In the same year, 3 men committed suicide; 65 were drowned; 17 perished by accidents, and 1939 died of disease. The smallest number of deaths (128) occurred in February, the coldest month; and the greatest number (205) in July, the warmest.
There is little of novelty in the religious ceremonies accompanying baptisms, marriages, and funerals, which are those of the Augsburg rite; but there is something to say upon the subject of names. Until the middle of the last century, the surnames, as in olden Kent, were all patronymics or matronymics; such was the ancient fashion of Europe, especially of England and Germany, a custom still preserved by the great Slav race (vich or ich), and by the modern Greeks, who prefer-poulo and who almost ignore the ancient-ides. It is notorious how Linne (Linnæus), the prince of naturalists, was prompted by the growing use of family names to devise the generic and specific distinctions, which superseded a system cumbrous and intricate as that of a Chinese dictionary. In very thinly populated countries, where every man knew his neighbour, it was possible to be called Jón Jónsson[183] and Caroline Jónsdóttir, but so rude a plan would not serve elsewhere. We still find it in the country parts of Iceland, and, curious to say, the people are returning to the old fashion of taking the paternal name as surname. The matronymic, e.g., Sveinn Ástriðarson, in early times was assumed when the mother outlived the father: it was never a mark of base blood; as amongst the Spaniards, where El Hijo de ruin padre, Toma el apelido de la madre.
In 1855, a curious official paper was published under the title “Um Mannaheiti á Íslandi.” It shows that the island has only 63 native surnames, and 530 men’s and 529 women’s Christian names: no wonder that “nicknames” are common as amongst Moslems and Brazilians. Hence local cognomens are also much used, as Peter of Engey, and Jón of the “Strönd,” i.e., the coast from Hafnafjörð to Keblavik. The popular address would be Herra Bonde (Mr Farmer), Herra Hreppstjóri (Mr Constable), or “Good day, comrade!” sounding very republican, and accompanied by a resounding kiss.
Every fifth man appears to affect, in one of five forms, the fourth Evangelist. Jón (Johns, 4827), Jóhannes (498), Jóhann (494), Hannes (154), and Hans (80), making a total of 5053. On the other hand, whilst Odin has disappeared, Thór, in compounded shape, enters into 2010 male and 1875 female “Christian” names = 3885. Guðrún[184] numbers 4363; Marguerite, 1654; yet Marias, elsewhere so common,[185] are only 384; and Rosas decline to 269. Amongst historical names, we find 122 Sæmundr; of Biblical names, even the quaintest and the most Hebraical, such as Samson, Samuel, and Solomon, Jael, and Judith, are here common as in all Protestant countries: Catholics more wisely avoid them, leaving them to their original Jewish owners. The western counties affect the strangest terms, such as Petra, Petrea, Petrina, Petulína, and Tobía, a feminine. And throughout the island there is arising a new fashion of combining names almost as ingenious as that of the Latter-Day Saints. For instance, the daughter of Brynjólfur by Thórdís will be called Bryndís; the son of Sæmundr by Elina is named Elínmundr. Of course nothing can be more barbarous, but what does “fashion” care for barbarism?
In pagan times the wife was often assisted by Friðlas or supernumeraries, and, though she was liable to be exchanged or loaned, as was the case amongst the polished Hindús, the Greeks, and the Romans, she could put away her baron for so slight an offence as wearing a chemisette, or any other article of feminine attire. The simple process was to declare before witnesses that they twain ceased to be one flesh. The marriage tie sat almost as lightly upon Icelanders as upon Scandinavians generally, even in the Catholic days: since the introduction of Lutheranism, it has, as we might expect, been still less binding.[186] We may therefore conclude that a certain love of change is in such matters a characteristic of the race. At present every peine infamante allows divorce; and incompatibility of temper, shown by three years of separation, with the consent of the mayor, is a plea of sufficient force to claim from the Minister of Justice at Copenhagen freedom a mensâ et thoro. Both parties are able to remarry, and they may be reunited, unless they have misconducted themselves whilst living apart; in this case they must obtain a dispensation from the chancellerie of the empire.
§ 5. Diseases.
It is calculated that the yearly deaths at Reykjavik average 59-60, and this figure, if correct, is high for the population, in 1870 only 2024, now at most 2500. For instance, the mean of London being 19 per 1000, and all England 20·8, to say nothing of Glastonbury, Reykjavik, with the most favourable calculations, would be 24.[187] With more attention to hygiene, the headquarter village should not show a death-rate exceeding 17:1000—the beau-ideal of the modern sanitarian.
The list of diseases is so extensive that little beyond the names can be mentioned. They result mainly from the utter absence of hygiene; from want of cleanliness; from bad living, hardship, and fatigue; and from exposure to cold, especially after living in close and heated rooms. The latter is a fertile source of ill-health: so at St Petersburgh the higher classes suffer from the maladies of Calcutta, hepatalgia, jaundice, and spleen-enlargments; and, after a certain number of “seasons,” they must seek health in the Crimea, or in Southern Europe. Hence the fondness of Icelanders for sour food which equals that of the acid-loving citizens of Damascus. The pudding of the island is Skyr, which the Dictionary wrongly translates “curdled milk, curds,” and which Rafn derives from the Sanskrit Kshira (milk): it is the Khir of Sind and Belochistan; the Laban of Arabia; the Dahin of Hindostan; the Saure-milch of South Germany; the Kisalina of Styria and Slavland, and the Hattelkit or Corstorphine Cream of Scotland.[188] Icelanders eat it with sugar, which gives it a sickly taste. Hence the use of acid butter; of Mysuost, or whey cheese, brown, and not unlike guava cheese; of Valle, fermented whey, somewhat like Koumiss; of Sýra, or sour whey, acting small beer, and used in pickles like vinegar; of Súr mjólk, or sour milk; and of Blanda, the favourite drink, half whey and half water, into which blueberries, and black, crake, or crow berries (Icel. Krækjuber, Empetrum baccis nigris) are sometimes infused. And hence, finally, the use of Korn-súra (Polygonum viviparum), Cochlearia (officinalis and Danica), trefoil (T. repens), Sedum Acre (house leek), and other social plants, which are considered antiseptic and antibilious.
The skin diseases are alopecia, herpes, and psora inveterate as on the Congo River. “St Anthony’s fire” was cured by binding live earth-worms upon the part afflicted. Scurvy (Skyrbjúgr) results from “thinness of blood,” induced by want of proper nourishment, especially by the overuse of salt and dried meat and fish: the increased growth of vegetables, not to speak of medicines, has much modified its malignancy. Measles and scarlatina are rare, but periodical attacks of smallpox, which often appear in history,[189] still compel the capital to convert one of the best houses into an hospital. In 1872, it was occupied by French fishermen only; there was no case among the natives. The author did not see a single instance of the protean and the most cosmopolitan of diseases, whose various phases are known as Lepra Arabum, Leuce, and Mal Rouge; Leontasis, or Facies leonina; Elephantias, Elephantiasis, and Barbadoes Leg. It is known to old writers as “Icelandic scurvy,” to the islanders as Lík-thrá-sótt, or corpse-pang, which Henderson translates, a rotten, rancid corpse;[190] Holdsveiki, or flesh-weakness, and Spitalska (’Spital sickness), the latter being the biblical term. When the extremities drop off, the term generally applied was Limafallsíki.
In the ninth century, leprosy required some 19,000 hospitals in Europe; and it has perhaps lingered longest in the Færoes and in Iceland. Here, curious to observe, its very headquarters were about Skagi and Reykjanes, the best and mildest climates. A few cases still remain, but the establishments built in Catholic days have not been kept up by the Reformation, perhaps showing the want to be less urgent. The horrid malady is evidently dying a natural death, like others which have yielded their places to new comers, or which are gradually disappearing, without leaving issue. The best authorities explain the change by the use of bromide of potassium and the increase of vegetable diet. And to the question of Aretæus, “Sed quænam medela excogitari poterit, quæ Elephantem, tam ingens malum, expugnari digna est?” Iceland answers, fearless of Cobbett, the potato. The latter has taken the place of the old-fashioned simples, the tops and berries of juniper (J. communis), of Dryas octopelata, of Vaccinium myrtillus (bilberries), of Sanguisorbs, and of similar sub-acid tonics.