[32] Page 6, line 3. Page 6, line 6. Baptista Porta.—The reference is to his celebrated Magia naturalis, the first edition of which came out in 1558 at Naples. An English edition, Natural Magick by John Baptista Porta, a Neapolitaine, was printed in London, 1658. Book seven of this volume treats "Of the wonders of the Load-stone." In the proem to this book Porta says: "I knew at Venice R. M. Paulus, the Venetian, that was busied in the same study: he was Provincial of the Order of servants, but now a most worthy Advocate, from whom I not only confess, that I gained something, but I glory in it, because of all the men I ever saw, I never saw any man more learned, or more ingenious, having obtained the whole body of learning; and is not only the Splendor and Ornament of Venice or Italy, but of the whole world." The reference is to Fra Paolo Sarpi, better known as the historian of the Council of Trent. Sarpi was himself known to Gilbert.
His relations with Gilbert are set forth in the memoir prefixt to the edition of his works, Opere di Fra Paolo Sarpi, Servita ... in Helmstat, MDCCLXI, p. 83. "Fino a questi giorni continuava il Sarpi a raccorre osservazioni sulla declinazione dell' Ago Calamitato; e poi ch' egli, atteso il variare di tal declinazione, assurdità alcuna non trovava riguardo al pensamento dell' Inglese Guglielmo Gilberto, cioè, che l'interno del nostro Globo fosse gran Calamita...." Here follows a quotation from a letter of Sarpi to Lescasserio:
"... Unde cuspidem trahi a tanta mole terrena, quæ supereminet non absurde putavit Gullielmus Gilbertus, et in eo meridiano respicere recta polum, cave putes observatorem errasse. Est Vir accuratissimus, et interfuit omnibus observationibus, quas plures olim fecimus, et aliquas in sui gratiam, et cum arcubus vertici cupreo innitentibus, et cum innatantibus aquæ, et cum brevibus, et cum longis, quibus modis omnibus et Hierapoli usus suit."
Sarpi had correspondence with Gilbert, Bacon, Grotius, and Casaubon. He also wrote on magnetism and other topics in materia di Fisica, but these writings have perisht. He appears to have been the first to recognize that fire destroyed the magnetic properties. (See Fra Paolo Sarpi, the greatest of the Venetians by the Rev. Alexander Robertson, London, 1894; see also the notice of Sarpi in Park Benjamin's Intellectual Rise in Electricity.)
[33] Page 6, line 7. Page 6, line 11.: R. M. Paulus Venetus. See preceding note.
[34] Page 6, line 21. Page 6, line 28.: Franciscus Rueus.—Francois de la Rue, author of De Gemmis Aliquot ... (Paris, 1547). Amongst other fables narrated by Rueus is that if a magnet is hung on a balance, when a piece of iron is attracted and adheres to the magnet, it adds nothing to the weight!
[35] Page 6, line 25. Page 6, line 33.: Serapio.—This account of the magnetic mountains will be found in an early pharmacology printed in 1531 (Argentorati, G. Ulricher Andlenus), with the title "In hoc volumine continetur insignium medicorum Joan. Serapionis Arabis de Simplicibus Medicinis opus præclarum et ingens, Averrois Arabis de eisdem liber eximius, Rasis filius Zachariæ de eisdem opusculum perutile." It was edited by Otho Brunsels. Achilles P. Gasser, in his Appendix to the Augsburg edition of Peregrinus, gives a reference to Serapio Mauritanus, parte 2, cap. 394, libri de medicinis compositis.
[36] Page 6, line 30. Page 6, line 39.: Olaus Magnus. See [note] to p. [5].
[37] Page 6, line 34. Page 6, line 44.: Hali Abas.—A reference is given in Gasser's (1558) edition of Peregrinus to Haliabbas Arabs, lib. 2, practicæ cap. 45, Regalis Dispositionis Medicinæ. The passage to which Gilbert refers is found in the volume Liber totius medicinæ necessaria cōtinens ... quem Haly filius Abbas ... edidit ... et a Stephano ex arabica lingua reductus. (Lugd., 1523, 4to.) Liber Primus. Practice, Cap xlv. de speciebus lapidum, § 466. "Lapis magnetes filis e vtute sadenego: & aiunt qm si teneatr in manu mitigat q sunt in pedibs ipis dolores ac spasmū."