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246 DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG.
would have suspended their opinion concerning him, had
they known that Swedenborg possessed all their learning
in his cradle.
"Swedenborg, or rather Swedberg, (for the name of
Swedenborg he obtained in 1719, when he was ennobled, )
was born at Stockholm, the 29th of January, 1688. He
was the second son of Dr. Jasper Swedberg, bishop of
Skara, and had from his childhood a favourable oppor
tunity of making himself acquainted with all that is com
monly called learning and science. He was very fond in
his youth of the Latin poets, and made several attempts
himself, which were received with approbation. After
having studied for several years at Upsal, and obtained
the character of a man of genius and application, he left
his native country, and travelled into Germany, Holland,
and France, to see if he could meet with any thing new
worth his knowledge. He could never digest the idea of
ranging the learned world into separate classes, such as
divines, philosophers, &c.: he maintained that all sciences
were for one man, and one man for all sciences. His
favourite studies, however, besides those ofdivinity and phi
losophy, were chemistry, physics, and the mathematical
sciences ; he became acquainted, by reason of his ex
tensive knowledge of the latter, with the famous coun
sellor Polheim , and king Charles XII. advanced him to
the rank of assessor, on condition of accompanying this
great mathematician in all his enterprizes, and being
always near him.
66
How much Swedenborg knew of mechanics will
appear from the following. He transported in the year
1718, from Stromstadt to Iderfjol, a distance of about
ten miles, over hills and valleys, by means of rollers, five
large vessels and a sloop, for the purpose of carrying on
the siege of Frederickshall.
"In the year 1710 he commenced author, and pub
lished successively his Dadalus Hyperboreus ; An Essay
to establish a proper Standardfor Coins and Measures;
A Treatise on Algebra ; another On the Motion and
Position ofthe Earth and Planets ; one respecting Ebb
and Tide ; and A Treatise on Mines. He wrote the
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