1890.09.23 English

CORRESPONDENCE CARD[1]

 

 

FOR:  Most Reverend Sir R. Malling Hansen[2]

 

Knight of the Dannebrog

 

The Royal Institute for the Deaf-MuteCitadelsvej 58

 

 

Axelhus 2 B. 22nd of September 1890

 

 

Dear Brother-in-law[3]

 

Thanks for seeing me today. The Head of Department was very amiable. He said that the position would not be advertised, it would be filled by acting appointment following your recommendation. He inquired whether I had been to see the Director and advised me to do so.

 

Very best regards

 

 

                                  Your devoted

 

                                   Vilh.Heiberg

 

 

 

 

Dear Brother-in-law

 

Your message about the statement by the Head of Department pleased me very much. I did not go and see him yesterday. I was at the dentist around 2 o’clock and had, for the first time, some false teeth put in; they bothered me so that I could only talk in a thick and blurred way, the trouble must not spread to the jawbone.

 

Because of professor Lehman’s funeral[4] I also cannot make it today, but hopefully I can go and see him tomorrow.

 

You will remember that my position is that one of the three, you, Dr Esben Hansen, or Mygind, ought to be selected for the post, and that each one of you has weighty - yet entirely different - claims to the post.

 

I therefore continue to believe that I ought not make any special effort for any one of you; which otherwise doesn’t exclude the fact that I would be happy if the post is given to you. Hence, you should not keep back anything that may influence you positively with the gentlemen responsible for awarding the post.  Kindest greetings from your devoted  RMH

 

 

[1] JMC/CB: A ‘Correspondence Card’ was a folded postcard with preprinted stamping, in use in the 1880s and probably well into the 20th century. It could be used by the sender and then sent back to him or her with the recipient’s answer without adding a new stamp. In other words, a kind of quick and cheap written communication before the era of the telephone; and at the time in Copenhagen mail was delivered 3 to 4 times per day! One of the stamps clearly shows that the correspondence card was delivered at the first distribution round on September 23.

[2] JMC: In his address Vilhelm Heiberg is obviously doing his utmost to show respect and reverence; however, he forgets the hyphen between ‘Malling’ and ‘Hansen’! In the Danish original he uses RMH’s title, “vicar”. Since he also mentions RMH’s knighthood, we have chosen to indicate his level of respect by using ‘Sir’ – even if, of course, RMH did not belong to the nobility.

[3] CB/SA: The background is that the position as institute physicist was vacant, since the previous physicist had passed away. And he is the Lehmann whose funeral is to attend (see footnote below) In the letter 18900924 RMH writes to another of the applicants to this position. The present letter is in two parts. The first part is from a third applicant, Vilhelm Heiberg, who was a brother of RMH’s first wife who passed away in 1876. None of the three persons mentioned in RMH’s letter eventually got the position – it was given to an alternative applicant, Dr Viktor Bremer.

[4] CB: According to Salmonsen’s Encyclopedia: Heinrich Lehmann, 1815-1890, Danish eye specialist, as from 1854 professor.

SA: From an obituary written by one of the teachers at the Institute, we know that the death of dr. Lehmann made a deep impact on Malling-Hansen, as he suffered from the exact same symptoms as dr. Lehmann.

Malling-Hansen's brother-in-law, Vilhelm Heiberg, 1853-1922. Photo: TRL
Heinrich Lehmann, 1815-1890, who was the former doctor at the Institute. Photo: TRL
Holger Mygind, 1855-1928, one of the other applicants to the position as doctor at the Institute. Photo:TRL
None of the persons mentioned in the letter was received the position - Victor Bremer, 1843-1915, was emplyed as the new doctor. Photo: TRL