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On the Glaciers and Climate of Iceland. By W. Sartorius 

 VON Waltersiiausen. 



The climate of Iceland, although, on the whole, it is deter- 

 mined by the geographical situation of the island, is certainly 

 also influenced by the peculiar disposition of the neighbour- 

 ing seas, and of the currents prevailing in them ; perhaps, too, 

 by the conformation of the hills. 



If we look back into the immense periods of past time, 

 which are indicated by the geological monuments of the his- 

 tory of our earth, we cannot fail to perceive that the forma- 

 tion of Iceland has taken place in comparatively modern 

 times. 



Deposits of volcanic tuffa, partly of submarine origin, form 

 here extensive hills, in which the brown coal or Surturbrand 

 constitutes no unimportant part. Olafsen, in his Travels in 

 Iceland, so early as the middle of last century, directed atten- 

 tion* to the fact, that, in some beds of the Icelandic Surtur- 

 brand, well preserved impressions of leaves of oaks, willows, 

 and birches, are to be found. 



Steenstrup, who, in the Commission of the Danish Govern- 

 ment in the years 1838 and 1839, examined Iceland anew, 

 especially with regard to the occurrence of the Surturbrand, 

 and the possibility of turning it to a useful account, has added 

 considerably to the observations of Olafsen, having pointed 

 out the occurrence, among the beds of tuffa of Hredavatan 

 and Laugarwasdlr, of the impressions of leaves and seeds of 

 ten different kinds of trees belonging to an extinct Flora, 

 which may be pronounced to be analogous to that at present 

 existing in Canada.! The leaves of birches, willows, elms, 



* Reise durch Island, vol. i., § 678. Olafsen mentions the hills at Lak, in 

 the Bardestrands-Syssel, as being the place where the fossil leaves are princi- 

 pally found. It is doubtful whether this traveller, who has, in other respects, 

 done so much for the geography of Iceland, has rightly comprehended the bo- 

 tanical character of the oak leaves. lie mentions also a leaf as large as the 

 palm of the hand, not unlike the oak leaf. 



t We have long expected in vain the work of Steenstrup on the Icelandic 

 VOL XLV. NO. LXXXIX. — JULY 1848. I 



