that thou mayest curse me them from thence" thus the malice of evil spirits, which is extreme, exerts every effort to delude and deceive man; for, although they perceive, a thousand times, that the angel of the Lord cannot be deceived, they still continually persist; thus they live in the darkness of night, and are quite insane in respect to everything good and true; such is their nature which continually actuates them. They also persuade themselves, that they can do all things; and although they see, a thousand and a thousand times, that they can do nothing whatsoever, nevertheless, they cannot be removed from the phantasy that they can do all things, and that they can take possession of heaven. They also think, that they can do everything by their own strength, although they have been taught by experience, that they cannot move a single hair without permission; they nevertheless, are constantly inflated with the same infernal spirit of pride, so that they cannot be regarded in any other light than as insane. In their machinations they are most deceitful, which is permitted for various causes, chiefly on account of the temptations which man must undergo, in order that he may be regenerated, and in order that evil spirits, may, as it were, absorb the actual evil in man; for they have no other nourishment; and the more fetid the carcase is, the more intensely keen is their appetite for it, and the more greedily they devour it. (To be continued.)

SWEDENBORG'S INVENTION

OF A NEW STOVE FOR WARMING APARTMENTS,

ESPECIALLY

INVENTED FOR THE USE OF THE POOR; ALSO HIS NEW METHOD OF FINDING THE LONGITUDE.*

WE have lately, through the kindness of a friend, been favoured with a view of Swedenborg's early scientific productions, entitled Principles of Natural Things, or New Attempts at Explaining Chymistry and Physics on the principles of Geometry. In this work a vast number of experiments on metals, salts, water, steam, &c., are collected,

* See Documents Concerning the Life and Character of Emanmel Swedenborg, &c., p. 9, where the scientific treatises describing the New Invention of a Stove, and the New Method of Finding the Longitude, are said to have gone through three editions. The title of the small work in which this new invention is described, is “ Inventio Nova Camini," which in the Documents, &c., is translated "A New Mode of constructing Chimneys." This, however, is an error, which arose from the editor of those "Documents not having had access to the work itself, but only to the title in the translation, of which he followed the example of former editors of Sandel's Eulogium, in which the work is mentioned.

and certain inductions made, which, notwithstanding the advance which experimental science has made since the period Swedenborg wrote, are still of considerable scientific worth, and well deserving the attention of the experimental philosopher. From experiments and observations made on the smelting of metals, and on the furnaces employed for that purpose, Swedenborg considered that a stove might be constructed which, on account of its cheapness in the consumption of fuel, and of its superior efficacy in warming apartments, might be of great advantage, especially in the dwellings of the poor, and in warming large rooms of public resort, also warehouses, shops, &c. After making a variety of experiments on fire, or caloric, and deducing hence certain rules respecting the mechanical operation of this wonderful power, in which he demonstrates that its mechanical phenomena are analogous to those of water and air, with the exception of gravity, he proceeds to describe his new invention of a stove for the purposes already stated. We shall here give a condensed view of this invention, regretting, however, that we cannot give the diagrams by which the description is illustrated. Swedenborg says, by way of preface to this new invention,

"From these observations on fire and its mechanism, or mechanical operations, I wish to describe the invention of a new stove, in which no more wood or coals are required for the consumption of eight or ten days than are now consumed in one or two, which will be of great use in those places where the winter is intensely cold, and where fuel is scarce and expensive. The experiments and observations which have led to this invention are the following:-In furnaces, or large stoves, in which iron ore is smelted into its first or rudest form, before it is submitted to the hammer, it is customary to prepare the furnace by filling it from bottom to top with coals, after which the orifice is closed up with iron plates; then fire is put in at an aperture in the lowest part of the furnace, which is immediately closed. The fire by degrees diffuses itself amongst the coals, and heats the whole mass from bottom to top. Hence it has been observed, that the fire increases more and more, and that the walls of the furnace are penetrated with heat. Hence the following facts have been observed:-1. Although the furnace is closed with iron plates, and every where covered, nevertheless the fire or heat is diffused amongst the coals. 2. That it by degrees creeps through the whole mass, and even penetrates the walls of the furnace. 3. Nor does the fire, although it is shut up, perish, but rather increase. 4. The increase of the heat is observed to continue to ten and even to fourteen days.

5. And what is more, when after twelve days the furnace is opened, by removing the iron plates, the coals are found to be still nearly entire, having only lost one tenth part of their substance. 6. Nor is any fire found amongst the coals, but only an intense heat. 7. The coals preserve their own colour, that is, they are quite black. 8. But in the space of a quarter or half an hour after the orifice of the furnace is opened, fire appears in the coals which are at the upper part, and the fire seems gradually to spread of its own accord through the entire mass, owing to its free exhalation. 9. And thus the ignited coals are consumed when in contact with the external air, in about eight or ten hours. It has been moreover observed, that the heat penetrates the walls of the furnace to the distance of about a foot. 11. The same result has likewise been found to take place with wood in the same furnaces. 12. From these facts and observations we are taught that a certain quantity of heat can be preserved in coals and embers, although the orifices of the furnace are kept closed, and that it can be diffused throughout the entire carbonaceous mass, and penetrate the walls of the furnace, and that the heat will continually increase to twelve and even to twenty days, with a very little loss of fuel by consumption, that is, with a loss of only one-tenth part of the fuel in twelve days."

The author also adduces other experiments and observations on the smelting of copper ore, which, although interesting, we cannot adduce here. "It is well known," says he, "that if ignited coals, whether in a furnace or in any other place, are covered with ashes and cinders, they can be preserved alive for several days; but if they are exposed to the open air they will be extinguished in a few hours. It has also been asserted, a fact indeed which I have observed myself, that in the ruins and ashes of houses and buildings which have perished by fire, the latent fire has been preserved for three months, and even longer."

"From these facts and observations it is evident," says Swedenborg, "that fire may be preserved alive in wood and coals for whole days, and even weeks, and that a certain quantity of heat may be kept up without the consumption of fuel. Led by these facts and experiments, I have thought that a new stove might be constructed for domestic purposes, which would cause a great saving of fuel, and consequently be much less expensive than those in common use."

The author then proceeds to shew, and to explain by diagrams, the construction of the new stove, of which there are three kinds: the first, however, is the most simple and most effective in warming apart

ments; the other two kinds are so constructed as to cause a greater circulation of warm air, and thus to prevent any unpleasant exhalation from remaining in the apartment. We regret, as before stated, that we cannot literally follow the author, because we cannot here exhibit the diagram, but we will give as clear a description of the

stove as we can.

The external of the stove should be of brick or stone, about one brick in thickness; its height should be from three to four feet, and its breadth from one and a half to two feet, according to the size of the apartment. Towards the top it may turn off obliquely, where there is a single covering or iron plate, which can be taken off or put on as required: the top part should communicate by a tube or pipe with a flue or chimney, through which the smoke can escape, and the draft be promoted. At the top of the cavity of the stove there should be an aperture, either square or round, communicating with the pipe or flue, to which an iron plate should be fitted, which can be opened or shut when required. At the bottom of the cavity of the stove there should be an iron grid, on which the fuel, whether coals or wood, can rest under this grid there should be a receptacle for the ashes, &c., and also a place where the fire can be kindled in this receptacle there should be an aperture which can be opened or shut. The fuel is put into the stove through the opening at the top, by removing or opening the iron plate or door already described. Now when the fuel is kindled, the aperture at the top, communicating with the flue, and also the opening at the bottom may be closed, or partly closed, when, according to the experiments already mentioned, the heat will be diffused through the mass of fuel, and preserved for several days, without consuming more than one tenth of the combustible material. The sides of the stove will become hot, so that a considerable quantity of heat can be diffused throughout the apartment. If the two apertures at the top and bottom of the stove be opened a draft of air will be immediately caused, and the fire will burn intensely in like manner as in large furnaces, in which, if the top part be closed, the draft is diminished, and vice versâ.

"This," says Swedenborg, "is the most simple construction of the stove I have invented, by means of which heat can be diffused in any apartment without much consumption of fuel, and be kept preserved for several days without any additional expense."

It is generally admitted that the stove lately invented by the celebrated Dr. Arnott is eminently useful; but those who are acquainted with the construction of that stove will at once recognize the prin

ciples here detailed by Swedenborg, upon which that stove is constructed. It is not for us to say that Dr. Arnott, to whom the world of science is greatly indebted, has seen the treatise of Swedenborg on this subject now lying before us; but this we can say, that Dr. Arnott's stove, or one very similar to it, was invented by Swedenborg more than a century ago.

We have also, for the first time, had an opportunity of seeing Swedenborg's New Method of Finding the Longitude of Places, both by Sea and by Land, by Lunar Observations.* This treatise interests us the more since Swedenborg in his old age, in 1766, published a new edition of it at Amsterdam. He mentions it in a letter to Dr. Menander, Archbishop of Sweden, where he says, "I have the pleasure of sending you a small work, which I published in my youth, on a New Method of Finding the Longitude, both by Sea and by Land, by Lunar Observations, or by Means of the Moon; a work which has just been republished at Amsterdam, and which has been submitted to the learned societies and academies. You will greatly oblige by forwarding a copy of it to the Professor of Astronomy at Abo, in order that if he find this method suited to his genius, and worthy of his application, he may put it in practice. In foreign countries several persons at present employ this method of calculating the ephemerides by pairs of stars; and a great advantage has already been experienced from those which have been made for some years past."

In this manner Swedenborg speaks of this treatise on the New Method of Finding the Longitude, nearly fifty years after its first publication to the world: and it appears that his views had not undergone any change as to the superiority of this method over any other that had been discovered or devised up to that period.

The problem how to find the longitude of a place, especially at sea, is of immense importance, since nothing respecting the relative position of a ship, or of a place, can be accurately determined without it. The latitude of a place is easily found, being the distance in degrees, minutes, &c., of a place from the equator north or south; but not so the longitude, which is the distance of a place in degrees, minutes, &c., east or west from any given meridian. This problem has occupied the attention of astronomers of every period, and the governments of Europe have offered great rewards to the person who should be so happy as to discover a method not liable to serious objections.

* See Documents Concerning the Life and Character of Emanuel Swedenborg. p. 9, where this work is mentioned as having gone through three editions.

Ibid. p. 226.