Ivi 
INTRODUCTION. 
most only for a few days, after which they feed 
them with cow’s milk, which is taken through 
a quill with a piece of rag fastened to one end 
for the sake of softness to the mouth. 
The Icelanders in general do not attain to an 
advanced period of life, though many live to the 
age of seventy and enjoy a good state of health; 
but this is among the higher class of people. The 
nutriment of the poor and their manner of living 
is unfavorable to longevity, independently of the 
dreadful cutaneous diseases to which they are 
subject. Scurvy, leprosy, and elephantiasis are 
no where, perhaps, more prevalent; and they are 
likewise, according to Von Troil, peculiarly af¬ 
flicted with St. Anthony’s fire, the jaundice, 
pleurisy, and lowness of spirits. 
The climate of Iceland is not so settled as that 
of equal latitudes upon continents. In the winter 
the inhabitants are exposed to frequent and sud¬ 
den thaws, and in the middle of summer almost 
as much so to snow, frost, and cold, so severe as 
effectually to prevent all cultivation. The year 
1809 was particularly unfavorable: I recollect 
that in the early part of that summer Fahren¬ 
heit’s thermometer varied in the course of the 
day from about 41 ° to 43 °, seldom rising to 50 °, 
