CHAPTER IV. 



THKORY AND NATURE OF MAGNETISM. 



Iron and steel have a peculiar property 

 called magnetism. It is an attraction in many 

 ways unlike the attraction of cohesion or the 

 attraction of gravitation. It is very certain 

 that magnetism is an inherent property of the 

 molecules of iron and steel, and, to a small 

 degree, other forms of matter. That is to 

 say, the molecules are little natural magnets 

 of themselves. It is as unnecessary to inquire 

 why they are magnets as it is to inquire why 

 the molecules of all ordinary substances pos- 

 sess the attraction of cohesion. The one is as 

 easy to explain as the other. People of all 

 ages have insisted upon making a greater 

 mystery of all electrical and magnetic phe- 

 nomena than they do of other natural forces. 

 Ampere's theory is that electric currents are 

 flowing around the molecules which render 

 them magnetic; but it is just as easy to suppose 

 that niMiriH-tism is an inherent quality of the 

 ulr. (Tin- word molecule is here used 

 as referring to tin- -nuill-st particle of iron.) 



These little molecular magnets, so small 

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