On the Magnet/III-16
CHAP. XVI.
If the Southern Portion of a Stone be lessened,
something is also taken away from the power
of the Northern Portion.
ow although the southern end of a magnetick iron is attracted by a northern end, and repelled by a southern, yet the southern portion of a stone does not diminish, but increases the potency of the boreal part. Wherefore if a stone be cut in two and divided through the arctick circle, or through the tropick of Cancer or the æquator, the southern portion does not attract magnetick substances so strongly with its pole as before; because a new whole arises, and the æquator is removed from its old position and moves forward on account of that cutting of the stone. In the former condition, since the opposite portion of the stone increases the mass beyond the plane of the æquator, it strengthens also the verticity, and the potency, and the motion to unity.