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LO'DE-STONE

, [from the verb to lead, and stone.]

A magnet, an ore of iron; a stone found in iron mines, of a dark or black lead color, and of considerable hardness and weight. It attracts iron filings, and communicates to iron the same property of attraction. But its peculiar value consists in its communicating to a needle the property of taking a direction to the north and south, a property of inestimable utility in navigation and surveying.

A name given by Cornish miners to a species of stones, called also tin-stones; a compound of stones and sand, of different kinds and colors.