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Magnes, Loadstone

Magnes, Loadstone Page of 384 Magnes, Loadstone Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
172
NATURAL HISTORY OF GEMS.
point of view is ever to be found in this stone : the only tolerable intaglio in Hematite that has come under my notice being a bust of Abundantia, in the Marlborough Cabinet. "Yet its texture is compact, takes a high polish of a steely lustre agreeable to the eye, which in spite of its comparative softness it retains unimpaired by time.
The name Sideritis was also employed to distinguish one species of the Adamas : the electric property of the one being confounded with the attractive of the other. Similarly we find the name Androdamas equally applied to both species. The Adamas (whether the Diamond or Pale Sapphire), in virtue of its superior value, was believed not merely to greatly surpass the Loadstone in attractive force, but even by its presence entirely to deprive the other of its natural powers. (' Precious Stones,' p. 102.)
The Haematites, included by Pliny under the head of " Magnes," was the reddish-brown compact iron-ore still so-called, and used in the burnishing of metals, especially for smoothing down the surface of the gold-leaf in gilding and damascening. The best kind was procured by the ancients from Zmiri, in Ethiopia ; at present Compostella supplies all the jewellers of Europe. The only use the ancients made of this mineral was, burnt and powdered, in eye-salves : its astringent quality being doubtless of some efficacy in relieving inflammation of that organ. A curious but fanciful test of the true Haematites lay in its attractive power being restricted to the common Magnet, and not acting upon any other metal.
Orpheus extols (302) the virtue of the Loadstone as con­ciliating to the wearer the love both of gods and men ;* and prescribes it as a sure test for ascertaining if a wife has been faithful to her lord during his absence, for if put
* A belief indicated by the subject, the Three Graces, rery frequently to be seen engraved upon this stone.
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