Of the Wonders of the Loadstone,

ZII

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Chap. XLV.

An Iron Ring touched by a Loadstone^ trill receive both Ferities.

B Ut if We rob am Iron Ring on the one side with a Loadstone, then the part thatis touched, will receive the vertue of the part of the Loadstone that touched it ;and the opposite part will receive the contrary : and therefore the middle of theIron Ring will be capable but of half the force of it, as if it were straight. But ifwe make a Pin round as a Ring ■ and the part joynred together with a joynt, be rob-bed with a Loadstone j and being rubbed, be stretched straight again, the endsshall receive the fame vertue, be it Northern or Southern. But by degrees thatforce will grow feeble ; and in a short time become Northerly, and the otherSoutherly, or will receive more vertue then it first had, may be when it wastouched farther from the end. But if you would, that of these a Chain of Ironshould hang in the Air, so soon as one ring touched on one side with the Load-stone, hath received force on the other side by it, we may hang a Chain of Rings inthe Air, as we may of Loadstones : io then, if the Rings be laid in order upon aTable, that they may one touch the other, though they do not fasten , put theLoadstone to them, and not oncly the first will be drawn, but the next, and the third,that they will hang like links of Rings: and not only will it be so, if the Loadstonetouch the first, that the rest will follow ; but if the stone be but necr , it will do thefame without touching them.

Chap. XLVI.

An Iron flute touched in the middle , wiU diffuse its forces to both ends.

lX7Hat I said of a long Needle, I say also of an Iron Bar: for is you touch it in* V the middle,the Beams of it are spread like the Beams of the Sun , or light ofa Candle, from the Centre to the Circumference , and extream parrs. But if wetouch an Iron Morter, being the force is feeble, where it is touched aboutthe superficies, some vertue may be be perceived ; but it is very weak in the ex-tream parts.

Chap. XLVII.

Hour filings of Iron may receive force.

t V you Wrap up filings of Iron in a paper, as Drufgists do,like a Pyramis • and puta Loadstone neer it, all the filings together will receive the fame force, as a longpiece of Iron doth : but if you stir the filings , and put them into an open paper,that force is lost , and confounded, and can do nothing, as if it had never beentouched, by reason of so many different pieces.

Chap. XLVIII.

Whether Garlickcan hinder the venues of the Loadstone.

N Ow I shall pass on to other properties of the Loadstone: and first, whether theLoadstones attraction can be any ways hindred. ‘Plutarch faith, That Gar-lick is at great enmity with the Loadstone ; and such antipathy and hatred there isbetween these insensible Creatures , that if the Loadstone be fmcered with Gar-licky will drive away Iron from it. Ttolomy confirms the fame, That the Load-stone will not draw Iron, if ic be anoynted with Garlick ; as Amber will no moredraw st raws, and other light things to it, if they be first steeped in Oyl. It is acom-aion "Opinion amongst Sea-men , That Onyons and Garlick arc at odds with the

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