94 THE ORIGIN OF CREATION 1 . 



all the atoms are preoccupied one with the other. If the 

 magnet he divided into minute particles, the like force and 

 action will he found to prevail in each particle, or atom, and 

 is merely diminished in proportion to the reduced size of the 

 piece. 



If a har of steel remains fixed in a vertical position for any 

 length of time, it will afterwards exhibit all the properties of a 

 magnet, the upper end when placed in any position, will attract 

 the " north " point of a compass needle, and the other end the 

 south point. But if we take a piece of soft iron, every time its 

 ends are vertically reversed, it is immediately changed in its 

 magnetic polarity, to correspond with the attraction of the 

 earth that is, the lower end attracting the south point, and 

 the upper end the north, in these northern latitudes j in 

 southern .latitudes of course it is reversed. If we hold a pocket 

 compass to the upper ends of any iron railings surrounding 

 gardens or houses, or the upper end of a stove, or any fixture of 

 iron whatever, we will find that the north point will be attracted, 

 while the lower ends will attract the south point. 



One of the strange scientific delusions of the day is, that if a 

 piece of iron is struck several times with a hammer, it is converted 

 into a magnet. It never seems to occur to those ingenious 

 philosophers who perform the experiment, to try whether it is 

 not a magnet without being hammered. From these facts, 

 we infer that there exists an inherent force in the atoms of the 

 iron, which must be under the dominating influence of a similar 

 and greater force in the earth. 



In the arrangement of metals for the operation of the tele- 

 graph, we again find that the force in the line arid instruments, 



