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564 SWEDENBORG AS A MAN OF SCIENCE. [Doc. 199.
jects even in this particular ; at least, he could have obtained
as easily as any one else the laurel which is sought for by
the learned .
I was also led to think and to believe that in the other
matters too, of which you will leave to posterity a complete
record, he must have had a deeper understanding than he
showed outwardly ;* especially as, in his intercourse generally,
he gave people to understand that he deemed it low and vulgar
to put on the air and the ways of superiority and learning in
the company of such as have regarded and as still regard the
external and superficial as wise, and the internal and real as
unwise. I remember a truly royal and rational expression of
his, that he regarded him who was ignorant of mathematics
as only half a man. He exhibited also all his grace and
favour towards those whom he considered able to bring a use
ful science to some degree of perfection. If, therefore, it had
pleased the gracious providence of Almighty God, that he should
have governed his people in peace and tranquillity, he would
probably have brought the cause of learning and science in
Sweden to a higher degree of perfection than it had before
attained, or will ever attain hereafter; for he seemed inclined
personally to take the lead of the learned forces, and to en
courage every one by his own appreciation of his work to
make such progress, as to earn from him the acknowledgment
of having acquired some degree of merit and of just renown.
At the same opportunity, and about the same time, the
plans of several mechanical undertakings in the country
were made, where I was instructed to act as an assistant to
Mr. Polhem, the Councillor of Commerce ; as, for instance, of
the dock at Carlscrona, which must be regarded as unequalled
in Europe, if we take into consideration the fact that it was
built in a place where there was no assistance derived from
the tidal flow of the sea ; and, likewise, of the locks and sluices
between Lake Wener and Gottenburg, in the large streams and
at the falls of Trollhätta, which is a work that, had it been accom
plished, would have to be classed among the greatest mechani
* Compare the extracts from Swedenborg’s " Spiritual Diary," in Note 3,
respecting the internal character of Charles XII.
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