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TESTIMONY OF MATTHIAS CLAUDIUS. 247
latter treatise in a journey to the mines of the Hartz of
Saxony and of Austria, after having made himself ac
quainted with those of his own country. Having done
this, he published, in 1734, his famous Opera Philoso
phica et Mineralia. From all these works, it appears
that he was a man of an original genius, who did not copy
from others, but thought for himself, and who was per
fectly conversant with the subjects he treated. All his
works were highly esteemed, not only in his own country,
but also abroad.
"In 1724 he was offered a professorship of the higher
branches of the mathematics, which he declined. In the
same year he was elected a member of the Academy of
Sciences at Upsal. The same honour was conferred upon
him by that of St. Petersburg in 1734.
"Now after Swedenborg had made himself acquainted
with all the erudition of his time, and after the greatest
honours had been bestowed upon him by individuals and
whole societies, he began to see spirits. His panegyrist
(Baron Sandel, ) says that he had considered the visible
world, and the nature of its respective parts, as a means
bywhich we might, perhaps, become acquainted with the
invisible world; that he at first formed an hypothesis
respecting it, and at length reduced it to a whole system.
If this be the case, one ust naturally conclude, that this
system, even if it be a true one, must appear very strange
to those, who of the visible world know very little, and of
the invisible nothing at all, yea, cannot but appear to them
in a very ridiculous light. Nil sacri est, said Hercules
in a very angry manner one day, when he found in a
temple the statue of Adonis. In the character and life of
Swedenborg, such an Adonis is not met with, for whose
sake he might have embraced different notions to what
are generally received, as is commonly the case. He was
always a virtuous man, and one who was interiorly
affected with the beauty and majesty of the visible world.
"Whether Swedenborg really saw spirits, or any
thing new, or whether he was out of his senses, is a
question which none of his opposers have hitherto been
able to decide. However, we cannot help thinking that
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