As some accounts have it, the stones were first noticed in around 2500 BCE by a shepherd in Magnesia, in what is modern-day Turkey. He observed that they clung to the nails in his shoes.The stones were made of naturally magnetic iron ore. They were probably already familiar to the Chinese, who used lodestones — a form of magnetite — to first tell fortunes and later make navigational compasses. It would take until the 20th century for scientists to uncover a second type of magnetism. Astonishingly, researchers announced last week that they had confirmed discovery of a third.
根據一些記載,公元前2500年左右,一位牧羊人在位於今天土耳其的Magnesia第一次注意到這些石頭。他發現這些石頭粘在了他鞋釘上。