The Iceland year-book - 01.01.1926, Page 35

day and nearly all the night by a vitalizing solar
glow, is, of course, a phenomenon only possible
in a high arctic land. An additional climatic ad-
vantage possessed by Iceland is the comparative
absence, more particularly marked in the northern
provinces, of that especially malevolent humidity
which springs from the existence of forests and
fens damp with vegetable decay. Still
Calm and another is the sense of healthy calm
Repose. and nervous repose, invariably pro-
duced by the summer life of Iceland
upon the mind and body of the stranger sojourn-
ing within her gates — a mental condition which
is indeed induced alike by the air of its sandplains
and lava-fields, and hv the atmosphere that floats
over the desert tracts of Egypt and Arabia. In com-
mon with Switzerland, Iceland possesses, but at
lower altitudes, and consequently more con-
veniently reached, great masses of snow and
glaciers — the Vatnajokull, in the South-east,
being the most extensive field of ice in Europe;
and Icelanders know how to recount instances
of remarkable recoveries from the infection of
tuberculosis by residence in these frozen portions
of the island. The whole country benefits, too,
from the salty breezes of the ocean,
The ozone in so generally, during the sunny
the air. season, both benign and bracing.
And finally, it enjoys, as we have
seen, yet one more of nature’s blessings, lacking
to all the frequented higher regions of the
European continent, namely innumerable hot
springs, of various constituents and effects, scat-
tered through each of its four great provinces.
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