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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
174
NATURAL HISTORY OF GEMS.
proportion of iron naturally existing in the unpurified in­gredients used in the manufacture, the remarkably deep blue and green characterising Roman glass to such a degree as to serve for a means of immediately distinguishing it from the production of later times (when fragments of the various periods are discovered fumbled together in the ruins of long-inhabited sites), may be due to the quantity of the combined oxides of that metal thus purposely introduced.
. It is, however, likely enough that Pliny here is alluding to the then recent discovery of colourless crystal-glass, and, confusing the Loadstone with a totally distinct mineral bearing the same designation of its locality, Magnes, may in reality mean the oxide of Manganese, which from its pro­perty of purifying the pot-metal bears the popular name of glass soap. The word Manganese comes from the old che­mical appellation given to this mineral from such a use, Maganesia Vitrariorum, itself evidently a form of Magnes. This mineral was used by the Etruscans for making the black varnish covering their vases.
CLAUDIAN. In. V.
" A stone there is which people Magnet style, Dull, dark in colour, of appearance vile : Unlike to such as deck the comb'd-back hair Of princes, or the neck of maiden fair ; Or such as on the golden buckles shine, Which by their clasp tho imperial belt confine. Yet such its wondrous force, it far outweighs All beauteous ornaments, all jewels' blaze, Or all those treasures which on Eastern shores The Indian 'midst groves of coral red explores. From steel it draws its force—from steel it lives ; 'Tis this its food, 'tis this its banquet gives, And hence renews its strength ; pour'd through its veins, The rugged aliment its life maintains.*
* The Italians still keep the loadstone immersed in iron filings, "per mantenerne la forza."
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