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[26] Whalley, in translating this chapter, makes the following remark on this mention of the magnet: “However much later it was that the loadstone became known in Europe, what is mentioned of it in this chapter makes it evident that it was known in Ægypt, where Ptolemy lived, in his time.”—That worthy translator forgot (if indeed he ever knew) that the loadstone’s property of attracting iron was known to Thales, and commented on by Plato and Aristotle, all of whom lived some centuries, more or less, before Ptolemy.