Note 88 — Chapter V · THE OUTCOME OF ALCHEMY

W. R. H. Trowbridge: Cagliostro: The Splendour and Misery of a Master of Magic (1910). We must acknowledge our indebtedness for many of the particulars which follow to this work. It is, however, unfortunately marred by a ridiculous attempt to show a likeness between “Cagliostro” and Swedenborg, for which, by the way, Mr. Trowbridge has already been criticised by the Spectator. It may justly be said of Swedenborg that he was scrupulously honest and sincere in his beliefs as well as in his actions; and, as a philosopher, it is only now being discovered how really great he was. He did, indeed, claim to have converse with spiritual beings; but the results of modern psychical research have robbed such claims of any inherent impossibility, and in Swedenborg’s case there is very considerable evidence for their validity.