* [ZB Magnet 2] William Gilbert, De Magnete (London: Petrus Short, 1600), Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Alte Drucke und Rara, XVI.28, p.150.
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The agreement of shapes like a parliament of clowns.
Cats’ whiskers, tumbrils, tendrils.
Plants are agreeable, they point towards the sun,
sunning themselves like cats.

In the back room, the weak spot spreads like a rumour.
The floor is made of earth, didn’t you know?
If you wait, and ask nicely, I can show you the way to dig
yourself out, or in, depending on climate and skin condition.

The red-eye flight of the calibrarian.
Postulate, pustule, preposterous.
Brimming with the unequal power of water,
the lake refuses to lie.

Stones disagree. They grow heavy, cold, relapse
into stony silences. They brood insects.
Hating the hand with a vengeance they shut out the sun,
seal the mouths of caves, arrive at the shape of the burial mound.

Sampurna Chattarji

But here we notice another curious fact … * [ZB Magnet 2] William Gilbert, De Magnete (London: Petrus Short, 1600), Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Alte Drucke und Rara, XVI.28, p. 133.

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Judith Albert

A magnetic globe with pointers (versoria). Versoria are needles that give evidence to the lines of magnetic force of that globe. [ZB Magnet 2] William Gilbert, De Magnete (London: Petrus Short, 1600), Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Alte Drucke und Rara, XVI.28,  p. 13.

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1591. Giambattista Porta, Magiae Naturalis Libri Viginti (Here: Johannis Berthelin: 1650), Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Alte Drucke und Rara, ZB Z 153, p. 288.

A magnet placed in a vessel moves the vessel towards north. This movement can be changed by another magnet. Drawing in the translation of Peregrinus’ letter made by Filippo Pigafetta (1533-1604), manuscript: Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, published by Sturlese*, p. 50.

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