On the Magnet

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CHAP. 1.

THE WRITINGS OF THE ANCIENTS AND MODERNS
concerning the Magnet, and certain matters only mentioned,
various opinions, and vanities.

A large, ornate drop-cap 'A' features two figures standing on either side of the letter, amidst foliage and vines.IN the previous age, while philosophy was still rough and uncultivated, lying in the darkness of errors and ignorance, few virtues and properties of things were known and understood. The woods were bristling with plants and herbs, the nature of metals was hidden, and the knowledge of stones was neglected. But after certain things necessary for human use and safety were brought to light by the talents and labors of many, and handed down to others (while at the same time reason and experience had added greater hope), then men began to search the woods, fields, mountains, and difficult places; then they began to explore the seas, the depths of the waters, and the interior bowels of the earthly body, and to examine everything. And under good auspices, at last, the magnet stone was discovered, as is probable, by iron-smelters or metal-miners, in iron veins. When it was handled by metal-workers, it quickly showed that powerful and strong attraction of iron, a virtue not hidden and obscure, but easily seen by all, and observed and commended with much praise. After it had emerged from the darkness and deep prisons, and was ennobled by men on account of its powerful and stupendous attraction of iron, many writers, both philosophers and ancient physicians, spoke of it and briefly celebrated its memory, as it were; for instance, Plato in his Ion, Aristotle in the first book On the Soul...