Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
Doc. 313.] 891
CHRONOLOGICAL ACCOUNT.
thus obtains, to particles of water. This same experiment Sweden
borg afterwards makes with hollow lead balls and small balls
of glass.
1717. (11.) En Ny Theorieom jordens afstannande (A new
Theory concerning the end of the earth), in MS.; a
fragment consisting of 38 pages. See Document 311, no. 8.
This paper seems to be meant by the "Theory of the Earth,”
which Swedenborg mentions to Benzelius in Document 72, which is
dated April 4, 1717. In this paper Swedenborg first shows that
everything in this world is transitory and hastens towards a decline,
from which he infers that such must be the case with the earth
generally. He then endeavours to prove that the earth’s orbit is
diminishing; and for this purpose enters into a discussion of the
earth’s motion around the sun and around its own axis. These two
motions he shows to be due to the resistance of the medium through
which the earth passes in its motion ; its revolution around the sun
being due to the resistance of the ether, and that around its own
axis to the resistance of the air. This he proves by some interesting
experiments on objects floating in the water. From the roundness
of the earth, he also concludes that in the first period of its existence,
it must have revolved around its axis more quickly; its round shape
being due to such a quick motion. This also he proves by an
experiment on a lump of clay, which when it is revolved quickly around
its axis under water assumes on oval shape. From the existence of
a paradise and a golden age he likewise infers that the earth must
have revolved around its axis more quickly in former times, and
that the days and nights, or heat and cold, must then have succeeded
one another more speedily, so as to cause a perpetual spring. These
subjects are discussed in the first twelve pages. The succeeding
pages treat of the antediluvians and the deluge ; and he here starts
the theory that the earth does not increase, but decreases in size.
Afterwards he discusses earthquakes, and endeavours to show that
the fixed stars are retreating from the earth. He then shows how
the distance of the earth from the sun is to be computed, and
likewise its age; by which the surviving fragment of this treatise is
brought to a close.
The same subject was taken up again by the author in the fol
lowing year in the little work entitled Om Jordenes och Planeternas
Gång och Stand, no. 18, in the present Document.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
