60 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 91. 



A few dirty smacks of fifty or sixty tons, from the 

 Thames aud another place or two, resort there to 

 fish, but they do not go into port. There is no 

 further mode of reaching that interesting and re- 

 markable island, except per yacht, or by one of 

 the steam- excursions which are occasionally ad- 

 vertised in The Times. The Danish steamers 

 mentioned in Murray's Guide-hook have discon- 

 tinued running. 



Murray gives but little respecting Iceland, but 

 that little is good. The best book on it that I 

 have met with is, An Historical and Descriptive 

 Account of Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe 

 Islands, with Illustrations of their Natural History, 

 by James Nicol : Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 

 1844. It embodies the substance of all thebest 

 information in small space. The last published 

 English visit to Iceland seems to be that of Barrow 

 in IsSo; but a much more recent account has 

 been published in German by that enterprising 

 lady Ida PfeifFer, of a voyage she made there. 

 An interesting statement of the diseases and 

 sanatory condition of Iceland is found in the 

 British and Foreign Medico- Chii-urgical Review 

 for 1850, vol v., being a notice of a work entitled, 

 Island undersiigt fra "latgevidenshaheligt Si/nspunct, 

 by Dr. Schleisner, Fellow of the lloyal Medical 

 Society of Copenhagen, who went to Iceland pur- 

 posely to examine into its medical condition. 



Of works on Norway, Murray's Hand-book is 

 the best, and contains a list of books on Scandi- 

 navia published up to 1848. Besides these, there 

 are the following : — 



1. Scandinavian Sketches; or, a Tour in Norway. 

 By Lieutenant Breton, R.N. 



"2. Wittich's Visit to the Western Coast of Nor- 

 ivay : London, 1848. Contains accurate physical 

 descriptions of the country. 



3. Forester's Norway in 1848 and 1849: London, 

 1850. Conveys to the mind an excellent and very 

 complete picture of Norwegian scenery, travelling, 

 manners and customs, &c., and gives much va- 

 luable information. The plates are very truthful 

 and characteristic. 



4. Ross's Yacht Voyage to Norway is not worth 

 much ; and 



5. Jones's Anglci's Guide to Norway is worth 

 less. 



6. Barrow's Visit to Iceland by way of Trond- 

 hjem in 1834 contains much about some parts of 

 Norway. 



Written in Norwegian, and published in Chris- 

 tiania, is a fine work entitled, Norge Fremstillet i 

 Tegninger, 1848. The " Tegninger " are litho- 

 graphs, eighty-two in number, and well executed; 

 and the descriptions are highly interesting. There 

 is also now publishing a series of coloured plates 

 of the Norwegian costumes, denominated Norske 

 Nationaldragter tegnede efter Naturen afforskjellige 

 Norske kunstnere, og ledsagede med en oplysende 



Text: Christiania, 1850. The plates are highly 

 coloured, and the letter-press is in Norsk, German, 

 and English. Mr. Schirmer of Christiania is also 

 publishing a series of magnificent architectural 

 drawings of the old cathedrals of Norway. There 

 are several excellent maps of Norway, of which 

 Munch's is the best ; but the only geological map 

 is a very large and complicated one in many 

 sheets, I think by Professor Keilhau. On the 

 botany of Norway there are, Hartmann, Handbok i 

 Skandinaviens Flora: Stockholm, 1843; and Lund, 

 Haandbog i Christianiasphanei'Ogame Flora: Chris- 

 tiania, 1846. Tlie Danish pharmacopoeia is still 

 employed by the Norwegian apothecaries. On the 

 dreadful disease found in the Bergen-Stift, called 

 Elephantiasis Grcecorum, or Spedalskhed, Doctors 

 Danielssen and Boeck have put forth a work 

 in French and Norwegian, embodying an immense 

 deal of research and information, accompanied 

 with an Atlas of twenty-four coloured plates. 

 They consider this disease to be identical with the 

 leprosy of Scripture. Their book was published 

 in 1847; and contains references to every known 

 account of the disease up to that date, in a biblio- 

 graphical list of great length. An article upon it, 

 comprehending a short but complete account of 

 the disease, may be found in the British and 

 Foreign Med. Chir. Review for 1850, vol. v. 



Of Norwegian national songs aud music, there 

 are, besides Lindeman's Norske Field-Melodier, 

 the following publications : — 



1. Folhe "Sange og Melodier, Fadrelandske og 

 F?-e7nmelse, tidsaltefor Pianoforte, 1844. 



2. Sangsamling for Norske Sehkabskredse : ud- 

 given'afdet Nor.^ke Studenter-samfund: Christiania, 

 1839. The students of the Christiania University 

 have much taste for music, and are very fond of 

 singing in jiarts and choruses. 



3. Scandinaviske Folkesange udsalte for Piano- 

 forte af Niels W. Gade. 



4. Norske Viser og Stev i Folkesprogef. Anden 

 C/fZg-ai-e; Clmstiania, 1848. This contains forty- 

 three national ballads, mostly in provincial dialects, 

 and consequently very difficult to translate ; but, 

 in many respects, extremely curious, referring to 

 the manners, customs, and superstitions of the 

 peasantry. The new edition is edited by P. A. 

 jMunch, Professor of History in the University of 

 Christiania. The notes of some national airs are 

 added at the end. 



Professor Munch also published in 1850, Sym- 

 bolce ad Historiam Antiquiorem Rerum Norvegi- 

 cai-itm. I. Breve Chronicon Norvegiw. II. Ge- 

 nealogia Comitum Orcadensium. III. Catalogus 

 Regum Norvegice. E. Codice quoad magnam partem 

 hactenus inedito, et in orcadihus, ut videtur, medio 

 sceculo XV'" conscripto. Appended to it is the 

 following curious genealogy : — 



