On the magnet, magnetick bodies also, and on the great magnet the earth: a new physiology, demonstrated by many arguments & experiments
History
On the magnet, magnetick bodies also, and on the great magnet the earth: a new physiology, demonstrated by many arguments & experiments
Magnetism -- Early works to 1800
[160] PAGE 68, LINE 30. Page 68, line 35. _Ità coitio magnetica actus est
magnetis, & ferri, non actio vnius._--See the introductory remarks to these
notes. There is a passage in Scaliger's _De Subtilitate ad Cardanum_
(Exercitat. CII., cap. 5, p. 156 _op. citat._) which may be compared with
Gilbert's for its use of Greek terms: "Nã cùm uita dicatur actus animæ,
acceptus est abs te actus pro actione. Sed actus ille est [Greek:
entelecheia], nõ autem [Greek: ergon]. At Magnetis attractio est [Greek:
ergon], non aut[~e] [Greek: entelecheia]." To which Gilbert retorts: "non
actio unius, utriusque [Greek: entelecheia]; non [Greek: ergon], [Greek:
sunentelecheia] et conactus potius quam sympathia." He returns on p. 70 to
the attack on Scaliger's metaphysical notions. There is a parallel passage
in the _Epitome Naturalis Scientiæ_ of Daniel Sennert (Oxoniæ, 1664), in
the chapter _De Motu_.
[161] PAGE 71, LINE 4. Page 71, line 8. _vt in 8. physicorum Themistius
existimat._--See _Omnia Themistii Opera_ (Aldine edition, 1533, p. 63),
Book 8 of his Paraphrase on Aristotle's _Physica_.
[162] PAGE 71, LINE 9. Page 71, line 14. _Quod verò Fracastorius._--_Op.
citat._, lib. i., cap. 7, p. 62 _verso_.
[163] PAGE 73, LINE 2. Page 73, line 2. _si A borealis._--The editions of
1628 and 1633 omit the twelve words next following.
[164] PAGE 73, LINE 9. Page 73, line 11. _ex minera._--_Minera_ is not a
recognized word, even in late Latin. It occurs again, p. 97, line 12.
[165] PAGE 77, LINE 2. Page 77, line 2. _multo magis._--This is an _à
fortiori_ argument. It is interesting to find Gilbert comparing the
velocity of propagation of magnetic forces in space with the velocity of
light. The parallel is completed in line 13 by the consideration that as
the rays of light require to fall upon an object in order that they may
become visible, so the magnetic forces require a magnetic object in order
to render their presence sensible.
[166] PAGE 78, LINE 14. Page 78, line 16. _Orbem terrarum
distinguunt._--The editions of 1628 and 1633 here add a figure of a globe
marked with meridians and parallels of latitude, but with an erroneous
versorium pointing to the south. These editions also both read
_existentiam_ for the word _existentium_ in line 20.
[167] PAGE 83, LINE 5. Page 83, line 5. _magnes longior maiora pondera
ferri attollit._--Gilbert discovered the advantage, for an equal mass of
loadstone, of an elongated shape. It is now well known that the specific
amount of magnetism retained by elongated forms exceeds that in a short
piece of the same material subjected to equal magnetizing forces.
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