[105] PAGE 43, LINE 34. Page 43, line 33. _glis._--This word, here translated _grit_, does not appear to be classical Latin; it may mean _ooze or slime_.
[106] PAGE 45, LINE 25. Page 45, line 26. _Motus igitur ... quinque._ The five kinds of magnetic motions correspond in fact to the remaining sections of the book; as follows: _Coitio_, Book II.; _Directio_, Book III.; _Variatio_, Book IV.; _Declinatio_, Book V.; and _Revolutio_, Book VI.
[107] PAGE 46, LINE 7. Page 46, line 8. _Jofrancus Offusius._--The reference is to the treatise _De divina astrorum faculitate_ of Johannes Franciscus Offusius (Paris, 1570).
[108] PAGE 47, LINE 15. Page 47, line 18. _Græci vocant_ [Greek: êlektron], _quia ad se paleas trahit._ In this discussion of the names given to amber, Gilbert apparently conceives [Greek: êlektron] to be derived from the verb [Greek: helkein]; which is manifestly a doubtful etymology. There has been much discussion amongst philologists as to the derivation of [Greek: êlektron] or [Greek: êlektron], and its possible connection with the word [Greek: êlektôr]. This discussion has been somewhat obscured by the circumstance that the Greek authors unquestionably used [Greek: êlektron] (and the Latins their word _electrum_) in two different significations, some of them using these words to mean amber, others to mean a shining { 32} metal, apparently of having qualities between those of gold and silver, and probably some sort of alloy. Schweigger, _Ueber das Elektron der Alten_ (Greifswald, 1848), has argued that this metal was indeed no other than platinum: but his argument partakes too much of special pleading. Those who desire to follow the question of the derivation of [Greek: êlektron] may consult the following authorities: J. M. Gessner, _De Electro Veterum_ (Commentt. Soc. Reg. Scientt. Goetting., vol. iii., p. 67, 1753); Delaunay, _Mineralogie der Alten_, Part II., p. 125; Buttmann, _Mythologus_ (Appendix I., _Ueber das Elektron_), Vol. II., p. 355, in which he adopts Gilbert's derivation from [Greek: helkein]; Beckmann, _Ursprung und Bedeutung des Bernsteinnamens Elektron_ (Braunsberg, 1859); Th. Henri Martin, _Du Succin, de ses noms divers et de ses variétés suivant les anciens_ (Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, Tome VI., 1^{ re} série, 1^{ re} partie, 1860); Martinus Scheins, _De Electro Veterum Metallico_ (Inaugural dissertation, Berlin, 1871); F. A. Paley, _Gold Worship in relation to Sun Worship_ (Contemporary Review, August, 1884). See also Curtius, _Grundzüge der griechischen Etymologie_, pp. 656-659. The net result of the disputations of scholars appears to be that [Greek: êlektôr] (he who shines) is a masculine form to which there corresponds the neuter form [Greek: êlektron] (that which shines). Stephanus admits the accentuation used by Gilbert, [Greek: êlektron], to be justified from the _Timæus_ of Plato; see Note to p. 61.