it was almost by accident that this did not
become his chosen field of educational development.

At eighteen he became a student of the University of Copenhagen, and
after some preliminary studies in philosophy and philology devoted
himself mainly to medicine. At this time the Danish University was
especially distinguished for its work in anatomy. The famous family of
Bartholini, who had for several generations been teaching there, had
proved a copious source of inspiration for the students in their
department, and as a consequence original investigation of a high
order, with enthusiasm for the development of anatomical science, had
become the rule. The external situation was not favorable to learning,
for Denmark was engaged in harassing and costly wars during a
considerable portion of the seventeenth century; yet the work
accomplished here was, undoubtedly, some of the best in Europe. Young
Stensen had the advantage of having Thomas Bartholini as his
preceptor, and soon, because of his enthusiasm for science, as friend
and father.

Stensen had been at the University scarcely two years when the city of
Copenhagen was besieged by the Swedes. Professor Lutz, of the
University of St. Louis, who has recently written {142} an article on
Stensen, which appeared in the _Medical Library and Historical
Journal_ for July, 1904, says of this period:

A regiment of students numbering two hundred and sixty-six, called
"the black coats" on account of their dark clothes, was formed for
the defence of the city; upon its roster we find the name of young
Steno. During the day they were at work mending the ramparts, and
the nights were spent in repelling the attacks of the enemy. In the
course of this long siege, the city was compelled to cope with a
more formidable enemy than the Swedes--famine with all its
horrors--before relief came in the shape of provisions and
reinforcements furnished by the Dutch fleet. Throughout these
turbulent days the student soldiers rendered valuable services to
their country, and though it be true that "inter arma silent
musae"--"the war gods do not favor the muses"--it appears
nevertheless that Steno attended the lectures and dissections which
were conducted by the teachers in the intervals when the student
were not on duty.

After some three years spent at the University of Copenhagen, Stensen,
as was the custom of the times, went to pursue his post-graduate
studies in