ot dfca0netism. 23 



in the direction of the north pole, though not 

 the same as the geographical pole. A dipping 

 needle revolves on an axis so that it can point 

 to any declination. If we should construct 

 one that is perfectly balanced, so as to lie in 

 a perfectly horizontal direction before it is 

 magnetized, it will dip in this latitude 

 downward toward the north after magneti- 

 zation. If we keep moving northward it will 

 continue to dip downward till we come to the 

 true magnetic pole, when what is called the 

 north pole of the needle will point directly 

 downward. If we go back to the equator the 

 needle will lie horizontally again. We call the 

 end of the needle that points to the north the 

 north pole. It is really the south pole, be- 

 cause unlike poles attract each other. If the 

 magnetic poles of the earth are at the north 

 and south geographical poles, the south pole 

 of the needle will point north. But it is less 

 confusing to call the end of the needle that 

 points north the north pole. The nomencla- 

 ture is purely arbitrary. 



It \v;is not until it was learned that magnets 

 could be made by electricity that they became 

 Commercially important outside of their use 

 in navigation. The advent of electricity has 

 hronuht inagni-li-iii to the front as one of the 

 great factors in our modern civili/.at ion. And 

 we might say with e<|ii;d force that the dis- 

 covery of magnetism has brought electricity 



