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488
IV. EDUCATION AND MENTAL CULTURE IN SWEDEN.
etc.), A. Hamberg (maritime hydrography). Measurements of the altitude
and movements of clouds were made by Ekholm in 1883 at Cape Thordsen in
Spitzbergen, and, from 1884 onwards, in Uppsala by Ekholm, K. L. Hagström
(born 1855), and others. It was determined at the international meteorological
congress held at Munich in 1891, on the proposition of Hildebrandsson, that
measurements of the same kind should be carried out simultaneously at a large
number of different places; for Sweden these were conducted in Uppsala by
J. Westman (born 1867) and A. Lundal (born 1864). Investigation as to the
classification of clouds and the upper atmospheric currents has been carried on
bv Hildebrandsson and others. Andree, in the course of nine balloon
expeditions 1893/95, made observations of great value concerning the character of the
upper regions of the atmosphere.
Rubenson brought together in a stout catalogue all the observations regarding
aurora borealis made in Sweden up to the year 1877. With the aid of these
and other observations, S. Arrhenius (born 1859) and Ekholm have discovered,
or rather investigated, two remarkable periods of considerable amplitude of the
auroræ (borealis and australis), atmospheric electricity and thunderstorms, one
due to the moon’s tropical period, the other to an unknown reason, perhaps the
rotation of the sun. Arrhenius has further shown that the great climatic changes
that took place on the Earth in the geological part may be explained in the
main as due to comparatively slight variations in the percentage of carbonic dioxide
contained in the atmosphere. The question of climatic changes has also been
studied by Ekholm, who has arrived at similar conclusions.
The official publications on this subject are: »Bulletin mensuel de 1’observatoire
météorologique de l’Université d’Upsal»; »Observations météorologiques suédoises
publiées par l’Académie royale des Sciences de Suède, exécutées et rédigées sous
la direction de 1’Institut Central de Météorologie» (Swedish and french); »Bulletin
météorologique du Nord», published jointly by the meteorological institutions of
Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Semi-official is, moreover, »Monthly Survey of
the Weather in Sweden, published in the service of agriculture, under the
superintendence of the Central Meteorological Office» (Swedish), by H. E. Hamberg
Scientific Travels. Geography.
In the great geographical discoveries at the dawn of modern times Sweden
had no part, either as a founder of colonies or otherwise. Within the
boundaries of their own country itself, however, in its northern districts, more especially
Lappland, colonizing work of a very extensive character has fallen to the lot of
Swedes. The first to give any account of those regions was Olaus Magni
(1490/1558); he traversed Northern Sweden in 1518/19, penetrating at least as
far as Öfver-Torneå. The large map of Northern Regions published by him at
Venice in 1539, and still more his »Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus»,
printed in Rome in 1555, attracted great attention in the rest of Europe. During
the succeeding years still greater notice was drawn to the North of Europe by
reason of frontier disputes. The first detailed map of North Sweden was issued
in 1611 by A. Bureus (1571/1646). The first scientific expedition equipped in
Sweden had Lappland for its destination. It was despatched by King Charles XI
in 1695; J. Bilberg (1646/1717) and A. Spole (1630/99), astronomers, and
Olof Rudbeck, the Younger (1660/1740), botanist, were members of the
expedition.
During the 17th century, the Era of Political Greatness of Sweden, the
range of vision of our people was extended beyond the boundaries of their own
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