thee in all thy ways; they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." (Psalm xci. 11, 12. See also Luke xvi. 22.) "Are they not ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Heb. i. 14.)

(To be concluded in our next.)

SWEDENBORG'S PRINCIPIA.

His Magnetic Theory of the Earth confirmed by the recent researches and observations of Professors Gauss and Hansteen, Col. Sabine, Humboldt, Captain Sir J. C. Ross, and others.

[Continued from page 175.]

IN Case VIII., we claimed for Swedenborg the theoretical discovery of the "identity of the magnetic streams of the earth and those influencing the needle ;" and, after presenting evidence to substantiate the claim, we proceeded a step further, by applying his Principia of this fact to the elucidation of one of the most extraordinary but interesting of the many phenomena of terrestrial magnetism-aurora borealis. This was at tempted in our last article (Case IX.) by means of Swedenborg's doctrine of spiral motion; wherein we stated (and to a certain extent proved) the now well known fact, that the magnetic needle receives its direction, dip, and intensity, from the direction, dip, and intensity, of the magnetic streams, during their flow in a tacit and profound current from one pole to the other; and we additionally affirmed, what might be anticipated from the above as a correlative, that the declinations or spiral windings of the streams in their fluxion must so impel and carry the needle, as to place it pointing in the direction of the spire, and thus give it an equal amount of declination as themselves; so that the increased spirality of the streams will be clearly indicated by the increased declination of the needle; and the reverse by a diminished spirality. Swedenborg very beautifully illustrates this thesis in chap. xiv., on "The Declinations of the Magnet;" and in chap. xv., on Causes of Magnetic Declination." The following are instances:"This (magnetic) element directs the sphere and at the same time the body of the magnet into a parallelism and similarity of situation with its own: or more clearly thus; such as is the situation of the particles of the magnetic element, such also is the declination (of the needle). As for example; at Paris, in the year 1727, where the declination was observed to be 14° west, then in the same place the very particles of the element declined themselves at an angle of 14° from the north pole of the earth toward the west, and consequently so also did the needle."-Page 148, vol. ii.

"The

"When therefore the magnet or needle, in its declination, is urged by the situation of the particles of the magnetic element, then the needle evidently receives a direction in the element according with the position of the particles for the current of the particles acts directly upon the sphere of the needle; but if the particles of the element are in an oblique position, as in the following figure, then the

..........

K

particles act obliquely upon the sphere of the needle P Q, and urge it further downwards rather than in the polar direction."-Vol. ii., p. 100.

We also proved by a number of instances, that the spirality of the streams increased or diminished with the increased or diminished intensity of their fluxion; and hence, when speaking of the use of certain magnetic instruments in the experiment we proposed for the demonstration of Swedenborg's Magnetic Theory of the Earth, we were led to remark-" The declination needle tests the spirality of the streams-its increase or diminution; whilst the isodynamic force needle tests their rate or intensity of fluxion-its increase or diminution."

We therefore simply stated a correlative fact, which presented itself on the very surface of Swedenborg's thesis of the spiral fluxion of these streams, when we wrote out the following in our last article:

"Deduction.-It will, therefore, be a uniform law of magnetic storms, that their commencement is indicated by a diminishing intensity and increased declination from the earth's pole; and their cessation and abatement by a reversion."

The whole philosophy of which, Swedenborg gives in the following short

sentence:

"The more intense the motion, the greater the declination of the spires."-Vol. ii., p. 221.

As additional confirmation, a scientific friend well known for his interesting lectures on this and kindred subjects, delivered for many

years throughout the kingdom, has called our attention to the striking confirmation which the wires and needles of the electric telegraph present of the above uniform law of magnetic storms, as directly deduced from Swedenborg's Theory of Magnetic Spiral Motion :

"MAGNETIC STORMS."

"Did any doubt remain of the electrical character of the aurora borealis, it would be removed by the phenomena presented by the needles of the telegraph, and often by the bells during the prevalence of this meteor. At such times the needles movejust as if a good working current were pursuing its ordinary course along the wires: they are deflected this way or that, at times with a quick motion, and changing rapidly from side to side many times in a few seconds; and at other times moving more slowly and remaining deflected for many minutes, with greater or less intensity, their motion being inconstant and uncertain. These phenomena have occurred less frequently on the part of the line between Riegate and Dover, which runs nearly E. and W., and on the part between London and Riegate, which is nearly N. and S. When, however, they do make their appearance on the telegraph in those parts, we are prepared to expect auroral manifestations when night arrives; and we are rarely disappointed.

"The deflections, in their variations, appear to coincide with the various phases of the aurora. On the branch line running from Ashford to Ramsgate these deflections have been a much more common occurrence, even when the other parts of the line were unaffected, and when no auroral phenomena were noticed."*-Electric Telegraph Manipulations, by Charles V. Walker.

When first we proposed to ourselves a thorough and systematic study of the Principia, we were little prepared to find that the fundamental facts and principles, forming the nucleus of each of the sciences of sidereal astronomy, cosmogony, terrestrial magnetism, and others, discovered and elaborated since his time, are to be found in this single work, fully, clearly, and explicitly stated. The cases to which we have referred are some of the luminous points which, we have briefly endeavoured to shew, glimmered with their first faint light through the darkness of the eighteenth century, for periods varying from a few years to a century before either conjectured or discovered. Indeed, apart from the higher psychological discoveries made known to the world through him, his scientific discoveries alone justify us in affirming, that at no prior period since the origin of society has the sphere of ideas been so suddenly and so wonderfully enlarged. The magnitude of the areas and their distribution in space, first made known to man by his breaking through the inclosure of the heavens, and consequent discovery of the immensity of creation beyond or outside the visible starry firmament; (case III., p. 86.) also the cognition of great and mighty cosmical relations and forces, made

This part of the line is probably in the direction of the streams or magnetic meridian.

known to man by his theoretical discovery of the fact, that there are no fixed stars,-that the whole starry heaven has a magnetic course along the milky way, whilst its general form, and also that of the infinitude of starry firmaments outside our own, depend on the developed perfection and general form of the magnetic axis or inward stream of magnetic force flowing through the interior of each firmament, as previously explained in cases II. and III. ;-these have furnished ideas of SPACE and FORCE, so mighty and enlarged, and withal so exhibiting sublimity, beauty, and beneficence, in the most extensive because unlimited scale, as to stand unrivalled by any other in the human mind which have as yet entered therein. Every new age has distinctive scenery, features, and views, with prominent aspirations and hopes uprising above the ordinary level, and dimly undulating the distant horizon, thereby forming the culmi nating point of man's intellectual progress. He, therefore, who first approacheth and attaineth their summit is in advance of his age, and can behold therefrom the distinctive features, views, and scenery, beyond and appertaining to the next age; but which will be presented to and cover the forthcoming field of view. Such a one, in advance of his fellows, was Emanuel Swedenborg. We need not wonder, then, at his having sketched out so faithfully the religious and scientific views of the new era now dawning upon us: we need not wonder that he calmly sat down (Appendix, vol. ii., p. 365.) waiting our approach to the same eminence, to record the new views on the next field of vision, then never dreamt of but now familiar to us, and to sketch out that new horizon for mankind which ere long, as we advance, will loom into being.

CASE X.

"My honoured friend, the great mathematician, Frederick Gauss, has succeeded in establishing the first general theory of terrestrial magnetism.”—Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. ii., p. 720.

"I think also that you will find that general theory of magnetic attraction to

....... is entirely superseded by the more and repulsion from every part of the earth. This theory was first explained in the Theory of Terrestrial Magnetism' of Gauss and Weber, to which I would beg leave to refer you," &c.—Royal Astronomer, in a letter to S. B., September 24th, 1849.

Professor Gauss's Theory identical in principle with Swedenborg's

Magnetic Theory.

The Gaussian theory is therefore the first and only one, acknowledged by the scientific world, capable of explaining the varied phenomena exhibited in the geographical distribution of the earth's magnetism: but we now propose to prove that its fundamental principle was enun

ciated by Swedenborg (1734) 104 years before the publication of the Gaussian theory (1838). The following is submitted for the reader's inspection :

Gauss in 1838.

"After the geometrical representation of the relations of the horizontal force, we proceed to develope the mode of submitting them to calculation. On the surface of the earth, V (which represents the whole of the earth's magnetic force) becomes a simple function of two variable magnitudes, for which we will take geographical longitude reckoned eastward from an arbitrary first meridian, and the distance (in latitude) from the north pole of the earth."-Taylor's Scientific Memoirs, Article v., p. 205.

Swedenborg in 1734.

"We thus obtain the situation of the particles (or declination) in every place, provided there be given the distances (in latitude) or arcs from the poles, and the angles formed by each with a given meridian (or longitude).”—Vol. ii., p. 150.

It will be almost superfluous to affirm, that the method invented by each for the expressed purpose of obtaining magnetic declination is founded upon the same principle. The particulars of each method, we admit, are in every respect unlike each other, but the principle is indisputably identical. In the same page as the above the principle is again stated by Gauss in another form, thus:

66 Resolving the horizontal magnetic force into two portions, one of which, X, acts in the direction of the geographical meridian, and the other, Y, perpendicularly to that meridian."-P. 205.

So, indeed, does Swedenborg; and if the reader will take the trouble, he will discover that the enunciation of this identical principle and its exposition occupies the whole of chap. xv., vol. ii. What could be more evidently identical than the following?

Gauss in 1838.

"It is clear that the knowledge of Y on the whole earth, combined with the knowledge of X at all points of a line running from one side of the earth to the other, is sufficient for the foundation of the complete theory of the magnetism of the earth." P. 206.

Swedenborg in 1734.

"We thus obtain the situation of the particles (or declination) in every place, provided there be given the distances or arcs (of latitude, or Y) from the poles, and the angles (or X) formed by each with a given meridian."-Vol. ii., p. 149. Swedenborg, in his formula, affirms that we obtain the declination of the earth's magnetism "in every place," provided we have the trignometrical value of the arcs of latitude and angles of longitude which the two magnetic poles make with the earth's poles, and a given meridian ; for then we can obtain the value of the magnetic force for the whole earth, represented by V, as it operates in the twofold direction of latitude