among ancient naturalists, a stone said to attract gold, as the loadstone does iron. Pliny says it was found in that part of the Indies where the native gold lay so near the surface of the earth as to be turned up in small masses, among the earth of ant-hills; and describes it to have been of a square figure, and of the colour and brightness of gold. The description plainly points out a well-known fossil, called, by Dr Hill, *pyritubium*: this is common in the mines of most parts of the world; but neither this nor any other stone was ever supposed, in our times, to have the power of attracting gold.