THE AMBER EFFECT DISTINGUISHED. 249 



theory, which was certainly as reasonable as any advanced 

 either before or for the next hundred years. Its im- 

 portance lies in the fact that, good or bad, it was the first 

 hypothesis ever advanced to account for the phenomenon 

 of the amber in contradistinction to and as different from 

 that of the lodestone. There is no doubt as to its author's 

 meaning, for immediately succeeding the theoretical state- 

 ment, comes the making of the actual contrast in a pass- 

 age of extreme historical importance, beginning with the 

 unqualified assertion that "the magnet stone and the 

 amber do not attract in the same way" and thus squarely 

 denying the assertions of all the philosophers of the past, 

 and his medical brother of Verona in particular. Observe 

 the reasons : 



"The amber draws everything that is light; the magnet, 

 iron only." He then had not been misled by the amber's 

 attraction for finely-pulverized iron. 



"The amber does not move chaff when something is 

 interposed: the magnet nevertheless will attract iron." 

 An age had gone by since St. Augustine had recorded the 

 last. It was to a rejuvenated world that Cardan thus 

 brought the first suggestion of electrical insulation. 



"The amber is not mutually attracted by the chaff: 

 the magnet is drawn by the iron." This was intended as 

 a blow at Fracastorio, and his notion of analogous princi- 

 ples. Here one wishes that the details of his experiment 

 had been given, even as Porta would have recorded them. 



" The amber does not attract at the end: the magnet 

 attracts the iron sometimes at the North and sometimes at 

 the South." It is with the permanent polarity of the 

 magnet that the distinction is here drawn. 



"The attraction of the amber is greatly aided by heat 

 and friction : that of the magnet, by cleaning the attract- 

 ing part." The important point here lies in the implica- 

 tion that, while the amber effect can be augmented by 

 heat and friction, that of the magnet can not. The clean- 

 ing of the magnet to which he alludes is probably the 



