813 



SWANEVELT, HERMANN VAN. 



SWEDBERG, JESPER. 



844 



error in the received opinions respecting hernia, and proved that when 

 the intestine is protruded, the peritoneum is not torn, but stretched, 

 BO as to form a saccular prolongation from the lining of the abdomen ; 

 a fact which was first published, with several other results of Swam- 

 merdum's inquiries, in Schrader's observations. In the same year he 

 published his treatise on the natural history of bees; "a work," says 

 Boerhaave, " which all the ages from the commencement of natural 

 history have produced nothing to equal nothing to compare with." 

 But the labour it had cost him, and the incessant fatigue to which he 

 bad been exposed in making microscopic observations for hours together 

 under the heat of a burning sun, destroyed his health, which had 

 always been delicate, and he determined to sell his museum, and 

 renounce all his former pursuits for a religious life, for which his 

 desire had been excited by Antoinette Bourignon, with whom he had 

 long maintained a correspondence. But it was not easy to find a pur- 

 chaser for so extensive a collection : his friend Steno, on the part of 

 the Duke of Tuscany, offered him 12,000 florins for it if he would 

 become a Roman Catholic ; but this he angrily refused, and The*vdnot 

 tried iu vain to dispose of it in France. While various negociatious 

 were pending, he completed the arrangement of bis museum, and made 

 catalogues of it ; and in 1675 published his last work, on which he had 

 been engaged for more than ten years * The Anatomy of the Day-fly.' 

 In 1676 he went to Copenhagen with another disciple of Antoinette 

 Bourignon, to obtain from the king of Denmark leave for her to reside 

 in bis kingdom, the Lutheran divines of Holland having endeavoured 

 to remove her from Holstein. His application however was unsuc- 

 cessful; and on his return to Amsterdam he found his father enraged 

 at him for his continued neglect of all profitable employment, and 

 determined to allow him but an insufficient income for his maintenance. 

 He was in utter despair what course to pursue consistently with his 

 anxiety for a life of quietude and religion. In a few months his 

 father died. Instead however of inheriting money enough for the 

 purpose of his retirement, he found himself involved in a dispute with 

 bis sister respecting the division of the property, which, with his con- 

 tinued anxieties about the sale of his museum, brought on a severe 

 illness, with melancholy, and he died early in 1681. 



Swammerdam left all his manuscripts on insects to The've'not, after 

 whose death, having passed through several different hands, they were 

 bought by Boerhaave, and published in one volume. His heirs endea- 

 voured to obtain 5000 florins for his museum, but in vain ; and it was 

 at length broken up and sold hi small portions to different purchasers. 

 All the works of Swammerdam were translated from the Dutch into 

 Latin by Gaubius, and most of them at different periods into English, 

 French, and German. Boerhaave, with his edition, published a Life 

 of the Author, which is added to the English translation of ' The 

 . Book of Nature, or the History of Insects,' by Thomas Floyd, folio, 

 London. 



SWANEVELT, HERMANN VAN, called the Hermit of Italy, one 

 of the most eminent landscape painters of the Dutch school, was born 

 in 1618 or 1620, at Woerden. It is generally supposed that he was 

 at first a pupil of Gerard Douw ; he however went, very young, to 

 Italy, where, having chosen landscape painting as the branch of the 

 art most conformable to his taste, he became a pupil of Claude 

 Lorraine, and soon proved himself worthy of so great a master. He 

 was unremitting in his study of nature, and his retired way of life, 

 which was wholly devoted to his art, caused him to be called ' the 

 hermit,' by which name he was soon generally known. All his works, 

 his paintings, his drawings, and his etchings bear the stamp of a 

 faithful imitation of nature. The scenes which he represents are 

 diversified and picturesque ; the perspective, light and shade, the tone 

 of the sky, are admirable, and expressed with a firmness and decision 

 that indicate the hand of a master. It is said tlat, in company with 

 Claude, he was fond of observing the effect of the first faint tinge of 

 the morning light on the surfaces of objects, and the changes that 

 gradually take place as* the sun rises higher in the heavens, and as he 

 progressively declines from his meridian splendour. 



Swancvelt's pictures have the sweetness and tenderness of Claude, 

 but they want his warmth, and. are less striking in their effect ; but 

 his figures both of men and animals are superior to those of Claude. 

 His paintings are excessively rare, as well as his drawings. His 

 etchings, 116 in number, have never been surpassed in the choice of 

 the subjects, the judicious distribution of light and shade, the pleasing 

 groups of figures with which they are adorned, and the spirit and per- 

 fection of the execution. To appreciate their merit, we must have 

 good impressions, which usually have the master's name on them ; 

 for the plates have" passed through many unskilful hands, and many 

 can scarcely be recognised. His pictures were so much sought for, 

 even in his life, that they were sold at excessively high prices. The 

 time of his death, which took place at Rome, is rather uncertain ; 

 some say it was in 1690, others in 1680 : the latter date appears to be 

 the more correct. 



SWARTZ, OLOF, a celebrated Swedish botanist, was born in the 

 year 1760, at Norrkopin in East Gothland, where his father was a 

 considerable manufacturer. He commenced his studies at Upsal, in 

 1778, in the year that Linnaeus died. Having acquired a taste for 

 botany, he made several excursions iu the years 1779, 1780, 1781, and 

 1782, through various districts of Sweden, for the purpose of studying 

 their botany, and visited Lapponia, Finland, and Gothland. In 1781 



he took his degree as doctor of medicine, having presented a thesis 

 entitled 'Methodus Muscorum Illustrata,' In this work he gave a 

 new arrangement of the mosses, and laid the foundation for a larg< r 

 work, entitled ' Dispositio Systematica Muscorum Frondosorum 

 Sueciae,' which was published at Erlangen in 1799. This work was 

 illustrated with plates and descriptions of many new mosses. In 17b3 

 he made a voyage to the western coast of America, and visited* Jamaica 

 aud other islands in the West Indies; and, loaded with botanical 

 treasures, he visited England on his return home, in 1788. He 

 remained in this country a year, during which time he wan occupied 

 in examining the herbaria of Sir Joseph Banks, Sloane, and other 

 botanists. He returned to his own country in 1789, and was elected 

 a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Stockholm iu 1790, 

 and was appointed professor of natural history in the Medico-chirur- 

 gical Institution at Stockholm. He was also honoured by being made 

 a knight of the order of Vasa and of the Polar Star. In 1788 he 

 published at Stockholm his ' Nova Genera et Species Plantarum ; ' 

 this work contained a description of the plants which he had collected 

 in the West Indies ; most of them had never before been described. 

 This work was succeeded by his ' Observations Botanicae,' containing 

 remarks on the structure and affinities of the plants of the West 

 Indies, in 1791. From 1794 to 1800 he published in folio the ' Icones 

 Plantarum Incognitarum,' which contained drawings of the rarer 

 plants which he had discovered in the West Indies. He completed 

 his labours on the botany of this part of the world by the publica- 

 tion of his ' Flora Indise Occidentalis ' in 1806, which appeared in 3 

 volumes, illustrated with plates. The above works on West Indian 

 botany were entirely devoted to the phanerogamic or flowering plants; 

 but he did not neglect cryptogamic plants, and in 1806 he published 

 the ' Synopsis Filicum,' which contained a number of new genera and 

 species of ferns. After these publications he turned his attention 

 more particularly to the botany of his own country, and published 

 anonymously at Stockholm, in 1814, a work entitled 'Summa Vegeta- 

 bilium Scandinaviae systematice co-ordinatorum.' He also contributed 

 the text from the 5th to the 8th volume of the 'Svensk Botauik,' a 

 national work on the botany of Sweden, produced by several authors. 

 In addition to the above works, he contributed a number of papers 

 on botanical subjects to the Transactions of various societies ; amongst 

 others, to the ' Philosophical Transactions,' and to the ' Transactions 

 of the Linnsean Society,' of which he was a foreign fellow. He also 

 contributed several papers on zoology to various journals and Trans- 

 actions. He died in the year 1818. 



As a botanist Swartz ranked amongst the first of his day, and was 

 a worthy disciple of the school of Linnceus. His principal labours 

 were directed to descriptive botany, in which he was remarkable for 

 acuteuess without prolixity, purity of expression, and freedom from 

 novel technicalities. He has contributed greatly to our knowledge of 

 the vegetable kingdom, having added upwards of 50 genera and 850 

 species to the list of flowering plants, besides a great number to the 

 class of Cryptogamia. A genus of Leguminous plants has been named 

 after him Swartzia. A volume of his posthumous papers, with 

 notices of his life and labours, by Sprengel and Agardh, was published 

 at Stockholm in 1829, by J. E. Wickstrom, under the title ' Adnota- 

 tiones Botanicae quas reliquit 0. Swartz.' 



SWEDBERG, JESPER, a Swedish prelate and theological writer, 

 was born on the 28th of August 1653, at Sveden, near Fahluu, the 

 estate of his parents, Daniel Isaacson and Anne Bullernesia, who were 

 members of a respectable family among the miners of Stora Koppar- 

 berg. Swedberg took his degree at Upsala in 1682, was appointed 

 chaplain to the Royal Guards in 1684, chaplain to the court in 1685, 

 and was promoted to the living of Vingiiker in 1690. He was called 

 to Upsala as professor of theology in 1692, and made primate and 

 provost of the cathedral of that place hi 1694. Charles XI. appointed 

 him over the Swedish communities in Pennsylvania (America) ; and 

 in 1702 Charles XII. created him bishop of Skara in Westrogothia. 

 In 1705 he became Doctor of Theology at Upsala; and in the same 

 year Charles XII. placed him over the Swedish communities in 

 London. He procured for the city of Skara a privileged press, to 

 which he gave employment by his numerous writings. In 1712 the 

 episcopal palace was destroyed by fire, and the bishop lost his library 

 and many manuscripts. In 1719 the whole town of Skara was burnt, 

 but the gymnasium and cathedral were rebuilt in five years through 

 his exertions. On the 3rd of May 1719 his family was ennobled by 

 the name of Swedenborg. In 1730 another fire deprived him of 

 nearly the whole of his property. He was vigorous and active to the 

 end of his life, which terminated on the 26th of July 1735. He died 

 at the age of eighty-two, and was buried in the convent-church of 

 Varnhem. Bishop Swedberg was three times married : first, to Sarah 

 Benin [SWEDENBORG, EMANUEL]; secondly, to Sarah Berghia ; and 

 thirdly, to Christina Urrhusia. He had seven children, four daughters 

 and three sons, of whom the eldest was Emanuel Swedenborg, the 

 subject of the following notice. (Gezelius, 'Forsok til et Biographiskt 

 Lexicon,' 8vo, Stockholm, 1778-80.) 



The bishop's writings are voluminous, and they are not confined to 

 theology, but take in a wide range of subjects. He was one of the 

 earliest writers on Swedish orthography : his book on the subject 

 drew down on him the censure of one Urban Hjaerne, who, in a 

 violent pamphlet that he put forth in the form of a dialogue, accused 



