Page:On the Magnet - Gilbert (1900 translation of 1600 work).djvu/179

 Let the experiment be made by means of a fine iron wire of three digits length placed over the pole A, so that its middle lies over the pole. Then one end is turned away from B toward C, and is not willing to lie quietly toward B; but on a terrella which is perfect all round and even it rests on the pole directed toward any point of the æquator you please. Otherwise, let there be two meridians meeting in the poles A B, let iron wires be reared just at the ends D and C of the equal arcs D A and C A; then the wire at D (the stronger region) will be more raised up than that at C, the weaker. And thus the sounder and stronger part of the loadstone is recognized, which otherwise would not be perceived by the touch. In a terrella which is perfect, and even, and similar in all its parts, there is, at equal distances from the pole, no variation. Variation is shown by means of a terrella, a considerable part of which, forming a surface a little higher than the rest, does, although it be not decayed and broken, allure the versorium from the true direction (the whole terrella co-operating).

A terrella uneven in surface.