Curious Physics

The 10th Chapter.

I would like to banish the study of magnets from natural philosophy because it is not truly accurate and causes much confusion and hindrance for many people. For I well know that a so-called magnet In alchemy, a "magnet" is a substance prepared to attract the "spirit" or "salt" out of the air. (such as calcined bones, tartar, flint, vitriol A sulfate mineral, often used as a starting point for acids and reagents., salt, marcasite A brittle, metallic mineral often used to describe various iron sulfides., or my own material in which I capture the Universal Mercury) does not attract or suck in the air, or its spirit and salt, in the same way a human sucks with his mouth; for that is not possible for any vegetative In this context, things that grow or draw nutrients, like plants. thing. Rather, when one has prepared a so-called "right and good magnet" to attract, it should be understood that the particles of the magnetic body—through motion and movement original: "per motum & motionem" and the assistance of the air—were arranged in a particular instrument so that they place themselves by positioning original: "per Appositionem" into the form of Vitriol original: "in figuram Vitrioli". This form is so structured with its pores that when the flow of air passes through, the particles of the spirit-salt or Universal Mercury must remain hanging inside.

However, two demonstrations now overturn this recently opened line of thought. The first is this: if I have the salt of the World-Slime The author's primary alchemical substance, described in the previous chapter as a base for all things. standing in a glass in a temperate place, well-closed and protected, a mercurial salt attaches itself all around the entire glass—at the bottom, the top, and on the sides—like branches or vines. This mercurial salt is as good as my other [salts], and

Of the Magnet.

and also yields good quick-metal Literally "Queck-Metall," referring to mercury or quicksilver.. The other experiment comes from the mercurial iron-vitriol: namely, when one first turns iron into vitriol using common mercury sublimate A toxic compound of mercury and chlorine, often used as a reagent., and from that afterward drives out the spirit and oil (both of which possess great powers, and much can be accomplished with them for medicine with good profit in antimony and other subjects). By [the alchemical] Art, one can then bring gold to such a point that one ounce of it original: "unc. 1." attracts three or four pounds of water in one hour [possessing so much virtue, and containing a little of the common mercury, though it is of no use for our work]. Indeed, the air falls with such a roar into the instrument (which is made narrow at the top) onto the vitriolic earth, and becomes water so quickly, that one must be amazed. It truly appears to be a real attraction because the instrument has no passage through which the air could escape again; instead, the air immediately becomes water, and yet it whistles and roars no differently than if it were being pulled and sucked into the instrument through a human mouth, because of its parts, quantity, and thickening.

But, because I have perhaps not yet sufficiently explained all the causes and circumstances in both the one and the other, I will for now hold back my final opinion as to whether the so-