THE LODESTONE. 19 



The lodestone or magnetite is an ore of iron 1 which 

 sometimes crops out as a rock above the surface of the 

 ground. The accidental bringing of an iron object into 

 the neighborhood of the outcropping stone probably 

 caused the first observation of the attractive power of the 

 rock for the metal, and thus furnished the basis for the 

 legend which Pliny copies from the poet Nicander (who 

 wrote it two centuries before his time), concerning the 

 Shepherd Magnes, who, while guarding his flock on the 

 slopes of Mount Ida, suddenly found the iron ferrule of his 

 staff and the nails of his shoes adhering to a stone ; which 

 subsequently became called after him, the " Magnes 

 Stone," or "Magnet." This legend, in various forms, 

 retained its vitality up to comparatively recent times. As 

 masses of magnetite were discovered in various parts of the 

 world, the stories of its attractive power became greatly 

 exaggerated, especially, as I shall hereafter show, during 

 the Middle Ages. In fact, magnetic mountains which 

 would pull the iron nails out of ships, or, later, move the 

 compass needle far astray, did not lose their place among 

 the terrors of the sea until after the seventeenth century 

 had become well advanced. 



The phenomena of the lodestone are, however, two-fold. 

 It not only attracts iron objects, but it has polarity, or, in 

 other words, exhibits opposite effects at opposite ends ; by 

 reason of which, when in elongated form and supported so 

 as freely to turn, it will place itself nearly in the line of a 

 meridian of the earth that is, nearly in a north and south 

 direction. This is its directive tendency, or, as William 

 Gilbert called it in 1600, its "verticity," and upon this 

 quality, as is well known, depends the use of the magnet- 

 ized needle in the mariner's compass. 



We may conclude that whoever gained the first knowl- 

 edge of the attractive power of the lodestone, was also 

 acquainted with iron, if he had an iron object to present 



aOs, sp. gr. 5.2, contain2 72.41 per cent, of iron. Osborn: 

 Metallurgy of Iron and Steel. 



