Those substances which are attracted, or rather which tend, like iron, to move from weaker to stronger parts of the magnetic field, are termed paramagnetic; those which are repelled, or tend to move from stronger to weaker parts of the field, are termed diamagnetic. Between the ferromagnetics and the paramagnetics there is an enormous gap. The maximum magnetic susceptibility of iron is half a million times greater than that of liquid oxygen, one of the strongest paramagnetic substances known.
Manganese, though belonging (with chromium) to the iron group of metals, is commonly classed as a paramagnetic, its susceptibility being very small in comparison with that of the recognized ferromagnetics; but it is remarkable that its atomic susceptibility in solutions of its salts is even greater than that of iron.
The theory now most in favour is merely a development of Ampere's hypothesis, and applies not only to ferromagnetics, but to paramagnetics as well.
