Norman made another remark of great importance in the new philosophy, the justness of which was appreciated by Gilbert, his contemporary, but more so by Faraday and Clerk Maxwell, two centuries later. It refers to the space surrounding a magnet, natural or artificial, which cubical space Gilbert, following Norman, called an _orb of virtue_. That the influence or "effluvium" of the magnet extends throughout the entire space may readily be seen by carrying a compass-needle round a magnet from point to point, far away as well as close by. The phrase "orb of virtue," or sphere of magnetic influence, appears to describe the actual magnetic condition of the space in question more pertinently than our modern equivalent of "magnetic field." The words of Norman are very remarkable: "I am of opinion that if this vertue could by anie means be made visible to the eie of man, it would be found in a sphericall forme, extending round about the stone in great compasse and the dead bodie of the stone in the middle thereof." The lines which immediately follow this statement, pregnant with significance, show the deep religious feeling of the author. They read: "and this I have partly proved and made visible to be seene in some manner, and God sparing mee life, I will herein make further experience and that not curiouslie but in the feare of God as neere as He shall give me grace and meane to annexe the same unto a booke of navigation which I have had long in hand."--Chap. VIII. It is evident from the pages of the _Newe Attractive_ (1581) that Norman was animated with the right spirit of inquiry, which is calm, deliberate and judicious, which leads to the discovery of facts, to their coordination and experimental illustration before explanations are thought of and long before new theories are propounded. The style in which this little treatise is written has a charm of its own, mainly by reason of its quaintness. At the end of his address to the candid reader, which, after the manner of the times, was somewhat belabored and rhetorical in character, Norman breaks away from common inadequate prose; and, giving wings to his imagination, writes a lyric on the magnet which is the first metrical composition in English that we have on such a subject. It reads:-- THE MAGNES OR LOADSTONE'S CHALLENGE. Give place ye glittering sparks, ye glimmering Diamonds bright, Ye Rubies red, and Saphires brave wherein ye most delight. In breefe, yee stones inricht, and burnisht all with golde, Set forth in Lapidaries shops, for Jewells to be sold. Give place, give place I say, your beautie, gleame and glee, Is all the vertue for the which, accepted so you bee. Magnes, the Loadstone I, your painted sheath defie, Without my help in Indian seas, the best of you might lie.