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SCIENTIFIC TRAVELS. GEOGRAPHY.
495
well-qnalified travelers, was more and more recognized. Linné (1707/78) was
despatched by the Government of the day to different parts of the country, and
his descriptions of his numerous journeyings may be said to be the best literature
on the subject published in the 18th century. They contributed, moreover,
incalculably, by their wealth of ethnographical and also geographical illustrative data
to stimulate an interest in the description of definite localities; many of the clergy
of his day were, moreover, induced by bis example to commit to paper very
valuable accounts of the districts in which their work lay. The materials
forthcoming in that manner have formed a basis for subsequent descriptive surveys of
the whole country; tho best of these probably were that from the hand of Daniel
Djurberg (1744*1834) and one by K. V. S. Tham (1812/73): A Description of
the Realm of Sweden, published 1849/55, but unfortunately never completed.
Though the works named and others contain many valuable and interesting
facts, yet they do not naturally come up to the standard expected at the present
day of a geographical work. Descriptions of the whole country and of its
divisions, based upon thoroughly scientific investigation, are still wanting. The work
of the past few decades has been concerned principally with the collection of new
and more extensive materials and with the discussion of small areas in detail. The
researches made by the Geological Survey of Sweden and by a number of private
individuals, into the origin of the fundamental rocks, the formations from the Glacial
Epoch, and the variations in the level of the land that have occurred in the
Scandinavian peninsula, have rendered the study of the conformation of the country a
more thorough and profound one, but they belong exclusively to the domain of
Physical geography. Thanks to the labours of A. E. Törnebohm (born 1838),
.1. Hamberg (born 1863), Fr. Svenonius (born 1852), P. Holmquist (born 1866),
and others, our knowledge of alpine regions in North Sweden, formerly rather
inaccessible, has been very materially increased latterly. A comprehensive survey
of the numerous investigations of the Quaternary deposits — embodied for the most
part in the publications of the above-named Geological Survey of Sweden and of
the Geological Society in Stockholm — was given by G. De Geer in 1896 in: The
(geographical Development of Sweden after the Glacial Epoch. The evolution, too,
of organic life has also recently been made the subject of study, whereby, on the
basis of investigations on peat-mosses and other formations, new light has been
thrown upon it. The main results of the work hitherto carried out in this field
are to be fonnd summarized in: The History of the Swedish Plant-world, by
Gunnar Andersson (born 1865). The seas that encompass Scandinavia have
been studied with an elaborateness previously unthought of, and on partially new
methods, by F. L. Ekman (1830/90), O. Pettersson (born 1848), P. T. ’Cleve
(born 1840), and others. Their results have been registered in scientific papers
and treatises, included, as a rule, among the publications of the Academy of
Sciences. In statistical and economical regard is to be remembered the thorough
aad comprehensive investigations of the celebrated Swedish Demography as well
as the publications in other branches of our official statistics. In the fields of
ethnography and language a great amount of material has been collected, though
the working up of it has not as yet, save in exceptional instances, proceeded far
enough for the geographical results to be obtainable. The North Museum at
Stockholm and the records collected and preserved by the various Dialect
Associations at the universities, together with the publications of those bodies, form an
abimdant stock of material, from which at some future date an exhaustive
geographical treatment of these phases of the Swedish national character and culture
"ay arise. In one or two cases, the preliminary work spoken of has so far
advanced that descriptions of the several provinces have been already planned,
oving a faithful picture of the development of the province in every direction.
The first part of the account of the province of Uppland appeared in 1901.
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