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SWEDENBORG, EMANUEL. 



SWEDENBORG, EMANUEL. 



the publication. This last work consists of three distinct treatises- 

 The first volume is Principles of Natural Philosophy, consisting of 

 new attempts to explain the phenomena of the elemental world in a 

 philosophical manner ' (Principia Rerum Naturalium, sive Novorum 

 Tentaminum Phenomena Mundi Elementaris Philosophice explicandi). 

 It is dedicated to the Duke of Brunswick, and has an engraved 

 likeness of the author, but of very inferior execution. The ' Priu- 

 cipia ' is an attempt to construct a cosmology d priori. The second 

 and third volumes are together called the ' Regnum Minerale ;' the 

 second is on iron, the third on copper aud brass. They treat of the 

 methods employed in all parts of Europe, and in America, in pre- 

 paring and working these metals. Part of the second volume has 

 been translated into French, aud inserted in the 'Description des 

 Arts et Metiers.' Each volume is subdivided into three parts, and 

 illustrated by numerous copper engravings. In the same year, and at 

 the same places, Swedenborg published 'An Introduction to the 

 Philosophy of the Infinite, and the Final Cause of Creation ; treating 

 also of the Mechanism of the Operation between the Soul and the 

 Body' (Prodromus Philosophise Ratiocinantis de Infiuito, et Causa 

 Finali Creationis; deque Mechanisrno Operationis Animie et Corporis). 

 Tbis work connects his cosmology with his physiology. 



Swedenborg's reputation was now established throughout Europe, 

 and Christopher Wolff and other foreign literati eagerly sought his 

 correspondence. On December 17th, 1734, the Academy of Sciences 

 of St. Petersburg appointed him a corresponding member. In 1736 

 he again travelled, and in 1738 visited Italy, and spent a year at 

 Venice and Rome. The journal of his tour, from 1736 to 1739, is in 

 manuscript in the Academy at Stockholm. At this time he no doubt 

 applied himself particularly to anatomy and physiology, of a masterly 

 acquaintance with which he gave evidence in his ' (Economia Regni 

 Animalis ' (Economy of the Animal Kingdom), a large work in two 

 parts, 4to, which he published at Amsterdam in 1740-41. The first 

 part treats of the blood, the arteries, the veins, and the heart, con- 

 cluding with au introduction to rational psychology. The second part 

 treats of the coincidence between the motions of the brain and the 

 lungs, of the cortical substance of the brain, and of the human soul. 

 In 1741 he became a Fellow, by invitation, of the Royal Academy of 

 Sciences of Stockholm, the ' Memoirs ' of which he enriched with a 

 paper on inlaying. (' Kongl. Swenska Wetens. Acad. Handlingar,' 

 xxiv. 107-113.) He still continued earnest in the pursuit of phy- 

 siology, and in 1744 published the 'Regnum Animale' (Animal King- 

 dom), parts i. and ii., 4to, at the Hague, and in 1745, part iii. in 

 London. The first part of this work is an analysis of the abdominal 

 viscera ; the second, of the thoracic viscera ; the last treats of the skin, 

 of the senses of taste and touch, and of organised forms in general. 

 . The plan of both the foregoing works is peculiar to Swedeuborg. 

 Although he cultivated anatomy practically, he considered that the 

 standard authorities of his time were more to be relied on than his 

 own dissections (' CEcon. Reg. An.'), on which account he premised the 

 descriptive statements of Heister, Winslow, Malpighi, Morgagni, Boer- 

 haave, Leeuwenhoek, Swaminerdain, &c., as his basis for induction. 

 On the facts supplied by these authorities he built his own superstruc- 

 ture, which, if not strictly a physiological one in the modern meaning 

 of the word, is at least an elevated and original system of animal 

 geometry and mechanics. These great works were regarded by him 

 as only the commencement of a work in which he designed to embrace 

 the entire circle of physiology and psychology. ('Reg. Anim./ n. 14.) 



At the beginning of 1745 Swedenborg published in two parts, 4 to, 

 ' De Cultu et Amore Dei' (The Worship and Love of God) : the first 

 part, on the origin of the earth, on paradise, and the birth, infancy, 

 and love of the first man ; the second part, on the marriage of the first 

 man, and on the soul, the intellectual mind, the state of integrity, and 

 the image of God. This book is a sublimation of Swedenborg's scien- 

 tific system, with a cort-elative statement of his psychical doctrines, in 

 which both are blended, and clothed with the narrative form : it is the 

 link between his physiology and a class of doctrines which was yet 

 to come. 



A number of unpublished scientific manuscripts, written by him 

 previously to this period, and which are preserved in the Royal 

 Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, manifest his industry and the 

 largeness of his designs. The most important of these papers appear 

 to be' De Magnate,' p. 273, 4to ; ' De Sale Communi,' p. 343 ; ' Prin- 

 cipia Rerum Naturalium, ex priori et posteriori educta,' p. 569; 'De 

 Sejisatione,' cap. xiii. ; 'De Actione,' cap. xxxv. ; 'De Cerebro, Medulla 

 Oblongata, et Spinali, de Nervis, analytice, physice, philosophice ; ' 

 ' De Aure Humana ; ' ' Tractatus Partium Generationis utriusque 

 Sexus, et de Processu Generationis.' (' Intellectual Repository,' 

 January 1836; 'Rep. of London Printing Society,' 1841.) 



We shall now endeavour to take a brief review of Swedenborg's 

 scientific progress, with particular reference to method, principles, and 

 doctrines. His proper career may be dated from the publication of 

 the ' Prodromus Principiorum.' In this work he attempted to account 

 for chemical combination by a theory of the forms and forces of the 

 particles of bodies, and to resolve chemistry into natural geometry, 

 that it might have the benefit of first principles, and the rauk of a 

 fixed science. Of these forms he gave many delineations. (Plates to 

 ' Prodr. Princip.') He broached the ingenious doctrine that the parti- 

 cles of primary solids are moulded in the interstices of fluids, and take 



the shape of these interstices; and that particles so modelled, by 

 undergoing fracture at their weakest points, give rise to new shapes, 

 which become the initial particles of new substances. He anticipated 

 Dr. Wollaston's suggestion of the spheroidal composition of crystals, 

 as well as the atomic theory of Dalton, and even some of its details, as 

 when, geometrically predicting the composite nature of water, he 

 assigned to it the equivalent of 9. ('Prodromus Principiorum.') 



Tue rules which he proposed for investigating the constitution of 

 the magnetic, luminous, and atmospheric elements come next under 

 our notice. " 1. That we take for granted that nature acts by the 

 simplest means, and that the particles of elements are of the simplest 

 and least artificial forms. 2. That the beginning of nature is the 

 same as the beginning of Geometry : that natural particles arise from 

 mathematical points, precisely as lines, forms, and the whole of 

 geometry ; and this, because everything in nature is geometric ; and 

 vice versa. 3. That all the above elements are capable of simulta- 

 neous motion, in one and the same place; and that each moves 

 naturally without hindrance from the others. 4. That ascertained 

 fac's be the substratum of theory, and that no step be taken without 

 their guidance." (' Miscell. Obs.,' part iii.) 



From these rules we pass to their application, in the outset to which 

 Swedenborg boldly averred that the records of science, accumulating 

 as they had been for thousands of years, were sufficient for an 

 examination of things on principles, and d priori; that a knowledge of 

 natural philosophy does not presuppose the knowledge of innumerable 

 phenomena, but only of principal facts which proceel directly, and 

 not of those which result obliquely and remotely, from the world's 

 mechanism and powers ; and that the latter species of facts confuse 

 and disturb, rather than inform the mind. Also, that the restless 

 desire, from age to age, for more facts, is characteristic of those who 

 are unable to reason from principles and causes, and that no abundance 

 would ever be sufficient for such persons. (' Principia, de Mediis ad 

 Ver. Philos.,' pp. 3, 4.) The following is a statement of the doctrine 

 of the elemental world proposed in the ' Principia : ' "1. In the 

 simple (substance) there is an internal state and corresponding effort 

 tending -to a spiral motion. 2. In the first finite which arises from it 

 there is a spiral motion of the parts ; so also in all the other finites. 

 3. From this single cause there arises in every finite a progressive 

 motion of the parts, a motion of the whole on its axis, and if there be 

 no obstacle, a local motion also. 4. If a local motiou ensues, an 

 active arises ; each active similar to the others. 5. From finites and 

 actives arise elementaries, each so similar to the others, as to differ 

 from them only in degree and dimension. Thus we presume the 

 existence of only three kinds of entities finites, actives, and their 

 compounds, elementaries, of which the finites occupy the surface, the 

 actives the interiors. With regard to the finites, one is generated 

 from the other, and they are all exactly similar, except in degree and 

 dimension : thus the fifth finite is similar to the fourth, the fourth to 

 the third, the third to the second, the second to the first, and the first 

 to the simple; so that when we know the nature of one finite, we 

 know that of all. Precisely the same may be said of the actives and of 

 the elementaries. In the same effort of the simple towards spiral motiou 

 lies the single cause and the first force of all subsequent existences." 

 (' Principia,' p. 450-1.) Swedenborg first states these doctrines synthe- 

 tically, and then educes the same from, and confirms them by, the 

 phenomena of nature. We may here, with propriety, introduce a 

 remark from Sandel : " He thus formed to himself a system founded 

 upon a certain species of mechanism, and supported by reasoning; a 

 system, the arrangement of which is so solid, and the composition so 

 serious, that it claims and merits all the attention of the learned ; as 

 for others, they may do better not to meddle with it." 



In approaching the human body he again insisted on- the necessity 

 for principles and generalisation, without which, he said, " facts them- 

 selves would grow obsolete and perish ; " adding that, " unless he 

 were much mistaken, the destinies of the world were leading to this 

 issue." A knowledge of the soul became the professed object of his 

 inquiry, and he " entered the circus with a resolve to examine 

 thoroughly the world, or microcosm, which the soul inhabits, in the 

 assurance that she should be sought for nowhere but in her own 

 kingdom." In this search he repudiated synthesis, and " resolved to 

 approach the soul by the analytic way," adding, " that he believed 

 himself to be the first investigator who had ever commenced with 

 this intention ; " a surmise in which he is probably correct. We shall 

 here content ourselves with a brief illustration of one of those 

 doctrines which, " with the most intense study," he elaborated for his 

 guidance, we mean the '' doctrine of series and degrees." Each organ, 

 he observed, commences from certain unities or least parts which are 

 peculiar to it, and derives its form from their gradual composition, 

 and its general function from the sum of their particular functions. 

 The mass is therefore the representative of its minute components, 

 and its structure and functions indicate theirs. The vesicles or the 

 smallest parts peculiar to the lungs are so many least lungs ; the 

 biliary radicles of the liver, so many least livers ; the cellules of the 

 spleen, so many least spleens ; the tubuli of the kidneys, so many 

 least kidneys ; and the same function is predicable of these leasts, as 

 of their entire respective organs, but with any modification which 

 experience may declare to be proper to the minuter structures. This 

 new method of analysis, in which the greatest things were presumed 



