and exactly reflecting and manifesting their affections and thoughts. From the principle that natural things correspond to spiritual things, and represent them, comes the doctrine of correspondences, according to which Swedenborg explains the spiritual senses of the Word; that is, the senses in which the Bible is read by those in the spiritual world. He teaches that this spiritual sense is within the literal, as the spiritual body within the natural, or as the soul within the body; that it is in every word and letter of the literal sense, which every where exists from it, and on account of it, and derives from it all its power and use. Swedenborg considers the New Jerusalem, foretold in the Apocalypse, to be a church now about to be established, in which will be known the true nature of God and of man, of the Word, of heaven and of hell-concerning all which subjects error and ignorance now prevail-and in which church this knowledge will bear its proper fruits-love to the Lord and to one's neighbor, and purity of life. SWEDISH TURNIP, or RUTA BAGA. (See Turnip.) SWEET BAY. (See Laurel.) SWEET FLAG (acorus calamus). This plant is widely diffused; it is found in marshy places throughout the northern hemisphere. In the more northern climates, it is the only native aromatic plant. The leaves are all radical, long and narrow, sword-shaped, and somewhat resemble those of the iris; the stem does not differ much in appearance from the leaves, and bears a lateral, dense, greenish spike of flowers, two or three inches in length; the root is long, cylindrical, and knotted. This plant is referred to the natural family aroidea, although it presents some anomalies in its structure. The root has a strong, arómatic odor, and a warm, pungent, bitterish taste: the flavor is greatly improved by drying. It has been employed in medicine since the time of Hippocrates; it has sometimes been success fully administered in intermittent fever, even after bark has failed, and certainly is a very useful addition to cinchona; powdered, and infused in old wine, it is an excellent stomachic, tonic, and cordial. Although so common, what is used by druggists is imported from the Levant. No cattle whatever eat this plant. SWEET GUM. (See Liquidambar.) SWEET LEAF (symplocos tinctoria); a small tree, found in the southern parts of the U. States. The leaves are three 8 VOL. XII. or four inches long, oval, smooth and shining, and, in sheltered situations, remain for two or three years; otherwisc they turn yellow at the first frost: the flowers are small, yellowish, and sweetscented, springing from the base of the leaves, and appearing carly in the season: they are succeeded by small cylindrical drupes, of a deep blue color when ripe. The tree sometimes attains the height of twenty-five or thirty feet, with a trunk seven or eight inches in diameter; but usually it does not exceed half these dimensions. The name which is universally applied to it, is derived from the sugary taste of the leaves. The wood is of no value: but the dried leaves afford, by decoction, a beautiful yellow color, which is rendered permanent by the addition of a little alum, and is used for dyeing wool and cotton. SWEET POTATO (convolvulus batatas). This plant is a native of the East Indies, but is now cultivated in all the warmer parts of the globe, and has produced numerous varieties. Formerly the roots were imported into England from the West Indies by the way of Spain, and sold as a delicacy. It is the potato of Shakspeare and contemporary writers, the common potato being then scarcely known in Europe. The roots are fleshy and spindle-shaped, giving rise to herbaceous vines, which take root at intervals; the leaves are smooth, varying in form, but usually hastate, or three lobed; the flowers are white externally, and purplish within, disposed in clusters upon axillary foot-stalks. In warm climates, the culture is very easy, and they are obtained almost throughout the year, by planting at different periods. In northern climates, the culture becomes more difficult; but one variety succeeds even in the vicinity of Paris. Considered as an aliment, the sweet potato is very nutritious, wholesome, and easy of digestion. The consumption is very considerable, especially in the warmer parts of America, where even several savage tribes have introduced it, on account of its easy culture. In the U. States, it is very little cultivated north of New Jersey, and even there is inferior in quality to those which grow in Carolina. SWEET WILLIAM (dianthus barbatus). This species of pink is an old inhabitant of the flower garden, and has produced numerous varieties; but they have not been named or improved, as the plant has never been treated by florists as a leading flower. SWEYN, or SWENO, properly SVEND. (See Denmark, and Ethelred II.) SWIETEN, Gerard van, a celebrated physician, born at Leyden, in 1700. After studying at Louvain, his parents being Catholics, he returned to Leyden, and became the pupil of Boerhaave. In 1725, he took his doctor's degree, and published an inaugural thesis On the Structure and Use of the Arteries. He afterwards employed himself in illustrating the doctrines of his master, in his Commentaria in Boerhaavii Aphorismis de cognoscendis et curandis Morbis (17411772). Soon after, he was appointed to a medical professorship at Leyden; but objections arising on the score of his religion, he was obliged to resign his office. The empress Maria Theresa indemnified him for the injury he had sustained from the illiberality of his enemies, by inviting him to Vienna, where, in 1745, he was made a professor in the university, and afterwards first physician to the empress, and a baron of the empire. He was also imperial librarian, and director-general of the study of medicine in Austria-an office which afforded him opportunities for introducing many important improvements in the healing art. His Commentaries were reprinted at Paris and Turin, and they have been translated into French and English. He enjoyed the highest reputation till his death, in 1772. His other works are, Treatises on the Diseases of the Army, and on Epidemics. his celebrated Tale of a Tub In his twenty-first year, the death of his uncle rendered it necessary for him to pay a visit to Leicester, for the purpose of consulting his mother, then resident in that neighborhood. By her advice he was induced to communicate his situation to sir William Temple, who had married one of her relatives, and who at that time lived in retirement at Moor park, Surrey. He was received by the latter with great kindness; and he rendered himself so acceptable to the aged statesman, that he resided with him at Moor park and Sheene for nearly two years. At the latter place he was introduced to king William, who often visited Temple privately; and the king, whose feelings were all military, offered him a captaincy of horse, which, having already decided for the church, he declined. Being attacked by the disorder which occasioned those fits of vertigo that afflicted him more or less all his life, and finally destroyed his reason, he was induced to revisit Ireland, but soon returned, and resided with sir William Temple as before. Some time after, he determined upon graduating M. A. at Oxford; and, having entered at Hart hall, in May, 1692, he received the desired honor in the July following. He was probably indebted to his known connexion with Temple for this mark of respect; but it has also been suspected that the words speciali gratiâ, in his Dublin testimonials, were mistaken SWIFT, Jonathan, an eminent English for a compliment at Oxford. He had writer, was the posthumous son of an certainly not distinguished himself at this Englishman, who settled in Ireland, and time by any public specimen of talent, alwas born at Cashel, in the county of Tip- though he made some attempts at poetry perary, November 30, 1667. He was in the form of odes to his patron and king placed at a school in Kilkenny when six William. This species of composition years old, and in his fifteenth year was being wholly unfitted to his genius, his removed to Trinity college, Dublin, relation Dryden is said honestly to have where, applying himself to history and told him that he would never be a poet; poetry, to the neglect of academical pur- to which is attributed the extraordinary suits, especially mathematics, he was, at rancor with which he always alluded to the end of four years, refused the degree that eminent writer. After residing two of B. A. for insufficiency, and, even at years longer with his patron, conceiving the end of seven years, was only admitted the latter to be neglectful of his interest, speciali gratiá-a species of favor which he parted from him, in 1694, with some was deemed highly discreditable. To tokens of displeasure, and went to Irethis mortification is attributed the con- land, where he took orders. But he soon tempt with which he treats mathematical returned to sir William Temple, who learning in his various writings; but an- sinking under age and infirmities, requirother and a better effect of it was evinced ed his company more than ever. During in a resolution to apply to his studies with the few remaining years of that statesmore diligence. This determination he man's life, they therefore remained tosteadily adhered to for the following seven gether; and, on his death, Swift found years, three of which he spent at the uni- himself benefited by a pecuniary_legacy versity of Dublin, during which last men- and the bequest of his papers. He then tioned period he is said to have composed accepted an invitation from the earl of Berkeley, one of the lords justices in Ireland, to accompany him as chaplain and secretary. While in the family of the earl of Berkeley, he began to make himself known by his talent for humorous verses, as may be seen by the petition of Frances Harris, and other specimens. On the return of that nobleman to England, he went to reside at his living of Laracor; and, during his residence there, he invited to Ireland Miss Johnson, the lady whom he has rendered celebrated by the name of Stella, daughter of the steward to sir William Temple. She was accompanied by Mrs. Dingley; and the two ladies resided in the neighborhood when Swift was at home, and at the parsonage house during his absence: this connexion lasted till her death. In 1701, he took his doctor's degree, and, the same year, first entered on the stage as a political writer, by a pamphlet in behalf of the ministers, entitled, Contests and Dissensions between the Nobles and Commons of Athens and Rome-a work of no great force. In 1704, he published, anonymously, his famous Tale of a Tub, of which, although he would never own it, he is the undoubted author. This piece of humor, while it advanced his reputation as a wit, did him no small injury as a divine, being deemed light and indecorous, by the functionaries of the church. The Battle of the Books, appended to the Tale of a Tub, is a burlesque comparison between ancient and modern authors, in which he exercises his satire against Dryden and Bentley. In 1708 appeared his Sentiments of a Church of England Man, in respect to Religion and Government; Letter concerning the Sacramental Test; Argument for the Abolition of Christianity; and Predictions for the year 1708, by Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq. Of these pieces, the first two set the seal to his adhesion to the tories, while the others exhibit that inimitable talent for irony and grave humor which forms his principal distinction. In 1710, being engaged by the Irish prelacy to obtain a remission of the first-fruits and twentieths, payable by the Irish clergy to the crown, he was introduced to Harley, afterwards earl of Oxford, and to secretary St. John, subsequently lord Bolingbroke. He gained the confidence of these leaders, and took a leading share in the famous tory periodical, entitled the Examiner. Although immersed in politics, he did not neglect literature, and, in 1711, published a Proposal for correcting, improving and ascertaining the English Tongue, in a letter to the earl of Oxford, the object of which was to establish an institution to secure the purity of the language. Several political tracts appeared about this time from his pen. A bishopric in England was the object of his ambition; but archbishop Sharpe, on the ground, it is said, of his Tale of a Tub, having infused into the mind of queen Anne suspicions of his orthodoxy, the only preferment his ministerial friends could give him, was the Irish deanery of St. Patrick's, to which he was presented in 1713. The dissensions between Oxford and Bolingbroke, whom he in vain attempted to reconcile, and the death of the queen, which soon followed, put an end to his prospects, and condemned him to unwilling residence for life in a country which he disliked. He accordingly returned to Dublin, and introduced a meritorious reform into the chapter of St. Patrick's, over which he obtained an authority never before possessed in his station. In 1716, he was privately married to Miss Johnson; but the ceremony was attended with no acknowledgment which could gratify the feelings of the victim of his pride and cruelty. The ascendency which he acquired over Miss Hester Vanhomrigh, another accomplished female, was attended with circumstances still more censurable. He became acquainted with this lady in London, in 1712; and as she possessed, with a large fortune, a taste for literature, Swift took pleasure in affording her instruction. The pupil became enamored of her tutor, and even proposed marriage to him; but being probably at that time engaged to Stella, he avoided a decisive answer. That he, however, felt her attractions, seems obvious from his Cadenus and Vanessa, the longest and most finished of his poems of fancy. This affair terminated fatally; for, discovering his secret union with Stella, the unfortunate lady never recovered the shock, but died fourteen months after, in 1723. She previously cancelled a will she had made in his favor, and left it in charge to her executors (one of whom was bishop Berkeley) to publish all the correspondence between her and Swift, which, however, never appeared. After residing some time in Ireland without attending to public affairs, in 1720 he was roused, by the illiberal manner in which Ireland was governed, to publish a Proposal for the universal Use of Irish Manufactures, which rendered him very popular. His celebrated Letters followed, under the name of M. B. Drapier, in which he ably exposed the job of Wood's patent for a supply of copper coinage. A large reward was offered for the discovery of the author; but none took place, and the dean became the public idol of the Irish people. It was about this time that he composed his famous Gulliver's Travels, which appeared in 1726, exhibiting a singular union of misanthropy, satire, irony, ingenuity, and humor. In the same year he joined Pope in three volumes of miscellanies, leaving the profit to the poet. On the death of George I, he paid his court to the new king and queen. But he was disappointed; and the death of Stella, about this time, who had been long languishing in a state of decline, completed his chagrin. When her health was ruined, he offered to acknowledge her as his wife; but she replied, "It is too late." He allowed her to make a will in her maiden name, in which she consigned her property to charitable uses. From the death of this injured female, his life became much retired, and the austerity of his temper increased. He continued, however, for some years, to exercise both his patriotic and his splenic feelings, in various effusions of prose and verse, and was earnest in his exertions to better the condition of the wretched poor of Ireland; in addition to which endeavors he dedicated a third of his income to charity. Some of his most striking poems were written about this time, including his celebrated Verses on his own Death, formed on one of the maxims of Rochefoucault. He kept little company at this advanced period, but with inferiors, whom he could treat as he pleased, and especially a knot of females, who were always ready to administer the most obsequious flattery. In 1736, he had an attack of deafness and giddiness. The fate, which, owing to his constitutional infirmities, he had always feared, at length reached him; the faculties of his mind decayed before his body, and a gradual decay of reason settled into absolute idiocy early in 1742. He died in 1745, in his seventy-eighth year. He bequeathed the greatest part of his fortune to an hospital for lunatics and idiots. Pride, misanthropy, and stern inflexibility of temper, formed the basis of his character, which was strangely compounded of sincerity, arrogance, implacability, carelessness of giving pain, and a total want of candor as a politician or partisan. Of his obdurate and unfeeling nature, besides his treatment of his wife and Miss Vanhomrigh (for which various reasons, including secret constitutional infirmities, have been conjectured), his utter abandonment of an only sister, simply for marrying a tradesman, and many other instances, might be adduced. Even his whim and humor was indulged with a most callous indifference to the pain which he might inflict, or the sensibilities he might wound. As a writer, he was original, and has, perhaps, never been exceeded in grave irony, which he veils with an air of serious simplicity, admirably calculated to set it off. He also abounds in ludicrous ideas, which often deviate, both in his poetry and prose, into very unpardonable grossness. His style forms the most perfect example of easy familiarity that the language affords; but, although admirable for its pureness, clearness, and simplicity, it exhibits none of the glow of genius, its highest merits consisting in its extreme accuracy and precision. His works have been often printed, and in various forms: the latest and best edition is that of sir W. Scott, in 19 vols., 8vo. (Edinburgh, 1821). SWIFT, Zephaniah, LL. D., chief-justice of Connecticut, graduated at Yale college, in 1758. He then studied law, and established himself at Windham, Connecticut. Early in life, he was chosen a member of congress, and, in 1800, accompanied Ellsworth, Davie and Murray in their mission to France, as secretary. Soon after his return, he was placed on the bench of the superior court. He retained the seat for eighteen years, during the last five of which, he filled the station of chief-justice with distinguished ability and probity. He was afterwards a member of the state legislature, and was one of the committee appointed to revise the statute laws of the state. His death occurred at Warren, Ohio, October 27, 1823, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. He published a Digest of the Laws of Connecticut, in two volumes, on the model of Blackstone. SWIMMING is one of the most important branches of gymnastics, both in a physical and moral respect. Its effects in developing, invigorating and giving health to the body are so great, and it is so easily learned, that it is of the highest consequence, particularly in climates where the heat of the summer prevents active exercise on the land. To all the advantages of cold bathing, it adds many others; it enables the bather to remain much longer in the water, on account of the exercise which it affords, and thus-in salt water at least-gives more opportunity to invigorate the skin-one of the greatest benefits of frequent salt-water bathing, as a large number of diseases spring from a debilitated state of the skin, which is very frequent in changeable climates, producing colds, inflammations, rheumatism, &c. The exercise greatly strengthens the lower extremities, the abdominal muscles, the muscles of the chest, and the organs of respiration, the spine, neck and arms. It increases courage, and furnishes an agreeable excitement-the usual attendant of manly and brisk exercise, but peculiarly so of swimming-on account of the mastery which it gives us over an element for which the human structure is but partially fitted. The means which it affords of preserving our own lives, or those of others, in situations of peculiar peril, is also a great recommendation of this exercise, which may be easily learned wherever there is water of five feet depth. No danger whatever is connected with it. Of the many methods of teaching swimming, we shall give that introduced, originally, by general Pfuel, into the Prussian swimming schools, having found it, by experience, much superior to other systems. By this method, a person may become a perfect swimmer (able, we mean, to swim at least half an hour in succession) in a very short time. We have known many individuals, who could not swim a single stroke, enabled, by taking daily one, and sometimes two lessons, for three weeks, to swim half an hour: some have even acquired this proficiency within a fortnight. The apparatus for teaching consists of a hempen girdle of a hand's breadth, of a rope from five to six fathoms in length, of a pole eight feet long, and a horizontal rail fixed about three and a half feet above the platform on which the teacher stands, to rest the pole on. The depth of the water, in the place chosen for swimming, should, if possible, be not less than eight feet,and the clearest and calmest water possible should be selected. The pupil wears drawers, fastened by a string above the hips, and covering about half the thighs. They must be made loose, so as to allow the freest action of the legs. The pupil is now placed near the horizontal rail, his hands resting upon it, whilst the teacher shows him the motion which he will have to make with his legs in the water. This he does by guiding the motion of one leg, while the pupil rests on the other. This motion will be explained immediately. The swimming girdle, about five inches wide, is placed round the pupil's breast, so that its upper edge touches the paps, without sitting tight. The teacher takes the rope, which is fastened to a ring of the girdle, in his hand, and directs the pupil to leap into the water, keeping the legs straight and close together, and the arms close to the body; and—what is very important-to breathe out through the nose, as soon as his head rises above the water, instead of breathing in first, which every man naturally does after a suspension of breath. The object of this is to prevent the water from getting into the throat, which produces an unpleasant feeling of choking and head-ache. The expiration soon becomes perfectly natural to a swimmer. The pupil is then invited to leap-never pushed. He is drawn up immediately by the rope, pulled to the ladder, and allowed to gain confidence gradually. The rope is now fastened by a noose to the end of the pole, the end of it being kept in the hand of the teacher; the pole is rested on the horizontal rail, and the pupil stretches himself horizontally in the water, where he remains supported by the pole. The arms are extended stiffly forward, the hands clasped; the chin touches the water; the legs are also stiffly stretched out, the heels being together, the feet turned out, the toes drawn up. This horizontal position is important, and must be executed correctly. No limb is permitted to be relaxed. The motion of the legs is taught first: it is divided into three parts. The teacher first says, loudly and slowly, "One;" when the legs are slowly drawn under the body, and, at the same time, the knees are separated to the greatest possible distance; the spine is bent downwards, and the toe kept outwards. The teacher then says, briskly, "Two" upon which the legs are stiffly stretched out with a moderate degree of quickness, while the heels are separated, and the legs describe the widest possible angle, the toes being contracted and kept outwards. teacher then says, quickly, "Three;" upon which the legs, with the knees held stiffly, are quickly brought together; and thus the original position is again obtained. The point at which the motions two and three join, is the most important, because it is the object to receive as large and compact a wedge of water between the legs as possible, so that, when the legs are brought together, their action upon this wedge may urge the body forward. In ordinary easy swimming, the hands are not used to propel, but merely to assist in keeping on the surface. By degrees, therefore, two The |