282 
A correspoudent has favoured us with 
the following account of the floating is- 
land which lately appeared in Derwent. 
water: —‘* It has emerged froin the bottom 
ef this Jake, tivee timcs in the course of: 
about thirty years ; er, according to other 
accounts, ic Las been in the habit of re- 
peating ifs visits af.er an interval of seven 
er nine: years. . lt began to emerge on 
the 20th of July, and, in a very short 
time, appeared above the surface... Leis 
situated at the head of Keswick lake, 
about a stone-cast from the shore. It 
contains about an acre of ground, and is 
quite stationary; at first it was of adark- 
brown colour, but soon became covered 
with verdure. By thrusting a pole im se- 
veral places to the depth of three yards, 
the water rushed up; consequently it is 
ef that thickness. and unconnected ‘with 
the bottom. ‘TLhatat is also unconnected 
with the shere is evident, as boats sailed 
entirely round it, and sounded with long 
poles without finding a bottom. «It is of 
an obiong shape, and in the middle of it 
isa large hole about emht yards long and 
two bread, evidently made by the con- 
fined rarified air. The depth of soil 
composing it, is in some apie two feet, 
and in others more: and in forcing. a 
stick through it in different places, air 
arose in Jarge bubbles; and as this con- 
&ned air eseapes, the island, I conceive, 
lessens, and at length sinks by its. own 
weight, to become again the bottom of 
the lake. Its sides adhereto the neigh- 
bouring soil with a steep descent, except 
atone corner about six yards in length, 
which appears like a bank. This bank has 
actually been the remains of the sides of 
a hole of a former isiand; for these tem- 
porary islands are found to change their 
positions at every appearance; and the 
present one is somewhat nearer the shore 
than the former oaes have been. The 
plants which form the vegetation are the 
lobelia dortmanna, the isoetes lacustris, 
the lettorella lacustris, the arundo frag- 
mites, and the scirpus lacustris. A se- 
condary island made its appearance about 
the same time, at some distance from the 
principal one, and nearer the shore, of a 
circular form, about eight yards in dia- 
meter and divided completely in two by 
a rent of about one yard wide, and three 
yards deep, reaching to a considerable 
distance on each side of thisisiand, and 
evidently being one of those numerous 
cracks which may always be discovered 
in the tbottom. of. this part of the lake, 
whiehI presume isa communication of the 
waters beneath with those above. The 
island gradually sunk during some weeks 
Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. 
_sects ; 
_ [April 1, 
till the night ef Friday the7th of October, 
when, in consequence of rain,the lake rose: 
about five feet and the island was covered 
with water. Thelake rose: above a foot 
higher on the 7th of August, than on 
the ist of October, and‘yet the island was 
larger in extent, and higher above the 
water than on the former day.” i9 
Britain has long been .considered mis- 
tress of the seas, but hitherto no person 
had thought of valuimg that part of herdo- 
mains. -A curious calculation has been 
made of the value of the British sea per 
acre ; and when itis considered that much 
more profit might be drawn frem the ocean 
around our coast, than we procure at pre- 
sent, we presume that this estimate is not 
unw orthy of attention. The circumference 
of Britain is about 1086 miles; allowing a 
tract of fifteen miles from the coast for 
the fishery, which is considerably within the 
trata, there will then be near twenty mil- 
lions of square aeres of sea, which, at the 
rate of one pound ten shillings per acre, 
woul@ amount ‘to thirty: millions: ‘per an- 
nuin. ‘The trish coast may be calculated 
in proportion. 
Few persons in this country Line any 
ether use of the aloe than the medicine. — 
which it affords ; but it serves for a num4 
ber of other beneficial purposes in the 
countries where it grows. In the East In- 
dies, aloes are employed as a varnish to 
preserve wood from worms and other in 
and skins and even living animals 
are anointed wich it for the same reason. 
‘The havoc committed by the white ants 
in India first suggested the trial of aloe 
juice, to protect wood from them; for 
which purpose the juice is:either used as 
extracted, or in solution by some solvent. 
Aloes have also been found effectual in 
preserving ships from the ravages of the 
worm, and the adhesion of barnacles: 
The ship's bottom, for this purpose, is 
smeared with a composition of hepatic 
aloes, turpentine, tallow, and white lead. 
din proof of the efficacy "of this method, 
two planks of equal thickness, and cut 
from the same tree, were placed under 
water, one in its natural. state and the 
other smeared with the composition; 
when, on taking them up after being ime 
mersed eight months, the latter was found 
to be as perfect as at first, winle the fors 
mer was entirely penetrated by. insects, 
und in a state of alsolute rottenness. “An 
aquatic. solution of hepatic valoes pre- 
serves young plants from destruction by 
insects, and also dead animals and vege- 
tables from putrefaction; which venders — 
it of great use in the cabinets of naturalists. - 
The § spirituous extract is best for the pur- 
pose, 
