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250 DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG.
how much the Count de Buffon was mistaken in saying,
in his discourse on the formation of the planets, that
nothing had ever been written on this subject ; and it will
doubtless be regretted, that the French Pliny has not
profitted by the discoveries of the Stockholm Acade
mician, who, whilst he equals him in point of style, is
infinitely superior to him in every thing else. A cursory
perusal of this first volume, will also be sufficient to re
press our astonishment at the experiments of M. La
voisier, Swedenborg having already shewn, that earth and
water are not to be regarded as elements, nor elements as
simple substances. I should forbear to add that M.
Camus, who has performed such surprising things with
the magnet before our eyes, admits that he has derived
from this author almost all the knowledge that he has
exhibited on this subject, and, in short, that without
having studied him, our acquaintance with magnetism
must be very imperfect;-I say, I should forbear to
mention this, if the commissioners appointed by his
Majesty to examine animal magnetism, had not affirmed,
that there as yet exists no theory of the magnet. How
can this assertion be reconciled with the authentic and
positive fact I have now stated ? The farther one is from
imagining that such a declaration on the part of the
academicians and physicians can be the result of haste,
of ignorance, or of partiality, the more difficult the thing
becomes. Are we not to believe, that, to acquit them
selves worthily of their commission, and to justify as they
ought the confidence with which the sovereign has ho
noured them, they would neglect nothing that could
contribute to make them perfect masters of the question
of animal magnetism, and enable them to decide upon it,
and that they would accordingly read and consider every
thing which has hitherto been published on the subject;
at least everything that has proceeded from the pen of
the most celebrated naturalists. The work which has
occasioned this remonstrance, being without contradiction
the most complete and profound of all, ought principally
to have fixed their attention ; and this being granted, the
saying ofthe commissioners, that there does not yet exist
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