72 THE LOADSTONE, OR MAGNET.

 

separate the two. A little girl, who
was with me, tried hard to pull them
apart; but they stuck together so
tight, that she was obliged to give up.
At that time, I took my pen-knife out
of my pocket, and rubbed it on the
large magnet. In a moment, my knife
was magnetized, so that needles would
cling to it. Nor is that the strangest
part of it. The knife has the same
power now that it had when I magnet-
ized it, nearly three years ago. I can
make half a dozen needles cling to it
to-day, just as easily as I could then.
The common shape of the most pow-