tively to fulfil what he now considered the main purpose of
his life, the winning of souls to the Church. As, since his
conversion, he had given every evidence of the most sincere piety and
humble simplicity, his desires were granted. His book on geology,
however, was partly written during the very time when he was preparing
for sacred orders, and was warmly welcomed by all his Catholic
friends. After spending some time as a missionary, and attracting a
great deal of attention by his devout life and by the many friends and
converts he succeeded in making, the recently converted Duke of
Hanover asked that the zealous Danish convert should be made bishop of
his capital city. This request was immediately granted, and Stensen
spent several years {140} in the hardest missionary labor in his new
field. As a matter of fact, his labors proved too much for his rather
delicate constitution, and he died at the comparatively early age of
forty-eight. The visitor to the University of Copenhagen marvels to
find among the portraits of her professors of anatomy one in the robes
of a Roman Catholic bishop. This is Stensen. In 1881, when the
International Geographical Congress met at Bologna, it adjourned at
the end of the session to Florence to unveil a bust of Stensen, over
his tomb there. Here evidently is a man whose life is well worth
studying, because of all that it means for the history of his time.

Nicholas Stensen--or, as he is often called, Steno, because this is
the Latin form of his name, and Latin was practically exclusively
used, during his age, in scientific circles all over Europe--was born
20 January, 1638, in Copenhagen. His father died while he was
comparatively young, and his mother married again, both her husbands
being goldsmiths in high repute for their skill, and both of them in
rather well-to-do circumstances. His early education was obtained at
Copenhagen, and the results displayed in his attainments show how well
it must have been conducted. Later in life he spoke and wrote Latin
very fluently and had, besides, a very thorough knowledge of Greek and
of Hebrew. Of the modern languages, German, French, Italian, and Low
Dutch he knew very well, mainly from residence in the various
countries in which they {141} are spoken. A more unusual attainment at
that time, and one showing the ardor of his thirst for knowledge, was
an acquaintance with English. In early life he was especially fond of
mathematics and, indeed,