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Show Tht Firtt Compu$ j While on tbe slopes of Mount Ida, j 'in Asia Minor, more than two thousand !j years ago, shepherd found that the Iron-shod end of bis staff was clinging t to a stone. He also found many pieces of this, strange stone scattered on the ground. Tbls hard black mineral, which Is an oxide of Iron, became known as "Magnes-stone," as it was found In a district called Magnesia. It is probable prob-able that our word magnet Is derived from the name. No use was made of the mineral for many centuries. At tout, however, a Chinese found that a piece of this stone, bung on a thread, always pointed point-ed to the north and south. This crude Instrument was the father of our modern eompHs. |