Page:Emanuel Swedenborg, Scientist and Mystic.djvu/81

VI ] As early as 1719 he had published a little book in which he proved from his own observations of stones, strata, and fossil remains that large parts of Sweden had formerly been under water. (In our own time an eminent geologist has said that this work alone would suffice to gain Swedenborg an honored name in science.8)

Meanwhile he had been sending extremely commonsense memorials to the Swedish Parliament. In 1723 he was especially active, giving good and mainly unheeded advice. To improve the country's almost nonexistent finances, he recommended an improved merchant marine, a survey of imports to find out what was essential and what might as well be made at home, and how to make better and cheaper goods. In other summaries the same year he dealt with the mining trade, showing how foolish it was to favor the production of copper rather than iron merely because copper was supposed to be a "nobler" metal. He pointed out, moreover, how impractical it was of Sweden to export its pig iron to be rolled in Liége or the Saar, when rolling mills could be established at home. He supported his contentions with excellent drawings and minute technical descriptions.

He could do little with the parliament, but he now had his own work with the Board of Mines, work that brought him into close touch with many people as well as with the most vital physiology of Sweden. Sweden's food, so to speak, was iron and copper, its means of digestion was the charcoal made from its forests. The Board of Mines, directly responsible to the Crown, controlled all mining and allied interests, having every power short of actual ownership. It appointed mining officials and settled industrial disputes involving owners and workers. It regulated prices and imposed or withdrew taxes. It licensed new mines, forges, almost every shack, and it mapped out the distribution of charcoal. Other bureaus were associated with it, such as a bureau of metal testing, charts and measurements, a chemical laboratory and a mineralogical cabinet, so that Swedenborg's many-sided knowledge found full scope. He was often called on to assay the quality of iron produced, and he turned in technical reports, such as those on forest conservation, hoisting machines, blast furnaces, and the market value of sulphur.9

The position was no sinecure. The Board met every weekday