Volume 1

Opera quaedam aut inedita aut obsoleta de rebus naturalibus : nunc edita sub auspiciis Regiae academiae scientiarum suecicae / Emanuel Swedenborg.

  • Emmanuel Swedenborg
Date:
1907-
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Opera quaedam aut inedita aut obsoleta de rebus naturalibus : nunc edita sub auspiciis Regiae academiae scientiarum suecicae / Emanuel Swedenborg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PREFACE. This new edition of Emanuel Swedenborg’s scientific writings, the first volume of whicli is now published, has been in preparation for a num- ber of years. In December, 1902, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences appointed a special committee to determine whicli of tlie manuscripts of Swedenborg preserved in the Academy’s Library ought to be printed. This action of the Academy was taken by reason of the following cir- cumstances. Many of Swedenborg’s scientific writings were published during his lifetime; some of them have attracted no inconsiderable attention in the learned world, not only on account of the great learning in various departments of Science to whicli they bear witness, but also in connec- tion with the independent observations, discoveries, tlioughts and theories which they contain. Some of these works have however become more and more rare, even in the antiquarian trade; but besides there are in the manuscripts which Swedenborg left beliind him certain volumes which have never been published and but seldom examined by specialists. In recent times tbere have also been found in the works of Swedenborg already published various statements and expressions which indicate that he was far ahead of his times in important questions, and it has there- fore been thought possible that a number of sucli significant expressions, statements and discoveries might be found in the unprinted manuscripts. Already the prominent investigators of Swedenborg, J. J. G. Wilkin- son, J. F. Immanuel Taeel and Rudolf L. Tafel, have by their careful studies of these manuscripts found various remarkable statements and views to which they have drawn attention. This is especially true of a number of Swedenborg’s expressions concerning tbe anatomy and physiology of the brain. Anders Retzius, who as an anatomist and physiologist cherished a great admiration for Swedenborg’s learning and genius, in his address on the Origin and Development of Anatomy in the
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