Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	north_n	pole_n	south_n	3,753	5	10.5697	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67373	A brief letter from a young Oxonian to one of his late fellow-pupils upon the subject of magnetism	Wallis, John, 1616-1703.	1697 (1697)	Wing W562; ESTC R212965	9,938	17

unpardonable peice of Ignorance and Envy not to acknowledg his Hypothesis to be the most satisfactory and adequate Account hitherto Published but yet as a Man's having good Eyes when he walks in the Dark will not save him from stumbling some times so neither could the Perspicacity of this great Man ensure him from many mistakes in the trace of so profound a Secret For not to mention to one who knows them so well the many perplexities which the Learned have discover'd in his Philosophical Principles altho' the reality of his Magnetical System must unavoidably stand or fall with those Principles I say not to mention any thing of this there are yet some difficulties observable in the System it self take one for all for his Instruments he supposes a sort of fine Matter to issue out of both Poles of the Earth after such a manner that those that come from one Pole take a compass round the Superficies of the Earth and enter in again at t' other which matter he has Denominated Corpuscula Striata because of the Strias impressed upon it by being drain'd thro' the Apertures or Interstices necessarily left-between the contacts of the Globuli of his second Element This matter he supposes to be a Species of his first Element which he defines thus Quoe tantam vim habet agitationis ut aliis Corporibus occurrendo in minutias indefinitae parvitatis dividatur figur as suas ad omnes Angulorum abijs relictorum angustias implendas accommodet It is says he so agil a kind of Matter as upon encountring other Bodies to dash into innumerable Particles and conforms it self to the Spaces which are left between those Bodies but how is it possible to conceive That Matter of so easy and yeilding a Nature should not be as Susceptive of an Impression from and as conformable to the Pores of Bodies compounded of third Elementary Matter in the number of which are Magnetical Bodies as it is to the Interstices of the Globuli of the second Element which if it be then cannot it act with any force or impulse but must glide ineffectualy thro' the Passages of the Magnet and like a winding Stream comply with the Luxuriancy of its Channel nor will it avail to say that this Matter upon approaching the Poles of the Magnetical Body is Congregated and Acts with an united force since we cannot see why it should more readily congregate and confederate upon such an accession than before or after it unless which this Learned Philosopher I am sure will not admit it is Collected by some Sympathetical Attraction of the Magnetical Body thus Sir you see one Difficulty and were it needful perhaps I could make you sensible of many more but I am unwilling to attempt a Dispute which would be as endless as the Ropings of the Welchman's Toasted Cheese Now be pleased to hear what I can say for my self It is apparent that there can be no such thing as Motion without an Impulse and that upon such an impulse a Motion greater or less must ensue from whence we gather that all Magnetical Bodies require some Impellent to enable them to perform those various Feats and Operations observable in them and here an Inquiry will arise were we shall meet with an Agent confessedly existent in Nature neither too gross not too feeble but in all respects qualify'd for such undertakings Corpuscula Striata or Pennata as has been already shewn are Fabulous or Impotent if not both and the daily Testimonies of Mens Eyes assure them that no visible Conspicuous Agent is in the Cause of necessity therefore it must be something of a midling kind between these two which cannot be any other than the Aethereal or Subtile Matter incorporated in the Atmosphere of our Terraqueous Globe which Matter by the diurnal Motion of the Earth is rapidly devolv'd from West to East perpetualy Now you will presently wonder I do not doubt how that which moves from West to East should direct any Magnetical Body so as that its Poles should point directly North and South but have a little Patience The existence of such Aethereal Matter I am confident you will not call in Question and that it is endu'd with a Scrutinous penetrating Nature may were it not trivial be Demonstrated from the very end and essence of it but still this Agent suffers under the Imputation of Insufficiency and Variability equally with that of Des Cartes and considered by it self undoubtedly it does so but considered with Circumstances as the Precipitance of its Motion the Disposition of the Parts of its Patient and the like it will answer your Expectation and Demands Thus the Wind can manage the Sails of a Windmil and turn them round with ease but has no Power upon a Rock or a Mountain from hence it is evident therefore that this Agent must be driven with a due force of Motion and also that the Patient must have some of its Parts adapted for receiving and suffering the Impulse Whoever takes a just estimate of the Earths Celerity in her diurnal Motion must be convinced that the Violence of such a Motion is able to effect great things and whoever remembers that the Motion of the Aethereal Matter about the Earths Superficies must be proportionably quicker as that is Degrees fluider must also be satisfy'd of the abilities of such Matter to penetrate all the accessible passages of those Bodies which occur in its course and to rage and aestuate in them if they be not very regular and open Having thus obtain'd an Agent there are two things next to be examin'd the one is whether this Agent when it is free and uninterrupted is capable of such an Administration The second is Whether though it be so of its self yet external Diversions and Disturbances may not frustrate and evacuate its Influence which Queries being both Answered I hope no further difficulties will remain In order to clear the first I must give you to understand that many of the Particles of Magnetical Bodies are like so many Tendrils or little Springs Taper and Tortuous which in regard of the Internal Disposition and Posture of Magnetical Bodies and the many anomalous Ramosities into which the Parts of them spread themselves I may expect to be easily granted The Body of the Aethereal Matter therefore rushing into the Pores of the Magnetical Bodies and there labouring to exert its self on all sides and obtain a free Passage or a convenient Receptacle distends and explicates these little Springs which lie ranged in one and the same order from this Pole to that Pole of the Magnetical Body the consequence of which distention can not be a direct Progressive Motion of the Body because then all parts of these Springs must equally resist the Impulses of the Aethereal Matter but being of a Taper form larger and stronger toward the Radix of them than toward their Summity or Cuspis forgive my Pedantry where I cannot help it the

finer and weaker parts of them suffer a readier or more forcible Expansion or Diastole than the larger and radical whereupon ensues insted of a Progressive Motion a Deflexion or Distortion of the Springs themselves and of the Continuum to which they adhere For instance If the Radix of the Spring of a Watch were fastened to a peice of Wood or Iron when the Summity or lesser Parts of that Spring were distended and display'd it would not carry the Wood or Iron at the end of it in a direct Motion to any Point just before it but it would turn and move it round within the Limits of the same Area on which it lay before the Terminating weaker Parts were expanded and this Distention may very easily be effected by the Vehemency and Agitation of the Aethereal Matter which to make a gross Comparison Acts as vigorously upon them as the Wind in a crop of Corn or among the sprigs of Trees When therefore the Poles of Magnetical Bodies are thus deflected to the Points of North and South the equal urgency of the Influx of the accessory Aethereal Matter upon all Parts of the Magnetical Body destroys the Strength of the Impression and stays its Motion at just that Instant for it must be remembred that the sides of the Magnet have not Pores fit to receive the Aethereal Matter which therefore upon impaction flows round it in a Vortical manner as shall be better explain'd hereafter So the first dificulty disappears the second follows Whether though our Agent be capacitated yet external Diversions and Disturbances may not frustrate its Influence The Cartesians I hope will not be the Men that start this Quere their Doctrine of the Loadstone labouring under the same or a worse disadvantage for if external Commotions as of the Wind c. can confound the order and irritate the Operation of our Aethereal Matter whose Motion is so certain regular strong and unintermitted what will become of their Corpuscula Striata or Pennata they being not only obnoxious to accidental Ruffles and Perturbations but continually thwarted and Transverst by this flux of our Subtile Matter But I am persuaded we are both out of danger from Storms of every kind and need not shrink at the rage of Whirlwinds and Hurricans for such is the minuteness and velocity of our Agents that they make their way thro' all Opposition like an Arrow in the Aire or a good Keel through the Waves or as the Sunbeams directly dart thro' the Atmosphere many times when 't is vext and tost with the Winds which last Similitude carries the most in it on account of the vicinity between the matter of the Sunbeams and our Subtile or Aethereal Matter And thus we are past the two Impregnable Wards of this Inchanted Labyrinth You will look perhaps that I should examine all the instances and Energies of Magnetical Bodies and should solve every particular Phaenomenon by this Hypothesis but if you do you will be deceived for I am not yet so prodigal of my Time or of my Paper which of late is very considerably risen as I suppose you have e're this experienced and therefore am of Opinion that the explication of these Five Properties following may suffice First the Magnet for now we come to particular cases if it be unrestrain'd and have its just Liberty will turn about till its North Pole directly answers the South Pole of the Earth and its South Pole the North Pole of the Earth Of which conversion I need not repeat to you the cause having already so lately and largely spoke of it Secondly If two Magnets lye at a convenient distance one from the other and their Poles be disposed for their Accession as when the North Pole of the one faces the South Pole of the other or the South Pole of the one faces the North Pole of the other they will close and if their Poles are laid just contrary wise they mutually retreat for you must know the Aethereal Matter which effects to move in a Mathematicaly Circular Line upon invading the sides of the Magnet finding few or no Pores to receive it the main course or grain of the Pores lying extended from Pole to Pole deviates from its regular Line of Motion and flowing round all parts of the Magnets Superficies falls into a kind of Vortex on all sides of the inclosed Body when therefore two Magnets are situate at such a distance off each other that the intermediate Space is too close and narrow to Transmit the influxes of so much of the Aethereal Matter as is carried round the approximated Poles of both Magnet's the Influxes unite and generate one Vortex common to them both which cannot come to pass but at the same time the deviation of the Aethereal Matter from its regulare line of Motion will encrease and consequently with it its Propensity to recover it again whereupon must ensue a stronger Impression and Protrusion than ever upon the exteriour Poles of both Magnets they being the Points of its widest deviation and to their Impression the Magnets giving way immediatly close so that the nearer they lie to one another the stronger is the Impression upon their exteriour Poles the weaker the resistance of the Interposing Matter the fuddainer their Concourse and the firmer their Unition vice versâ The requisiteness of their Dinominal Poles facing one another is plain because that Position which is natural to them separately consider'd cannot but be the most suitable for their Unition and the reason of their flying one another when their Cognomininal Poles are Approximated is this The Central Parts of the Vorticle wherein both Magnets are immers'd conform as in all Vortexes whatsoever to the Motion of the exteriour Parts and that is as we have just observ'd a Deviation or Distraction or equal Division of the Vortex it self toward either Point North or South and such by consequence must the distribution be of the Central Parts of the Vortex and therefore acting with equal strength on both sides if those of one side that is toward the Polar parts of the Magnet on one side meet with so disagreable a Texture of Parts as obliges them to retire unsuccesful and those which act on the other side or toward the Polar parts of the opposite Magnet are more mildly received as it will be when their Denominal Poles are placed over against one another this would be apt to drive away one of the Magnets from the other were not the Impression of the external Parts of the same common Vorticle more powerful than that of such Central Parts but when the Cognominal Poles of both Magnets face each other the Impression of the Central Parts of the Vortex on both sides will be equal and their mutual renitency will as easily overpower the Impression of the external Parts of the Vortex as a Man that should be to bend the Body of a young Tree though with one Hand singly he were not able to move