212 PECULIARITIES IN THE MAGNETISM 
tually, would nearly, if not totally, disappear by 
the same elevation of temperature ; so that the 
magnet would require to be retouched to display 
the phenomenon again to advantage. 
18. In the concluding paragraph of that memoir, 
I summed up in the following manner : 
There appears to be ‘‘a certain determinate 
action which caloric exercises on the poles of a 
magnet, viz. That the magnetic poles move from 
the point of heat; or in general, that, the mag- 
netic poles move in the direction of the calorific 
current. Should this law become established by 
future experiments, and if it could be proved 
experimentally that a current of the calorific 
matter will move the magnetic poles /aterally as 
well as in the direction of their axis, there would 
be little difficulty in accounting for the revolutions 
of the terrestrial magnetic poles in their respec- 
tive latitudes; and I have no doubt, from the 
results of some experiments which I have made 
with flat pieces of steel, that the magnetic poles of 
the earth are susceptible of a lateral translation 
by the direct action of solar heat alone: and by 
means of a magnetized steel globe, and a spirit 
lamp, I can readily suppose that the revolutions 
of the terrestrial magnetic poles might be very 
