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336 [Doc. 100.
SWEDENBORG’S CORRESPONDENCE .
,
to deal and to close a bargain with an upright and honest
merchant. I will take measures that such a thing may not
happen again. With regard to the price at which Hans Behm ,
Westerås, and others, closed with the Academy, I should
have been happy to have paid the same cash, and if any one
had doubted it, I would have prepaid the amount: sed hæc
transeant (i. e. but let these be bygones).
With regard to your suggestions for my work on metals,*
it would occupy too much room to introduce them all: for about
each of the following metals, gold, silver, and iron, I shall
probably have more to say than about copper. But if you
think it worth while, it might first be treated in a general
way, and afterwards some particulars might be inserted. I
have nothing more to say in this matter than that $ 2, i. e.
the process at Fahlun, should come after § 14, i. e. the process
in Hungary, for some special reasons. What I send you now ,
as well as an article I sent before, on the refining of
metals, is indeed considered a secret; for it is difficult for a
foreigner to obtain information on such subjects; but accord
ing to my simple notions, there ought to be no secrets at all
in metallurgy ; for without such knowledge it is impossible
for anyone to investigate nature. Still less ought our
Swedish processes to be kept secret; inasmuch as foreigners
cannot benefit by any information concerning them . I hope I
may in time increase my cabinet or collection of minerals,
as others increase their collections of stones. Meanwhile I
remain with all due respect, most honoured and dear brother,
Your most obedient servant,
EM. SWEDENBORG .
Presthyttan, February 14, 1724.
P. S. You can see from the pages whether anything is
wanting ; if there is, I should like to know ; for some may
have been mislaid in the post-office, and may otherwise be lost.
This refers to a large work “ De Genuina Metallorum Tractatione "
(the genuine treatment of metals), of which Swedenborg had published a
prospectus in the year 1722 (see Document 196) ; but which was never
printed in the form set forth in that prospectus. The parts on iron and copper
were published by Swedenborg in 1734, as volumes II & III of his Opera
Philosophica et Mineralia. The parts on sulphur, common salt, and vitriol
are preserved among his MSS. in the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm .
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