Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

Emanuel Swedenborg

Scientific period

In 1715 Swedenborg returned to Sweden,where he devoted himself to natural science and engineering projectsfor the next two decades. A first step was his meeting with KingCharles XII of Sweden in the city of Lund, in 1716. The Swedishinventor Christopher Polhem, who became a close friend of Swedenborg,was also present. Swedenborg's purpose was to persuade the king tofund an observatory in northern Sweden. However, the warlike king didnot consider this project important enough, but did appointSwedenborg to be assessor-extraordinary on the Swedish Board of Mines(Bergskollegium) in Stockholm.

From 1716 to 1718, Swedenborg publisheda scientific periodical entitled Daedalus Hyperboreus ("TheNorthern Daedalus"), a record of mechanical and mathematicalinventions and discoveries. One notable description was that of aflying machine, the same he had been sketching a few years earlier.

In 1718, Swedenborg published anarticle that attempted to explain spiritual and mental events interms of minute vibrations, or "tremulations".

Upon the death of Charles XII, QueenUlrika Eleonora ennobled Swedenborg and his siblings. It was commonin Sweden during the 17th and 18th centuries for the children ofbishops to receive that honor, as a recognition of the services oftheir father. The family name was changed from Swedberg toSwedenborg.

In 1724, he was offered the chair ofmathematics at Uppsala University, but he declined and said that hehad dealt mainly with geometry, chemistry and metallurgy during hiscareer. He also said that he did not have the gift of eloquent speechbecause of a stutter, as recognized by many of his acquaintances; itforced him to speak slowly and carefully, and there are no knownoccurrences of his speaking in public. The Swedish critic OlofLagerkrantz proposed that Swedenborg compensated for his impedimentby extensive argumentation in writing.

New direction of studies ahead ofhis time

During the 1730s, Swedenborg undertookmany studies of anatomy and physiology. He had the first knownanticipation of the neuron concept. It was not until a century laterthat science recognized the full significance of the nerve cell. Healso had prescient ideas about the cerebral cortex, the hierarchicalorganization of the nervous system, the localization of thecerebrospinal fluid, the functions of the pituitary gland, theperivascular spaces, the foramen of Magendie, the idea of somatotopicorganization, and the association of frontal brain regions with theintellect. In some cases, his conclusions have been experimentallyverified in modern times.

In the 1730s, Swedenborg becameincreasingly interested in spiritual matters and was determined tofind a theory to explain how matter relates to spirit. Swedenborg'sdesire to understand the order and the purpose of creation first ledhim to investigate the structure of matter and the process ofcreation itself. In the Principia, he outlined his philosophicalmethod, which incorporated experience, geometry (the means by whichthe inner order of the world can be known) and the power of reason.He also outlined his cosmology, which included the first presentationof his nebular hypothesis. (There is evidence that Swedenborg mayhave preceded Kant by as much as 20 years in the development of thathypothesis.)

In 1735, in Leipzig, he published athree-volume work, Opera philosophica et mineralis ("Philosophicaland mineralogical works") in which he tried to conjoinphilosophy and metallurgy. The work was mainly appreciated for itschapters on the analysis of the smelting of iron and copper, and itwas the work that gave Swedenborg his international reputation. Thesame year, he also published the small manuscript de Infinito ("Onthe Infinite") in which he attempted to explain how thefinite is related to the infinite and how the soul is connected tothe body. It was the first manuscript in which he touched upon suchmatters. He knew that it might clash with established theologiessince he presented the view that the soul is based on materialsubstances. He also conducted dedicated studies of the fashionablephilosophers of the time such as John Locke, Christian von Wolff,Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and Descartes and earlier thinkers such asPlato, Aristotle, Plotinus and Augustine of Hippo.