The Standard Electrical Dictionary

1. Magne-Crystallic Action

   The action of a supposed force of the same name, proposed by Faraday. It relates to the different action of a magnetic field upon crystalline bodies, according to the position of their axes of crystallization. A needle of tourmaline, normally paramagnetic, if poised with its axis horizontal, is diamagnetic. Bismuth illustrates the same phenomenon. The subject is obscure. Faraday thought that he saw in it the action of a specific force.