He
translated the Origin of Species and Descent of Man into Danish. In
1872 while collecting plants he contracted tuberculosis, and as a
consequence, was compelled to give up his scientific career. This was
not as great a sacrifice, as it may seem, for he had long been
undecided whether to choose science or literature as his life work.
The remainder of his short life--he died April 30, 1885--was one of
passionate devotion to literature and a constant struggle with ill
health. The greater part of this period was spent in his native town
of Thisted, but an advance royalty from his publisher enabled him to
visit the South of Europe. His journey was interrupted at Florence by
a severe hemorrhage.
He lived simply, unobtrusively, bravely. His method of work was slow
and laborious. He shunned the literary circles of the capital with
their countless intrusions and interruptions, because he knew that the
time allotted him to do his work was short. "When life has sentenced
you to suffer," he has written in Niels Lyhne, "the sentence is neither
a fancy nor a threat, but you are dragged to the rack, and you are
tortured, and there is no marvelous rescue at the last moment," and in
this book there is also a corollary, "It is on the healthy in you you
must live, it is the healthy that becomes great." The realization of
the former has given, perhaps, a subdued tone to his canvasses; the
recognition of the other has kept out of them weakness or self-pity.
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