What is a lodestone?.

The word lode is borrowed from an ancient word for a journey. Later, it care to mean a guide. A lodestar, such as Polaris, is a star from which a traveler can take his bearings and find hAs way home. Much later in mans history, he diucovered s, lodestone to point out the north direction for him. This stone was a natural magnet, most likely the mineral magnetite,

Magnetite, dense and dark, is an ore of iron. Certain lips are more magnetic than others. Slivers of this metal were used to, make the first magnetic compasses and were called lodestones, or guiding stones. Many metal meteorites are also magnetic, in which case they, too, may be celled lodestones.