205

Of the wonders of the Loadstone .

A paper go up A wallyand come down of it self.

For t glew’d a piece of iron on the backside of the paper, and I gave it my friends

to hold to the wall; but behinde stood a boy with a Loadstone, and the paper thatwas left there, stood still: my friend commanded it to go up two foot: the boy thatheard what was commanded, moved the Loadstone against it, to that place: and thepapeisrtioved thither also, and so downwards, or side-ways: they that knew not thereason were astonished at it. Bur, which exceeds all, when he moved the Load-stone over his head by an arch of wood, it drew the paper after it; whereupon thepaper hung over our heads and moved: but all that saw it, believed the Divcl wasthe cause of it.

Chap. XXX.

A Loadstone on a plate of irony will not fiir iron,

\X/E said that there is nothing coming between , can hinder the force of iron, but" iron onely t so that if you lay a needle on a plate of iron, and shall bring yourLoadstone to it, above or beneath, it hath no venue to attract it, or do its office: andthe reason is easie. For it stands by reason, that if iron lye upon iron, they are thesame body,’as a part is of the whole: and when the plate of iron, or piece, is bigger,and too heavy for the Loadstone to draw, it moves nor. So that if you put the filingsof iron upon a plate of iron , and with your hand underneath , you carry the Load-stone , the filings will not stir, but stand still upon the plate. Nor if iron or a Load-stone be upon a Table of iron, will th ey come to the stone that is put to them, butwill lye as if they were asleep, and void of all venue, or changed in their Natures.■Also, if you put flat iron to a Load stone, if on the other side iron be equally balan-ced , it will not stir, nor move to meet it; as if all the force of the Loadstone werehindredbyit. Lucretius faith, that it will happen so, not when iron, but brass isbetween them: but I rather think he writ so by hear-say , then by his sight, if weunderstand his meaning.

Pieces of iron 1 have feettyWhen onelj trass was put betweenThem and the Loadstone , to recoil:

Brass in the middle made this broil.

Chap. XXXI.

The position of the Irony will change the forces.

the Loadstone can do, the iron touched by the Loadstone, will do the

v T fame. 1 said, that the Loadstone equally balanced, by putting thesouth pareof the Loadstone above, it will draw the north part, and the north part will driveoff the north part; but on the lower part, the Nature being changed, that whichdrew before, drives off now - and that which drove off, draws to it. The fame Ijudge of iron touched with the Loadstone. For iron in the Mariners Compass touch-ed with the Loadstone, that part of the Loadstone that draws and drives off in theupper part, being put under, expels what it drew before, and draws what it expelled.I would not omit,that amongst its admirable properties,the position should cause suchalteration. Whence we may conjecture,that as the stone hath a polc*arctick and an-tarctick ;so it hath an east and west part, and its upper and nether part, as the heavenshave: and therefore it is reasonable, that whereas the north and infenour part fromabove, drew the south and inferiour part of the iron ; now the position being chan-ged, the upper part of the stone will draw the nether part of the iron.

Chap.