1885.11.11 English

Professor Japetus Steenstrup, 1813-1897. Photo: The Royal Library

11/11 1885[1]

 

Councillor of State Sir Steenstrup

 

 

Dear Mr Steenstrup[2],

 

 

I have been to the Hoffensberg[3] company; it appears I can get a large size book of 250 pages and with 30 plates – most of them measuring half a square yard – printed and lithographed at a cost of approximately 1100 kroner.

 

This (the very reasonable price) changes the situation somewhat. With the 4000 kroner I would now be able to carry on with the measuring and weighing until the end of March next year, hence I would just be able to finalize a series of 3 years; if I were to finish now or by Christmas, the circle of periods would become insufficient and, on the whole, spoiled in terms of the present year. In addition, the 4000 kroner would enable me to present in a conclusive way all the results in the book and in the plates.

 

I shall now present the case in this way and in the best possible terms to the honourable Board[4] and hereby recommend it to your continued favour and patronage, my dear Councillor of State.

 

I have toiled conscientiously and steadily for this cause; I have kept objectively and strictly to the task at hand, the “Periodicity”; I myself have sacrificed a sum of money which is quite substantial in relation to my limited financial resources; it would be almost heart-breaking to me if I had to stop at this point without means to have all the results publicized and without hope that the State would enable me to achieve this end, now that the Carlsberg Foundation has refused support; the entire issue would then have to be put aside in a fragmentary state, all the expensive machines and instruments would be rendered worthless and – outside Denmark? Well, there daily measuring are being actively undertaken, and the fruit will then be reaped there.

 

Please forgive my haste[5]; - I have to finalise one more article for “Berlingske”[6] this evening.

 

Warmest greetings from all of us.

 

Yours very sincere and devoted

 

 

R. Malling-Hansen

 

 

 

[1] CB: This is a handwritten letter from RMH to the Councillor of State Japetus Steenstrup, dealing with RMH’s publication of his fantastic work from 1885 about the relationship between the variations in solar heat and the physical growth of children – as well as that of all other life forms on earth. We have numerous other sources related to this document and to the CV of the addressee of the letter, Mr Steenstrup

[2] SA: Japetus Steenstrup (1813-1897), a scientist (naturalist), was an uncle of Malling-Hansen’s second wife Anna Steenstrup. School-leaving certificate from ‘Aalborg Katedralskole’ 1832. Studied medicine and – not the least – zoology at university as from 1835. In 1836 was awarded the price of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences for a thesis on “The Occurrence of Conifers in Our Bogs and Marshes”. In this work, printed in 1842, he shows that four different forestry periods have succeeded each other during the last 5-6.000 years; this discovery has had an important impact on the development of archeology. Steenstrup in fact never graduated from university, but in spite of that he ended as a highly esteemed professor and museologist. Steenstrup’s greatest asset was his organizational talent. He was primus motor in the establishment of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, and he through his cooperation with sea captains he acquired extensive oceanic collections for the museum.

[3] CB: The company ‘Hoffensberg & Fr. Trap’ was a major printing house in Copenhagen. The topic of this letter is the work of RMH: “Periods in the Growth of Children and Solar Heat”, with a giant annex of statistical tables and graphic presentations – of which I own a copy. However, the book itself is not large – it has 250 pages. On the other hand, there are 44 – not 30 – plates in the statistical annex. Both volumes were printed at the “Hoffenberg and Trap Establishment” and published by the company “William Tryde” in 1886. The School of the Deaf possesses hundreds of copies, if memory serves me right.

[4] CB: Apparently Mr Steenstrup is chairman of some kind of state foundation, from where RMH intends to apply for the sum of 4000 kroner for his investigations. Previously, the Carlsberg Foundation has supported RMH’s work with the ‘Periods’, as far as I remember – but according to this letter they declined, and this is why he is applying through Steenstrup. Steenstrup was a close friend of RMHs and also the brother of his second wife, Anna Steenstrup

[5] CB: Indeed! The handwriting is extremely slovenly, making it very hard to read. It is only because of my many years of experience with RMH’s handwriting that I have been able to decipher his scrawl.

[6] CB: In other words, he must have published an article in Berlingske shortly afterwards. Unfortunately we don’t have that article in the RMH Society archives.