in lapide esset major inclinatio ad ferrum quam cuprum, 

 non esset ilia attractio. Habet igitur spiritus nosier 

 intellectualis ab aeterna sapientia principium sic intcl- 

 lectualiter essendi, quod esse est conformius sapicntac 

 quam aliud non intellcctualc. Hinc irraditio seu immissio 

 in sanctam animam est motus desidcriosus in cxcitationc. 



By virtue of the principle that flows from the magnet 

 to the iron — which principle is potentially in the iron, 

 for the iron already has a foretaste for it — the excited 

 iron could transcend its gravid nature and be pre- 

 ternaturally moved to unite with its principle. Re- 

 ciprocally, the loadstone has a greater attraction to 

 the iron than to other things. Just as the power of 

 attraction comes from the loadstone, so the Deity is 

 the source of our life. Just as the principle implanted 

 in the magnet moves the iron against its heavy nature, 

 so the Deity raises us above our brutish nature so 

 that we may fulfill our life. As the iron moves to the 

 loadstone, so we move to the Deity as to the goal 

 and end of our life. 



\n De pace fidei, Cusa '" again used the iron and 

 magnet as an example of motion contrary to and 

 transcending nature. He explained this supernatural 

 motion as being due to the similarity between the 

 nature of the iron and the magnet, and this in turn 

 is analogous to the similarity between human spiritual 

 nature and divine spiritual nature. As the iron can 

 move upward to the loadstone because both have 

 similar natures, so man can transcend his own nature 

 and move towards God when his potential similitude 

 to God is realized. Another image used by Cusa was 

 the comparison of Christ to the magnetic needle that 

 takes its power from the hea\'ens and shows man 

 his way.^* 



The Elizabethan Englishman Robert Norman also 

 turned to the Deity to explain the wonderful effects 

 of the loadstone.'''' 



Now therefore . . . divers have whetted their wits, 

 yea, and dulled them, as I have mine, and yet in the end 

 have been constrained to fly to the cornerstone: I mean 

 God: who . . . hath given N'irtue and power to tliis Stone 



'■ Cusa, Cusa Schujien, vol. 8, De pace fidei, translated by 

 L. Mohler, Leipzig, 1943, ch. 12, p. 127. 



'" Cusa, Exercitaliones, ch. 7, 563 and 566, quoted in, F. .■\. 

 Scharpff, Des Cardinals und Bischofs Xicolaus \'on Cusa M'lchtigsle 

 Schrijien in Deulscher Ueberselzung, Freiburg, 1862, p. 435. Sec also 

 Martin Billinger, Das Philosophischt in Den Excitalionen Des 

 Nicolaus Von Cues, Heidelberg, 1938, and Cusa Schrijien (sec 

 footnote 37), vol. 8, p. 209, note 105. Gilbert (M: p. 223) 

 called the compass "the finger of God." 



»» Hellmann, op. cit. (footnote 6), Norman, bk. 1 , ch. 8. 



PAPER 8: N.VrURAI I'lIlLOSOPHY OF WILLIAM GILBERT 



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