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the present volume the reader will find some account of that important
revolution in the intellectual life of Sweden. Viewed in connection with
the historical background furnished by the Cartesian Controversy and its
influence upon Swedenborg’s teachers and early associates, his earliest
scien-tific and philosophical contributions fall into relationships which permit our
obtaining that perspective which is so necessary for a just view of their
significance. The streams of doctrine and speculation arising from the
works of Aristotle, Descartes and Newton, to mention only the main
sources, were all active at Upsala just before and after Swedenborg’s
residence at the University (1699—1709), and could not fail to influence
the course of a young investigator’s thoughts. In the Introduction we have
attempted, even at this early stage of these historical researches, briefly to
define the conditions by which Swedenborg was surrounded, when in early
manhood he decided to devote himself to the study of nature.
After preliminary theological, classical, and scientific studies at Upsala
Universit}7, Swedenborg defended a classical disputation in 1709. About
a year later he departed for London, and, according to his earliest letters,
the journey had been determined upon before his leaving the University.
Bishop Jesper Swedberg, Swedenborg’s father, and Eric Benzelius, Jr.,
his brother-in-law, had visited England and been greatly influenced by
Eng-lish learning. Before leaving the paternal roof in 1710, Swedenborg sent
to Upsala from Skara the skeleton of what he at the time referred to as
a »giant». Subsequently the bones were found by Professor Lars Roberg
to be those of an extinct species of whale. Although surrounded by the
rich geological treasures of Vestrogothia, Swedenborg does not appear at
this early stage of his work to have perceived the significance of the stories
buried in the rocks. Probably he was so confined to the neighborhood of
the episcopal residence, Brunsbo, that the wonders of Kinnekulle, about
which he published an important work ten years later, were beyond his
reacb, although but a few miles distant. That he chafed in his
confine-raent at Brunsbo and longed to set forth upon his journey to England
appears from his first letters to Benzelius. (Vol. L, p. 201 et seqq.)
Arrived in England, Swedenborg devoted his attention chiefly to
astro-nomical subjects, studied Newton, and laid the foundations for his future
many-sided activities in the field of the natural Sciences, as may be seen
from his letters to Benzelius. On the way back to Sweden, during a
stay at Greifswald in Swedish Pomerania, Swedenborg began to arrange
his results into order and published a number of poems and fables, as also
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