16 Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions. 



Von Troil, and analyzed by Dr. Bergman, resemble, with wonder- 

 ful exactness, those taken from the volcanos in the south of Europe, 

 by Spallanzani. Suturbrand and limestone are found in small patch- 

 es, in different parts of the island. 



The phenomena of the boiling springs, or Geysers, are obviously 

 produced by subterranean heat. Columns of boiling water, several 

 feet in diameter, spout up many fathoms into the air, and around the 

 orifices from which they issue, deposit a portion of silex, of which 

 a large amount is held in solution, but released by the cooling of the 

 water in its exposure to the atmosphere, forms a mineral basin, 

 through which the waters return to the caverns below. Every sub- 

 stance near enough to receive a sprinkling from the spray of the 

 Geyser, obtains a flinty covering, similar to ice on the twigs of a bush 

 in a winter storm. 



In this realm of fire and snow, some tracts of decomposed lava 

 yield to the arts of agriculture, and are worked into farms : and 

 amidst the terrors of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, sulphurous 

 vapor, and pestilential marshes, the inhabitants of Iceland obtain 

 more of the comforts and necessaries of life, than are enjoyed in any 

 ©ther country of the arctic regions. 



VII. Northern Europe. 



The north of Europe presents an immense exhibition of primitive 

 rocks. 



Mr. Strangways* traces this formation from the mountains of Nor- 

 wegian Lapland, through Russian Lapland, Finland, the north parts 

 of Carelia, Nova Zembla, and the Islands of the Icy Sea to the north- 

 ern extremity of the Ural Mountains. It also comprehends the 

 whole tract of Sweden ; and its southern boundary passing under tlie 

 centre of the gulf of Bothnia, as may be seen in the isles of Aland, 

 thence by the gulf of Finland, across the nortliern shore of Lake 

 Ladoga to the north part of Lake Onega, continues in the same di- 

 rection, until it terminates in tlie White Sea. Trap rocks are said to 

 form the north part of this tract ; gneiss and other schistose rocks 

 compose the central, while the southern border consists exclusively 

 of granite. 



* The principal facts in this geological sketch of the North of Europe, have been 

 obtained from the outline of the Geology of Russia, by the Hon. Wm. T. H. F. 

 Stranarvvavs. Published in the 1st Vol. 2d series of the Geological Transactions. 



