William Gilbert of Colchester, physician of London, On the magnet : magnetick bodies also, and on the great magnet the earth ; a new physiology, demonstrated by many arguments & experiments / William Gilbert.

  • Gilbert, William, 1544-1603.
Date:
1901
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: William Gilbert of Colchester, physician of London, On the magnet : magnetick bodies also, and on the great magnet the earth ; a new physiology, demonstrated by many arguments & experiments / William Gilbert. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    CHAP. XI. Wrought Iron, not excited by a loadftone, %■ draws iron. ROM the ore, which is converted, or feparated, partly into metal, partly into flag, by the intenfe heat of fires, iron is fmelted in the firft furnaces in a fpace of eight, ten, or twelve hours, and the metal flows away from the drofs and ufelefs matter, forming a large and long mafs, which being fub- -p hammering is cut into parts, out of which when reheated in the fecond hearth of the forge, and again placed on the anvil, the fmiths fafhion quadrangular lumps, or more fpecially bars which are bought by merchants and blackfmiths, from which in fmithies ufually it is the cuftom to fafhion the various implements. This iron we term wrought, and its attraction by the loadftone is manifeft to all. But we, by more carefully trying everything, have found out that iron merely, by itfelf alone, not excited by any loadftone, not charged by any alien forces, attracts other iron ; though it does not fo eagerly fnatch and fuddenly pluck at it as would a fairly ftrong loadftone ; this you may know thus : A fmall piece of cork, the fize of a hazel-nut, rounded, is traverfed by an iron wire up to the middle of the wire: when fet fwimming on ftill water apply to one end of it, clofe (yet fo as not to touch), the end of another iron wire; and wire draws wire, and one follows the other when flowly drawn back, and this goes on up to the proper boundaries. Let A be the cork with the iron wire, B one end of it raifed a little above the furface of the water, C the end of the fecond wire, fhowing the way in which B is drawn by C. You may prove it in another way in a larger body. Let a long bright iron rod (fuch as is made for hangings and window curtains) be hung in balance by a (lender filken cord: to one end of this as it refts in the air bring a fmall oblong mafs of polifhed iron, with its proper end