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The hiftory o f the northern nations,
their divinities, religion, principles,
and tenets, together with their poetry,
prefent the phllofopliic reader with
fnbje£ls worthy of his fpeculation ;
they at the fame time account for
many hiftoricai events, and for many
a curious cuftom preferved by fome
one or other of the nations defcended
from the fame root with thefe inhabitants
of the North.
The fubjefl of volcanos, and o f
the origin of certain kinds of ftones
and foifils, have of late attracted the
attention of philofophers ; but, in
my opinion, they are no where
treated with fo much candour, truth,
and philofophical precifion as in thofe
remarks which the Chevalier Torbern
Bergman fent to our author in foiiii
of a letter, and which he has here
' communicated to the public.
The whole ifland of Iceland is a
chain o f volcanos, the foil almoft
every where formed of decayed cinders,
lava, and flags ; and the numerous
hot fprings, efpecially that called
Qqfcr, give full fcope to the moft:
curious
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curious remarks on thefe fubjcifts,
linee they are here obvious in fo many
varied ftiapes, and for that reafon become
inftruCtive. Lava and fome
other produftions of nature have not
been hitherto fubjecled to chemical
procefTes : Profeflbr Bergman therefore
deferves the thanks of the public
for his excellent letter, giving a very
interefting account o f his experiments
on all the various foffils and natural
produélions o f Iceland. The origin
o f the bafaltic pillars, fuch as form
the Giant’s Caufcway in Ireland, the
whole ifland o f Staffa, and more eft
pecially FingaFs Cave, has o f late
been much fpoken o f by travellers
and learned mineralogifts. Some
afcribe their regular configuration to
cryftallization : others pretend the
fubterraneous fire to be the caiife o f
their regular columnar fliape ; but the
ingenious Chevalier Torbern Bergman
proves, by the moft folid arguments,
that the bafalt pillars are no lava, or
any-ways related to volcanic fubftan-
ccs, and that their regular columnar
fliape, he fuggefts, is owing to aiiob
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