I could have placed myself upon an iron plate, have taken a magnet of suitable size, and thrown it in the air! That way is a very good one! The magnet flies upward, the iron instantly after; the magnet no sooner overtaken than you fling it up again.... The rest is clear! You can go upward indefinitely.

Translated by Gertrude Hall, Cyrano de Bergerac (p. 151), Doubleday & McClure Co. 1898