326 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
In this connection probably the Norwegians Bjornson and Ibsen ought to be mentioned. Norway may, in a sense, be said to belong to the Danish culture area. The cultural development of the two nations, after their political separation in 1814, has followed closely parallel lines ; the literary language of Norway is still prevailingly Danish, and the works of her leading authors are published in Copenhagen, which remains the intellectual center of Scandinavia. Excepting Tolstoi and Zola, no litterateur of today enjoys a wider international reputation than the two great Norwegians. Everybody in America has heard of them, and multitudes have read one or another of their books. In Germany Ibsen especially has exerted a powerful influence upon contemporary thought and fiction, which is being ungrudgingly admitted on all sides.
3. Science. In the domain of science Denmark has always kept pace with the world's progress, and in not a few instances has contributed notably to its advancement. The University of Copenhagen holds high rank among European institutions of learning, both as a professional school and as the home of scholars eminent in original research. Of names too many for enumeration a few only of the most prominent must be men- tioned. It was the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe upon whose observations Kepler based his laws ; it was the Dane Ole Romer who first measured the velocity of light ; it was the Danish physicist Oersted who discovered electro-magnetism, thereby paving the way for Morse's telegraph. The sciences of geology and archaeology were founded in Denmark by Steno (Steensen) and Worsaae, respectively. In recent years the introduction by a Danish scientist of the ecological method has revolutionized the study of botany. Rasmus Rask has been called the father of comparative philology; after him Madvig attained world-wide fame for his work in the classical languages. Among philoso- phers Kierkegaard, Martensen, and Hoffding are known in America. Around the name of the first-mentioned a strik- ingly original thinker a whole literature has of late years grown up in Germany.
The fine arts. Here it is sufficient to remind of the fact that
