his time. His work on palaeontology shows him the predecessor of all the Scandinavian geologists, and his contributions in this field alone would have been sufficient to perpetuate his fame. He was also a great physicist and had arrived at the nebular hypothesis theory of the formation of the planets and the sun long before Kant and Laplace. His theory of light and theory of the cosmic atoms were equally astonishing. He wrote a lucid account of the phenomena of phosphorescence, and adduced a molecular magnetic theory which anticipated some of the chief features of the hypothesis of to-day. The great French chemist, Dumas, gives him the credit for the first attempt to establish a system of crystallography. He was the first to employ mercury for the air-pump, and devised a method of determining longitude at sea by observations of the moon among the stars. He suggested the use of experimental tanks for testing the powers of ship models, invented an ear-trumpet for the deaf, improved the common house-stove of his native land, cured smoky chimneys, took a lively interest in machine-guns and even sketched a flying machine.
This flying machine consisted of a light frame covered with strong canvas and provided with two large oars or wings moving on a horizontal axis, and so arranged that the upstroke met with no resistance while the downstroke provided the lifting power. Swedenborg knew that the machine would not fly, but suggested it as a start and was confident that the problem would be solved. He said “It seems easier to talk of such a machine than to put it into actuality, for it requires greater force and less weight than exists in a human body. The science of mechanics might perhaps suggest a means, namely, a strong spiral spring. If these advantages and requisites are observed, perhaps in time to come some one might know how better to utilize our sketch and cause some addition to be made so as to accomplish that which we can only suggest. Yet there are sufficient proofs and examples from nature that such flights can take place without danger, although when the first trials are made you may have to pay for the experience, and not mind an arm or leg.”
In 1734 he also published Prodromus philosophiae ratiocinantis de infinito et causa finali creationis, which treats of the relation of the finite to the infinite, and of the soul to the body, seeking to establish a nexus in each case as a means of overcoming the difficulty of their relation. From this time he applied himself to the problem of discovering the nature of soul and spirit by means of anatomical studies. In all his researches he acknowledged and contended for the existence and the supremacy of the spiritual and the divine. He travelled in Germany, France and Italy, in quest of the most eminent teachers and the best books dealing with the human frame, and published, as the results of his inquiries among other works, his Oeconomia regni animalis (London, 1740-1741) and Regnum animale (the Hague, 1744-1745; London, 1745). In no field were Swedenborg's researches more noteworthy than in those of physiological science. In 1901, Professor Max Neuberger of Vienna called attention to certain anticipations of modern views made by Swedenborg in relation to the functions of the brain. The university of Vienna appealed to the Royal Swedish Academy for a complete issue of the scientific treatises, and this resulted in the formation of a committee of experts who have been entrusted with the task. It is clear that Swedenborg showed (150 years before any other scientist) that the motion of the brain was synchronous with the respiration and not with the action of the heart and the circulation of the blood, a discovery the full bearings of which are still far from being realized. He had arrived at the modern conception of the activity of the brain as the combined activity of its individual cells. The cerebral cortex, and, more definitely, the cortical elements (nerve cells), formed the seat of the activity of the soul, and were ordered into departments according to various functions. His views as to the physiological functions of the spinal cord are also in agreement with recent research, and he anticipated many of the pre-eminent offices of the ductless glands which students of the present time are only beginning to discover.
Up to middle age Swedenborg's position was that of a scholar, a scientist, a practical administrator, a legislator, and a man of affairs. But a profound change was coming over him, which led him to leave the domain of physical research for that of psychical and spiritual inquiry. Neither by geometrical, nor physical, nor metaphysical principles had he succeeded in reaching and grasping the infinite and the spiritual, or in elucidating their relation to man and man's organism, though he had caught glimpses of facts and methods which he thought only required confirmation and development. Late in life he wrote to Oetinger that “he was introduced by the Lord first into the natural sciences, and thus prepared, and, indeed, from the year 1710 to 1745, when heaven was opened to him.” This latter great event is described by him in a letter to Thomas Hartley, rector of Winwick, as “the opening of his spiritual sight,” “the manifestation of the Lord to him in person,” “his introduction into the spiritual world.” Before his illumination he had been instructed by dreams, and enjoyed extraordinary visions, and heard mysterious conversations. According to his own account, the Lord filled him with His spirit to teach the doctrines of the New Church by the word from Himself; He commissioned him to do this work, opened the sight of his spirit, and so let him into the spiritual world, permitting him to see the heavens and the hells, and to converse with angels and spirits for years; but he never received anything relating to the doctrines of the church from any angel but from the Lord alone while he was reading the word (True Christian Religion, No. 779). He elsewhere speaks of his office as principally an opening of the spiritual sense of the word. His friend Robsahm reports, from Swedenborg's own account to him, the circumstances of the first extraordinary revelation of the Lord, when He appeared to him and said, “I am God the Lord, the Creator and Redeemer of the world. I have chosen thee to unfold the spiritual sense of the Holy Scripture. I will Myself dictate to thee what thou shall write.” From that time he gave up all worldly learning and laboured solely to expound spiritual things. In the year 1747, to the great regret of his colleagues, he resigned his post of assessor of the board of mines that he might devote himself to his higher vocation, requesting only to be allowed to receive as a pension the half of his salary. He took up afresh his study of Hebrew, and began his voluminous works on the interpretation of the Scriptures. His life from 1747 was spent alternately in Sweden, Holland and London, in the composition of his works and their publication, till his death, which took place in London on the 29th of March 1772. He was buried in the Swedish church in Princes Square, in the parish of St George's-in-the-East, and on the 7th of April 1908 his remains were removed at the request of the Swedish government to Stockholm.
Swedenborg was a man who won the respect, confidence and love of all who came into contact with him. Though people might disbelieve in his visions, they feared to ridicule them in his presence. Those who talked with him felt that he was truth itself. He never disputed on matters of religion, and if obliged to defend himself, did it with gentleness and in a few words. His manner of life was simple in the extreme; his diet consisted chiefly of bread and milk and large quantities of coffee. He paid no attention to the distinction of day and night, and sometimes lay for days together in a trance, while his servants were often disturbed at night by hearing what he called his conflicts with evil spirits. But his intercourse with spirits was often perfectly calm, in broad daylight, and with all his faculties awake. Three extraordinary instances are produced by his friends and followers in proof of his seership and admission into the unseen world. But there exists no account at first hand of the exact facts, and Swedenborg's own reference to one of these instances admits of another explanation than the supernatural one. Immanuel Kant was struck by them in 1763, but in 1765, after further inquiries, concluded that two of them had “no other foundation than common report (gemeine Sage).” See Kehrbach's edition of Kant's Träume eines Geistersehers (Leipzig, 1880).
As a theologian Swedenborg never attempted to preach or to found a sect. He believed that members of all the churches could belong to the New Church without forming a separate organization. His theological writings roughly fall into four groups: (1) books of spiritual philosophy, including The Divine Love and Wisdom, The Divine Providence, The Intercourse between the Soul and the Body, Conjugial Love; (2) Expository, including Arcana Celestia (giving the spiritual sense of Genesis and Exodus), The Apocalypse Revealed, The Apocalypse Explained; (3) Doctrinal, including The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrines, The Four Chief Doctrines, The Doctrine of Charity, The True Christian Religion, Canons of the New Church; (4) Eschatological, including Heaven and Hell, and The Last Judgment. About forty volumes are available in English, and many have been translated into most
