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I
TESTIMONY OF MATTHIAS CLAUDIUS. 179
" I am induced," says Claudius, " to say a few words concerning Swedenborg,
consequence of a speech delivered in honor of his memory by Baron de San-
del, in an assemblage of the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm.
" Many persons are only acquainted with Swedenborg in the latter part of his
life, and from his latter publications. It is perhaps arising herefrom, in a great
measure, that a number of people are so hasty in pronouncing judgment con-
cerning him as a man and as an author, who would have considered hun with
more attention, and not so slightly, had they been acquainted with his life and his
writings previous to his abandoning his former pursuits; at least one might
ha-ve expected that such a character as Mr. Polyhistor,* or his editor, would
have suspended their opinion concerning him, had they known that Sweden-
borg 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 Jasper Swedberg, bishop of Skara, and had
from his childhood a favorable opportunity of making himself acquainted with
all that is commonly called learning and science. He was very fond in his
youth of the Latin poets, and made several attempts himself, which were re-
ceived 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 anything 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 sci-
ences. His favorite studies, however, besides those of divinity and philosophy,
were chemistry, physics, and the mathematical sciences ; he became acquainted,
by reason of his extensive knowledge of the latter, with the famous counsellor,
Polheim, and King Charles XIL advanced him to the rank of assessor, on condi-
tion of accompanying this great mathematician in all his enterprizes, and being
always near him.
" 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 published successively his
Dcedalus Hyperboreus; An Essay to establish a proper Standardfor Coins and Measures ;
A Treatise on Algebra ; another On the Motion and Position of the Earth and Planets ;
one respecting Ebb and Tide ; and A Treatise on Mines. He wrote the latter trea-
tise in a journey to the mines of the Hartz of Saxony and of Austria, after having
made himself acquainted with those of his own country. Having done this, he
published, in 1734, his famous Opera Philosophica 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 perfectly 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 mathe-
* A certain person who appears to have passed hasty censures upon Swedenborg
and his writinsfs.
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