Swedish Science in the Eighteenth Century

On Swedish history in general, see Andersson Ingvar , A history of Sweden (London, 1956), and Heckscher Eli F. , Economic history of Sweden (Cambridge, Mass., 1954, new ed. 1968). Cf. also Hovde B. J. , The Scandinavian countries, 1720–1865 , i (N.Y. and London, 1943, new ed. 1972), ch. iv. Most papers in the history of science are to be found in Lychnos (editor Sten Lindroth, annual of the Swedish History of Science Society; a general index is in the volume of 1964–65).

Unfortunately the most outstanding work on Paracelsism in Sweden is only available in Swedish: Lindroth S. , Paracelsismen i Sverige till 1600-talets mitt (Lychnos-Bibliotek, no. 7, Uppsala, 1943).

Biographical articles of most scientists mentioned in this paper are published in Swedish men of science 1650–1950 (ed. and with an introduction by Lindroth S. , Stockholm, 1952).

A translation of Olof Rudbeck's ‘Nova exercitatio anatomica’ announcing the discovery of the lymphatics (1653) (with a biographical note by Göran Liljestrand, Stockholm, 1942).

For the background of the Swedish Gothic tradition and the idea of Gustavus Adolphus being the biblical lion spoken of by Paracelsus, see Nordström Johan , De yverbornes ö (Stockholm, 1934); see also his “Goter och spanjorer. Till den spanska goticismens historia” (Summary: Goths et Espagnols. Contribution à l'histoire du gothicism espagnol), Lychnos (1944–45), 257–80 and (1971–72), 171–80.

Lindborg Rolf , Descartes i Uppsala. Striderna om “nya filosofien” 1663–1689 (Summary: The contentions about Cartesianism in Uppsala 1663–1689), (Lychnos-Bibliotek, no. 22, Uppsala, 1965). Cf. also Sandblad Henrik , “The reception of the Copernican system in Sweden”, Colloquia Copernicana, i (1972), 241–70.

Cf. Heckscher , op. cit., ch. v.

On mining in Sweden from the Middle Ages until the beginning of the nineteenth century: Lindroth S. , Gruvbrytning och kopparhantering vid Stora Kopparberget (Summary: Bergbau und Kupferverhüttung am Stora Kopparberg bis zum Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts) (2 vols, Uppsala, 1955).

Lindroth S. , “Urban Hiärne och Laboratorium chymicum” (Summary: Urban Hiärne and the Laboratorium chymicum), Lychnos (1946–47), 51–116.

Lindroth S. , “Hiärne, Block och Paracelsus. En redogörelse för Paracelsusstriden 1708–1709” (Summary: Hiärne, Block und Paracelsus. Ein Bericht über den Paracelsusstreit 1708–1709), Lychnos (1941), 191–229.

Frängsmyr T. , Geologi och skapelsetro. Föreställningar om jordens historia från Hiärne till Bergman (Summary: Geology and the doctrine of Creation. Ideas on the history of the earth from Hiärne to Bergman) (Lychnos-Bibliotek, no. 26, Uppsala, 1969), ch. i.

Lindroth S. , Christopher Polhem och Stora Kopparberget (Summary: Christopher Polhem und die Bergwerkgesellschaft Stora Kopparberg) (Uppsala, 1951).

English translation: An essay towards a system of mineralogy (2nd ed., London, 1772).

On Swedenborg, see Jonsson Inge , Emanuel Swedenborg (New York, 1971).

An excellent work in Swedish on the Academy of Sciences is Lindroth's S. Kungl. Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens historia 1739–1818 (3 vols, Stockholm, 1967).

Cf. Collinder Per , Swedish astronomers 1477–1900 (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, ser. c, no. 19, Uppsala, 1970).

Lindroth S. , “Linné—legend och verklighet” (Summary: Two faces of Linnaeus), Lychnos (1965–66), 56–122. Cf. also Eriksson Gunnar , Botanikens historia i Sverige intill år 1800 (Lychnos-Bibliotek, no. 17:3, Uppsala, 1970), unfortunately only in Swedish, and Fries R. E. , A short history of botany in Sweden, with contributions by K. V. Ossian Dahlgren, Arne Müntzing, Börje Aberg and Hugo Osvald (Seventh International Botanical Congress, Stockholm, 1950) (Uppsala, 1950), esp. 18–38. A standard work is of course Erik Nordenskiöld's The history of biology (London, 1929), which also deals with Linnaeus.

Kalm P. , Travels in North America (London, 1770; ed. Benson A. B. , 2 vols, New York, 1937); Hasselquist F. , Voyages and travels in the Levant (London, 1766); Löfling P. , Reiche nach den Spanischen Ländern (Berlin, 1766); Osbeck P. , A voyage to China and the East Indies (2 vols, London, 1771); Banks J. Solander D. , Illustrations of the botany of Captain Cook's voyage around the world in 1768–71 (3 vols, London, 1900–05); Thunberg C. P. , Travels in Europe, Africa and Asia (4 vols, London, 1793–95); Sparrman A. , A voyage to the Cape of Good Hope and round the world (2 vols, London, 1785, and ed. Rutter O. , London, 1953); cf. Kerkkonen M. , Peter Kalm's North American journey: Its ideological background and results (Studia historica, The Finnish Historical Society, Helsinki, 1959); Rauschenberg R. A. , “Daniel Carl Solander, naturalist on the ‘Endeavour’”, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s. lviii, no. 8 (1968); Eriksson G. , “Forsskål”, in Dictionary of scientific biography (ed. Gillispie C. C. ), v, 74.

Cf. Collinder , op. cit.

Nordenmark N. V. E. Nordström J. , “Om uppfinningen av den akromatiska och aplanatiska linsen. Med särskild hänsyn till Samuel Klingenstiernas insats” (Summary: The invention of the achromatic and aplanatic lens. Some contributions with special regard to the role played by Samuel Klingenstierna), Lychnos (1938), 1–52 and (1939), 313–84.

Frängsmyr T. , Geologi och skapelsetro , ch. v. Cf. the French translation of Wallerius's book, De l'origine du monde (Warsaw and Paris, 1780).

Bergman's work was translated as A dissertation on elective attractions (1785; reprint, London, 1970). Cf. Torbern Bergman's foreign correspondence, ed. Carlid G. Nordström J. , with an introductory biography by Hugo Olsson (Lychnos-Bibliotek, no. 23, Stockholm, 1965); Hooykaas R. , “Torbern Bergman's crystal theory”, Lychnos (1952), 21–54; Frängsmyr T. , Geologi och skapelsetro , ch. vi; Hedberg Hollis D. , “Influence of Torbern Bergman (1735–1784) on stratigraphy”, Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis, contributions in geology, xx (1969), 19–47; Moström Birgitta , Torbern Bergman. A bibliography of his works (Stockholm, 1957). See also Bergman , On acid of air; treatise on bitter, seltzer, spa and Pyrmont waters and their synthetical preparation. [Together with] Uno Boklund, Torbern Bergman as a pioneer in the domain of mineral waters (Stockholm, 1956), and Olsson H. , Kemiens historia i Sverige (Lychnos-Bibliotek, no. 17:4, Uppsala, 1971), 122ff., 195ff., 238ff.

Vahlquist B. Wallgren A. , Nils Rosén von Rosenstein and his text-book on paediatrics (Uppsala, 1964).

Lindroth S. , “Linné—legend och verklighet”, (ref. 17), 66. Cf. Frängsmyr T. , Wolffianismens genombrott i Uppsala. Frihetstida universitetsfilosofi till 1700-talets mitt (Summary: The emergence of Wolffianism at Uppsala. University philosophy from 1720 up to the middle of the eighteenth century) (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, ser. c, no. 26, Uppsala, 1972), 147ff., 232f.

Frängsmyr T. , Wolffianismens genombrott, ch. iii–iv.

Ibidem, ch. v–vi.

Högbom A. G. , “Den petridelauniska floden” (Summary: The petridelaunic flood), Lychnos (1936), 1–75, and “Nivåförändringarna i Norden”, Göteborgs Kungl. Vetenskaps- och Vitterhets-Samhälles Handlingar , fjärde följden, xxi (Göteborg, 1920); Frängsmyr T. , Geologi och skapelsetro , 198–216. Cf. also Regnéll G. , “On the position of paleontology and historical geology in Sweden before 1800”, Arkiv för Mineralogi och Geologi , i (Stockholm, 1949), 1–64; Wegmann E. , “Evolution des idées sur le déplacement des lignes de rivage. Origin en Fennoscandie”, Mémoires de la société vaudoise des sciences naturelles (1967), 129–190; a shorter version in English in Schneer C. J. , ed., Towards a history of geology (Cambridge, Mass., 1969), 386–414. Unfortunately Wegmann seems not to have read Högbom's papers which are so important for this problem.

Frängsmyr T. , Geologi och skapelsetro, 211ff.