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near Scara, with his father, Bishop Jesper Swedberg, before leaving
Sweden in 1710 on a journey to England. After a four years’ visit in
England and on the Continent, Swedenborg arrived in Swedish
Pome-rania in 1714 and returned to Sweden in 1715. He seeks in vain a
secretaryship at Upsala1, but is introduced by Polhem to Charles XII.,
at Lund, and is appointed extraordinary assessor in the Royal College
of Mines. Swedenborg is now fairly established; he discusses
mathema-tical and scientific subjects with the King, assists Polhem in various
engineering euterprises at Trollhettan and Carlskrona, and continues the
scientific studies which he had begun before returning to Sweden.
Be-ginning with mathematical, mechanical, and astronomical studies, he
proceeded wTith physics, chemistry and geology, and then after writing
and partly publishing a series of most remarkable works on those subjects,
the last of which were the »Precursor of the Principles of Natural Things»,1
1721, and the »Miscellaneous Observations,» 1722, he devoted himself
for twelve years to metallurgy and cosmology, publishing, in 1734, the
three magnificent folios entitled »Opera Philosophica et Mineralia.» An
analysis of Swedenborg’s later philosophical, psj’-chological, physiological
and anatomical studies, based upon a comparison of his works of the period
1734—1745, whith the earlier series of the period 1716—1734, shows
most clearly that the fundamental principles of his philosophy were
worked out during the earlier period. The »Principia» is justly
ad-mired on account of the new cosmology it expounds, but many of the
principles there laid down are found in the works published before 1722,
although a close comparative study shows that great modifications were
made from time to time and that some positions were gradually
aban-doned as the system developed.
The Relation of Swedenborg’s Philosophy of Nature to the
philosophies of Deseartes, Newton and Polhem.2
It is certain that Swedenborg’s interest in the natural Sciences and
philosophy had been powerfully excited before he left his Alma Mater
1 Dr. Claus Annerstedt, ihe former librarian of Upsala University, bas kinclly
furnisbed me with a copy of Swedenborg’s application to the Rector and Consistorv,
preserved among the »Acta» of the Consistory for the year 1716.
* Much of the material employed in the previous sections, and in the remainder
of this Introdnction, has been submitted to the annual meetings of the Swedenborg
Scientific Association of Philadelphia, U. S. A., and published in the quarterly of that
body, »The New Philosophy», since 1901.
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