“Yes,” added his mother. “When you brought both ends of the magnet, one after the other, to the nail, they both attracted it.”
“And so they did the needle which hung down by the thread,” said Jonas.
“Yes,” said Rollo’s mother; “but now this needle, that is floating upon the water, is half attracted, and half repelled.”
“The reason is,” said Rollo’s father, “that the needle, that is floating upon the water, is a magnet itself, and has two magnetic poles; but the sand, and the nail and the needle that Jonas held up by the thread, were not magnets. They were only common pieces of iron and steel.”
“Why, father,” said Rollo, “that was the very same needle; you laid it away upon the corner of the table.”
“Yes,” said his father; “but it was not a magnet then.”
“When?” asked Rollo.
“Why, when Jonas held it up by the thread.”
“And is it a magnet now?”