“Wit hath wonder, that reason cannot skan,How a Moder is Mayd, and God is Man.”His books were publicly burnt at Oxford. He died in 1460. His influence doubtless contributed to the Reformation.Pearson(Karl), author of a volume of essays entitledThe Ethic of Freethought, 1888. Educated at Cambridge; B.A. ’79, M.A. ’82.Pechmeja(Jean de), French writer. A friend of Raynal, he wrote a socialistic romance in 12 books in the style of Telemachus, called Télèphe, 1784. Died 1785.Peck(John), American writer in theTruthseeker. Has publishedMiracles and Miracle Workers, etc.Pecqueur(A.), contributor to theRationalisteof Geneva, 1864.Pelin(Gabriel), French author of works onSpiritism Explained and Destroyed, 1864, andGod or Science, ’67.Pelletan(Charles Camille), French journalist and deputy, son of the following; b. Paris, 23 June, 1846. Studied at the Lycée Louis le Grand. He wrote inLa Tribune Française, andLe Rappel, and since ’80 has conductedLa Justicewith his friend Clémenceau, of whom he has written a sketch.Pelletan(Pierre Clement Eugène), French writer, b. Saint-Palais-sur-Meir, 20 Oct. 1813. As a journalist he wrote inLa Presse, under the name of “Un Inconnu,” articles distinguished by their love of liberty and progress. He also contributed to theRevue des Deux Mondes. In ’52 he published hisProfession of Faith of the Nineteenth Century, and in ’57The Law of ProgressandThe Philosophical Kings. From ’53–’55 he opposed Napoleon in the Siècle, and afterwards establishedLa Tribune Française. In’63he was elected deputy, but his election being annulled, he was re-elected in ’64. He took distinguished rank among the democratic opposition. After the battle of Sedan he was made member of the Committee ofNational Defence, and in ’76 of the Senate, of which he became vice-president in ’79. In ’78 he wrote a study on Frederick the Great entitledUn Roi Philosophe, and in ’83Is God Dead?Died at Paris, 14 Dec. 1884.Pemberton(Charles Reece). English actor and author, b. Pontypool, S. Wales, 23 Jan. 1790. He travelled over most of the world and wroteThe Autobiography of Pel Verjuice, which with other remains was published in 1843. Died 3 March, 1840.Pennetier(Georges), Dr., b. Rouen, 1836, Director of the Museum of Natural History at Rouen. Author of a work on theOriginof Life, ’68, in which he contends for spontaneous generation. To this work F. A. Pouchet contributed a preface.Perfitt(Philip William), Theist, b. 1820, edited thePathfinder, ’59–61. Preached at South Place Chapel. WroteLife and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, ’61.Periers(Bonaventure des). SeeDesperiers.Perot(Jean Marie Albert), French banker, author of a work onMan and God, which has been translated into English, 1881, andMoral and Philosophical Allegories(Paris, 1883).Perrier(Edmond), French zoologist, Curator at Museum of Natural History, Paris, b. Tulle, 1844. Author of numerous works on Natural History, and one onTransformisme, ’88.Perrin(Raymond S.), American author of a bulky work onThe Religion of Philosophy, or the Unification of Knowledge: a comparison of the chief philosophical and religious systems of the world, 1885.Perry(Thomas Ryley), one of Carlile’s shopmen, sentenced 1824 to three years’ imprisonment in Newgate for selling Palmer’sPrinciples of Nature. He became a chemist at Leicester and in 1844 petitioned Parliament for the prisoners for blasphemy, Paterson and Roalfe, stating that his own imprisonment had not fulfilled the judge’s hope of his recantation.Petit(Claude), French poet, burnt on the Place de Grève in 1665 as the author of some impious pieces.Petronius, called Arbiter (Titus), Roman Epicurean poet at the Court of Nero, in order to avoid whose resentment he opened his veins and bled to death inA.D.66, conversing meanwhilewith his friends on the gossip of the day. To him we owe the lines on superstition, beginning “Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor.” Petronius is famous for his “pure Latinity.” He is as plain-spoken as Juvenal, and with the same excuse, his romance being a satire on Nero and his court.Petruccelli della Gattina(Ferdinando) Italian writer, b. Naples, 1816, has travelled much and written many works. He was deputy to the Naples Parliament in ’48, and exiled after the reaction.Petrus de Abano.A learned Italian physician, b. Abano 1250. He studied at Paris and became professor of medicine at Padua. He wrote many works and had a great reputation. He is said to have denied the existence of spirits, and to have ascribed all miracles to natural causes. Cited before the Inquisition in 1306 as a heretic, a magician and an Atheist, he ably defended himself and was acquitted. He was accused a second time but dying (1320) while the trial was preparing, he was condemned after death, his body disinterred and burnt, and he was also burnt in effigy in the public square of Padua.Peypers(H. F. A.), Dutch writer, b. DeRijp, 2 Jan. 1856, studied medicine, and is now M.D. at Amsterdam. He is a man of erudition and good natured though satirical turn of mind. He has contributed much toDe Dageraad, and is at present one of the five editors of that Freethought monthly.Peyrard(François), French mathematician, b. Vial (Haute Loire) 1760. A warm partisan of the revolution, he was one of those who (7 Nov. 1793) incited Bishop Gobel to abjure his religion. An intimate friend of Sylvian Maréchal, Peyrard furnished him with notes for hisDictionnaire des Athées. He wrote a work onNature and its Laws, 1793–4, and proposed the piercing of the Isthmus of Suez. He translated the works of Euclid and Archimedes. Died at Paris 3 Oct. 1822.Peyrat(Alphonse), French writer, b. Toulouse, 21 June, 1812. He wrote in theNationalandla Presse, and combated against the Second Empire. In ’65 he foundedl’Avenir National, which was several times condemned. In Feb. ’71, he was elected deputy of the Seine, and proposed the proclamation of the Republic. In ’76 he was chosen senator.He wrote a History of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, ’55;History and Religion, ’58;Historical and Religious Studies, ’58; and an able and scholarlyElementary and Critical History of Jesus, ’64.Peyrere(Isaac de la), French writer, b. Bordeaux, 1594, and brought up as a Protestant. He entered into the service of the house of Condé, and became intimate with La Mothe de Vayer and Gassendi. His work entitledPræadamitæ, 1653, in which he maintained that men lived before Adam, made a great sensation, and was burnt by the hangman at Paris. The bishop of Namur censured it, and la Peyrère was arrested at Brussels, 1656, by order of the Archbishop of Malines, but escaped by favor of the Prince of Condé on condition of retracting his book at Rome. The following epitaph was nevertheless made on him:La Peyrere ici gît, ce bon Israelite,Hugenot, Catholique, enfin Pre-adamite:Quatre religions lui plurent à la fois:Et son indifférence était si peu communeQu’après 80 ans qu’il eut à faire un choixLe bon homme partit, et n’en choisit pas une.Died near Paris, 30 Jan. 1676.Pfeiff(Johan Gustaf Viktor), Swedish baron, b. Upland, 1829. Editor of the free religious periodical,The Truthseeker, since 1882. He has also translated into Swedish some of the writings of Herbert Spencer.Pharmacopulo(A.P.) Greek translator of Büchner’sForce and Matter, and corresponding member of the International Federation of Freethinkers.Phillips(Sir Richard), industrious English writer, b. London, 1767. He was hosier, bookseller, printer, publisher, republican, Sheriff of London (1807–8), and Knight. He compiled many schoolbooks, chiefly under pseudonyms, of which the most popular were the Rev. J. Goldsmith and Rev. D. Blair. His own opinions are seen most in hisMillion of Facts. Died at Brighton 2 April, 1840.Phillippo(William Skinner), farmer, of Wood Norton, near Thetford, Norfolk. A deist who wrote anEssay on Political and Religious Meditations, 1868.Pi-y Margall(Francisco), Spanish philosopher and Republican statesman, b. Barcelona, 1820. The first book he learnt to read was theRuinsof Volney. Studied law and became an advocate. He has written many political works, and translated Proudhon, for whom he has much admiration, into Spanish. He has also introduced the writings and philosophy of Comte into his own country. He was associated with Castelar and Figueras in the attempt to establish a Spanish Republic, being Minister of the Interior, and afterwards President in 1873.Pichard(Prosper). French Positivist, author ofDoctrine of Reality, “a catechism for the use of people who do not pay themselves with words,” to which Littré wrote a preface, 1873.Pierson(Allard). Dutch rationalist critic, b. Amsterdam 8 April, 1831. Educated in theology, he was minister to the Evangelical congregation at Leuven, afterwards at Rotterdam and finally professor at Heidelberg. He resigned his connection with the Church in ’64. He has written many works of theological and literary value of which we mention hisPoems’82,New Studies on Calvin, ’83, andVerisimilia, written in conjunction with S. A. Naber, ’86.Pigault-Lebrun(Guillaume Charles Antoine), witty French author, b. Calais, 8 April, 1753. He studied under the Oratorians of Boulogne. He wrote numerous comedies and romances, andLe Citateur, 1803, a collection of objections to Christianity, borrowed in part from Voltaire, whose spirit he largely shared. In 1811 Napoleon threatened the priests he would issue this work wholesale. It was suppressed under the Restoration, but has been frequently reprinted. Pigault-Lebrunbecame secretary to King Jerome Napoleon, and died at La Celle-Saint-Cloud, 24 July, 1835.Pike(J. W.) American lecturer, b. Concord (Ohio), 27 June, 1826, wroteMy Religious ExperienceandWhat I found in the Bible, 1867.Pillsbury(Parker), American reformer, b. Hamilton, Mass., 22 Sep. 1809. Was employed in farm work till ’35, when he entered Gilmerton theological seminary. He graduated in ’38,studied a year at Andover, was congregational minister for oneyear, and then, perceiving the churches were the bulwark of slavery, abandoned the ministry. He became an abolitionist lecturer, edited theHerald of Freedom,National Anti-Slavery Standard, and theRevolution. He also preached for free religious societies, wrotePious Frauds, and contributed to theBoston InvestigatorandFreethinkers’ Magazine. His principal work isActs of the Anti-Slavery Apostles, 1883.Piron(Alexis), French comic poet, b. Dijon, 9 July, 1689. His pieces were full of wit and gaiety, and many anecdotes are told of his profanity. Among his sallies was his reply to a reproof for being drunk on Good Friday, that failing must be excused on a day when even deity succumbed. Being blind in his old age he affected piety. Worried by his confessor about a Bible in the margin of which he had written parodies and epigrams as the best commentary, he threw the whole book in the fire. Asked on his death-bed if he believed in God he answered “Parbleu, I believe even in the Virgin.” Died at Paris, 21 Jan. 1773.Pisarev(Dmitri Ivanovich) Russian critic, journalist, and materialist, b. 1840. He first became known by his criticism on the Scholastics of the nineteenth century. Died Baden, near Riga, July 1868. His works are published in ten vols. Petersburg, 1870.Pitt(William). Earl of Chatham, an illustrious English statesman and orator, b. Boconnoc, Cornwall, 15 Nov.1708. The services to his country of “the Great Commoner,” as he was called, are well known, but it is not so generally recognised that hisLetter on Superstition, first printed in theLondon Journalin 1733, entitles him to be ranked with the Deists. He says that “the more superstitious people are, always the more vicious; and the more theybelieve, the less they practice.” Atheism furnishes no man with arguments to be vicious; but superstition, or what the world made by religion, is the greatest possible encouragement to vice, by setting up something as religion, which shall atone and commute for the want of virtue. This remarkable letter ends with the words “Remember that the only true divinity is humanity.”Place(Francis), English Radical reformer and tailor; b. 1779 at Charing Cross. He early became a member of the London,Corresponding Society. He wrote to Carlile’sRepublicanandLion. A friend of T. Hardy, H. Tooke, James Mill, Bentham, Roebuck, Hetherington, and Hibbert (who puts him in his list of English Freethinkers). He was connected with all the advanced movements of his time and has left many manuscripts illustrating the politics of that period, which are now in the British Museum. He always professed to be an Atheist—seeReasoner, 26 March, ’54. Died at Kensington, 1 Jan. 1854.Platt(James), F.S.S., a woolen merchant and Deistic author of popular works onBusiness, ’75;Morality, ’78;Progress, ’80;Life, ’81;God and Mammon, etc.Pliny(Caius Plinius Secundus), the elder, Roman naturalist, b. Verona,A.D.22. He distinguished himself in the army, was admitted into the college of Augurs, appointed procurator in Spain, and honored with the esteem of Vespasian and Titus. He wrote the history of his own time in 31 books, now lost, and aNaturalHistoryin 37 books, one of the most precious monuments of antiquity, in which his Epicurean Atheism appears. Being with the fleet at Misenum, 24 Aug.A.D.79, he observed theeruptionof Mount Vesuvius, and landing to assist the inhabitants was himself suffocated by the noxious vapors.Plumacher(Olga), German pessimist, follower of Hartmann, and authoress of a work onPessimism in the Past and Future, Heidelberg, 1884. She has also defended her views inMind.Plumer(William) American senator, b. Newburyport, Mass. 25 June, 1759. In 1780 he became a Baptist preacher, but resigned on account of scepticism. He remained a deist. He served in the Legislature eight terms, during two of which he was Speaker. He was governor of New Hampshire, 1812–18, wrote to the press over the signature “Cincinnatus,” and published anAddress to the Clergy, ’14. He lived till 22 June, 1850.Plutarch. Greek philosopher and historian, b. Cheronæa in Bœtia, aboutA.D.50. He visited Delphi and Rome, where he lived in the reign of Trajan. HisParallel Livesof forty-six Greeks and Romans have made him immortal. He wrote numerous other anecdotal and ethical works, including atreatise on Superstition. He condemned the vulgar notions of Deity, and remarked, in connection with the deeds popularly ascribed to the gods, that he would rather men said there was no Plutarch than traduce his character. In other words, superstition is more impious than Atheism. Died aboutA.D.120.Poe(Edgar Allan), American poet, grandson of General Poe, who figured in the war of independence, b. Boston, 19 Jan. 1809. His mother was an actress. Early left an orphan. After publishingTamerlane and other Poems, ’27, he enlisted in the United States Army, but was cashiered in ’31. He then took to literary employment in Baltimore and wrote many stories, collected as theTales of Mystery, Imagination, and Humor. In ’45 appearedThe Raven and other Poems, which proved him the most musical and dextrous of American poets. In ’48 he publishedEureka, a Prose Poem, which, though comparatively little known, he esteemed his greatest work. It indicates pantheistic views of the universe. His personal appearance was striking and one of his portraits is not unlike that of James Thomson. Died in Baltimore, 7 Oct. 1849.Poey(Andrés), Cuban meteorologist and Positivist of French and Spanish descent, b. Havana, 1826. Wrote in theModern Thinker, and is author of many scientific memoirs and a popular exposition of Positivism (Paris, 1876), in which he has a chapter on Darwinism and Comtism.Pompery(Edouard), French publicist, b. Courcelles, 1812. A follower of Fourier, he has written on Blanquism and opportunism, ’79, and a Life of Voltaire, ’80.Pomponazzi(Pietro) [Lat. Pomponatius], Italian philosopher, b. Mantua, of noble family, 16 Sept. 1462. He studied at Padua, where he graduated 1487 as laureate of medicine. Next year he was appointed professor of philosophy at Padua, teaching in concurrence with Achillini. He afterwards taught the doctrines of Aristotle at Ferrara and Bologna. His treatiseDe Immortalitate Animæ, 1516, gave great offence by denying the philosophical foundation of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. The work was burnt by the hangman at Venice, and it is said Cardinal Bembo’s intercession with Pope Leo X. only saved Pomponazzi from ecclesiastical procedure.Among his works is a treatise on Fate, Free Will, etc. Pomponazzi was a diminutive man, and was nicknamed “Peretto.” He held that doubt was necessary for the development of knowledge, and left an unsullied reputation for upright conduct and sweet temper. Died at Bologna, 18 May, 1525, and was buried at Mantua, where a monument was erected to his memory.Ponnat(de),Baron, French writer, b. about 1810. Educated by Jesuits, he became a thorough Freethinker and democrat and a friend of A. S. Morin, with whom he collaborated on theRationalisteof Geneva. He wrote many notable articles inLa Libre Pensée,Le Critique, andLe Candide, for writing in which last he was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment. He published, under the anagram of De Pontan,The Cross or Death, a discourse to the bishops who assisted at the Ecumenical Council at Rome (Brussels, ’62). His principal work is a history of the variations and contradictions of the Roman Church (Paris, ’82). Died in 1884.Porphyry(Πορφύριος), Greek philosoper of the New Platonic school, b. Sinia, 233A.D.His original name wasMalchusorMelech—a “King.” He was a pupil of Longinus and perhaps of Origen. Some have supposed that he was of Jewish faith, and first embraced and then afterwards rejected Christianity. It is certain he was a man of learning and intelligence; the friend as well as the disciple of Plotinus. He wrote (in Greek) a famous work in fifteen books against the Christians, some fragments of which alone remain in the writings of his opponents. It is certain he showed acquaintance with the Jewish and Christian writings, exposed their contradictions, pointed out the dispute between Peter and Paul, and referred Daniel to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. He wrote many other works, among which are lives of Plotinus and Pythagorus. Died at Rome about 305.Porzio(Simone), a disciple of Pomponazzi, to whom, when lecturing at Pisa, the students cried “What of the soul?” He frankly professed his belief that the human soul differed in no essential point from the soul of a lion or plant, and that those who thought otherwise were prompted by pity for our mean estate. These assertions are in his treatiseDe Mente Humanâ.“Posos(Juan de),” an undiscovered author using this pen-name, expressed atheistic opinions in a book of imaginary travels, published in Dutch at Amsterdam in 1708, and translated into German at Leipsic, 1721.Post(Amy), American reformer, b. 1803. From ’28 she was a leading advocate of slavery abolition, temperance, woman’s suffrage and religious reform. Died Rochester, New York, 29 Jan. 1889.Potter(Agathon Louis de).SeeDe Potter (A. L.)Potter(Louis Antoine Joseph de). SeeDe Potter (L. A. J.)Potvin(Charles), Belgian writer b. Mons. 2 Dec. 1818, is member of the Royal Academy of Letters, and professor of the history of literature at Brussels. He wrote anonymouslyPoesie et Amour’58, andRome and the Family. Under the name of “Dom Jacobus” he has written an able work in two volumes onThe Church and Morality, and alsoTablets of a Freethinker. He was president of “La Libre Pensée” of Brussels from ’78 to ’83, is director of theRevue de Belgiqueand has collaborated on theNationaland other papers.Pouchet(Felix Archimède), French naturalist, b. Rouen 26 Aug. 1800. Studied medicine under Dr. Flaubert, father of the author ofMme. Bovary, and became doctor in ’27. He was made professor of natural history at the Museum of Rouen, and by his experiments enriched science with many discoveries. He defended spontaneous generation and wrote many monographs and books of which the principal is entitledThe Universe, ’65. Died at Rouen, 6 Dec. 1872.Pouchet(Henri Charles George), French naturalist, son of the proceeding, b. Rouen, 1833, made M.D. in ’64, and in ’79 professor of comparative anatomy in the museum of Natural History at Paris. In ’80 he was decorated with the Legion of Honor. He has written onThe Plurality of the Human Race, ’58, and collaborated on theSiècle, and theRevue des Deux Mondesand tola Philosophie Positive.Pouchkine(A.), seePushkin.Pougens(Marie Charles Joseph de), French author, a natural son of the Prince de Conti, b. Paris, 15 Aug. 1755. About the age of 24 he was blinded by small pox. He became an intimatefriend of the philosophers, and, sharing their views, embraced the revolution with ardor, though it ruined his fortunes. He wrotePhilosophical Researches, 1786, edited the posthumous works of D’Alembert, 1799, and worked at a dictionary of the French language. HisJocko, a tale of a monkey, exhibits his keen sympathy with animal intelligence, and in hisPhilosophical Letters, 1826, he gives anecdotes of Voltaire, Rousseau, D’Alembert, Pechmeja, Franklin, etc. Died at Vauxbuin, near Soissons, 19 Dec. 1833.Poulin(Paul), Belgian follower of Baron Colins and author ofWhat is God? What is Man?a scientific solution of the religious problem (Brussels, 1865), and re-issued asGod According to Science, ’75, in which he maintains that man and God exclude each other, and that the only divinity is moral harmony.Poultier D’Elmolte(François Martin), b. Montreuil-sur-Mer, 31 Oct. 1753. Became a Benedictine monk, but cast aside his frock at the Revolution, married, and became chief of a battalion of volunteers. Elected to the Convention he voted for the death of the King. He conducted the journal,L’Ami des lois, and became one of the Council of Ancients. Exiled in 1816, he died at Tournay in Belgium, 16 Feb. 1827. He wroteMorceaux Philosophiquesin theJournal Encyclopédique;Victoire, or the Confessions of a Benedictine;Discours Décadaires, for the use of Theophilantropists, andConjectures on the Nature and Origin of Things, Tournay, 1821.Powell(B. F.), compiler of theBible of Reason, or Scriptures of Ancient Moralists; published by Hetherington in 1837.Prades(Jean Martin de), French theologian b. Castel-Sarrasin, about 1720. Brought up for the church, he nevertheless became intimate with Diderot and contributed the articleCertitudeto the Encyclopédie. On the 18th Nov. 1751 he presented to the Sorbonne a thesis for the doctorate, remarkable as the first open attack on Christianity by a French theologian. He maintained many propositions on the soul, the origin of society, the laws of Moses, miracles, etc., contrary to the dogmas of the Church, and compared the cures recorded in the Gospels to those attributed to Esculapius. The thesis made a great scandal. His opinions were condemned by PopeBenedict XIV., and he fled to Holland for safety. Recommended to Frederick the Great by d’Alembert he was received with favor at Berlin, and became reader to that monarch, who wrote a very anti-Christian preface to de Prades’ work on ecclesiastical history, published asAbrége de l’Histoire ecclesiastique de Fleury, Berne (Berlin) 1766. He retired to a benefice at Glogau (Silesia), given him by Frederick, and died there in 1782.Prater(Horatio), a gentleman of some fortune who devoted himself to the propagation of Freethought ideas. Born early in the century, he wrote on thePhysiology of the Blood, 1832. He publishedLetters to the American People, andLiterary Essays, ’56. Died 20 July, 1885. He left the bulk of his money to benevolent objects, and ordered a deep wound to be made in his arm to insure that he was dead.Preda(Pietro), Italian writer of Milan, author of a work onRevelation and Reason, published at Geneva, 1865, under the pseudonym of “Padre Pietro.”Premontval(Andre Pierre Le Guay de), French writer, b. Charenton, 16 Feb. 1716. At nineteen years of age, while in the college of Plessis Sorbonne, he composed a work against the dogma of the Eucharist. He studied mathematics and became member of the Academy of Sciences at Berlin. He wroteLe Diogene de D’Alembert, or Freethoughts on Man, 1754,Panangiana Panurgica, or the false Evangelist, andVues Philosophiques, Amst., 2 vols., 1757. He also wroteDe la Théologie de L’Etre, in which he denies many of the ordinary proofs of the existence of a God. Died Berlin, 1767.Priestley(Joseph), LL.D., English philosopher, b. Fieldhead, near Leeds, 18 March, 1733. Brought up as a Calvinist, he found his way to broad Unitarianism. Famous as a pneumatic chemist, he defended the doctrine of philosophical necessity, and in a dissertation annexed to his edition of Hartley expressed doubts of the immateriality of the sentient principal in man. This doctrine he forcibly supported in hisDisquisitions on Matter and Spirit, 1777. Through the obloquy these works produced, he lost his position as librarian to Lord Shelburne. He then removed to Birmingham, and became minister of an independent Unitarian congregation, and occupied himself on hisHistory of the Corruptions of ChristianityandHistory of the Early Opinions Concerning Jesus Christ, which involved him in controversy with Bishop Horsley and others. In consequence of his sympathy with the French Revolution, his house was burnt and sacked in a riot, 14 July, 1791. After this he removed to Hackney, and was finally goaded to seek an asylum in the United States, which he reached in 1794. Even in America he endured some uneasiness on account of his opinions until Jefferson became president. Died 6 Feb. 1804.Pringle(Allen), Canadian Freethinker, author ofIngersoll in Canada, 1880.Proctor(Richard Anthony), English astronomer, b. Chelsea, 23 March, 1837. Educated at King’s College, London, and at St. John’s, Cambridge, where he became B.A. in ’60. In ’66 he became Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, of which he afterwards became hon. sec. He maintained in ’69 the since-established theory of the solar corona. He wrote, lectured, and edited, far and wide, and left nearly fifty volumes, chiefly popularising science. Attracted by Newman, he was for a while a Catholic, but thought out the question of Catholicism and science, and in a letter to theNew York Tribune, Nov. ’75, formally renounced that religion as irreconcilable with scientific facts. His remarks on the so-called Star of Bethlehem inThe Universe of Suns, and other Science Gleanings, and his Sunday lectures, indicated his heresy. In ’81 he startedKnowledge, in which appeared many valuable papers, notably one (Jan. ’87), “The Beginning of Christianity.” He entirely rejected the miraculous elements of the gospels, which he considered largely arechaufféof solar myths. In other articles in theFreethinkers’ Magazineand theOpen Courthe pointed out the coincidence between the Christian stories and solar myths, and also with stories found in Josephus. The very last article he published before his untimely death was a vindication of Colonel Ingersoll in his controversy with Gladstone in theNorth American Review. In ’84 he settled at St. Josephs, Mobille, where he contracted yellow fever and died at New York, 12 Sep. 1888.Proudhon(Pierre Joseph), French anarchist and political thinker, b. Besançon, 15 Jan. 1809. Self-educated he became aprinter, and won a prize of 1,500 francs for the person “best fitted for a literary or scientific career.” In ’40 appears his memoir, What is Property? in which he made the celebrated answer “C’est le vol.” In ’43 theCreation of Order in Humanityappeared, treating of religion, philosophy and logic. In ’46 he published hisSystem of Economical Contradictions, in which appeared his famous aphorism, “Dieu, c’est le mal.” In ’48 he introduced his scheme of the organisation of credit in a Bank of the People, which failed, though Proudhon saw that no one lost anything. He attacked Louis Bonaparte when President, and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 francs. On 2 Jan. ’50 he married by private contract while in prison. For his work onJustice in the Revolution and in the Churchhe was condemned to three years’ imprisonment and 4,000 francs fine in ’58. He took refuge in Belgium and returned in ’63. Died at Passy, 19 Jan. 1865. Among his posthumous works wasThe Gospels Annotated, ’66. Proudhon was a bold and profound thinker of noble aspirations, but he lacked the sense of art and practicability. His complete works have been published in 26 vols.Protagoras, Greek philosopher, b. Abdera, about 480B.C.Is said to have been a disciple of Democritus, and to have been a porter before he studied philosophy. He was the first to call himself a sophist. He wrote in a book on the gods, “Respecting the gods, I am unable to know whether they exist or do not exist.” For this he was impeached and banished, and his book burnt. He went to Epirus and the Greek Islands, and died about 411. He believed all things were in flux, and summed up his conclusions in the proposition that “man is the measure of all things, both of that which exists and that which does not exist.” Grote, who defends the Sophists, says his philosophy “had the merit of bringing into forcible relief the essentially relative nature of cognition.”Prudhomme(Sully). SeeSully Prudhomme.Pückler Muskau(Hermann Ludwig Heinrich), Prince, a German writer, b. Muskau, 30 Oct. 1785. He travelled widely and wrote his observations in a work entitledLetters of a Defunct, 1830; this was followed byTutti Frutti, ’32;Semilasso in Africa, ’36, and other works. Died 4 Feb. 1871.Pushkin(Aleksandr Sergyeevich), eminent Russian poet, often called the Russian Byron, b. Pskow, 26 May, 1799. From youth he was remarkable for his turbulent spirit, and his first work, which circulated only in manuscript, was founded on Parny’sGuerre des Dieux, and entitled the Gabrielade, the archangel being the hero. He was exiled by the Emperor, but, inspired largely by reading Voltaire and Byron, put forward numerous poems and romances, of which the most popular is Eugene Onéguine, an imitation of Don Juan. He also wrote some histories and founded theSovremennik(Contemporary), 1836. In Jan. 1837 he was mortally wounded in a duel.Putnam(Samuel P.), American writer and lecturer, brought up as a minister. He left that profession for Freethought, and became secretary to the American Secular Union, of which he was elected president in Oct. 1887. In ’88 he startedFreethoughtat San Francisco in company with G. Macdonald. Has written poems,Prometheus,Ingersoll and Jesus,Adami and Heva; romances entitledGolden Throne,Waifs and Wanderings, andGottlieb, and pamphlets on theProblem of the Universe,The New God, andThe Glory of Infidelity.Putsage(Jules), Belgian follower of Baron Colins, founder of the Colins Philosophical Society at Mons; has written onDeterminism and Rational Science, Brussels 1885, besides many essays inLa Philosophie de L’Avenirof Paris andLa Societe Nouvelleof Brussels.Pyat(Felix) French socialist, writer and orator, b. Vierzon, 4 Oct. 1810. His father was religious and sent him to a Jesuit college at Bourges, but he here secretly read the writings of Beranger and Courier. He studied law, but abandoned it for literature, writing in many papers. He also wrote popular dramas, asThe Rag-picker of Paris, ’47. After ’52 he lived in England, where he wrote an apology for the attempt of Orsini, published by Truelove, ’58. In ’71 he founded the journalle Combat. Elected to the National Assembly he protested against the treaty of peace, was named member of the Commune and condemned to death in ’73. He returned to France after the armistice, and has sat as deputy for Marseilles. Died, Saint Gerainte near Nice, 3 Aug. 1889.Pyrrho(Πύρρων). Greek philosopher, a native of Elis, inPeloponesus, founder of a sceptical school about the time of Epicurus; is said to have been attracted to philosophy by the books of Democritus. He attached himself to Anaxarchus, and joined her in the expedition of Alexander the Great, and became acquainted with the philosophy of the Magi and the Indian Gymnosophists. He taught the wisdom of doubt, the uncertainty of all things, and the rejection of speculation. His disciples extolled his equanimity and independence of externals. It is related that he kept house with his sister, and shared with her in all domestic duties. He reached the age of ninety years, and after his death the Athenians honored him with a statue. He left no writings, but the tenets of his school, which were much misrepresented, may be gathered from Sextus and Empiricus.Quental.SeeAnthero de Quental.“Quepat(Nérée.”) SeePaquet (René).Quesnay(François), French economist, b. Mérey, 4 June 1694. Self educated he became a physician, but is chiefly noted for hisTableau Economique, 1708, and his doctrine ofLaissez Faire. He derived moral and social rules from physical laws. Died Versailles, 16 Dec. 1774.Quinet(Edgar), French writer, b. Bourgen Bresse, 17 Feb. 1803. He attracted the notice of Cousin by a translation of Herder’sThe Philosophy of History. With his friend Michelet he made many attacks on Catholicism, theJesuitsbeing their joint work. He fought in the Revolution of ’48, and opposed the Second Empire. His work onThe Genius of Religion, ’42, is profound, though mystical, and his historical work onThe Revolution, ’65 is a masterpiece. Died at Versailles, 27 March, 1875.Quintin(Jean), Heretic of Picardy, and alleged founder of the Libertines. He is said to have preached in Holland and Brabant in 1525, that religion was a human invention. Quintin was arrested and burnt at Tournay in 1530.Quris(Charles), French advocate of Angers, who has published some works on law andLa Défense Catholique et la Critique, Paris, 1864.Rabelais(François), famous and witty French satirist and philosopher, b. Chinon, Touraine, 7 Jan. 1495. At an earlyage he joined the order of Franciscans, but finding monastic life incompatible with his genial temper, quitted the convent without the leave of his superior. He studied medicine at Montpelier about 1530, after which he practised at Lyons. His great humorous work, published anonymously in 1535, was denounced as heretical by the clergy for its satires, not only on their order but their creed. The author was protected by Francis I. and was appointed curé of Meudon. Died at Paris, 9 April, 1553. His writings show surprising fertility of mind, and Coleridge says, “Beyond a doubt he was among the deepest as well as boldest thinkers of his age.”Radenhausen(Christian), German philosopher, b. Friedrichstadt, 3 Dec. 1813. At first a merchant and then a lithographer, he resided at Hamburg, where he publishedIsis, Mankind and the World (4 vols.), ’70–72;Osiris, ’74;The New Faith, ’77;Christianity is Heathenism, ’81;The True Bible and the False, ’87;Esther, ’87.Radicati(Alberto di),Count. SeePasserano.Ragon(Jean Marie de), French Freemason, b. Bray-sur-Seine, 1781. By profession a civil engineer at Nancy, afterwards Chief of Bureau to the Minister of the Interior. Author of many works on Freemasonry, andThe Mass and its Mysteries Compared with the Ancient Mysteries, 1844. Died at Paris, 1862.Ram(Joachim Gerhard), Holstein philosopher of the seventeenth century, who was accused of Atheism.Ramaer(Anton Gerard Willem), Dutch writer b. Jever, East Friesland, 2 Aug. 1812. From ’29 he served as officer in the Dutch army. He afterwards became a tax collector, and in ’60 was pensioned. He wrote on Schopenhauer and other able works, and also contributed largely toDe Dageraad, often under the pseudonym of “Laçhmé.” He had a noble mind and sacrificed much for his friends and the good cause. Died 16 Feb. 1867.Ramee(Louise de la), English novelist, b., of French extraction, Bury St. Edmunds, 1840. Under the name of “Ouida,” a little sister’s mispronunciation of Louisa, she has published many popular novels, exhibiting her free and pessimistic opinions. We mentionTricotin,Folle Farine,Signa,MothsandA Village Commune. She has lived much in Italy, where the scenes of several novels are placed.Ramee(Pierre de la) called Ramus, French humanist, b. Cuth (Vermandois) 1515. He attacked the doctrines of Aristotle, was accused of impiety, and his work suppressed 1543. He lost his life in the massacre of St. Bartholomew, 26 Aug. 1572.Ramsey(William James), b. London, 8 June, 1844. Becoming a Freethinker early in life, he for some time sold literature at the Hall of Science and became manager of the Freethought Publishing Co. Starting in business for himself he published theFreethinker, for which in ’82 he was prosecuted with Mr. Foote and Mr. Kemp. Tried in March ’83, after a good defence, he was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment, and on Mr. Foote’s release acted as printer of the paper.Ranc(Arthur), French writer and deputy, b. Poitiers, 10 Dec. 1831, and was brought up a Freethinker and Republican by his parents. He took the prize for philosophy at the College of Poitiers, and studied law at Paris. He conspired with C. Delescluze against the Second Empire and was imprisoned, but escaped to Geneva. He collaborated onLa Marseillaise, was elected on the Municipal Council of Paris in ’71, and Deputy, ’73. Has writtenUnder the Empireand many other political works.Randello(Cosimo),Italianauthor ofThe Simple Story of a Great Fraud, being a criticism of the origin of Christianity, directed against Pauline theology, published at Milan, 1882.Rapisardi(Mario), Italian poet, b. Catania, Sicily, 1843. Has translated Lucretius, ’80, and published poems onLucifer, andThe Last Prayer of Pius IX., ’71, etc.Raspail(François Vincent), French chemist and politician b. Carpentras 24 Jan. 1794, was brought up by ecclesiastics and intended for the Church. He became, while quite young, professor of philosophy at the theological seminary of Avignon but an examination of theological dogmas led to their rejection. He went to Paris, and from 1815–24 gave lessons, and afterwards became a scientific lecturer. He took part in the Revolution of ’30. Louis Philippe offered him the Legion of Honor but he refused. Taking part in all the revolutionary outbreakshe was frequently imprisoned. Elected to the chamber in ’69 and sat on the extreme left. Died at Arcueil 6 Jan. 1878.Rau(Herbert), German rationalist b. Frankfort 11 Feb. 1813. He studied theology and became preacher to free congregations in Stuttgart and Mannheim. He wroteGospel of Nature,A Catechism of the Religion of the Future, and other works. Died Frankfort 26 Sept. 1876.Rawson(Albert Leighton) LL.D. American traveller and author, b. Chester, Vermont 15 Oct. 1829. After studying law, theology, and art, he made four visits to the East, and made in ’51–2 a pilgrimage from Cairo to Mecca, disguised as a Mohammedan student of medicine. He has published many maps and typographical and philological works, and illustrated Beecher’sLife of Jesus. Has also written on theAntiquities of the Orient, New York, ’70, and Chorography of Palestine, London, ’80. Has written in theFreethinkers’ Magazine, maintaining that the Bible account of the twelve tribes of Israel is non-historical.Raynal(Guillaume Thomas François)l’abbé, French historian and philosopher, b. Saint Geniez, 12 April, 1713. He was brought up as a priest but renounced that profession soon after his removal to Paris, 1747, where he became intimate with Helvetius, Holbach, etc. With the assistance of these, and Diderot, Pechmeja, etc., he compiled a philosophical History of European establishments in the two Indies (4 vols. 1770 and 1780), a work full of reflections on the religious and political institutions of France. It made a great outcry, was censured by the Sorbonne, and was burnt by order of Parliament 29 May, 1781. Raynal escaped and passed about six years in exile. Died near Paris, 6 March, 1796.Reade(William Winwood), English traveller and writer, nephew of Charles Reade the novelist, b. Murrayfield, near Crieff, Scotland, 26 Dec. 1824. He studied at Oxford, then travelled much in the heart of Africa, and wroteSavage Africa,’63,The African Sketch Book, and in ’73,The Story of the Ashantee Campaign; which he accompanied asTimescorrespondent. In theMartyrdomof Man(’72), he rejects the doctrine of a personal creator. It went through several editions and is still worth reading. He also wroteLiberty Hall, a novel,’60;TheVeil of Isis, ’61, andSee Saw, a novel, ’65. He wrote his last workThe Outcast, a Freethought novel, with the hand of death upon him. Died 24 April, 1875.Reber(George), American author ofThe Christ of Paul, or the Enigmas of Christianity (New York, 1876), a work in which he exposes the frauds and follies of the early fathers.Reclus(Jean Jacques Elisée), French geographer and socialist, the son of a Protestant minister, b. Sainte-Foy-la-Grande (Gironde), 15 March, 1830, and educated by the Moravian brethren, and afterwards at Berlin. He early distinguished himself by his love for liberty, and left France after thecoup d’étatof 2 Dec. ’51, and travelled till ’57 in England, Ireland, and the North and South America, devoting himself to studying the social and political as well as physical condition of the countries he visited, the results being published in theTour du monde, andRevue des Deux Mondes, in which he upheld the cause of the North during the American war. In ’71 he supported the Commune and was taken prisoner and sentenced to transportation for life. Many eminent men in England and America interceded and his sentence was commuted to banishment. At the amnesty of March ’79, he returned to Paris, and has devoted himself to the publication of a standardUniversal Geographyin 13 vols. In ’82 he gave two of his daughters in marriage without either religious or civil ceremony. He has written a preface to Bakounin’sGod and the State, and many other works.Reddalls(George Holland), English Secularist, b. Birmingham, Nov. 1846. He became a compositor on the BirminghamDaily Post, but wishing to conduct a Freethought paper started in business for himself, and issued theSecular Chronicle, ’73, which was contributed to by Francis Neale, H. V. Mayer, G. Standring, etc. He died 13 Oct. 1875.Reghillini de Schio(M.), Professor of Chemistry and Mathematics, b. of Venetian parents at Schio in 1760. He wrote in French an able exposition ofMasonry, 1833, which he traced to Egypt; and anExamination of Mosaism and Christianity, ’34. He was mixed in the troubles of Venice in ’48, and fled to Belgium, dying in poverty at Brussels Aug. 1853.Regnard(Albert Adrien), French doctor and publicist, b. Lachante (Nièvre), 20 March, 1836, author ofEssais d’Histoire et de Critique Scientifique(Paris, ’65)—a work for which he could find no publisher, and had to issue himself—in which he proclaimed scientific materialism. Losing his situation, he started, with Naquet and Clemenceau, theRevue Encyclopédique, which being suppressed on its first number, he startedLa Libre Penséewith Asseline, Condereau, etc. His articles in this journal drew on him and Eudes a condemnation of four months’ imprisonment. He wroteNew Researches on Cerebral Congestion, ’68, and was one of the French delegates to the anti-Council of Naples, ’69. Has publishedAtheism, studies of political science, dated Londres, ’78; aHistory of England since 1815; and has translated Büchner’sForce and Matter, ’84. He was delegate to the Freethinkers’ International Congress at Antwerp, ’85.Regnard(Jean François), French comic poet, b. Paris. 8 Feb. 1655. He went to Italy about 1676, and on returning home was captured by an Algerian corsair and sold as a slave. Being caught in an intrigue with one of the women, he was required to turn Muhammadan. The French consul paid his ransom and he returned to France about 1681. He wrote a number of successful comedies and poems, and was made a treasurer of France. He died as an Epicurean, 4 Sept. 1709.Regnier(Mathurin), French satirical poet, b. Chartres, 21 Dec. 1573. Brought up for the Church, he showed little inclination for its austerities, and was in fact a complete Pagan, though he obtained a canonry in the cathedral of his native place. Died at Rouen, 22 Oct. 1613.Reich(Eduard) Dr., German physician and anthropologist of Sclav descent on his father’s side, b. Olmütz, 6 March 1839. He studied at Jena and has travelled much, and published over thirty volumes besides editing theAthenæumof Jena ’75, andUniversitiesof Grossenbain, ’83. Of his works we mentionMan and the Soul, ’72;The Church of Humanity,’74;Life of Man as an Individual, ’81;History of the Soul, ’84;The Emancipation of Women,’84.Reil(Johann Christian), German physician, b. Rauden, East Friesland, 20 Feb. 1758. Intended for the Church, he took instead to medicine; after practising some years in his nativetown he went in 1787 to Halle, and in 1810 he was made Professor of Medicine at Berlin University. He wrote many medical works, and much advanced medical science, displacing the old ideas in a way which brought on him the accusation of pantheism. Attending a case of typhus fever at Halle he was attacked by the malady, and succumbed 22 Nov. 1813.Reimarus(Hermann Samuel), German philologist, b. Hamburg, 22 Dec. 1694. He was a son-in-law of J. A. Fabricus. Studied at Jena and Wittenberg; travelled in Holland and England; and was appointed rector of the gymnasium in Weimar, 1723, and in Hamburg, 1729. He was one of the most radical among German rationalists. He published a work onThe Principle Truths of Natural Religion, 1754, and left behind theWolfenbüttelFragments, published by Lessing in 1777. Died at Hamburg, 1 March, 1768. Strauss has written an account of his services, 1862.Reitzel(Robert), German American revolutionary, b. Baden, 1849. Named after Blum, studied theology, went to America, walked from New York to Baltimore, and was minister to an independent Protestant church. Studied biology and resigned as a minister, and became speaker of a Freethought congregation at Washington for seven years. Is now editor ofDer Arme Teufelof Detroit, and says he “shall be a poor man and a Revolutionaire all my life.”Remsburg(John E.), American lecturer and writer, b. 1848. Has written a series of pamphlets entitledThe Image Breaker, False Claims of the Christian Church, ’83,Sabbath Breaking, Thomas Paine, and a vigorous onslaught onBible Morals, instancing twenty crimes and vices sanctioned by scripture, ’85.Renan(Joseph Ernest), learned French writer, b. Tréguier (Brittany) 27 Feb. 1823. Was intended for the Church and went to Paris to study. He became noted for his linguistic attainment, but his studies and independence of thought did not accord with his intended profession. My faith, he says was destroyed not by metaphysics nor philosophy but by historical criticism. In ’45 he gave up all thoughts of an ecclesiastic career and became a teacher. In ’48 he gained the Volney prize, for a memoir on the Semitic Languages, afterwards amplified into a work on that subject. In ’52 he publishedhis work on Averroës and Averroïsm. In ’56 was elected member of the Academy of Inscriptions, and in ’60 sent on a mission to Syria; having in the meantime published a translation ofJobandSong of Songs. Here he wrote his long contemplatedVie de Jesus, ’63. In ’61 he had been appointed Professor of Hebrew in the Institute of France, but denounced by bishops and clergy he was deprived of his chair, which was, however, restored in ’70. The Pope did not disdain to attack him personally as a “French blasphemer.” TheVie de Jesusis part of a comprehensiveHistory of the Origin of Christianity, in 8 vols., ’63–83, which includesThe Apostles,St Paul,Anti-Christ,The Gospels,The Christian Church, andMarcus Aurelius, and the end of the Antique World. Among his other works we must mentionStudies on Religious History(’58),Philosophical Dialogues and Fragments(’76),Spinoza(’77),Caliban, a satirical drama (’80), the Hibbert Lecture on the Influence of Rome on Christians,Souvenirs, ’84;New Studies of Religious History,’84;The Abbess of Jouarre, a drama which made a great sensation in ’86; andThe History of the People of Israel, ’87–89.Renand(Paul), Belgian author of a work entitledNouvelle Symbolique, on the identity of Christianity and Paganism, published at Brussels in 1861.Rengart(Karl Fr.), of Berlin, b. 1803, democrat and freethought friend of C. Deubler. Died about 1879.Renard(Georges), French professor of the Academie of Lausanne; author ofMan, is he Free?1881, and aLife of Voltaire, ’83.Renouvier(Charles Bernard), French philosopher, b. Montpellier, 1815. An ardent Radical and follower of the critical philosophy. Among his works areManual of Ancient Philosophy(2 vols., ’44);Republican Manual, ’48;Essays of General Criticism, ’54;Science of Morals, ’69; a translation, made with F. Pillon, of Hume’sPsychology, ’78; andA Sketch of a Systematic Classification of Philosophical Doctrines, ’85.Renton(William), English writer, b. Edinburgh, 1852. Educated in Germany. Wrote poems entitledOil and Water Colors, and a work onThe Logic of Style, ’74. At Keswick he publishedJesus, a psychological estimate of that hero, ’76.Has since published a romance of the last generation calledBishopspool, ’83.Rethore(François), French professor of philosophy at the Lyceum of Marseilles, b. Amiens, 1822. Author of a work entitledCondillac, or Empiricism and Rationalism, ’64. Has translated H. Spencer’sClassification of Sciences.Reuschle(Karl Gustav), German geographer, b. Mehrstetten, 12 Dec. 1812. He wrote on Kepler and Astronomy, ’71, and Philosophy and Natural Science, ’74, dedicated to the memory of D. F. Strauss. Died at Stuttgart, 22 May, 1875.Revillon(Antoine, called Tony), French journalist and deputy, b. Saint-Laurent-les Mâcon (Ain), 29 Dec. 1832. At first a lawyer in ’57, he went to Paris, where he has written on many journals, and published many romances and brochures. In ’81 he was elected deputy.Rey(Marc Michel), printer and bookseller of Amsterdam. He printed all the works of d’Holbach and Rousseau and some of Voltaire’s, and conducted theJournal des Savans.Reynaud(Antoine Andre Louis),Baron, French mathematician, b. Paris, 12 Sept. 1777. In 1790 he became one of the National Guard of Paris. He was teacher and examiner for about thirty years in the Polytechnic School. A friend of Lalande. Died Paris, 24 Feb. 1844.Reynaud(Jean Ernest), French philosopher, b. Lyons, 14 Feb. 1806. For a time he was a Saint Simonian. In ’36 he edited with P. Leroux theEncyclopédie Nouvelle. He was a moderate Democrat in the Assembly of ’48. His chief work, entitledEarth and Heaven, ’54, had great success. It was formally condemned by a clerical council held at Périgueux. Died Paris, 28 June, 1863.Reynolds(Charles B.), American lecturer, b. 4 Aug. 1832. Was brought up religiously, and became a Seventh Day Baptist preacher, but was converted to Freethought. He was prosecuted for blasphemy at Morristown, New Jersey, May 19, 20, 1887, and was defended by Col. Ingersoll. The verdict was one of guilty, and the sentence was a paltry fine of 25 dollars. Has written in theBoston Investigator,Truthseeker, andIronclad Age.Reynolds(George William MacArthur), English writer; author of many novels. WroteErrors of the Christian Religion, 1832.Rialle(J.Girardde), French anthropologist, b. Paris 1841. He wrote inLa Pensée Nouvelle, conducted theRevue de Linguistique et de Philologie comparée, and has written onComparative Mythology,dealing with fetishism, etc., ’78, and works on Ethnology.Ribelt(Léonce), French publicist, b. Bordeaux 1824, author of several political works and collaborator onLa Morale Indépendante.Ribeyrolles(Charles de), French politician, b. near Martel (Lot) 1812. Intended for the Church, he became a social democrat; edited theEmancipationof Toulouse, andLa Réformein ’48. A friend of V. Hugo, he shared in his exile at Jersey. Died at Rio-Janeiro, 13 June, 1861.Ribot(Théodule), French philosopher, b. Guingamp (Côtes du-Nord) 1839; has writtenContemporary English Psychology’70, a resume of the views of Mill, Bain, and Spencer, whosePrinciples of Psychologyhe has translated. Has also written onHeredity, ’73;The Philosophy of Schopenhauer, ’74; The maladies of Memory, personality and Will, 3 vols.; and Contemporary German Psychology. He conducts theRevue Philosophique.Ricciardi(GiuseppeNapoleone), Count, Italian patriot, b. Capodimonte (Naples), 19 July, 1808, son of Francesco Ricciardi, Count of Camaldoli, 1758–1842. Early in life he published patriotic poems. He says that never after he was nineteen did he kneel before a priest. In ’32 he founded at NaplesIl Progresso, a review of science, literature, and art. Arrested in ’34 as a Republican conspirator, he was imprisoned eight months and then lived in exile in France until ’48. Here he wrote in theRevue Indépendante, pointing out that the Papacy from its very essence was incompatible with liberty. Elected deputy to the Neapolitan Parliament, he sat on the extreme left. He wrote aHistory of the Revolution of Italy in ’48(Paris ’49). Condemned to death in ’53, his fortune was seized. He wrote anItalian Martyrology from 1792–1847(Turin ’56), andThe Pope and Italy, ’62. At the time of theEcumenicalCouncil hecalled an Anti-council of Freethinkers at Naples, ’69. This was dissolved by the Italian government, but it led to the International Federation of Freethinkers. Count Ricciardi published an account of the congress. His last work was a life of his friend Mauro Macchi, ’82. Died 1884.Richepin(Jean), French poet, novelist, and dramatist, b. Médéah (Algeria) in 1849. He began life as a doctor, and during the Franco-German war took to journalism. In ’76 he published theSong of the Beggars, which was suppressed. In ’84 appearedLes Blasphèmes, which has gone through several editions.Richer(Léon), French Deist and journalist, b. Laigh, 1824. He was with A. Guéroult editor ofl’Opinion Nationale, and in ’69 founded and editsL’Avenir des Femmes. In ’68 he publishedLetters of a Freethinker to a Village Priest, and has written many volumes in favor of the emancipation of women, collaborating with Mdlle. Desraismes in the Women’s Rights congresses held in Paris.Rickman(Thomas Clio), English Radical. He published several volumes of poems and a life of his friend Thomas Paine, 1819, of whom he also published an excellent portrait painted by Romney and engraved by Sharpe.Riem(Andreas), German rationalist b. Frankenthal 1749. He became a preacher, and was appointed by Frederick the Great chaplain of a hospital at Berlin. This he quitted in order to become secretary of the Academy of Painting. He wrote anonymously on theAufklaring. Died 1807.Ritter(Charles), Swiss writer b. Geneva 1838, and has translated into French Strauss’s Essay of Religious History, George Eliot’sFragments and Thoughts, and Zeller’sChristian Baur and the Tübingen School.Roalfe(Matilda), a brave woman, b. 1813. At the time of the blasphemy prosecutions in 1843, she went from London to Edinburgh to uphold the right of free publication. She opened a shop and circulated a manifesto setting forth her determination to sell works she deemed useful “whether they did or did not bring into contempt the Holy Scriptures and the Christian Religion.” When prosecuted for sellingThe Age of Reason,TheOracle of Reason, etc., she expressed her intention of continuing her offence as soon as liberated. She was sentenced to two months imprisonment 23 Jan. ’44, and on her liberation continued the sale of the prosecuted works. She afterwards married Mr. Walter Sanderson and settled at Galashiels, where she died 29 Nov. 1880.Robert(Pierre François Joseph), French conventionnel and friend of Brissot and Danton, b. Gimnée (Ardennes) 21 Jan. 1763. Brought up to the law he became professor of public law to the philosophical society. He was nominated deputy for Paris, and wroteRepublicanism adapted to France, 1790, became secretary to Danton, and voted for the death of the king. He wrote in Prudhomme’sRévolutions de Paris. Died at Brussels 1826.Robertson(A. D.), editor of theFree Enquirer, published at New York, 1835.Robertson(John Mackinnon), Scotch critic, b. Arran, 14 Nov. 1856. He became journalist on theEdinburgh Evening News, and afterwards on theNational Reformer. Mr. Robertson has published a study of Walt Whitman in the “Round Table Series.”Essays towards a Critical Method, ’89, and has contributed toOur Corner,Time, notably an article on Mithraism, March, ’89,The Westminster Review, etc. He has also issued pamphlets onSocialism andMalthusianism, andToryism and Barbarism, ’85, and edited Hume’sEssay on Natural Religion, ’89.Roberty(Eugène de), French positivist writer, of Russian birth, b. Podolia (Russia), 1843; author of works on Sociology, Paris, ’81, andThe Old and the New Philosophy, an essay on the general laws of philosophic development, ’87. He has recently written a work entitledThe Unknowable, ’89.Robin(Charles Philippe), French physician, senator member of the Institute and of the Academy of Medecine, b. Jasseron (Aix), 4 June, 1821. Became M.D. in ’46, and D.Sc. ’47. In company with Littré he refounded Nysten’sDictionary of Medicine, and he has written many important medical works, and one onInstruction. In ’72 his name was struck out of the list of jurors on the ground of his unbelief in God, and it thus remained despite many protests until ’76. In the same yearhe was elected Senator, and sits with the Republican Left. He has been decorated with the Legion of Honor.Robinet(Jean Baptiste René), French philosopher, b. Rennes, 23 June, 1735. He became a Jesuit, but gave it up and went to Holland to publish his curious work,De la Nature, 1776, by some attributed to Toussaint and to Diderot. He continued Marsy’sAnalysis of Bayle, edited theSecret Lettersof Voltaire, translated Hume’sMoral Essays, and took part in theRecueil Philosophique, published by J. L. Castilhon. Died at Rennes, 24 March, 1820.Robinet(Jean Eugène François), French physician and publicist, b. Vic-sur-Seille, 1825. He early attached himself to the person and doctrine of Auguste Comte, and became his physician and one of his executors. During the war of ’70 he was made Mayor of the Sixth Arrondissement of Paris. He has written aNotice of the Work and Life of A. Comte, ’60, a memoir of the private life ofDanton, ’65,The Trial of the Dantonists, ’79, and contributed an account of thePositive Philosophy of A. Comte and P. Lafitteto the “BibliothèqueUtile,” vol. 66, ’81.Roell(Hermann Alexander), German theologian, b. 1653, author of a Deistic dissertation on natural religion, published at Frankfort in 1700. Died Amsterdam, 12 July, 1718.Rogeard(Louis Auguste), French publicist, b. Chartres, 25 April, 1820. Became a teacher but was dismissed for refusing to attend mass. In ’49 he moved to Paris and took part in the revolutionary movement. He was several times imprisoned under the Empire, and in ’65 was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for writingLes Propos de Labienus(London,i.e.Zürich), ’65. He fled to Belgium and wrote some excellent criticism on the Bible in theRive Gauche. In ’71 he assisted Pyat onLe Vengeur, and was elected on the Commune but declined to sit. An incisive writer, he signed himself “Atheist.” Is still living in Paris.Rokitansky(Karl), German physician and scientist, founder of theVienneseschool in medicine, b. Königgrätz (Bohemia) 11 Feb. 1804, studied medicine at Prague and Vienna, and received his degree of Doctor in ’28. His principal work is aManual of Practical Anatomy, ’42–6. Died Vienna, 23 July, 1878.Roland(Marie Jeanne),néePhlipon, French patriot, b. Paris, 17 March, 1754. Fond of reading,Plutarch’s Livesinfluenced her greatly. At a convent she noted the names of sceptics attached and read their writings, being, she says, in turn Jansenist, stoic, sceptic, atheist, and deist. The last she remained, though Miss Blind classes her with Agnostics. After her marriage in 1779 with Jean Marie Roland de la Platiêre (b. Lyons, 1732), Madame Roland shared the tasks and studies of her husband, and the Revolution found her an ardent consort. On the appointment of her husband to the ministry, she became the centre of a Girondist circle. Carlyle calls her “the creature of Simplicity and Nature, in an age of Artificiality, Pollution, and Cant,” and “the noblest of all living Frenchwomen.” On the fall of her party she was imprisoned, and finally executed, 8 Nov. 1793. Her husband, then in hiding, hearing of her death, deliberately stabbed himself, 15 Nov. 1793.
“Wit hath wonder, that reason cannot skan,How a Moder is Mayd, and God is Man.”His books were publicly burnt at Oxford. He died in 1460. His influence doubtless contributed to the Reformation.Pearson(Karl), author of a volume of essays entitledThe Ethic of Freethought, 1888. Educated at Cambridge; B.A. ’79, M.A. ’82.Pechmeja(Jean de), French writer. A friend of Raynal, he wrote a socialistic romance in 12 books in the style of Telemachus, called Télèphe, 1784. Died 1785.Peck(John), American writer in theTruthseeker. Has publishedMiracles and Miracle Workers, etc.Pecqueur(A.), contributor to theRationalisteof Geneva, 1864.Pelin(Gabriel), French author of works onSpiritism Explained and Destroyed, 1864, andGod or Science, ’67.Pelletan(Charles Camille), French journalist and deputy, son of the following; b. Paris, 23 June, 1846. Studied at the Lycée Louis le Grand. He wrote inLa Tribune Française, andLe Rappel, and since ’80 has conductedLa Justicewith his friend Clémenceau, of whom he has written a sketch.Pelletan(Pierre Clement Eugène), French writer, b. Saint-Palais-sur-Meir, 20 Oct. 1813. As a journalist he wrote inLa Presse, under the name of “Un Inconnu,” articles distinguished by their love of liberty and progress. He also contributed to theRevue des Deux Mondes. In ’52 he published hisProfession of Faith of the Nineteenth Century, and in ’57The Law of ProgressandThe Philosophical Kings. From ’53–’55 he opposed Napoleon in the Siècle, and afterwards establishedLa Tribune Française. In’63he was elected deputy, but his election being annulled, he was re-elected in ’64. He took distinguished rank among the democratic opposition. After the battle of Sedan he was made member of the Committee ofNational Defence, and in ’76 of the Senate, of which he became vice-president in ’79. In ’78 he wrote a study on Frederick the Great entitledUn Roi Philosophe, and in ’83Is God Dead?Died at Paris, 14 Dec. 1884.Pemberton(Charles Reece). English actor and author, b. Pontypool, S. Wales, 23 Jan. 1790. He travelled over most of the world and wroteThe Autobiography of Pel Verjuice, which with other remains was published in 1843. Died 3 March, 1840.Pennetier(Georges), Dr., b. Rouen, 1836, Director of the Museum of Natural History at Rouen. Author of a work on theOriginof Life, ’68, in which he contends for spontaneous generation. To this work F. A. Pouchet contributed a preface.Perfitt(Philip William), Theist, b. 1820, edited thePathfinder, ’59–61. Preached at South Place Chapel. WroteLife and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, ’61.Periers(Bonaventure des). SeeDesperiers.Perot(Jean Marie Albert), French banker, author of a work onMan and God, which has been translated into English, 1881, andMoral and Philosophical Allegories(Paris, 1883).Perrier(Edmond), French zoologist, Curator at Museum of Natural History, Paris, b. Tulle, 1844. Author of numerous works on Natural History, and one onTransformisme, ’88.Perrin(Raymond S.), American author of a bulky work onThe Religion of Philosophy, or the Unification of Knowledge: a comparison of the chief philosophical and religious systems of the world, 1885.Perry(Thomas Ryley), one of Carlile’s shopmen, sentenced 1824 to three years’ imprisonment in Newgate for selling Palmer’sPrinciples of Nature. He became a chemist at Leicester and in 1844 petitioned Parliament for the prisoners for blasphemy, Paterson and Roalfe, stating that his own imprisonment had not fulfilled the judge’s hope of his recantation.Petit(Claude), French poet, burnt on the Place de Grève in 1665 as the author of some impious pieces.Petronius, called Arbiter (Titus), Roman Epicurean poet at the Court of Nero, in order to avoid whose resentment he opened his veins and bled to death inA.D.66, conversing meanwhilewith his friends on the gossip of the day. To him we owe the lines on superstition, beginning “Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor.” Petronius is famous for his “pure Latinity.” He is as plain-spoken as Juvenal, and with the same excuse, his romance being a satire on Nero and his court.Petruccelli della Gattina(Ferdinando) Italian writer, b. Naples, 1816, has travelled much and written many works. He was deputy to the Naples Parliament in ’48, and exiled after the reaction.Petrus de Abano.A learned Italian physician, b. Abano 1250. He studied at Paris and became professor of medicine at Padua. He wrote many works and had a great reputation. He is said to have denied the existence of spirits, and to have ascribed all miracles to natural causes. Cited before the Inquisition in 1306 as a heretic, a magician and an Atheist, he ably defended himself and was acquitted. He was accused a second time but dying (1320) while the trial was preparing, he was condemned after death, his body disinterred and burnt, and he was also burnt in effigy in the public square of Padua.Peypers(H. F. A.), Dutch writer, b. DeRijp, 2 Jan. 1856, studied medicine, and is now M.D. at Amsterdam. He is a man of erudition and good natured though satirical turn of mind. He has contributed much toDe Dageraad, and is at present one of the five editors of that Freethought monthly.Peyrard(François), French mathematician, b. Vial (Haute Loire) 1760. A warm partisan of the revolution, he was one of those who (7 Nov. 1793) incited Bishop Gobel to abjure his religion. An intimate friend of Sylvian Maréchal, Peyrard furnished him with notes for hisDictionnaire des Athées. He wrote a work onNature and its Laws, 1793–4, and proposed the piercing of the Isthmus of Suez. He translated the works of Euclid and Archimedes. Died at Paris 3 Oct. 1822.Peyrat(Alphonse), French writer, b. Toulouse, 21 June, 1812. He wrote in theNationalandla Presse, and combated against the Second Empire. In ’65 he foundedl’Avenir National, which was several times condemned. In Feb. ’71, he was elected deputy of the Seine, and proposed the proclamation of the Republic. In ’76 he was chosen senator.He wrote a History of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, ’55;History and Religion, ’58;Historical and Religious Studies, ’58; and an able and scholarlyElementary and Critical History of Jesus, ’64.Peyrere(Isaac de la), French writer, b. Bordeaux, 1594, and brought up as a Protestant. He entered into the service of the house of Condé, and became intimate with La Mothe de Vayer and Gassendi. His work entitledPræadamitæ, 1653, in which he maintained that men lived before Adam, made a great sensation, and was burnt by the hangman at Paris. The bishop of Namur censured it, and la Peyrère was arrested at Brussels, 1656, by order of the Archbishop of Malines, but escaped by favor of the Prince of Condé on condition of retracting his book at Rome. The following epitaph was nevertheless made on him:La Peyrere ici gît, ce bon Israelite,Hugenot, Catholique, enfin Pre-adamite:Quatre religions lui plurent à la fois:Et son indifférence était si peu communeQu’après 80 ans qu’il eut à faire un choixLe bon homme partit, et n’en choisit pas une.Died near Paris, 30 Jan. 1676.Pfeiff(Johan Gustaf Viktor), Swedish baron, b. Upland, 1829. Editor of the free religious periodical,The Truthseeker, since 1882. He has also translated into Swedish some of the writings of Herbert Spencer.Pharmacopulo(A.P.) Greek translator of Büchner’sForce and Matter, and corresponding member of the International Federation of Freethinkers.Phillips(Sir Richard), industrious English writer, b. London, 1767. He was hosier, bookseller, printer, publisher, republican, Sheriff of London (1807–8), and Knight. He compiled many schoolbooks, chiefly under pseudonyms, of which the most popular were the Rev. J. Goldsmith and Rev. D. Blair. His own opinions are seen most in hisMillion of Facts. Died at Brighton 2 April, 1840.Phillippo(William Skinner), farmer, of Wood Norton, near Thetford, Norfolk. A deist who wrote anEssay on Political and Religious Meditations, 1868.Pi-y Margall(Francisco), Spanish philosopher and Republican statesman, b. Barcelona, 1820. The first book he learnt to read was theRuinsof Volney. Studied law and became an advocate. He has written many political works, and translated Proudhon, for whom he has much admiration, into Spanish. He has also introduced the writings and philosophy of Comte into his own country. He was associated with Castelar and Figueras in the attempt to establish a Spanish Republic, being Minister of the Interior, and afterwards President in 1873.Pichard(Prosper). French Positivist, author ofDoctrine of Reality, “a catechism for the use of people who do not pay themselves with words,” to which Littré wrote a preface, 1873.Pierson(Allard). Dutch rationalist critic, b. Amsterdam 8 April, 1831. Educated in theology, he was minister to the Evangelical congregation at Leuven, afterwards at Rotterdam and finally professor at Heidelberg. He resigned his connection with the Church in ’64. He has written many works of theological and literary value of which we mention hisPoems’82,New Studies on Calvin, ’83, andVerisimilia, written in conjunction with S. A. Naber, ’86.Pigault-Lebrun(Guillaume Charles Antoine), witty French author, b. Calais, 8 April, 1753. He studied under the Oratorians of Boulogne. He wrote numerous comedies and romances, andLe Citateur, 1803, a collection of objections to Christianity, borrowed in part from Voltaire, whose spirit he largely shared. In 1811 Napoleon threatened the priests he would issue this work wholesale. It was suppressed under the Restoration, but has been frequently reprinted. Pigault-Lebrunbecame secretary to King Jerome Napoleon, and died at La Celle-Saint-Cloud, 24 July, 1835.Pike(J. W.) American lecturer, b. Concord (Ohio), 27 June, 1826, wroteMy Religious ExperienceandWhat I found in the Bible, 1867.Pillsbury(Parker), American reformer, b. Hamilton, Mass., 22 Sep. 1809. Was employed in farm work till ’35, when he entered Gilmerton theological seminary. He graduated in ’38,studied a year at Andover, was congregational minister for oneyear, and then, perceiving the churches were the bulwark of slavery, abandoned the ministry. He became an abolitionist lecturer, edited theHerald of Freedom,National Anti-Slavery Standard, and theRevolution. He also preached for free religious societies, wrotePious Frauds, and contributed to theBoston InvestigatorandFreethinkers’ Magazine. His principal work isActs of the Anti-Slavery Apostles, 1883.Piron(Alexis), French comic poet, b. Dijon, 9 July, 1689. His pieces were full of wit and gaiety, and many anecdotes are told of his profanity. Among his sallies was his reply to a reproof for being drunk on Good Friday, that failing must be excused on a day when even deity succumbed. Being blind in his old age he affected piety. Worried by his confessor about a Bible in the margin of which he had written parodies and epigrams as the best commentary, he threw the whole book in the fire. Asked on his death-bed if he believed in God he answered “Parbleu, I believe even in the Virgin.” Died at Paris, 21 Jan. 1773.Pisarev(Dmitri Ivanovich) Russian critic, journalist, and materialist, b. 1840. He first became known by his criticism on the Scholastics of the nineteenth century. Died Baden, near Riga, July 1868. His works are published in ten vols. Petersburg, 1870.Pitt(William). Earl of Chatham, an illustrious English statesman and orator, b. Boconnoc, Cornwall, 15 Nov.1708. The services to his country of “the Great Commoner,” as he was called, are well known, but it is not so generally recognised that hisLetter on Superstition, first printed in theLondon Journalin 1733, entitles him to be ranked with the Deists. He says that “the more superstitious people are, always the more vicious; and the more theybelieve, the less they practice.” Atheism furnishes no man with arguments to be vicious; but superstition, or what the world made by religion, is the greatest possible encouragement to vice, by setting up something as religion, which shall atone and commute for the want of virtue. This remarkable letter ends with the words “Remember that the only true divinity is humanity.”Place(Francis), English Radical reformer and tailor; b. 1779 at Charing Cross. He early became a member of the London,Corresponding Society. He wrote to Carlile’sRepublicanandLion. A friend of T. Hardy, H. Tooke, James Mill, Bentham, Roebuck, Hetherington, and Hibbert (who puts him in his list of English Freethinkers). He was connected with all the advanced movements of his time and has left many manuscripts illustrating the politics of that period, which are now in the British Museum. He always professed to be an Atheist—seeReasoner, 26 March, ’54. Died at Kensington, 1 Jan. 1854.Platt(James), F.S.S., a woolen merchant and Deistic author of popular works onBusiness, ’75;Morality, ’78;Progress, ’80;Life, ’81;God and Mammon, etc.Pliny(Caius Plinius Secundus), the elder, Roman naturalist, b. Verona,A.D.22. He distinguished himself in the army, was admitted into the college of Augurs, appointed procurator in Spain, and honored with the esteem of Vespasian and Titus. He wrote the history of his own time in 31 books, now lost, and aNaturalHistoryin 37 books, one of the most precious monuments of antiquity, in which his Epicurean Atheism appears. Being with the fleet at Misenum, 24 Aug.A.D.79, he observed theeruptionof Mount Vesuvius, and landing to assist the inhabitants was himself suffocated by the noxious vapors.Plumacher(Olga), German pessimist, follower of Hartmann, and authoress of a work onPessimism in the Past and Future, Heidelberg, 1884. She has also defended her views inMind.Plumer(William) American senator, b. Newburyport, Mass. 25 June, 1759. In 1780 he became a Baptist preacher, but resigned on account of scepticism. He remained a deist. He served in the Legislature eight terms, during two of which he was Speaker. He was governor of New Hampshire, 1812–18, wrote to the press over the signature “Cincinnatus,” and published anAddress to the Clergy, ’14. He lived till 22 June, 1850.Plutarch. Greek philosopher and historian, b. Cheronæa in Bœtia, aboutA.D.50. He visited Delphi and Rome, where he lived in the reign of Trajan. HisParallel Livesof forty-six Greeks and Romans have made him immortal. He wrote numerous other anecdotal and ethical works, including atreatise on Superstition. He condemned the vulgar notions of Deity, and remarked, in connection with the deeds popularly ascribed to the gods, that he would rather men said there was no Plutarch than traduce his character. In other words, superstition is more impious than Atheism. Died aboutA.D.120.Poe(Edgar Allan), American poet, grandson of General Poe, who figured in the war of independence, b. Boston, 19 Jan. 1809. His mother was an actress. Early left an orphan. After publishingTamerlane and other Poems, ’27, he enlisted in the United States Army, but was cashiered in ’31. He then took to literary employment in Baltimore and wrote many stories, collected as theTales of Mystery, Imagination, and Humor. In ’45 appearedThe Raven and other Poems, which proved him the most musical and dextrous of American poets. In ’48 he publishedEureka, a Prose Poem, which, though comparatively little known, he esteemed his greatest work. It indicates pantheistic views of the universe. His personal appearance was striking and one of his portraits is not unlike that of James Thomson. Died in Baltimore, 7 Oct. 1849.Poey(Andrés), Cuban meteorologist and Positivist of French and Spanish descent, b. Havana, 1826. Wrote in theModern Thinker, and is author of many scientific memoirs and a popular exposition of Positivism (Paris, 1876), in which he has a chapter on Darwinism and Comtism.Pompery(Edouard), French publicist, b. Courcelles, 1812. A follower of Fourier, he has written on Blanquism and opportunism, ’79, and a Life of Voltaire, ’80.Pomponazzi(Pietro) [Lat. Pomponatius], Italian philosopher, b. Mantua, of noble family, 16 Sept. 1462. He studied at Padua, where he graduated 1487 as laureate of medicine. Next year he was appointed professor of philosophy at Padua, teaching in concurrence with Achillini. He afterwards taught the doctrines of Aristotle at Ferrara and Bologna. His treatiseDe Immortalitate Animæ, 1516, gave great offence by denying the philosophical foundation of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. The work was burnt by the hangman at Venice, and it is said Cardinal Bembo’s intercession with Pope Leo X. only saved Pomponazzi from ecclesiastical procedure.Among his works is a treatise on Fate, Free Will, etc. Pomponazzi was a diminutive man, and was nicknamed “Peretto.” He held that doubt was necessary for the development of knowledge, and left an unsullied reputation for upright conduct and sweet temper. Died at Bologna, 18 May, 1525, and was buried at Mantua, where a monument was erected to his memory.Ponnat(de),Baron, French writer, b. about 1810. Educated by Jesuits, he became a thorough Freethinker and democrat and a friend of A. S. Morin, with whom he collaborated on theRationalisteof Geneva. He wrote many notable articles inLa Libre Pensée,Le Critique, andLe Candide, for writing in which last he was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment. He published, under the anagram of De Pontan,The Cross or Death, a discourse to the bishops who assisted at the Ecumenical Council at Rome (Brussels, ’62). His principal work is a history of the variations and contradictions of the Roman Church (Paris, ’82). Died in 1884.Porphyry(Πορφύριος), Greek philosoper of the New Platonic school, b. Sinia, 233A.D.His original name wasMalchusorMelech—a “King.” He was a pupil of Longinus and perhaps of Origen. Some have supposed that he was of Jewish faith, and first embraced and then afterwards rejected Christianity. It is certain he was a man of learning and intelligence; the friend as well as the disciple of Plotinus. He wrote (in Greek) a famous work in fifteen books against the Christians, some fragments of which alone remain in the writings of his opponents. It is certain he showed acquaintance with the Jewish and Christian writings, exposed their contradictions, pointed out the dispute between Peter and Paul, and referred Daniel to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. He wrote many other works, among which are lives of Plotinus and Pythagorus. Died at Rome about 305.Porzio(Simone), a disciple of Pomponazzi, to whom, when lecturing at Pisa, the students cried “What of the soul?” He frankly professed his belief that the human soul differed in no essential point from the soul of a lion or plant, and that those who thought otherwise were prompted by pity for our mean estate. These assertions are in his treatiseDe Mente Humanâ.“Posos(Juan de),” an undiscovered author using this pen-name, expressed atheistic opinions in a book of imaginary travels, published in Dutch at Amsterdam in 1708, and translated into German at Leipsic, 1721.Post(Amy), American reformer, b. 1803. From ’28 she was a leading advocate of slavery abolition, temperance, woman’s suffrage and religious reform. Died Rochester, New York, 29 Jan. 1889.Potter(Agathon Louis de).SeeDe Potter (A. L.)Potter(Louis Antoine Joseph de). SeeDe Potter (L. A. J.)Potvin(Charles), Belgian writer b. Mons. 2 Dec. 1818, is member of the Royal Academy of Letters, and professor of the history of literature at Brussels. He wrote anonymouslyPoesie et Amour’58, andRome and the Family. Under the name of “Dom Jacobus” he has written an able work in two volumes onThe Church and Morality, and alsoTablets of a Freethinker. He was president of “La Libre Pensée” of Brussels from ’78 to ’83, is director of theRevue de Belgiqueand has collaborated on theNationaland other papers.Pouchet(Felix Archimède), French naturalist, b. Rouen 26 Aug. 1800. Studied medicine under Dr. Flaubert, father of the author ofMme. Bovary, and became doctor in ’27. He was made professor of natural history at the Museum of Rouen, and by his experiments enriched science with many discoveries. He defended spontaneous generation and wrote many monographs and books of which the principal is entitledThe Universe, ’65. Died at Rouen, 6 Dec. 1872.Pouchet(Henri Charles George), French naturalist, son of the proceeding, b. Rouen, 1833, made M.D. in ’64, and in ’79 professor of comparative anatomy in the museum of Natural History at Paris. In ’80 he was decorated with the Legion of Honor. He has written onThe Plurality of the Human Race, ’58, and collaborated on theSiècle, and theRevue des Deux Mondesand tola Philosophie Positive.Pouchkine(A.), seePushkin.Pougens(Marie Charles Joseph de), French author, a natural son of the Prince de Conti, b. Paris, 15 Aug. 1755. About the age of 24 he was blinded by small pox. He became an intimatefriend of the philosophers, and, sharing their views, embraced the revolution with ardor, though it ruined his fortunes. He wrotePhilosophical Researches, 1786, edited the posthumous works of D’Alembert, 1799, and worked at a dictionary of the French language. HisJocko, a tale of a monkey, exhibits his keen sympathy with animal intelligence, and in hisPhilosophical Letters, 1826, he gives anecdotes of Voltaire, Rousseau, D’Alembert, Pechmeja, Franklin, etc. Died at Vauxbuin, near Soissons, 19 Dec. 1833.Poulin(Paul), Belgian follower of Baron Colins and author ofWhat is God? What is Man?a scientific solution of the religious problem (Brussels, 1865), and re-issued asGod According to Science, ’75, in which he maintains that man and God exclude each other, and that the only divinity is moral harmony.Poultier D’Elmolte(François Martin), b. Montreuil-sur-Mer, 31 Oct. 1753. Became a Benedictine monk, but cast aside his frock at the Revolution, married, and became chief of a battalion of volunteers. Elected to the Convention he voted for the death of the King. He conducted the journal,L’Ami des lois, and became one of the Council of Ancients. Exiled in 1816, he died at Tournay in Belgium, 16 Feb. 1827. He wroteMorceaux Philosophiquesin theJournal Encyclopédique;Victoire, or the Confessions of a Benedictine;Discours Décadaires, for the use of Theophilantropists, andConjectures on the Nature and Origin of Things, Tournay, 1821.Powell(B. F.), compiler of theBible of Reason, or Scriptures of Ancient Moralists; published by Hetherington in 1837.Prades(Jean Martin de), French theologian b. Castel-Sarrasin, about 1720. Brought up for the church, he nevertheless became intimate with Diderot and contributed the articleCertitudeto the Encyclopédie. On the 18th Nov. 1751 he presented to the Sorbonne a thesis for the doctorate, remarkable as the first open attack on Christianity by a French theologian. He maintained many propositions on the soul, the origin of society, the laws of Moses, miracles, etc., contrary to the dogmas of the Church, and compared the cures recorded in the Gospels to those attributed to Esculapius. The thesis made a great scandal. His opinions were condemned by PopeBenedict XIV., and he fled to Holland for safety. Recommended to Frederick the Great by d’Alembert he was received with favor at Berlin, and became reader to that monarch, who wrote a very anti-Christian preface to de Prades’ work on ecclesiastical history, published asAbrége de l’Histoire ecclesiastique de Fleury, Berne (Berlin) 1766. He retired to a benefice at Glogau (Silesia), given him by Frederick, and died there in 1782.Prater(Horatio), a gentleman of some fortune who devoted himself to the propagation of Freethought ideas. Born early in the century, he wrote on thePhysiology of the Blood, 1832. He publishedLetters to the American People, andLiterary Essays, ’56. Died 20 July, 1885. He left the bulk of his money to benevolent objects, and ordered a deep wound to be made in his arm to insure that he was dead.Preda(Pietro), Italian writer of Milan, author of a work onRevelation and Reason, published at Geneva, 1865, under the pseudonym of “Padre Pietro.”Premontval(Andre Pierre Le Guay de), French writer, b. Charenton, 16 Feb. 1716. At nineteen years of age, while in the college of Plessis Sorbonne, he composed a work against the dogma of the Eucharist. He studied mathematics and became member of the Academy of Sciences at Berlin. He wroteLe Diogene de D’Alembert, or Freethoughts on Man, 1754,Panangiana Panurgica, or the false Evangelist, andVues Philosophiques, Amst., 2 vols., 1757. He also wroteDe la Théologie de L’Etre, in which he denies many of the ordinary proofs of the existence of a God. Died Berlin, 1767.Priestley(Joseph), LL.D., English philosopher, b. Fieldhead, near Leeds, 18 March, 1733. Brought up as a Calvinist, he found his way to broad Unitarianism. Famous as a pneumatic chemist, he defended the doctrine of philosophical necessity, and in a dissertation annexed to his edition of Hartley expressed doubts of the immateriality of the sentient principal in man. This doctrine he forcibly supported in hisDisquisitions on Matter and Spirit, 1777. Through the obloquy these works produced, he lost his position as librarian to Lord Shelburne. He then removed to Birmingham, and became minister of an independent Unitarian congregation, and occupied himself on hisHistory of the Corruptions of ChristianityandHistory of the Early Opinions Concerning Jesus Christ, which involved him in controversy with Bishop Horsley and others. In consequence of his sympathy with the French Revolution, his house was burnt and sacked in a riot, 14 July, 1791. After this he removed to Hackney, and was finally goaded to seek an asylum in the United States, which he reached in 1794. Even in America he endured some uneasiness on account of his opinions until Jefferson became president. Died 6 Feb. 1804.Pringle(Allen), Canadian Freethinker, author ofIngersoll in Canada, 1880.Proctor(Richard Anthony), English astronomer, b. Chelsea, 23 March, 1837. Educated at King’s College, London, and at St. John’s, Cambridge, where he became B.A. in ’60. In ’66 he became Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, of which he afterwards became hon. sec. He maintained in ’69 the since-established theory of the solar corona. He wrote, lectured, and edited, far and wide, and left nearly fifty volumes, chiefly popularising science. Attracted by Newman, he was for a while a Catholic, but thought out the question of Catholicism and science, and in a letter to theNew York Tribune, Nov. ’75, formally renounced that religion as irreconcilable with scientific facts. His remarks on the so-called Star of Bethlehem inThe Universe of Suns, and other Science Gleanings, and his Sunday lectures, indicated his heresy. In ’81 he startedKnowledge, in which appeared many valuable papers, notably one (Jan. ’87), “The Beginning of Christianity.” He entirely rejected the miraculous elements of the gospels, which he considered largely arechaufféof solar myths. In other articles in theFreethinkers’ Magazineand theOpen Courthe pointed out the coincidence between the Christian stories and solar myths, and also with stories found in Josephus. The very last article he published before his untimely death was a vindication of Colonel Ingersoll in his controversy with Gladstone in theNorth American Review. In ’84 he settled at St. Josephs, Mobille, where he contracted yellow fever and died at New York, 12 Sep. 1888.Proudhon(Pierre Joseph), French anarchist and political thinker, b. Besançon, 15 Jan. 1809. Self-educated he became aprinter, and won a prize of 1,500 francs for the person “best fitted for a literary or scientific career.” In ’40 appears his memoir, What is Property? in which he made the celebrated answer “C’est le vol.” In ’43 theCreation of Order in Humanityappeared, treating of religion, philosophy and logic. In ’46 he published hisSystem of Economical Contradictions, in which appeared his famous aphorism, “Dieu, c’est le mal.” In ’48 he introduced his scheme of the organisation of credit in a Bank of the People, which failed, though Proudhon saw that no one lost anything. He attacked Louis Bonaparte when President, and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 francs. On 2 Jan. ’50 he married by private contract while in prison. For his work onJustice in the Revolution and in the Churchhe was condemned to three years’ imprisonment and 4,000 francs fine in ’58. He took refuge in Belgium and returned in ’63. Died at Passy, 19 Jan. 1865. Among his posthumous works wasThe Gospels Annotated, ’66. Proudhon was a bold and profound thinker of noble aspirations, but he lacked the sense of art and practicability. His complete works have been published in 26 vols.Protagoras, Greek philosopher, b. Abdera, about 480B.C.Is said to have been a disciple of Democritus, and to have been a porter before he studied philosophy. He was the first to call himself a sophist. He wrote in a book on the gods, “Respecting the gods, I am unable to know whether they exist or do not exist.” For this he was impeached and banished, and his book burnt. He went to Epirus and the Greek Islands, and died about 411. He believed all things were in flux, and summed up his conclusions in the proposition that “man is the measure of all things, both of that which exists and that which does not exist.” Grote, who defends the Sophists, says his philosophy “had the merit of bringing into forcible relief the essentially relative nature of cognition.”Prudhomme(Sully). SeeSully Prudhomme.Pückler Muskau(Hermann Ludwig Heinrich), Prince, a German writer, b. Muskau, 30 Oct. 1785. He travelled widely and wrote his observations in a work entitledLetters of a Defunct, 1830; this was followed byTutti Frutti, ’32;Semilasso in Africa, ’36, and other works. Died 4 Feb. 1871.Pushkin(Aleksandr Sergyeevich), eminent Russian poet, often called the Russian Byron, b. Pskow, 26 May, 1799. From youth he was remarkable for his turbulent spirit, and his first work, which circulated only in manuscript, was founded on Parny’sGuerre des Dieux, and entitled the Gabrielade, the archangel being the hero. He was exiled by the Emperor, but, inspired largely by reading Voltaire and Byron, put forward numerous poems and romances, of which the most popular is Eugene Onéguine, an imitation of Don Juan. He also wrote some histories and founded theSovremennik(Contemporary), 1836. In Jan. 1837 he was mortally wounded in a duel.Putnam(Samuel P.), American writer and lecturer, brought up as a minister. He left that profession for Freethought, and became secretary to the American Secular Union, of which he was elected president in Oct. 1887. In ’88 he startedFreethoughtat San Francisco in company with G. Macdonald. Has written poems,Prometheus,Ingersoll and Jesus,Adami and Heva; romances entitledGolden Throne,Waifs and Wanderings, andGottlieb, and pamphlets on theProblem of the Universe,The New God, andThe Glory of Infidelity.Putsage(Jules), Belgian follower of Baron Colins, founder of the Colins Philosophical Society at Mons; has written onDeterminism and Rational Science, Brussels 1885, besides many essays inLa Philosophie de L’Avenirof Paris andLa Societe Nouvelleof Brussels.Pyat(Felix) French socialist, writer and orator, b. Vierzon, 4 Oct. 1810. His father was religious and sent him to a Jesuit college at Bourges, but he here secretly read the writings of Beranger and Courier. He studied law, but abandoned it for literature, writing in many papers. He also wrote popular dramas, asThe Rag-picker of Paris, ’47. After ’52 he lived in England, where he wrote an apology for the attempt of Orsini, published by Truelove, ’58. In ’71 he founded the journalle Combat. Elected to the National Assembly he protested against the treaty of peace, was named member of the Commune and condemned to death in ’73. He returned to France after the armistice, and has sat as deputy for Marseilles. Died, Saint Gerainte near Nice, 3 Aug. 1889.Pyrrho(Πύρρων). Greek philosopher, a native of Elis, inPeloponesus, founder of a sceptical school about the time of Epicurus; is said to have been attracted to philosophy by the books of Democritus. He attached himself to Anaxarchus, and joined her in the expedition of Alexander the Great, and became acquainted with the philosophy of the Magi and the Indian Gymnosophists. He taught the wisdom of doubt, the uncertainty of all things, and the rejection of speculation. His disciples extolled his equanimity and independence of externals. It is related that he kept house with his sister, and shared with her in all domestic duties. He reached the age of ninety years, and after his death the Athenians honored him with a statue. He left no writings, but the tenets of his school, which were much misrepresented, may be gathered from Sextus and Empiricus.Quental.SeeAnthero de Quental.“Quepat(Nérée.”) SeePaquet (René).Quesnay(François), French economist, b. Mérey, 4 June 1694. Self educated he became a physician, but is chiefly noted for hisTableau Economique, 1708, and his doctrine ofLaissez Faire. He derived moral and social rules from physical laws. Died Versailles, 16 Dec. 1774.Quinet(Edgar), French writer, b. Bourgen Bresse, 17 Feb. 1803. He attracted the notice of Cousin by a translation of Herder’sThe Philosophy of History. With his friend Michelet he made many attacks on Catholicism, theJesuitsbeing their joint work. He fought in the Revolution of ’48, and opposed the Second Empire. His work onThe Genius of Religion, ’42, is profound, though mystical, and his historical work onThe Revolution, ’65 is a masterpiece. Died at Versailles, 27 March, 1875.Quintin(Jean), Heretic of Picardy, and alleged founder of the Libertines. He is said to have preached in Holland and Brabant in 1525, that religion was a human invention. Quintin was arrested and burnt at Tournay in 1530.Quris(Charles), French advocate of Angers, who has published some works on law andLa Défense Catholique et la Critique, Paris, 1864.Rabelais(François), famous and witty French satirist and philosopher, b. Chinon, Touraine, 7 Jan. 1495. At an earlyage he joined the order of Franciscans, but finding monastic life incompatible with his genial temper, quitted the convent without the leave of his superior. He studied medicine at Montpelier about 1530, after which he practised at Lyons. His great humorous work, published anonymously in 1535, was denounced as heretical by the clergy for its satires, not only on their order but their creed. The author was protected by Francis I. and was appointed curé of Meudon. Died at Paris, 9 April, 1553. His writings show surprising fertility of mind, and Coleridge says, “Beyond a doubt he was among the deepest as well as boldest thinkers of his age.”Radenhausen(Christian), German philosopher, b. Friedrichstadt, 3 Dec. 1813. At first a merchant and then a lithographer, he resided at Hamburg, where he publishedIsis, Mankind and the World (4 vols.), ’70–72;Osiris, ’74;The New Faith, ’77;Christianity is Heathenism, ’81;The True Bible and the False, ’87;Esther, ’87.Radicati(Alberto di),Count. SeePasserano.Ragon(Jean Marie de), French Freemason, b. Bray-sur-Seine, 1781. By profession a civil engineer at Nancy, afterwards Chief of Bureau to the Minister of the Interior. Author of many works on Freemasonry, andThe Mass and its Mysteries Compared with the Ancient Mysteries, 1844. Died at Paris, 1862.Ram(Joachim Gerhard), Holstein philosopher of the seventeenth century, who was accused of Atheism.Ramaer(Anton Gerard Willem), Dutch writer b. Jever, East Friesland, 2 Aug. 1812. From ’29 he served as officer in the Dutch army. He afterwards became a tax collector, and in ’60 was pensioned. He wrote on Schopenhauer and other able works, and also contributed largely toDe Dageraad, often under the pseudonym of “Laçhmé.” He had a noble mind and sacrificed much for his friends and the good cause. Died 16 Feb. 1867.Ramee(Louise de la), English novelist, b., of French extraction, Bury St. Edmunds, 1840. Under the name of “Ouida,” a little sister’s mispronunciation of Louisa, she has published many popular novels, exhibiting her free and pessimistic opinions. We mentionTricotin,Folle Farine,Signa,MothsandA Village Commune. She has lived much in Italy, where the scenes of several novels are placed.Ramee(Pierre de la) called Ramus, French humanist, b. Cuth (Vermandois) 1515. He attacked the doctrines of Aristotle, was accused of impiety, and his work suppressed 1543. He lost his life in the massacre of St. Bartholomew, 26 Aug. 1572.Ramsey(William James), b. London, 8 June, 1844. Becoming a Freethinker early in life, he for some time sold literature at the Hall of Science and became manager of the Freethought Publishing Co. Starting in business for himself he published theFreethinker, for which in ’82 he was prosecuted with Mr. Foote and Mr. Kemp. Tried in March ’83, after a good defence, he was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment, and on Mr. Foote’s release acted as printer of the paper.Ranc(Arthur), French writer and deputy, b. Poitiers, 10 Dec. 1831, and was brought up a Freethinker and Republican by his parents. He took the prize for philosophy at the College of Poitiers, and studied law at Paris. He conspired with C. Delescluze against the Second Empire and was imprisoned, but escaped to Geneva. He collaborated onLa Marseillaise, was elected on the Municipal Council of Paris in ’71, and Deputy, ’73. Has writtenUnder the Empireand many other political works.Randello(Cosimo),Italianauthor ofThe Simple Story of a Great Fraud, being a criticism of the origin of Christianity, directed against Pauline theology, published at Milan, 1882.Rapisardi(Mario), Italian poet, b. Catania, Sicily, 1843. Has translated Lucretius, ’80, and published poems onLucifer, andThe Last Prayer of Pius IX., ’71, etc.Raspail(François Vincent), French chemist and politician b. Carpentras 24 Jan. 1794, was brought up by ecclesiastics and intended for the Church. He became, while quite young, professor of philosophy at the theological seminary of Avignon but an examination of theological dogmas led to their rejection. He went to Paris, and from 1815–24 gave lessons, and afterwards became a scientific lecturer. He took part in the Revolution of ’30. Louis Philippe offered him the Legion of Honor but he refused. Taking part in all the revolutionary outbreakshe was frequently imprisoned. Elected to the chamber in ’69 and sat on the extreme left. Died at Arcueil 6 Jan. 1878.Rau(Herbert), German rationalist b. Frankfort 11 Feb. 1813. He studied theology and became preacher to free congregations in Stuttgart and Mannheim. He wroteGospel of Nature,A Catechism of the Religion of the Future, and other works. Died Frankfort 26 Sept. 1876.Rawson(Albert Leighton) LL.D. American traveller and author, b. Chester, Vermont 15 Oct. 1829. After studying law, theology, and art, he made four visits to the East, and made in ’51–2 a pilgrimage from Cairo to Mecca, disguised as a Mohammedan student of medicine. He has published many maps and typographical and philological works, and illustrated Beecher’sLife of Jesus. Has also written on theAntiquities of the Orient, New York, ’70, and Chorography of Palestine, London, ’80. Has written in theFreethinkers’ Magazine, maintaining that the Bible account of the twelve tribes of Israel is non-historical.Raynal(Guillaume Thomas François)l’abbé, French historian and philosopher, b. Saint Geniez, 12 April, 1713. He was brought up as a priest but renounced that profession soon after his removal to Paris, 1747, where he became intimate with Helvetius, Holbach, etc. With the assistance of these, and Diderot, Pechmeja, etc., he compiled a philosophical History of European establishments in the two Indies (4 vols. 1770 and 1780), a work full of reflections on the religious and political institutions of France. It made a great outcry, was censured by the Sorbonne, and was burnt by order of Parliament 29 May, 1781. Raynal escaped and passed about six years in exile. Died near Paris, 6 March, 1796.Reade(William Winwood), English traveller and writer, nephew of Charles Reade the novelist, b. Murrayfield, near Crieff, Scotland, 26 Dec. 1824. He studied at Oxford, then travelled much in the heart of Africa, and wroteSavage Africa,’63,The African Sketch Book, and in ’73,The Story of the Ashantee Campaign; which he accompanied asTimescorrespondent. In theMartyrdomof Man(’72), he rejects the doctrine of a personal creator. It went through several editions and is still worth reading. He also wroteLiberty Hall, a novel,’60;TheVeil of Isis, ’61, andSee Saw, a novel, ’65. He wrote his last workThe Outcast, a Freethought novel, with the hand of death upon him. Died 24 April, 1875.Reber(George), American author ofThe Christ of Paul, or the Enigmas of Christianity (New York, 1876), a work in which he exposes the frauds and follies of the early fathers.Reclus(Jean Jacques Elisée), French geographer and socialist, the son of a Protestant minister, b. Sainte-Foy-la-Grande (Gironde), 15 March, 1830, and educated by the Moravian brethren, and afterwards at Berlin. He early distinguished himself by his love for liberty, and left France after thecoup d’étatof 2 Dec. ’51, and travelled till ’57 in England, Ireland, and the North and South America, devoting himself to studying the social and political as well as physical condition of the countries he visited, the results being published in theTour du monde, andRevue des Deux Mondes, in which he upheld the cause of the North during the American war. In ’71 he supported the Commune and was taken prisoner and sentenced to transportation for life. Many eminent men in England and America interceded and his sentence was commuted to banishment. At the amnesty of March ’79, he returned to Paris, and has devoted himself to the publication of a standardUniversal Geographyin 13 vols. In ’82 he gave two of his daughters in marriage without either religious or civil ceremony. He has written a preface to Bakounin’sGod and the State, and many other works.Reddalls(George Holland), English Secularist, b. Birmingham, Nov. 1846. He became a compositor on the BirminghamDaily Post, but wishing to conduct a Freethought paper started in business for himself, and issued theSecular Chronicle, ’73, which was contributed to by Francis Neale, H. V. Mayer, G. Standring, etc. He died 13 Oct. 1875.Reghillini de Schio(M.), Professor of Chemistry and Mathematics, b. of Venetian parents at Schio in 1760. He wrote in French an able exposition ofMasonry, 1833, which he traced to Egypt; and anExamination of Mosaism and Christianity, ’34. He was mixed in the troubles of Venice in ’48, and fled to Belgium, dying in poverty at Brussels Aug. 1853.Regnard(Albert Adrien), French doctor and publicist, b. Lachante (Nièvre), 20 March, 1836, author ofEssais d’Histoire et de Critique Scientifique(Paris, ’65)—a work for which he could find no publisher, and had to issue himself—in which he proclaimed scientific materialism. Losing his situation, he started, with Naquet and Clemenceau, theRevue Encyclopédique, which being suppressed on its first number, he startedLa Libre Penséewith Asseline, Condereau, etc. His articles in this journal drew on him and Eudes a condemnation of four months’ imprisonment. He wroteNew Researches on Cerebral Congestion, ’68, and was one of the French delegates to the anti-Council of Naples, ’69. Has publishedAtheism, studies of political science, dated Londres, ’78; aHistory of England since 1815; and has translated Büchner’sForce and Matter, ’84. He was delegate to the Freethinkers’ International Congress at Antwerp, ’85.Regnard(Jean François), French comic poet, b. Paris. 8 Feb. 1655. He went to Italy about 1676, and on returning home was captured by an Algerian corsair and sold as a slave. Being caught in an intrigue with one of the women, he was required to turn Muhammadan. The French consul paid his ransom and he returned to France about 1681. He wrote a number of successful comedies and poems, and was made a treasurer of France. He died as an Epicurean, 4 Sept. 1709.Regnier(Mathurin), French satirical poet, b. Chartres, 21 Dec. 1573. Brought up for the Church, he showed little inclination for its austerities, and was in fact a complete Pagan, though he obtained a canonry in the cathedral of his native place. Died at Rouen, 22 Oct. 1613.Reich(Eduard) Dr., German physician and anthropologist of Sclav descent on his father’s side, b. Olmütz, 6 March 1839. He studied at Jena and has travelled much, and published over thirty volumes besides editing theAthenæumof Jena ’75, andUniversitiesof Grossenbain, ’83. Of his works we mentionMan and the Soul, ’72;The Church of Humanity,’74;Life of Man as an Individual, ’81;History of the Soul, ’84;The Emancipation of Women,’84.Reil(Johann Christian), German physician, b. Rauden, East Friesland, 20 Feb. 1758. Intended for the Church, he took instead to medicine; after practising some years in his nativetown he went in 1787 to Halle, and in 1810 he was made Professor of Medicine at Berlin University. He wrote many medical works, and much advanced medical science, displacing the old ideas in a way which brought on him the accusation of pantheism. Attending a case of typhus fever at Halle he was attacked by the malady, and succumbed 22 Nov. 1813.Reimarus(Hermann Samuel), German philologist, b. Hamburg, 22 Dec. 1694. He was a son-in-law of J. A. Fabricus. Studied at Jena and Wittenberg; travelled in Holland and England; and was appointed rector of the gymnasium in Weimar, 1723, and in Hamburg, 1729. He was one of the most radical among German rationalists. He published a work onThe Principle Truths of Natural Religion, 1754, and left behind theWolfenbüttelFragments, published by Lessing in 1777. Died at Hamburg, 1 March, 1768. Strauss has written an account of his services, 1862.Reitzel(Robert), German American revolutionary, b. Baden, 1849. Named after Blum, studied theology, went to America, walked from New York to Baltimore, and was minister to an independent Protestant church. Studied biology and resigned as a minister, and became speaker of a Freethought congregation at Washington for seven years. Is now editor ofDer Arme Teufelof Detroit, and says he “shall be a poor man and a Revolutionaire all my life.”Remsburg(John E.), American lecturer and writer, b. 1848. Has written a series of pamphlets entitledThe Image Breaker, False Claims of the Christian Church, ’83,Sabbath Breaking, Thomas Paine, and a vigorous onslaught onBible Morals, instancing twenty crimes and vices sanctioned by scripture, ’85.Renan(Joseph Ernest), learned French writer, b. Tréguier (Brittany) 27 Feb. 1823. Was intended for the Church and went to Paris to study. He became noted for his linguistic attainment, but his studies and independence of thought did not accord with his intended profession. My faith, he says was destroyed not by metaphysics nor philosophy but by historical criticism. In ’45 he gave up all thoughts of an ecclesiastic career and became a teacher. In ’48 he gained the Volney prize, for a memoir on the Semitic Languages, afterwards amplified into a work on that subject. In ’52 he publishedhis work on Averroës and Averroïsm. In ’56 was elected member of the Academy of Inscriptions, and in ’60 sent on a mission to Syria; having in the meantime published a translation ofJobandSong of Songs. Here he wrote his long contemplatedVie de Jesus, ’63. In ’61 he had been appointed Professor of Hebrew in the Institute of France, but denounced by bishops and clergy he was deprived of his chair, which was, however, restored in ’70. The Pope did not disdain to attack him personally as a “French blasphemer.” TheVie de Jesusis part of a comprehensiveHistory of the Origin of Christianity, in 8 vols., ’63–83, which includesThe Apostles,St Paul,Anti-Christ,The Gospels,The Christian Church, andMarcus Aurelius, and the end of the Antique World. Among his other works we must mentionStudies on Religious History(’58),Philosophical Dialogues and Fragments(’76),Spinoza(’77),Caliban, a satirical drama (’80), the Hibbert Lecture on the Influence of Rome on Christians,Souvenirs, ’84;New Studies of Religious History,’84;The Abbess of Jouarre, a drama which made a great sensation in ’86; andThe History of the People of Israel, ’87–89.Renand(Paul), Belgian author of a work entitledNouvelle Symbolique, on the identity of Christianity and Paganism, published at Brussels in 1861.Rengart(Karl Fr.), of Berlin, b. 1803, democrat and freethought friend of C. Deubler. Died about 1879.Renard(Georges), French professor of the Academie of Lausanne; author ofMan, is he Free?1881, and aLife of Voltaire, ’83.Renouvier(Charles Bernard), French philosopher, b. Montpellier, 1815. An ardent Radical and follower of the critical philosophy. Among his works areManual of Ancient Philosophy(2 vols., ’44);Republican Manual, ’48;Essays of General Criticism, ’54;Science of Morals, ’69; a translation, made with F. Pillon, of Hume’sPsychology, ’78; andA Sketch of a Systematic Classification of Philosophical Doctrines, ’85.Renton(William), English writer, b. Edinburgh, 1852. Educated in Germany. Wrote poems entitledOil and Water Colors, and a work onThe Logic of Style, ’74. At Keswick he publishedJesus, a psychological estimate of that hero, ’76.Has since published a romance of the last generation calledBishopspool, ’83.Rethore(François), French professor of philosophy at the Lyceum of Marseilles, b. Amiens, 1822. Author of a work entitledCondillac, or Empiricism and Rationalism, ’64. Has translated H. Spencer’sClassification of Sciences.Reuschle(Karl Gustav), German geographer, b. Mehrstetten, 12 Dec. 1812. He wrote on Kepler and Astronomy, ’71, and Philosophy and Natural Science, ’74, dedicated to the memory of D. F. Strauss. Died at Stuttgart, 22 May, 1875.Revillon(Antoine, called Tony), French journalist and deputy, b. Saint-Laurent-les Mâcon (Ain), 29 Dec. 1832. At first a lawyer in ’57, he went to Paris, where he has written on many journals, and published many romances and brochures. In ’81 he was elected deputy.Rey(Marc Michel), printer and bookseller of Amsterdam. He printed all the works of d’Holbach and Rousseau and some of Voltaire’s, and conducted theJournal des Savans.Reynaud(Antoine Andre Louis),Baron, French mathematician, b. Paris, 12 Sept. 1777. In 1790 he became one of the National Guard of Paris. He was teacher and examiner for about thirty years in the Polytechnic School. A friend of Lalande. Died Paris, 24 Feb. 1844.Reynaud(Jean Ernest), French philosopher, b. Lyons, 14 Feb. 1806. For a time he was a Saint Simonian. In ’36 he edited with P. Leroux theEncyclopédie Nouvelle. He was a moderate Democrat in the Assembly of ’48. His chief work, entitledEarth and Heaven, ’54, had great success. It was formally condemned by a clerical council held at Périgueux. Died Paris, 28 June, 1863.Reynolds(Charles B.), American lecturer, b. 4 Aug. 1832. Was brought up religiously, and became a Seventh Day Baptist preacher, but was converted to Freethought. He was prosecuted for blasphemy at Morristown, New Jersey, May 19, 20, 1887, and was defended by Col. Ingersoll. The verdict was one of guilty, and the sentence was a paltry fine of 25 dollars. Has written in theBoston Investigator,Truthseeker, andIronclad Age.Reynolds(George William MacArthur), English writer; author of many novels. WroteErrors of the Christian Religion, 1832.Rialle(J.Girardde), French anthropologist, b. Paris 1841. He wrote inLa Pensée Nouvelle, conducted theRevue de Linguistique et de Philologie comparée, and has written onComparative Mythology,dealing with fetishism, etc., ’78, and works on Ethnology.Ribelt(Léonce), French publicist, b. Bordeaux 1824, author of several political works and collaborator onLa Morale Indépendante.Ribeyrolles(Charles de), French politician, b. near Martel (Lot) 1812. Intended for the Church, he became a social democrat; edited theEmancipationof Toulouse, andLa Réformein ’48. A friend of V. Hugo, he shared in his exile at Jersey. Died at Rio-Janeiro, 13 June, 1861.Ribot(Théodule), French philosopher, b. Guingamp (Côtes du-Nord) 1839; has writtenContemporary English Psychology’70, a resume of the views of Mill, Bain, and Spencer, whosePrinciples of Psychologyhe has translated. Has also written onHeredity, ’73;The Philosophy of Schopenhauer, ’74; The maladies of Memory, personality and Will, 3 vols.; and Contemporary German Psychology. He conducts theRevue Philosophique.Ricciardi(GiuseppeNapoleone), Count, Italian patriot, b. Capodimonte (Naples), 19 July, 1808, son of Francesco Ricciardi, Count of Camaldoli, 1758–1842. Early in life he published patriotic poems. He says that never after he was nineteen did he kneel before a priest. In ’32 he founded at NaplesIl Progresso, a review of science, literature, and art. Arrested in ’34 as a Republican conspirator, he was imprisoned eight months and then lived in exile in France until ’48. Here he wrote in theRevue Indépendante, pointing out that the Papacy from its very essence was incompatible with liberty. Elected deputy to the Neapolitan Parliament, he sat on the extreme left. He wrote aHistory of the Revolution of Italy in ’48(Paris ’49). Condemned to death in ’53, his fortune was seized. He wrote anItalian Martyrology from 1792–1847(Turin ’56), andThe Pope and Italy, ’62. At the time of theEcumenicalCouncil hecalled an Anti-council of Freethinkers at Naples, ’69. This was dissolved by the Italian government, but it led to the International Federation of Freethinkers. Count Ricciardi published an account of the congress. His last work was a life of his friend Mauro Macchi, ’82. Died 1884.Richepin(Jean), French poet, novelist, and dramatist, b. Médéah (Algeria) in 1849. He began life as a doctor, and during the Franco-German war took to journalism. In ’76 he published theSong of the Beggars, which was suppressed. In ’84 appearedLes Blasphèmes, which has gone through several editions.Richer(Léon), French Deist and journalist, b. Laigh, 1824. He was with A. Guéroult editor ofl’Opinion Nationale, and in ’69 founded and editsL’Avenir des Femmes. In ’68 he publishedLetters of a Freethinker to a Village Priest, and has written many volumes in favor of the emancipation of women, collaborating with Mdlle. Desraismes in the Women’s Rights congresses held in Paris.Rickman(Thomas Clio), English Radical. He published several volumes of poems and a life of his friend Thomas Paine, 1819, of whom he also published an excellent portrait painted by Romney and engraved by Sharpe.Riem(Andreas), German rationalist b. Frankenthal 1749. He became a preacher, and was appointed by Frederick the Great chaplain of a hospital at Berlin. This he quitted in order to become secretary of the Academy of Painting. He wrote anonymously on theAufklaring. Died 1807.Ritter(Charles), Swiss writer b. Geneva 1838, and has translated into French Strauss’s Essay of Religious History, George Eliot’sFragments and Thoughts, and Zeller’sChristian Baur and the Tübingen School.Roalfe(Matilda), a brave woman, b. 1813. At the time of the blasphemy prosecutions in 1843, she went from London to Edinburgh to uphold the right of free publication. She opened a shop and circulated a manifesto setting forth her determination to sell works she deemed useful “whether they did or did not bring into contempt the Holy Scriptures and the Christian Religion.” When prosecuted for sellingThe Age of Reason,TheOracle of Reason, etc., she expressed her intention of continuing her offence as soon as liberated. She was sentenced to two months imprisonment 23 Jan. ’44, and on her liberation continued the sale of the prosecuted works. She afterwards married Mr. Walter Sanderson and settled at Galashiels, where she died 29 Nov. 1880.Robert(Pierre François Joseph), French conventionnel and friend of Brissot and Danton, b. Gimnée (Ardennes) 21 Jan. 1763. Brought up to the law he became professor of public law to the philosophical society. He was nominated deputy for Paris, and wroteRepublicanism adapted to France, 1790, became secretary to Danton, and voted for the death of the king. He wrote in Prudhomme’sRévolutions de Paris. Died at Brussels 1826.Robertson(A. D.), editor of theFree Enquirer, published at New York, 1835.Robertson(John Mackinnon), Scotch critic, b. Arran, 14 Nov. 1856. He became journalist on theEdinburgh Evening News, and afterwards on theNational Reformer. Mr. Robertson has published a study of Walt Whitman in the “Round Table Series.”Essays towards a Critical Method, ’89, and has contributed toOur Corner,Time, notably an article on Mithraism, March, ’89,The Westminster Review, etc. He has also issued pamphlets onSocialism andMalthusianism, andToryism and Barbarism, ’85, and edited Hume’sEssay on Natural Religion, ’89.Roberty(Eugène de), French positivist writer, of Russian birth, b. Podolia (Russia), 1843; author of works on Sociology, Paris, ’81, andThe Old and the New Philosophy, an essay on the general laws of philosophic development, ’87. He has recently written a work entitledThe Unknowable, ’89.Robin(Charles Philippe), French physician, senator member of the Institute and of the Academy of Medecine, b. Jasseron (Aix), 4 June, 1821. Became M.D. in ’46, and D.Sc. ’47. In company with Littré he refounded Nysten’sDictionary of Medicine, and he has written many important medical works, and one onInstruction. In ’72 his name was struck out of the list of jurors on the ground of his unbelief in God, and it thus remained despite many protests until ’76. In the same yearhe was elected Senator, and sits with the Republican Left. He has been decorated with the Legion of Honor.Robinet(Jean Baptiste René), French philosopher, b. Rennes, 23 June, 1735. He became a Jesuit, but gave it up and went to Holland to publish his curious work,De la Nature, 1776, by some attributed to Toussaint and to Diderot. He continued Marsy’sAnalysis of Bayle, edited theSecret Lettersof Voltaire, translated Hume’sMoral Essays, and took part in theRecueil Philosophique, published by J. L. Castilhon. Died at Rennes, 24 March, 1820.Robinet(Jean Eugène François), French physician and publicist, b. Vic-sur-Seille, 1825. He early attached himself to the person and doctrine of Auguste Comte, and became his physician and one of his executors. During the war of ’70 he was made Mayor of the Sixth Arrondissement of Paris. He has written aNotice of the Work and Life of A. Comte, ’60, a memoir of the private life ofDanton, ’65,The Trial of the Dantonists, ’79, and contributed an account of thePositive Philosophy of A. Comte and P. Lafitteto the “BibliothèqueUtile,” vol. 66, ’81.Roell(Hermann Alexander), German theologian, b. 1653, author of a Deistic dissertation on natural religion, published at Frankfort in 1700. Died Amsterdam, 12 July, 1718.Rogeard(Louis Auguste), French publicist, b. Chartres, 25 April, 1820. Became a teacher but was dismissed for refusing to attend mass. In ’49 he moved to Paris and took part in the revolutionary movement. He was several times imprisoned under the Empire, and in ’65 was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for writingLes Propos de Labienus(London,i.e.Zürich), ’65. He fled to Belgium and wrote some excellent criticism on the Bible in theRive Gauche. In ’71 he assisted Pyat onLe Vengeur, and was elected on the Commune but declined to sit. An incisive writer, he signed himself “Atheist.” Is still living in Paris.Rokitansky(Karl), German physician and scientist, founder of theVienneseschool in medicine, b. Königgrätz (Bohemia) 11 Feb. 1804, studied medicine at Prague and Vienna, and received his degree of Doctor in ’28. His principal work is aManual of Practical Anatomy, ’42–6. Died Vienna, 23 July, 1878.Roland(Marie Jeanne),néePhlipon, French patriot, b. Paris, 17 March, 1754. Fond of reading,Plutarch’s Livesinfluenced her greatly. At a convent she noted the names of sceptics attached and read their writings, being, she says, in turn Jansenist, stoic, sceptic, atheist, and deist. The last she remained, though Miss Blind classes her with Agnostics. After her marriage in 1779 with Jean Marie Roland de la Platiêre (b. Lyons, 1732), Madame Roland shared the tasks and studies of her husband, and the Revolution found her an ardent consort. On the appointment of her husband to the ministry, she became the centre of a Girondist circle. Carlyle calls her “the creature of Simplicity and Nature, in an age of Artificiality, Pollution, and Cant,” and “the noblest of all living Frenchwomen.” On the fall of her party she was imprisoned, and finally executed, 8 Nov. 1793. Her husband, then in hiding, hearing of her death, deliberately stabbed himself, 15 Nov. 1793.
“Wit hath wonder, that reason cannot skan,How a Moder is Mayd, and God is Man.”
“Wit hath wonder, that reason cannot skan,
How a Moder is Mayd, and God is Man.”
His books were publicly burnt at Oxford. He died in 1460. His influence doubtless contributed to the Reformation.
Pearson(Karl), author of a volume of essays entitledThe Ethic of Freethought, 1888. Educated at Cambridge; B.A. ’79, M.A. ’82.
Pechmeja(Jean de), French writer. A friend of Raynal, he wrote a socialistic romance in 12 books in the style of Telemachus, called Télèphe, 1784. Died 1785.
Peck(John), American writer in theTruthseeker. Has publishedMiracles and Miracle Workers, etc.
Pecqueur(A.), contributor to theRationalisteof Geneva, 1864.
Pelin(Gabriel), French author of works onSpiritism Explained and Destroyed, 1864, andGod or Science, ’67.
Pelletan(Charles Camille), French journalist and deputy, son of the following; b. Paris, 23 June, 1846. Studied at the Lycée Louis le Grand. He wrote inLa Tribune Française, andLe Rappel, and since ’80 has conductedLa Justicewith his friend Clémenceau, of whom he has written a sketch.
Pelletan(Pierre Clement Eugène), French writer, b. Saint-Palais-sur-Meir, 20 Oct. 1813. As a journalist he wrote inLa Presse, under the name of “Un Inconnu,” articles distinguished by their love of liberty and progress. He also contributed to theRevue des Deux Mondes. In ’52 he published hisProfession of Faith of the Nineteenth Century, and in ’57The Law of ProgressandThe Philosophical Kings. From ’53–’55 he opposed Napoleon in the Siècle, and afterwards establishedLa Tribune Française. In’63he was elected deputy, but his election being annulled, he was re-elected in ’64. He took distinguished rank among the democratic opposition. After the battle of Sedan he was made member of the Committee ofNational Defence, and in ’76 of the Senate, of which he became vice-president in ’79. In ’78 he wrote a study on Frederick the Great entitledUn Roi Philosophe, and in ’83Is God Dead?Died at Paris, 14 Dec. 1884.
Pemberton(Charles Reece). English actor and author, b. Pontypool, S. Wales, 23 Jan. 1790. He travelled over most of the world and wroteThe Autobiography of Pel Verjuice, which with other remains was published in 1843. Died 3 March, 1840.
Pennetier(Georges), Dr., b. Rouen, 1836, Director of the Museum of Natural History at Rouen. Author of a work on theOriginof Life, ’68, in which he contends for spontaneous generation. To this work F. A. Pouchet contributed a preface.
Perfitt(Philip William), Theist, b. 1820, edited thePathfinder, ’59–61. Preached at South Place Chapel. WroteLife and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, ’61.
Periers(Bonaventure des). SeeDesperiers.
Perot(Jean Marie Albert), French banker, author of a work onMan and God, which has been translated into English, 1881, andMoral and Philosophical Allegories(Paris, 1883).
Perrier(Edmond), French zoologist, Curator at Museum of Natural History, Paris, b. Tulle, 1844. Author of numerous works on Natural History, and one onTransformisme, ’88.
Perrin(Raymond S.), American author of a bulky work onThe Religion of Philosophy, or the Unification of Knowledge: a comparison of the chief philosophical and religious systems of the world, 1885.
Perry(Thomas Ryley), one of Carlile’s shopmen, sentenced 1824 to three years’ imprisonment in Newgate for selling Palmer’sPrinciples of Nature. He became a chemist at Leicester and in 1844 petitioned Parliament for the prisoners for blasphemy, Paterson and Roalfe, stating that his own imprisonment had not fulfilled the judge’s hope of his recantation.
Petit(Claude), French poet, burnt on the Place de Grève in 1665 as the author of some impious pieces.
Petronius, called Arbiter (Titus), Roman Epicurean poet at the Court of Nero, in order to avoid whose resentment he opened his veins and bled to death inA.D.66, conversing meanwhilewith his friends on the gossip of the day. To him we owe the lines on superstition, beginning “Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor.” Petronius is famous for his “pure Latinity.” He is as plain-spoken as Juvenal, and with the same excuse, his romance being a satire on Nero and his court.
Petruccelli della Gattina(Ferdinando) Italian writer, b. Naples, 1816, has travelled much and written many works. He was deputy to the Naples Parliament in ’48, and exiled after the reaction.
Petrus de Abano.A learned Italian physician, b. Abano 1250. He studied at Paris and became professor of medicine at Padua. He wrote many works and had a great reputation. He is said to have denied the existence of spirits, and to have ascribed all miracles to natural causes. Cited before the Inquisition in 1306 as a heretic, a magician and an Atheist, he ably defended himself and was acquitted. He was accused a second time but dying (1320) while the trial was preparing, he was condemned after death, his body disinterred and burnt, and he was also burnt in effigy in the public square of Padua.
Peypers(H. F. A.), Dutch writer, b. DeRijp, 2 Jan. 1856, studied medicine, and is now M.D. at Amsterdam. He is a man of erudition and good natured though satirical turn of mind. He has contributed much toDe Dageraad, and is at present one of the five editors of that Freethought monthly.
Peyrard(François), French mathematician, b. Vial (Haute Loire) 1760. A warm partisan of the revolution, he was one of those who (7 Nov. 1793) incited Bishop Gobel to abjure his religion. An intimate friend of Sylvian Maréchal, Peyrard furnished him with notes for hisDictionnaire des Athées. He wrote a work onNature and its Laws, 1793–4, and proposed the piercing of the Isthmus of Suez. He translated the works of Euclid and Archimedes. Died at Paris 3 Oct. 1822.
Peyrat(Alphonse), French writer, b. Toulouse, 21 June, 1812. He wrote in theNationalandla Presse, and combated against the Second Empire. In ’65 he foundedl’Avenir National, which was several times condemned. In Feb. ’71, he was elected deputy of the Seine, and proposed the proclamation of the Republic. In ’76 he was chosen senator.He wrote a History of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, ’55;History and Religion, ’58;Historical and Religious Studies, ’58; and an able and scholarlyElementary and Critical History of Jesus, ’64.
Peyrere(Isaac de la), French writer, b. Bordeaux, 1594, and brought up as a Protestant. He entered into the service of the house of Condé, and became intimate with La Mothe de Vayer and Gassendi. His work entitledPræadamitæ, 1653, in which he maintained that men lived before Adam, made a great sensation, and was burnt by the hangman at Paris. The bishop of Namur censured it, and la Peyrère was arrested at Brussels, 1656, by order of the Archbishop of Malines, but escaped by favor of the Prince of Condé on condition of retracting his book at Rome. The following epitaph was nevertheless made on him:
La Peyrere ici gît, ce bon Israelite,Hugenot, Catholique, enfin Pre-adamite:Quatre religions lui plurent à la fois:Et son indifférence était si peu communeQu’après 80 ans qu’il eut à faire un choixLe bon homme partit, et n’en choisit pas une.
La Peyrere ici gît, ce bon Israelite,
Hugenot, Catholique, enfin Pre-adamite:
Quatre religions lui plurent à la fois:
Et son indifférence était si peu commune
Qu’après 80 ans qu’il eut à faire un choix
Le bon homme partit, et n’en choisit pas une.
Died near Paris, 30 Jan. 1676.
Pfeiff(Johan Gustaf Viktor), Swedish baron, b. Upland, 1829. Editor of the free religious periodical,The Truthseeker, since 1882. He has also translated into Swedish some of the writings of Herbert Spencer.
Pharmacopulo(A.P.) Greek translator of Büchner’sForce and Matter, and corresponding member of the International Federation of Freethinkers.
Phillips(Sir Richard), industrious English writer, b. London, 1767. He was hosier, bookseller, printer, publisher, republican, Sheriff of London (1807–8), and Knight. He compiled many schoolbooks, chiefly under pseudonyms, of which the most popular were the Rev. J. Goldsmith and Rev. D. Blair. His own opinions are seen most in hisMillion of Facts. Died at Brighton 2 April, 1840.
Phillippo(William Skinner), farmer, of Wood Norton, near Thetford, Norfolk. A deist who wrote anEssay on Political and Religious Meditations, 1868.
Pi-y Margall(Francisco), Spanish philosopher and Republican statesman, b. Barcelona, 1820. The first book he learnt to read was theRuinsof Volney. Studied law and became an advocate. He has written many political works, and translated Proudhon, for whom he has much admiration, into Spanish. He has also introduced the writings and philosophy of Comte into his own country. He was associated with Castelar and Figueras in the attempt to establish a Spanish Republic, being Minister of the Interior, and afterwards President in 1873.
Pichard(Prosper). French Positivist, author ofDoctrine of Reality, “a catechism for the use of people who do not pay themselves with words,” to which Littré wrote a preface, 1873.
Pierson(Allard). Dutch rationalist critic, b. Amsterdam 8 April, 1831. Educated in theology, he was minister to the Evangelical congregation at Leuven, afterwards at Rotterdam and finally professor at Heidelberg. He resigned his connection with the Church in ’64. He has written many works of theological and literary value of which we mention hisPoems’82,New Studies on Calvin, ’83, andVerisimilia, written in conjunction with S. A. Naber, ’86.
Pigault-Lebrun(Guillaume Charles Antoine), witty French author, b. Calais, 8 April, 1753. He studied under the Oratorians of Boulogne. He wrote numerous comedies and romances, andLe Citateur, 1803, a collection of objections to Christianity, borrowed in part from Voltaire, whose spirit he largely shared. In 1811 Napoleon threatened the priests he would issue this work wholesale. It was suppressed under the Restoration, but has been frequently reprinted. Pigault-Lebrunbecame secretary to King Jerome Napoleon, and died at La Celle-Saint-Cloud, 24 July, 1835.
Pike(J. W.) American lecturer, b. Concord (Ohio), 27 June, 1826, wroteMy Religious ExperienceandWhat I found in the Bible, 1867.
Pillsbury(Parker), American reformer, b. Hamilton, Mass., 22 Sep. 1809. Was employed in farm work till ’35, when he entered Gilmerton theological seminary. He graduated in ’38,studied a year at Andover, was congregational minister for oneyear, and then, perceiving the churches were the bulwark of slavery, abandoned the ministry. He became an abolitionist lecturer, edited theHerald of Freedom,National Anti-Slavery Standard, and theRevolution. He also preached for free religious societies, wrotePious Frauds, and contributed to theBoston InvestigatorandFreethinkers’ Magazine. His principal work isActs of the Anti-Slavery Apostles, 1883.
Piron(Alexis), French comic poet, b. Dijon, 9 July, 1689. His pieces were full of wit and gaiety, and many anecdotes are told of his profanity. Among his sallies was his reply to a reproof for being drunk on Good Friday, that failing must be excused on a day when even deity succumbed. Being blind in his old age he affected piety. Worried by his confessor about a Bible in the margin of which he had written parodies and epigrams as the best commentary, he threw the whole book in the fire. Asked on his death-bed if he believed in God he answered “Parbleu, I believe even in the Virgin.” Died at Paris, 21 Jan. 1773.
Pisarev(Dmitri Ivanovich) Russian critic, journalist, and materialist, b. 1840. He first became known by his criticism on the Scholastics of the nineteenth century. Died Baden, near Riga, July 1868. His works are published in ten vols. Petersburg, 1870.
Pitt(William). Earl of Chatham, an illustrious English statesman and orator, b. Boconnoc, Cornwall, 15 Nov.1708. The services to his country of “the Great Commoner,” as he was called, are well known, but it is not so generally recognised that hisLetter on Superstition, first printed in theLondon Journalin 1733, entitles him to be ranked with the Deists. He says that “the more superstitious people are, always the more vicious; and the more theybelieve, the less they practice.” Atheism furnishes no man with arguments to be vicious; but superstition, or what the world made by religion, is the greatest possible encouragement to vice, by setting up something as religion, which shall atone and commute for the want of virtue. This remarkable letter ends with the words “Remember that the only true divinity is humanity.”
Place(Francis), English Radical reformer and tailor; b. 1779 at Charing Cross. He early became a member of the London,Corresponding Society. He wrote to Carlile’sRepublicanandLion. A friend of T. Hardy, H. Tooke, James Mill, Bentham, Roebuck, Hetherington, and Hibbert (who puts him in his list of English Freethinkers). He was connected with all the advanced movements of his time and has left many manuscripts illustrating the politics of that period, which are now in the British Museum. He always professed to be an Atheist—seeReasoner, 26 March, ’54. Died at Kensington, 1 Jan. 1854.
Platt(James), F.S.S., a woolen merchant and Deistic author of popular works onBusiness, ’75;Morality, ’78;Progress, ’80;Life, ’81;God and Mammon, etc.
Pliny(Caius Plinius Secundus), the elder, Roman naturalist, b. Verona,A.D.22. He distinguished himself in the army, was admitted into the college of Augurs, appointed procurator in Spain, and honored with the esteem of Vespasian and Titus. He wrote the history of his own time in 31 books, now lost, and aNaturalHistoryin 37 books, one of the most precious monuments of antiquity, in which his Epicurean Atheism appears. Being with the fleet at Misenum, 24 Aug.A.D.79, he observed theeruptionof Mount Vesuvius, and landing to assist the inhabitants was himself suffocated by the noxious vapors.
Plumacher(Olga), German pessimist, follower of Hartmann, and authoress of a work onPessimism in the Past and Future, Heidelberg, 1884. She has also defended her views inMind.
Plumer(William) American senator, b. Newburyport, Mass. 25 June, 1759. In 1780 he became a Baptist preacher, but resigned on account of scepticism. He remained a deist. He served in the Legislature eight terms, during two of which he was Speaker. He was governor of New Hampshire, 1812–18, wrote to the press over the signature “Cincinnatus,” and published anAddress to the Clergy, ’14. He lived till 22 June, 1850.
Plutarch. Greek philosopher and historian, b. Cheronæa in Bœtia, aboutA.D.50. He visited Delphi and Rome, where he lived in the reign of Trajan. HisParallel Livesof forty-six Greeks and Romans have made him immortal. He wrote numerous other anecdotal and ethical works, including atreatise on Superstition. He condemned the vulgar notions of Deity, and remarked, in connection with the deeds popularly ascribed to the gods, that he would rather men said there was no Plutarch than traduce his character. In other words, superstition is more impious than Atheism. Died aboutA.D.120.
Poe(Edgar Allan), American poet, grandson of General Poe, who figured in the war of independence, b. Boston, 19 Jan. 1809. His mother was an actress. Early left an orphan. After publishingTamerlane and other Poems, ’27, he enlisted in the United States Army, but was cashiered in ’31. He then took to literary employment in Baltimore and wrote many stories, collected as theTales of Mystery, Imagination, and Humor. In ’45 appearedThe Raven and other Poems, which proved him the most musical and dextrous of American poets. In ’48 he publishedEureka, a Prose Poem, which, though comparatively little known, he esteemed his greatest work. It indicates pantheistic views of the universe. His personal appearance was striking and one of his portraits is not unlike that of James Thomson. Died in Baltimore, 7 Oct. 1849.
Poey(Andrés), Cuban meteorologist and Positivist of French and Spanish descent, b. Havana, 1826. Wrote in theModern Thinker, and is author of many scientific memoirs and a popular exposition of Positivism (Paris, 1876), in which he has a chapter on Darwinism and Comtism.
Pompery(Edouard), French publicist, b. Courcelles, 1812. A follower of Fourier, he has written on Blanquism and opportunism, ’79, and a Life of Voltaire, ’80.
Pomponazzi(Pietro) [Lat. Pomponatius], Italian philosopher, b. Mantua, of noble family, 16 Sept. 1462. He studied at Padua, where he graduated 1487 as laureate of medicine. Next year he was appointed professor of philosophy at Padua, teaching in concurrence with Achillini. He afterwards taught the doctrines of Aristotle at Ferrara and Bologna. His treatiseDe Immortalitate Animæ, 1516, gave great offence by denying the philosophical foundation of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. The work was burnt by the hangman at Venice, and it is said Cardinal Bembo’s intercession with Pope Leo X. only saved Pomponazzi from ecclesiastical procedure.Among his works is a treatise on Fate, Free Will, etc. Pomponazzi was a diminutive man, and was nicknamed “Peretto.” He held that doubt was necessary for the development of knowledge, and left an unsullied reputation for upright conduct and sweet temper. Died at Bologna, 18 May, 1525, and was buried at Mantua, where a monument was erected to his memory.
Ponnat(de),Baron, French writer, b. about 1810. Educated by Jesuits, he became a thorough Freethinker and democrat and a friend of A. S. Morin, with whom he collaborated on theRationalisteof Geneva. He wrote many notable articles inLa Libre Pensée,Le Critique, andLe Candide, for writing in which last he was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment. He published, under the anagram of De Pontan,The Cross or Death, a discourse to the bishops who assisted at the Ecumenical Council at Rome (Brussels, ’62). His principal work is a history of the variations and contradictions of the Roman Church (Paris, ’82). Died in 1884.
Porphyry(Πορφύριος), Greek philosoper of the New Platonic school, b. Sinia, 233A.D.His original name wasMalchusorMelech—a “King.” He was a pupil of Longinus and perhaps of Origen. Some have supposed that he was of Jewish faith, and first embraced and then afterwards rejected Christianity. It is certain he was a man of learning and intelligence; the friend as well as the disciple of Plotinus. He wrote (in Greek) a famous work in fifteen books against the Christians, some fragments of which alone remain in the writings of his opponents. It is certain he showed acquaintance with the Jewish and Christian writings, exposed their contradictions, pointed out the dispute between Peter and Paul, and referred Daniel to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. He wrote many other works, among which are lives of Plotinus and Pythagorus. Died at Rome about 305.
Porzio(Simone), a disciple of Pomponazzi, to whom, when lecturing at Pisa, the students cried “What of the soul?” He frankly professed his belief that the human soul differed in no essential point from the soul of a lion or plant, and that those who thought otherwise were prompted by pity for our mean estate. These assertions are in his treatiseDe Mente Humanâ.
“Posos(Juan de),” an undiscovered author using this pen-name, expressed atheistic opinions in a book of imaginary travels, published in Dutch at Amsterdam in 1708, and translated into German at Leipsic, 1721.
Post(Amy), American reformer, b. 1803. From ’28 she was a leading advocate of slavery abolition, temperance, woman’s suffrage and religious reform. Died Rochester, New York, 29 Jan. 1889.
Potter(Agathon Louis de).SeeDe Potter (A. L.)
Potter(Louis Antoine Joseph de). SeeDe Potter (L. A. J.)
Potvin(Charles), Belgian writer b. Mons. 2 Dec. 1818, is member of the Royal Academy of Letters, and professor of the history of literature at Brussels. He wrote anonymouslyPoesie et Amour’58, andRome and the Family. Under the name of “Dom Jacobus” he has written an able work in two volumes onThe Church and Morality, and alsoTablets of a Freethinker. He was president of “La Libre Pensée” of Brussels from ’78 to ’83, is director of theRevue de Belgiqueand has collaborated on theNationaland other papers.
Pouchet(Felix Archimède), French naturalist, b. Rouen 26 Aug. 1800. Studied medicine under Dr. Flaubert, father of the author ofMme. Bovary, and became doctor in ’27. He was made professor of natural history at the Museum of Rouen, and by his experiments enriched science with many discoveries. He defended spontaneous generation and wrote many monographs and books of which the principal is entitledThe Universe, ’65. Died at Rouen, 6 Dec. 1872.
Pouchet(Henri Charles George), French naturalist, son of the proceeding, b. Rouen, 1833, made M.D. in ’64, and in ’79 professor of comparative anatomy in the museum of Natural History at Paris. In ’80 he was decorated with the Legion of Honor. He has written onThe Plurality of the Human Race, ’58, and collaborated on theSiècle, and theRevue des Deux Mondesand tola Philosophie Positive.
Pouchkine(A.), seePushkin.
Pougens(Marie Charles Joseph de), French author, a natural son of the Prince de Conti, b. Paris, 15 Aug. 1755. About the age of 24 he was blinded by small pox. He became an intimatefriend of the philosophers, and, sharing their views, embraced the revolution with ardor, though it ruined his fortunes. He wrotePhilosophical Researches, 1786, edited the posthumous works of D’Alembert, 1799, and worked at a dictionary of the French language. HisJocko, a tale of a monkey, exhibits his keen sympathy with animal intelligence, and in hisPhilosophical Letters, 1826, he gives anecdotes of Voltaire, Rousseau, D’Alembert, Pechmeja, Franklin, etc. Died at Vauxbuin, near Soissons, 19 Dec. 1833.
Poulin(Paul), Belgian follower of Baron Colins and author ofWhat is God? What is Man?a scientific solution of the religious problem (Brussels, 1865), and re-issued asGod According to Science, ’75, in which he maintains that man and God exclude each other, and that the only divinity is moral harmony.
Poultier D’Elmolte(François Martin), b. Montreuil-sur-Mer, 31 Oct. 1753. Became a Benedictine monk, but cast aside his frock at the Revolution, married, and became chief of a battalion of volunteers. Elected to the Convention he voted for the death of the King. He conducted the journal,L’Ami des lois, and became one of the Council of Ancients. Exiled in 1816, he died at Tournay in Belgium, 16 Feb. 1827. He wroteMorceaux Philosophiquesin theJournal Encyclopédique;Victoire, or the Confessions of a Benedictine;Discours Décadaires, for the use of Theophilantropists, andConjectures on the Nature and Origin of Things, Tournay, 1821.
Powell(B. F.), compiler of theBible of Reason, or Scriptures of Ancient Moralists; published by Hetherington in 1837.
Prades(Jean Martin de), French theologian b. Castel-Sarrasin, about 1720. Brought up for the church, he nevertheless became intimate with Diderot and contributed the articleCertitudeto the Encyclopédie. On the 18th Nov. 1751 he presented to the Sorbonne a thesis for the doctorate, remarkable as the first open attack on Christianity by a French theologian. He maintained many propositions on the soul, the origin of society, the laws of Moses, miracles, etc., contrary to the dogmas of the Church, and compared the cures recorded in the Gospels to those attributed to Esculapius. The thesis made a great scandal. His opinions were condemned by PopeBenedict XIV., and he fled to Holland for safety. Recommended to Frederick the Great by d’Alembert he was received with favor at Berlin, and became reader to that monarch, who wrote a very anti-Christian preface to de Prades’ work on ecclesiastical history, published asAbrége de l’Histoire ecclesiastique de Fleury, Berne (Berlin) 1766. He retired to a benefice at Glogau (Silesia), given him by Frederick, and died there in 1782.
Prater(Horatio), a gentleman of some fortune who devoted himself to the propagation of Freethought ideas. Born early in the century, he wrote on thePhysiology of the Blood, 1832. He publishedLetters to the American People, andLiterary Essays, ’56. Died 20 July, 1885. He left the bulk of his money to benevolent objects, and ordered a deep wound to be made in his arm to insure that he was dead.
Preda(Pietro), Italian writer of Milan, author of a work onRevelation and Reason, published at Geneva, 1865, under the pseudonym of “Padre Pietro.”
Premontval(Andre Pierre Le Guay de), French writer, b. Charenton, 16 Feb. 1716. At nineteen years of age, while in the college of Plessis Sorbonne, he composed a work against the dogma of the Eucharist. He studied mathematics and became member of the Academy of Sciences at Berlin. He wroteLe Diogene de D’Alembert, or Freethoughts on Man, 1754,Panangiana Panurgica, or the false Evangelist, andVues Philosophiques, Amst., 2 vols., 1757. He also wroteDe la Théologie de L’Etre, in which he denies many of the ordinary proofs of the existence of a God. Died Berlin, 1767.
Priestley(Joseph), LL.D., English philosopher, b. Fieldhead, near Leeds, 18 March, 1733. Brought up as a Calvinist, he found his way to broad Unitarianism. Famous as a pneumatic chemist, he defended the doctrine of philosophical necessity, and in a dissertation annexed to his edition of Hartley expressed doubts of the immateriality of the sentient principal in man. This doctrine he forcibly supported in hisDisquisitions on Matter and Spirit, 1777. Through the obloquy these works produced, he lost his position as librarian to Lord Shelburne. He then removed to Birmingham, and became minister of an independent Unitarian congregation, and occupied himself on hisHistory of the Corruptions of ChristianityandHistory of the Early Opinions Concerning Jesus Christ, which involved him in controversy with Bishop Horsley and others. In consequence of his sympathy with the French Revolution, his house was burnt and sacked in a riot, 14 July, 1791. After this he removed to Hackney, and was finally goaded to seek an asylum in the United States, which he reached in 1794. Even in America he endured some uneasiness on account of his opinions until Jefferson became president. Died 6 Feb. 1804.
Pringle(Allen), Canadian Freethinker, author ofIngersoll in Canada, 1880.
Proctor(Richard Anthony), English astronomer, b. Chelsea, 23 March, 1837. Educated at King’s College, London, and at St. John’s, Cambridge, where he became B.A. in ’60. In ’66 he became Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, of which he afterwards became hon. sec. He maintained in ’69 the since-established theory of the solar corona. He wrote, lectured, and edited, far and wide, and left nearly fifty volumes, chiefly popularising science. Attracted by Newman, he was for a while a Catholic, but thought out the question of Catholicism and science, and in a letter to theNew York Tribune, Nov. ’75, formally renounced that religion as irreconcilable with scientific facts. His remarks on the so-called Star of Bethlehem inThe Universe of Suns, and other Science Gleanings, and his Sunday lectures, indicated his heresy. In ’81 he startedKnowledge, in which appeared many valuable papers, notably one (Jan. ’87), “The Beginning of Christianity.” He entirely rejected the miraculous elements of the gospels, which he considered largely arechaufféof solar myths. In other articles in theFreethinkers’ Magazineand theOpen Courthe pointed out the coincidence between the Christian stories and solar myths, and also with stories found in Josephus. The very last article he published before his untimely death was a vindication of Colonel Ingersoll in his controversy with Gladstone in theNorth American Review. In ’84 he settled at St. Josephs, Mobille, where he contracted yellow fever and died at New York, 12 Sep. 1888.
Proudhon(Pierre Joseph), French anarchist and political thinker, b. Besançon, 15 Jan. 1809. Self-educated he became aprinter, and won a prize of 1,500 francs for the person “best fitted for a literary or scientific career.” In ’40 appears his memoir, What is Property? in which he made the celebrated answer “C’est le vol.” In ’43 theCreation of Order in Humanityappeared, treating of religion, philosophy and logic. In ’46 he published hisSystem of Economical Contradictions, in which appeared his famous aphorism, “Dieu, c’est le mal.” In ’48 he introduced his scheme of the organisation of credit in a Bank of the People, which failed, though Proudhon saw that no one lost anything. He attacked Louis Bonaparte when President, and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 francs. On 2 Jan. ’50 he married by private contract while in prison. For his work onJustice in the Revolution and in the Churchhe was condemned to three years’ imprisonment and 4,000 francs fine in ’58. He took refuge in Belgium and returned in ’63. Died at Passy, 19 Jan. 1865. Among his posthumous works wasThe Gospels Annotated, ’66. Proudhon was a bold and profound thinker of noble aspirations, but he lacked the sense of art and practicability. His complete works have been published in 26 vols.
Protagoras, Greek philosopher, b. Abdera, about 480B.C.Is said to have been a disciple of Democritus, and to have been a porter before he studied philosophy. He was the first to call himself a sophist. He wrote in a book on the gods, “Respecting the gods, I am unable to know whether they exist or do not exist.” For this he was impeached and banished, and his book burnt. He went to Epirus and the Greek Islands, and died about 411. He believed all things were in flux, and summed up his conclusions in the proposition that “man is the measure of all things, both of that which exists and that which does not exist.” Grote, who defends the Sophists, says his philosophy “had the merit of bringing into forcible relief the essentially relative nature of cognition.”
Prudhomme(Sully). SeeSully Prudhomme.
Pückler Muskau(Hermann Ludwig Heinrich), Prince, a German writer, b. Muskau, 30 Oct. 1785. He travelled widely and wrote his observations in a work entitledLetters of a Defunct, 1830; this was followed byTutti Frutti, ’32;Semilasso in Africa, ’36, and other works. Died 4 Feb. 1871.
Pushkin(Aleksandr Sergyeevich), eminent Russian poet, often called the Russian Byron, b. Pskow, 26 May, 1799. From youth he was remarkable for his turbulent spirit, and his first work, which circulated only in manuscript, was founded on Parny’sGuerre des Dieux, and entitled the Gabrielade, the archangel being the hero. He was exiled by the Emperor, but, inspired largely by reading Voltaire and Byron, put forward numerous poems and romances, of which the most popular is Eugene Onéguine, an imitation of Don Juan. He also wrote some histories and founded theSovremennik(Contemporary), 1836. In Jan. 1837 he was mortally wounded in a duel.
Putnam(Samuel P.), American writer and lecturer, brought up as a minister. He left that profession for Freethought, and became secretary to the American Secular Union, of which he was elected president in Oct. 1887. In ’88 he startedFreethoughtat San Francisco in company with G. Macdonald. Has written poems,Prometheus,Ingersoll and Jesus,Adami and Heva; romances entitledGolden Throne,Waifs and Wanderings, andGottlieb, and pamphlets on theProblem of the Universe,The New God, andThe Glory of Infidelity.
Putsage(Jules), Belgian follower of Baron Colins, founder of the Colins Philosophical Society at Mons; has written onDeterminism and Rational Science, Brussels 1885, besides many essays inLa Philosophie de L’Avenirof Paris andLa Societe Nouvelleof Brussels.
Pyat(Felix) French socialist, writer and orator, b. Vierzon, 4 Oct. 1810. His father was religious and sent him to a Jesuit college at Bourges, but he here secretly read the writings of Beranger and Courier. He studied law, but abandoned it for literature, writing in many papers. He also wrote popular dramas, asThe Rag-picker of Paris, ’47. After ’52 he lived in England, where he wrote an apology for the attempt of Orsini, published by Truelove, ’58. In ’71 he founded the journalle Combat. Elected to the National Assembly he protested against the treaty of peace, was named member of the Commune and condemned to death in ’73. He returned to France after the armistice, and has sat as deputy for Marseilles. Died, Saint Gerainte near Nice, 3 Aug. 1889.
Pyrrho(Πύρρων). Greek philosopher, a native of Elis, inPeloponesus, founder of a sceptical school about the time of Epicurus; is said to have been attracted to philosophy by the books of Democritus. He attached himself to Anaxarchus, and joined her in the expedition of Alexander the Great, and became acquainted with the philosophy of the Magi and the Indian Gymnosophists. He taught the wisdom of doubt, the uncertainty of all things, and the rejection of speculation. His disciples extolled his equanimity and independence of externals. It is related that he kept house with his sister, and shared with her in all domestic duties. He reached the age of ninety years, and after his death the Athenians honored him with a statue. He left no writings, but the tenets of his school, which were much misrepresented, may be gathered from Sextus and Empiricus.
Quental.SeeAnthero de Quental.
“Quepat(Nérée.”) SeePaquet (René).
Quesnay(François), French economist, b. Mérey, 4 June 1694. Self educated he became a physician, but is chiefly noted for hisTableau Economique, 1708, and his doctrine ofLaissez Faire. He derived moral and social rules from physical laws. Died Versailles, 16 Dec. 1774.
Quinet(Edgar), French writer, b. Bourgen Bresse, 17 Feb. 1803. He attracted the notice of Cousin by a translation of Herder’sThe Philosophy of History. With his friend Michelet he made many attacks on Catholicism, theJesuitsbeing their joint work. He fought in the Revolution of ’48, and opposed the Second Empire. His work onThe Genius of Religion, ’42, is profound, though mystical, and his historical work onThe Revolution, ’65 is a masterpiece. Died at Versailles, 27 March, 1875.
Quintin(Jean), Heretic of Picardy, and alleged founder of the Libertines. He is said to have preached in Holland and Brabant in 1525, that religion was a human invention. Quintin was arrested and burnt at Tournay in 1530.
Quris(Charles), French advocate of Angers, who has published some works on law andLa Défense Catholique et la Critique, Paris, 1864.
Rabelais(François), famous and witty French satirist and philosopher, b. Chinon, Touraine, 7 Jan. 1495. At an earlyage he joined the order of Franciscans, but finding monastic life incompatible with his genial temper, quitted the convent without the leave of his superior. He studied medicine at Montpelier about 1530, after which he practised at Lyons. His great humorous work, published anonymously in 1535, was denounced as heretical by the clergy for its satires, not only on their order but their creed. The author was protected by Francis I. and was appointed curé of Meudon. Died at Paris, 9 April, 1553. His writings show surprising fertility of mind, and Coleridge says, “Beyond a doubt he was among the deepest as well as boldest thinkers of his age.”
Radenhausen(Christian), German philosopher, b. Friedrichstadt, 3 Dec. 1813. At first a merchant and then a lithographer, he resided at Hamburg, where he publishedIsis, Mankind and the World (4 vols.), ’70–72;Osiris, ’74;The New Faith, ’77;Christianity is Heathenism, ’81;The True Bible and the False, ’87;Esther, ’87.
Radicati(Alberto di),Count. SeePasserano.
Ragon(Jean Marie de), French Freemason, b. Bray-sur-Seine, 1781. By profession a civil engineer at Nancy, afterwards Chief of Bureau to the Minister of the Interior. Author of many works on Freemasonry, andThe Mass and its Mysteries Compared with the Ancient Mysteries, 1844. Died at Paris, 1862.
Ram(Joachim Gerhard), Holstein philosopher of the seventeenth century, who was accused of Atheism.
Ramaer(Anton Gerard Willem), Dutch writer b. Jever, East Friesland, 2 Aug. 1812. From ’29 he served as officer in the Dutch army. He afterwards became a tax collector, and in ’60 was pensioned. He wrote on Schopenhauer and other able works, and also contributed largely toDe Dageraad, often under the pseudonym of “Laçhmé.” He had a noble mind and sacrificed much for his friends and the good cause. Died 16 Feb. 1867.
Ramee(Louise de la), English novelist, b., of French extraction, Bury St. Edmunds, 1840. Under the name of “Ouida,” a little sister’s mispronunciation of Louisa, she has published many popular novels, exhibiting her free and pessimistic opinions. We mentionTricotin,Folle Farine,Signa,MothsandA Village Commune. She has lived much in Italy, where the scenes of several novels are placed.
Ramee(Pierre de la) called Ramus, French humanist, b. Cuth (Vermandois) 1515. He attacked the doctrines of Aristotle, was accused of impiety, and his work suppressed 1543. He lost his life in the massacre of St. Bartholomew, 26 Aug. 1572.
Ramsey(William James), b. London, 8 June, 1844. Becoming a Freethinker early in life, he for some time sold literature at the Hall of Science and became manager of the Freethought Publishing Co. Starting in business for himself he published theFreethinker, for which in ’82 he was prosecuted with Mr. Foote and Mr. Kemp. Tried in March ’83, after a good defence, he was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment, and on Mr. Foote’s release acted as printer of the paper.
Ranc(Arthur), French writer and deputy, b. Poitiers, 10 Dec. 1831, and was brought up a Freethinker and Republican by his parents. He took the prize for philosophy at the College of Poitiers, and studied law at Paris. He conspired with C. Delescluze against the Second Empire and was imprisoned, but escaped to Geneva. He collaborated onLa Marseillaise, was elected on the Municipal Council of Paris in ’71, and Deputy, ’73. Has writtenUnder the Empireand many other political works.
Randello(Cosimo),Italianauthor ofThe Simple Story of a Great Fraud, being a criticism of the origin of Christianity, directed against Pauline theology, published at Milan, 1882.
Rapisardi(Mario), Italian poet, b. Catania, Sicily, 1843. Has translated Lucretius, ’80, and published poems onLucifer, andThe Last Prayer of Pius IX., ’71, etc.
Raspail(François Vincent), French chemist and politician b. Carpentras 24 Jan. 1794, was brought up by ecclesiastics and intended for the Church. He became, while quite young, professor of philosophy at the theological seminary of Avignon but an examination of theological dogmas led to their rejection. He went to Paris, and from 1815–24 gave lessons, and afterwards became a scientific lecturer. He took part in the Revolution of ’30. Louis Philippe offered him the Legion of Honor but he refused. Taking part in all the revolutionary outbreakshe was frequently imprisoned. Elected to the chamber in ’69 and sat on the extreme left. Died at Arcueil 6 Jan. 1878.
Rau(Herbert), German rationalist b. Frankfort 11 Feb. 1813. He studied theology and became preacher to free congregations in Stuttgart and Mannheim. He wroteGospel of Nature,A Catechism of the Religion of the Future, and other works. Died Frankfort 26 Sept. 1876.
Rawson(Albert Leighton) LL.D. American traveller and author, b. Chester, Vermont 15 Oct. 1829. After studying law, theology, and art, he made four visits to the East, and made in ’51–2 a pilgrimage from Cairo to Mecca, disguised as a Mohammedan student of medicine. He has published many maps and typographical and philological works, and illustrated Beecher’sLife of Jesus. Has also written on theAntiquities of the Orient, New York, ’70, and Chorography of Palestine, London, ’80. Has written in theFreethinkers’ Magazine, maintaining that the Bible account of the twelve tribes of Israel is non-historical.
Raynal(Guillaume Thomas François)l’abbé, French historian and philosopher, b. Saint Geniez, 12 April, 1713. He was brought up as a priest but renounced that profession soon after his removal to Paris, 1747, where he became intimate with Helvetius, Holbach, etc. With the assistance of these, and Diderot, Pechmeja, etc., he compiled a philosophical History of European establishments in the two Indies (4 vols. 1770 and 1780), a work full of reflections on the religious and political institutions of France. It made a great outcry, was censured by the Sorbonne, and was burnt by order of Parliament 29 May, 1781. Raynal escaped and passed about six years in exile. Died near Paris, 6 March, 1796.
Reade(William Winwood), English traveller and writer, nephew of Charles Reade the novelist, b. Murrayfield, near Crieff, Scotland, 26 Dec. 1824. He studied at Oxford, then travelled much in the heart of Africa, and wroteSavage Africa,’63,The African Sketch Book, and in ’73,The Story of the Ashantee Campaign; which he accompanied asTimescorrespondent. In theMartyrdomof Man(’72), he rejects the doctrine of a personal creator. It went through several editions and is still worth reading. He also wroteLiberty Hall, a novel,’60;TheVeil of Isis, ’61, andSee Saw, a novel, ’65. He wrote his last workThe Outcast, a Freethought novel, with the hand of death upon him. Died 24 April, 1875.
Reber(George), American author ofThe Christ of Paul, or the Enigmas of Christianity (New York, 1876), a work in which he exposes the frauds and follies of the early fathers.
Reclus(Jean Jacques Elisée), French geographer and socialist, the son of a Protestant minister, b. Sainte-Foy-la-Grande (Gironde), 15 March, 1830, and educated by the Moravian brethren, and afterwards at Berlin. He early distinguished himself by his love for liberty, and left France after thecoup d’étatof 2 Dec. ’51, and travelled till ’57 in England, Ireland, and the North and South America, devoting himself to studying the social and political as well as physical condition of the countries he visited, the results being published in theTour du monde, andRevue des Deux Mondes, in which he upheld the cause of the North during the American war. In ’71 he supported the Commune and was taken prisoner and sentenced to transportation for life. Many eminent men in England and America interceded and his sentence was commuted to banishment. At the amnesty of March ’79, he returned to Paris, and has devoted himself to the publication of a standardUniversal Geographyin 13 vols. In ’82 he gave two of his daughters in marriage without either religious or civil ceremony. He has written a preface to Bakounin’sGod and the State, and many other works.
Reddalls(George Holland), English Secularist, b. Birmingham, Nov. 1846. He became a compositor on the BirminghamDaily Post, but wishing to conduct a Freethought paper started in business for himself, and issued theSecular Chronicle, ’73, which was contributed to by Francis Neale, H. V. Mayer, G. Standring, etc. He died 13 Oct. 1875.
Reghillini de Schio(M.), Professor of Chemistry and Mathematics, b. of Venetian parents at Schio in 1760. He wrote in French an able exposition ofMasonry, 1833, which he traced to Egypt; and anExamination of Mosaism and Christianity, ’34. He was mixed in the troubles of Venice in ’48, and fled to Belgium, dying in poverty at Brussels Aug. 1853.
Regnard(Albert Adrien), French doctor and publicist, b. Lachante (Nièvre), 20 March, 1836, author ofEssais d’Histoire et de Critique Scientifique(Paris, ’65)—a work for which he could find no publisher, and had to issue himself—in which he proclaimed scientific materialism. Losing his situation, he started, with Naquet and Clemenceau, theRevue Encyclopédique, which being suppressed on its first number, he startedLa Libre Penséewith Asseline, Condereau, etc. His articles in this journal drew on him and Eudes a condemnation of four months’ imprisonment. He wroteNew Researches on Cerebral Congestion, ’68, and was one of the French delegates to the anti-Council of Naples, ’69. Has publishedAtheism, studies of political science, dated Londres, ’78; aHistory of England since 1815; and has translated Büchner’sForce and Matter, ’84. He was delegate to the Freethinkers’ International Congress at Antwerp, ’85.
Regnard(Jean François), French comic poet, b. Paris. 8 Feb. 1655. He went to Italy about 1676, and on returning home was captured by an Algerian corsair and sold as a slave. Being caught in an intrigue with one of the women, he was required to turn Muhammadan. The French consul paid his ransom and he returned to France about 1681. He wrote a number of successful comedies and poems, and was made a treasurer of France. He died as an Epicurean, 4 Sept. 1709.
Regnier(Mathurin), French satirical poet, b. Chartres, 21 Dec. 1573. Brought up for the Church, he showed little inclination for its austerities, and was in fact a complete Pagan, though he obtained a canonry in the cathedral of his native place. Died at Rouen, 22 Oct. 1613.
Reich(Eduard) Dr., German physician and anthropologist of Sclav descent on his father’s side, b. Olmütz, 6 March 1839. He studied at Jena and has travelled much, and published over thirty volumes besides editing theAthenæumof Jena ’75, andUniversitiesof Grossenbain, ’83. Of his works we mentionMan and the Soul, ’72;The Church of Humanity,’74;Life of Man as an Individual, ’81;History of the Soul, ’84;The Emancipation of Women,’84.
Reil(Johann Christian), German physician, b. Rauden, East Friesland, 20 Feb. 1758. Intended for the Church, he took instead to medicine; after practising some years in his nativetown he went in 1787 to Halle, and in 1810 he was made Professor of Medicine at Berlin University. He wrote many medical works, and much advanced medical science, displacing the old ideas in a way which brought on him the accusation of pantheism. Attending a case of typhus fever at Halle he was attacked by the malady, and succumbed 22 Nov. 1813.
Reimarus(Hermann Samuel), German philologist, b. Hamburg, 22 Dec. 1694. He was a son-in-law of J. A. Fabricus. Studied at Jena and Wittenberg; travelled in Holland and England; and was appointed rector of the gymnasium in Weimar, 1723, and in Hamburg, 1729. He was one of the most radical among German rationalists. He published a work onThe Principle Truths of Natural Religion, 1754, and left behind theWolfenbüttelFragments, published by Lessing in 1777. Died at Hamburg, 1 March, 1768. Strauss has written an account of his services, 1862.
Reitzel(Robert), German American revolutionary, b. Baden, 1849. Named after Blum, studied theology, went to America, walked from New York to Baltimore, and was minister to an independent Protestant church. Studied biology and resigned as a minister, and became speaker of a Freethought congregation at Washington for seven years. Is now editor ofDer Arme Teufelof Detroit, and says he “shall be a poor man and a Revolutionaire all my life.”
Remsburg(John E.), American lecturer and writer, b. 1848. Has written a series of pamphlets entitledThe Image Breaker, False Claims of the Christian Church, ’83,Sabbath Breaking, Thomas Paine, and a vigorous onslaught onBible Morals, instancing twenty crimes and vices sanctioned by scripture, ’85.
Renan(Joseph Ernest), learned French writer, b. Tréguier (Brittany) 27 Feb. 1823. Was intended for the Church and went to Paris to study. He became noted for his linguistic attainment, but his studies and independence of thought did not accord with his intended profession. My faith, he says was destroyed not by metaphysics nor philosophy but by historical criticism. In ’45 he gave up all thoughts of an ecclesiastic career and became a teacher. In ’48 he gained the Volney prize, for a memoir on the Semitic Languages, afterwards amplified into a work on that subject. In ’52 he publishedhis work on Averroës and Averroïsm. In ’56 was elected member of the Academy of Inscriptions, and in ’60 sent on a mission to Syria; having in the meantime published a translation ofJobandSong of Songs. Here he wrote his long contemplatedVie de Jesus, ’63. In ’61 he had been appointed Professor of Hebrew in the Institute of France, but denounced by bishops and clergy he was deprived of his chair, which was, however, restored in ’70. The Pope did not disdain to attack him personally as a “French blasphemer.” TheVie de Jesusis part of a comprehensiveHistory of the Origin of Christianity, in 8 vols., ’63–83, which includesThe Apostles,St Paul,Anti-Christ,The Gospels,The Christian Church, andMarcus Aurelius, and the end of the Antique World. Among his other works we must mentionStudies on Religious History(’58),Philosophical Dialogues and Fragments(’76),Spinoza(’77),Caliban, a satirical drama (’80), the Hibbert Lecture on the Influence of Rome on Christians,Souvenirs, ’84;New Studies of Religious History,’84;The Abbess of Jouarre, a drama which made a great sensation in ’86; andThe History of the People of Israel, ’87–89.
Renand(Paul), Belgian author of a work entitledNouvelle Symbolique, on the identity of Christianity and Paganism, published at Brussels in 1861.
Rengart(Karl Fr.), of Berlin, b. 1803, democrat and freethought friend of C. Deubler. Died about 1879.
Renard(Georges), French professor of the Academie of Lausanne; author ofMan, is he Free?1881, and aLife of Voltaire, ’83.
Renouvier(Charles Bernard), French philosopher, b. Montpellier, 1815. An ardent Radical and follower of the critical philosophy. Among his works areManual of Ancient Philosophy(2 vols., ’44);Republican Manual, ’48;Essays of General Criticism, ’54;Science of Morals, ’69; a translation, made with F. Pillon, of Hume’sPsychology, ’78; andA Sketch of a Systematic Classification of Philosophical Doctrines, ’85.
Renton(William), English writer, b. Edinburgh, 1852. Educated in Germany. Wrote poems entitledOil and Water Colors, and a work onThe Logic of Style, ’74. At Keswick he publishedJesus, a psychological estimate of that hero, ’76.Has since published a romance of the last generation calledBishopspool, ’83.
Rethore(François), French professor of philosophy at the Lyceum of Marseilles, b. Amiens, 1822. Author of a work entitledCondillac, or Empiricism and Rationalism, ’64. Has translated H. Spencer’sClassification of Sciences.
Reuschle(Karl Gustav), German geographer, b. Mehrstetten, 12 Dec. 1812. He wrote on Kepler and Astronomy, ’71, and Philosophy and Natural Science, ’74, dedicated to the memory of D. F. Strauss. Died at Stuttgart, 22 May, 1875.
Revillon(Antoine, called Tony), French journalist and deputy, b. Saint-Laurent-les Mâcon (Ain), 29 Dec. 1832. At first a lawyer in ’57, he went to Paris, where he has written on many journals, and published many romances and brochures. In ’81 he was elected deputy.
Rey(Marc Michel), printer and bookseller of Amsterdam. He printed all the works of d’Holbach and Rousseau and some of Voltaire’s, and conducted theJournal des Savans.
Reynaud(Antoine Andre Louis),Baron, French mathematician, b. Paris, 12 Sept. 1777. In 1790 he became one of the National Guard of Paris. He was teacher and examiner for about thirty years in the Polytechnic School. A friend of Lalande. Died Paris, 24 Feb. 1844.
Reynaud(Jean Ernest), French philosopher, b. Lyons, 14 Feb. 1806. For a time he was a Saint Simonian. In ’36 he edited with P. Leroux theEncyclopédie Nouvelle. He was a moderate Democrat in the Assembly of ’48. His chief work, entitledEarth and Heaven, ’54, had great success. It was formally condemned by a clerical council held at Périgueux. Died Paris, 28 June, 1863.
Reynolds(Charles B.), American lecturer, b. 4 Aug. 1832. Was brought up religiously, and became a Seventh Day Baptist preacher, but was converted to Freethought. He was prosecuted for blasphemy at Morristown, New Jersey, May 19, 20, 1887, and was defended by Col. Ingersoll. The verdict was one of guilty, and the sentence was a paltry fine of 25 dollars. Has written in theBoston Investigator,Truthseeker, andIronclad Age.
Reynolds(George William MacArthur), English writer; author of many novels. WroteErrors of the Christian Religion, 1832.
Rialle(J.Girardde), French anthropologist, b. Paris 1841. He wrote inLa Pensée Nouvelle, conducted theRevue de Linguistique et de Philologie comparée, and has written onComparative Mythology,dealing with fetishism, etc., ’78, and works on Ethnology.
Ribelt(Léonce), French publicist, b. Bordeaux 1824, author of several political works and collaborator onLa Morale Indépendante.
Ribeyrolles(Charles de), French politician, b. near Martel (Lot) 1812. Intended for the Church, he became a social democrat; edited theEmancipationof Toulouse, andLa Réformein ’48. A friend of V. Hugo, he shared in his exile at Jersey. Died at Rio-Janeiro, 13 June, 1861.
Ribot(Théodule), French philosopher, b. Guingamp (Côtes du-Nord) 1839; has writtenContemporary English Psychology’70, a resume of the views of Mill, Bain, and Spencer, whosePrinciples of Psychologyhe has translated. Has also written onHeredity, ’73;The Philosophy of Schopenhauer, ’74; The maladies of Memory, personality and Will, 3 vols.; and Contemporary German Psychology. He conducts theRevue Philosophique.
Ricciardi(GiuseppeNapoleone), Count, Italian patriot, b. Capodimonte (Naples), 19 July, 1808, son of Francesco Ricciardi, Count of Camaldoli, 1758–1842. Early in life he published patriotic poems. He says that never after he was nineteen did he kneel before a priest. In ’32 he founded at NaplesIl Progresso, a review of science, literature, and art. Arrested in ’34 as a Republican conspirator, he was imprisoned eight months and then lived in exile in France until ’48. Here he wrote in theRevue Indépendante, pointing out that the Papacy from its very essence was incompatible with liberty. Elected deputy to the Neapolitan Parliament, he sat on the extreme left. He wrote aHistory of the Revolution of Italy in ’48(Paris ’49). Condemned to death in ’53, his fortune was seized. He wrote anItalian Martyrology from 1792–1847(Turin ’56), andThe Pope and Italy, ’62. At the time of theEcumenicalCouncil hecalled an Anti-council of Freethinkers at Naples, ’69. This was dissolved by the Italian government, but it led to the International Federation of Freethinkers. Count Ricciardi published an account of the congress. His last work was a life of his friend Mauro Macchi, ’82. Died 1884.
Richepin(Jean), French poet, novelist, and dramatist, b. Médéah (Algeria) in 1849. He began life as a doctor, and during the Franco-German war took to journalism. In ’76 he published theSong of the Beggars, which was suppressed. In ’84 appearedLes Blasphèmes, which has gone through several editions.
Richer(Léon), French Deist and journalist, b. Laigh, 1824. He was with A. Guéroult editor ofl’Opinion Nationale, and in ’69 founded and editsL’Avenir des Femmes. In ’68 he publishedLetters of a Freethinker to a Village Priest, and has written many volumes in favor of the emancipation of women, collaborating with Mdlle. Desraismes in the Women’s Rights congresses held in Paris.
Rickman(Thomas Clio), English Radical. He published several volumes of poems and a life of his friend Thomas Paine, 1819, of whom he also published an excellent portrait painted by Romney and engraved by Sharpe.
Riem(Andreas), German rationalist b. Frankenthal 1749. He became a preacher, and was appointed by Frederick the Great chaplain of a hospital at Berlin. This he quitted in order to become secretary of the Academy of Painting. He wrote anonymously on theAufklaring. Died 1807.
Ritter(Charles), Swiss writer b. Geneva 1838, and has translated into French Strauss’s Essay of Religious History, George Eliot’sFragments and Thoughts, and Zeller’sChristian Baur and the Tübingen School.
Roalfe(Matilda), a brave woman, b. 1813. At the time of the blasphemy prosecutions in 1843, she went from London to Edinburgh to uphold the right of free publication. She opened a shop and circulated a manifesto setting forth her determination to sell works she deemed useful “whether they did or did not bring into contempt the Holy Scriptures and the Christian Religion.” When prosecuted for sellingThe Age of Reason,TheOracle of Reason, etc., she expressed her intention of continuing her offence as soon as liberated. She was sentenced to two months imprisonment 23 Jan. ’44, and on her liberation continued the sale of the prosecuted works. She afterwards married Mr. Walter Sanderson and settled at Galashiels, where she died 29 Nov. 1880.
Robert(Pierre François Joseph), French conventionnel and friend of Brissot and Danton, b. Gimnée (Ardennes) 21 Jan. 1763. Brought up to the law he became professor of public law to the philosophical society. He was nominated deputy for Paris, and wroteRepublicanism adapted to France, 1790, became secretary to Danton, and voted for the death of the king. He wrote in Prudhomme’sRévolutions de Paris. Died at Brussels 1826.
Robertson(A. D.), editor of theFree Enquirer, published at New York, 1835.
Robertson(John Mackinnon), Scotch critic, b. Arran, 14 Nov. 1856. He became journalist on theEdinburgh Evening News, and afterwards on theNational Reformer. Mr. Robertson has published a study of Walt Whitman in the “Round Table Series.”Essays towards a Critical Method, ’89, and has contributed toOur Corner,Time, notably an article on Mithraism, March, ’89,The Westminster Review, etc. He has also issued pamphlets onSocialism andMalthusianism, andToryism and Barbarism, ’85, and edited Hume’sEssay on Natural Religion, ’89.
Roberty(Eugène de), French positivist writer, of Russian birth, b. Podolia (Russia), 1843; author of works on Sociology, Paris, ’81, andThe Old and the New Philosophy, an essay on the general laws of philosophic development, ’87. He has recently written a work entitledThe Unknowable, ’89.
Robin(Charles Philippe), French physician, senator member of the Institute and of the Academy of Medecine, b. Jasseron (Aix), 4 June, 1821. Became M.D. in ’46, and D.Sc. ’47. In company with Littré he refounded Nysten’sDictionary of Medicine, and he has written many important medical works, and one onInstruction. In ’72 his name was struck out of the list of jurors on the ground of his unbelief in God, and it thus remained despite many protests until ’76. In the same yearhe was elected Senator, and sits with the Republican Left. He has been decorated with the Legion of Honor.
Robinet(Jean Baptiste René), French philosopher, b. Rennes, 23 June, 1735. He became a Jesuit, but gave it up and went to Holland to publish his curious work,De la Nature, 1776, by some attributed to Toussaint and to Diderot. He continued Marsy’sAnalysis of Bayle, edited theSecret Lettersof Voltaire, translated Hume’sMoral Essays, and took part in theRecueil Philosophique, published by J. L. Castilhon. Died at Rennes, 24 March, 1820.
Robinet(Jean Eugène François), French physician and publicist, b. Vic-sur-Seille, 1825. He early attached himself to the person and doctrine of Auguste Comte, and became his physician and one of his executors. During the war of ’70 he was made Mayor of the Sixth Arrondissement of Paris. He has written aNotice of the Work and Life of A. Comte, ’60, a memoir of the private life ofDanton, ’65,The Trial of the Dantonists, ’79, and contributed an account of thePositive Philosophy of A. Comte and P. Lafitteto the “BibliothèqueUtile,” vol. 66, ’81.
Roell(Hermann Alexander), German theologian, b. 1653, author of a Deistic dissertation on natural religion, published at Frankfort in 1700. Died Amsterdam, 12 July, 1718.
Rogeard(Louis Auguste), French publicist, b. Chartres, 25 April, 1820. Became a teacher but was dismissed for refusing to attend mass. In ’49 he moved to Paris and took part in the revolutionary movement. He was several times imprisoned under the Empire, and in ’65 was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for writingLes Propos de Labienus(London,i.e.Zürich), ’65. He fled to Belgium and wrote some excellent criticism on the Bible in theRive Gauche. In ’71 he assisted Pyat onLe Vengeur, and was elected on the Commune but declined to sit. An incisive writer, he signed himself “Atheist.” Is still living in Paris.
Rokitansky(Karl), German physician and scientist, founder of theVienneseschool in medicine, b. Königgrätz (Bohemia) 11 Feb. 1804, studied medicine at Prague and Vienna, and received his degree of Doctor in ’28. His principal work is aManual of Practical Anatomy, ’42–6. Died Vienna, 23 July, 1878.
Roland(Marie Jeanne),néePhlipon, French patriot, b. Paris, 17 March, 1754. Fond of reading,Plutarch’s Livesinfluenced her greatly. At a convent she noted the names of sceptics attached and read their writings, being, she says, in turn Jansenist, stoic, sceptic, atheist, and deist. The last she remained, though Miss Blind classes her with Agnostics. After her marriage in 1779 with Jean Marie Roland de la Platiêre (b. Lyons, 1732), Madame Roland shared the tasks and studies of her husband, and the Revolution found her an ardent consort. On the appointment of her husband to the ministry, she became the centre of a Girondist circle. Carlyle calls her “the creature of Simplicity and Nature, in an age of Artificiality, Pollution, and Cant,” and “the noblest of all living Frenchwomen.” On the fall of her party she was imprisoned, and finally executed, 8 Nov. 1793. Her husband, then in hiding, hearing of her death, deliberately stabbed himself, 15 Nov. 1793.