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

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

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: The poet Claudian (365-408 A. D.) wrote a short idyll on the attractive virtue of the lodestone and its symbolism; St. Augustine (354-430), in his work De Civitate Dei, records the fact that a lodestone, held under a silver plate, draws after it a scrap of iron lying on the plate. Abbot Neckam, the Augustinian (1157-1217), distinguishes between the properties of the two ends of the lodestone, and gives in his De Utensilibus, what is perhaps the earliest reference to the mariners compass that we have. Albertus Magnus, the Dominican (1193-1280), in his treatise, De Mineralibus, enumerates different kinds of natural magnets and states some of the properties commonly attributed to them; the minstrel, Guyot de Provins, in a famous satirical poem, written about 1208, refers to the directive quality ix of the lodestone and its use in navigation, as do also Cardinal de Vitry in his Historia Orientalis (1215-1220); Brunetto Latini, poet, orator and philosopher, in his Trsor des Sciences, a veritable library, written in Paris in 1260; Raymond Lully, the Enlightened Doctor, in his treatise, De Contemplatione, begun in 1272, and Guido Guinicelli, the poet-priest of Bologna, who died in 1276. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 50524
Author: Pierre, de Maricourt
Release Date: Nov 21, 2015
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Translator: Arnold, Brother, 1868-