Jökull - 01.12.1962, Síða 43

and had to work as iisherman in the winter.
Yet, he gave himselí time to go on some ex-
plorations, including a tour of the highlands
to the southwest of Vatnajökull, as well as a
study of Hekla and Geysir.
In 1799, Pálsson was appointed doctor for
the southern lowlands, covering the entire area
between Reykjanes and Skeiðarársandur as well
as the Westman Islands, and besides lie often
had to serve southeast Iceland in addition to
his own area. Pálsson’s medical district was no
doubt the most strenuous one in the whole
country, not least because of the many formid-
able glacier rivers, which had to be crossed.
Pálsson held this office for 35 years, living all
the time until his death in 1840 on the farm
Suður-Vík in Mýrdalur. His salary was disgrace-
fully low, so that he and his wife lived in
unrelenting poverty. Their family was large, so
that Pálsson often had to go to sea in the
winter to obtain food for his family.
Until his death he spent his time off duty
on scientific pursuites and on writing. Among
other he kept accurate meteorological records
for 40 years, 1799—1840. He wrote and trans-
lated a number of popular articles and works
on the subject of natural history, wrote import-
ant medical books, wrote classic book on the
life of his father-in-law, and an important ac-
count of the Katla eruption of 1823. He was
a keen observer and collector of plants, making
a vast contribution to tlie knowledge of Iceland’s
vegetation including tlie distribution of various
rare plants. He was the first in thc world to
describe palsen-bogs and their vegatation. His
contributions to the knowledge of the geology
of Iceland are considerable, indeed. He was the
first to prove that the south Icelandic strand-
flat had been transgraded by the sea. He is also
the discoverer of the Mid-Iceland Graben.
His most remarkable scientific contribution,
however, was his glaciological work.--------
— — — Although Sveinn Pálsson lived to
1840, he belongs to the 18th century as a glacio-
logist. His treatise on glaciers constitutes a last
phase and a culmination of a glaciology, which
may be callecl Icelandic in the sense that it was
principally based on knowledge of glaciers in
Iceland. That knowledge was to a large extent
common to the country people, who lived along
the southern margin of Vatnajökull, in close
contact with its advancing outlet glaciers and
its glaciers rivers ancl sandurs. It was a know-
ledge, which had gradually accumulated during
nine centuries, because this people were in large
measure endowed with “Man’s nature to wish
to see and experience the things that he has
hearcl about and learn whether the facts are
as told or not.’’
Sveinn Pálsson was himself highly endowed
with this nature, a nature that is really incen-
tive to all true progress in natural science. He
was a passionate scientist, who sacrified all
the good things of this world in his search for
truth. It is pathetic to read his letter of August
17, 1796, to the Natural History Society, in
which he, a poverty-stricken farmer, as he was,
made a request for thermometers and other
instruments to enable him to carry out meteoro-
logical observations for the Society, promising
to pay for the instruments himself ancl make
the observations altogether free of charge.
Being a doctor in this vast district he had
to shoulder a work load which really requirecl
a superhuman effort. It often happened that
he came home tired from sea, and tlien had to
mount his horse and ride for miles to set a brok-
en bone or save the life of a woman in labour.
All the same, he spent his few hours off duty
on scientific research and writing until the dav
he died.
But Sveinn Pálsson is also an outstanding
example of how mucli one can learn in various
branches of natural science, especially in geo-
logy and geomorphology, simply by living and
travelling in this country with open eyes and
an open mincl, with a sound respect for facts,
and a humble attitude towards Nature and its
laws.
Therefore we have found it appropriate to
dedicate this Symposium, the first International
Symposium on Natural Science held in Iceland,
to the 200th anniversary of Sveinn Pálsson.”
JÖKULL 41