THE AMBER QUESTION. 



lodestone a particle of iron always ; but to Gilbert it was 

 a universal problem, dealing with the relations of worlds 

 and the structure of the universe. He saw that it touched 

 the very heart of his whole cosmical hypothesis. 



Thus Gilbert came to study the amber, not for the first 

 time in the world's history, but for the first time by the 

 methods which he had brought into use in finding out the 

 laws of the lodestone : methods which ultimately led, not 

 to the futile utterance of "corn" or "millet" before the 

 closed door, but of the magic "Open Sesame." But what 

 had he before him indicating where to begin his quest? 



The new facts which had been added to the knowledge 

 of the ancients concerning the amber had been noted by 

 Cardan, who had not only drawn the suggestive distinc- 

 tion between the amber and the magnet, but had agreed 

 with Fracastorio in the averment that the amber quality 

 also resides in another and totally different substance, 

 namely, the diamond. Nor did this capacity of the dia- 

 mond lack apparent corroboration from other philosophers. 

 Scaliger had alluded to it in his commentary. Porta had 

 specifically asserted that an iron needle rubbed with a 

 diamond would turn northward, as when rubbed with the 

 lodestone. And Fracastorio had not merely recorded the 

 drawing of "hairs and twigs" by both amber and dia- 

 mond, but in the very passage from his work which Gil- 

 bert quotes, he ascribes the effect to a principle inherent 

 in and common to both resin and gem. Nevertheless, it 

 is not likely that Gilbert seriously considered these asser- 

 tions, much less tested them by experiment, without some- 

 thing of a mental struggle. His antagonism to Cardan 

 and all his works is profound. For Scaliger he has only 

 contemptuous indifference. Porta's assertion he put to 

 specific trial with great elaboration and at no small ex- 

 pense, for he says he tested, before many witnesses, the 

 frictional effect on iron of seventy-five diamonds, with the 

 result of completely refuting the Neapolitan philosopher's 

 averment. Still the doubt remains. Cardan had said to 



