The Letter of Petrus Peregrinus on the Magnet, A.D. 1269

by active 13th century de Maricourt Pierre

THE LETTER OF
PETRUS
PEREGRINUS
ON THE MAGNET, A.D. 1269

TRANSLATED BY
BROTHER ARNOLD, M.Sc.
PRINCIPAL OF LA SALLE INSTITUTE, TROY
WITH
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE
BY
BROTHER POTAMIAN, D.Sc.
PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS IN MANHATTAN
COLLEGE, NEW YORK

NEW YORK
McGRAW PUBLISHING COMPANY
MCMIV

Copyright, 1904, by
McGraw Publishing Company

INTRODUCTORY

The magnetic lore of classic antiquity was scanty indeed, being limited to the attraction which the lodestone manifests for iron. Lucretius (99-55 B. C.), however, in his poetical dissertation on the magnet, contained in De Rerum Natura, Book VI.[1] recognizes magnetic repulsion, magnetic induction, and to some extent the magnetic field with its lines of force, for in verse 1040 he writes:

Oft from the magnet, too, the steel recedes,

Repelled by turns and re-attracted close.

And in verse 1085:

Its viewless, potent virtues men surprise;