bc actraaivc. 



whether an 



the 



wau 

 the ncmb.or 



JJJJjJ t f a e t 

 endthjt Jyeth 



atfcft iron bet- 



ter then one 

 anothcr. 



A Trettifc of BODIES* Chap. 22. 



poles of the earth; then you muft reckon their poles contrari-* 



wife to the former account. So that the termes being once de- 



fined, there will remain no further controverfie about the point. 



. Doclour Gilbert feemcth alfo to have another controveriic 



\\ich all writers; to wit, whether any bodies befides magncticall 



ones be attractive ? Which he fcemeth to deny; all others to af- 



firm. But this alfo being fairly pur, will perodvcnture prove no 



controveifie : for the queftion is either in common, of attracti- 



on; orclfe in particular, offuch an attraction as is made by the 



Icadftone. Of the firft part, there can be no doubt; as we have 



declared aborc; and as is manifeft betwixt gold and quickfilvcr, 



when a man holding gold in his mouth, it draweth unto it the 



cjuickfilver that is in his body. But for the attractive to draw a 



body unto it felf, not wholly., but one determinate part of the 



body drawn, unto one determinate part of the drawer; is an at- 



traction which for my part I cannot exemplirie in any other 



bodies but magneticall ones, 



A third quefiion is, whether an iron that ftandeth long time 

 unmoTcd in a window, or any o:her part of a building, perpcn- 

 " dicularly to the earth , doth central a magneticall virtue of 

 drawing or pointing towards the north in that end which Jook- 

 eth downwards. For Cnbeus ( who wrote fince Gilbert) af- 

 fiimeth it out of experience : btit either his experiment or his 

 expreflion was defective. For afluredly if the iron ftandeth fo, 

 in the northern hemifphere, it will turn to the north ; and if in 

 t ] ]C fonthcrn hcmifphere, it will turn to the fouth: for fcemg tHe 

 virtre of the loadflone procecdeth from the earth, and that the 

 earth hath different tempers towards the north. and towards the 

 fouth pole (as hath been already declared ) the virtue which 

 cometh out of the earth in the northern hcmifphere, will give 

 unto the end of the iron next it an inclination to the north pole; 

 nnd the earth of the fouthern hemifphere will yield the contra- 

 ry difpofition unto the end which is ncarefl it. 



The next queflion is, why a Joadftcnc feemcth to love iron 

 better then it doth another loadftonc?The ankver is,becaufe iron 



..j. n - n -t- ff r i i 



i $ indiftcrent in all its parts to receive the impreflion of a load- 

 ftone; \vluereas another loadfrone receiveth it oncly in a deter- 

 in iivue part : and therefore a loadftone draweth iron more ea- 

 Cly then it can another loadftone; bccaufe it findcth repugnance 



n 



