On moving Stones, in Lakes, Ponds, $c. 303 



Art. X. — On moving Stones, in Lakes, Ponds, <^c. j by 

 Nathaniel Chipman. 



to the editor. 



Sir — Having been lately favored by a friend, with the pe- 

 rusal of the American Journal of Science and Arts, I obser- 

 ved, in the 5th volume an anonymous communication, giving 

 an account of a stone or stones in a pond in Salisbury, Con- 

 necticut, which appeared to be moving from time to time, 

 from some unknown cause, in a direction to the shore. 



In the 9th volume, Mr. Charles Lee, who acknowledges 

 himself to be the author of the first communication, has as- 

 signed the true cause, which he discovered to be the floating- 

 ice of the pond, on its being broken up ; and he has verified 

 his opinion not by witnessing the actual operation, but by ob- 

 servation of the effects, which must necessarily have accom- 

 panied it. 



As I have been so fortunate as to see the operation per- 

 formed, I will give a brief statement of the facts and circum- 

 stances, which may serve to convince those, if any there be, 

 who still doubt. 



There is in Tinmouth, adjoining the farm on which I now 

 live, and partly encompassed by it on the north, a pond, a 

 little less than a mile in length from north to south, and about 

 half a mile broad in the widest part. I became acquainted 

 with it in the year 1775, when my father owned the farm and 

 resided on it. I then observed several stones of different 

 sizes ; some might be called rocks, lying in the edge of the 

 water, particularly on the west shore towards the north end 

 of the pond, which evidently appeared to have been forced 

 forward in a line inclining to the shore, by some powerful 

 cause, leaving behind them channels of considerable length, 

 and the largest having the longest channels. Many conjec- 

 tures were at that time made respecting the cause, none of 

 which appeared to me satisfactory. I repeatedly observed 

 these stones afterwards, and found that they had, from year 

 to year, from the appearances, been forced forward in the 

 same direction. In the year 1782, I came into possession of 

 the farm. I had observed, that as the warm weather advan- 

 ced in the spring, the ice at the north part of the pond, where 

 it was exposed to the influence of the sun and southerly winds, 

 disappeared to a considerable distance, before it was disen- 



