sence of one year and three months, he returned home to Stockholm, where he published, anonymously, a work on the Depreciation and rise of the Swedish Currency, and, shortly after, entered upon the duties of Assessor in the Royal Metallic College, to fit himself for which he had undertaken his late tour through Europe.

The next ten years were divided between the labors which this office devolved on him, and his literary pursuits. In 1724, he was invited, by the consistory of the University of Upsal, to accept the professorship of pure mathematics, vacated by the death of its incumbent, the celebrated Nils Celsius. The highest compliments were, on this occasion, bestowed on his literary qualifications; and the advantage that would accrue to the students, and the honor that would be reflected on the university by his acceptance of the situation, were the arguments employed to persuade him, but employed in vain. In 1729, he was duly elected a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of Stockholm. In 1733, he again travelled into Germany, visited Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Carlsbad and Leipsig, and, at the last place, put to press his great work entitled "Opera Philosophica et Mineralia," in the preparation of which he had expended the study and labors of several years. During the printing of this work, he spent a year in visiting the Austrian and Hungarian mines. The "Opera Philosophica et Mineralia" was printed wholly at the expense of his patron, the Duke of Brunswick, and consisted of three volumes, the first being entitled the "Principia," or "the Principles of Natural Philosophy," and the second and third volumes, "the Regnum Minerale," or "Mineral Kingdom," treating of the various methods, employed in all parts of Europe and America, of working and preparing the less costly metals, iron, copper, and brass.

The fame of Swedenborg was now extended throughout Europe, and the most learned men, in all countries, sought the honor of his acquaintance, and learned societies were anxious to enrol his name among their members. On the 17th Dec., 1734, the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburgh appointed him a corresponding member. In 1736, he undertook another tour for literary objects. In 1738, he visited Italy and spent a year at those favorite seats of the muses and commerce, Rome and Venice. The journal of this three year's tour is preserved in MS. in the academy at

Stockholm. About this period, he turned his attention to the study of anatomy and physiology, and gave to the public the result of his investigations, in a splendid work, entitled, "Economy of the Animal Kingdom," in two vols. quarto, published at Amsterdam, in 1740 and '41. In 1741, he became by invitation, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm. In 1745, he published another magnificent work, entitled "the Animal Kingdom,” a new and costly edition of which, translated into the English language, has recently been issued in London by Mr. Wilkinson, Fellow of the Royal Society, and which, for elegance of style and profound learning, cannot be surpassed by any work in any language. We have recently devoted some time to its perusal, and now that we have it in an English dress, it cannot fail to attract the attention of our most distinguished literati.

In 1745, he published a work, entitled "the Worship and Love of God," full of the most beautiful and sublime speculations, and which constitutes a kind of intermediate link between his physiological works and that voluminous class of his productions which are purely ethical, metaphysical and theological, and which, from the extraordinary circumstances attending his career, have attained a celebrity not accorded to those that are merely literary and scientific. The latter, however, are in the very highest repute among learned men, and are daily increasing in reputation, of which the new translations and costly editions, recently issued from the London press, afford evidence. It is now beginning to be discovered and acknowledged how much even the present enlightened age is indebted to the herculean labors and rare discoveries of this transcendant genius-a concession which would have been sooner made, had it not been that his greatest works were composed and published in a dead or foreign tongue, unfamiliar to the generality of readers; besides that his claims as an illuminated expounder of Divine Revelation have thrown a temporary cloud over his literary reputation, which is now being dissipated by the force of truth; and we may add, that the great body of scholars of the present century have been too much occupied with modern works of value, to pay that attention to the labors of their distinguished predecessors, which their merits challenge at their hands. A period of literary repose of long continuance, and freedom from

the distraction of wars and political convulsions has, however, latterly furnished them with leisure for more thorough investigations, and enabled them to be more just to the claims of illustrious persons who have passed off the stage. After surveying, in so cursory a manner, what Swedenborg accomplished in various fields of science and how largely he extended their boundaries, we are now prepared to acquiesce in the highest estimate of M. Sandel, who, in the eulogium which he pronounced in 1772, on his character, before the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, as if oppressed with the dignity of his subject, exclaims:

"How can I delineate so extensive, sublime and laborious a genius, who was never fatigued in his studious applications, and who unweariedly pursued his investigations into the most profound and difficult sciences; who, for several years successively, has made many useful efforts to discover the secrets of nature, opened and made clear the way to certain sciences, and, in the end, penetrated into the most profound secrets, without ever having lost sight of sound morality or the fear of the Supreme Being, and preserving the whole strength of his mind to the last, without experiencing the decay of mental faculties, to which so many are subject."

Such is the tribute paid to his character by one of his learned and distinguished contemporaries, who knew him intimately, and it would be easy to multiply similar testimonies from other sources equally respectable. Indeed we cannot deny ourselves the gratification of adding, in this place, the testimony of that eminent statesman, Count Hopken, the Prime Minister of Sweden, who says:

"I have not only known him these two and forty years, but have also for some time daily frequented his company. A man who, like me, has long lived in the world, and even in an extensive career of life, may have numerous opportunities of knowing men as to their virtues or vices, their weakness or strength, and in consequence thereof, I say, that I do not recollect ever to have known any man of more uniformly virtuous character than Swedenborg;-always contented, never fretful or morose, although throughout his life, his soul was occupied with sublime thoughts and speculations. He was a true philosopher, and lived like one; he labored diligently, lived frugally without sordidness; he travelled frequently and his travels cost him no more than if he had lived at home. He was gifted with a most happy genius, and a fitness for every science, which made him shine in all those he embraced. He was, probably, without contradiction, the most learned man in my country; in his youth, a great poet; I have in my possession some remnants of his Latin poetry, which Ovid might not have been ashamed to own. His Latin, in his middle age, was an easy, elegant and ornamental style; in his latter

years, it was equally clear, but less elegant, after he turned his thoughts to spiritual subjects. He was well acquainted with the Hebrew and Greek." p. 16.

Carl Robsham, director of the Bank of Sweden, and the confidential friend of Swedenborg, has written a very interesting memoir of his life, which has lately been translated into English from the Swedish, and from which we make the following extract:

"As Swedenborg, in his youth, had no thought of the employment of his coming life, it may be easily believed, that he was not only a learned man and a gentleman after the manner of the times, but a man so distinguished for wisdom as to be celebrated throughout Europe, and also possessed of a propriety of manners that rendered him every where an honored and acceptable companion. Thus he continued to old age, serene, cheerful and agreeable, with a countenance always illuminated by the light of his uncommon genius. How he was looked upon in foreign lands I do not know; but in Stockholm, even those who could not read his writings, were always pleased to meet him in company, and paid respectful attention to whatever he said.

"Many persons have wondered that he never was in want of money for his frequent journeys and other expenses; but when it is considered, that he lived very moderately on his journeys, and that his books on philosophy and mineralogy, as well as his theological writings, never remained long on the booksellers' hands, but always met a ready sale, and that he inherited from his father, Bishop Š., a considerable sum, it will be easily understood, how he was able to accomplish all his designs." pp. 219-20.

The Marquis de Thomé, on the publication of the report of the Commissioners, appointed by the king of France, to investigate the subject of Animal Magnetism, makes the following comments on Swedenborg's great work, the "Opera Philosophia et Mineralia," in which the theory of magnetism as applicable to the formation of the world, was, for the first time, promulgated. The Commissioners had asserted, that there did not exist, as yet, any theory of the magnet. The Marquis contradicts this assertion, and claims for Swedenborg, the honor of a theory of the magnet, introducing him as an "illustrious man of learning, not long since deceased."

"Three folio volumes," he says, "were printed at Dresden and Leipsig 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 mechanism of which are demonstrated by the author from experi

ence, geometry and the most solid reasoning founded on these two bases. The subject of these volumes being foreign to that of this letter, I shall content myself with saying, that in the whole of the work, there is such an abundance of new truths, and of physical, mathematical, astronomical, mechanical, chemical and mineralogical knowledge, as would be more than sufficient to establish the reputation of several different 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 maintain 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, without acknowledging where they obtained them." pp. 229-30.

In this connection, we would remark, that since the translation of Swedenborg's great works into the English tongue, the depredations of soi-disant philosophers have become more apparent than heretofore; for it is now ascertained, that they have abstracted from his writings, not only "line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little," but have appropriated to themselves, without remorse of conscience, whole discoveries.

The author of a dissertation on the Royal Society of Sciences, at Upsal, published in 1789, mentions, that,

"Swedenborg was one of its first and best members," and says, "that his letters to the society while abroad, proved that few can travel so usefully. An indefatigable curiosity, directed to various important subjects, is conspicuous in all. Mathematics, astronomy and mechanics, seem to have been his favorite sciences, in which he had already made great progress. Every where he had become acquainted with the most renowned mathematicians and astronomers, as Flamstead, De la Hire, Varignon, &c. This pursuit of knowledge was also united with a constant zeal to benefit his country. No sooner was he informed of some useful discovery, than he was solicitous to render it beneficial to Sweden, by sending home models. When a good book was published, he not only gave immediate notice of it, but contrived to procure it for the library of the university." pp. 48-9.

The Rev. Mr. Collin, who a few years ago, in 1831, and perhaps later, was living in Philadelphia, and the minister of a Swedish Church there, visited Swedenborg in his youth, and has published an interesting account of him.

"In the year 1765," he says, "I went to reside in Stockholm, (he then being 20 years of age,) and continued partly in that city and partly in its vicinity for near three years. During that time, Swedenborg was an object of great public attraction in that metropolis, and his VOL. X.-NO. 20.

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