Page:On the Magnet - Gilbert (1900 translation of 1600 work).djvu/213

 south toward the Zenith. In the same way also a circular disc of iron behaves, which has been carefully touched at opposite parts on its circumference; but the magnetical experiments are less clear on account of the feebler forces in round pieces of iron.

Variety in the declinations of iron spikes at various latitudes of a terrella.



The declination of a magnetick needle above a terrella is shown by means of several equal iron wires, of the length of a barleycorn, arranged along a meridian. The wires on the æquator are directed by the virtue of the stone toward the poles, and lie down upon its body along the plane of its horizon. The nearer they are brought to the poles, the more they are raised up by their versatory nature. At the poles themselves they point perpendicularly toward the very centre. But iron spikes, if they are of more than a due length, are not raised straight up except on a vigorous stone.