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  1. Discover
  2. Paper: 'Treasure of Knowledge'
  3. Unit: Observation and Experimentation

Lodestone and iron nails

External links

The Lodestone in 'Pseudodoxia Epidemica'

Related sources

Image for Page 1
Image for p. 8

Commentary

Lodestone and iron nails
Collection: 
Science School, Winchester College

A lodestone is a naturally magnetised mineral. Its attraction to iron keeps the pins in place. The properties of the lodestone have been discussed and hypothesised since antiquity. In one of Browne’s experiments, he discovered that ‘if a Needle untoucht be hanged above a Loadstone, it will convert into a parallel position thereto’.