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tho ari os discovery Will increase With discoveries them solves,VSWodonborg has taught us, by a legibie and granii example, the most persect mauner of eliminating the higher sciences. Yot ho dissors Dom Bacon in What he has done and proposed, and also in the proportion that subsisis belWeen his intentions and executions. For he has substantialty connected the organio sciences With philosophy and morality: so that body and solitare no longer tWo, but one in their harmontes. A breadth, height and continuity of use, unsuspected by physiologiSis, areshe n to pervade the mechanio frames of living beings; thoneW uses being demonstrated. The qualities of things are desinitely shewn, Where the recognition of the things themselves
Was the last result os former analysis. Many of the forms' or essentiat causes Whieli Baeon Sought by an operose calculus, came to SWedent,org With direct force as natural trullis, and the consequenco is, that in important principies his Wortis are aliundredsold moro fruitsul thun those of the Englisti philosopher. In Wit and brilliancy of stylo tho latior is indoeil Without a
rivat: his eminence in these respecis is Such as beseems thogreat critie of tWo thousand years: et in their degreo such qualities Would have been Out of place in the writings of SWodenborg, Whicli deat, not With the opinions of man, but Withtho vortis of nature; and potnt to inWard trullis, and preparetho miud for their pursuit by simplicity of manner; Whereas it
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there re he lays out his possessioris to the best nilvantage, in the confidelico that this is the truo Way to benest posterity. Only a smali part of his Works is devoted to explaining his
The paramount success of SWedent,org With his simple apparatus, should tend to discolarage exclusive attention to the
means of knowledge; though indeed We may also gather thesamo tesson Dom the history Os saltures. It is certain that theorganon of Aristotie,-the frameWork of syllogistic logi ,-has distraught the intellect Dom the nature of things, rather than holpod their comprehension; sor it is a gymnasium at the en-trance to Whicli Ue are required to know less by art than thomiud itself knows at once by experience, by virtve of iis oWnconstruction. The organon Os Bacon is liable to tho famoreproos: although it is of Seemingly opposite tendency: for itis as inefficient in physios as that of Aristolle in metaphystcs, and is in faet but a neW incumbrance to the mind. It is, hoWever, but fair to alloW, that Bacon did not assert iis absolute necessity in ali cases, but rather proposed ii as a school in Whichprojudices and idolsV of various Linds might be dispossessed of their authority, and the eyes be unsealed, and the mi d prepared by a negative process for closing With naturo.' Stili in
Τhis passage is so illustrative of our present argument, that We give it entire. It is now time, V says Bacon, we should propose the art itself of interpretingnature, Wherein, though We conceive that we have laid down highly useful and justprecepis, yet We attribute no Persection, Or absolute necessity, to this art of Ours, as is nothing could be done Without it. For it is our opinion, that is men mere possessed of a just history of nature and experience, Were thoroughly versed therein, and could command themselves but in tWo particulars ; the one, in laying nsidereceived opinions and notions ; the Other, in Withholding the assent, for a Season, Dom generat concluSiOns, they might, by their proper and native force of mind, without any other ari, sali upon Our form Of interpretation, for the whole is no morethan a genuine and natural WOrk of the mind, When the obstacles to it are removed, though, doubuess, ali Will be made readier for use, and receive great strength, by
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SKedent,org Wo have a b righter light on this subjeci, and wocati fully assent to the faci, that the mind itself, in iis own nature, is philosophical,V' and that When We can raise up materials into iis sphere of operations, they receive ali thesormation, information and analysis Which any method is presumed to impari. It Would there re appear that no Orgationis Os use to supply the nature of the milid, but only to list upinatter to iis ken, and there to profrer and leave it. To this ossico S Wuden borg confines his organon, vig., the doctrine os Series and degrees, and the mathematical philosophy of universala ; the former being the Ordorly or natural means Osraising experierice to the intelligibie sphere; the lalter, thumean S of eXpreSSing, by neW Symbol S, those analytic resulis in the higher spheres Whicli are inexpressibie by ordinary
Whole play of his faculties, and indeed require their ulmost exercise; and merely feed them, through an appropriate chan nel, and in proper quali ty and quantity, With matter derived
phy, independently of morat requisites in those Who cultivate them; for the minit of necessity Operates On iis materiais, hoWever brought to it, according to iis oWn nature; and is that nature be at variance With the morat ground -Work of things, in
on the si de Os error and evit.' And here is a noW idol V assect-ing the groWth of the sciences, and Whicli Bacon but suintly alloWed; sor he excluded sinat causes Dom the scientisic doctrine
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of nature,' and consistently onough, there re, Dom the condition Snature :' and although ho admitted that thounderstanding is drenched in the assections, yet by the tincture of the assections ho meant litile more than any erroneous habit sof thought, derived cither hom idio synerastes Or circumstanceS; in Shori, prejudices of Various Lind8.: On the contrary, Welearn in the writings of Swedeub Org, that doctrines cannot permanently elevate knOWledge, utile88 they Work With experience, are haud ted by genius, and are used With good intentions. Forthey tenil in no degree to produce equality betWeen humanminiis, but rather to manifest, in their Operation, delicacies of intellectual distinction belWeen disserent men, and siner politis of morat dissimilarity. The minii may be likened to a chemicat
The enquiry os fines causes is a barren thing, Or as a virgin conSecrated toGod. V Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ' section vi. ' Ιt is possibie to treat Νature much as the Word has been trealed: to consider that it has not a civit and morat sense as Weli as an externat appearance ; juStas it is considered that the Word has only a natural sense, and not a spiritual and celestiat sense. When this mistake is made, then it Will be thought that naturaltruth may be seen by dint of the mere energy of the natural faculties, as it is thoughtthat spiritual truth is to be discerned in the fame way. But the reverse of this is
the fact. For nature, a8 nature, contains inner spheres coordinate With the scale Ofhuman faculties, and whicli can never be discerned by the senses : and yet they arereat external spheres, and Our faculties are by preeminence in them as Our Senses and body are in the sensibie worid. In Shori, nature is not a mere Surface, but athing of trine dimension. To discern the inner spheres of nature, their correspondingsaeuities must be Opened, as to discern the externat Worid the externat eyes must beopened, and as to discern the spirituat wOrid the spiritual eyes must be opened. Νothing but morai and civit intuitions of natural things can see the inner spheres Os nature, for the morai and civit relations Of man correspond to the inner spheres of nature; and lience it is that human society affords the happiest illustrations Ofher deeper i S.
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COΜPREHENSIVE NERS OF SWEDEN BORGV ΜΕΤ HOD. XV
substance, ricli in affinities for Other substances, and capable OfInnumerable reaet1ODS ; doctrines being the vesseis Whereiuthose substances are brought to it for test or analysis; and the integral series of reactions is ali the philosophy and science that the mind is cap able Of. Is the central poWer and substance be eak, imperfeci, Or Victous, Deither the vesseis in Whicli thingsare brought to it, nor those things themselves, can adjust themisclites; nor can the series of reactions be Other than correspondent as Weli to the mitid as to iis defecis. In one potnt of vieW, SWedenborg is the synthesis of Aristolle and Bacon. For Bacon destres, unassisted by philosophical doctrines, to scale the heights of nature, hoping that One correct induction piled upon another, Will euabie him attength to arrive at the apex of the pyramid: meanWhile he dis- allows the mind so greatly, that iis intuitions are asyronted, and itS proper experience undervalued; so that though he indoeilaims at principies, yet he has negatived the faculty Whicli alone can receive and apprehend them. Aristolle, On the Other haud, accepis the experience of the mitid, and draWs it out into logical explanations, but he has uot determined it by matter, and helias therofore but a stight hold On nature, compared With What is
at present necessary for marshalling the sciences. SWedenbOrgembraees the meriis and avolds the imperfections of these Writers, and he alone has propounded a science constituted of
principies, Whicli as it Were spontaneousty are physical in thephysical universu and philosophical in the mind of man, and by
the descending one of Aristotio, are, in faci, both realiged by SWedcuborg, and being connected to eaeli Other at either end, they form a legitimate and widening spirat, revolving 1 rom the
early period of this direction of his labors, is hard to determine;
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XVI INTRODUCTORY REMARΚS BY ΤΗΕ EDITOR.
but it is certain that he rose from One study to another, in regular order, Without proposing an ultimate end, untii he procinimed his resolution to investigate the foui. His theory os the mathematius and dynamius of chemistry, brought him in Vie v of the olementat Lingdom, the fluids of Whicli are the rmed forces of nature. The exploration of this Lingdom is a remari able stage in his career, but it did not crown his destres ; for he proceeded sorthWith to that Whicli is the determination of the whole clemental Worid and terrestriat Lingdom, Vig., to the organic animal Lingdom, and to iis firsi and last subjeci, the human body. Here again he bent his course continualty inwards tili ho contemplated the primordial currenis and stamina os natural life . The activity of the highest fluid of the microcosm he telis iis is the foui for Which he has beensearching. The predicates of the foui, in the language of uni-Versals, agree With the predicates of the spirituous suid, and the tWO are consequently identicat, according to ali solandreason. Stili, hoWever, in the Animal Κiugdom V we findhim embarking in a neW voyage of discOvery in the regions of the foui; thus furnishing an extraordinary example ofending and beginning ; of progress, not by renunciation os principies, but by alteration of forms, tili at last they Will contain, aud adequalely express, the truth. And so he admitted that he was too hasty in attempting a pa88age to the SOul, after investigating but a feW provinces of her empire in the body.
For as the foui is the initiost order and laK of the Whole system, he must perforee Scrutinige to the core each organ and the Whole, be re the foui can appenr as the universat and the complement of that microcosm Which she nitimates. Even in the
tivo of the foui; there re he puis sortii certain hypotheses, With a VieW to accommodation, untii such time ns the truthdeclares iiseis. In the treatise ou The Worship and Love os God,V wo have stili further Sintemeni S On the Soul, and a recognition of the spiritual Worid res distinet DOm nature. And here
his minglud physiological and psychological endeavors terminate. Theudosortii ho discerned the foui, netther through the dari glass Of Science, nor through the misis of philosophy, nor
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through the curtains of nature, but in a manner more rare Rud
homely; vig., by spiritual Sight and experienee, rightly apprehended by a prepared or spiritual minit.
itie locomotive and voluntary system, and a se W Well-marhed Iegions of the surtace; and certain gross but veri fled an atomical Observations are sufficient for the practice of that important art. Medicat anatomy is also limited; consisting rnther of the common facts and reasons of the science, than os iis more particular CXperience and deductions. We are here spenking of thingsas they are, or of the portion os anatomy required by the phv-Sician in the cure of disenses, and whicli actually ministers tolliat end. It is generalty supposed that the di agnosis of diseaseand the art of healing involve in intimate, not to say indesinite knowledge of the structure aud functions os the body. ΤheWatch-maher, they teli us, Who comprehendS the WorkS, canallust the Watch; and the physician who is acquuinted With theanatomy of the body, cati cure iis diseases. Is this Were thecondition of healing, it Would bo too hard for man. But it is here as in ali human dealings With nature anil her Organte mechanism. V e have only to observe, dispose, and change the OUt Unrd, to operate tapon the generat form; but the in varii, the Singular, the essenee, lies beyond our faculty : nevertheless, theta v is, that it shali ho modisiod according to the essoris Ue malle in that extreme sphere Where our Wili is determined. Anil so itis in medicine. The human shin, urith the complex Os phenomena and effecis that resido in it, or result to it Dorii the internat organs, is tho sield of knowledge indispensabie for salutary
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practice. A perception of the ever-changing physiognomy Osthe whole frame, constitutes the poWer Os diagnosis. A certain regionat anatomy of course is requisite, but of the broadest anilmost elementary description. We nre not noW considering What anatomy may contribute to the education of the physiciati'smiud, but iis direct ministrations to medicat practice. Andthat the above statem ent is Warranted, may be plain from theseus, that the best anatomisis are frequently Dot the best prac- titioners; While, on the Other hand, the successsul physician
The truth then is, that pure or unlimiten anatomy does notbulong to medicine: it is a mistahe to regard it as a subordinatebranch of hygien e: a misi e Whicli oppresses medicine With aload os alien materiais, and degrades universat anatomy to astate os urinatural subservietice. The mariner is uot eoe .cio an astronomer, although astronomy is applied in navigation. The compass Deeds but iis oWn Observations of the starry heavens :therapeuties and dietetices require their own research into the
cine, but the minister of natural philosophy, standing beside nWeli os principies, of Whicli the usesul aris and sciences are butremoto derivations. He appears tO be connected With medicinoni preSent, beenuse medicine has probably borii and bred him ;
Chemistry Was long known Only as it Was serviceable to the physician for the preparation Of his purgatives and emeties. Whilst it was thus grasted on the medicat sciences, it could Obtain no independent position. . . . But chemistry is capable of being made subservient to far higher Omces ; it may be employed as a means of cul-
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present Works Will 1ali to the province of the medicat crities; Whereas they require to be tried by their peers; or at ali evenisto be canuassed in a truly philosophicat spirit. No adjudicationfro in medicat grounds Wili setile their value, or decido the vari- Ous questions to Whicli they give rise. Is anything is Wanting to complete the induction that un- limited anatomy is not a depariment of medicine, it is supplied by tho Det that medicat science involves no theory of the humant,ody. Each calling apprehends iis oWn immediate truths ; forotherWise it Would bo wholly inoperative. And Where an arthaS no Comprehension of a class of principies, it is lair and charitable to suppose that thoy belong to another Sphere, andare not Seen beyond it, hecause they are uot directly required. '
tivating the mind, of trei ing the human faculties for the universat investigation os naturo. Ibiebig, Familiar Letters on Chemistry. V Second Series. , p. 4, 5, London,
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Τhis is the reason Why medicat vision is so penetrating in iis
OWu depariment, but censes the moment iis rent Objecis cense.
is mere matter os faut . For although medicine has nolinoWledged possession of therapeutic anatomy, therapeutic truth, and therapeutic insight, yet her folioWers, as such, especiallysinoe division os labor has been considerably applied in the sciences,) have consessedly done litile toWards a knowledge of Causes, Or toWardS promoting the philosophy of physi0logy.
into a sincere but temporary opposition When the trulli comes sortii. And this is an error, springing for the most part Domconscientiolis timidity. It may be the more rea lily sorgiven, Since ali progress-ali substitution of the great for the smali is attended With a struggle; and especialty Since claSS Oppositions are doOmed to be unsuccesssul; their ascertained laW being momentary triumph, and assured fallure asterWard8 Dr ever. It appears then that SWedent, Org, the geometer, the mechanio, the metallurgist, the philosopher, although he investigated the human frame, Was no interloper in the wallis Ofmedicine; that he was guilly of no trespass upon the privacyof that calling. As otio connected in datly life With machinery and chemistry, he had an interest in the geometricat, mechani