Lithium i believe is the answer
Get a magnet in a bag (inside out) and move the magnet all over the sand/iron and you can collect all the iron and turn the bag right side out and zip up the bag. Now you have the sand and iron separated and it will be harder to accidentally mix them later.
It is because in that time science was not established. This is, the experimentation to test hypotheses, which is a fundamental part of the scientific method, was not applied.
Atoms can not be seen, then they could only reflect or philosophize on this matter. This method is not able to give good answers to so complicated scientific matters.
