LIFE AND WORKS OF NICOLAUS STENO 



Florence 



1674- 



1677. 



Hanover 



1677- 



1680. 



partly of descriptions of some of those animals, which he had dis* 

 sected, and, last not least, of the splendid address, which he delivered 

 at the re*opening of the anatomical theatre. But he never published 

 any descriptions of the majority of his dissections. Some of them were, 

 it is true, described by others in the Acta Hafniensia, but many are 

 only known through brief notes written down by Holger Jacobxus, 

 the brother of Steno's above-mentioned friend, Matthias Jacobxus, at 

 that time Steno's dearest pupil and later Professor at the University 

 of Copenhagen. 



After this time no scientific work whatsoever appeared from the 

 hands of Steno. 



At length the stay in Copenhagen became too painful to Steno; he 

 sent in his resignation, and after it had been accepted, he immediately 

 left the country. By way of Hanover, where he paid a visit to the 

 Duke, Johann Friedvich, likewise a convert to Catholicism, he went 

 to Amsterdam, and from there to Florence, where he arrived about 

 Christmas, 1674, and where he became the tutor of the son oiCosimo 

 III. He probably altogether abandoned the study of natural science, 

 being now entirely absorbed in his own relation to religious problems, 

 and occupying himself with the writing of theological tracts and pole* 

 mical pamphlets, among which his well-known letter to Spinoza, to 

 which the latter never replied. It may be said of this letter of Steno's, 

 as well as of all his religious writings, that they have the same spon* 

 taneity, the same subjectivity and the same general impression of being 

 founded upon a direct observation of the phenomena, which we 

 observed in his writings on natural science. But while these qualities 

 made the strength of Steno the scientist, and to some extent also ot 

 Steno the Catholic, they prevented Steno from ever becoming, what 

 some ot his friends had hoped he would become, an eminent theo* 

 logian. In the autumn of 1675 Steno finally took Holy Orders, and 

 henceforward he devoted his life exclusively to the cause of the Roman 

 Church, and met with an eversincreasing admiration in Florence, the 

 sincerity ot his pious life being looked upon with general veneration. 

 He often tried to convert foreign Protestants, who visited the city, 

 in many cases not without success. But Steno went further in his de* 

 mands upon himself, and more especially he blamed himself because, 

 during the first years after his conversion, he had been devoting part 

 of his time to other things besides the service of God and the Catho* 

 lie Church. 



Two years after his return to Florence Steno was appointed Bishop 

 of Titiopolis in partibus infidelium and Vicar Apostolic of Northern 

 Germany and Scandinavia. He went to live in Hanover, the residence 

 ot the above-mentioned Duke Johann Friedvich, where he worked 

 zealously tor the cause of Catholicism, bringing about many conver* 



