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DE NATURA FOSSILIU Μ
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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
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