t; and then besides he hoped that he might be able
to influence his countrymen in their views toward the Catholic Church.
It was not long, however, before the bigotry of his compatriots made
life so unpleasant for him in Copenhagen that he resigned his position
and returned to Italy. Various official posts in Florence were open
for him, but now he had resolved to devote himself to the service of
the Church, and so he became a priest. His contemporary, the Cardinal
Archbishop of Florence, said with regard to him: "Already as a member
of a Protestant sect he had lived a life of innocence and had
practised all the moral virtues. After his conversion he had marked
out for himself so severe a method of life and had {153} remained so
true to it that in a very short time he reached a high degree of
perfection." The Archbishop does not hesitate to say that he had
become a man of constant union with God and entirely dead to himself.
There was very little hesitation, then, in accepting him as a
candidate for the priesthood, and as his knowledge of theology was
very thorough, most of the delay in raising him to that dignity came
from his own humility and his desire to prepare himself properly for
the privilege. He made the exercises of St. Ignatius as part of his
preparation, and after his ordination it was a source of remark with
how much devotion he said his first and all succeeding Masses. It was
not long before the piety of Stensen's life attracted great attention.
At this time he was in frequent communication with such men as Spinoza
and Leibnitz, the distinguished philosophers. It is curious to think
of the ardent mystic, the pantheistic philosopher, and the speculative
scientist, so different in character, having many interests in common.

It was during these years in Italy that Stensen did what must be
considered, undoubtedly, his most important work, even more important,
if possible, than his anatomical discoveries. This was his foundation
of the science of geology. As has been well said in a prominent
text-book of geology, his book on this subject sets him in that group
of men who as prophets of science often run far ahead of their times
to point out the path which later centuries will follow in the road of
{154} knowledge. It is rather surprising to find that the seventeenth
century must enjoy the privilege of being considered the cradle of
geological knowledge. There is no doubt, however, that the great
principles of t