Part 25 (1/2)

q Kiel is a port city in northern Germany. The Belts are two straits in Denmark that connect the Baltic Sea with the large strait called the Kattegat. Holstein is the region between the Eider and Elbe Rivers, now the southern part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.

r Approximately 2 francs and 75 centimes (author's note).

s Bertel Thorvaldsen, Danish neocla.s.sical sculptor (c.1770-1844).

t English name for the Danish city of Helsingr, the site of Castle Kronberg, the original setting of Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet.

u Castle Kronberg and the city of Helsingr lie across a sound from Helsingborg. Both these Swedish cities are at the entrance to the Kattegat, a strait between Sweden and Denmark that forms part of the connection between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.

v The Skagerrak is an arm of the North Sea that lies between Denmark and Norway; Cape Lindesnes is located at the southernmost tip of Norway.

w Mykines is actually the island farthest to the west.

x The geographical reference point is unclear.

y Yet in the process of deciphering Saknussemm's ma.n.u.script, Axel had in fact identified what he thought were French and Hebrew elements.

z The Index Prohibitorius, which specified books forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church.

aa La Recherche was sent out in 1835 by Admiral Duperre to learn the fate of the lost expedition of Mr. de Blosseville and the Lilloise, which was never heard of again (author's note). See also endnote 6. Recherche was sent out in 1835 by Admiral Duperre to learn the fate of the lost expedition of Mr. de Blosseville and the Lilloise, which was never heard of again (author's note). See also endnote 6.

ab Just over 100 statute miles.

ac 16 francs 98 centimes (author's note).

ad A Ruhmkorff device consists of a Bunsen battery operated by means of pota.s.sium dichromate, which does not smell; an induction coil puts the electricity generated by the battery in contact with a lantern of a particular design; in this lantern there is a spiral gla.s.s tube that contains a vacuum with only a residue of carbon dioxide or nitrogen. When the device is operative, this gas becomes luminous, producing a steady whitish light. The battery and coil are placed into a leather bag that the traveler carries on a shoulder strap. The lantern, carried outside, supplies quite sufficient light even in deep darkness; it allows one to venture into the midst of the most inflammable gases without fear of explosions, and it is not extinguished even in the deepest waters. Mr. Ruhmkorff is a scholar and skilled physicist; his great discovery is the induction coil, which allows one to generate high-tension electricity. In 1864, he won the five-year prize of 50,000 francs reserved by the French government for the most ingenious application of electricity (author's note).

ae Danish mathematician (1788-1876) who traveled to Iceland between 1831 and 1843 to carry out a large-scale topographical survey and design maps on a grant from the Copenhagen Literature Society.

af And wherever fortune opens up a path, we will follow (Latin; from Virgil's Aeneid Aeneid 11.128). 11.128).

ag Icelandic farmer's house (author's note).

ah Eight leagues (author's note).

ai A gigantic statue of the sun G.o.d Helios, built between 294 and 282 B.C. in the ancient Greek city of Rhodes.

aj The rivers Alfta and Hitard in Iceland.

ak In Hamburg currency, about 90 francs (author's note).

al In chapter VI, Professor Lidenbrock had indicated 1219 as the last eruption date (see p. 31; in fact, it was about A.D. 200.).

am Rocks containing silicates of magnesium, iron, and calcium.

an G.o.d of the underworld in Greek mythology.

ao The descent to h.e.l.l is easy (Latin; from Virgil's Aeneid Aeneid 6.126); the literal meaning of the phrase-”the descent to Avernus is easy”-refers to Lake Avernus, near what is now Naples, Italy; the lake was once believed to be an entrance to the underworld. 6.126); the literal meaning of the phrase-”the descent to Avernus is easy”-refers to Lake Avernus, near what is now Naples, Italy; the lake was once believed to be an entrance to the underworld.

ap So called because the soils of this period are wide-spread in England, in the regions once inhabited by the celtic tribe of the Silurians (author's note). The Silurian period occurred 438 to 410 million years ago.

aq That is, who take a long detour to reach a place nearby.

ar Fucus is a type of brown algae; lycopods are club mosses, spore-bearing evergreen plants with leaves that resemble needles.

as That is, soils of the Devonian period (410-360 million years ago).

at Primitive fishes that have thick, bony scales with a s.h.i.+ny surface.

au 360-286 million years ago.

av Sigillaria is a tree-size lycopod that is found as a fossil in ancient coal formations, where the asterophyllite, a fossil plant, also occurs.

aw Spa is a famous site of therapeutic hot springs in Belgium. Toplitz is the German name for Teplice, a town in what is today the north of the Czech Republic; it was a famous spa in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

ax Bach is the German word for creek. is the German word for creek.

ay John Cleves Symmes (1780-1829), a former American army officer and an ardent advocate of a theory that the Earth is hollow and has entrances thousands of miles wide at the poles.