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HIS DISCOVERIES IN SCIENCE. 263
6
chronous with the inspirations and expirations ofthe
lungs, by means of which falling, the nervous fluid
(
fluidum spirituosum, ) is propelled all over the system,
while the expansion of the brain draws the same fluid
from the blood (of which it is the life, ) through the
capillaries of the carotids, into the cortical substances,
(corcula cerebri,) and so back into the nervous circu
lation. Set the brain in motion, (says Swedenborg,
significantly,) and you will see the uses of all its parts.’
This motion generates the motions of the lungs, which
react upon those of the brain, and serve as a subsidiary
and external attractive cause of the circulation of the
nervous fluid, of which the motions of the brain serve as
the internal cause. Nor is respiration confined to the
lungs, but by their means, as well as by the brain, is
introduced into all the viscera ; the whole being in a state
of alternate swell and subsidence; which constitutes their
life and activity, and excites them perpetually into the
performance of their functions. Thus, with Swedenborg,
definite structure has definite function ; and definite func
tion is none other than definite motion- Qualis deter
minatio substantiarum, talis accidentium et motuum,
qui substantias, sicut stratos ponticulos percurrunt.’
Every fibre has its own fluxion."
" There is, (says the same writer, p. 455,) the clearest
anticipation by Swedenborg, in this work, of the whole
doctrine of the atomic theory ; nay, he has even laid
down, geometrically, the composite nature of water, and
stated the chemical equivalents of its components at the
admitted values of 8 and 1, always calling water 9. By
the result of this inquiry, he seeks to marry the merely
experimental sciences to the fixed, and to elevate them
on the wings of geometry."
"Herschel discovered first, in the year 1781, a seventh
planet ; but Swedenborg, so early as 1745, in his work on
the Worship and Love of God, § 11, speaks of seven
primary planets : he even mentions seven planets in his
Principia Rerum Naturalium, published in 1734.
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