{ paramagnetic Magnetic { { diamagnetic. The “kind friend” alluded to was Whewell, as the following letter shows:-- [_Rev. W. Whewell to M. Faraday._] July, 1850. I am always glad to hear of your wanting new words, because the want shows that you are pursuing new thoughts--and your new thoughts are worth something--but I always feel also how difficult it is for one who has not pursued the train of thought to suggest the right word. There are so many relations involved in a new discovery, and the word ought not glaringly to violate any of them. The purists would certainly object to the opposition, or co-ordination, of _ferromagnetic_ and _diamagnetic_, not only on account of the want of symmetry in the relation of _ferro_ and _dia_, but also because the one is Latin and the other Greek.... Hence it would appear that the two classes of magnetic bodies are those which place their length _parallel_, or _according_, to the terrestrial magnetic lines, and those which place their length transverse to such lines. Keeping the preposition _dia_ for the latter, the preposition _para_, or _ana_, might be used for the former. Perhaps para would be best, as the word _parallel_, in which it is involved, would be a technical memory for it.... I rejoice to hear that you have new views of discovery opening to you. I always rejoice to hail the light of such when they dawn upon you. The twenty-sixth series of researches opened with a consideration of magnetic “conducting power,” or permeability as we should now term it, and then branched off into a lengthy discussion of atmospheric magnetism. The subject was continued through the twenty-seventh series, which was completed in November, 1850. The gist of this is summed up in one of his letters to Schönbein:-- Royal Institution, November 19, 1850.