28 Minnesota Academy of Science 



and point proudly to the extent of their progress and development in 

 a short time. And from this development they expect still greater 

 things in the future. 



The area of Sweden is 173,921 square miles; that of Norway 

 125,615 square miles. The two together are, therefore, somewhat 

 larger than the state of Texas. The population of Sweden is about 

 5,150,000, and of Norway 2,250,000. Together the two countries have 

 a population about equal to that of the city of London. There are 

 only live cities in Sweden with a population of more than 30,000: 

 Stockholm, Gbteborg, Malmo, Norrkoping and Gefle. 



Half of its population is supported by agriculture; and about 

 one-quarter own their own farms. The crops are varied, consisting 

 largely of grain, hay, sugar beets, hemp, flax, potatoes and small 

 fruits. 



The exports from Sweden amount to more than $100,000,000 

 annually, of which over half goes to Great Britain. The products 

 exported are timber, iron, butter and wood pulp. 



Forests are abundant and well cared for. South of latitude 

 64° N. one-fourth of the entire land is forested. In southern Sweden 

 and Norway, as well as in Denmark, are venerable forests of solid 

 oak and beech. Much charcoal is made for use in iron ore smelting. 



Lakes and rivers are numerous. The more important streams 

 flowing into the Baltic are the Tornea, Lulea, Pitea, Skelleftea, Win- 

 del, Umea, Angermann and Dal. Into the German ocean flow the 

 Klar and Gota. The largest body of fresh water, lake Wener, has 

 an area of about two thousand square miles. 



Much of the southern half of Sweden is lowland. Toward the 

 north the country is more elevated, and a range of mountains lies 

 on the border between Sweden and Norway. The highest mountain, 

 Kebnekaisse, in Swedish Lapland, rises to the height of only about 

 seven thousand feet. 



The climate is good. Winters are long, and the summers hot. 

 There is but little Spring and Autumn. The influence of the Gulf 

 Stream is marked; and the western coast of Norway, at the same 

 latitude as our ice-bound Bering Sea, is as mild as our climate at 

 New York or Boston. 



Nearly all of the interesting features of Sweden's geology were 

 described in the forty little monographs prepared by the Swedish 

 geologists and published in convenient form for our use at the Con- 

 gress and upon the various excursions. 



There is time this evening for only a brief abstract of a few 

 of the most important and interesting of these papers. 



For the glacial geologist there was an illustrated lecture and 

 article upon the "Quaternary Sea Bottoms of Western Sweden" and 

 an account of "Some Stationary Ice Borders of the Last Glaciation" 

 by Baron Gerard De Geer. In the first of these articles it is pointed 

 out that the land ice was possessed of but feeble power of glaciation, 

 and that instead of eroding deep gorges and valleys and planing off 

 hundreds or thousands of feet of solid rock, its direction of flow was 

 determined by the valleys coincident in strike with Tertiary rock 

 fractures and dikes; and the work of the ice was limited to the 

 sweeping out of the crushed material to the extension and depth 



