The reading circle of alt.magic.history has commenced with De Magnete

Dear alt.magic.history, alt.magick, alt.books, comp.theory, alt.fantasy,
and last but probably not the least, sci.electromagnetics,

We in the alt.magic.history have re-opened the reading circle, and
are opening with the 1600* best seller /De Magnete/, or as we call
it by the full title,

   /De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure/

written by the esteemed sorcerer /William Gilbert/ in the year of the
Lord, 1600.  For the scientific types, that's the same year as CE 1600.
And for the Roman types, that's 1699 after the birth of Julius Caesar,
assuming I got my arithmetic correct.

Now, we don't expect the members of alt.magick, alt.book, comp.theory,
alt.fantasy, and sci.electromagnetics to be up to the task of reading it
in Latin, and for the record, my Latin studies are just starting anyway,
we open with the Gutenberg edition in English, at

   https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33810

and start reading.  I quote.

   >    Clearer proofs, in the discovery of secrets, and in the
   > investigation of the hidden causes of things, being afforded by
   > trustworthy experiments and by demonstrated arguments, than by the
   > probable guesses and opinions of the ordinary professors of philo-
   > sophy: so, therefore, that the noble substance of that great magnet,
   > our common mother (the earth), hitherto quite unknown, and the
   > conspicuous and exalted powers of this our globe, may be the better
   > understood, we have proposed to begin with the common magnetick,
   > stony, and iron material, and with magnetical bodies, and with the
   > nearer parts of the earth which we can reach with our hands and
   > perceive with our senses; then to proceed with demonstrable
   > magnetick experiments; and so penetrate, for the first time, into
   > the innermost parts of the earth.

And here we stop.  People interested in the subject are expected to go
to the Gutenberg library, and check out their own copies, and read at
home, and not here on Usenet.

This is a run-on paragraph if I've ever seen one.  Good luck making
sense of it.

Anyone following up on this topic is expected to have read at least
the first chapter, titled /Ancient and modern writings on the Loadstone,
with certain matters of mention only, various opinions, & vanities/.

We here in alt.magic.history are willing to comment on any part of this
chapter that other members of the alt.magic.history reading circle have
problems understanding.  Especially since we have noticed a drop in mea-
surable reading comprehension throughout the world, but that's not a
topic for the reading circle.


Now, please read the rest of the preface, and continue with chapter one
at home.  Happy learning about the magick of the magnetic!

* Not 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, just to make that clear.  Despite the
similarity in the title of the movie /Murder at 1600/.
-- 
Johann | email: invalid -> com | http://www.myrkraverk.com/blog/
I'm not from the Internet, I just work there. | via Easynews.com
https://bsky.app/profile/myrkraverk.bsky.social | for ( ;; ) _:;