MAG'NETISM, n. That branch of science which treats of the properties of the magnet, the power of the lodestone, _c.
1. Power of attraction; as the magnetism of interest.
Animal magnetism, a sympathy supposed to exist between the magnet and the human body, by means of which the magnet is said to be able to cure diseases; or a fluid supposed to exist throughout nature, and to be the medium of influence between celestial bodies, and the earth and human bodies.
