216
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[2 S. NO 11., MAR. 15. '56.
heat from below. This disposed him to think, and
argue, that the mud then lost so much heat, by
radiation, as to freeze the immediately super-
jacent water. HENKY WALTER.
This word is probably derived from the same root as the Aberdeen word stock- storm, "snow con- tinuing to lie on the ground," storm being used in that district in the restricted sense of snow. Jaiujeson derives it from the Icelandic staka- stormur idem. 1 In the Penny Cyclopedia, I be- lieve (though I have in vain sought for it under the articles "Ice-freezing," &c.), is a philosophical explanation of bottom- freezing, which we, in Nor- folk, call a stock-frost. Nevertheless I do not believe in its occurrence, being satisfied that the appearance, which has deceived the watermen to believe in " stock frosts," results from eddies in the water drawing down pieces of ice, &c., which afterwards reappear with weeds or mud sticking to them. At least this has been the case in the only two instances in which I have been summoned to see it ; for I have for some time been in the habit of offering small pecuniary rewards for in- formation of the occurrence of these and similar phenomena believed in by rustics, as well as cases of parhelia, here called " sundogs," aurorae, un- usual refraction, mistletoe growing on ash or oak, &c. E. G. R.
This term corresponds with that of ice-meers in the Thames, and ground-gru in Lincolnshire, under which latter word there is an article in the Penny Cyclop. It is known to the Germans as grund-eis, and to French &sglace-du-fond. Science has not yet advanced so far as to explain the phenomenon, al- though Arago has offered a theory of its formation. It does not appear to have attracted philosophic attention prior to 1730, but has since been noticed by many scientific men in England, France, and Germany. Whilst on this subject, I will ask for any theory to account for the fact of my pond never having been known to freeze in the severest and longest frosts. It is supplied by a spring ; the sur- face is always kept nearly at the same height, and its depth varies from six feet in the middle to half a foot at the edge ; the supply water runs slowly off at the surface, and the temperature is 45 F. ; it contains weeds and fish. No subaqueous ice has been discovered in it, which indeed is only found at, the bottom of running streams. The crystals of this ice are aggregated in a different way from those of surface ice. T. J. BUCKTON.
Lichfreld.
However apparently irreconcileable with science and reason, it is nevertheless true, that ice is sometimes formed at the bottom when the uppei part of water remains unfrozen, This happens
occasionally in the river Wensurn, which runs
hrough the city of Norwich, from which J. B.
writes. The wheels of water-mills are found
logged and impeded by ice at the bottom, while
the water above is free. I have observed this
urious fact only in very severe frosts, and then
only in those parts of rivers which were exposed
to very cold winds, lasting for several days. The
water became thoroughly chilled, but it froze only
below, where the water was still ; the surface did
not freeze, because the wind kept it constantly
ruffled and agitated. During the past winter this
stock-frost was found very extensively in a reser-
voir at Kilmarnock, to the great surprise of the
gude'folk of the town. If it be objected that ice,
from its less specific gravity, ought to rise and
float, it must be considered that it attaches itself
to the weeds and stones in the bed of the river,
and is thus too firmly fixed to rise. But it is
often hauled up by' boatmen in pieces attached to
srass and weeds from the bottom of the water.
J. W. Cossey Gardens, near Norwich.
TITULAR BISHOP OF ORKNEY.
(1 st S. xii. 357.; 2 nd S. i. 76.)
I have been led to feel an interest in the sub- ject of the Titular Bishop of Orkney, as perhaps throwing some light on the early history of the country, which is involved in obscurity.
Orkney would appear to have received Chris- tianity from St. Servanus, and St. Columba and his disciples, in the fifth and sixth centuries. By what race it was inhabited at that time is not very certain, likely Pictish ; but with the Christianity then introduced is connected the Papae or Irish priests mentioned in the deed of diploma of the genealogy of the Earls of Orkney by Thomas Tulloch, Bishop of Orkney, to the King of Norway in 1043, and in the geographical work, De Mensura Orbes Terra, of Dicuil, an Irish priest of the beginning of the ninth century. Towards the end of that century Orkney was in- vaded by the Pagan Norwegians under King Harold llarfager, and the Christian inhabitants of Orkney are said to have been exterminated or expelled by the heathen Norsemen. Christianity was a second time introduced by Olaf Trygveson, King of Norway, in 998, while Sigurd the Gross was Earl of Orkney. This Earl Sigurd was killed at the battle of Clontarf, near Dublin, in 1014, and is celebrated in a wild Norse song, on which Gray's Ode of the "Fatal Sisters" is founded.
His youngest son Thorfin was Earl of Orkney between 1028 and 1064. Thorfin's mother was daughter of Malcolm 1J., King of Scotland, and
