a ?4 * Treatife if B O D I E S. Chap.i i. 



yec t tverthclefle fufficiemly to give an excitation to the innate 

 fleams which are in the body of the ftone, to make them move 

 on in their ordinary courfe. 



<j.. The third pofition is,that the virtue of the loadftone is a doti- 



The virtue of ble and not one fimple virtue. Which is manifeft in an iron 



a doub'e^'and touched by a loadftonc, for if you touch it onely with one pole 



rot one fimpic of the ftone, it will not be fo ftrong and full of the magnetike 



virtue, as if you touch one end of it with one pole, and the other 



end of it with the other pole of the ftonr. \gain,if you touch both 



ends of an iron, with the lame pole of the ftone,the iron gainetb 



its virtue at that end which was laft touched ; and changeth its 



virtue from end to end, as often as it is rubbed at contrary ends. 



Again, one end of the loadftone or of iron touched, will have 



more force on the one fide of the equatour, and the other end on 



the other fide of it. Again, the variation on the one fide of the 



equator, and the variation on the other fide of it.havc different 



lawes according to the different ends of the loadftone, or of the 



needle, which looketh to thofe poles. 



Wherefore it is evident, that there is a double virtue in the 

 load/tone, the one more powerfull at the one end of it; the other 

 more powerfull at the other end. Yet thcfe two virtues are found 

 in every fenfible part of the ftone: for cutting it at either end,the 

 virtue at the contrary end is alfo diminifhed. And the whole 

 loadftone that is left, hath both the fame virtues, in proportion 

 to its bignefle. Befides, cut the loadftone how you will, ftill the 

 two poles remain in that line, which lay under the meridian 

 when it was in the earth. And the like is of the touched iron 

 whofe virtue ftill lieth along the line, which goeth ftraight (ac- 

 cording to the line of the axis,) from the point where it was 

 touched,and at the oppofitc end,conftituteth the contrary pole. 

 The virtue of ^ c f urtn pofition is.that though the virtue ofthe loadftone 

 theioadftone' be in the whole body;ncvcrthclefle,its virtue is morefecn in the 

 ftwngi^inThe P^ cs ^ cn * n any other parts. For by experience it is found that 

 poi of ir.chen a loadftone ofequall bulk, workcth better and more efficaciouk 

 'part?' tber ty if ic De ' n a l n g form; then if it be in any other. And from the 

 middle line betwixt the two poles, there cometh no virtue, if an 

 iron be touched thererbut any part towards the pole; the nearer 

 it is to the pole,the greater party it impartcth. Laftly.the decli- 

 nation teacheth us the fame ; which is fb much the ftronger by 



