In addition to the properties already mentioned, the loadstone has the power of communicating its virtues to any piece of hard iron or steel, and that, without diminution of strength; so that, if but one piece had been discovered, it would have been sufficient for the production of all the magnets that have ever been formed by man. Other means may be adopted of accomplishing this purpose. Take a bar of iron, and, striking it several times with a hammer, it will become magnetic. This experiment may be performed with a common poker. The magnetism thus communicated to a steel bar will be much increased in power, if it be supported on another bar during the process of hammering. Gay Lussac, a French chemist of great celebrity, discovered a method of making magnets by a process so simple, that it may, in all cases, be applied successfully. Take a piece of thin iron wire and suspend it in a vertical position. The earth itself being a magnet, induces a magnetic power in the wire. To render this permanent, twist the wire till it breaks, and a magnet will be obtained. Mrs. Somerville, well known for her excellent philosophical works, made some experiments on the effect of solar light in the production of permanent magnetism. If half of a small sewing needle be covered with paper, and the exposed part be placed in the violet or indigo ray, magnetism will be induced, and the same effect will be produced in a smaller degree by the blue and green. To describe but one more mode; magnets are readily made by what is called the single touch, and this is perhaps the most simple and most effective way of proceeding. Place the steel bar to be magnetized on a table, or any other convenient place, and, as nearly as possible, north and south, which position is called by philosophers, the magnetic meridian. This being done, draw over it perpendicularly a strong magnet. In this operation, it is necessary to begin at one end of the bar, and draw the magnet over its entire length, and then again in the same direction. It must not be drawn backward and forward, for the power communicated in one direction, would be destroyed by an opposite motion.