144 Remarks on the Moving of Rocks by Ice* 



P. S. The soundness of my conclusion with respect 

 to these moving rocks, might easily be tried, if any one 

 living in their vicinity, would for several successive years, 

 measure their distance from some fixed object, such as a 

 tree, both before and after the freezing season. If all the 

 motion was accomplished during the freezing season, my 

 conclusion would be rendered certain. 



Art. XXIII. — Remarks on the moving of Rocks by. Ice j ma 

 letter to the Editor, from J. Wood, Esq. 



Stamford, Conn., Dec. 18, 1824. 

 Sir, 



I OBSERVED in a late number of the Quarterly Review, 

 a short time since, a criticism on Dr. Dwight's Travels in 

 New-England — and among various interesting extracts 

 from that woik, is the account of the moving rocks in 

 Salisbury pond ; which, as related by the Doctor, does 

 indeed present to the world somewhat of a mystery. The 

 reviewer, as might have been predicted, passes upon it 

 with a few gibes and jeers, but in a way which leaves the 

 reader to doubt, whether he discredits the story in toto, 

 or considers it as inexplicable. If I remember correctly, 

 the same account was published some time since in your 

 Journal of Science, as a phenomenon yet unexplained ; 

 nor do I know that any exposition of it has ever been 

 attempted. Yet, like many other apparently unaccounta- 

 ble phenomena in the natural world, it may be solved on 

 the most obvious philosophical principles. 



From the account it appears, that the rocks all approach 

 near to, or project above the surface of the water. In the 

 winter, when the surface of the water freezes, the ice 

 must attach itself strongly to the tops of the rocks, 

 wherever it comes in contact with them. Thus grappled, 

 they remain immoveable till the breaking up (as it is 

 called) of winter. As the earth contains a greater por- 

 tion of caloric than the water, the ice dissolves most 

 rapidly nearest the shores of the pond, and therefore, in 

 the gradual progress of its dissolution, becomes detached 



