2l6 THE INTELIvECTUAL RISE IN ELECTRICITY. 



sion of weight at one end, says Norman, because, if the 

 needle be placed in a balance, it will be found to be no 

 heavier after being touched by the lodestone than it was 

 before; and besides, if the needle did receive "pondrous 

 or weighty matter from the magnet," why, he asks, 

 should not the south end, as well as the north end, dip 

 when rubbed? which it certainly does not. But there 

 are more deeply-rooted hypotheses than these to be en- 

 countered. Hitherto we have regularly met the supposition 

 of an attractive force exerted on the needle, most com- 

 monly on the north-seeking end of it, by the Pole star. 



Even when the influence of all parts of the heavens is 

 maintained, there is invariably a conjecture that the 

 needle is drawn to something, and so brought into posi- 

 tion. Obviously, however, the discovery of the inclination 

 placed these theories at once in question. For what 

 pulled the North point downward, or lifted the South end 

 upward? 



Norman at once takes the ground that there are no at- 

 tractive points, but simply a u certayne point that the 

 Needle always respecteth or sheweth, being voide and with- 

 out any Attractive propertie," and this he calls the "Re- 

 spective point." To prove this, he runs a needle through a 

 cork, and cuts the latter gradually smaller, until it will 

 just support the needle level upon the surface of the water. 

 Then he magnetizes the needle, and notes that its north 

 end inclines downwardly, as before; the needle not u de- 

 scending to the bottome, as by reason it should, if there 

 were any Attraction downewards, the lower part of the 

 water being neerer that point then the superficies thereof." 

 Similiarly, he says, if the needle were arranged so as to 

 sink very slowly to the bottom of the vessel, it would be 

 lifted bodily if there were any attractive point in the 

 heavens. 



Of course, when the needle is tilted, a line, in prolonga- 

 tion of its axis, enters the earth, and on this line some- 

 where, Norman insists, his imaginary Respective point 



