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Doc. 4.] 19
EULOGIUM ON SWEDENBORG .
the record in Dr. Norberg’s history of Charles XII of the con
versations between the King and these two profound and learned
men , on mechanics and mathematics, on the analytic and al
gebraical calculus, on our Swedish method of reckoning, and on
several other subjects, prove that the King looked upon these
two men of genius as if intended for one another, and adapted
to work together with their united strength. The King also made
use of their knowledge and penetration which, in respect to
mechanics, was, in each of them, combined with a happy faculty
of invention.
This is not the place to speak of the great structures of
Polhem , of the well-known dyke at Lyckeby, the locks of
Trolhätta, the dry -docks of Carlscrona, and other works.
Swedberg, however, executed, on his part, a work of con
siderable importance, when during the siege of Frederickshall,
in 1718, he transported by a system of rollers, over moun
tains and valleys, two galleys, five large boats, and one sloop,
from Strömstadt to the Iddefjord, which separates Sweden
from Norway on the south; a distance of 24 Swedish [about
14 English] miles. By this feat the King was enabled to
carry out his plans, and, under cover of the galleys and large
boats, convey on pontoons a heavier artillery under the walls
of Frederickshall, than he could have done by land *. It is
thus that the sciences and their proper application always be
come useful, and frequently accomplish what without them no
mortal power could effect.
Mechanics did not, however, occupy the whole of his time.
He not only published, in 1717 and 1718, a continuation of
the Daedalus Hyperboreus; but in 1718 he printed an In
troduction to Algebra, under the title of Regelkonsten; in
1719, “A Proposal so to arrange our coins and measures, as
to facilitate computation and abolish fractions”; and in the
same year a dissertation "On the orbit and position of the earth
and of the planets "; and another, “ On the height of the water,
and the greater flux and reflux of the sea in former ages; with
proofs furnished from Sweden”. At the same time he wrote,
* For further particulars respecting this undertaking, see Docu
ment 195 .
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