1876.] 
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NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
Christian Psychology ; the Soul and the Body in their Correlation 
and Contrast. Being a New Translation of Swedenborg’s 
Tractate “ De Commercio Animi et Corporis With Preface 
and Illustrative Notes. By T. M. Gorman, M.A. London : 
Longmans and Co. \ 
It is a subject which might be debated at great length in how 
far the present work can legitimately come under our cognisance. 
The translator, indeed, assures us in his preface that the contents 
of the original work of Swedenborg are “ of a stridtly philo- 
sophical character,” but he immediately adds “ although it evi- 
dently contains several distindt indications of having been 
written with a definite theological aim.” The work before us, 
however, to 113 pages due to Swedenborg himself, contains up- 
wards of 400 for which Mr. Gorman must be held responsible, 
aad in which the theological element and the theological style 
are still more pronounced. In the preface is a vigorous attack 
upon a certain Vicar of Frome-Selwood, and a still fiercer on- 
slaught upon Cardinal Manning. There is a protest warning 
the world not in any way to confound Swedenborg with the 
Swedenborgians, who are described as “ the small sedt founded 
in the year 1787, under most unhappy auspices, by a certain 
Robert Hindmarsh, of Clerkenwell Close, a layman, and formerly 
a member of Mr. Wesley’s Communion.” In all this we can 
see very little of philosophical interest. 
The main purpose of the Appendix is declared to be “ to fur- 
nish further illustration of the text, and to indicate a few relations 
of agreement or opposition which appear to exist between cer- 
tain speculations which have obtained considerable currency in 
the present day, and some of the more important principles 
taught in our author’s v/ritings more than a century ago. This 
may, perhaps, be a fitting place to attempt the difficult task of 
furnishing an estimate of Swedenborg’s character as a man of 
Science. Years ago we took up certain of his writings — espe- 
cially a treatise on chemistry — with a very strong prepossession, 
not against him, but in his favour. We had heard it declared 
that Swedenborg had all but anticipated the Atomic Theory, and 
that his works teemed with valuable suggestions. We read ac- 
cordingly, and re-read, eagerly and carefully. But the more we 
read the more we were disappointed. What we sought was not 
there. There was nothing to point the path to new regions of 
discovery ; there were no ideas, at least to our comprehension, 
which admitted of experimental verification. Reludtantly we 
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