al
circle on the globe of a terrella or on an iron globe. But when an iron
ring is rubbed on one side on a * loadstone, then the one pole is on the
place that was in contact, whilst the other is at the opposite point; and
the magnetick power divides the ring into two parts by a natural
distinction which, though not in shape, yet in power and effect is like an
aequator. But if a thin straight rod be bent into a ring without any
welding or union of the ends, and be touched in the middle by a loadstone,
both ends will be of the same verticity. Let a ring be taken which is whole
and continuous, and which has been * touched by a loadstone at one place,
and let it be divided afterward {130} at the opposite point and
straightened out, both ends will also be * of the same verticity, no
otherwise than a thin rod touched in the middle or a ring not cohaerent at
the joint.

* * * * *

CHAP. VI.

What seems an Opposing Motion in Magneticks
_is a proper motion toward unity_.

[Illustration]

In things magnetical nature always tends to unity, not merely to confluence
and agglomeration, but to harmony; in such a way that the rotational and
disponent faculty should not be disturbed, as is variously shown in the
following example. Let C D be an entire body of some magnetick substance,
in which C tends to B, the north of the earth, and D to the south, A.
Then[205] divide it in the middle in its aequator, and it will be E that is
tending toward A, and F tending toward B. For just as in the undivided
body, so in the divided, nature aims at these bodies being united; the end
E again joins with F harmoniously and * eagerly and they stick together,
but E is never joined to D, nor F to C; for then C must be turned contrary
to nature toward A, the south, or D toward B, the north, which is foreign
to them and incongruous. Separate the stone in the place where it is cut
and turn D round to C; they harmonize and combine excellently. For D is
tending to the south, as before, and C to the north; E and F, parts which
were cognate in the ore, are now widely separated, for they do not move
together on account of material affinity, but they take their motion and
inclination from their form. So the ends, whether joined or divided, tend
magnetically in the same way to the earth's poles in the first figure where
there is one whole, or divided as in the second figure; and F E in the
second figure is a perfect magnetick