Presidenfs Address. 
13 
peculiar and beautiful effects of the construction of a glacier 
in its descent towards the sea. Above, all is smooth and far 
spread out ; a little lower down, it becomes more crumpled 
up as the space becomes more limited, and you can see that 
the point of maximum motion is in the centre. Further 
down, the crumpling is increased, until, before it reaches its 
destination, the crumples haye become ten thousand spikes, 
which, seen under a meridian sun, and with the help of good 
telescopes, appeared as if the bayonets of ten thousand 
soldiers were raised on high, and ready to be lowered to op- 
pose an equal host. 
I shall now only allude to one or two points of interest in 
regard to the lavas of Iceland which are germane to our 
present subject, leaving the description of the Geysers, and 
their mineralogical and chemical teachings, to another time, 
when I hope to take the opportunity of showing how many 
questions they may solve in geology which hitherto have 
been unanswered. 
The geologist, on first setting foot on Iceland, is at once 
struck with the certainty that all has been of volcanic origin : 
black ashes, bleak mountain ranges, and rude irregularity of 
surface, convince him that not long back in the geologic 
record, this Haven of Keykjavik was surrounded by the most 
violent eruptions of fire. But as he journeys towards the 
interior of the island, he finds that he can differentiate at 
once between the outpourings of lava as it flowed molten 
from the crater, and those other formations which were truly 
subaqueous. 
As my attention was particularly directed to the ap- 
pearance of subaqueous formations, in the hope of detecting 
dressed surfaces, which would be geological chronometers to 
indicate the age of irruptions, in which I failed ; I was led to 
remark how very easily one may be led astray by finding so 
many parallel and comparatively smooth surfaces lying close 
in contact with many tortuous shapes. After a careful exami- 
nation of many hundred instances, — for they are the most 
common phenomena in the journey to the Geysers, — though 
curiously overlooked by former travellers, I was led to the 
conclusion, that they were merely plications or folds in the 
