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DE THOME’S REMARKS ON MAGNETISM. 183
yet exist any theory of the magnet. This assertion has occasioned many
remonstrances ; and I shall here make one, and, as I think, the most just of
any, in favor of an illustrions man of learning, some years since deceased.
Three folio volumes were printed at Dresden and Leipzic, in 1734, under the
following title : Emanuelis Swedenborgii Opera Philosophica et Mineralia. . The first
of these volumes is entirely devoted to a sublime theory of the formation of the
world, founded on that of the magnetic element ; the existence, form, and mecha-
nism of which are demonstrated by the author from experience, geometr^ and the
most solid reasoning founded on these two bases. The subject of the other vol-
umes, being foreign to tliat of this letter, I shall content myself with saying, that in
tlie whole of the work, there is such an abundance of new truths, and of physical,
mathematical, astronomical, meclianical, chemical, and mineralogical know-
ledge, as would be more than sufficient to estabhsh the reputation of several
difierent writers. Accordingly, he acquired so much fame by its publication,
that the Academy of Stockholm hastened to invite him to become one of its
members. This production of the Swedish philosopher has continued to main-
tain the same degree of esteem in all Europe, and the most celebrated men have
not disdained to draw materials from it to assist them in their labors ; some, too,
have had the weakness to dress themselves in the feathers of the peacock with
out acknowledsfing where they obtained them. On reading the paragraph in
the first volume, page 387, entitled De Cliao Universali Soils et Planetarum, deque
separatione ejus in Planetas et Satellites ; and that at page 438, De Progressions
Telluris a sole ad Orbitam, it will be seen how much the Count de Buffon was
mistaken in saying, in his discourse on the formation of the planets, that noth-
ing had ever been written on this subject ; and it v/ill doubtless be regretted,
that the French Pliny has not profited by the discoveries of the Stockholm Aca-
demician, who, whilst he equals him in point of style, is infinitely superior to
him in everything else. A cursory perusal of this first volume, will also be suf
ficient to repress our astonishment at the experiments of M. Lavoisier, Sweden-
borg having already shown, that earth and water are not to be regarded as ele-
ments, 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 for-
bear 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 declara-
tion 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
dication of the character of the New Church Messenger. The reader will observe,
that the Marquis de Thome, writing to a journal of a merely philosophical nature, the
editors of which would have refused admission to an essay that appeared immediately
to relate to theological subjects, has dwelt chiefly on the highly gifted Swedenborg’s
attainments as a man of science, by which he has prepared the way for a favorable re-
ception of the testimony which he afterwards so elegantly and energetically gives in
favor of his character as a divinely-commissioned teacher. A letter from the same
writer, declaring his reception of the New Church writings, is printed in the JVew Jeru-
salem Magazine, 1790, p. 86.
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