148. An adamant was, originally, a diamond; then the name was transferred
to the loadstone; lastly, the diamond was credited with the properties of
the loadstone. Hence we find, at the end of ch. 14 of Mandeville's Travels,
this remarkable experiment:--'Men taken the Ademand, that is the
Schipmannes Ston, that drawethe the Nedle to him, and men leyn the Dyamand
upon the Ademand, and leyn the Nedle before the Ademand; and yif the
Dyamand be good and vertuous, the Ademand drawethe not the Nedle to him,
whils the Dyamand is there present.' Cf. A. Neckam, De Naturis Rerum, lib.
ii. c. 98, where the story is told of an iron statue of Mahomet, which,
being surrounded by adamants (_lapides adamantini_), hangs suspended in the
air. The modern simile is that of a donkey between two bundles of hay. For
_adamaunt_, see Rom. of the Rose, 1182 (p. 142).