4'J6 scientific record for 1885. 



lated into Freucli and German, and notwithstanding its antiquity, it is 

 still the best source of knowledge of this country. At the close of the 

 last century the island was visited by several naturalists, among whom 

 we mention N. Mohr and Sveinn Pd^lsson, of whom the latter has left 

 some still unpublished works on the volcanoes and glaciers of Iceland. 



The geology of Iceland was not thoroughly studied until the com- 

 mencement of the nineteenth century. Among those who devoted 

 themselves to this subject we must mention G. S. Mackenzie (1810), C. 

 Krug von ISTidda (1833), and Eugene Eobert, who, in 183o-'36, was a mem- 

 ber of de Gaimard's expedition. Steenstrup, Hallgrimsson, and Schythe 

 visited Iceland in 1839-'40, during which period Steenstruij investigated 

 the fossil plants of the miocene period, which later were described by 

 Oswald Heer in his " Flora fossilis arctica." Bjoru Gunnlaugsson also 

 contributed considerably to the knowledge of the country by construct- 

 ing, during the years 1831-1843, a map of the island. In 1840, the year 

 following the last eruption of Hecla, the ishtnd was visited by three 

 celebrated scientists, R. Bunseu, Des Cloizeaux, and Sartorius v.Walters- 

 hausen, and during their sojourn they achieved considerable scientific 

 results. Th. Kjerulf visited the island in 1850 and G. G. Winkler in 

 18r)8. The geologist, F. Zirkel, who explored the island in 1860, fur- 

 nished verv valuable contributions to the knowledge of the rocks of Ice- 

 land. The " Keise nach Island," by Preyer and Zirkel, is one of the best 

 descriptions known. PaijkuU (18(37) constructed the first geological 

 map of Iceland, and F. Jonstrup, during his two visits in 1871 and 187G, 

 studied several volcanoes and suli)hur and coal beds. 



Halldor Jakobsson (1734-1810) was the first to occupy himself with 

 the history of the Icelandic volcanoes, but his work has not been of 

 much utility, on account of the frequent inaccuracies in the location of 

 volcanoes and the dates of their eruptions. G. Garlieb was engaged 

 in similar studies, but his work, too, contains many ina(;curacies. Eu- 

 gene Robert, Sabine Baring-Gould, and Zirkel have partly fallen into the 

 same mistakes as the preceding authors. The information having 

 mostly been obtained in an indirect way, it is not to be wondered at 

 that the results are faulty. The Icelandic poet and naturalist, Jonas 

 Hallgrimsson, was the first to give a true account of the history of the 

 Icelandic volcanoes, but his memoir only exists in manuscript. Many 

 Icelanders have given accounts of various volcanic eruptions during tlie 

 past century, but the greater j^artof th( se observations are still unpub- 

 lished, and are preserved in libraries or otherwise. As regards the 

 eruptions of the nineteenth century, J. G. Schythe has given an excel- 

 lent account of that of Hecla in 1845, and F. Jonstrup has described 

 the volcanoes of Dyngjrifjall, Sveinagjii, and Myvatn. 



Notwithstanding the many celebrated scientists who have visited 

 Iceland, its geology is at present but little known, but this fljids an 

 explanation in the extent of the country, in the many difficulties which 

 present themselves to the traveler, and the limited time at their com- 

 mand. 



