Feb. 12, 1880] 



NA TURE 



345 



welcomed by geographers and geologists all over the 

 world. The work is written in the Danish language, but 

 ■\ resume in French, by M. F. Johnstrup, enables readers 

 unacquainted with the former language to become pos- 

 sessed of the interesting facts contained in the volume. 

 The work contains four memoirs of great interest : an 

 account of the expedition upon the inland ice, made by 

 Lieut. Jensen in 1S78 ; a record of the astronomical and 

 meteorological observations made during this journey ; 

 notes on the geology of the west coast of Greenland, by 

 M. Kornerup ; and remarks upon the plants collected by 

 the last-named explorer, by M. Lange. 



In the year 1870 Prof. Nordenskjold, setting out from 

 the vicinity of Disco Bay in company with Dr. Berggren, 

 was able to penetrate to a distance of thirty miles into the 

 interior, at which point the continental ice was found to 

 attain a height of 2,200 feet. Starting from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Frederikshaab, in South Greenland, Lieut. 

 Jensen traversed a distance of forty-six miles over the 

 continental ice. Here he found, as did Dalager, who 

 made a similar attempt from the same point in 175 1, that 

 a number of islands of rock (Nunatakker) rise above the 

 general level of the great sea of ice, and upon these rocky 

 islets no less than fifty-four species of plants were 

 collected. 



The observations of most general interest, however, 

 which were made by this expedition, were those which 

 relate to the condition and movements of the great sheet 

 of ice that covers the interior of the island. We cannot 

 do better than give the resume of these observations, 

 which is furnished by M. Johnstrop ; it is as follows : — 



1. At a distance of 75 to 76 kilometres from the shore, 

 the continental ice attains a height of 1,570 metres (5,115 

 feet), and must be of considerable thickness, since its 

 inclination to the east from the Isblink of Frederikshaab 

 averages only 49'. 



2. On that part of the continental ice which has been 

 explored even at a great distance from the shore, are 

 found many " Nunatakker," which influence to a great 

 extent the movement of the ice, in some cases actually 

 bringing about a reversal of the direction. 



3. The surfaces of dislocation resulting from the move- 

 ment of the ice are almost vertical in the midst of the 

 continental ice, but they incline at the edge and near the 

 "Nunatakker,*' where the slope of the ground is great, 

 and the upper parts of the ice, in consequence, move 

 more rapidly. 



4. The crevasses are partly perpendicular, partly 

 parallel to the direction of the movements, following 

 the nature of the inequalities of the rocky bed, and in 

 places where the ice takes a fan-like disposition, both 

 radial and tangential crevasses are observed. 



5. Around the "Nunatakker" and the rocks near the 

 shore, the surface of the continental ice is impregnated 

 with fine rocky ih'bris (sand and clay) which are brought 

 there by tempests, and which brooks carry from a dis- 

 tance to the cavities of the continental ice. The masses 

 of clay thus collected give rise to the pyramids of ice 

 which near the Isblink of Frederikshaab, attain an 

 elevation of nearly 60 feet. 



6. Moraines of different form are found on the conti- 

 nental ice, especially near the "Nunatakker," and they 

 must be referred to the classes of ground " moraines and 



terminal " moraines. They frequently form curved or 

 semi-circular lines, and inclose well-rounded masses of 

 stone of no great magnitude, which in their advance fall 

 into the crevasses. 



Next in interest and importance to the inve-tigations 

 upon the continental ice of Greenland, we must regard 

 the new facts on the geology of the few portions of the 

 country uncovered by the great ice mantle, with which 

 this work furnishes us. A geological map of the West 

 Coast of Greenland from Godthaab to Tingingnertok 

 shows the rocks exposed along the coast and in the islets 

 which rise above the great ice-sheet to be mo-tlv com- 

 posed of gneiss with some mica-, talc-, and hornblende- 

 schists, and occasional patches of granite. 



New proofs of the gradual elevation going on in past 

 times on the West Coast of Greenland are furnished in 

 the work before us. Five sets of raised-beaches are de- 

 scribed occurring at heights of 28, 57, 94, 192, and 326 

 feet above the sea-level respectively. On the other hand 

 there is clear evidence that the land is, at the present 

 time, slowly subsiding, the extent of this movement being 

 shown to have been at Lichtenfels from 6 to 8 ieet since 

 the year 1789. 



The work we have been noticing is illustrated with 

 several valuable maps and plates, to ether with numerous 

 woodcuts ; and the succeeding parts will be looked for- 

 ward to with much interest by those who desire to know 

 more concerning that veritable terra incognita, the 

 interior of Greenland. 



OUh BOOK SHELF 



A History of the Tin Trade. By P. W. Flower. (Lon- 

 don : George Bell and Sons, 1SS0.) 



The author, who is well known as one of the largest 

 manufacturers of tin plates, and also as having introduced 

 into this country the French method of decorating tin 

 plates by lithographic printing, has in this volume col- 

 lected numerous interesting facts in connection with the 

 early history of the manufacture in South Wales, and, 

 what is of more value, has reprinted those part-) of the 

 scarce work of Andrew Yarranton, " Lngland's Greatness," 

 1677, that refer to his journey into Saxony for the pur- 

 pose of learning the method of tinning sheet-iron. With 

 these are associated extracts from other not very well 

 known works, translations of the accounts of tin-plate 

 making published at various times in the lasi century by 

 Reaumur, Diderot (in the " Encyclopedic") and jars, 

 and those of Parkes, 1818, and Ebenezer Rogers, 1857, 

 the latter from the Transactions of the South Waies Insti- 

 tute of Engineers. No notice, however, is taken of the 

 later and more complete account published in Percy's 

 " Iron and Steel." An introductory chapter on the metal- 

 lurgy of tin, and a subsequent one on the modern manufac- 

 ture of tin plate, are exceedingly feeble. The former is 

 derived from such sources of information as Dodd's 

 "Manufactures in Metal" and the " Beauties of England 

 and Wales,'' and the latter, though containing matter 

 that may interest those who are acquainted with the 

 details of the process, will not convey much information 

 to those who are not. The final portionjof the vrlume deals 

 with economic details and statistics ; the latter of some 

 elaboration, but from four to six years after date, and the 

 prices in different European seats of manula' ture are 

 represented by prices current in 1872-73-74. There are 

 several curious errors which can scarcely have been 

 expected to be found, as, for instance, the <: Lamb and 

 Flag" brand on tin ingots is said to be the stamp of the 



