Book VII, chapters 43–56: The wonders of the loadstone

CHAP. XLIII.

The Needle touched by the Loadstone on one part, doth not alwayes receive Vertue on both parts.

IF the Needle be touched at one end by the Loadstone, it receives Vertue at that end; and at the other end, the contrary vertue: But that must not be understood absolutely, but of that Needle that is of a proportionable length: for if it be too long, the vertue will not come to the other end. But would we know how far the vertue is come, we must know how far reached the Circumference of the Vertue, as I said. Therefore if the Circumference of it be a foot, the force will go a foot-long into the Needle. If we would try this: Touch a long Needle three foot long with a Loadstone at one end, if it touch the Iron at the other end, the Iron touched will not move from its place; but if you touch it a foot or two long, namely, as far as the Circumference of the Loadstones Vertue will reach, and then touch the Needle, it will presently move and be drawn by it.

CHAP. XLIV.

The Needle touched in the middle by the Loadstone, sends forth its Force at both ends.

IF the Needle be somewhat too long, and we rub it with the stone in the middle of it, the forces of the stones part are diffused to both ends of it; but very obscurely; for you shall not know which is the end: but if you touch it something farther from the middle, the neerer part will receive the forces of the part that touched it, be it the Northerly or Southerly part.

CHAP. XLV.

An Iron Ring touched by a Loadstone, will receive both Vertues.

BUt if we rub an Iron Ring on the one side with a Loadstone, then the part that is touched, will receive the vertue of the part of the Loadstone that touched it, and the opposite part will receive the contrary: and therefore the middle of the Iron Ring will be capable but of half the force of it, as if it were straight. But if we make a Pin round as a Ring; and the part joynted together with a joynt, be rubbed with a Loadstone; and being rubbed, be stretched straight again, the ends shall receive the same vertue, be it Northern or Southern. But by degrees that force will grow feeble; and in a short time become Northerly, and the other Southerly, or will receive more vertue then it first had, may be when it was touched farther from the end. But if you would, that of these a Chain of Iron should hang in the Air, so soon as one ring touched on one side with the Loadstone, hath received force on the other side by it, we may hang a Chain of Rings in the Air, as we may of Loadstones: so then, if the Rings be laid in order upon a Table, that they may one touch the other, though they do not fasten, put the Loadstone to them, and not onely the first will be drawn, but the next, and the third, that they will hang like links of Rings: and not only will it be so, if the Loadstone touch the first, that the rest will follow; but if the stone be but neer, it will do the same without touching them.

CHAP. XLVI.

An Iron Plate touched in the middle, will diffuse its forces to both ends.

WHat I said of a long Needle, I say also of an Iron Bar: for if you touch it in the middle, the Beams of it are spread like the Beams of the Sun, or light of a Candle, from the Centre to the Circumference, and extream parts. But if we touch an Iron Morter, being the force is feeble, where it is touched about the superficies, some vertue may be be perceived; but it is very weak in the extream parts.

CHAP. XLVII.

How filings of Iron may receive force.

IF you wrap up filings of Iron in a paper, as Druggists do, like a Pyramis; and put a Loadstone neer it, all the filings together will receive the same force, as a long piece of Iron doth: but if you stir the filings, and put them into an open paper, that force is lost, and confounded, and can do nothing, as if it had never been touched, by reason of so many different pieces.

CHAP. XLVIII.

Whether Garlick can hinder the vertues of the Loadstone.

NOw I shall pass on to other properties of the Loadstone: and first, whether the Loadstones attraction can be any ways hindred. Plutarch saith, That Garlick is at great enmity with the Loadstone; and such antipathy and hatred there is between these insensible Creatures, that if the Loadstone be smeered with Garlick, it will drive away Iron from it. Ptolomy confirms the same, That the Loadstone will not draw Iron, if it be anoynted with Garlick; as Amber will no more draw straws, and other light things to it, if they be first steeped in Oyl. It is a common Opinion amongst Sea-men, That Onyons and Garlick are at odds with the Loadstone: and Steers-men, and such as tend the Mariners Card are forbid to eat Onyons or Garlick, lest they make the Index of the Poles drunk. But when I tried all these things, I found them to be false: for not onely breathing and belching upon the Loadstone after eating of Garlick, did not stop its vertues: but when it was all anoynted over with the juice of Garlick, it did perform its office as well as if it had never been touched with it: and I could observe almost not the least difference, left I should seem to make void the endeavors of the Ancients. And again, When I enquired of Mariners, whether it were so, that they were forbid to eat Onyons and Garlick for that reason; they said, They were old Wives fables, and things ridiculous; and that Sea-men would sooner lose their lives, then abstain from eating Onyons and Garlick.

CHAP. XLIX.

How a Loadstone astonished may be brought to it self again.

IF a Loadstone be drunk, and do not its office, not as we said, by being breathed on by Garlick, but rather by reason of some other parts of the Loadstone that had touched it, so that the vertue of it is decayed and gone; we shall restore it to its former vertue, by covering it over with the filings of Iron many dayes, until, by the vapors or company of the Iron, it can perform its office as it should.

CHAP. L.

How to augment the Loadstones vertue.

THere are many learned men that have attempted to augment the Loadstones vertue, and that divers wayes, that having got more forces, it might serve for very great uses. Alexander Aphrodiseus in the beginning of his Problems, enquires wherefore the Loadstone onely draws Iron, and is fed or helped by the filings of Iron; and the more it is fed, the better it will be: and therefore it is confirmed by Iron. But when I would try that, I took a Loadstone of a certain weight, and I buried it in a heap of Iron-filings, that I knew what they weighed; and when I had left it there many months, I found my stone to be heavier, and the Iron-filings lighter: but the difference was so small, that in one pound I could finde no sensible declination; the stone being great, and the filings many: so that I am doubtful of the truth. Paracelsus, being skilled in distillation, tried to do it another way: For (saith he) if any man shall quench often in Oyl of Iron, a Loadstone red hot, it will by degrees recover force, and augment so much, that it will easily pull a Nail forth that is fast in a Wall: which conceit pleased me well; and thereupon I made the stone red hot, and quenched it often in Oyl of Iron: but it was so far from getting more strength, that it lost what it had: and fearing I had not done it right, I tried if often; so I found the falsity of it, and I warn others of it also. For a Loadstone made red hot in the fire, will lose all its vertue, as I shall shew afterwards.

CHAP. LI.

That the Loadstone may lose its vertue.

I Found out, That this is the onely true way, amongst many that are set down by Writers, by heaping Fire-coals upon the Loadstone: for once made red-hot, it presently loseth all its vertue, and a vapor flies from it that is blewish black, or Brimstone-like, smelling strong, as Coals do; and when that flame and vapor ceaseth to exhale, if you take it out of the fire, all the force of it is breathed forth: and I always thought, that that was the Soul of it, and the cause of its attraction of iron; whenas iron is made of Brimstone not perfect: as I read in […]ebar and other Writers that treat of Metals: which is the cause that it runs so swiftly to the Loadstone, and desires so much to be imbraced by it: and when that vapour is gone from the stone, it loseth all its vertue; and then it is but a dead carcass, and it is in vain to endeavour to revive it.

CHAP. LII.

How the Iron touched with the Loadstone loseth its force.

THe same way the Loadstone doth, the iron loseth its force also: for though it have been excellently well touched by the Loadstone, if you heart it red-hot in the fire, it will lose its forces: and the reason is; because that part of the Loadstone that cleaves to the iron, loseth its forces in the fire; and therefore the iron deprived of that, loseth the force also. Wherefore in the Mariners Compass, or in other uses, when the iron is stupified by the touch of other things, and hath not its due forces to free it from this imperfection, we put it into the fire. Hence we finde the error of many men, who when they put the Needle into the Compass, they first make it red-hot, and then they rub it with the Loadstone, supposing it will by that means, take in the Loadstones vertue the more: but they do not onely by contraries, but they so make void the Loadstones vertues, that it cannot do its office, but that force is driven out of the iron by the fire; and it is just as it was before it was touched with the Loadstone. Wherefore, as often as that force is driven away with the fire, we may touch it again, and give it the same force.

CHAP. LIII.

It is false, That the Diamond doth hinder the Loadstones vertue.

VVE shewed that it was a false report, that the Loadstone anoynted with Garlick, loseth its vertues. But it is more false, that it loseth its vertue by the presence of the Diamond. For, say some, there is so much discord between the qualities of the Loadstone and the Diamond, and they are so hateful one against the other, and secret enemies, that if the Diamond be put to the Loadstone, it presently faints and loseth all its forces. Pliny. The Loadstone so disagreeth with the Diamond, that if Iron be laid by it, it will not let the Loadstone draw it; and if the Loadstone do attract it, it will snatch it away again from it. St. Augustine. I will say what I have read of the Loadstone: How that if the Diamond be by it, it will not draw iron; and if it do, when it comes neer the Diamond, it will let it fall. Marbodeus of the Loadstone:

All Loadstones by their vertue Iron draw;
But of the Diamond it stands in awe:
Taking the Iron from't by Natures Law.

I tried this often, and found it false; and that there is no Truth in it. But there are many Smatteres and ignorant Fellows, that would fain reconcile the ancient Writers, and excuse these lyes; not seeing what damage they bring to the Common-wealth of Learning. For the new Writers, building on their ground, thinking them true, add to them, and invent, and draw other Experiments from them, that are falser then the Principles they insisted on. The blinde leads the blinde, and both fall into the pit. Truth must be searched, loved and professed by all men; nor must any mens authority, old or new, hold us from it. But to return from whence those Reconcilers idleness drew me: I took a piece of a Loadstone to try by; it was hardly four Grains in weight: I fastned the filings of iron very fast to it; then I put the Diamond that was three or four times bigger then them both; but that would not make the Loadstone forsake the iron: then I took off the filings of iron from the Loadstone, and set them at a just distance, and it drew the filings to it, though the Diamond were by. I say this, lest they should think I failed in the trial, and to have taken a Loadstone of twenty or thirty pound weight, and fastened an ounce of iron to it, and then to have taken a very small Diamond, and put it to them to make trial with.

CHAP. LIV.

Goats blood doth not free the Loadstone from the inchantment of the Diamond.

I Said, That from false Principles, are drawn most false Conclusions. Also I said, That it is related that the juice of Garlick smeered on the Loadstone, will take away its attraction of iron; and, That when the Diamond is by, it will not draw iron, or will let it fall. But because (say some) Goats blood will break the Diamond, if the Loadstone be anoynted with Goats blood, it will recover. Castianus in Geoponic. Graec. The Loadstone draws iron to it, and again drives it away from it, if it be annointed with Garlick: but that the force almost lost may be restored, it must be washed in Goats blood. Rhennius the Interpreter of Dionysius.

'Gainst which, nor fire, nor steel ever won;
Goats blood if warm, can break the Diamond:
Nor strokes o' th' Hammer can consume this Stone,
Which from the Loadstone doth the Iron take,
That it would still embrace it, let alone:
Diamonds, Loadstones vertues empty make.

Marbodeus of the same.

A Diamond is mighty hard: a Stone
That on the Anvil never can be broke;
Nor steel, nor fire hurt it, yet 'tis known,
It crumbles in Goats blood, if laid to soak.

Since therefore there is an Antipathy between the Diamond and the Loadstone; and there is as great Antipathy between the Diamond and Goats blood, as there is sympathy between Goats blood and the Loadstone; We are from this Argument proceeded thus far, that when the vertue of the Loadstone is grown dull, either by the presence of the Diamond, or stink of Garlick, if it be washed in Goats blood it will then recover its former force, and be made more strong: but I have tried that all the reports are false. For the Diamond is not so hard as men say it is: for it will yield to steel, and to a moderate fire: nor doth it grow soft in Goats blood, or Camels blood, or Asses blood: and our Jewellers count all these Relations false and ridiculous. Nor is the vertue of the Loadstone, being lost, recovered by Goats blood. I have said so much, to let men see what false Conclusions are drawn from false Principles.

CHAP. LV.

The Iron touched with a Diamond will turn to the North.

BUt this is most true, that I found out by chance when I made trial, whether the Diamond had any forces to weaken the Loadstones vertue, as I said: for if you rub a steel-Needle on a Diamond, and then put it into a Boat, or thrust it through a reed, or hang it up by a Threed, it will presently turn to the North, almost as well as if it had been touched with the Loadstone; but something more faintly. And, what is worth noting, the contrary part will turn the iron to the South: and when I had tried this in many steel-Needles, and put them all into the Water, I found, that they all stood equi-distant, pointing to the North. And if they that write, That the Loadstone is weakned by the presence of the Diamond, had written thus, […]ey had said more Truth: for a Needle rubbed on a Diamond, and stuck in a […]nd put into the water, that it may turn freely; being turned with your finger, when it stands still, it will turn North, and point at it exactly.

CHAP. LVI.

The forces and remedies of the Loadstone.

OUr Ancestors invented many things, by reason of this admirable attractive operation of the Loadstone, and found out many remedies that are worth observing. From this drawing quality that it allures iron to it, and that they mutually attract the one the other; they did attribute unto it an understanding of venerious actions, and that they are one in love with the other; nor will their mad love abate, till they imbrace each one the other: and when they turn their backs, they hate one the other, and drive one the other off; and that they contain in them also the Principles of hatred. Marbodeus.

This Stone doth reconcile the man and wife,
And her recal that from her husband goes:
If one would know her leads a whorish life,
Under her head, when that she sleeps, it shows:
For she that's chast, will presently imbrace
Her husband whilst she sleepeth; but a whore
Falls out o' th' bed, as thrown out with disgrace,
With stink o' th' Stone, which shows this, and much more.

And for this cause, our Ancestors to signifie as much, did oft-times engrave the picture of Venus upon the Loadstone. Hence Claudian writes,

The Loadstone Venus oft-times represents.

I remember also, that many of the Ancients reported, That if a Loadstone were beat into powder, and were strewed into burning Coles, about the corners of the house, that the smoke might flie up; those that are in the house, will presently run out for fear the house will fall; and frighted with these phantasmes, would run, forsaking all their houses: and thus Thieves may steal all their Goods. Marbodeus.

If that a Thief can creep into a House
That's full of wealth, and Treasure hath good store;
Let him on burning Coles, before he rowse
The people, strew the Loadstone dust all ore,
That so the Smoke may at each corner rise,
And that will make the people wake, and think
The house will fall, and run out with great cries,
Then may he take away their Gold and chink.

The reason is, Because the Loadstone is melancholick, as you may conjecture by the colour of it; the fumes whereof, rising into the brain, will cause those that are a sleep to have melancholick phantasms presented unto them: and Coles will do the like. The weight Davic, with Serpents fat, and juice of Metals, given to one to drink, will make him mad, and make him run out of his House, Country and Nation: and this is doth by exaggeration of black Melancholy: or it will make people lunatick and melancholick if they do but hold it in their mouths: and by its drawing out of iron, Physitians think it will help well to draw an Arrow-head out of ones body.

But we use the Loadstone in making Glass. Pliny. After Glass was found out, as it is a very cunning invention, men were not content to mingle Nitre; but they began to add the Loadstone thereunto, because it is supposed, that it will attract the liquor of the Glass into it self, and into iron also. Hence it is, that in making Glass, we add a little piece of Loadstone to it, for that singular vertue is confirmed by our times, as well as former times: it is thought so to attract into it self the liquor of the Glass, as it draws iron to it; and being attracted, it purgeth it; and from green or yellowish Glass, it makes it white: but the fire afterwards consumes the Loadstone. Out of Agricola. We read also, That a Loadstone laid to ones head, will take away all the pains. Galen saith, It hath purging faculties; and therefore it is given to drink for the Dropsie: and it will draw forth all the water in the Belly. Lastly, I shall not pass by the error of Hadrian, concerning the Loadstone: for he saith, That the iron by its weight makes the Loadstone never the heavier. For the Naturalists report, That if a great Loadstone were weighed in a Scale, and after that, should draw iron to it, it would be no heavier then it was when it was alone, though they be both together; so the weight of the iron is as it were consumed by the Loadstone, and hindred by it from any effect or motion: which I finde to be false. It is like that jear in Aristophanes, of a Clown that rid upon an Ass, and carried his Coulter at his back, that he might not load the Ass too much.