ABSTRACT
The Danish defeat in 1864 did not resolve the Slesvig-Holsten issue. It might have done so had Slesvig been divided along cultural lines, but the annexation left a considerable Danish population in northern Slesvig, which was now within Germany. The defeat, and the uncertain international situation, led to calls by political conservatives for increased defense spending. The political left opposed this, and pressed rather for social and political reform. A major problem was the common belief that the heaths could be neither cultivated nor afforested. The Heath Society not only faced opposition based on economics, it also had to contend with arguments taken from the natural sciences, which were also effectively used by la Cour. The Heath Society was led by a triumvirate consisting of Morville, Mourier-Petersen and Dalgas. Dalgas sought to accomplish the Heath Society’s goal of stimulating interest in the heath by publishing his Geographical pictures from the heath in 1868–9.
