Lodestone
Magnes
- Known today as
- Magnetite, naturally magnetic iron ore.
- Kind
- Mineral, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- magnetite
- Earliest authority here
- William Gilbert (1544–1603)
- In other databases
- Wikidata search
Lodestone: what was it used for?
Worn against pains and melancholy, taken in powder, and, by Paracelsians, used to draw diseases out of the body.
Lodestone: what does modern science say?
No proven effect on health.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- magnetiteiron(II,III) oxide, naturally magnetised
- Mechanism
- A natural magnet. Worn against pain it has been tested: a 2007 meta-analysis of nine trials of static magnets for pain found no effect beyond placebo (Pittler), and the field of a wearable magnet does not reach deep tissue or move the iron in blood, which is not ferromagnetic. Taken in powder it is an insoluble iron oxide. Mesmer’s magnets of 1774 were the lodestone’s last medical office before he dropped them for his hands.
- Toxic dose
- Inert.
- Standing
- Magnet therapy is sold and does not work; pulsed electromagnetic fields in fracture healing are a different, licensed thing.
- Pittler, M. H., et al. (2007). “Static magnets for reducing pain: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials.” CMAJ 177. Verified against its record · doi:10.1503/cmaj.061344
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Lodestone: what lore surrounds it?
Thales of Miletus, about 600 BC, is the earliest recorded observer of the lodestone’s pull on iron, and explained it by supposing that the stone had a soul. Long before the compass guided ships, Chinese diviners used lodestones on divination boards to read the future and to set buildings and graves in harmony with the earth, the practice from which the navigator’s compass later grew.
Lodestone: what did the older authorities say?
- William Gilbert
- Tested the magnet’s fabled powers in De magnete (1600), dismissing many, and showed the earth itself to be a magnet.
Sources
- Gilbert, W. (1600). De magnete. Verified against its record · doi:10.5479/sil.113709.39088016899940
- National MagLab, on lodestone. Book, not indexed
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 3 cited: 2 verified against its record, 1 book, not indexed.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026
- Chicago
“Lodestone.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 25, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/lodestone.
- MLA
“Lodestone.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 25 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/lodestone. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Lodestone. (2026, September 25). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/lodestone
Club members keep entries on a shelf with private notes, print the plates as cards, and receive an entry by email each week. Create a free account before January 1, 2027 and all of it is yours for good. About the Club
See Also
Drawing on the same sources: Pittler
Nearby in the alphabet
Long pepper (The catkin-like fruit of Piper longum) · Livid pinkgill (of broadleaf woods) · Lourdes water · Liverwort, or hepatica (Hepatica nobilis (syn) · Lovage (of the carrot family) · Litharge (a byproduct of refining silver) · Lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis) · Lion’s mane (A single clump of hanging spines on hardwood trees)
Historical description, not medical advice.