The Floating Island in Derwentwater

Abstract

IN this little volume, Mr. Symons calls attention to some very interesting problems connected with a curious phenomenon that can frequently be studied in our own well-known Lake District. It may at first sight seem strange that the peculiarities of this remarkable freak of Nature—for such it really seems to be—are not more widely known, or that systematic and persevering investigations, carried on by competent observers, have not long since removed all the difficulties which still stand in the way of a complete explanation of the causes to which the peculiar appearances are due. But it may at all events be hoped that—now Mr. Symons has so patiently collected and sifted the results that have been already arrived at by various investigators, and added the by no means unimportant facts he has himself observed—the reproach to British science of an imperfectly investigated and unexplained “mystery” at our very doors may at no distant date be removed.

The Floating Island in Derwentwater: its History and Mystery.

With Notes of other Dissimilar Islands.By G. J. Symons., Secretary Royal Meteorological Society. (London: E. Stanford, and Simpkin Marshall, and Co., 1889.)