that human nature can produce in support of the assertion, we turn round and positively verify the remark, "and they would not believe, though one rose from the dead!" With such persons it is impossible to argue. They must either deny the proposition, and prove the vetus testimonium corrupt, or they must admit the statement. In this position we shall leave them.

Of other extraordinary relations of Swedenborg we have nothing to say. They are of a similar nature and are as well attested. We, therefore, hasten to consider the work now before us, namely, "The Animal Kingdom,"*-first, however, drawing attention to the many singular anticipations of the discoveries of modern philosophers.

Of the discoveries which Swedenborg made in chemistry, astronomy, and anatomy, it is impossible to speak in language too panegyrical. According to the Marquis de Thomé †, who addressed some remarks to the commissioners appointed to inquire into the merits of animal magnetism by the king of France, Swedenborg was the first who offered a theory on the magnet. The words of the Marquis are:-

abundance of new truths, and of physical, mathe-
matical, astronomical, mechanical, chemical, and
mineralogical knowledge, as would be more than
sufficient to establish the reputation of several dif-
ferent writers." He further says, that the most
celebrated men have not disdained to draw mate-
rials from it, to assist them in their labors; and
that, "
some have had the weakness to dress them-
selves in the feathers of the peacock, without ac-
knowledging where they obtained them." He
informs us, that after reading the paragraph in the
first volume, p. 387, entitled De Chao Universali
Solis et Planetarum deque separatione ejus in Pla-
netos et Satellites; and that at page 438, De Pro-
gressione Telluris a sole ad Orbitam, it will be
seen, how much Buffon was mistaken (was not the
error_voluntary?) in saying in his Discourse on
the Formation of the Planets, that nothing had
ever been written on the subject. The Marquis
farther informs us, that a cursory perusal of this
first volume will be sufficient to repress any as-
tonishment we might be inclined to express at the
experiments of M. Lavoisier-Swedenborg having
previously shown, that earth and water are not to
be regarded as elements, nor elements as simple
substances. The numerous and curious experi-
ments of Camus are then alluded to in the follow-
ing language:-

"In the report of the commissioners appointed by the king for the examination of animal magnetism, these gentlemen have affirmed that there does not exist any theory of the magnet. This assertion has occasioned many remonstrances; and "I would forbear to add that M. Camus, who I shall here make one, and, as I think, the most has performed such surprising things with the just of any, in favor of an illustrious man of learn- magnet before our eyes, admits that he has deing, some years since deceased. Three folio vol- rived from this author almost all the knowledge umes were printed at Dresden and Leipsic in that he has exhibited on this subject, and, in short, 1734, under the following title: Emanuelis Swe- without having studied him, our acquaintance with denborgi Opera Philosophica et Mineralia. The magnetism must be very imperfect-if the comfirst of these volumes is entirely devoted to a sub-missioners appointed by his majesty to examine lime theory of the formation of the world, founded animal magnetism, had not affirmed, that there as on that of the magnetic element; the existence, yet exists no theory of the magnet.' form, and mechanism of which are demonstrated by the author from experience, geometry, and the most solid reasoning founded on these two bases." The two other volumes, as not bearing upon the subject in question, the marquis dismisses, but not until he has made the following remark :that in the whole of the work, there is such an

It would appear, indeed, from the Marquis' showing, that the first volume alone of this great work of Swedenborg is one of the most complete and profound ever published. Swedenborg did not deal in generalities. He argued on geometrical principles, remarking (as de Thomé informs us) at p. 184 of his first vol.-"Unless our principles be geometrically and mechanically connected * As it is possible to conceive some of our readers may with experience, they are mere hallucinations and he desirous of examining into the testimonies respecting idle dreams." De Thomé, a little after, says, the visions and revelations of Swedenborg, and of com- that the theory of Swedenborg incontestably proves paring them with those which have been adduced in sup- the existence of the magnetic element; that it esport of others, we subjoin a list of those works which we have consulted either directly or indirectly as bearing on tablishes, that the particles of this element being the question-some especially in reference to Swedenborg, spherical, the tendency of their motion, in conseothers only as tending to elucidate the inquiry: Tighe's quence of this form, is either spiral or vertical, or Life of William Law, 8vo; Mather's Remarkable Providences, also his Life by his Son, and the latter's History circular; that as each of these motions require a of New England and Wonders of the Invisible World; centre, whenever the particles meet with a body, Jennings' Life of Cotton Mather; Kotter's Lux in which by the regularity of the pores, and the conTenebris, Amsterdam, 1657; Hibbert's Theory of Appa-figuration and position of its parts, is adapted to ritions; Ferriar's History towards a Theory of Appa- their motion, they avail themselves of it and form ritions; Lavater De Spectris; Kuhlman's Prodromus around it a magnetical vortex; that, consequently, quinquennii Mirabilis; Connor's Evangelium Medici;

Jung Stilling's Theory of Pneumatology, by Jackson; every body that has such pores and such a configAccredited Ghost-Stories, by Jarvis; Signs Before Death, uration and position of its parts may become the by Horace Welby; Wesley's Journal; Colton's Account centre of such a vortex; that if this body posof the Sampford Ghost; Aubrey's Miscellanies; Beau-sesses an activity of its own, if its parts are flexmont's Treatise on Apparitions; Glanville's Sadducismus Triumphatus; Wanley's Wonders; Ellys' Re-ible, and if its motion is similar to that of the parmarks on Hume's Essay on Miracles; Newman's Essay ticles, it will be so much the more disposed to adon the Miracles of the Middle Ages; The Psychological mit them, &c., &c. Whence, says Thomé, it Magazine; Intellectual Repository (passim ;) The Zoist; &c., &c., &c.

On an assertion of the Commissioners appointed by the King of France, for the examination of animal magnetism, by the Marquis of Thomé, dated Paris, Aug. 4th, 1785. This letter will be found in Tafel's Documents concerning Swedenborg, and in The Intellectual Repository for 1815, p. 191.

*It will be gathered from this what was or is the real value of the report of the commissioners appointed by the king to inquire into the facts connected with animal magnetism. Jussieu's reclamation ought to be reprinted, if it be merely to show how opposed physicians have generally been to all advancements in the science of medicine.

follows, that magnetical substances are such merely | convey any precise idea concerning it-" much by virtue of the element whose existence Sweden-less was implied the existence of the foramen." borg has demonstrated, and thus that the magnet- The channel of communication, which was adism of bodies depends, not on their substance, but mitted by the anatomists, seemed to be referred to on their form; a truth which is hinted at by the the posterior, or back part of the lateral ventrilearned Alstedius in his excellent Encyclopædia, cles; whilst the foramen Monro described, is situprinted at Lyons, in 1649; to which, drawing a ated at the anterior or front part of the ventricle. comparison between electricity and magnetism, he Now, says the writer in the Repository, in the says, Motiones electrica a materia, magneticæ vero "Regnuin Animale of Swedenborg," p. 207, the a forma pendent.* following striking observation occurs:-" "Foramina communicantia in cerebro vocantur anus et vulva præter meatum seu emissarium lymphæ, quibus, ventriculi laterales inter se, et cum tertio, communicant,"-which may be thus translated: "The communicating foramina in the cerebrum are called anus and vulva, beside the passage or emissary canal of the lymph; by these the lateral ventricles communicate with each other, and with the third ventricle." This work was printed in 1744, or nine years prior to the earliest notice by Dr. Monro, of the foramen in question! The motion of the brain also, the first description of which is attributed to John Daniel Schlichting, by Blumenbach in his Inst. Physiol. 1787, section 201, was first noticed by Swedenborg. Blumenbach refers to Schlichting's Commecc. Litter., Nov., 1744, p. 409. But the discovery seems due to Swedenborg, as he fully described it in the

We must now take leave of the marquis, to whom we have been much indebted for this resumé of Swedenborg's theory of magnetism, and refer to some other discoveries, which were undoubtedly Swedenborg's. And, first, of the Foramen of Monro. The first person who publicly claimed the discovery of this passage or communication between the right and left, or two lateral ventricles of the cerebrum, was Dr. Monro, the second of Edinburgh. For a long time many anatomists denied its existence, and a story is told, we think of one of the Bells, who, when demonstrating the cerebrum to his pupils, used to push the blow-pipe through the parietes of the ventricles, and exclaim, "This is the foramen of Monro!" However, it was at last conceded that there was a foramen, but that it was known before Mouro's time! yet we do not remember to whom the honor of the discovery was generally attributed, but certainly not to Swe-"Economia Regni Animalis," 1740, Nos. 349 denborg. This great man, however, was not and 458, which was published before Schlichting always to be denied the credit which was due to wrote. This was noticed in the "Monthly Magahim, for a writer in the Intellectual Repository for zine" for May, 1841, pp. 448, 460. The dis1821, page 170, took up the cudgels, and proved covery amounted to this, that when the lungs Swedenborg's title to the discovery, though up to shrink or empty themselves in expiration, the brain this date we do not remember any treatise on the rises; but when they swell or expand themselves brain, in which the author even alludes to Swe-in inspiration, the brain sinks. The writer in the denborg. Monro's first intimation in public of his Monthly Magazine" says

discovery, was on the 13th of December, 1764, "Another discovery of Dr. Wilson,* concernwhen he read a paper to the Phil. Soc. of Edin-ing the vacuum which takes place when the blood burgh on the subject; but in his work, entitled is expelled from the contracted cavities, into which "Observations on the Structure and Functions of vacuum, according to the common laws of derivathe Nervous System," he says, that he demon-tion, the neighboring blood must rush, being prestrated the foramen to his pupils as early as the vented, by means of the valves, from regurgitating year 1753. Monro allows that a communication is due to Swedenborg." was known to exist between these two ventricles and the third, long prior to his time; but he shows that it was never demonstrated or delineated in the manner he had done, nor in any way that could *Mr. Faraday, in the first Friday Evening Lecture of this season at the Royal Institution, touched very closely upon the opinion of Alstedius. See the Lecture referred

to.

In the "Economia Regni Animalis," Swedenborg also gives a mechanical and geometrical analysis of the globules of the blood, from which he derives all the tissues of the body

"Here [says the same author] he also commences to treat of motions of the human body; a subject of which indeed he may be considered the The magnetic theory of Swedenborg receives addidiscoverer. He demonstrates that the brain has a tional assistance, if not confirmation, in father Boscovich's Theory of Matter-if that learned Jesuit had not respiratory motion, a rising and falling synchroseen Swedenborg's Opera Philosophica et Mineralia, nous with the inspirations and expirations of the which was published in 1731. It is likely he had, for lungs, by means of which falling the nervous fluid his Theoria Philosophie Naturalis reducia ad unicam (fluidum Spirituosum) is propelled all over the legem virium in Naturâ existantium, was not published till 24 years after, namely in 1758. How far Swedenborg system, while the expansion of the brain draws the might have been indebted to Alstedius we will not pre-same fluid from the blood (of which it is the life) tend to determine, as we have not the means of compar- through the capillaries of the carotids, into the ing the Encyclopedia and the Opera Philosophica to- cortical substance (corcula cerebri) and so back gether, but it is more than probable that he was ac-into the nervous circulation. Set the brain in moquainted with the contents of an encyclopedia that was at tion (says Swedenborg significantly) and you will that period and even subsequently a work of great authority. With regard to the theory of Boscovich, which see the use of all its parts. This motion generates is so strongly opposed to Dalton's, it was, that matter the motions of the lungs, which react upon those consists of mere mathematical points endowed with at- of the brain and serve as a subsidiary and external traction and repulsion without extension, so that it re- attractive cause of the circulation of the nervous solves matter into mere force or powers of attraction and repulsion. This strongly reminds one of the general fluid, of which the motions of the brain serve as mode of reasoning in all Swedenborg's works, at least the internal cause. Nor is respiration confined to those that we have consulted. However, if not a com- the lungs, but by their means as well as by the plete resemblance, a very great similarity will be traced brain, is introduced into all the viscera; the whole between the two modes of putting the theory. Biot, Ampère, Humboldt, Poison, Barlow, and others have only followed up what Swedenborg pointed out. See

ville's Connexion of the Physical Sciences, 1835.

An Inquiry into the Moving Powers employed in the Circulation of the Blood. See also Dr. Young's Croonian Lecture in the Phil. Trans. for 1809.

being in a state of alternate swell and subsidence ; | this occurs in the chapter on the kidneys, where which constitutes their life and activity, and ex- the principle stated to govern the urinary series is cites them perpetually into the performance of their functions. Thus, with Swedenborg, definite structure has definite function; and definite function is nothing more than definite motion; Qualis determinatio substantiarum, talis accidentium et motuum, qui substantias, sicut stratos ponticulos percurrunt. Every fibre has its own fluxion.”

The same writer subsequently claims for him the "whole doctrine" of the atomic theory with much show of truth, and next alludes to the composition of water, which Swedenborg laid down geometrically, stating the chemical equivalents of its components to be of the values of 8 and 1, always calling water, which is the formula of the present day, 9. These are very striking proofs of the wonderful genius and expansive mind of Swedenborg. But if it was said of Goldsmith, by Johnson in his epitaph, that he left no subject of human learning untouched, and never touched any subject that he did not adorn, how much more applicable is the sentiment to the illustrious Swede! We have seen that in philosophy, mineralogy, magnetism, anatomy, physiology, algebra, ethics, theology, and geometry, he excelled all other authors of his age, we have now to view him in the light of an astronomer.

"Herschel discovered first in the year 1781, a seventh planet; but Swedenborg, so early as 1745. in his work on the Worship and Love of God, 11, speaks of seven primary planets; he even mentions seven planets in his Principia Rerum Naturalium, published in 1734."

We have at length, we think, placed such acts of Swedenborg's wonderful powers of mind before the reader that we can hardly suppose that he now entertains the same opinion of that great man as when he commenced the perusal of this article. He can surely no longer subscribe to the foolish and wicked story of his madness-invented by one Mathesius, a Lutheran minister, who afterwards went mad himself (see "Documents," p. 145, et ante et postea) or credit the report of his being a visionary. Visionaries do not deal in geometry, and algebra, and mathematics, nor do they make great discoveries in the brain. Proceed we now therefore to Mr. Wilkinson's translation.

confirmed by the recent observations of Mr. Bowman, better than by the hypothetical structure assigned to the parts previously, in the absence of experimental evidence.' (Preface, pp. viii., ix.) The plan of the work will be best told in the language of Swedenborg himself. He says (p. 10:)

"I intend to examine, physically and philosophically, the whole anatomy of the Body; of all its Viscera, Abdominal and Thoracic; of the | Genital Members of both sexes; and of the Organs of the five Senses. Likewise,

"The Anatomy of all parts of the Cerebrum, Cerebellum, Medulla Oblongata, and Medulla Spinalis.

"Afterwards the cortical substance of the two brains; and their medullary fibre; and the causes of the forces and motion of the whole organism. Diseases, moreover; those of the head particularly, or which proceed by defluxion from the Cerebrum.

"I propose afterwards to give an introduction to Rational Psychology, consisting of certain new doctrines, through the assistance of which we may be conducted, from the material organism of the body, to a knowledge of the soul, which is immaterial. These are the Doctrine of Forms; the Doctrine of Order and Degrees: also the Doctrine of Series and Society; the Doctrine of Influx; the Doctrine of Correspondence and Representation lastly the Doctrine of Modification."

"From these doctrines I come to the Rational Psychology itself; which will comprise the subjects of action; of external and internal sense; of imagination and memory; also, of the affections of the animus. Of the intellect, that is of thought and of the will; and of the affections of the rational mind; also, of instinct.

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Lastly, of the Soul; and of its state in the Body, its intercourse, affection, and immortality; and of its state when the body dies. The work to conclude with a Concordance of Systems."

Such is the outline of the work, which the author intended to publish, but the whole has not been printed, some parts still remaining in manuscript.

It is impossible not to feel as we proceed in a criticism of "The Animal Kingdom" of Swedenborg, that justice can scarcely be hoped to be awarded it in the small space which can be allotted for that purpose in "The Monthly Review," but nevertheless we shall endeavor so to place some of the more prominent facts before the reader as to give him at least a general view of the contents of the whole volume.

This volume consists of monographs by Swedenborg, upon the tongue, the lips, mouth, palate, and salivary glands; the pharynx, esophagus, and their glands; the stomach and its orifices; the intestines; the mesyntery and the lacteals; the thoracic duct and the lymphatics; the glands generally; the liver and the gall bladder; the pancreas; the spleen; the omentum; the succenturiate kidneys; the kidneys and the ureters; the urinary bladder; the peritoneum; and as the The plan is this: Swedenborg collects together author commenced with a prologue, so he ends all that every author of celebrity in anatomy or with an epilogue. It will be readily acknowl-physiology up to his age had said upon the strucedged that the 16 chapters, with prologue and ture or uses of the particular organ he is about to epilogue, embrace a very wide field, over which it is not possible for a reviewer to ride his hobby rough-shod. He must go "cannily" along, and not a little "craning" may be pardonable, for he is not dealing with the work of an ordinary mind. The translator justly says

"The principles of Swedenborg are more true now to the rational enquirer, than they could possibly be to the men of Swedenborg's own day: :wherever he adopted false facts, they furnished a worse basis for his system than the more solid materials of modern discovery. An example of

discuss, and then in the "Analysis" expresses his own opinions, drawing such conclusions and making such remarks, many of which are perfectly new to us, as tend to illustrate the particular doctrine which he is desirous of inculcating, namely the truth of revelation. And here before we proceed with our analysis, we shall go back to the prologue and quote some apposite, profound, and philosophical remarks:

"The province of reason or intellect consists exclusively in considering and inquiring what is reasonable, profitable, and becoming in society, or

The second office he assigns to the tongue is that of "feeling and perceiving what is about to be received, with a view to becoming acquainted with its qualities: that is, in tasting.' (p. 37.) The third office," not, however, proper to it," is that of speech.

in the civil and moral world; and what is proper in conjunction with its contiguous organs-the to be done in the kingdoms below it, the animal, pharynx, the œsophagus, the stomach, &c. for the vegetable, and the mineral. Let the intellect the least in every series comprehends an idea of be contented with its lot, and not aspire to higher its universe." (p. 35, 36, 37.) things, which, inasmuch as they are sanctuaries and matters of revelation, exist to faith only. Furthermore, faith is banished as soon as ever the intellectual power endeavors to open the doors to its mysteries; for the intellect most commonly abolishes all faith in divine things; and what is received by the intellect, is not received by faith, that is to say, not by such a faith as elevates us above ourselves. And those who are inspired by a divine faith, completely despise the assistance of confirmatory arguments; perhaps they will laugh at this very book of mine-for where there is faith, what need is there of demonstration; as where there is sight, what need is there to talk of light?" 22. I grant this; nor would I persuade any one who comprehends these high truths by faith, to attempt to comprehend them by his intellect; let him abstain from my books. Who so believes revelation implicitly, without consulting the intellect, is the happiest of mortals, the nearest to heaven, and at once a native of both worlds. But these pages of mine are written, with a view to those only, who never believe anything but what they can receive with the intellect; consequently, who boldly invalidate, and are fain to deny the existence of all super-eminent things, sublimer than themselves, as the soul itself, and what follows therefrom-its life, immortality, heaven, &c. &c. (p. 14.)"

"By the office and gift of speaking, the tongue feeds the higher principles, the very mind itself; by the office of eating, it feeds the lower principles, or the body. Thus it may be said to afford food to both the soul and the body; wherefore it guards the meeting of the two ways which lead to the two regions of the body—to the viscera of the abdomen, through the pharynx and the œsophagus, and to the viscera of the chest through the larynx and the trachea; as well as the cross-way which leads to the cerebrum, the hall and palace of the mind. For this reason it is, that the human tongue has a less acute sense of taste than the tongues of the lower animals; for as in proportion as we approach the soul, in the same proportion we recede from the body." (pp. 38-39.)

In support of his statement, that the tongue consists of an infinity of "little tongues," he refers to Bidloo, in whose plates are represented little tongues on the surface of the tongue. These are so many oval, pointed, or bicipital bodies. Also in Verheysen's, and Malpighi's plates, sinilar representations are perceived. These little bodies To carry out this principle, he quotes the opin- are even visible in the tongue of the snail. "The ion of the following authors at full length: Heis-tongue of the house-snail," says Swammerdam, ter's Comp. Anat. n. 285: Winslow's Exposition" is covered on each side with many small parts, Anat. de la struct. du Corps Humain; Traité de like the bronchiæ of fish, or like a comb with a la Teste, n. 504-538; Malpighi's Exercitatio double row of teeth," &c. Hence, Swedenborg Epistolica de Lingua. Swammerdam's Biblia Na-infers, that there are as it were denticles or little turæ, p. 109; Boerhaave's Institutiones Medica, n. 62-and refers to the following authors; Eustachius, Tabul. Anat., Tab. xvii., fig, 2, 5, 8, 11, 18, 19, 20 (Edit. Colon. 1716) Cowper, Myotomia Reformata; Morgagni, Advers. Anat., i., tab. i. ii., &c.; Heisters' Comp. Anat., tab. vii., fig. 34, 35; Malpighi, in Mangetus, Theatr. Anatom., tab. cix., fig. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19; Bidloo in Mangetus, T. A., tab. cix., fig. 8, 9, 13, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20. From this specimen an idea may be formed of the nature of the preliminary study which must have been undertaken and persevered in ere he could indite his "Analysis," a specimen of which we shall now give.

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The primary, proper, and natural office of the tongue, consists in sucking, sipping, eating, and drinking; or, to speak more plainly, in receiving food for the nutrition of the body and the blood, in working this food about and forming it into a ball, and rolling the ball into the esophagus and swallowing it. The tongue, considered in general, performs this office; it likewise performs the same office in all its parts; for it pretastes the first fruits, the extracts, the spirits, and the purer essences of the food; that is, it takes them up by little mouths, it nimbly works them about upon little tongues, it drinks them by imperceptible pores, and delivers them immediately to the blood. Thus the lesser parts perform not only the same office on a small scale as the entire tongue, but also the same offices as the tongue performs in conjunction with its associates and contiguous organs-the lips, the cheeks, the fauces, and the palate; and the least parts, as the tongue performs

teeth, which seize the nutritious particles, and carry them to the little cavities subjacent. Thence, he says, the same arrangement obtains in all the other members and organs; as in the eyes, where the globular parts in the vitreous humor are so many little eyes-a fact which is best seen in the eyes of the bee and fly. In the lungs-the least vesicles are so many little lungs. In the cerebrum, the cortical substances are so many primitive cerebellula. In the heart, the lacunæ, with their little columns, are so many ventricles of little hearts. This will at once unfold the system on which Swedenborg so learnedly insisted.

The reason he assigns for saying that the office of speaking is not proper, or is not exclusively vested in the tongue, is that it only disposes the muscles designed for manducation, at pleasure, in a new way; for several of the bird tribe, as daws, crows, &c., may be made to speak, although speech is not a proper faculty of their tongues. He acknowledges, however, that the motions are determined by a previous will, as they require to be learned by the young. He is further strengthened in his opinion by history, which relates that many persons have been able to speak without tongues, and that Winslow quotes from Riolan's Anthropographia, the case of a child, five years

*Bidloo was physician to William III. Cowper stole some of his plates for his "Anatomy of Human Bodies," but not without remonstrance. Bidloo was born at AmAnatomia sterdam in 1649. His great work is the " Corporis Humani," fol. 1685. This is the publication from which Cowper purloined the plates. At the death of King William he returned to Holland, and died there in 1713.

After minutely describing the nerves and muscles of the tongue, he proceeds to tell us, in his own way, to the end, "that the ear may be instantly conscious of the manner in which sounds are first articulated, from the very earliest efforts of the infantile tongue, a small branch of the fifth pair, in a manner recurrent from the tongue, enters the membrane and cavity of the tympanum, and unites with the portio dura of the acoustic nerve, as it traverses the Eustachian tube; whereby the ear prestalling a passage through the fauces, is enabled to know what is going on in the larynx and the tongue and the voice, in its first conception, is rendered in unison with the voice, as it issues from the mouth, and is received by the ex-forated, and ruptured stomachs; of food remaining ternal ear and the membrana tympania."