1Globe is Load-ſtone; but onely to ſhew that no reaſon could be
given why one ſhould be more unwilling to grant that it is of
Load-ſtone, than of ſome other matter. And if you will but
ſeriouſly conſider, you ſhall find that it is not improbable, that
one ſole, pure, and arbitrary name, hath moved men to think
that it conſiſts of Earth; and that is their having made uſe
monly from the beginning of this word Earth, as well to
ſie that matter which is plowed and ſowed, as to name this our
Globe. The denomination of which if it had been taken from
ſtone, as that it might as well have been taken from that as
from the Earth; the ſaying that its primary ſubſtance was ſtone,
would doubtleſſe have found no ſcruple or oppoſition in any
man. And is ſo much the more probable, in that I verily
lieve, that if one could but pare off the ſcurf of this great Globe,
taking away but one full thouſand or two thouſand yards; and
afterwards ſeperate the Stones from the Earth, the
on of the ſtones would be very much biger than that of the
tile Mould. But as for the reaſons which concludently prove de
facto, that is our Globe is a Magnet, I have mentioned none of
them, nor is this a time to alledg them, and the rather, for that
to your benefit you may read them in Gilbert; onely to
rage you to the peruſal of them, I will ſet before you, in a
litude of my own, the method that he obſerved in his
phy. I know you underſtand very well how much the
ledg of the accidents is ſubſervient to the inveſtigation of the
ſubſtance and eſſence of things; therefore I deſire that you
would take pains to informe your ſelf well of many accidents and
properties that are found in the Magnet, and in no other ſtone,
or body; as for inſtance of attracting Iron, of conferring
on it by its ſole preſence the ſame virtue, of communicating
likewiſe to it the property of looking towards the Poles, as it
alſo doth it ſelf; and moreover endeavour to know by trial,
that it containeth in it a virtue of conferring upon the magnetick
needle not onely the direction under a Meridian towards the
Poles, with an Horizontal motion, (a property a long time ago
known) but a new found accident, of declining (being ballanced
under the Meridian before marked upon a little ſpherical
net) of declining I ſay to determinate marks more or leſſe,
cording as that needle is held nearer or farther from the Pole,
till that upon the Pole it ſelf it erecteth perpendicularly,
as in the middle parts it is parallel to the Axis. Furthermore
cure a proof to be made, whether the virtue of attracting Iron,
reſiding much more vigorouſly about the Poles, than about the
middle parts, this force be not notably more vigorous in one
Pole than in the other, and that in all pieces of Magnet; the
given why one ſhould be more unwilling to grant that it is of
Load-ſtone, than of ſome other matter. And if you will but
ſeriouſly conſider, you ſhall find that it is not improbable, that
one ſole, pure, and arbitrary name, hath moved men to think
that it conſiſts of Earth; and that is their having made uſe
monly from the beginning of this word Earth, as well to
ſie that matter which is plowed and ſowed, as to name this our
Globe. The denomination of which if it had been taken from
ſtone, as that it might as well have been taken from that as
from the Earth; the ſaying that its primary ſubſtance was ſtone,
would doubtleſſe have found no ſcruple or oppoſition in any
man. And is ſo much the more probable, in that I verily
lieve, that if one could but pare off the ſcurf of this great Globe,
taking away but one full thouſand or two thouſand yards; and
afterwards ſeperate the Stones from the Earth, the
on of the ſtones would be very much biger than that of the
tile Mould. But as for the reaſons which concludently prove de
facto, that is our Globe is a Magnet, I have mentioned none of
them, nor is this a time to alledg them, and the rather, for that
to your benefit you may read them in Gilbert; onely to
rage you to the peruſal of them, I will ſet before you, in a
litude of my own, the method that he obſerved in his
phy. I know you underſtand very well how much the
ledg of the accidents is ſubſervient to the inveſtigation of the
ſubſtance and eſſence of things; therefore I deſire that you
would take pains to informe your ſelf well of many accidents and
properties that are found in the Magnet, and in no other ſtone,
or body; as for inſtance of attracting Iron, of conferring
on it by its ſole preſence the ſame virtue, of communicating
likewiſe to it the property of looking towards the Poles, as it
alſo doth it ſelf; and moreover endeavour to know by trial,
that it containeth in it a virtue of conferring upon the magnetick
needle not onely the direction under a Meridian towards the
Poles, with an Horizontal motion, (a property a long time ago
known) but a new found accident, of declining (being ballanced
under the Meridian before marked upon a little ſpherical
net) of declining I ſay to determinate marks more or leſſe,
cording as that needle is held nearer or farther from the Pole,
till that upon the Pole it ſelf it erecteth perpendicularly,
as in the middle parts it is parallel to the Axis. Furthermore
cure a proof to be made, whether the virtue of attracting Iron,
reſiding much more vigorouſly about the Poles, than about the
middle parts, this force be not notably more vigorous in one
Pole than in the other, and that in all pieces of Magnet; the