The Mortal Remains of Swedenbobg 



25 



»upon an examination made some years ago, on the strength of some 

 scientific tests, doubts have arisen whether the skull deposited in the 

 coffin was the right one» refer, without doubt^ to the above-mentioned 

 examination by In de Betou. Taeel adds, however, at the place in ques- 

 tion: »On scientific grounds it is maintained that the skull which is 

 now in Swedenborg's coffin is not a male, but a female skull, and that 

 it is much too small to have been his.» What the basis of this state- 

 ment is, I do not know, but it does not seem improbable that it can be 

 traced back to Flaxman's above-cited utterance (p. 13), that the cra- 

 nium examined by him in certain respects showed a feminine type. That 

 the present skull is unquestionably that of a man will be shown in the 

 latter portion of this work, from which it is clear that Tafel's state- 

 ment does not agree with the actual conditions. 



Finally, there arrived in the spring of 1908, at the Swedish Le- 

 gation in London, two letters from an English gentleman, Mr. R., in 

 which he communicated that he early in the seventies knew an old 

 antiquary in the East End of London, »generally a very veracious old 

 gentleman,» who boasted of the possession of a human skull said to 

 have been taken from the broken coffin containing the remains of 

 Swedenborg, during some excavations of the old church, and that doubt- 

 less the skull could be traced in case of need. It was these letters, 

 copies of which were forwarded to the Royal Society of Sciences in 

 Upsala, which were the immediate cause of the present examination.' 



Whereas, apart from the results which would be derived from 

 an investigation of Swedenborg's coffin, it seemed to be of some in- 

 terest to learn what facts formed the basis for Mr. R's communications, 

 the Royal Society of Sciences sent a petition to the Royal Department 

 for Foreign Affairs, that further information should be obtained through 

 the Swedish Legation in London, and the Swedish Minister in London 

 thereupon sent a communication concerning the matter in a letter of 

 the 10th of August, 1909, to His Excellency the Minister for Foreign 

 Affairs, containing the following information: 



»Mr. R., who suffers from periodical mental disease, is confined 

 in an insane asylum in . . . and is at times almost completely normal. 

 At a visit, which one of the members of the Legation made at my com- 



* These copies, as well as some other letters, bearina; on the same question, but which 

 on account of personal reasons it is not regarded as proper to reproduce here in extenso, are 

 deposited in the archives of the Royal Society of Sciences in Upsala. 



Nova Acta Reg. Soc. Sc. Ups. Ser. 4. Vol. 2. N. 9. Impr. '/n 1910. 4 



