RICHARD BRIGHT IN ICELAND-1810 E. LOVELL BECKER,* M.D. AND (by invitation) ROBERT M. KARK, M.D. NEW YORK
On April 18, 1810, Sir George Steuart Mackenzie, with his friends Henry Holland and Richard Bright, Jr. sailed from Leith, England for a scientific journey to Iceland. To better understand their intended expedition, some knowledge of the times and more particularly, knowledge of the individuals is mandatory. Sir George Steuart Mackenzie, the 7th Laird of Coul, was the youngest person ever to be elected to the Royal Society. He achieved this distinction in 1801 by being the first to prove that diamonds were a crystalline form of pure carbon. The experimental proof was accomplished at the age of 18 when he burned his mother's jewels to cinders. Her remarks were never recorded; they can only be imagined. Like all Scottish aristocracy, Sir George spent part of the year in Edinburgh. At that time (1750-1820), the Scottish intellectual enlightenment was in full swing, Edinburgh New Town was being built. Walter Scott and his circle of friends were actively publishing novels, essays and conversations. The Napoleonic wars, had prevented the sons of the aristocrats and landed gentry from enjoying grand tours with their tutors, and the European universities were closed, so that the town was filled with students from all over Europe and Great Britain. The new curricula and the famous teachers at Edinburgh University and Medical School attracted the best young men from all over the world, including about six hundred and fifty students from North America. In addition, British dissenters, who could not go to Oxford or Cambridge as they were not members of the Church of England, also went to Edinburgh. Two Unitarians arrived from Bristol at the turn of the nineteenth century; they were Henry Holland and Richard Bright. Both men had been students at the famous school in Bristol, conducted by its Unitarian Minister and educator, the Reverend John B. Estlin. There, they received a sound classical and scientific education and a taste for art. Both had been, in their turn, the Head Boy at the school. Richard Bright, Jr. was the third son of an enlightened, highly intellectual and vigorous father, Richard Bright, Sr. The father was a member of the Merchant * From the Department of Medicine, The New York New York. 179
Hospital-Cornell
Medical Center,
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Venturers of Bristol, who made their fortunes from the triangular slave trade between Bristol, Africa and the Carribbean. Richard Bright, Sr. numbered among his friends, scientists, physicians, and statesmen as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Priestly, Sir Humphrey Davy and William Babbington, the beloved physician of Guy's Hospital. Bright, Sr. was deeply involved in geology and botany and built a small laboratory on his Estate at Ham Green, near Bristol, where young Richard Bright first mastered the elements of science. Richard Bright, Jr. joined his brothers, Henry and Benjamin in 1805 at Edinburgh University where he had a lively and full life, both as an undergraduate and as a medical student. Richard Bright, Jr.'s friend Henry Holland, was born in Knatshford, Cheshire in 1788, a relative of the Wedgewoods and Gaskells. He attended school in Bristol with J. P. Estlin in 1804. He was an article clerk to a Liverpool merchant from 1805-1806. Holland then went to Edinburgh in 1808 as a medical student and graduated as a physician in 1811, having spent some time at Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital. Doctor Holland was medical attending to Queen Caroline of Brunswick in 1814 and travelled with her in Italy at the time she was threatened with divorce by George IV for her activities with an Italian gentleman. Doctor Holland gave evidence in favor of Queen Caroline before the House of Lords and ultimately the case was dropped. Holland was made an L.R.C.P. and ultimately became one of the best known men in London society, a friend and advisor to all of note, being physician to Queen Victoria (1837-1901) and Prince Albert and to six prime ministers. He was reputed to have said that as soon as he had earned six hundred pounds a year, something he did quickly, he would take two months out of a year for travel, recreation and study. This program he followed for the rest of his life. His books were well known, one, the Recollections of Past Life was published in 1886. Doctor Henry Holland who was one year older than Bright had made the acquaintance of Sir George Mackenzie. Mackenzie, a recognized mineralogist and geologist planned to study the volcanic island of Iceland and invited Henry Holland to accompany him to study the diseases of the Icelanders and Richard Bright was asked to join the party to study the flora and fauna of the island. The adventures of this illustrious group, Richard Bright, Jr., Henry Holland, and Sir George Steuart Mackenzie were documented in the publication "Travels In the Island of Iceland During the Summer of the Year 1810" (Figure 1). Sir George's book was a best seller; it opened doors to society for Henry Holland and for Richard Bright, it provided an entree to scientists, physicians, and intellectuals. Henry Holland became the physician to
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TRAVELS IN THK
ISLAND OF ICELAND, DU'RING THE SUMMER OF THE YEAR
MDCCCX.o
Br SIR GEORGE STEUART MACKENZIE, BARONET, 'ELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF
EDINBURGH.
&C. &C. &C.
EDINBURGH: Printed by Thomas Allan and Comnpany, FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY, EDINBURGH; LONGMAN3 HURST, REEl, ORME, & BROWN; CADELL & DAVIES; WILLIAM AND JOHN MURRAY9 LONDON.
MILLERS
1811. FIG. 1. Title page of Mackenzie's book.
London society while Richard Bright became the leading medical scientist and consulting physician in Europe. Mackenzie, Holland and Bright divided their work assignments so that their time on this expedition would be used most judiciously. Mackenzie
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would devote his attention to recording all available information on rural affairs, commerce and mineralogy. Doctor Holland would direct his attention to the history, literature, government, laws, religion, and a report of the more prevalent diseases. Bright was to serve as botanist and zoologist and expectantly would replace some of the botanical specimens obtained by Mr. Hooker, a year earlier, but lost, when his ship, returning from Iceland was destroyed by fire. After departing Leith, they sailed north through the Orkneys and west to Iceland. Cape Hekla was their first sight of Iceland and traveling south of the Westmann Islands around Cape Reikianes they could see the vapors from the sulphur mountains (Figure 2). Finally, after purchasing 30 cod, halibut and cat fish for four shillings the voyageurs arrived in Reikiavik, then a city of five hundred which now numbers close to 20,000 (Figure 3). This interesting city was the focal point for three journeys made to the west and southwest areas of Iceland. The first journey was southward to the sulphur mountains. Here, the interesting dress of the Icelander was recorded (Figure 4). On the left, a lady in full dress, next the ordinary dress of women of all ranks. In the middle, a lady in a riding dress standing next to a gentleman in his best clothes and finally the figure of a Reikiavik pilot in his sheep skin dress as he came aboard the ship of our adventurers. This first trip took them to Havnefiord, about six miles distance and into the valley of Krisuvik, filled with vapors from the cauldrons of
FIG. 2. Map of the Southwest Coast of Iceland drawn by Mackenzie.
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boiling mud. The banks were of clay and sulphur (Figure 5). The dreary, barren area was in some way compensated by the prevalence of fish at every part of the coast of the Guldbringe Syssel. During their walks through these lava beds and through the volcanic ash, Mr. Bright managed to lose his shoes presenting a temporary problem. For purposes of government, Iceland was divided into 4 Amts.: north,
.........
ia
FIG. 3. Reikiavik.
4,
lik.
I I
j
J, IV ti I
'I .i" ..:.'--Mzt
FIG. 4. Icelandic Costume.
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FIG. 5. Cauldron of boiling mud on the sulphur mountains.
south, east, and west and each Amt is further divided into Syssels and finally Parishes. The second journey was planned to explore the peninsula on the west of the Island, north of Reikiavik, a trip of 3-400 miles. They set out for Sauba by ship and then by land. However, it was necessary to transverse numerous bogs and swamps until they reached Snaefells Syssel. This peninsula is dominated by Snaefell Jokul, a peak of 4,460 feet (Figure 6). Ill equipped and with no training these hardy souls scaled the ice fall and snow but in the process nearly lost Mr. Holland who partially fell through an ice bridge. The explorers recorded the temperature during this climb and noted: 11 o'clock on the shore 580 F 12 o'clock in the mountains 560 1 o'clock on the verge of snow 430 2 o'clock 420 3 o'clock 390 3:17 min. at the highest point 340 On the snow at the same time 320 The group is shown in Figure 7, a sketch made by Bright. Following a circuitous route from the Peninsula, the party returned to Reikiavik and prepared for their third and final journey. On the 24th of
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July the party left Reikiavik to visit the geysers and to visit Mount Hekla (Figure 8) to the east and south. The great geyser (Figure 9) was found to be from 6 to 92 feet high and Mt. Hekla an active volcano. During medieval times, Europeans considered Mt. Hekla to be one of the gates to Hell as did Jules Verne who mentioned this volcano in Eighty Days Around the World. The old writers described the groaning
FIG. 6. Snaefell Jokul.
FIG. 7. Summit of Snaefell Jokul.
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Al
l
U
n :A; K
.
FIG. 8. Mount Hekla from the South.
and the gnashing of teeth of the damned, sounds easily heard on the mountain sides. Shepherds reported great vultures escorting lost souls which had been transformed into crows. This gnashing of teeth was in truth the noise of the exploding and overflowing lava, while the "crows" and "vultures" were rocks blown in the air by the explosions. According to Mackenzie, since the year one thousand and four, there had been 22 eruptions of Mt. Hekla and together with the volcanoes made Iceland the island with the greatest number of active volcanoes. The travelers took leave of Hekla on August 4 and traveled to Hliderende. En route at a chutch in a place named Hyindarmule, they encountered their only habitual drunkard, a priest who shortened his service to join the trip to Hliderende. During the service he offered snuff to his honored guests while he took stronger stuff. "An Oram bottle stood upon the alter to which he made frequent applications." The party now numbered four and they had advanced only a short distance on the road to Hliderende "when the priest drew from a side pocket a fresh bottle of spirits, which he offered to the party. On their declining his civility, he consoled himself by taking their share as well as his own, and, by the time they reached their destination, the bottle was almost empty." The group passed by way of Odde on their way to Reikiavik. Mackenzie
RICHARD BRIGHT
FIG. 9. Eruption of the Great Geyser.
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refrains from a description of the hot springs of Reikum but relies on a quotation from a letter by Sir John Stanley to Doctor Black, printed in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. After the completing of their journey, Bright and Holland set sail for England on August 19th and finally reached Edinburgh after an absence of nearly five months. To return to the observations by Richard Bright on Zoology, remember this was a field of study for which he was not formally trained. His chronicle mentions the dog, fox, cat, rat, moose, reindeer, goat, sheep, ox, and horse together with seals and whales and a few bears. There was some question as to whether the bears could rightfully be included as they were merely visitors, brought on detached masses of ice. The bear and fox commit great devastation on the flocks. The reindeer reached Iceland from Norway in 1770 when 13 were sent to Iceland but only three survived. They multiplied rapidly so that large herds were frequently seen. The cow, sheep and horse afforded the principal source of wealth, comfort and subsistence to the Icelanders. "Milk is almost the only summer beverage. Whey becomes a wholesome and a pleasant drink in winter." Fish, the primary article of food is scarcely palatable without butter; and curds, eaten fresh in summer, and kept through the winter yield a precious change of diet, both for health and pleasure. The horse was indispensable while the sheep furnish milk and butter and when smoked or salted, fumish a part of the winter food and a commercial article for export. Their wool and skins were used in the production of clothing. From the sea, Bright discusses three or four species of whale including the great Northern Whales and the Fin Fish. The Bottle Nose Dolphin was found in large quantities and about 1,100 came to shore at Hvalfiord in the winter of 1809-1810. The cod, haddock, skate and halibut were in great number. Sharks, salmon and sea trout were also taken by the fisherman. Birds were common, the Erne and Eider duck and Raven together with the Snow Bunting and Wheat Ear were seen. Ptarmigans and Golden Plover were equally plentiful. The seashore was noted to be a haven for a great variety of birds, ganets, shags, corvorant, gulls, auks, terns and swans. The descriptions and comments of the Zoology are at best superficial but undaunted. Mr. Bright undertook a section on Botany in their publication. He noted that Sorrel or Yellow Poppy assists in cheering the dreariness of such a place whose trees are seldom more than three or four feet from the ground. As Bright pointed out. . . "It is not consistent with
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the object of this sketch to enter into a detailed enumeration of the different species of plants observable in Iceland, with their localities. None of our party was skilled in botany; and the collection we made was chiefly intended to make up, in some degree, the severe losses which Mr. Hooker sustained in the destruction of his collection. That gentleman has kindly permitted us to make extracts from his interesting work; and we shall now present our readers with a general view of the botany of Iceland; and in the appendix will be found the Icelandic Flora by the same gentleman." To complete the story a mention of the more common medical problems described by Henry Holland is appropriate. A small medical establishment was provided at public expense. It consisted of a superintendent or Landsphysicus, an apothecary and five medical men stationed in different parts of the island. The physician and apothecary are in Reikiavik. They are provided with larger and superior accommodations than the homes of the Icelanders. The landsphysicus had an annual salary of 600-rex dollars with the opportunity to supplement his income by other means. The practitioners were stationed in the south, east, the northern coast and two were in the western province. There were three hospitals which gave gratuitous support to a few incurable lepers. Otherwise, no medical institution existed. The hospitals were maintained at public expense. The method is worthy of notation. On a certain specified day at the time of the year when the fishing was most successful, every fishing boat on the island was required to contribute one man's share of the capture. If, however the number of fish taken by any boat on that day did not provide a share of five fish to each fisherman, the contribution to the hospitals was delayed until such time when a day's fishing equalled or exceeded this amount. One of the most prevalent diseases was scurvy, or Kreppusott due to the lack of vegetables in the diet. The mainstay of the Icelanders diet was animal food, fish, fresh or dried. There was utmost scarcity of bread and vegetables. As a consequence the prevalence of scurvy and cutaneous diseases arose from their cachectic state particularly noticeable in the Syssels of Guldbringe and Snaefells. Henry Holland recommended a vegetable diet as far as the circumstances would permit. Another common disease is that of leprosy, a scourge which had persisted in most of Europe and the Scandinavian countries during the late 18th century. By the early 19th century, leprosy had been eradicated from the rest of Europe because of progressive improvements in the mode of living among every class of society. Not true in Iceland, however. The description of leprosy given by Henry Holland in their publication lacks. little from the clinical point of view.
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Another problem in Iceland was smallpox. A severe epidemic occurred in 1707 and the mortality mounted to 16,000 almost one-fourth of the entire population. Vaccine was introduced to the island from Denmark; however, because of the small population and wide geographic distribution, innoculation was suspended. Mackenzie, Bright and Holland had brought with them a few vaccine crusts to use for innoculation. They succeeded in innoculating numerous children in Reikiavik and their plan of innoculating from the crust showed "doubtless secure the inhabitants of permanent continuance of this blessing." Numerous other less common conditions are noted. These include pulmonary complaints, psora, epilepsy, hypochondriasis and gout. A final devastating disease known in Iceland as Ginkolfe, or tetanus or trismus neonatorum. This disease in newboms was found to exist only on the Westmann Islands, where there are only approximately 200 inhabitants. In twenty years, not a single child born in the Westmann Islands survived. The Danish government took official action and requested the landphysicus of Iceland to visit Westmann to investigate the nature and cause of this disease. In 1810, this gentleman made the trip but did not see a single case of the disease but he obtained all the pertinent facts. One can but speculate as to why the children died. Particularly if the mothers went to the mainland, the children survived and did not contract the disease. In those days it was the custom to wrap the children in swaddling clothes which, having been washed and dried in the open air, were an invitation to the great masses of birds (Fulmars) which swarmed the Westmann Islands. Could not the tetanus organisms have been deposited on the swaddling clothes from the excrement of the birds and then transferred to the umbilical cord? In summary then, the four major diseases affecting this island are all amenable either to prophylaxis, good public health standards, or direct treatment to such an extent that these diseases are almost unknown in our present society. Our group of adventurers, Mackenzie, the mineralogist, Bright and Holland the physicians, contributed much to the literature of the world in 1810 outside the realms of their own areas of expertise. As typical of the early 1800s, these three gentlemen were true Renaissance men. That is, they were enthusiastic and displayed vigorous activity along literary, artistic, and cultural lines by an increasing pursuit of learning and by an imaginative response to broader horizons, all general concepts of the Renaissance. REFERENCES in the Island Travels of Iceland During the Summer of the Year 1810. 1. MACKENZIE, G. S.: Archibald Constable and Company, Edinburgh, 1811. 2. KARK, R. M. AND KARK, J. E.: The Life and Times of Richard Bright, M.D. (1789-1858). Francis and Taylor, London, (To be published).
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DISCUSSION DR. JAMES TOOLE (Winston-Salem): I would like to suggest that the neonatal tetanus may have been caused not by flying birds as suggested by Bright but by a custom which persists even now in countries such as Nigeria and India. Natives put a pultice of dung on the stump of the umbilical cord after the baby is born despite all attempts to educate them not to do so. Why they do this is unknown but it is an ancient tradition, widespread in primitive cultures. Perhaps it causes hemostosis but it also results in neonatal tetanus. DR. BECKER: That is very interesting. There was no such comment in the Iceland literature. DR. WILLIAM BEAN (Galveston): I enjoyed this enormously. Many of you are probably aware that Richard Bright wrote one of the best travelogues: Travels Through Lower Hungary, which was published in 1819 and has now become a very rare book. I would like to recall to memory what some of you heard me say after my paper on the small and the trivial at our meeting at Cooperstown in 1960 under the benevolent reign of Marshall Fulton. My comment was on the shortest chapter of any book I know. I quoted it as being the History of Iceland by the good Bishop Pontoppidan.* The chaper on Owls in Iceland reads "There are no owls in Iceland." (applause) * I had read this in Albert J. Nock's Memoirs of a Superfluous Man-incidentally, a splendid biography. John Blake, in the rare books collection of the National Library of Medicine, tells me that Bishop Erik Pontoppidan never published any history of Iceland. I then found out from Quincy Munford, Librarian of Congress in Washington, that Niel N. Horrebow wrote a book entitled Natural History of Iceland, published in London in 1758. The good scholar Horrebow had on page 61, chapter XLII concerning owls. It reads as follows: "There are no owls of any kind in the whole island." But then rather shockingly in a footnote he says: "Mr Anderson says there are various species of owls in Iceland, as the cat-owl, the horn-owl, and the stone-owl." He likewise published a print of one "catched in the farther part of Iceland on a ship homeward bound from Greenland." von Proil wrote a book on Iceland which has a chapter concerning the snakes of Iceland. It runs as follows: "There are no snakes in Iceland." I apologize for perpetrating an error, but am delighted to remind you that Ireland and Iceland are devoid of serpents and under the best of circumstances, there are only a few owls. I atone for any injury I have done to the spirit of Bishop Pontoppidan and brother Horrebow.
On April 18, 1810, Sir George Steuart Mackenzie, with his friends Henry Holland and Richard Bright, Jr. sailed from Leith, England for a scientific journey to Iceland. To better understand their intended expedition, some knowledge of the times and more particularly, knowledge of the individuals is mandatory. Sir George Steuart Mackenzie, the 7th Laird of Coul, was the youngest person ever to be elected to the Royal Society. He achieved this distinction in 1801 by being the first to prove that diamonds were a crystalline form of pure carbon. The experimental proof was accomplished at the age of 18 when he burned his mother's jewels to cinders. Her remarks were never recorded; they can only be imagined. Like all Scottish aristocracy, Sir George spent part of the year in Edinburgh. At that time (1750-1820), the Scottish intellectual enlightenment was in full swing, Edinburgh New Town was being built. Walter Scott and his circle of friends were actively publishing novels, essays and conversations. The Napoleonic wars, had prevented the sons of the aristocrats and landed gentry from enjoying grand tours with their tutors, and the European universities were closed, so that the town was filled with students from all over Europe and Great Britain. The new curricula and the famous teachers at Edinburgh University and Medical School attracted the best young men from all over the world, including about six hundred and fifty students from North America. In addition, British dissenters, who could not go to Oxford or Cambridge as they were not members of the Church of England, also went to Edinburgh. Two Unitarians arrived from Bristol at the turn of the nineteenth century; they were Henry Holland and Richard Bright. Both men had been students at the famous school in Bristol, conducted by its Unitarian Minister and educator, the Reverend John B. Estlin. There, they received a sound classical and scientific education and a taste for art. Both had been, in their turn, the Head Boy at the school. Richard Bright, Jr. was the third son of an enlightened, highly intellectual and vigorous father, Richard Bright, Sr. The father was a member of the Merchant * From the Department of Medicine, The New York New York. 179
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Medical Center,
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Venturers of Bristol, who made their fortunes from the triangular slave trade between Bristol, Africa and the Carribbean. Richard Bright, Sr. numbered among his friends, scientists, physicians, and statesmen as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Priestly, Sir Humphrey Davy and William Babbington, the beloved physician of Guy's Hospital. Bright, Sr. was deeply involved in geology and botany and built a small laboratory on his Estate at Ham Green, near Bristol, where young Richard Bright first mastered the elements of science. Richard Bright, Jr. joined his brothers, Henry and Benjamin in 1805 at Edinburgh University where he had a lively and full life, both as an undergraduate and as a medical student. Richard Bright, Jr.'s friend Henry Holland, was born in Knatshford, Cheshire in 1788, a relative of the Wedgewoods and Gaskells. He attended school in Bristol with J. P. Estlin in 1804. He was an article clerk to a Liverpool merchant from 1805-1806. Holland then went to Edinburgh in 1808 as a medical student and graduated as a physician in 1811, having spent some time at Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital. Doctor Holland was medical attending to Queen Caroline of Brunswick in 1814 and travelled with her in Italy at the time she was threatened with divorce by George IV for her activities with an Italian gentleman. Doctor Holland gave evidence in favor of Queen Caroline before the House of Lords and ultimately the case was dropped. Holland was made an L.R.C.P. and ultimately became one of the best known men in London society, a friend and advisor to all of note, being physician to Queen Victoria (1837-1901) and Prince Albert and to six prime ministers. He was reputed to have said that as soon as he had earned six hundred pounds a year, something he did quickly, he would take two months out of a year for travel, recreation and study. This program he followed for the rest of his life. His books were well known, one, the Recollections of Past Life was published in 1886. Doctor Henry Holland who was one year older than Bright had made the acquaintance of Sir George Mackenzie. Mackenzie, a recognized mineralogist and geologist planned to study the volcanic island of Iceland and invited Henry Holland to accompany him to study the diseases of the Icelanders and Richard Bright was asked to join the party to study the flora and fauna of the island. The adventures of this illustrious group, Richard Bright, Jr., Henry Holland, and Sir George Steuart Mackenzie were documented in the publication "Travels In the Island of Iceland During the Summer of the Year 1810" (Figure 1). Sir George's book was a best seller; it opened doors to society for Henry Holland and for Richard Bright, it provided an entree to scientists, physicians, and intellectuals. Henry Holland became the physician to
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TRAVELS IN THK
ISLAND OF ICELAND, DU'RING THE SUMMER OF THE YEAR
MDCCCX.o
Br SIR GEORGE STEUART MACKENZIE, BARONET, 'ELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF
EDINBURGH.
&C. &C. &C.
EDINBURGH: Printed by Thomas Allan and Comnpany, FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY, EDINBURGH; LONGMAN3 HURST, REEl, ORME, & BROWN; CADELL & DAVIES; WILLIAM AND JOHN MURRAY9 LONDON.
MILLERS
1811. FIG. 1. Title page of Mackenzie's book.
London society while Richard Bright became the leading medical scientist and consulting physician in Europe. Mackenzie, Holland and Bright divided their work assignments so that their time on this expedition would be used most judiciously. Mackenzie
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would devote his attention to recording all available information on rural affairs, commerce and mineralogy. Doctor Holland would direct his attention to the history, literature, government, laws, religion, and a report of the more prevalent diseases. Bright was to serve as botanist and zoologist and expectantly would replace some of the botanical specimens obtained by Mr. Hooker, a year earlier, but lost, when his ship, returning from Iceland was destroyed by fire. After departing Leith, they sailed north through the Orkneys and west to Iceland. Cape Hekla was their first sight of Iceland and traveling south of the Westmann Islands around Cape Reikianes they could see the vapors from the sulphur mountains (Figure 2). Finally, after purchasing 30 cod, halibut and cat fish for four shillings the voyageurs arrived in Reikiavik, then a city of five hundred which now numbers close to 20,000 (Figure 3). This interesting city was the focal point for three journeys made to the west and southwest areas of Iceland. The first journey was southward to the sulphur mountains. Here, the interesting dress of the Icelander was recorded (Figure 4). On the left, a lady in full dress, next the ordinary dress of women of all ranks. In the middle, a lady in a riding dress standing next to a gentleman in his best clothes and finally the figure of a Reikiavik pilot in his sheep skin dress as he came aboard the ship of our adventurers. This first trip took them to Havnefiord, about six miles distance and into the valley of Krisuvik, filled with vapors from the cauldrons of
FIG. 2. Map of the Southwest Coast of Iceland drawn by Mackenzie.
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boiling mud. The banks were of clay and sulphur (Figure 5). The dreary, barren area was in some way compensated by the prevalence of fish at every part of the coast of the Guldbringe Syssel. During their walks through these lava beds and through the volcanic ash, Mr. Bright managed to lose his shoes presenting a temporary problem. For purposes of government, Iceland was divided into 4 Amts.: north,
.........
ia
FIG. 3. Reikiavik.
4,
lik.
I I
j
J, IV ti I
'I .i" ..:.'--Mzt
FIG. 4. Icelandic Costume.
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FIG. 5. Cauldron of boiling mud on the sulphur mountains.
south, east, and west and each Amt is further divided into Syssels and finally Parishes. The second journey was planned to explore the peninsula on the west of the Island, north of Reikiavik, a trip of 3-400 miles. They set out for Sauba by ship and then by land. However, it was necessary to transverse numerous bogs and swamps until they reached Snaefells Syssel. This peninsula is dominated by Snaefell Jokul, a peak of 4,460 feet (Figure 6). Ill equipped and with no training these hardy souls scaled the ice fall and snow but in the process nearly lost Mr. Holland who partially fell through an ice bridge. The explorers recorded the temperature during this climb and noted: 11 o'clock on the shore 580 F 12 o'clock in the mountains 560 1 o'clock on the verge of snow 430 2 o'clock 420 3 o'clock 390 3:17 min. at the highest point 340 On the snow at the same time 320 The group is shown in Figure 7, a sketch made by Bright. Following a circuitous route from the Peninsula, the party returned to Reikiavik and prepared for their third and final journey. On the 24th of
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July the party left Reikiavik to visit the geysers and to visit Mount Hekla (Figure 8) to the east and south. The great geyser (Figure 9) was found to be from 6 to 92 feet high and Mt. Hekla an active volcano. During medieval times, Europeans considered Mt. Hekla to be one of the gates to Hell as did Jules Verne who mentioned this volcano in Eighty Days Around the World. The old writers described the groaning
FIG. 6. Snaefell Jokul.
FIG. 7. Summit of Snaefell Jokul.
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Al
l
U
n :A; K
.
FIG. 8. Mount Hekla from the South.
and the gnashing of teeth of the damned, sounds easily heard on the mountain sides. Shepherds reported great vultures escorting lost souls which had been transformed into crows. This gnashing of teeth was in truth the noise of the exploding and overflowing lava, while the "crows" and "vultures" were rocks blown in the air by the explosions. According to Mackenzie, since the year one thousand and four, there had been 22 eruptions of Mt. Hekla and together with the volcanoes made Iceland the island with the greatest number of active volcanoes. The travelers took leave of Hekla on August 4 and traveled to Hliderende. En route at a chutch in a place named Hyindarmule, they encountered their only habitual drunkard, a priest who shortened his service to join the trip to Hliderende. During the service he offered snuff to his honored guests while he took stronger stuff. "An Oram bottle stood upon the alter to which he made frequent applications." The party now numbered four and they had advanced only a short distance on the road to Hliderende "when the priest drew from a side pocket a fresh bottle of spirits, which he offered to the party. On their declining his civility, he consoled himself by taking their share as well as his own, and, by the time they reached their destination, the bottle was almost empty." The group passed by way of Odde on their way to Reikiavik. Mackenzie
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FIG. 9. Eruption of the Great Geyser.
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refrains from a description of the hot springs of Reikum but relies on a quotation from a letter by Sir John Stanley to Doctor Black, printed in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. After the completing of their journey, Bright and Holland set sail for England on August 19th and finally reached Edinburgh after an absence of nearly five months. To return to the observations by Richard Bright on Zoology, remember this was a field of study for which he was not formally trained. His chronicle mentions the dog, fox, cat, rat, moose, reindeer, goat, sheep, ox, and horse together with seals and whales and a few bears. There was some question as to whether the bears could rightfully be included as they were merely visitors, brought on detached masses of ice. The bear and fox commit great devastation on the flocks. The reindeer reached Iceland from Norway in 1770 when 13 were sent to Iceland but only three survived. They multiplied rapidly so that large herds were frequently seen. The cow, sheep and horse afforded the principal source of wealth, comfort and subsistence to the Icelanders. "Milk is almost the only summer beverage. Whey becomes a wholesome and a pleasant drink in winter." Fish, the primary article of food is scarcely palatable without butter; and curds, eaten fresh in summer, and kept through the winter yield a precious change of diet, both for health and pleasure. The horse was indispensable while the sheep furnish milk and butter and when smoked or salted, fumish a part of the winter food and a commercial article for export. Their wool and skins were used in the production of clothing. From the sea, Bright discusses three or four species of whale including the great Northern Whales and the Fin Fish. The Bottle Nose Dolphin was found in large quantities and about 1,100 came to shore at Hvalfiord in the winter of 1809-1810. The cod, haddock, skate and halibut were in great number. Sharks, salmon and sea trout were also taken by the fisherman. Birds were common, the Erne and Eider duck and Raven together with the Snow Bunting and Wheat Ear were seen. Ptarmigans and Golden Plover were equally plentiful. The seashore was noted to be a haven for a great variety of birds, ganets, shags, corvorant, gulls, auks, terns and swans. The descriptions and comments of the Zoology are at best superficial but undaunted. Mr. Bright undertook a section on Botany in their publication. He noted that Sorrel or Yellow Poppy assists in cheering the dreariness of such a place whose trees are seldom more than three or four feet from the ground. As Bright pointed out. . . "It is not consistent with
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the object of this sketch to enter into a detailed enumeration of the different species of plants observable in Iceland, with their localities. None of our party was skilled in botany; and the collection we made was chiefly intended to make up, in some degree, the severe losses which Mr. Hooker sustained in the destruction of his collection. That gentleman has kindly permitted us to make extracts from his interesting work; and we shall now present our readers with a general view of the botany of Iceland; and in the appendix will be found the Icelandic Flora by the same gentleman." To complete the story a mention of the more common medical problems described by Henry Holland is appropriate. A small medical establishment was provided at public expense. It consisted of a superintendent or Landsphysicus, an apothecary and five medical men stationed in different parts of the island. The physician and apothecary are in Reikiavik. They are provided with larger and superior accommodations than the homes of the Icelanders. The landsphysicus had an annual salary of 600-rex dollars with the opportunity to supplement his income by other means. The practitioners were stationed in the south, east, the northern coast and two were in the western province. There were three hospitals which gave gratuitous support to a few incurable lepers. Otherwise, no medical institution existed. The hospitals were maintained at public expense. The method is worthy of notation. On a certain specified day at the time of the year when the fishing was most successful, every fishing boat on the island was required to contribute one man's share of the capture. If, however the number of fish taken by any boat on that day did not provide a share of five fish to each fisherman, the contribution to the hospitals was delayed until such time when a day's fishing equalled or exceeded this amount. One of the most prevalent diseases was scurvy, or Kreppusott due to the lack of vegetables in the diet. The mainstay of the Icelanders diet was animal food, fish, fresh or dried. There was utmost scarcity of bread and vegetables. As a consequence the prevalence of scurvy and cutaneous diseases arose from their cachectic state particularly noticeable in the Syssels of Guldbringe and Snaefells. Henry Holland recommended a vegetable diet as far as the circumstances would permit. Another common disease is that of leprosy, a scourge which had persisted in most of Europe and the Scandinavian countries during the late 18th century. By the early 19th century, leprosy had been eradicated from the rest of Europe because of progressive improvements in the mode of living among every class of society. Not true in Iceland, however. The description of leprosy given by Henry Holland in their publication lacks. little from the clinical point of view.
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Another problem in Iceland was smallpox. A severe epidemic occurred in 1707 and the mortality mounted to 16,000 almost one-fourth of the entire population. Vaccine was introduced to the island from Denmark; however, because of the small population and wide geographic distribution, innoculation was suspended. Mackenzie, Bright and Holland had brought with them a few vaccine crusts to use for innoculation. They succeeded in innoculating numerous children in Reikiavik and their plan of innoculating from the crust showed "doubtless secure the inhabitants of permanent continuance of this blessing." Numerous other less common conditions are noted. These include pulmonary complaints, psora, epilepsy, hypochondriasis and gout. A final devastating disease known in Iceland as Ginkolfe, or tetanus or trismus neonatorum. This disease in newboms was found to exist only on the Westmann Islands, where there are only approximately 200 inhabitants. In twenty years, not a single child born in the Westmann Islands survived. The Danish government took official action and requested the landphysicus of Iceland to visit Westmann to investigate the nature and cause of this disease. In 1810, this gentleman made the trip but did not see a single case of the disease but he obtained all the pertinent facts. One can but speculate as to why the children died. Particularly if the mothers went to the mainland, the children survived and did not contract the disease. In those days it was the custom to wrap the children in swaddling clothes which, having been washed and dried in the open air, were an invitation to the great masses of birds (Fulmars) which swarmed the Westmann Islands. Could not the tetanus organisms have been deposited on the swaddling clothes from the excrement of the birds and then transferred to the umbilical cord? In summary then, the four major diseases affecting this island are all amenable either to prophylaxis, good public health standards, or direct treatment to such an extent that these diseases are almost unknown in our present society. Our group of adventurers, Mackenzie, the mineralogist, Bright and Holland the physicians, contributed much to the literature of the world in 1810 outside the realms of their own areas of expertise. As typical of the early 1800s, these three gentlemen were true Renaissance men. That is, they were enthusiastic and displayed vigorous activity along literary, artistic, and cultural lines by an increasing pursuit of learning and by an imaginative response to broader horizons, all general concepts of the Renaissance. REFERENCES in the Island Travels of Iceland During the Summer of the Year 1810. 1. MACKENZIE, G. S.: Archibald Constable and Company, Edinburgh, 1811. 2. KARK, R. M. AND KARK, J. E.: The Life and Times of Richard Bright, M.D. (1789-1858). Francis and Taylor, London, (To be published).
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DISCUSSION DR. JAMES TOOLE (Winston-Salem): I would like to suggest that the neonatal tetanus may have been caused not by flying birds as suggested by Bright but by a custom which persists even now in countries such as Nigeria and India. Natives put a pultice of dung on the stump of the umbilical cord after the baby is born despite all attempts to educate them not to do so. Why they do this is unknown but it is an ancient tradition, widespread in primitive cultures. Perhaps it causes hemostosis but it also results in neonatal tetanus. DR. BECKER: That is very interesting. There was no such comment in the Iceland literature. DR. WILLIAM BEAN (Galveston): I enjoyed this enormously. Many of you are probably aware that Richard Bright wrote one of the best travelogues: Travels Through Lower Hungary, which was published in 1819 and has now become a very rare book. I would like to recall to memory what some of you heard me say after my paper on the small and the trivial at our meeting at Cooperstown in 1960 under the benevolent reign of Marshall Fulton. My comment was on the shortest chapter of any book I know. I quoted it as being the History of Iceland by the good Bishop Pontoppidan.* The chaper on Owls in Iceland reads "There are no owls in Iceland." (applause) * I had read this in Albert J. Nock's Memoirs of a Superfluous Man-incidentally, a splendid biography. John Blake, in the rare books collection of the National Library of Medicine, tells me that Bishop Erik Pontoppidan never published any history of Iceland. I then found out from Quincy Munford, Librarian of Congress in Washington, that Niel N. Horrebow wrote a book entitled Natural History of Iceland, published in London in 1758. The good scholar Horrebow had on page 61, chapter XLII concerning owls. It reads as follows: "There are no owls of any kind in the whole island." But then rather shockingly in a footnote he says: "Mr Anderson says there are various species of owls in Iceland, as the cat-owl, the horn-owl, and the stone-owl." He likewise published a print of one "catched in the farther part of Iceland on a ship homeward bound from Greenland." von Proil wrote a book on Iceland which has a chapter concerning the snakes of Iceland. It runs as follows: "There are no snakes in Iceland." I apologize for perpetrating an error, but am delighted to remind you that Ireland and Iceland are devoid of serpents and under the best of circumstances, there are only a few owls. I atone for any injury I have done to the spirit of Bishop Pontoppidan and brother Horrebow.
