The Natural Philosophy of William Gilbert and His PredecessorsKing, W. James (William James)
History
The Natural Philosophy of William Gilbert and His Predecessors
King, W. James (William James)
Gilbert, William, 1544-1603; Magnetism -- History
Relictis aliorum opinionibus de magnetis attractione; nunc
coitionis illius rationem, et motus illius commoventem
naturam docebimus. Cum vero duo sint corporum genera, quae
manifestis sensibus nostris motionibus corpora allicere
videntur, Electrica et Magnetica; Electrica naturalibus ab
humore effluviis; Magnetica formalibus efficientiis, seu
potius primariis vigoribus, incitationes faciunt. Forma ilia
singularis est, et peculiaris, non Peripateticorum causa
formalis, et specifica in mixtis, est secunda forma, non
generantium corporum propagatrix; sed primorum et praeciporum
globorum forma; et partium eorum homogenearum, non
corruptarum, propria entitas et existentia, quam nos
primariam, et radicalem, et astream appellare possumus
formam; non formam primam Aristotelis; sed singularem illam,
quae globum suum proprium tuetur et disponit. Talis in
singulis globis, Sole, lunas et astris, est una; in terra
etiam una, quae vera est ilia potentia magnetica, quam nos
primarium vigorem appellamus. Quare magnetica natura est
telluris propria, eiusque omnibus verioribus partibus,
primaria et stupenda ratione, insita; haec nec a caelo toto
derivatur procreaturve, per sympathiam, per influentiam, aut
occultiores qualitates; nec peculiari aliquo astro: est enim
suus in tellure magneticus vigor, sicut in sole et luna suae
formae; frustulumque; lunae, lunatice ad eius terminos, et
formam componit se; solarque; ad solem, sicut magnes ad
tellurem, et ad alterum magnetem, secundum naturam sese
inclinando et alliciendo. Differendum igitur de tellure quae
magnetica, et magnes; tum etiam de partibus eius verioribus,
quae magneticae sunt; et quomodo ex coitione difficiuntur.
Instead, he declared it to be due to a form that is natural and proper
to that element that he made the primary component of the earth.[139]
To understand his argument, let us briefly recall the peripatetic
theory of the elements. In this philosophy of nature each element or
simple body is a combination of a pair of the four primary qualities
that informs inchoate matter. These qualities are the instruments of
the elemental forms and determine the properties of the element. Thus
the element fire is a compound of the qualities hot and dry, and the
substantial form of fire acts through these qualities. Similarly for
the other elements, earth, water, and air: their forms determine a
proper place for each element, and a motion to that place natural to
each element.[140]
[138] M: p. 105, and Gilbert, _De magnete_, London, 1600, bk.
2 ch. 4, p. 65.
[139] M: p. 105.
[140] M: pp. 289, 322.
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