1887.12.16 English

C O P E N H A G E N                                                16TH DECEMBER 1887

 

 

 

 

DEAR EXCELLENCY, PROFESSOR  S T E E N S T R U P[1]

 

 

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR KIND LETTER. I DO NOT RECALL EXACTLY WHAT I WROTE IN THAT PARTICULAR TEXT, BUT I SUPPOSE IT WAS SOMETHING LIKE THIS. – “I AM VERY PLEASED THAT MY WORKS, IN SPITE OF ME NOT BEING CERTIFIED AS A DANISH SCIENTIST, YET HAVE WON RECOGNITION ABROAD AS SCIENTIFIC”. BUT I DO REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS THAT LED ME TO USE THE EXPRESSION ABOUT THE CERTIFICATION, - IT WAS MY RECOLLECTION THAT ONCE PROFESSOR H.LEHMANN, A MEDICAL DOCTOR OF THIS INSTITUTION, WHILE SHOWING HIM THE ALMOST FINISHED WORKS ON THE THIRD FRAGMENT, COMMENTED THAT IN HIS OPINION I OUGHT TO PRESENT THESE WORKS AS AN APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO DEFEND A THESIS FOR THE DOCTORAL DEGREE, TO WHICH I REPLIED THAT I HAD NEITHER THE INCLINATION, NOR THE TIME OR FINANCIAL RESOURCES FOR THAT, AND THAT I WAS BOLD ENOUGH TO HOPE THAT MY WORKS WOULD INDEED BE APPROVED AND CONFIRMED AS USEFUL, IN SPITE OF  BEING PUBLISHED WITHOUT THE DOCTORAL STAMP.

 

 

I WOULD LIKE TO ADD THAT IN RELATION TO THE REACTIONS ABROAD, MY HOPES AND ASPIRATIONS HAVE BEEN FULFILLED FAR BEYOND MY EXPECTATIONS; AND AS REGARDS DENMARK, A CONSIDERABLE PART OF THE DANISH SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY HAS INDEED SHOWN ITS APPRECIATION OF MY WORKS BY PROVIDING ME WITH THE NECESSARY FUNDING[2], BUT IN CONTRAST TO THIS, THE PRINTED STATEMENTS FROM NATIONAL SCIENTISTS ARE LIMITED TO TWO, ONE OF THEM SYMPATHETIC AND RATHER ACKNOWLEDGING FROM THE YOUNG DR A. LEHMAN, POLYTHECNICIAN[3], AND THE OTHER ONE UTTERLY CRITICAL, SUPERCILIOUS AND DEROGATORY, ALTHOUGH BASED ON THE MOST CURIOUS MISTAKES, FROM A MEDICAL DOCTOR AND MASTER OF ARTS IN MATHEMATICS BY THE NAME OF KRARUP, WRITING IN “LIBRARY FOR MEDICAL DOCTORS”[4].

 

 

THIS CONTRAST BETWEEN DANISH CRITICISM IN PRINT AND GERMAN DO - DO[5],  BETWEEN DANISH SILENCE[6] SUPERCILIOUSNESS ON THE ONE HAND – AND THEN THE CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF STATEMENTS FROM ABROAD, IN PRINT AS WELL AS IN A GREAT NUMBER OF COMPREHENSIVE LETTERS[7], IS RATHER INTERESTING, BUT OF COURSE COMPLETELY WITHOUT ANY INFLUENCE ON MY ZEAL AND MOTIVATION TO WORK AND THE CONTINUED PROGRESS OF MY WORK AT HOME IN MY STUDY.

 

 

HOWEVER, THE DANISH SILENCE MIGHT PERHAPS HAVE SOME HAMPERING EFFECTS IN A COUPLE OF RESPECTS, IT COULD MAYBE MAKE IT MORE DIFFICULT FOR ME TO REGAIN MY STATE GRANT, AND IN ADDITION IT COULD COMPLICATE THE INTRODUCTION OF DAILY WEIGHINGS AND MEASURINGS AT AN ADEQUATE NUMBER OF INSTITUTIONS IN DENMARK. BUT “THINGS’LL GIT BET’ER T‘MORROW”[8] – AT ANY RATE MY WORK IS PROGRESSING AT A MAGNIFICENT SPEED AT HOME.

 

 

IT IS ALSO A REALLY TYPICAL DANISH[9] PHENOMENON, THAT SCARCELY HALF OF THE 150 PERSONS IN THIS COUNTRY TO WHOM I HAVE SENT MY LATEST WORK[10] HAVE BOTHERED TO EVEN SIGN FOR THE RECEPTION OF IT. AROUND 60 COPIES HAVE BEEN SENT ABROAD, AND OUT OF THOSE VERY FEW PERSONS HAVE FAILED TO RESPOND.

 

 

 

                                   YOURS VERY RESPECTFULLY

 

 

                                   YOUR DEEPLY DEVOTED

 

 

 

                                       R. Malling-Hansen

 

 

(At the bottom of the letter he has added – somewhat peculiarly:)

 

 

 

EXCELLENCY

 

 

COUNCELLOR, MD and DR PHIL. S T E E N S T R U P, GRAND CROSS OF THE DANNEBROG AND KNIGHT OF DANNEBROG. P.P.[11]

 

 

[1] CB: Japetus Steenstrup was one of the greatest scientists of the time – zoologist, professor at the university and director of the Zoological Museum. He was the brother of the father of his second wife Anne Steenstrup, Michael Vogelius Steenstrup. Evidently, RMH would have discussed his research concerning the growth of children and solar heat with him. JMC: RMH is using the title “Etatsråd” in the first line. This is an oldfashioned title and function and does not have any modern corresponding equivalence. I have therefore opted to use his other title.

[2] CB/JMC: This is a very nice and interesting piece of information. Throughout the years I have tried in many ways to find out who sponsored RMH’s research into the growth of children. I KNOW that he received funds from the Carlsberg Foundation – or maybe directly from the founder of the Carlsberg brewery, J.C. Jacobsen, who established the Carlsberg Foundation in 1876. But this is an issue that requires further research

[3] CB: Salmonsen’s Encyclopedia mentions Alfred Lehmann, 1858 – 1821, psykologist. In 1886 he established a psycho-physical laboratory. Professor in 1910.

SA: One of RMH's daughters also had contact with this Lehman. A letter from her written to him in 1915 is known to still exist. The topic of their correspondence was the work of poetry, Greetings to Denmark, published by Johanne Agerskov's husband, Michael Agerskov. The couple claimed to have received the poems through mediumistic thoughts inspiration from deseased Danish poets.

[4] JMC: This journal, in Danish called “Bibliotek for Læger”, was founded in 1809. It was, and still is, a journal devoted to medical history, ethics, philosophy and clinical theory. www.laeger.dk

 

[5] CB: do – do means “ditto – ditto” – in other words the same as “criticism in print”

[6] CB: Indeed the sign ‘&’ occurs here!!! So this model includes a key with this sign!

[7] CB: Once again it is deeply lamentable that all RMH archives have disappeared, most of the material having been burnt in 1911.

SA: According to RMH's son-in-law, Michael Agerskov, (in his book, Some psychic Experiences) only a little part of the notebooks were burned in 1911. The daughters of RMH claimed they were not intended for publication. The rest of the notebooks were given to "The Antropological Komitee" and their chairman, Søren Hansen, in 1911. It's not known what later happened to the archive.

[8] CB/JMC: This is a largely untranslatable dialectal expression, perhaps having its origin in his childhood dialect of Lolland. It is not clear whether he is poking fun of this expression, or whether it simply denotes an expression of fatalism, current in use at the time. Another explanation is that it has its origin in one of the songs from a revue, that were popular at the time and influenced the language.

[9] CB: The underlining was done by hand – in other words the writing ball does not (yet?) have this feature.

[10] CB: The reference is presumably to that which became the principal work of RMH: The book and the enormous tabular work from 1886 entitled “Periods in the Growth of Children and Solar Heat”. The book has the peculiar subtitle “Fragment III A” and the tabular work is entitled “Fragment III B”. It is extremely modest by RMH to call it a fragment! We have heard about Fragment I, but as far as I know, we don’t know of any Fragment II. I have both parts of Fragment III in my collection.

[11] CB: This is rather funny. Japetus Steestrup was boRn 1813 and died 1897 – in other words he was 20 years older than RMH, but survived him by 7 years. Steenstrup had  very many fancy titles. DB must mean Dannebrog, DBM must be Knight of Dannebrog (“Dannebrogsmand”). And P.P. means (according to the encyclopedia of Salmonsen) simply: etcetera – in a decent manner of speaking. In other words: He has so many titles that RMH avoids mentioning them all, using this P.P. – from Latin Præter Plural!

Anna Malling-Hansen's father, Michael Vogelius Steenstrup, 1809-1855. Photo: The Royal Library in Copenhagen
The father's brother, Japetus Steenstrup, 1813-1897. Photo: The Royal Library in Copenhagen
Alfred Lehman, 1858-1921. Photo: The Royal Library in Copenhagen