incomplete notes on the distribution and use of iceland ... · incomplete notes on the distribution...
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Incomplete notes on the distribution and uses of Iceland spar crystals
Introduction - developments to 1862
Much remains to be found out about the exporting, trading and subsequent applications of the
Iceland spar which was recovered at the Helgustaðir site in Reyðarfjörður, E-Iceland. This
compilation is therefore quite fragmentary. It is partly based on evidence from advertisements
and from catalogs issued by equipment manufacturers and suppliers which the author has
purchased or are accessible at various Internet websites.
It may be assumed that up to around 1805 much of the crystals recovered were transported to
Copenhagen through the nearby trading post at Stóra-Breiðavík. It is not known whether
collection efforts there were sporadic or organized to some extent. There are also reports of
scientists (such as O. Olavius in the late 1770s) and other travellers digging at the site. French
boats fished in Icelandic waters up to the 1790s, and these or vessels accompanying the
fishing fleet sometimes anchored off Helgustaðir.
After 1805 the Eskifjörður village became the main trading site in the fjord. I have not seen
reports of collections organized by parties from there until 1850. Travellers however kept
visiting the site, one major instance being the recovery of at least several crateloads of crystals
by P. Gaimard´s expedition in 1836. Fishing by the French around Iceland resumed after
1815, often with 50-100 boats. The first commercial effort of collecting crystals for export
was organized by a Seyðisfjörður merchant around 1850.
Fig. 1. Parts of an advertisement for doppelspath, quartz and tourmaline preparations, by
J.W. Albert. It appeared in Trommsdorff's Neues Journal der Pharmacie vol. 16, 1828.
The oldest advertisement for Iceland spar products that the author has seen is from J.W.
Albert in Frankfurt, 1828 (Fig. 1). Demand for Iceland spar must have stepped up from the
mid-1830s onwards, with the increasing use of Nicol prisms in optical experimentation and as
an optional accessory in some microscopes for biologists and amateurs. Opticians in Berlin,
Paris, Edinburgh and London are known to have produced such prisms. Catalogs from the
1840s are advertising them as well as other spar preparations, e.g. from the firms of Lerebours
& Secretan, Buron, Breton frères, Deleuil (Fig. 2) and Pixii in Paris 1839-53. Spar rhombs,
Nicol prisms and simple polarizing instruments are offered by B. Pike in New York in 1848,
Bland & Long in London in 1854, etc.
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Papers describing polarimeter designs from the famous Soleil workshop in Paris appeared in
scientific journals from 1845 onwards. By 1850 improved models were becoming common
e.g. in the sugar industry in France, but decades passed before there was any significant
demand for saccharimeters from British or U.S. sugar interests.
The minerals dealer A. Krantz in Bonn advertises spar rhombs in 1853. An 1855 catalog of
the equally well-known London educational instrument supplier J.J. Griffin includes
microscopes with polarizing attachments, many spar preparations (Fig. 2), and specimens of
½" - 3" diameter. Griffin "just received from Iceland a large supply of this beautiful mineral
of a quality well suited for optical purposes".
Fig. 2. Left: Part of the selection of experimental equipment relating to polarized light in
Catalogue d'Instruments de Physique, de Chimie, d'Optique... issued by J.A. Deleuil in Paris,
1848. This catalog also includes an entry "Rhomboïde de spath d'Islande, très pur, de 5 à 500
fr." Right: Iceland spar preparations in J.J. Griffin's Catalogue of Microscopes, Microscopic
Objects, and Apparatus for the Polarisation of Light, 1855.
An Eskifjörður merchant exported some 50 tons in the late 1850s; it is likely that only a small
proportion of this material was suitable for use in optical instrumentation. In 1862 a ship sank
at Helgustaðir while being loaded with spar for another local merchant.The author has been
able to consult catalogs and advertisements from several suppliers of crystals and polarizing
instrumentation dating from 1857-60. These include E.-J. Menier and Ch. Chevalier in Paris,
Warmbrunn, Quilitz & Co. in Berlin, J. & W. Grunow in New Haven, and J.W. Queen in
Philadelphia, Among microscope makers selling optional polarizing attachments around 1865
were E. Hartnack and A. Nachet in Paris, C. Zeiss in Jena and T. Ross in London.
The first Tulinius period, 1863-72
The Helgustaðir quarry was leased to the Eskifjörður businessman C.D. Tulinius in 1863-72
for an annual fee. He is reported to have recovered about 280 tons of spar, much exceeding
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the demand for it in that period. A stockpile (the size of which does not seem to have been
disclosed) was therefore built up in Eskifjörður. Prices charged by Tulinius for optical-quality
crystals kept rising, and numerous complaints about a "spar-famine" situation may be found
in the scientific literature from about 1882 onwards.
Some of the Iceland spar recovered in this period is known to have been exported to Britain,
including one shipment in 1870 containing the large crystal of the Science Museum in
Kensington. However, the consumption of spar by British optical firms does not seem to have
been great, whereas in France and in Germany vigorous development of polarized-light
devices was taking place in the 1870s. Polarimeters and saccharimeters were produced in
large quantities by firms such as Soleil's successors J. Duboscq and L. Laurent in Paris, and
by Franz Schmidt & Haensch near Berlin (established in 1864). An 1870 catalog from
Duboscq lists a large selection of spar preparations for educational purposes. A few of these
are shown in Fig. 3; also included were simple polariscopes (to observe e.g. sky polarization,
reflections, and photoelastic effects, projectors, and so on. A similar selection is offered by
the Paris firms E. Ducretet in 1870 and É. Lutz in 1872, while some British suppliers at that
time like L. Casella and Negretti & Zambra present a narrower range.
Fig. 3. Two small clippings from Catalogue Systématique des Appareils d'Optique Construits
dans les Ateliers de J. Duboscq, 1870.
Other instruments from the above period employing Nicol prisms include Wild polarimeters
produced mostly in Switzerland from the mid-1860s, specialized crystallographic equipment
such as stauroscopes, and early versions of polarizing photometers. Some workshops provided
specimens of Iceland spar, quartz and other materials that had been cut and polished to precise
specifications for fundamental research. W. Steeg was advertising such preparations already
in 1857; Steeg & Reuter in Berlin were indeed often acknowledged in the physics literature
for their services. The firms of C.A. Niendorf in Bernau and B. Halle in Steglitz (Fig. 4)
which also specialized in crystal optics, were established in 1868 and 1873 respectively.
Polarizing microscopes (with built-in rather than optional Nicol prisms) gained increasing
popularity among petrographers from the 1870s onwards. They were produced by some of the
makers mentioned above as well as by R. Fuess in Berlin (established in 1865, see Fig. 5) and
R.& J. Beck in London. J.W. Queen in Philadelphia sold instruments from these European
firms along with their own brands, but an 1888 paper states that attempts by American makers
at supplying petrographic microscopes had up to then been wholly inadequate.
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Fig. 4. Left: Technicians splitting Iceland spar crystals. Undated photo from an anniversary
booklet "90 Jahre im Dienste der Optik" published by B. Halle Nachf. in 1963. Right: A page
from a Preis-liste by B. Halle c. 1895, offering a very wide range of Iceland spar products.
Events in 1873-1895 and in the second Tulinius period 1895-1910
Some of the previously mentioned producers continued to turn out polarizing instruments in
large numbers during the late 19th century. These included R. Fuess, A.Nachet, Franz
Schmidt & Haensch, Ph. Pellin (successor to J. Duboscq), and A. Jobin (successor to L.
Laurent). As mentioned above, widespread complaints about a "spar famine" may be found in
the literature from the early 1880s onwards. The Government therefore organized quarrying
on a small scale at Helgustaðir in 1882 and 1885. The crystals recovered were shipped to
Franz Schmidt in Berlin and H. Struers in Copenhagen respectively.
Among other producers of petrographic microscopes and polarimeters which had established
themselves in this market by 1900, were Voigt & Hochgesang and R. Winkel in Göttingen, A.
Krüss in Hamburg, J. Peters and H. Heele in Berlin, E. Leitz in Wetzlar, Société Genevoise in
Geneva, C. Reichert in Vienna, and W. Watson in London. A few polarimeters are shown in
Fig. 6. Each instrument generally contained two Nicol prisms and sometimes other
accessories made of Iceland spar. Other instrument types such as photometers (Fig. 8) were
also produced. To these users we must add many suppliers of Iceland spar preparations for
research and education around 1900, e.g. Max Kohl in Chemnitz, E. Leybold's Nachf. in
Cologne, F. Ernecke in Berlin, C. Gerhardt in Bonn, Fils d'E. Deyrolle in Paris, A. Stendicke
in New York, A.B. Porter's Scientific Shop in Chicago, and L.E. Knott Co. in Boston.
Not much Iceland spar seems to have been consumed in Britain, but there are reports of a few
unusually large Nicol prisms being constructed there in the early 1870s. These as well as a 5"
sphere may have been made from crystals in two cargoes of spar referred to in an 1876
lecture. A. Hilger in London advertised triangular spar prisms for spectral analysis (e.g. of
ultraviolet light) in 1880-82. In view of the great wastage involved in the production of Nicol
prisms, the total amount of optical-quality material required by all of the above producers and
suppliers, must have reached hundreds of kilograms annually.
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Tulinius' stock from the 1863-72 mining seems to have lasted to at least 1889. A part of it was
then moved to Copenhagen; buyers were being referred to his son T.E. Tulinius who set up an
independent business in the city in that year.
Fig. 5. Advertisement from R. Fuess, in Zeitschrift für Kristallographie 1911.
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In 1895, the quarry was leased to C.D. and T.E. Tulinius, who operated it until 1910. A
number of their annual reports to the Government are preserved in the National Archives,
indicating that of the order of 100-250 pounds (0.5 kg.) of first-class crystals were sold every
year. In some of these years, they report that no material was recovered from the quarry. New
producers of polarizing equipment from around 1900 include Bausch & Lomb in Rochester,
New York, F. Koritska in Milan, and Cambridge Instrument Co. in England which e.g. made
optical pyrometers and spectrophotometers (Fig. 8). To serve expanding sugar and starch
industries as well as research in organic chemistry and biochemistry, Schmidt & Haensch-
and Laurent- polarimeters were imported by Baird & Tatlock in London, Eimer & Amend in
New York, and Henry Heil in St. Louis. Iceland spar crystals were also needed for museum
displays, dichroscopes, photoelasticity apparatus, magneto- and electro-optical research,
certain ophthalmological instruments, X-ray spectrographs, and various other applications.
Fig. 6. The number of designs of polarimeters (including saccharimeters) available in the
decades around 1900 must have been at least a hundred, from at least a dozen makers.
Among the most significant of these makers were the Franz Schmidt & Haensch (top left) and
the Duboscq-Pellin (top right) workshops. Below: a spectro-polarimeter from A. Hilger (left)
and a J.J. Fric saccharimeter designed by F.Bates of the U.S. Bureau of Standards.
Events in 1910-30
In 1910 the authorities asked for bids on the operation of the Helgustaðir quarry from 1 July
for 10 years. Only two bids were received, from T.E. Tulinius (backed by C. Zeiss?) and a
more advantageous one from two Icelandic entrepreneurs on behalf of a French company.
Tulinius was permitted to keep half of the then existing spar stockpile, and soon disposed of
it. The other half (each about 7 tons) was sold to the French, whose advisor was said to be a
Mr. Jobin. These transactions created intense political debate. The French company
apparently operated the quarry in the late summer of 1910, in 1911, 1912 and part of the 1914
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season. I have only found scarce information on their activities, but they seem to have
removed many tons altogether. Sporadic mining of Iceland spar took place at the Hoffell farm
in Southeast Iceland from 1911 to the late 1930s. Some crystals from there may have been
exported to C. Zeiss or other buyers in Germany. Only quite limited amounts of optical-
quality material were recovered elsewhere (California, Germany, Crimea,...) until 1920.
Fig. 7. One of the 15 pages describing Kalkspath-Präparate in a 1914 catalog by Dr. Steeg &
Reuter. The catalog also includes a variety of polarizing microscopes.
With Parliament’s consent, the Government subsequently decided to operate the Helgustaðir
quarry on its own. A young mining engineer, H.H. Eiríksson, was hired in 1920 to direct
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activities. In 1922 Parliament passed an Act to the effect that the State had a monopoly on
selling all Iceland spar recovered; this legislation was annulled in 1933.
Fig. 8. Various optical devices based on Nicol prisms. Among tasks of white-light
photometers was the measurement of photographic plates with the Martens meter e.g. in
spectroscopy (top left), and surveys of stellar magnitudes with the Zöllner (center) meter. On
the right is a Klein polymeter for detailed studies of double refraction in single crystals.
Below is a Glazebrook spectrophotometer (left), a Michel-Lévy comparator attachment for
petrographic microscopes, and a Wanner pyrometer for measuring high temperatures (right).
A biography of H.H. Eiríksson published in 1970 indicates that some tons of Iceland spar
were recovered in 1920-24. This material was exported gradually during the next few years.
In fiscal records, income from these sales is listed on a few occasions, for instance 5300 kr. in
1929 which was of a similar order of magnitude as the annual wages of a civil engineer. A
prime reason given in the biography for terminating operations at Helgustaðir is that the major
manufacturers of polarized-light equipment had found a cheaper and more practical material
to replace their spar components. Additionally, it is claimed that British Customs authorities
were discontinuing the use of polarimetry for sugar assays. It now seems clear that both these
claims were incorrect; Polaroid sheets which did not become available until c. 1935, only
substituted for Iceland spar in some applications. What actually happened was that shipments
of Iceland spar began arriving on the market from South Africa in the early 1920s.
It is still largely unknown to the author, how the Iceland spar crystals reached those who
processed them in various ways for selling or for incorporating in optical instrumentation.
Some documentation on this probably exists in archives in Iceland, Denmark, Germany, etc.
Leó Kristjánsson - July/Aug. 2014