The Soul in Nature

THE LIFE OF H. C. OERSTED.

His extensive and varied practical activity did not, meanwhile, hinder him from taking an animated and lively interest in the development of Danish literature, and in the political life that awakened at a later period. The most influential newspapers frequently contained contributions from his pen, and in 1829 he appeared as a co-founder and zealous participant in a literary monthly journal, which continued to exist until the year 1838. This was a most meritorious undertaking, by which limits were at last placed on the unintellectual tendency of Danish criticism at that period, which, like a hostile stream, threatened to destroy the healthy appreciation of science and art. In the various criticisms of aesthetic and scientific works that he published through this medium, as well as in treatises and essays distributed elsewhere, he always exhibited an inclination, combined with a rare capacity, to popularize general knowledge—especially the study of natural science—and to render it fruitful in the widest circles. Thus, the whole course of his long life offers a rare example of indefatigable activity and of honest, multifaceted effort. A long lyric and didactic poem he composed, The Balloon, was translated into German in 1836 by Johannsen, the minister of the German congregation in Copenhagen.

As a teacher at the University, he was always much beloved for his unassuming manners and his simple, gentle demeanor in the delivery of his lectures, which nevertheless breathed an ardent spirit that could not be mistaken. He always met older as well as younger students who needed scientific explanation and assistance in the most friendly manner; and in many cases, where talent had to struggle against material obstacles, his kindly heart was even more than usually alert. Not only naturalists, but all cultivated members of the younger generation in Denmark, were his pupils. He not only benefited men by his labors, he was