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Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica

Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica Page of 251 Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
84
DE NATURA FOSSILIU Μ
donia in the district of Magnesia that has the same boundary as Mace­donia and lies to the right of Lake Boebe. It is found at Echius in Boeotia; at Troas near Alexander; in India near the Indus river and in certain rough rocky districts along the ocean and near Zimirus in Ethiopia, concerning which Pliny has written, following Sotacus.
Lodestone varies in color being either black, bluish black, reddish black and sometimes even dark red. It varies in density and porosity. Some is as dense as emery, some is in part as porous as though it had been eaten away and may even resemble pumice. It differs in weight since it may be heavy, light or intermediate. It varies in strength. Some will draw iron to itself with force and is called "male" while some is weak and is known as "female." The best not only draws and holds iron but also transfers its power into the iron so that it in turn is able to pick up and hold other iron they may lay near it. Thus it may draw to itself many rings and these are so held that they are all suspended from the lodestone since it will draw some iron to itself and then communicate its force to other iron which in turn passes on its force and holds still more material. In this manner we can see rings fastened to other rings as though forming a chain although one ring is not fastened into the other in the manner com­mon to chains. The force draws and holds the first ring most closely and strongly, the succeeding ones loosely and less strongly. Since this phe­nomenon produces the greatest astonishment among the common people the iron to which this stone has given its power is called "living iron" according to Pliny and Empedocles of Agrigentum writes in his philosophy that lodestone is alive. Theologians attribute the powers this mineral possesses to divine origin, scientists to natural origins, the nature of which cannot be interpreted. I have seen a round mirror nine inches in diameter and six inches high with a lodestone placed under the convex portion. It drew to itself an iron ball placed on the lowest part of the mirror so that not even the dense body of the mirror was able to break up and destroy its powers. The iron ball which would usually fall was here raised up to the amazement of those ignorant of the nature of this mineral. A similar phenomenon is not inconsistent with the truth nor is it absurd simply because it is related by a certain sacred writer. This writer states that iron, having been placed beside silver and then approached with a piece of lodestone held in the hand of a man, will move toward the stone while the silver remains quiet. It is related in Greek literature that lode­stone was placed in the panels of the ceiling of the temple of Serapis in Alexandria, Egypt, and that in this same temple there was a brass statue with a piece of iron in the head. The statue was held in such a fashion by the lodestone that it was suspended in mid-air and neither the head nor feet touched anything. Pliny writes that Dinocrates, the architect of Alexandria, began the arch in the temple of Arsinoes with lodestone so that an image of Arsinoes, made from iron, would hang in the air beneath
Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica Page of 251 Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica
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