Excerpt from Pike's Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of Optical, Mathematical, and Philosophical Instruments, Vol. 2 of 2: Manufactured, Imported, and Sold by the Author; With the Prices Affixed at Which They Are Offered in 1856 Bar Magnets. - (fig. - These instruments are adapted for the experimental elucidation of that peculiar property conferred on bodies essentially composed of iron, whereby, under certain circumstances, they acquire the powers of polarity, attraction of unmagnetic iron, attraction and repulsion of magnetic iron, and the influence of inducing magnetism in other iron not previously magnetic. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.