that particle. This magnetic force may arise partly from external causes, and partly from the temporary magnetization of neighbouring particles.
A body thus magnetized in virtue of the action of magnetic force, is said to be magnetized by induction, and the magnetization is said to be induced by the magnetizing force.
The magnetization induced by a given magnetizing force differs in different substances. It is greatest in the purest and softest iron, in which the ratio of the magnetization to the magnetic force may reach the value 32, or even 45 [1].
Other substances, such as the metals nickel and cobalt, are capable of an inferior degree of magnetization, and all substances when subjected to a sufficiently strong magnetic force, are found to give indications of polarity.
When the magnetization is in the same direction as the magnetic force, as in iron, nickel, cobalt, &c., the substance is called Paramagnetic, Ferromagnetic, or more simply Magnetic. When the induced magnetization is in the direction opposite to the magnetic force, as in bismuth, &c., the substance is said to be Diamagnetic.
In all these substances the ratio of the magnetization to the magnetic force which produces it is exceedingly small, being only about -1/400000 in the case of bismuth, which is the most highly diamagnetic substance known.
In crystallized, strained, and organized substances the direction of the magnetization does not always coincide with that of the magnetic force which produces it. The relation between the components of magnetization, referred to axes fixed in the body, and those of the magnetic force, may be expressed by a system of three linear equations. Of the nine coefficients involved in these equations we shall shew that only six are independent. The phenomena of bodies of this kind are classed under the name of Magnecrystallic phenomena.
When placed in a field of magnetic force, crystals tend to set themselves so that the axis of greatest paramagnetic, or of least diamagnetic, induction is parallel to the lines of magnetic force. See Art. 435.
In soft iron, the direction of the magnetization coincides with that of the magnetic force at the point, and for small values of the magnetic force the magnetization is nearly proportional to it.
- ↑ * Thatén, Nova cta, Reg. Soc. Sc., Upsal., 1863.
