On the Glaciers and Climate of Iceland. 297 



When, at a later period of the summer, I visited Husavik, 

 I was informed that at the time when we landed in Iceland 

 the snow had been lying so deep as to enable people to walk 

 over the tops of their houses without obstruction. It was 

 only in the end of June that the snow had entirely disappeared 

 from the sea-coast. 



In taking, at the conclusion of these inquiries, a brief re- 

 view of the principal points of the climatic relations of Ice- 

 land, the question appears worthy of particular considera- 

 tion, whether, during the course of the last few centuries, 

 the climate of this island has altered so much for the worse, 

 as really to endanger the economic condition of the land, 

 and the social state of its inhabitants % 



From the vegetable remains of the Surturbrand, we con- 

 clude with certainty that, during the tertiary period, the 

 climate of Iceland was milder than it is in our days. This 

 conclusion with respect to Iceland need not surprise us, since 

 at all places throughout the surface of the earth we meet 

 with indications leading to the like results, with respect to 

 those places ; a fact which is closely connected with the gra- 

 dual cooling of our planet. During the interval of time which 

 has elapsed since the tertiary period, and which must have 

 been of immense duration, although for its measurement no 

 scale is afforded to us, the diminution of temperature has. at 

 all events, been very insignificant. The formerly-mentioned 

 trees, allied to those at present growing in North America, 

 would, there can be no doubt, flourish perfectly well in a cli- 

 mate of which the mean temperature should exceed, by four 

 or five degrees centigrade, that of Reykjavik ; but if, during 

 such a vast period, the reduction of temperature amounts to 

 so little, it is clear that, for the few centuries considered in 

 the present question, it must be an inappreciably small quan- 

 tity. 



Thus, a glacial period, or a universal prevalence of ice 

 over the whole land, occurring since the time of that milder 

 climate, must be viewed as contradictory to all observations, 

 and as being entirely inadmissible. At present, finally, the 

 climate of Iceland, although it is ungenial and rainy, yet, 



