Projected Exploration of Iceland by the Alpine Club

• Published in: The Geologist
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1861
• Subjects: Arctic; Traveller; Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s135946560000438x; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S135946560000438X

We are glad to find tbis interesting and little-known country is likely to be visited by some of the members of this enterprising club. The address recently delivered by the Vice-President, Mr. William Longman, now lies before us, illustrated by a neatly-executed map of the wild volcanic island he seeks to bring, in a special manner, before scientific notice. It is quite surprising to think that a country so rich in the physical phenomena of moving glaciers and active volcanos has “never been explored or even visited” by any traveller who has made a study of such great causes of surface-aspect. Certain work has, however, been done, and what records of it we have been able to meet with are appended to this article. Most of them are books available for study, and for this special work perusal of them will be useful, as no doubt a goodly company of physical geologists will answer Mr. Longman's call; for existing glacial conditions in Iceland are more likely to aid them in learning the operations of the post-pliocene glacial eras, which in Britain have left such abundant records of their existence. No one who has read the last “Edinburgh Paper,” by Mr. Robert Chambers, “Ice and Water,” can fail to see how greatly our comprehension of the recent arctic condition of the British Isles will be aided by examination of that icy fringe of the northern zone, which has of late so materially influenced our climate, as if we were again menaced with a southerly extension of polar ice.