ACTION OF MAGNETS ON DIAMAGNETIC METALS. 
29 
specific degree of this power of magnetic action possessed by different bodies, and I 
have made very little progress in that part of the subject. Heavy glass stands above 
flint-glass, and the latter above plate-glass. Water is beneath all these, and I think 
alcohol is below water, and ether below alcohol. The borate of lead is I think as 
high as heavy glass, if not above it, and phosphorus is probably at the head of all the 
substances just named. I verified the equatorial set of phosphorus between the 
poles of a common magnet (2273.). 
2285. I was much impressed by the fact that blood was not magnetic (2280.), nor 
any of the specimens tried of red muscular fibre of beef or mutton. This was the 
more striking, because, as will be seen hereafter, iron is always and in almost all 
states magnetic. But in respect to this point it may be observed, that the ordinary 
magnetic property of matter and this new property are in their effects opposed to 
each other ; and that when this property is strong it may overcome a very slight 
degree of ordinary magnetic force, just as also a certain amount of the magnetic 
property may oppose and effectually hide the presence of this force (2422.). It is this 
circumstance which makes it so necessary to be careful in examining the magnetic 
condition of the bodies in the first instance (2250.). The following list of a few 
substances, which were found slightly magnetic, will illustrate this point: — Paper, 
sealing-wax, china ink, Berlin porcelain, silkworm-gut, asbestos, fluor-spar, red lead, 
vermilion, peroxide of lead, sulphate of zinc, tourmaline, plumbago, shell-lac, 
charcoal. In some of these cases the magnetism was generally diffused through the 
body, in other cases it was limited to a particular part. 
2286. Having arrived at this point, I may observe, that we can now have no diffi- 
culty in admitting that the phenomena abundantly establish the existence of a 
magnetic property in matter, new to our knowledge. Not the least interesting of 
the consequences that flow from it, is the manner in which it disposes of the assertion 
which has sometimes been made, that all bodies are magnetic. Those who hold 
this view, mean that all bodies are magnetic as iron is, and say that they point be- 
tween the poles. The new facts give not a mere negative to this statement, but 
something beyond, namely, an affirmative as to the existence of forces in all ordinary 
bodies, directly the opposite of those existing in magnetic bodies, for whereas those 
practically produce attraction, these produce repulsion ; those set a body in the axial 
direction, but these make it take up an equatorial position : and the facts with regard 
to bodies generally, are exactly the reverse of those which the view quoted indicates. 
% iv. Action of magnets on metals generally. 
2287- The metals, as a class, stand amongst bodies having a high and distinct 
interest in relation both to magnetic and electric forces, and might at first well 
be expected to present some peculiar phenomena, in relation to the striking property 
found to be possessed in common by so large a number of substances, so varied in 
their general characters. As yet no distinction associated with conduction or non- 
