Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
in our county is advanced’24 as a testimony pointiug in the same
direc-tion, by wbich Swedenborg appears to mean tbat the water worked partly
as an eroding force, as well as an accumulating force, forming banks of
sand and gravel in other places.1 Finally, the annual descent of tlie Baltie
is advanced as a testimony tliat the sea-level was formerly liigher than
now. It is here advanced that this descent takes place so rapidly tliat where
tliere were formerly good fishing places fields and meadovvs are now found;
that the towns in Lapland had to be moved down; that the harbors and
passage-ways for sliips used in former times have had to be reestablished;
tliat former staple-cities now lie far inland, even as far as 7 Swedish
miles, (Upsala being referred to by way of example). According to Berzelius2
Swedenborg was the lirst to call attention in a printed work to the
decrease of the water in the Baltic (»the rising of the Scandinavian
coast»), but in this respect, as no doubt in various other matters, he
had a predecessor in Urban IIjärne.
In a chapter on the change of the northern horizon’2-’ Swedenborg
expresses the view tliat if the seas of the world rise towards the soutli,
or at least sink tliere less than in the northern tracts, the earth’s form
would be changed, in tliat it would become flatter at the poles and
rounder at the ecjuator, so tliat if the earth’s horizon was formerlv of
––––– _ <
1 In the introduction to his great work on Copper Swedenborg also expresses
himself concerning the flood, as Mr. Strou has pointed out to me. The uneveness of
the earth’s surface is ascribed to the flood. Savs Swedenborg: >We incline to think,
indeed it cannot be questioned, tliat onr planet was perfect in beautv, delicious in
variety, and like one vast paradise, before the flood; its surface unbroken and even,
with no precipitous mountains or rugged rocks, no deep vallies, no lakes, and no seas:
hut that after the flood this order was reversed; that it changed its estate, and its
surface became broken and uneven, from its outer crust being rent asunder by the
waters.» {The Principia, by Emanuel Swedenborg, transi. hy Clissold, Vol. IL,
London, 1816. See page 378).
As to the manner in whicli this took place, according to Swedexrorg’s view, the
original may be consulted. Here it need onlv be mentioned tliat he supposed the
mile-thick earth’s crust to have rested upon the water, a supposition whicli is also
found, at least in part, in the writings of Urban IIjärne, Athanasius Iyirchee, J. J.
Becker, and otliers. Perhaps the biblical aecount of the flood, that »then were all the
fountains of the great deep broken up», was not witliout influence upon Swedenborg’s
conception. This transformation was also, according to Swedenborg’s view, of importance
for the origin of mineral deposits, concerning whicli he who is interested will lind
detailed information in the original.
2 J. Berzelius: Några ord om den skandinaviska vallens höjning öfver ytan af
omkringliggande haf och om afslipningen och refflingen af dess berg. Forhandl, vid
de skandinav, naturforskarnes tredje möte i Stockholm den 13—19 juli 1812.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
