by William Gilbert, On the Magnet — Book II. Chap. 24… (1900)
“ Fracastorio, in the eighth chapter of his De Sympathia, says that a piece of iron is suspended in the air, so that it can be moved neither up nor down, if a loadstone be placed above which is able to draw the iron up just as much as the iron itself inclines downwards with equal force; for thus the iron would be supported in the air: which thing is absurd; because the force of a magnet is always the stronger the nearer it is. ”
by William Gilbert, On the Magnet — Book II. Chap. 24… (1900)
“ But I say it may be done, because I have now done it, to hold it fast by an invisible band, to hang in the air; onely so, that it be bound with a small thread beneath, that it may not rise higher: and then striving to catch hold of the stone above, it will hang in the air, and tremble and wag itself. ”
by William Gilbert, On the Magnet — Book II. Chap. 24… (1900)
“ The iron is raised upright by the magnet, although the magnet does not * touch the iron, but because it is in its vicinity; but when the whole iron on account of its greater nearness is moved by that which erected it, immediately it hurries with a swift motion to the magnet and cleaves to it. For by approaching the iron is more and more excited, and the coition grows stronger. ”
