De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure was an early science treatise, written (in Latin) by the English physician and natural philsopher William Gilbert. The book gave details of a great many observtions and experiments, and was illustrated. It dismissed some long-standing alternative conceptions about magnets, and explored the notion that the earth could itself be a magnet (an idea that was explored with models representing the earth).
The book was first published in 1600. It has been tanslated under the title 'On the Magnet, Magnetic bodies, and the great magnet the Earth, with many both argument and experimental proofs'. Although Gilbert was not correct in everythng he wrote, the book offers a great example of a systematic approach to a topic, based on emprical investigations rather than just 'authorities': and so can be seen as symptomatic of a modern scientific approach.
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