INTRODUCTION 



I. THE LIFE OF NICOLAUS STENO 



NicoLAus Steno,^ the son of a goldsmith, Steen Pedersen, was 

 born in Copenhagen, January lo, 1638.^ 



' From early childhood,' he wrote in 1680,^ 'the association with 

 those of my own age had little charm for me. For I was constantly 

 in poor health from my third to my sixth year, and was accordingly 

 under the continual care of my parents and older friends. As a 

 result, I grew to prefer the conversation of older people, especially 

 when they spoke of religion, to the frivolous chatter of younger 

 companions. In my journeys, also, I kept away, as much as pos- 

 sible, from idle and dangerous people and sought friendship with 

 those who had won repute through their upright life or their 

 learning.' 



After acquiring a thorough training in ancient and modern 

 languages and mathematics in the grammar school of his native 

 city, Steno entered its University in 1656, where he took up the 

 study of medicine and had among his instructors the distinguished 

 scientists Thomas Bartholin, Borrichius (Ole Borch), and Simon 



/t Niels Steensen, the Danish form of the name, in accordance with the learned custom of 

 his day was Latinized by its bearer as Nicolaus Stenonis. The current form, Steno, is due to 

 the mistaken idea that Stenonis was a genitive case. The spelling in French is Stdnon and 

 in Italian Stenone. Cf. Vilhelm Maar, Nicolai Stenonis Opera Philosophica (2 vols., Copen- 

 hagen, 1910), Vol. I, p. I, note I. According to custom, Steno took his surname from his 

 father's given name ; see Plenkers, Der Diine Niels Stensen, Ein Lebensbild (Freiburg im Br., 

 1884), p. 3, note I. 



The sources of Steno's life, consisting chiefly of letters and unpublished manuscripts, are 

 given by Plenkers, op. cit., pp. v, vi. To Plenkers, Wichfeld {Erindringer om deti danske 

 Videnskabsmand Niels Stensen in Historisk Tidsskrift, 3 Raekke, 4 Bind, Kj0benhavn, 1865, 

 pp. 1-109) and Maar (Vol. I, pp. i-xi) I am chiefly indebted for the biographical material 

 here given. 



2 The EncyclopcEdia Britannica, in its eleventh edition, presents an inadequate biography 

 of Steno in seventeen lines, and incorrectly gives 1631 as the date of his birth. The ninth 

 edition contains no biographical notice. The error appears also in the account by Ch^reau 

 in the Dictionnaire Encyclopedique des Sciences Medicales (Troisifeme S^rie, Tome Onzi^me, 

 Paris, 1883, pp. 689-691), in which January r, 1631, is given as the date. 



^ Defensio et plenior elucidatio epistolae de propria conversione, Hannover, pp. 18, 19; 

 quoted by Plenkers, Niels Stensen, pp. 3, 4. 



'75 



