25B 
Notices of Books . 
[April, 
laid the book aside, doubting whether the fault lay with the 
author or with ourself. But when we came upon the “ Philoso- 
phic Chimique ” of Dumas we found his estimate of Swedenborg 
as a chemist agree very closely with our own. Since that time 
we have watched the gradual development of chemical science ; 
we have taken part in the attack and defence of theories and 
systems, but we have not succeeded in detecting, in the course 
of modern discovery, anything which is fairly due to the inspira- 
tion of Swedenborg, or of which his writings can be considered 
the fountain. At the same time we do not dispute that a subtle 
and eager partisan might imagine that he saw in the fruits of 
modern research a fulfilment of some of the foreshadowings of 
this remarkable man, and, from the peculiar nature of Sweden- 
borg’s writings, it might be difficult to convince such an enthu- 
siast of error. As regards his astronomical speculations, and in 
particular the knowledge which he fancied he had received in 
visions concerning some of the heavenly bodies, we cannot do 
better than remind the reader of the point so ably brought for- 
ward by the authors of the “ Unseen Universe.” These gentle- 
men call attention to the significant fadt that whilst Swedenborg 
gave the world an account of the planets whose existence was 
then known to the educated world, he is perfectly silent con- 
cerning Uranus and Neptune, which have been discovered since 
his time. Had he pointed out their existence he would have 
fully legitimised his claims to extraordinary knowledge, howso- 
ever obtained. His having failed to do so must be considered 
as fatal. 
As a specimen of Swedenborg’s scientific writings we will 
quote, from his “ Economy of the Animal Kingdom,” a passage 
which Mr. Gorman characterises as “ magnificent,” and which 
he really seems to imagine is an answer to and an anticipatory 
refutation of Dr. Huxley’s well-known work “ Man’s Place in 
Nature ” : — “ It is especially to be remarked that all the wills 
and actions of animals — we mean all the instincts — are excited 
simply by external motives or moving causes, by those things 
that strike the senses, or that affedt their blood in a general 
manner. The changes and conditions of the air and aether re- 
curring with the four seasons send heat into their fluids, which 
burn and boil accordingly (!), and with the fluids as determinants 
a corresponding change is wrought in the organic forms of the 
body and brain. In this way the principle of motion is at once 
excited, and animals are carried agreeably to Nature’s order into 
rational-seeming effects involving ends. Hence their loves, and 
hence the periods those loves obey. Hence the wonders they 
display in building their nests, incubating their eggs, and 
hatching their young. Hence their amazing parental care. 
Hence their public consultations as to the manner of providing 
for themselves and their progeny in the coming winter ; and a 
number of other effects which proceed from a soul like theirs, 
