152 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



sen has communicated a most valuable and 

 important memoir on the chemical history of 

 this formidable land, from which some interest- 

 ing extracts may be presented. The physical 

 character of this remarkable country forms an 

 important element in its chemical history. A 

 little observation of the several peculiarities 

 distinguishing it will convince us that an inti- 

 mate connexion exists between the phenomena, 

 the fame of which filled the ears of our child- 

 hood, of the boiling springs, geysers, fume- 

 roles, &c., and the active volcanoes of the 

 island. While volcanic dykes and fissures 

 abound in the crust of the earth, and volcanos 

 are continually emitting their molten contents 

 from their lofty summits, inaccessible fields of 

 snow cover the mountains, and reveal at great 

 distances the limits of the regions of glaciers, 

 which penetrate with their huge masses of ice 

 for a length of many miles, even to the lower 

 range of the plateaux. A tenth part of Ice- 

 land is covered with these glaciers ; and it 

 appears that, in consequence of their presence, 

 an excessive abundance of water is deposited 

 from the atmosphere, which, in its progress 

 downwards, appears as springs. Vast masses 

 of water break through the fissures and arches 

 of the glaciers, or rush in cascades down the 

 icy walls of the mountain slopes, not unfre- 



