186 
JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
ICELAND: ITS LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND 
LEGENDS. 
SYLLABUS OF PAPER BY DANIEL SLATER, M.A., PRESIDENT. 
(Read February 26th, 1885.) 
A few reasons why the subject may be of some importance even 
to an Englishman of the nineteenth century. The physical 
features of the island, its climate, productions, &c. Summary of 
its history from the earliest times. A few peculiarities of the 
Icelandic or Old Norse tongue. The poetic literature : the Volu- 
spa, the Hava-mal, VafSru^nis-mal, Grimnis-mal, Allvess-mal, 
Hymis-kvifta, GEgisdrekka or Loka-senna and other pieces of the 
Elder Edda, including the Epic cycle of the Volsungs and Niflungs. 
The prose literature : The Younger Edda. The Sagas, not the 
ordinary product of the island, but the extraordinary growth of 
an extraordinary age ; compared to the great outburst of dramatic 
genius in England under Queen Elizabeth. The Saga age divided 
into three parts : the age of action, the age of Saga-telling, the age 
of Saga- writing. Sketch of the lives of the three great Saga 
writers: Ari Ninu Frofti, died 1148; Snorri, died 1241 ; Sturla, 
died 1284. Review of some of the Sagas: Burnt Njal, the Eyr- 
byggja, the Landaela, Egils-saga, and the Minor Islendinga Sbgur. 
Review of the mythological system of Iceland. 
THE EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 
SYLLABUS OF PAPER BY H. R. BABB. 
(Read March 5th, 1885.) 
The physical construction of the eye. How we see. How artistic 
sight differs from ordinary sight. That ordinary seeing may be 
blindness in the artistic sense. The earliest knowledge of the 
child mainly derived through the organ of sight. The influence of 
toys. Frbbel's system, and first lessons in form, size, colour, and 
number. The eye the organ of apprehension in the deaf and 
dumb. The innocence of the eye in childhood. Drawing should 
precede writing as writing. The object-lesson a means of calling 
