f Ice. See Ice Island.

Floating Islands. Histories are full of accounts of floating islands; but the greatest part of them are either false or exaggerated. What we generally see of this kind is no more than the concretion of the lighter and more viscous matter floating on the surface of the water in cakes; and, with the roots of the plants, forming conglomerates of different sizes, which, not being fixed to the shore in any part, are blown about by the winds, and float on the surface. These are generally found in lakes, where they are confined from being carried too far; and, in process of time, some of them acquire a very considerable size. Seneca tells us of many of these floating islands in Italy; and some later writers have described not a few of them in other places. But, however true these accounts might have been at the time when they were written, very few proofs of their authenticity are now to be found; the floating islands having either disappeared again, or been fixed to the sides in such a manner as to make a part of the shore. Pliny tells us of a great island which at one time swam about in the lake Cutilia in the country of Reatinum, which was discovered to the old Romans by a miracle; and Pomponius tells us, that in Lydia there were several islands so loose in their foundations, that every little accident shook and removed them.

Island (or Icelana) Crystal. See Crystal, Iceland; Mineralogy Index.