"poles" as north and south pole, although he used these names in
the opposite sense from that in which we now use them, his south
pole being the extremity which pointed towards the north, and
vice versa. He was also first to make use of the terms "electric
force," "electric emanations," and "electric attractions."

It is hardly necessary to say that some of the views taken by
Gilbert, many of his theories, and the accuracy of some of his
experiments have in recent times been found to be erroneous. As a
pioneer in an unexplored field of science, however, his work is
remarkably accurate. "On the whole," says Dr. John Robinson,
"this performance contains more real information than any writing
of the age in which he lived, and is scarcely exceeded by any
that has appeared since."[4]

In the preface to his work Gilbert says: "Since in the discovery
of secret things, and in the investigation of hidden causes,
stronger reasons are obtained from sure experiments and
demonstrated arguments than from probable conjectures and the
opinions of philosophical speculators of the common sort,
therefore, to the end of that noble substance of that great
loadstone, our common mother (the earth), still quite unknown,
and also that the forces extraordinary and exalted of this globe
may the better be understood, we have decided, first, to begin
with the common stony and ferruginous matter, and magnetic
bodies, and the part of the earth that we may handle and may
perceive with senses, and then to proceed with plain magnetic
experiments, and to penetrate to the inner parts of the
earth."[5]