Chapter 5

Cooper(Anthony Ashley), seeShaftesbury.Cooper(Henry), barrister, b. Norwich about 1784. He was a schoolfellow of Wm. Taylor of Norwich. He served as midshipman at the battle of the Nile, but disliking the service became a barrister, and acquired some fame by his spirited defence of Mary Ann Carlile, 21 July, 1821, for which the report of the trial was dedicated to him by R. Carlile. He was a friend of Lord Erskine, whose biography he commenced. Died 19 Sept. 1824.Cooper(John Gilbert), poet, b. Thurgaton Priory, Notts, 1723. Educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. An enthusiastic disciple of Lord Shaftesbury. Under the name of “Philaretes” he contributed to Dodsley’s Museum. In 1749 he published aLife of Socrates, for which he was coarsely attacked by Warburton. He wrote some poems under the signature of Aristippus. Died Mayfair, London, 14 April, 1769.Cooper(Peter), a benevolent manufacturer, b. N. York, 12 Feb. 1791. He devoted over half a million dollars to theCooper Institute, for the secular instruction and elevation of the working classes. Died 4 April, 1883.Cooper(Robert), Secularist writer and lecturer, b. 29 Dec. 1819, at Barton-on-Irwell, near Manchester. He had the advantage of being brought up in a Freethought family. At fourteen he became teacher in the Co-operative Schools, Salford, lectured at fifteen, and by seventeen became an acknowledged advocate of Owenism, holding a public discussion with the Rev. J. Bromley. Some of his lectures were published—one onOriginal Sinsold twelve thousand copies—when he was scarcely eighteen. TheHoly Scriptures Analysed(1832) was denounced by the Bishop of Exeter in the House of Lords. Cooper was dismissed from a situation he had held ten years, and in 1841 became a Socialist missionary in the North of England and Scotland. At Edinburgh (1845) he wroteFree AgencyandOrthodoxy, and compiled theInfidel’s Text Book. About ’50 he came to London, lecturing with success at John Street Institution. In ’54 he started theLondon Investigator, which he edited for three years. In it appears his lectures on “Sciencev.Theology,” “Admissions of Distinguished Men,” etc. Failing health obliged him to retire leaving theInvestigatorto “Anthony Collins” (W. H. Johnson), and afterwards to “Iconoclast” (C. Bradlaugh). At his last lecture he fainted on the platform. In 1858 he remodelled hisInfidel Text-Bookinto a work onThe Bible and Its Evidences. He devoted himself to political reform until his death, 3 May, 1868.Cooper(Thomas), M.D., LL.D., natural philosopher, politician, jurist and author, b. London, 22 Oct. 1759. Educated at Oxford, he afterwards studied law and medicine; was admitted to the bar and lived at Manchester, where he wrote a number of tracts on “Materialism,” “Whether Deity be a Free Agent,” etc., 1789. Deputed with James Watt, the inventor, by the Constitutional clubs to congratulate the Democrats of France (April, 1792), he was attacked by Burke and replied in a vigorous pamphlet. In ’94 he publishedInformation Concerning America, and in the next year followed his friend Priestly to Philadelphia, established himself as a lawyer and was made judge. He also conducted theEmporium of Arts and Sciencesin that city. He was Professor of Medicine at Carlisle College,’12, and afterwards held the chairs both of Chemistry and Political Economy in South Carolina College, of which he became President, 1820–34. This position he was forced to resign on account of his religious views. He translated from Justinian and Broussais, and digested the Statutes of South Carolina. In philosophy a Materialist, in religion a Freethinker, in politics a Democrat, he urged his views in many pamphlets. One onThe Right of Free Discussion, and a little book onGeology and the Pentateuch, in reply to Prof. Silliman, were republished in London by James Watson. Died at Columbia, 11 May, 1840.1Coornhert(Dirk Volkertszoon), Dutch humanist, poet and writer, b. Amsterdam, 1522. He travelled in his youth through Spain and Portugal. He set up as an engraver at Haarlem, and became thereafter notary and secretary of the city of Haarlem. He had a profound horror of intolerance, and defended liberty against Beza and Calvin. The clergy vituperated him as a Judas and as instigated by Satan, etc. Bayle, who writes of him as Theodore Koornhert, says he communed neither with Protestants nor Catholics. The magistrates of Delft drove him out of their city. He translated Cicero’sDe Officiis, and other works. Died at Gouda, 20 Oct. 1590.Cordonnier de Saint Hyacinthe.SeeSaint-Hyacinthe (Themiseuil de).Corvin-Wiersbitski(Otto Julius Bernhard von), Prussian Pole of noble family, who traced their descent from the Roman Corvinii, b. Gumbinnen, 12 Oct. 1812. He served in the Prussian army, where he met his friend Friedrich von Sallet; retired into the Landwehr 1835, went to Leipsic and entered upon a literary career, wrote the History of the Dutch Revolution, 1841; theHistory of Christian Fanaticism, 1845, which was suppressed in Austria. He took part with the democrats in ’48; was condemned to be shot 15 Sept. ’49, but the sentence was commuted; spent six years’ solitary confinement in prison; came to London, became correspondent to theTimes; went through American Civil War, and afterwards Franco-PrussianWar, as a special correspondent. He has written a History of the New Time, 1848–71. Died since 1886.Cotta(Bernhard), German geologist, b. Little Zillbach, Thuringia, 24 Oct. 1808. He studied at the Academy of Mining, in Freiberg, where he was appointed professor in ’42. His first production,The Dendroliths, ’32, proved him a diligent investigator. It was followed by many geological treatises. Cotta did much to support the nebular hypothesis and the law of natural development without miraculous agency. He also wrote on phrenology. Died atFreiburg, 13 Sept 1879.Cotta(C. Aurelius), Roman philosopher, orator and statesman, b.B.C.124. In ’75 he became Consul. On the expiration of his office he obtained Gaul as a province. Cicero had a high opinion of him and gives his sceptical arguments in the third book of hisDe Natura Deorum.Courier(Paul Louis), French writer, b. Paris, 4 Jan. 1772. He entered the army and became an officer of artillery, serving with distinction in the Army of the Republic. He wrote many pamphlets, directed against the clerical restoration, which place him foremost among the literary men of the generation. His writings are now classics, but they brought him nothing but imprisonment, and he was apparently assassinated, 10 April, 1825. He had a presentiment that the bigots would kill him.Coventry(Henry), a native of Cambridgeshire, b. about 1710, Fellow of Magdalene College, author ofLetters of Philemon to Hydaspus on False Religion(1736). Died 29 Dec. 1752.Coward(William), M.D., b. Winchester, 1656. Graduated at Wadham College, Oxford, 1677. Settled first at Northampton, afterwards at London. Published, besides some medical works,Second Thoughts Concerning Human Soul, which excited much indignation by denying natural immortality. The House of Commons (17 March, 1704) ordered his work to be burnt. He died in 1725.Cox(the Right Rev. Sir George William), b. 1827, was educated at Rugby and Oxford, where he took B.C.L. in 1849. Entered the Church, but has devoted himself to history and mythology. His most pretentious work isMythology of the Aryan Nations(1870). He has also written anIntroduction to Comparative Mythologyand several historical works. In 1886 he became Bishop of Bloemfontein. He is credited with the authorship of theEnglish Life of Jesus, published under the name of Thomas Scott. At the Church Congress of 1888 he read an heretical paper on Biblical Eschatology. His last production is aLife of Bishop Colenso, 2 vols, 1888.Coyteux(Fernand), French writer, b. Ruffec, 1800. Author of a materialistic system of philosophy, Brussels, 1853 Studies on physiology, Paris, 1875, etc.Craig(Edward Thomas), social reformer, b. at Manchester 4 Aug. 1804. He was present at the Peterloo massacre ’19; helped to form the Salford Social Institute and became a pioneer of co-operation. In ’31 he became editor of theLancashire Co-operator. In Nov. of the same year he undertook the management of a co-operative farm at Rahaline, co. Clare. Of this experiment he has written an history, ’72. Mr. Craig has edited several journals and contributed largely to Radical and co-operative literature. He has published a memoir of Dr. Travis and at the age of 84 he wrote onThe Science of Prolonging Life.Cramer(Johan Nicolai), Swedish writer, b. Wisby, Gottland, 18 Feb. 1812. He studied at Upsala and became Doctor of Philosophy ’36; ordained priest in ’42; he resigned in ’58. In religion he denies revelation and insists on the separation of Church and State. Among his works we mentionSeparation from the Church, a Freethinker’s annotations on the reading of the Bible, Stockholm, 1859.A Confession of Faith; Forward or Back?(1862). He has also written on the Punishment of Death (1868), and other topics.Cranbrook(Rev. James.) Born of strict Calvinistic parents about 1817. Mr. Cranbrook gradually emancipated himself from dogmas, became a teacher, and for sixteen years was minister of an Independent Church at Liscard, Cheshire. He also was professor at the Ladies’ College, Liverpool, some of his lectures there being published ’57. In Jan. ’65, he went to Albany Church, Edinburgh, but his views being too broad for that congregation, he left in Feb. ’67 but continued to give Sunday lectures until his death, 6 June, 1869. In ’66 he publishedCredibilia: an Inquiry into the grounds of Christian faith and two years laterThe Founders of Christianity, discourses on the origin of Christianity. Other lectures onHuman Depravity,Positive Religion, etc., were published by Thomas Scott.Cranch(Christopher Pearse), American painter and poet, b. Alexandria, Virginia, 8 March, 1813, graduated at divinity school, Cambridge, Mass. ’35, but left the ministry in ’42. He shows his Freethought sentiments inSatan, a Libretto, Boston, ’74, and other works.Craven(M. B.), American, author of a critical work on the Bible entitledTriumph of Criticism, published at Philadelphia, 1869.Cremonini(Cesare), Italian philosopher, b. Cento, Ferrara, 1550, was professor of philosophy at Padua from 1591 to 1631, when he died. A follower of Aristotle, he excited suspicion by his want of religion and his teaching the mortality of the soul. He was frequently ordered by the Jesuits and the Inquisition to refute the errors he gave currency to, but he was protected by the Venetian State, and refused. Like most of the philosophers of his time, he distinguished between religious and philosophic truth. Bayle says. “Il a passé pour un esprit fort, qui ne croyait point l’immortalité de l’âme.” Larousse says, “On peut dire qu’iln’étaitpas chrétien.” Ladvocat says his works “contain many things contrary to religion.”Cross(Mary Ann). SeeEliot (George).Crousse(Louis D.), French Pantheistic philosopher, author ofPrinciples, or First Philosophy, 1839, andThoughts, 1845.Curtis(S. E.), English Freethinker, author ofTheology Displayed, 1842. He has been credited withThe Protestant’s Progress to Infidelity. See Griffith (Rees). Died 1847.Croly(David Goodman), American Positivist, b. New York,3 Nov. 1829. He graduated at New York University in ’54, and was subsequently a reporter on theNew York Herald. He became editor of theNew York Worlduntil ’72. From ’71 to ’73 he editedThe Modern Thinker, an organ of the most advanced thought, and afterwards theNew York Graphic. Mr. Croly has written aPrimer of Positivism, ’76, and has contributed manyarticles to periodicals. His wife, Jane Cunningham, who calls herself “Jennie June,” b. 1831, also wrote inThe Modern Thinker.Cross(MaryAnn), seeEliot (George).Crozier(John Beattie), English writer of Scottish border parentage, b. Galt, Ontario, Canada, 23 April, 1849. In youth he won a scholarship to the grammar school of the town, and thence won another scholarship to the Toronto University, where he graduated ’72, taking the University and Starr medals. He then came to London determined to study the great problems of religion and civilisation. He took his diploma from the London College of Physicians in ’73. In ’77 he wrote his first essay, “God or Force,” which, being rejected by all the magazines, he published as a pamphlet. Other essays on the Constitution of the World, Carlyle, Emerson, and Spencer being also rejected, he published them in a book entitledThe Religion of the Future, ’80, which fell flat. He then started his workCivilisation and Progress, which appeared in ’85, and was also unsuccessful until republished with a few notices in ’87, when it received a chorus of applause, for its clear and original thoughts. Mr. Crozier is now engaged on his Autobiography, after which he proposes to deal with the Social question.Cuffeler(Abraham Johann), a Dutch philosopher and doctor of law, who was one of the first partizans of Spinoza. He lived at Utrecht towards the end of the seventeenth century, and wrote a work on logic in three parts entitledSpecimen Artis Ratiocinandi, etc., published ostensibly at Hamburg, but really at Amsterdam or Utrecht, 1684. It was without name but with the author’s portrait.Cuper(Frans), Dutch writer, b. Rotterdam. Cuper is suspected to have been one of those followers of Spinoza, who under pretence of refuting him, set forth and sustained his arguments by feeble opposition. His work entitledArcana Atheismi Revelata, Rotterdam 1676, was denounced as written in bad faith. Cuper maintained that the existence of God could not be proved by the light of reason.Cyrano de Bergerac(Savinien), French comic writer, b. Paris 6 March, 1619. After finishing his studies and serving in the army in his youth he devoted himself to literature. His tragedy “Agrippine” is full of what a bookseller called “bellesimpiétés,” and La Monnoye relates that at its performance the pit shouted “Oh, the wretch! The Atheist! How he mocks at holy things!” Cyrano knew personally Campanella, Gassendi, Lamothe Le Vayer, Linière, Rohault, etc. His other works consist of a short fragment onPhysic, a collection ofLetters, and aComic History of the States and Empires of the Moon and the Sun. Cyrano took the idea of this book from F. Godwin’sMan in the Moon, 1583, and it in turn gave rise to Swift’sGulliver’s Travelsand Voltaire’sMicromegas. Died Paris, 1655.Czolbe(Heinrich), German Materialist, b. near Dantzic, 30 Dec. 1819, studied medicine at Berlin, writing an inaugural dissertation on thePrinciples of Physiology, ’44. In ’55 he published hisNew Exposition of Sensationalism, in which everything is resolved into matter and motion, and in ’65 a work onThe Limits and Origin of Human Knowledge. He was an intimate friend of Ueberweg. Died at Königsberg, 19 Feb. 1873. Lange says “his life was marked by a deep and genuine morality.”D’Ablaing.SeeGiessenburg.Dale(Antonius van), Dutch writer, b. Haarlem, 8 Nov. 1638. His work on oracles was erudite but lumbersome, and to it Fontenelle gave the charm of style. It was translated into English by Mrs. Aphra Behn, under the title ofThe History of Oracles and the Cheats of Pagan Priests, 1699. Van Dale, in another work onThe Origin and Progress of Idolatry and Superstition, applied the historical method to his subject, and showed that the belief in demons was as old and as extensive as the human race. He died at Haarlem, 28 Nov. 1708.Damilaville(Etienne Noël), French writer, b. at Bordeaux, 1721. At first a soldier, then a clerk, he did some service for Voltaire, who became his friend. He also made the friendship Diderot, d’Alembert, Grimm, and d’Holbach. He contributed to theEncyclopédie, and in 1767 published an attack on the theologians, entitledTheological Honesty. The book entitledChristianity Unveiled[seeBoulangerandHolbach] was attributed by Voltaire, who called itImpiety Unveiled, and by La Harpe and Lalande to Damilaville. Voltaire called him “one of our most learned writers.” Larousse says “he was an ardent enemy of Christianity.” He has also been credited with a share in theSystem of Nature. Died 15 Dec. 1768.Dandolo(Vincenzo)Count, Italian chemist, b. Venice, 26 Oct. 1758, wrotePrinciples of Physical Chemistry, a work in French onThe New Men, in which he shows his antagonism to religion, and many useful works on vine, timber, and silk culture. Died Varessa, 13 Dec. 1819.Danton(Georges Jacques), French revolutionist, b. Arcis sur Aube, 28 Oct. 1759. An uncle wished him to enter into orders, but he preferred to study law. During the Revolution his eloquence made him conspicuous at the Club of Cordeliers, and in Feb. 1791, he became one of the administrators of Paris. One of the first to see that after the flight of Louis XVI. he could no longer be king, he demanded his suspension, and became one of the chief organisers of the Republic. In the alarm caused by the invasion he urged a bold and resolute policy. He was a member of the Convention and of the Committee of Public Safety. At the crisis of the struggle with Robespierre,Danton declined to strike the first blow and disdained to fly. Arrested March, 1794, he said when interrogated by the judge, “My name is Danton, my dwelling will soon be in annihilation; but my name will live in the Pantheon of history.” He maintained his lofty bearing on the scaffold, where he perished 5 April, 1794. For his known scepticism Danton was calledfils de Diderot. Carlyle calls him “a very Man.”Dapper(Olfert), Dutch physician, who occupied himself with history and geography, on which he produced important works. He had no religion and was suspected of Atheism. He travelled through Syria, Babylonia, etc., in 1650. He translated Herodotus (1664) and the orations of the late Prof. Caspar v. Baerli (1663), and wrote aHistory of the City of Amsterdam, 1663. Died at Amsterdam 1690.Darget(Etienne), b. Paris, 1712; went to Berlin in 1744 and became reader and private secretary to Frederick the Great (1745–52), who corresponded with him afterwards. Died 1778.Darwin(Charles Robert), English naturalist, b. Shrewsbury, 12 Feb. 1809. Educated at Shrewsbury, Edinburgh University, and Cambridge. He early evinced a taste for collecting and observing natural objects. He was intended for a clergyman, but, incited by Humboldt’sPersonal Narrative, resolved totravel. He accompanied Captain Fitzroy in the “Beagle” on a voyage of exploration, ’31–36, which he narrated in hisVoyage of a Naturalist Round the World, which obtained great popularity. In ’39 he married, and in ’42 left London and settled at Down, Kent. His studies, combined with the reading of Lamarck and Malthus, led to his great work onThe Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, ’59, which made a great outcry and marked an epoch. Darwin took no part in the controversy raised by the theologians, but followed his work withThe Fertilisation of Orchids, ’62;Cross and Self Fertilisation of Plants, ’67;Variations of Plants and Animals under Domestication, ’65; and in ’71The Descent of Man and Selection in relation to Sex, which caused yet greater consternation in orthodox circles. The following year he issuedThe Expression of the Emotions of Men and Animals. He also published works on theMovements of Plants,Insectivorous Plants, theForms of Flowers, andEarthworms. He died 19 April, 1882, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, despite his expressed unbelief in revelation. To a German student he wrote, in ’79, “Science has nothing to do with Christ, except in so far as the habit of scientific research makes a man cautious in admitting evidence. For myself I do not believe that there ever has been any revelation.” In hisLife and Lettershe relates that between 1836 and 1842 he had come to see “that the Old Testament was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindoos.” He rejected design and said “I for one must be content to remain an Agnostic.”Darwin(Erasmus), Dr., poet, physiologist and philosopher, grandfather of the above, was born at Elston, near Newark, 12 Dec. 1731. Educated at Chesterfield and Cambridge he became a physician, first at Lichfield and afterwards at Derby. He was acquainted with Rousseau, Watt and Wedgwood. His principal poem,The Botanic Gardenwas published in 1791, andThe Temple of Naturein 1803. His principal work isZoomania, or the laws of organic life (1794), for which he was accused of Atheism. He was actually a Deist. He also wrote on female education and some papers in thePhilosophical Transactions. Died at Derby, 18 April, 1802.Daubermesnil(François Antoine), French conventionalist. Elected deputy of Tarn in 1792. Afterwards became a memberof the Council of Five Hundred. He was one of the founders of Theophilanthropy. Died at Perpignan 1802.Daudet(Alphonse), French novelist, b. at Nîmes, 13 May 1840, author of many popular romances, of which we mentionL’Evangeliste, ’82, which has been translated into English under the titlePort Salvation.Daunou(Pierre Claude François), French politician and historian, b. Boulogne, 18 Aug. 1761. His father entered him in the congregation of the Fathers of the Oratory, which he left at the Revolution. The department of Calais elected him with Carnot and Thomas Paine to the Convention. After the Revolution he became librarian at the Pantheon. He was a friend of Garat, Cabanis, Chenier, Destutt Tracy, Ginguené and Benj. Constant. WroteHistorical Essay on the Temporal Power of the Popes, 1810. Died at Paris, 20 June, 1840, noted for his benevolence.Davenport(Allen), social reformer, b. 1773. He contributed to Carlile’sRepublican; wrote an account of the Life, Writings and Principles of Thomas Spence, the reformer (1826); and published a volume of verse, entitledThe Muses’ Wreath(1827). Died at Highbury, London, 1846.Davenport(John), Deist, b. London, 8 June, 1789, became a teacher. He wroteAn Apology for Mohammed and the Koran, 1869;Curiositates Eroticœ Physiologæ, or Tabooed Subjects Freely Treated, and several educational works. Died in poverty 11 May, 1877.David of Dinant, in Belgium, Pantheistic philosopher of the twelfth century. He is said to have visited the Papal Court of Innocent III. He shared in the heresies of Amalric of Chârtres, and his workQuateriniwas condemned and burnt (1209). He only escaped the stake by rapid flight. According to Albert the Great he was the author of a philosophical workDe Tomis, “Of Subdivisions,” in which he taught that all things were one. His system was similar to that of Spinoza.David(Jacques Louis), French painter, born at Paris, 31 Aug. 1748, was made painter to the king, but joined the Jacobin Club, became a member of the Convention, voted for the king’s death and for the civic festivals, for which he made designs.On the restoration he was banished. Died at Brussels, 29 Dec. 1825. David was an honest enthusiast and a thorough Freethinker.DavidisorDavid(Ferencz), a Transylvanian divine, b. about 1510. He was successively a Roman Catholic, a Lutheran and an Antitrinitarian. He went further than F. Socinus and declared there was “as much foundation for praying to the Virgin Mary and other dead saints as to Jesus Christ.” He was in consequence accused of Judaising and thrown into prison at Deva, where he died 6 June, 1579.Davies(John C.), of Stockport, an English Jacobin, who in 1797 published a list of contradictions of the Bible under the title ofThe Scripturian’s Creed, for which he was prosecuted and imprisoned. The work was republished by Carlile, 1822, and also at Manchester, 1839.Davidson(Thomas), bookseller and publisher, was prosecuted by the Vice Society in Oct. 1820, for selling theRepublicanand a publication of his own, called theDeist’s Magazine. For observations made in his defence he was summoned and fined £100, and he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in Oakham Gaol. He died 16 Dec. 1826.Debierre(Charles), French writer, author ofMan Before History, 1888.De Dominicis.SeeDominicis.De Felice(Francesco), Italian writer, b. Catania, Sicily, 1821, took part in the revolution of ’43, and when Garibaldi landed in Sicily was appointed president of the provisional council of war. Has written on the reformation of elementary schools.De Greef(Guillaume Joseph), advocate at Brussels Court of Appeal, b. at Brussels, 9 Oct. 1842. Author of an importantIntroduction to Sociology, 1886. Wrote inLa Liberté, 1867–73, and now writes inLa Societé Nouvelle.De Gubernatis(Angelo), Italian Orientalist and writer, b. Turin, 7 April, 1840; studied at Turin University and became doctor of philosophy. He studied Sanskrit under Bopp and Weber at Berlin. Sig. de Gubernatis has adorned Italian literature with many important works, of which we mention his volumes onZoological Mythology, which has beentranslated into English, ’72: and on theMythology of Plants. He has compiled and in large part written aUniversal History of Literature, 18 vols. ’82–85; editedLa Revista Europeaand theRevue Internationale, and contributed to many publications. He is a brilliant writer and a versatile scholar.De Harven(Emile Jean Alexandre), b. Antwerp, 23 Sept. 1837, the anonymous author of a work onThe Soul: its Origin and Destiny(Antwerp, 1879).Dekker(Eduard Douwes), the greatest Dutch writer and Freethinker of this century, b. Amsterdam, 2 March, 1820. In ’39 he accompanied his father, a ship’s captain, to the Malayan Archipelago. He became officer under the Dutch government in Sumatra, Amboina, and Assistant-Resident at Lebac, Java. He desired to free the Javanese from the oppression of their princes, but the government would not help him and he resigned and returned to Holland, ’56. The next four years he spent, in poverty, vainly seeking justice for the Javanese. In ’60 he published under the pen name of “Multatuli”Max Havelaar, a masterly indictment of the Dutch rule in India, which has been translated into German, French and English. Then follow his choiceMinnebrieven(Love Letters), ’61;Vorstenschool(A School for Princes), andMillioenenStudiën(Studies on Millions). HisIdeën, 7 vols. ’62–79, are full of the boldest heresy. In most of his works religion is attacked, but in theIdeasfaith is criticised with much more pungency and satire. He wrote “Faith is the voluntary prison-cell of reason.” He was an honorary member of the Freethought Society,De Dageraad, and contributed to its organ. During the latter years of his life he lived at Wiesbaden, where he died 19 Feb. 1887. His corpse was burned in the crematory at Gotha.De Lalande(seeLalande).Delambre(Jean Baptiste Joseph), French astronomer, b. Amiens, 19 Sept. 1749, studied under Lalande and became, like his master, an Atheist. His Tables of the Orbit of Uranus were crowned by the Academy, 1790. In 1807 he succeeded Lalande as Professor of Astronomy at the Collége de France. He is the author of aHistory of Astronomyin five volumes, and of a number of astronomical tables and other scientific works He was appointed perpetual secretary of the Academy ofSciences. Died 19 Aug. 1822, and was buried at Père la Chaise. Cuvier pronouncing a discourse over his grave.De la Ramee.SeeRamée.Delbœuf(Joseph Remi Léopold), Belgian writer, b. Liège, 30 Sept. 1831; is Professor at the University of Liège, and has writtenPsychology as a Natural Science, its Present and its Future; Application of the Experimental Method to the Phenomena of the Soul, ’73, and other works. In hisPhilosophical Prolegomena to Geometryhe suggests that even mathematical axioms may have an empirical origin.Delbos(Léon), linguist, b. 20 Sept. 1849 of Spanish father and Scotch mother. Educated in Paris, Lycée Charlemagne. Is an M.A. of Paris andofficier d’Académie. Speaks many languages, and is a good Arabic and Sanskrit scholar. Has travelled widely and served in the Franco-German War. Besides many educational works, M. Delbos has writtenL’Athée, the Atheist, a Freethought romance ’79, and in EnglishThe Faith in Jesus not a New Faith, ’85. He has contributed to theAgnostic Annual, and is a decided Agnostic.Delepierre(Joseph Octave), Belgian bibliophile, b. Bruges, 12 March, 1802. Was for thirty-five years secretary of Legation to England. His daughter married N. Truebner, who published his workL’Enfer, 1876, and many other bibliographical studies. Died London, 18 Aug. 1879.Delescluze(Louis Charles), French journalist and revolutionary, b. Dreux, 2 Oct. 1809, was arrested in ’34 for sedition. Implicated in a plot in ’35, he took refuge in Belgium. In ’48 he issued at ParisLa Revolution Démocratique et Sociale, but was soon again in prison. He was banished, came to England with Ledru Rollin, but returning to France in ’53 was arrested. In ’68 he published theRéveil, for which he was again fined and sentenced to prison for ten years. In ’59 he was amnestied and imprisoned. He became head of the Commune Committee of Public Safety, and died at the barricade, 25 May, 1871.Deleyre(Alexandre), French writer, b. Porbats, near Bordeaux, 6 Jan. 1726. Early in life he entered the order of Jesuits, but changed his faith and became the friend of Rousseau and Diderot. He contributed to theEncyclopédie, notably the article“Fanatisme,” and published an analysis of Bacon and works on the genius of Montesquieu and Saint Evremond, and a History of Voyages. He embraced the Revolution with ardor, was made deputy to the Convention, and in 1795 was made member of the Institute. Died at Paris, 27 March, 1797.Delisle de Sales.SeeIsoard Delisle (J. B. C.)Dell(John Henry), artist and poet, b. 11 Aug. 1832. Contributed toProgress, wroteNature Pictures, ’71, andThe Dawning Grey, ’85, a volume of vigorous verse, imbued with the spirit of democracy and freethought. Died 31 Jan. 1888.Deluc(Adolphe), Professor of Chemistry at Brussels, b. Paris, 1 Sept. 1811. Collaborated onLa Libre Recherche.De Maillet.SeeMaillet (Benoît de).Democritus, a wealthy Atheistic philosopher, b. Abdera, Thrace,B.C.460. He travelled to Egypt and over a great part of Asia, and is also said to have visited India. He is supposed to have been acquainted with Leucippus, and sixty works were ascribed to him. DiedB.C.357. He taught that all existence consisted of atoms, and made the discovery of causes the object of scientific inquiry. He is said to have laughed at life in general, which Montaigne says is better than to imitate Heraclitus and weep, since mankind are not so unhappy as vain. Democritus was the forerunner of Epicurus, who improved his system.Demonax, a cynical philosopher who lived in the second century of the Christian era and rejected all religion. An account of him was written by Lucian.Demora(Gianbattista), director of theLibero Pensatoreof Milan, and author of some dramatic works.Denis(Hector), Belgian advocate and professor of political economy and philosophy at Brussels University, b. Braine-le-Comte, 29 April, 1842. Has written largely on social questions and contributed toLa Liberté,la Philosophie Positive, etc. Is one of the Council of the International Federation of Freethinkers.Denslow(Van Buren), American writer, author of essays onModern Thinkers, 1880, to which Colonel Ingersoll wrote an introduction. He contributed a paper on the value of irreligionto theReligio Philosophicjournal of America, Jan. ’78, and has written in theTruthseekerand other journals.Denton(WilliamF.), poet, geologist, and lecturer, b. Darlington, Durham, 8 Jan. 1823. After attaining manhood he emigrated to the United States, ’48, and in ’56 publishedPoems for Reformers. He was a prolific writer, and constant lecturer on temperance, psychology, geology, and Freethought. In ’72 he publishedRadical Discourses on Religious Subjects(Boston, ’72), andRadical Rhymes, ’79. He travelled to Australasia, and died of a fever while conducting scientific explorations in New Guinea 26 Aug. 1883.De Paepe(César) Dr., Belgian Socialist, b. Ostend, 12 July, 1842. He was sent to the college of St. Michel, Brussels. He obtained the Diploma of Candidate of Philosophy, but on the death of his father became a printer with Désiré Brismée (founder of Les Solidaires, a Rationalist society). Proudhon confided to him the correction of his works. He became a physician and is popular with the workmen’s societies. He was one of the foremost members of the International and attended all its congresses, as well as those of the International Federation of Freethinkers. He has written much on public hygiene, political economy, and psychology, collaborating in a great number of the most advanced journals. Dr. De Paepe is a short, fair, energetic man, capable both as a speaker and writer.Depasse(Hector), French writer, b. at Armentières in 1843, is editor ofLa RépubliqueFrançaise, and member of the Paris Municipal Council. He has written a striking work onClericalism, in which he urges the separation of Church and State, 1877; and is author of many little books onContemporary Celebrities, among them are Gambetta, Bert, Ranc, etc.De Ponnat.SeePonnat (—de),Baron.De Pontan.SeePonnat.De Potter(Agathon Louis), Belgian economist, b. Brussels, 11 Nov. 1827. Has written many works on Social Science, and has collaborated toLa Ragione(Reason), ’56, andLa Philosophie de l’Avenir.De Potter(Louis Antoine Joseph), Belgian politician and writer, father of the above, b. of noble family, Bruges, 26 April, 1786. In 1811 he went to Italy and lived ten years at Rome.In ’21 he wrote theSpirit of the Church, in 6 vols., which are put on theRoman Index. A strong upholder of secular education in Belgium, he was arrested more than once for his radicalism, being imprisoned for eighteen months in ’28. In Sept. ’30 he became a member of the provisional government. He was afterwards exiled and lived in Paris, where he wrote a philosophical and anti-clericalHistory of Christianity, in 8 vols., 1836–37. He also wrote aRational Catechism, 1854, and aRational Dictionary, 1859, and numerous brochures. Died Bruges, 22 July, 1859.Deraismes(Maria), French writer and lecturer, b. Paris,15 Aug. 1835. She first made her name as a writer of comedies. She wrote an appeal on behalf of her sex,Aux Femmes Riches, ’65. The Masonic Lodge of Le Pecq, near Paris, invited her to become a member, and she was duly installed under the Grand Orient of France. The first female Freemason, was president of the Paris Anti-clerical Congress of 1881, and has written much in her journal,Le Républicain de Seine et Oise.De Roberty(Eugene). SeeRoberty.Desbarreaux(Jacques Vallée),Seigneur, French poet and sceptic, b. Paris, 1602, great-nephew of Geoffrey Vallée, who was burnt in 1574. Many stories are related of his impiety,e.g.the well-known one of his having afeastof eggs and bacon. It thundered, and Des Barreaux, throwing the plate out of window, exclaimed, “What an amount of noise over an omelette.” It was said he recanted and wrote a poem beginning, “Great God, how just are thy chastisements.” Voltaire, however, assigns this poem to the Abbé Levau. Died at Chalons, 9 May, 1673.Descartes(René), French philosopher, b. at La Haye, 31 March, 1596. After leaving college he entered the army in ’16, and fought in the battle of Prague. He travelled in France and Italy, and in ’29 settled in Holland. In ’37 he produced his famousDiscourses upon the Method of Reasoning Well, etc., and in ’41 hisMeditations upon First Philosophy. This work gave such offence to the clergy that he was forced to fly his country “parce qu’il y fait trop chaud pour lui.” He burnt hisTraite du Monde(Treatise on the World) lest he should incur the fate of Gallilei. Though a Theist, like Bacon, he puts asidefinal causes. He was offered an asylum by Christina, Queen of Sweden, and died at Stockholm 11 Feb. 1650.Deschamps(Léger-Marie), known also as Dom Deschamps, a French philosopher, b. Rennes, Poitiers, 10 Jan. 1716. He entered the Order of Benedictines, but lost his faith by reading an abridgment of the Old Testament. He became correspondent of Voltaire, Rousseau, d’Alembert, Helvetius, and other philosophers. “Ce prêtre athée,” as Ad. Franck calls him, was the author of a treatise entitledLa Vérité, ou le Vrai Système, in which he appears to have anticipated all the leading ideas of Hegel. God, he says, as separated from existing things, is pure nothingness. An analysis of his remarkable work, which remained in manuscript for three-quarters of a century, has been published by Professor Beaussire (Paris, 1855). Died at Montreuil-Bellay, 19 April 1774.Deslandes(André FrançoisBoureau), b. Pondichery, 1690. Became member of the Berlin Academy and wrote numerous works, mostly under the veil of anonymity, the principal beingA Critical History of Philosophy, 3 vols(1737). HisPygmalion, a philosophical romance, was condemned by the parliament of Dijon, 1742. HisReflexions sur les grands hommes qui sont mort en Plaisantant(Amsterdam, 1732) was translated into English and published in 1745 under the title,Dying Merrily. Another work directed against religion wasOn the certainty of Human Knowledge, a philosophical examination of the different prerogatives of reason and faith (London, 1741). Died Paris, 11 April, 1757.Des Maizeaux(Pierre), miscellaneous writer, b. Auvergne, 1673. He studied at Berne and Geneva, and became known to Bayle who introduced him to Lord Shaftesbury, with whom he came to London, 1699. He edited the works of Bayle, Saint Evremond and Toland, whose lives he wrote, as well as those of Hales and Chillingworth. Anthony Collins was his friend, and at his death left him his manuscripts. These he transferred to Collins’s widow and they were burnt. He repented and returned the money, 6 Jan. 1730, as the wages of iniquity. He became Secretary of the Royal Society of London, where he died, 11 July, 1745.Desmoulins(Lucié Simplice Camille Benôit), French revolutionary writer, b. Guise, 2 March, 1760. He was a fellow-studentof Robespierre at Paris, and became an advocate and an enthusiastic reformer. In July ’89 he incited the people to the siege of the Bastille, and thus began the Revolution. On 29 Dec. 1790 he married Lucile Laridon-Duplessis. He editedLe Vieux Cordelierand theRévolutions de France et de Brabant, in which he stated that Mohammedanism was as credible as Christianity. He was a Deist, preferring Paganism to Christianity. Both creeds were more or less unreasonable; but, folly for folly, he said, I prefer Hercules slaying the Erymanthean boar to Jesus of Nazareth drowning two thousand pigs. He was executed with Danton, 5 April 1794. His amiable wife, Lucile, who was an Atheist (b. 1770), in a few days shared his fate (April 13). Carlyle calls Desmoulins a man of genius, “a fellow of infinite shrewdness, wit—nay, humor.”Des Periers(Jean Bonaventure), French poet and sceptic, b. Arnay le Duc, about 1510. He was brought up in a convent, only to detest the vices of the monks. In 1535 he lived inLyonsand assisted Dolet. He probably knew Rabelais, whom he mentions as “Francoys Insigne.” Attached to the court of Marguerite of Valois, he defended Clement Marot when persecuted for making a French version of the Psalms. He wrote theCymbalum Mundi, a satire upon religion, published under the name of Thomas de Clenier à Pierre Tryocan,i.e., Thomas Incrédule à Pierre Croyant, 1537. It was suppressed and the printer, Jehan Morin, imprisoned. Des Periers fled and died (probably by suicide, to escape persecution)1544. An English version ofCymbalum Mundiwas published in 1712. P. G. Brunet, the bibliographer, conjectures that Des Periers was the author of the famous Atheistic treatise,The Three Impostors.Destriveaux(Pierre Joseph), Belgian lawyer and politician, b. Liége, 13 March, 1780. Author of several works on public right. Died Schaerbeck (Brussels), 3 Feb. 1853.Destutt de Tracy(Antoine Louis de Claude)Count, French materialist philosopher, b. 20 July, 1754. His family was of Scotch origin. At first a soldier, he was one of the first noblemen at the Revolution to despoil himself of his title. A friend of Lafayette, Condorcet, and Cabanis, he was a complete sceptic in religion; made an analysis of Dupuis’Origine de tous les Cultes(1804), edited Montesquieu and Cabanis, wasmade a member of the French Academy (1808), and wrote several philosophical works, of which the principal isElements of Ideology. He was a great admirer of Hobbes. Died Paris, 9 March, 1836.Des Vignes(Pietro), secretary to Frederick II. (1245–49). Mazzuchelli attributes to him the treatiseDe Tribus Impostoribus.Detrosier(Rowland), social reformer and lecturer, b. 1796, the illegitimate son of a Manchester man named Morris and a Frenchwoman. In his early years he was “for whole days without food.” Self-educated, he established the first Mechanics’ Institute in England at Hulme, gave Sunday scientific lectures, and published several discourses in favor of secular education. He became secretary of the National Political Union. He was a Deist. Like Bentham, who became his friend, he bequeathed his body for scientific purposes. Died in London, 23 Nov. 1834.Deubler(Konrad). The son of poor parents, b. Goisern, near Ischl, Upper Austria, 26 Nov. 1814. Self-taught amid difficulties, he became the friend of Feuerbach and Strauss, and was known as “the Peasant Philosopher.” In 1854 he was indicted for blasphemy, and was sentenced to two years’ hard labor and imprisonment during pleasure. He was incarcerated from 7 Dec.’54, till Nov. ’56 at Brünn, and afterwards at Olmutz, where he was released 24 March, 1857. He returned to his native place, and was visited by Feuerbach. In ’70 he was made Burgomaster by his fellow-townsmen. Died 30 March, 1884.Deurhoff(Willem), Dutch writer, b. Amsterdam, March 1650. Educated for the Church, he gave himself to philosophy, translated the works of Descartes, and was accused of being a follower of Spinoza. Forced to leave his country, he took refuge in Brabant, but returned to Holland, where he died 10 Oct. 1717. He left some followers.De Wette.(See Wette M. L. de).D’Holbach.SeeHolbach (P. H. D. von),Baron.Diagoras, Greek poet, philosopher, and orator, known as “the Atheist,” b. Melos. A pupil of Democritus, who is said to have freed him from slavery. A doubtful tradition reports that he became an Atheist after being the victim of an unpunishedperjury. He was accused (B.C.411) of impiety, and had to fly from Athens to Corinth, where he died. A price was put upon the Atheist’s head. His works are not extant, but several anecdotes are related of him, as that he threw a wooden statue of Hercules into the fire to cook a dish of lentils, saying the god had a thirteenth task to perform; and that, being on his flight by sea overtaken by a storm, hearing his fellow-passengers say it was because an Atheist was on board, he pointed to other vessels struggling in the same storm without being laden with a Diagoras.Di Cagno Politi(Niccola Annibale), Italian Positivist, b. Bari, 1857. Studied at Naples under Angiulli, has written on modern culture and on experimental philosophy in Italy, and contributed articles on Positivism to theRivista Europea.Diderot(Denis), French philosopher, b. Langres, 6 Oct. 1713. His father, a cutler, intended him for the Church. Educated by Jesuits, at the age of twelve he received the tonsure. He had a passion for books, but, instead of becoming a Jesuit, went to Paris, where he supported himself by teaching and translating. In 1746 he publishedPhilosophic Thoughts, which was condemned to be burnt. It did much to advance freedom of opinion. Three years later hisLetters on the Blindoccasioned his imprisonment at Vincennes for its materialistic Atheism. Rousseau, who called him “a transcendent genius,” visited Diderot in prison, where he remained three years. Diderot projected the famousEncyclopédie, which he edited with Alembert, and he contributed some of the most important articles. With very inadequate recompense, and amidst difficulties that would have appalled an ordinary editor, Diderot superintended the undertaking for many years (1751–65). He also contributed to other important works, such as Raynal’sPhilosophic History,L’Esprit, by Helvetius, andThe System of Natureand other works of his friend D’Holbach. Diderot’s fertile mind also produced dramas, essays, sketches, and novels. Died 30 July, 1784. Comte calls Diderot “the greatest thinker of the eighteenth century.”Diercks(Gustav), German author of able works on the History of the Development of Human Spirit (Berlin, 1881–2)and on Arabian Culture in Spain, 1887. Is a member of the German Freethinkers’ Union.Dilke(Ashton Wentworth), b. 1850. Educated at Cambridge, travelled in Russia and Central Asia, and published a translation of Turgenev’sVirgin Soil. He purchased and edited theWeekly Dispatch; was returned as M.P. for Newcastle in 1880, but, owing to ill health, resigned in favor of John Morley, and died at Algiers 12 March, 1883.Dinter(Gustav Friedrich), German educationalist, b. Borna, near Leipsic, 29 Feb. 1760. HisBible forSchoolmastersis his best-known work. It sought to give rational notes and explanations of the Jew books, and excited much controversy. Died at Konigsberg, 29 May, 1831.Dippel(Johann Konrad), German alchemist and physician, b. 10 Aug. 1672, at Frankenstein, near Darmstadt. HisPapismus vapulans Protestantium(1698) drew on him the wrath of the theologians ofGiessen, and he had tofleefor his life. Attempting to find out the philosopher’s stone, he discovered Prussian blue. In 1705 he published his satires against the Protestant Church,Hirt und eine Heerde, under the name of Christianus Democritos. He denied the inspiration of the Bible, and after an adventurous life in many countries died 25 April, 1734.Dobrolyubov(Nikolai Aleksandrovich), Russian author, b. 1836, at Nijni Novgorod, the son of a priest. Educated at St. Petersburg, he became a radical journalist. His works were edited in four vols. by Chernuishevsky. Died 17 Nov. 1861.Dodel-Port(Prof. Arnold), Swiss scientist, b. Affeltrangen, Thurgau, 16 Oct. 1843. Educated at Kreuzlingen, he became in ’63 teacher in the Oberschule in Hauptweil; then studied from ’64–’69 at Geneva, Zürich, and Munich, becomingprivat docentin the University of Zürich, ’70. In ’75 he publishedThe New History of Creation. In ’78 he issued his world-famousBotanical Atlas, and was in ’80 made Professor of Botany in the Zürich University and Director of the Botanical Laboratory. He has also writtenBiological Fragments(1885), theLife and Letters of Konrad Deubler, “the peasant philosopher” (1886), and has just publishedMoses or Darwin? a SchoolQuestion, 1889. Dr. Dodel-Port is an hon. member of the London Royal Society and Vice-President of the German Freethinkers’ Union.Dodwell(Henry), eldest son of the theologian of that name, was b. Shottesbrooke, Berkshire, about the beginning of the eighteenth century. He was educated at Magdalen Hall, when he proceeded B.A., 9 Feb. 1726. In ’42 he published a pamphlet entitledChristianity not Founded on Argument, which in a tone of grave irony contends that Christianity can only be accepted by faith. He was brought up to the law and was a zealous friend of the Society for the Promotion of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. Died 1784.Doebereiner(Johann Wolfgang), German chemist, b. Bavaria, 15 Dec. 1780. In 1810 he became Professor of Chemistry at Jena, where he added much to science. Died 24 March, 1849. He was friend and instructor to Goethe.Dolet(Etienne), a learned French humanist, b. Orleans 3 Aug. 1509. He studied in Paris, Padua and Venice. For his heresy he had to fly from Toulouse and lived for some time at Lyons, where he established a printing-press and published some of his works, for which he was imprisoned. He was acquainted with Rabelais, Des Periers, and other advanced men of the time. In 1543 the Parliament condemned his books to be burnt, and in the next year he was arrested on a charge of Atheism. After being kept two years in prison he was strangled and burnt, 3 Aug. 1546. It is related that seeing the sorrow of the crowd, he said: “Non dolet ipe Dolet, sed pia turba dolet.”—Dolet grieves not, but the generous crowd grieves. His goods being confiscated, his widow and children were left to beggary. “The French language,” says A. F. Didot, “owes him much for his treatises, translations, and poesies.” Dolet’s biographer, M. Joseph Boulmier, calls him “le Christ de la pensée libre.” Philosophy has alone the right, says Henri Martin, to claim Dolet on its side. His English biographer, R. C. Christie, says he was “neither a Catholic nor a Protestant.”Dominicis(Saverio Fausto de), Italian Positivist philosopher, b. Buonalbergo, 1846. Is Professor of Philosophy at Bari, and has written onEducation and Darwinism.Dondorf(Dr. A.), SeeAnderson(Marie)in Supplement.Doray de Longrais(Jean Paul), French man of letters. b. Manvieux, 1736. Author of a Freethought romance,Faustin, or the Philosophical Age. Died at Paris, 1800.Dorsch(Eduard), German American Freethinker, b. Warzburg 10 Jan. 1822. He studied at Munich and Vienna. In ’49 he went to America and settled in Monroe, Michigan, where he published a volume of poems, some being translations from Swinburne. Died 10 Jan. 1887.Dorsey(J. M.), author of theThe True History of Moses, and others, an attack on the Bible, published at Boston in 1855.Draparnaud(Jacques Philippe Raymond), French doctor, b. 3 June, 1772, at Montpelier, where he became Professor of Natural History. His discourses on Life and Vital Functions, and on the Philosophy of the Sciences and Christianity (1801), show his scepticism. Died 1 Feb. 1805.Draper(JohnWilliam), scientist and historian, b. St. Helens, near Liverpool, 5 May 1811. The son of a Wesleyan minister, he was educated at London University. In ’32 he emigrated to America, where he was Professor of Chemistry and Natural History in New York University. He was one of the inventors of photography and the first who applied it to astronomy. He wrote many scientific works, notably onHuman Physiology. His history of the American Civil War is an important work, but he is chiefly known by hisHistory of the Intellectual Development of EuropeandHistory of the Conflict of Religion and Science, which last has gone through many editions and been translated into all the principal languages. Died 4 Jan. 1882.Dreyfus(Ferdinand Camille), author of an able work on the Evolution of Worlds and Societies, 1888.Droysen(Johann Gustav), German historian, b. Treptoir, 6 July, 1808. Studied at Berlin; wrote in theHallische Jahrbücher; was Professor of History at Keil, 1840; Jena ’51 and Berlin ’59. Has edited Frederick the Great’s Correspondence, and written other important works, some in conjunction with his friend Max Duncker. Died 15 June, 1882.Drummond(Sir William), of Logie Almond, antiquary and author, b. about 1770; entered Parliament as member for St.Mawes, Cornwall, 1795. In the following year he became envoy to the court of Naples, and in 1801 ambassador to Constantinople. His principal work isOrigines, or Remarks on the Origin of several Empires, States, and Cities (4 vols. 1824–29). He also printed privatelyThe Œdipus Judaicus, 1811. It calls in question, with much boldness and learning, many legends of the Old Testament, to which it gave an astronomical signification. It was reprinted in ’66. Sir William Drummond also wrote anonymouslyPhilosophical Sketches of the Principles of Society, 1795. Died at Rome, 29 March, 1828.Duboc(Julius) German writer and doctor of philosophy b.Hamburg, 10 Oct. 1829. Educated at Frankfurt and Giessen, is a clever journalist, and has translated theHistory of the English Press. Has written an Atheistic work,DasLebenOhne Gott(Life without God), with the motto from Feuerbach “No religion is my religion, no philosophy my philosophy,” 1875. He has also written on thePsychologyof Love, and other important works.Dubois(Pierre), a French sceptic, who in 1835 publishedThe True Catechism of Believers—a work ordered by the Court of Assizes to be suppressed, and for which the author (Sept. ’35) was condemned to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of one thousand francs. He also wroteThe Believer Undeceived, or Evident Proofs of the Falsity and Absurdity of Christianity; a work put on theIndexin ’36.Du Bois-Reymond(Emil), biologist, of Swiss father and French mother, b. Berlin, 7 Nov. 1818. He studied at Berlin and Bonn for the Church, but left it to follow science, ’37. Has become famous as a physiologist, especially by hisResearches in Animal Electricity, ’48–60. With Helmholtz he has done much to establish the new era of positive science, wrongly called by opponents Materialism. Du Bois-Reymond holds that thought is a function of the brain and nervous system, and that “soul” has arisen as the gradual results of natural combinations, but in hisLimits of the Knowledge of Nature, ’72, he contends that we must always come to an ultimate incomprehensible. Du Bois-Reymond has written onVoltaire and Natural Science, ’68;La Mettrie, ’75;Darwin versus Galiani, ’78; andFrederick II.and Rousseau, ’79. Since ’67 he has been perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences, Berlin.Dubuisson(Paul Ulrich), French dramatist and revolutionary, b. Lauat, 1746. A friend of Cloots he suffered with him on the scaffold, 24 March, 1794.Dubuisson(Paul), living French Positivist, author ofGrand Types of Humanity.Du Chatelet Lomont.SeeChastelet.Duclos(Charles Pinot), witty French writer, b. Dinan, 12 Feb. 1704. He was admitted into the French Academy, 1747 and became its secretary, 1755. A friend of Diderot and d’Alembert. HisConsiderations sur les Mœursis still a readable work. Died 27 March, 1772.Ducos(Jean François), French Girondist, b. Bordeaux in 1765. Elected to the Legislative Assembly, he, on the 26th Oct. 1791, demanded the complete separation of the State from religion. He shared the fate of the Girondins, 31 Oct. 1793, crying with his last breath, “Vive la Republique!”Du Deffand(Marie),Marchioness, witty literary Frenchwoman, b. 1697. Chamfort relates that when young and in a convent she preached irreligion to her young comrades. The abbess called in Massillon, to whom the little sceptic gave her reasons. He went away saying “She is charming.” Her house in Paris was for fifty years the resort of eminent authors and statesmen. She corresponded for many years with Horace Walpole, D’Alembert and Voltaire. Many anecdotes are told of her; thus, to the Cardinal de Polignac, who spoke of the miracle of St. Denis walking when beheaded, she said “Il n’y a que le premier pas qui coûte.” Died 24 Sept. 1780. To the curé of Saint Sulpice, who came to her death-bed, she said “Ni questions, ni raisons, ni sermons.” Larousse calls her “Belle, instruite, spirituelle mais sceptique et materialiste.”Dudgeon(William), a Berwickshire Deist, whose works were published (privately printed at Edinburgh) in 1765.Dudnevant(A. L. A.Dupin),Baroness. SeeSand (Georges).Duehring(Eugen Karl), German writer, b. Berlin, 12 Jan. 1833; studied law. He has, though blind, written many works on science and political economy, also aCritical History ofPhilosophy, ’69–78, andScience Revolutionized, ’78. In Oct. 1879, his death was maliciously reported.Dulaure(Jacques Antoine), French archæologist and historian, b. Clermont-Ferrand, 3 Dec. 1755. In 1788–90 he published six volumes of a description of France. He wrote many pamphlets, including one on the private lives of ecclesiastics. Elected to the Convention in 1792, he voted for the death of the King. Proscribed as a Girondist, Sept. 1793, he fled to Switzerland. He was one of the Council of Five Hundred, 1796–98. Dulaure wrote a learnedTreatise on Superstitions, but he is best known by hisHistory of Paris, and hisShort History of Different Worships, 1825, in which he deals with ancient fetishism and phallic worship. Died Paris, 9 Aug. 1835.Dulaurens(Henri Joseph). French satirist, b. Douay, 27 March, 1719. He was brought up in a convent, and made a priest 12 Nov. 1727. Published a satire against the Jesuits, 1761, he was compelled to fly to Holland, where he lived in poverty. He editedL’Evangile de la Raison, a collection of anti-Christian tracts by Voltaire and others, and wroteL’Antipapisme réveléin 1767. He was in that year condemned to perpetual imprisonment for heresy, and shut in the convent of Mariabaum, where he died 1797. Dulaurens was caustic, cynical and vivacious. He is also credited with thePortfolios of a Philosopher, mostly taken from the Analysis of Bayle, Cologne, 1770.Dulk(Albert Friedrich Benno), German poet and writer, b. Konigsberg, 17 June, 1819; he became a physician, but was expelled for aiding in the Revolution of ’48. He travelled in Italy and Egypt. In ’65 he publishedJesus der Christ, embodying rationalism in prose and verse. He has also writtenStimme derMenschheit, 2 vols., ’76, ’80, andDer Irrgang des Lebens Jesu, ’84, besides numerous plays and pamphlets. Died 29 Oct. 1884.Dumont(Léon), French writer, b. Valenciennes, 1837. Studied for the bar, but took to philosophy and literature. He early embraced Darwinism, and wrote onHæckel and the Theory of Evolution, ’73. He wrote inLa Revue Philosophique, and other journals. Died Valenciennes, 17 Jan. 1877.Dumarsais(CésarChesneau), French grammarian and philosopher, b. Marseilles, 17 July, 1676. When young he entered the congregation of the oratory. This society he soon quitted, and went to Paris, where he married. A friend of Boindin and Alembert, he wrote against the pretensions of Rome and contributed to theEncyclopédie. He is credited withAn Analysis of the Christian Religionand with the celebratedEssai sur les Préjugés, par Mr. D. M., but the latter was probably written by Holbach, with notes by Naigeon.Le Philosophe, published inL’Evangile de la Raisonby Dulaurens, was written by Voltaire. Died 11 June, 1756. Dumarsais was very simple in character, and was styled by D’Alembert the La Fontaine of philosophers.Dumont(Pierre Etienne Louis), Swiss writer, b. Geneva, 18 July, 1759. Was brought up as a minister, but went to France and became secretary to Mirabeau. After the Revolution he came to England, where he became acquainted with Bentham, whose works he translated. Died Milan, 29 Sept. 1829.Duncker(Maximilian Wolfgang), German historian, b. Berlin, 15 Oct. 1811. His chief work, theHistory of Antiquity, 1852–57, thoroughly abolishes the old distinction of sacred and profane history, and freely criticises the Jewish records. A translation in six volumes has been made by E. Abbot. Duncker took an active part in the events of ’48 and ’50, and was appointed Director-General of the State Archives. Died 24 July, 1886.Dupont(Jacob Louis), a French mathematician and member of the National Convention, known as the Abbé Dupont, who, 14 Dec. 1792, declared himself an Atheist from the tribune of the Convention. Died at Paris in 1813.Dupont de Nemours(Pierre Samuel), French economist, b. Paris, 14 Dec. 1739. He became President of the Constituent Assembly, and was a Theophilantrophist. Died Delaware, U.S.A., 6 Aug. 1817.Dupuis(Charles François), French astronomer and philosopher, b. Trie-le-Chateau, 16 Oct. 1742. He was educated for the Church, which he left, and married in 1775. He studied under Lalande, and wrote on the origin of the constellations, 1781. In 1788 he became a member of the Academy of Inscriptions. At the Revolution he was chosen a member of the Convention.During the Reign of Terror he saved many lives at his own risk. He was afterwards one of the Council of Five Hundred, and president of the legislative body. His chief work is on theOrigin of Religions, 7 vols., 1795, in which he traces solar worship in various faiths, including Christianity. This has been described as “a monument of the erudition of unbelief.” Dupuis died near Dijon, 29 Sept. 1809.Dutrieux(Pierre Joseph), Belgian physician, b. Tournai, 19 July, 1848. Went to Cairo and became a Bey. Died 1 Jan. 1889.Dutton(Thomas), M.A., theatrical critic, b. London, 1767. Educated by the Moravians. In 1795 he published aVindication of the Age of Reason by Thomas Paine. He translated Kotzebue’sPizarroin Peru, 1799, and edited theDramatic Censor, 1800, and theMonthly Theatrical Reporter, 1815.Duvernet(Théophile Imarigeon), French writer, b. at Ambert 1730. He was brought up a Jesuit, became an Abbé, but mocked at religion. Duvernet became tutor to Saint Simon. For a political pamphlet he was imprisoned in the Bastille. While here he wrote a curious and rare romance,Les Devotions de Mme. de Bethzamooth. He wrote onReligious Intolerance, 1780, and aHistory of the Sorbonne, 1790, but is best known by hisLife of Voltaire(1787). In 1793 he wrote a letter to the Convention, in which he declares that he renounces the religion “born in a stable between an ox and an ass.” Died in 1796.

Cooper(Anthony Ashley), seeShaftesbury.Cooper(Henry), barrister, b. Norwich about 1784. He was a schoolfellow of Wm. Taylor of Norwich. He served as midshipman at the battle of the Nile, but disliking the service became a barrister, and acquired some fame by his spirited defence of Mary Ann Carlile, 21 July, 1821, for which the report of the trial was dedicated to him by R. Carlile. He was a friend of Lord Erskine, whose biography he commenced. Died 19 Sept. 1824.Cooper(John Gilbert), poet, b. Thurgaton Priory, Notts, 1723. Educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. An enthusiastic disciple of Lord Shaftesbury. Under the name of “Philaretes” he contributed to Dodsley’s Museum. In 1749 he published aLife of Socrates, for which he was coarsely attacked by Warburton. He wrote some poems under the signature of Aristippus. Died Mayfair, London, 14 April, 1769.Cooper(Peter), a benevolent manufacturer, b. N. York, 12 Feb. 1791. He devoted over half a million dollars to theCooper Institute, for the secular instruction and elevation of the working classes. Died 4 April, 1883.Cooper(Robert), Secularist writer and lecturer, b. 29 Dec. 1819, at Barton-on-Irwell, near Manchester. He had the advantage of being brought up in a Freethought family. At fourteen he became teacher in the Co-operative Schools, Salford, lectured at fifteen, and by seventeen became an acknowledged advocate of Owenism, holding a public discussion with the Rev. J. Bromley. Some of his lectures were published—one onOriginal Sinsold twelve thousand copies—when he was scarcely eighteen. TheHoly Scriptures Analysed(1832) was denounced by the Bishop of Exeter in the House of Lords. Cooper was dismissed from a situation he had held ten years, and in 1841 became a Socialist missionary in the North of England and Scotland. At Edinburgh (1845) he wroteFree AgencyandOrthodoxy, and compiled theInfidel’s Text Book. About ’50 he came to London, lecturing with success at John Street Institution. In ’54 he started theLondon Investigator, which he edited for three years. In it appears his lectures on “Sciencev.Theology,” “Admissions of Distinguished Men,” etc. Failing health obliged him to retire leaving theInvestigatorto “Anthony Collins” (W. H. Johnson), and afterwards to “Iconoclast” (C. Bradlaugh). At his last lecture he fainted on the platform. In 1858 he remodelled hisInfidel Text-Bookinto a work onThe Bible and Its Evidences. He devoted himself to political reform until his death, 3 May, 1868.Cooper(Thomas), M.D., LL.D., natural philosopher, politician, jurist and author, b. London, 22 Oct. 1759. Educated at Oxford, he afterwards studied law and medicine; was admitted to the bar and lived at Manchester, where he wrote a number of tracts on “Materialism,” “Whether Deity be a Free Agent,” etc., 1789. Deputed with James Watt, the inventor, by the Constitutional clubs to congratulate the Democrats of France (April, 1792), he was attacked by Burke and replied in a vigorous pamphlet. In ’94 he publishedInformation Concerning America, and in the next year followed his friend Priestly to Philadelphia, established himself as a lawyer and was made judge. He also conducted theEmporium of Arts and Sciencesin that city. He was Professor of Medicine at Carlisle College,’12, and afterwards held the chairs both of Chemistry and Political Economy in South Carolina College, of which he became President, 1820–34. This position he was forced to resign on account of his religious views. He translated from Justinian and Broussais, and digested the Statutes of South Carolina. In philosophy a Materialist, in religion a Freethinker, in politics a Democrat, he urged his views in many pamphlets. One onThe Right of Free Discussion, and a little book onGeology and the Pentateuch, in reply to Prof. Silliman, were republished in London by James Watson. Died at Columbia, 11 May, 1840.1Coornhert(Dirk Volkertszoon), Dutch humanist, poet and writer, b. Amsterdam, 1522. He travelled in his youth through Spain and Portugal. He set up as an engraver at Haarlem, and became thereafter notary and secretary of the city of Haarlem. He had a profound horror of intolerance, and defended liberty against Beza and Calvin. The clergy vituperated him as a Judas and as instigated by Satan, etc. Bayle, who writes of him as Theodore Koornhert, says he communed neither with Protestants nor Catholics. The magistrates of Delft drove him out of their city. He translated Cicero’sDe Officiis, and other works. Died at Gouda, 20 Oct. 1590.Cordonnier de Saint Hyacinthe.SeeSaint-Hyacinthe (Themiseuil de).Corvin-Wiersbitski(Otto Julius Bernhard von), Prussian Pole of noble family, who traced their descent from the Roman Corvinii, b. Gumbinnen, 12 Oct. 1812. He served in the Prussian army, where he met his friend Friedrich von Sallet; retired into the Landwehr 1835, went to Leipsic and entered upon a literary career, wrote the History of the Dutch Revolution, 1841; theHistory of Christian Fanaticism, 1845, which was suppressed in Austria. He took part with the democrats in ’48; was condemned to be shot 15 Sept. ’49, but the sentence was commuted; spent six years’ solitary confinement in prison; came to London, became correspondent to theTimes; went through American Civil War, and afterwards Franco-PrussianWar, as a special correspondent. He has written a History of the New Time, 1848–71. Died since 1886.Cotta(Bernhard), German geologist, b. Little Zillbach, Thuringia, 24 Oct. 1808. He studied at the Academy of Mining, in Freiberg, where he was appointed professor in ’42. His first production,The Dendroliths, ’32, proved him a diligent investigator. It was followed by many geological treatises. Cotta did much to support the nebular hypothesis and the law of natural development without miraculous agency. He also wrote on phrenology. Died atFreiburg, 13 Sept 1879.Cotta(C. Aurelius), Roman philosopher, orator and statesman, b.B.C.124. In ’75 he became Consul. On the expiration of his office he obtained Gaul as a province. Cicero had a high opinion of him and gives his sceptical arguments in the third book of hisDe Natura Deorum.Courier(Paul Louis), French writer, b. Paris, 4 Jan. 1772. He entered the army and became an officer of artillery, serving with distinction in the Army of the Republic. He wrote many pamphlets, directed against the clerical restoration, which place him foremost among the literary men of the generation. His writings are now classics, but they brought him nothing but imprisonment, and he was apparently assassinated, 10 April, 1825. He had a presentiment that the bigots would kill him.Coventry(Henry), a native of Cambridgeshire, b. about 1710, Fellow of Magdalene College, author ofLetters of Philemon to Hydaspus on False Religion(1736). Died 29 Dec. 1752.Coward(William), M.D., b. Winchester, 1656. Graduated at Wadham College, Oxford, 1677. Settled first at Northampton, afterwards at London. Published, besides some medical works,Second Thoughts Concerning Human Soul, which excited much indignation by denying natural immortality. The House of Commons (17 March, 1704) ordered his work to be burnt. He died in 1725.Cox(the Right Rev. Sir George William), b. 1827, was educated at Rugby and Oxford, where he took B.C.L. in 1849. Entered the Church, but has devoted himself to history and mythology. His most pretentious work isMythology of the Aryan Nations(1870). He has also written anIntroduction to Comparative Mythologyand several historical works. In 1886 he became Bishop of Bloemfontein. He is credited with the authorship of theEnglish Life of Jesus, published under the name of Thomas Scott. At the Church Congress of 1888 he read an heretical paper on Biblical Eschatology. His last production is aLife of Bishop Colenso, 2 vols, 1888.Coyteux(Fernand), French writer, b. Ruffec, 1800. Author of a materialistic system of philosophy, Brussels, 1853 Studies on physiology, Paris, 1875, etc.Craig(Edward Thomas), social reformer, b. at Manchester 4 Aug. 1804. He was present at the Peterloo massacre ’19; helped to form the Salford Social Institute and became a pioneer of co-operation. In ’31 he became editor of theLancashire Co-operator. In Nov. of the same year he undertook the management of a co-operative farm at Rahaline, co. Clare. Of this experiment he has written an history, ’72. Mr. Craig has edited several journals and contributed largely to Radical and co-operative literature. He has published a memoir of Dr. Travis and at the age of 84 he wrote onThe Science of Prolonging Life.Cramer(Johan Nicolai), Swedish writer, b. Wisby, Gottland, 18 Feb. 1812. He studied at Upsala and became Doctor of Philosophy ’36; ordained priest in ’42; he resigned in ’58. In religion he denies revelation and insists on the separation of Church and State. Among his works we mentionSeparation from the Church, a Freethinker’s annotations on the reading of the Bible, Stockholm, 1859.A Confession of Faith; Forward or Back?(1862). He has also written on the Punishment of Death (1868), and other topics.Cranbrook(Rev. James.) Born of strict Calvinistic parents about 1817. Mr. Cranbrook gradually emancipated himself from dogmas, became a teacher, and for sixteen years was minister of an Independent Church at Liscard, Cheshire. He also was professor at the Ladies’ College, Liverpool, some of his lectures there being published ’57. In Jan. ’65, he went to Albany Church, Edinburgh, but his views being too broad for that congregation, he left in Feb. ’67 but continued to give Sunday lectures until his death, 6 June, 1869. In ’66 he publishedCredibilia: an Inquiry into the grounds of Christian faith and two years laterThe Founders of Christianity, discourses on the origin of Christianity. Other lectures onHuman Depravity,Positive Religion, etc., were published by Thomas Scott.Cranch(Christopher Pearse), American painter and poet, b. Alexandria, Virginia, 8 March, 1813, graduated at divinity school, Cambridge, Mass. ’35, but left the ministry in ’42. He shows his Freethought sentiments inSatan, a Libretto, Boston, ’74, and other works.Craven(M. B.), American, author of a critical work on the Bible entitledTriumph of Criticism, published at Philadelphia, 1869.Cremonini(Cesare), Italian philosopher, b. Cento, Ferrara, 1550, was professor of philosophy at Padua from 1591 to 1631, when he died. A follower of Aristotle, he excited suspicion by his want of religion and his teaching the mortality of the soul. He was frequently ordered by the Jesuits and the Inquisition to refute the errors he gave currency to, but he was protected by the Venetian State, and refused. Like most of the philosophers of his time, he distinguished between religious and philosophic truth. Bayle says. “Il a passé pour un esprit fort, qui ne croyait point l’immortalité de l’âme.” Larousse says, “On peut dire qu’iln’étaitpas chrétien.” Ladvocat says his works “contain many things contrary to religion.”Cross(Mary Ann). SeeEliot (George).Crousse(Louis D.), French Pantheistic philosopher, author ofPrinciples, or First Philosophy, 1839, andThoughts, 1845.Curtis(S. E.), English Freethinker, author ofTheology Displayed, 1842. He has been credited withThe Protestant’s Progress to Infidelity. See Griffith (Rees). Died 1847.Croly(David Goodman), American Positivist, b. New York,3 Nov. 1829. He graduated at New York University in ’54, and was subsequently a reporter on theNew York Herald. He became editor of theNew York Worlduntil ’72. From ’71 to ’73 he editedThe Modern Thinker, an organ of the most advanced thought, and afterwards theNew York Graphic. Mr. Croly has written aPrimer of Positivism, ’76, and has contributed manyarticles to periodicals. His wife, Jane Cunningham, who calls herself “Jennie June,” b. 1831, also wrote inThe Modern Thinker.Cross(MaryAnn), seeEliot (George).Crozier(John Beattie), English writer of Scottish border parentage, b. Galt, Ontario, Canada, 23 April, 1849. In youth he won a scholarship to the grammar school of the town, and thence won another scholarship to the Toronto University, where he graduated ’72, taking the University and Starr medals. He then came to London determined to study the great problems of religion and civilisation. He took his diploma from the London College of Physicians in ’73. In ’77 he wrote his first essay, “God or Force,” which, being rejected by all the magazines, he published as a pamphlet. Other essays on the Constitution of the World, Carlyle, Emerson, and Spencer being also rejected, he published them in a book entitledThe Religion of the Future, ’80, which fell flat. He then started his workCivilisation and Progress, which appeared in ’85, and was also unsuccessful until republished with a few notices in ’87, when it received a chorus of applause, for its clear and original thoughts. Mr. Crozier is now engaged on his Autobiography, after which he proposes to deal with the Social question.Cuffeler(Abraham Johann), a Dutch philosopher and doctor of law, who was one of the first partizans of Spinoza. He lived at Utrecht towards the end of the seventeenth century, and wrote a work on logic in three parts entitledSpecimen Artis Ratiocinandi, etc., published ostensibly at Hamburg, but really at Amsterdam or Utrecht, 1684. It was without name but with the author’s portrait.Cuper(Frans), Dutch writer, b. Rotterdam. Cuper is suspected to have been one of those followers of Spinoza, who under pretence of refuting him, set forth and sustained his arguments by feeble opposition. His work entitledArcana Atheismi Revelata, Rotterdam 1676, was denounced as written in bad faith. Cuper maintained that the existence of God could not be proved by the light of reason.Cyrano de Bergerac(Savinien), French comic writer, b. Paris 6 March, 1619. After finishing his studies and serving in the army in his youth he devoted himself to literature. His tragedy “Agrippine” is full of what a bookseller called “bellesimpiétés,” and La Monnoye relates that at its performance the pit shouted “Oh, the wretch! The Atheist! How he mocks at holy things!” Cyrano knew personally Campanella, Gassendi, Lamothe Le Vayer, Linière, Rohault, etc. His other works consist of a short fragment onPhysic, a collection ofLetters, and aComic History of the States and Empires of the Moon and the Sun. Cyrano took the idea of this book from F. Godwin’sMan in the Moon, 1583, and it in turn gave rise to Swift’sGulliver’s Travelsand Voltaire’sMicromegas. Died Paris, 1655.Czolbe(Heinrich), German Materialist, b. near Dantzic, 30 Dec. 1819, studied medicine at Berlin, writing an inaugural dissertation on thePrinciples of Physiology, ’44. In ’55 he published hisNew Exposition of Sensationalism, in which everything is resolved into matter and motion, and in ’65 a work onThe Limits and Origin of Human Knowledge. He was an intimate friend of Ueberweg. Died at Königsberg, 19 Feb. 1873. Lange says “his life was marked by a deep and genuine morality.”D’Ablaing.SeeGiessenburg.Dale(Antonius van), Dutch writer, b. Haarlem, 8 Nov. 1638. His work on oracles was erudite but lumbersome, and to it Fontenelle gave the charm of style. It was translated into English by Mrs. Aphra Behn, under the title ofThe History of Oracles and the Cheats of Pagan Priests, 1699. Van Dale, in another work onThe Origin and Progress of Idolatry and Superstition, applied the historical method to his subject, and showed that the belief in demons was as old and as extensive as the human race. He died at Haarlem, 28 Nov. 1708.Damilaville(Etienne Noël), French writer, b. at Bordeaux, 1721. At first a soldier, then a clerk, he did some service for Voltaire, who became his friend. He also made the friendship Diderot, d’Alembert, Grimm, and d’Holbach. He contributed to theEncyclopédie, and in 1767 published an attack on the theologians, entitledTheological Honesty. The book entitledChristianity Unveiled[seeBoulangerandHolbach] was attributed by Voltaire, who called itImpiety Unveiled, and by La Harpe and Lalande to Damilaville. Voltaire called him “one of our most learned writers.” Larousse says “he was an ardent enemy of Christianity.” He has also been credited with a share in theSystem of Nature. Died 15 Dec. 1768.Dandolo(Vincenzo)Count, Italian chemist, b. Venice, 26 Oct. 1758, wrotePrinciples of Physical Chemistry, a work in French onThe New Men, in which he shows his antagonism to religion, and many useful works on vine, timber, and silk culture. Died Varessa, 13 Dec. 1819.Danton(Georges Jacques), French revolutionist, b. Arcis sur Aube, 28 Oct. 1759. An uncle wished him to enter into orders, but he preferred to study law. During the Revolution his eloquence made him conspicuous at the Club of Cordeliers, and in Feb. 1791, he became one of the administrators of Paris. One of the first to see that after the flight of Louis XVI. he could no longer be king, he demanded his suspension, and became one of the chief organisers of the Republic. In the alarm caused by the invasion he urged a bold and resolute policy. He was a member of the Convention and of the Committee of Public Safety. At the crisis of the struggle with Robespierre,Danton declined to strike the first blow and disdained to fly. Arrested March, 1794, he said when interrogated by the judge, “My name is Danton, my dwelling will soon be in annihilation; but my name will live in the Pantheon of history.” He maintained his lofty bearing on the scaffold, where he perished 5 April, 1794. For his known scepticism Danton was calledfils de Diderot. Carlyle calls him “a very Man.”Dapper(Olfert), Dutch physician, who occupied himself with history and geography, on which he produced important works. He had no religion and was suspected of Atheism. He travelled through Syria, Babylonia, etc., in 1650. He translated Herodotus (1664) and the orations of the late Prof. Caspar v. Baerli (1663), and wrote aHistory of the City of Amsterdam, 1663. Died at Amsterdam 1690.Darget(Etienne), b. Paris, 1712; went to Berlin in 1744 and became reader and private secretary to Frederick the Great (1745–52), who corresponded with him afterwards. Died 1778.Darwin(Charles Robert), English naturalist, b. Shrewsbury, 12 Feb. 1809. Educated at Shrewsbury, Edinburgh University, and Cambridge. He early evinced a taste for collecting and observing natural objects. He was intended for a clergyman, but, incited by Humboldt’sPersonal Narrative, resolved totravel. He accompanied Captain Fitzroy in the “Beagle” on a voyage of exploration, ’31–36, which he narrated in hisVoyage of a Naturalist Round the World, which obtained great popularity. In ’39 he married, and in ’42 left London and settled at Down, Kent. His studies, combined with the reading of Lamarck and Malthus, led to his great work onThe Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, ’59, which made a great outcry and marked an epoch. Darwin took no part in the controversy raised by the theologians, but followed his work withThe Fertilisation of Orchids, ’62;Cross and Self Fertilisation of Plants, ’67;Variations of Plants and Animals under Domestication, ’65; and in ’71The Descent of Man and Selection in relation to Sex, which caused yet greater consternation in orthodox circles. The following year he issuedThe Expression of the Emotions of Men and Animals. He also published works on theMovements of Plants,Insectivorous Plants, theForms of Flowers, andEarthworms. He died 19 April, 1882, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, despite his expressed unbelief in revelation. To a German student he wrote, in ’79, “Science has nothing to do with Christ, except in so far as the habit of scientific research makes a man cautious in admitting evidence. For myself I do not believe that there ever has been any revelation.” In hisLife and Lettershe relates that between 1836 and 1842 he had come to see “that the Old Testament was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindoos.” He rejected design and said “I for one must be content to remain an Agnostic.”Darwin(Erasmus), Dr., poet, physiologist and philosopher, grandfather of the above, was born at Elston, near Newark, 12 Dec. 1731. Educated at Chesterfield and Cambridge he became a physician, first at Lichfield and afterwards at Derby. He was acquainted with Rousseau, Watt and Wedgwood. His principal poem,The Botanic Gardenwas published in 1791, andThe Temple of Naturein 1803. His principal work isZoomania, or the laws of organic life (1794), for which he was accused of Atheism. He was actually a Deist. He also wrote on female education and some papers in thePhilosophical Transactions. Died at Derby, 18 April, 1802.Daubermesnil(François Antoine), French conventionalist. Elected deputy of Tarn in 1792. Afterwards became a memberof the Council of Five Hundred. He was one of the founders of Theophilanthropy. Died at Perpignan 1802.Daudet(Alphonse), French novelist, b. at Nîmes, 13 May 1840, author of many popular romances, of which we mentionL’Evangeliste, ’82, which has been translated into English under the titlePort Salvation.Daunou(Pierre Claude François), French politician and historian, b. Boulogne, 18 Aug. 1761. His father entered him in the congregation of the Fathers of the Oratory, which he left at the Revolution. The department of Calais elected him with Carnot and Thomas Paine to the Convention. After the Revolution he became librarian at the Pantheon. He was a friend of Garat, Cabanis, Chenier, Destutt Tracy, Ginguené and Benj. Constant. WroteHistorical Essay on the Temporal Power of the Popes, 1810. Died at Paris, 20 June, 1840, noted for his benevolence.Davenport(Allen), social reformer, b. 1773. He contributed to Carlile’sRepublican; wrote an account of the Life, Writings and Principles of Thomas Spence, the reformer (1826); and published a volume of verse, entitledThe Muses’ Wreath(1827). Died at Highbury, London, 1846.Davenport(John), Deist, b. London, 8 June, 1789, became a teacher. He wroteAn Apology for Mohammed and the Koran, 1869;Curiositates Eroticœ Physiologæ, or Tabooed Subjects Freely Treated, and several educational works. Died in poverty 11 May, 1877.David of Dinant, in Belgium, Pantheistic philosopher of the twelfth century. He is said to have visited the Papal Court of Innocent III. He shared in the heresies of Amalric of Chârtres, and his workQuateriniwas condemned and burnt (1209). He only escaped the stake by rapid flight. According to Albert the Great he was the author of a philosophical workDe Tomis, “Of Subdivisions,” in which he taught that all things were one. His system was similar to that of Spinoza.David(Jacques Louis), French painter, born at Paris, 31 Aug. 1748, was made painter to the king, but joined the Jacobin Club, became a member of the Convention, voted for the king’s death and for the civic festivals, for which he made designs.On the restoration he was banished. Died at Brussels, 29 Dec. 1825. David was an honest enthusiast and a thorough Freethinker.DavidisorDavid(Ferencz), a Transylvanian divine, b. about 1510. He was successively a Roman Catholic, a Lutheran and an Antitrinitarian. He went further than F. Socinus and declared there was “as much foundation for praying to the Virgin Mary and other dead saints as to Jesus Christ.” He was in consequence accused of Judaising and thrown into prison at Deva, where he died 6 June, 1579.Davies(John C.), of Stockport, an English Jacobin, who in 1797 published a list of contradictions of the Bible under the title ofThe Scripturian’s Creed, for which he was prosecuted and imprisoned. The work was republished by Carlile, 1822, and also at Manchester, 1839.Davidson(Thomas), bookseller and publisher, was prosecuted by the Vice Society in Oct. 1820, for selling theRepublicanand a publication of his own, called theDeist’s Magazine. For observations made in his defence he was summoned and fined £100, and he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in Oakham Gaol. He died 16 Dec. 1826.Debierre(Charles), French writer, author ofMan Before History, 1888.De Dominicis.SeeDominicis.De Felice(Francesco), Italian writer, b. Catania, Sicily, 1821, took part in the revolution of ’43, and when Garibaldi landed in Sicily was appointed president of the provisional council of war. Has written on the reformation of elementary schools.De Greef(Guillaume Joseph), advocate at Brussels Court of Appeal, b. at Brussels, 9 Oct. 1842. Author of an importantIntroduction to Sociology, 1886. Wrote inLa Liberté, 1867–73, and now writes inLa Societé Nouvelle.De Gubernatis(Angelo), Italian Orientalist and writer, b. Turin, 7 April, 1840; studied at Turin University and became doctor of philosophy. He studied Sanskrit under Bopp and Weber at Berlin. Sig. de Gubernatis has adorned Italian literature with many important works, of which we mention his volumes onZoological Mythology, which has beentranslated into English, ’72: and on theMythology of Plants. He has compiled and in large part written aUniversal History of Literature, 18 vols. ’82–85; editedLa Revista Europeaand theRevue Internationale, and contributed to many publications. He is a brilliant writer and a versatile scholar.De Harven(Emile Jean Alexandre), b. Antwerp, 23 Sept. 1837, the anonymous author of a work onThe Soul: its Origin and Destiny(Antwerp, 1879).Dekker(Eduard Douwes), the greatest Dutch writer and Freethinker of this century, b. Amsterdam, 2 March, 1820. In ’39 he accompanied his father, a ship’s captain, to the Malayan Archipelago. He became officer under the Dutch government in Sumatra, Amboina, and Assistant-Resident at Lebac, Java. He desired to free the Javanese from the oppression of their princes, but the government would not help him and he resigned and returned to Holland, ’56. The next four years he spent, in poverty, vainly seeking justice for the Javanese. In ’60 he published under the pen name of “Multatuli”Max Havelaar, a masterly indictment of the Dutch rule in India, which has been translated into German, French and English. Then follow his choiceMinnebrieven(Love Letters), ’61;Vorstenschool(A School for Princes), andMillioenenStudiën(Studies on Millions). HisIdeën, 7 vols. ’62–79, are full of the boldest heresy. In most of his works religion is attacked, but in theIdeasfaith is criticised with much more pungency and satire. He wrote “Faith is the voluntary prison-cell of reason.” He was an honorary member of the Freethought Society,De Dageraad, and contributed to its organ. During the latter years of his life he lived at Wiesbaden, where he died 19 Feb. 1887. His corpse was burned in the crematory at Gotha.De Lalande(seeLalande).Delambre(Jean Baptiste Joseph), French astronomer, b. Amiens, 19 Sept. 1749, studied under Lalande and became, like his master, an Atheist. His Tables of the Orbit of Uranus were crowned by the Academy, 1790. In 1807 he succeeded Lalande as Professor of Astronomy at the Collége de France. He is the author of aHistory of Astronomyin five volumes, and of a number of astronomical tables and other scientific works He was appointed perpetual secretary of the Academy ofSciences. Died 19 Aug. 1822, and was buried at Père la Chaise. Cuvier pronouncing a discourse over his grave.De la Ramee.SeeRamée.Delbœuf(Joseph Remi Léopold), Belgian writer, b. Liège, 30 Sept. 1831; is Professor at the University of Liège, and has writtenPsychology as a Natural Science, its Present and its Future; Application of the Experimental Method to the Phenomena of the Soul, ’73, and other works. In hisPhilosophical Prolegomena to Geometryhe suggests that even mathematical axioms may have an empirical origin.Delbos(Léon), linguist, b. 20 Sept. 1849 of Spanish father and Scotch mother. Educated in Paris, Lycée Charlemagne. Is an M.A. of Paris andofficier d’Académie. Speaks many languages, and is a good Arabic and Sanskrit scholar. Has travelled widely and served in the Franco-German War. Besides many educational works, M. Delbos has writtenL’Athée, the Atheist, a Freethought romance ’79, and in EnglishThe Faith in Jesus not a New Faith, ’85. He has contributed to theAgnostic Annual, and is a decided Agnostic.Delepierre(Joseph Octave), Belgian bibliophile, b. Bruges, 12 March, 1802. Was for thirty-five years secretary of Legation to England. His daughter married N. Truebner, who published his workL’Enfer, 1876, and many other bibliographical studies. Died London, 18 Aug. 1879.Delescluze(Louis Charles), French journalist and revolutionary, b. Dreux, 2 Oct. 1809, was arrested in ’34 for sedition. Implicated in a plot in ’35, he took refuge in Belgium. In ’48 he issued at ParisLa Revolution Démocratique et Sociale, but was soon again in prison. He was banished, came to England with Ledru Rollin, but returning to France in ’53 was arrested. In ’68 he published theRéveil, for which he was again fined and sentenced to prison for ten years. In ’59 he was amnestied and imprisoned. He became head of the Commune Committee of Public Safety, and died at the barricade, 25 May, 1871.Deleyre(Alexandre), French writer, b. Porbats, near Bordeaux, 6 Jan. 1726. Early in life he entered the order of Jesuits, but changed his faith and became the friend of Rousseau and Diderot. He contributed to theEncyclopédie, notably the article“Fanatisme,” and published an analysis of Bacon and works on the genius of Montesquieu and Saint Evremond, and a History of Voyages. He embraced the Revolution with ardor, was made deputy to the Convention, and in 1795 was made member of the Institute. Died at Paris, 27 March, 1797.Delisle de Sales.SeeIsoard Delisle (J. B. C.)Dell(John Henry), artist and poet, b. 11 Aug. 1832. Contributed toProgress, wroteNature Pictures, ’71, andThe Dawning Grey, ’85, a volume of vigorous verse, imbued with the spirit of democracy and freethought. Died 31 Jan. 1888.Deluc(Adolphe), Professor of Chemistry at Brussels, b. Paris, 1 Sept. 1811. Collaborated onLa Libre Recherche.De Maillet.SeeMaillet (Benoît de).Democritus, a wealthy Atheistic philosopher, b. Abdera, Thrace,B.C.460. He travelled to Egypt and over a great part of Asia, and is also said to have visited India. He is supposed to have been acquainted with Leucippus, and sixty works were ascribed to him. DiedB.C.357. He taught that all existence consisted of atoms, and made the discovery of causes the object of scientific inquiry. He is said to have laughed at life in general, which Montaigne says is better than to imitate Heraclitus and weep, since mankind are not so unhappy as vain. Democritus was the forerunner of Epicurus, who improved his system.Demonax, a cynical philosopher who lived in the second century of the Christian era and rejected all religion. An account of him was written by Lucian.Demora(Gianbattista), director of theLibero Pensatoreof Milan, and author of some dramatic works.Denis(Hector), Belgian advocate and professor of political economy and philosophy at Brussels University, b. Braine-le-Comte, 29 April, 1842. Has written largely on social questions and contributed toLa Liberté,la Philosophie Positive, etc. Is one of the Council of the International Federation of Freethinkers.Denslow(Van Buren), American writer, author of essays onModern Thinkers, 1880, to which Colonel Ingersoll wrote an introduction. He contributed a paper on the value of irreligionto theReligio Philosophicjournal of America, Jan. ’78, and has written in theTruthseekerand other journals.Denton(WilliamF.), poet, geologist, and lecturer, b. Darlington, Durham, 8 Jan. 1823. After attaining manhood he emigrated to the United States, ’48, and in ’56 publishedPoems for Reformers. He was a prolific writer, and constant lecturer on temperance, psychology, geology, and Freethought. In ’72 he publishedRadical Discourses on Religious Subjects(Boston, ’72), andRadical Rhymes, ’79. He travelled to Australasia, and died of a fever while conducting scientific explorations in New Guinea 26 Aug. 1883.De Paepe(César) Dr., Belgian Socialist, b. Ostend, 12 July, 1842. He was sent to the college of St. Michel, Brussels. He obtained the Diploma of Candidate of Philosophy, but on the death of his father became a printer with Désiré Brismée (founder of Les Solidaires, a Rationalist society). Proudhon confided to him the correction of his works. He became a physician and is popular with the workmen’s societies. He was one of the foremost members of the International and attended all its congresses, as well as those of the International Federation of Freethinkers. He has written much on public hygiene, political economy, and psychology, collaborating in a great number of the most advanced journals. Dr. De Paepe is a short, fair, energetic man, capable both as a speaker and writer.Depasse(Hector), French writer, b. at Armentières in 1843, is editor ofLa RépubliqueFrançaise, and member of the Paris Municipal Council. He has written a striking work onClericalism, in which he urges the separation of Church and State, 1877; and is author of many little books onContemporary Celebrities, among them are Gambetta, Bert, Ranc, etc.De Ponnat.SeePonnat (—de),Baron.De Pontan.SeePonnat.De Potter(Agathon Louis), Belgian economist, b. Brussels, 11 Nov. 1827. Has written many works on Social Science, and has collaborated toLa Ragione(Reason), ’56, andLa Philosophie de l’Avenir.De Potter(Louis Antoine Joseph), Belgian politician and writer, father of the above, b. of noble family, Bruges, 26 April, 1786. In 1811 he went to Italy and lived ten years at Rome.In ’21 he wrote theSpirit of the Church, in 6 vols., which are put on theRoman Index. A strong upholder of secular education in Belgium, he was arrested more than once for his radicalism, being imprisoned for eighteen months in ’28. In Sept. ’30 he became a member of the provisional government. He was afterwards exiled and lived in Paris, where he wrote a philosophical and anti-clericalHistory of Christianity, in 8 vols., 1836–37. He also wrote aRational Catechism, 1854, and aRational Dictionary, 1859, and numerous brochures. Died Bruges, 22 July, 1859.Deraismes(Maria), French writer and lecturer, b. Paris,15 Aug. 1835. She first made her name as a writer of comedies. She wrote an appeal on behalf of her sex,Aux Femmes Riches, ’65. The Masonic Lodge of Le Pecq, near Paris, invited her to become a member, and she was duly installed under the Grand Orient of France. The first female Freemason, was president of the Paris Anti-clerical Congress of 1881, and has written much in her journal,Le Républicain de Seine et Oise.De Roberty(Eugene). SeeRoberty.Desbarreaux(Jacques Vallée),Seigneur, French poet and sceptic, b. Paris, 1602, great-nephew of Geoffrey Vallée, who was burnt in 1574. Many stories are related of his impiety,e.g.the well-known one of his having afeastof eggs and bacon. It thundered, and Des Barreaux, throwing the plate out of window, exclaimed, “What an amount of noise over an omelette.” It was said he recanted and wrote a poem beginning, “Great God, how just are thy chastisements.” Voltaire, however, assigns this poem to the Abbé Levau. Died at Chalons, 9 May, 1673.Descartes(René), French philosopher, b. at La Haye, 31 March, 1596. After leaving college he entered the army in ’16, and fought in the battle of Prague. He travelled in France and Italy, and in ’29 settled in Holland. In ’37 he produced his famousDiscourses upon the Method of Reasoning Well, etc., and in ’41 hisMeditations upon First Philosophy. This work gave such offence to the clergy that he was forced to fly his country “parce qu’il y fait trop chaud pour lui.” He burnt hisTraite du Monde(Treatise on the World) lest he should incur the fate of Gallilei. Though a Theist, like Bacon, he puts asidefinal causes. He was offered an asylum by Christina, Queen of Sweden, and died at Stockholm 11 Feb. 1650.Deschamps(Léger-Marie), known also as Dom Deschamps, a French philosopher, b. Rennes, Poitiers, 10 Jan. 1716. He entered the Order of Benedictines, but lost his faith by reading an abridgment of the Old Testament. He became correspondent of Voltaire, Rousseau, d’Alembert, Helvetius, and other philosophers. “Ce prêtre athée,” as Ad. Franck calls him, was the author of a treatise entitledLa Vérité, ou le Vrai Système, in which he appears to have anticipated all the leading ideas of Hegel. God, he says, as separated from existing things, is pure nothingness. An analysis of his remarkable work, which remained in manuscript for three-quarters of a century, has been published by Professor Beaussire (Paris, 1855). Died at Montreuil-Bellay, 19 April 1774.Deslandes(André FrançoisBoureau), b. Pondichery, 1690. Became member of the Berlin Academy and wrote numerous works, mostly under the veil of anonymity, the principal beingA Critical History of Philosophy, 3 vols(1737). HisPygmalion, a philosophical romance, was condemned by the parliament of Dijon, 1742. HisReflexions sur les grands hommes qui sont mort en Plaisantant(Amsterdam, 1732) was translated into English and published in 1745 under the title,Dying Merrily. Another work directed against religion wasOn the certainty of Human Knowledge, a philosophical examination of the different prerogatives of reason and faith (London, 1741). Died Paris, 11 April, 1757.Des Maizeaux(Pierre), miscellaneous writer, b. Auvergne, 1673. He studied at Berne and Geneva, and became known to Bayle who introduced him to Lord Shaftesbury, with whom he came to London, 1699. He edited the works of Bayle, Saint Evremond and Toland, whose lives he wrote, as well as those of Hales and Chillingworth. Anthony Collins was his friend, and at his death left him his manuscripts. These he transferred to Collins’s widow and they were burnt. He repented and returned the money, 6 Jan. 1730, as the wages of iniquity. He became Secretary of the Royal Society of London, where he died, 11 July, 1745.Desmoulins(Lucié Simplice Camille Benôit), French revolutionary writer, b. Guise, 2 March, 1760. He was a fellow-studentof Robespierre at Paris, and became an advocate and an enthusiastic reformer. In July ’89 he incited the people to the siege of the Bastille, and thus began the Revolution. On 29 Dec. 1790 he married Lucile Laridon-Duplessis. He editedLe Vieux Cordelierand theRévolutions de France et de Brabant, in which he stated that Mohammedanism was as credible as Christianity. He was a Deist, preferring Paganism to Christianity. Both creeds were more or less unreasonable; but, folly for folly, he said, I prefer Hercules slaying the Erymanthean boar to Jesus of Nazareth drowning two thousand pigs. He was executed with Danton, 5 April 1794. His amiable wife, Lucile, who was an Atheist (b. 1770), in a few days shared his fate (April 13). Carlyle calls Desmoulins a man of genius, “a fellow of infinite shrewdness, wit—nay, humor.”Des Periers(Jean Bonaventure), French poet and sceptic, b. Arnay le Duc, about 1510. He was brought up in a convent, only to detest the vices of the monks. In 1535 he lived inLyonsand assisted Dolet. He probably knew Rabelais, whom he mentions as “Francoys Insigne.” Attached to the court of Marguerite of Valois, he defended Clement Marot when persecuted for making a French version of the Psalms. He wrote theCymbalum Mundi, a satire upon religion, published under the name of Thomas de Clenier à Pierre Tryocan,i.e., Thomas Incrédule à Pierre Croyant, 1537. It was suppressed and the printer, Jehan Morin, imprisoned. Des Periers fled and died (probably by suicide, to escape persecution)1544. An English version ofCymbalum Mundiwas published in 1712. P. G. Brunet, the bibliographer, conjectures that Des Periers was the author of the famous Atheistic treatise,The Three Impostors.Destriveaux(Pierre Joseph), Belgian lawyer and politician, b. Liége, 13 March, 1780. Author of several works on public right. Died Schaerbeck (Brussels), 3 Feb. 1853.Destutt de Tracy(Antoine Louis de Claude)Count, French materialist philosopher, b. 20 July, 1754. His family was of Scotch origin. At first a soldier, he was one of the first noblemen at the Revolution to despoil himself of his title. A friend of Lafayette, Condorcet, and Cabanis, he was a complete sceptic in religion; made an analysis of Dupuis’Origine de tous les Cultes(1804), edited Montesquieu and Cabanis, wasmade a member of the French Academy (1808), and wrote several philosophical works, of which the principal isElements of Ideology. He was a great admirer of Hobbes. Died Paris, 9 March, 1836.Des Vignes(Pietro), secretary to Frederick II. (1245–49). Mazzuchelli attributes to him the treatiseDe Tribus Impostoribus.Detrosier(Rowland), social reformer and lecturer, b. 1796, the illegitimate son of a Manchester man named Morris and a Frenchwoman. In his early years he was “for whole days without food.” Self-educated, he established the first Mechanics’ Institute in England at Hulme, gave Sunday scientific lectures, and published several discourses in favor of secular education. He became secretary of the National Political Union. He was a Deist. Like Bentham, who became his friend, he bequeathed his body for scientific purposes. Died in London, 23 Nov. 1834.Deubler(Konrad). The son of poor parents, b. Goisern, near Ischl, Upper Austria, 26 Nov. 1814. Self-taught amid difficulties, he became the friend of Feuerbach and Strauss, and was known as “the Peasant Philosopher.” In 1854 he was indicted for blasphemy, and was sentenced to two years’ hard labor and imprisonment during pleasure. He was incarcerated from 7 Dec.’54, till Nov. ’56 at Brünn, and afterwards at Olmutz, where he was released 24 March, 1857. He returned to his native place, and was visited by Feuerbach. In ’70 he was made Burgomaster by his fellow-townsmen. Died 30 March, 1884.Deurhoff(Willem), Dutch writer, b. Amsterdam, March 1650. Educated for the Church, he gave himself to philosophy, translated the works of Descartes, and was accused of being a follower of Spinoza. Forced to leave his country, he took refuge in Brabant, but returned to Holland, where he died 10 Oct. 1717. He left some followers.De Wette.(See Wette M. L. de).D’Holbach.SeeHolbach (P. H. D. von),Baron.Diagoras, Greek poet, philosopher, and orator, known as “the Atheist,” b. Melos. A pupil of Democritus, who is said to have freed him from slavery. A doubtful tradition reports that he became an Atheist after being the victim of an unpunishedperjury. He was accused (B.C.411) of impiety, and had to fly from Athens to Corinth, where he died. A price was put upon the Atheist’s head. His works are not extant, but several anecdotes are related of him, as that he threw a wooden statue of Hercules into the fire to cook a dish of lentils, saying the god had a thirteenth task to perform; and that, being on his flight by sea overtaken by a storm, hearing his fellow-passengers say it was because an Atheist was on board, he pointed to other vessels struggling in the same storm without being laden with a Diagoras.Di Cagno Politi(Niccola Annibale), Italian Positivist, b. Bari, 1857. Studied at Naples under Angiulli, has written on modern culture and on experimental philosophy in Italy, and contributed articles on Positivism to theRivista Europea.Diderot(Denis), French philosopher, b. Langres, 6 Oct. 1713. His father, a cutler, intended him for the Church. Educated by Jesuits, at the age of twelve he received the tonsure. He had a passion for books, but, instead of becoming a Jesuit, went to Paris, where he supported himself by teaching and translating. In 1746 he publishedPhilosophic Thoughts, which was condemned to be burnt. It did much to advance freedom of opinion. Three years later hisLetters on the Blindoccasioned his imprisonment at Vincennes for its materialistic Atheism. Rousseau, who called him “a transcendent genius,” visited Diderot in prison, where he remained three years. Diderot projected the famousEncyclopédie, which he edited with Alembert, and he contributed some of the most important articles. With very inadequate recompense, and amidst difficulties that would have appalled an ordinary editor, Diderot superintended the undertaking for many years (1751–65). He also contributed to other important works, such as Raynal’sPhilosophic History,L’Esprit, by Helvetius, andThe System of Natureand other works of his friend D’Holbach. Diderot’s fertile mind also produced dramas, essays, sketches, and novels. Died 30 July, 1784. Comte calls Diderot “the greatest thinker of the eighteenth century.”Diercks(Gustav), German author of able works on the History of the Development of Human Spirit (Berlin, 1881–2)and on Arabian Culture in Spain, 1887. Is a member of the German Freethinkers’ Union.Dilke(Ashton Wentworth), b. 1850. Educated at Cambridge, travelled in Russia and Central Asia, and published a translation of Turgenev’sVirgin Soil. He purchased and edited theWeekly Dispatch; was returned as M.P. for Newcastle in 1880, but, owing to ill health, resigned in favor of John Morley, and died at Algiers 12 March, 1883.Dinter(Gustav Friedrich), German educationalist, b. Borna, near Leipsic, 29 Feb. 1760. HisBible forSchoolmastersis his best-known work. It sought to give rational notes and explanations of the Jew books, and excited much controversy. Died at Konigsberg, 29 May, 1831.Dippel(Johann Konrad), German alchemist and physician, b. 10 Aug. 1672, at Frankenstein, near Darmstadt. HisPapismus vapulans Protestantium(1698) drew on him the wrath of the theologians ofGiessen, and he had tofleefor his life. Attempting to find out the philosopher’s stone, he discovered Prussian blue. In 1705 he published his satires against the Protestant Church,Hirt und eine Heerde, under the name of Christianus Democritos. He denied the inspiration of the Bible, and after an adventurous life in many countries died 25 April, 1734.Dobrolyubov(Nikolai Aleksandrovich), Russian author, b. 1836, at Nijni Novgorod, the son of a priest. Educated at St. Petersburg, he became a radical journalist. His works were edited in four vols. by Chernuishevsky. Died 17 Nov. 1861.Dodel-Port(Prof. Arnold), Swiss scientist, b. Affeltrangen, Thurgau, 16 Oct. 1843. Educated at Kreuzlingen, he became in ’63 teacher in the Oberschule in Hauptweil; then studied from ’64–’69 at Geneva, Zürich, and Munich, becomingprivat docentin the University of Zürich, ’70. In ’75 he publishedThe New History of Creation. In ’78 he issued his world-famousBotanical Atlas, and was in ’80 made Professor of Botany in the Zürich University and Director of the Botanical Laboratory. He has also writtenBiological Fragments(1885), theLife and Letters of Konrad Deubler, “the peasant philosopher” (1886), and has just publishedMoses or Darwin? a SchoolQuestion, 1889. Dr. Dodel-Port is an hon. member of the London Royal Society and Vice-President of the German Freethinkers’ Union.Dodwell(Henry), eldest son of the theologian of that name, was b. Shottesbrooke, Berkshire, about the beginning of the eighteenth century. He was educated at Magdalen Hall, when he proceeded B.A., 9 Feb. 1726. In ’42 he published a pamphlet entitledChristianity not Founded on Argument, which in a tone of grave irony contends that Christianity can only be accepted by faith. He was brought up to the law and was a zealous friend of the Society for the Promotion of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. Died 1784.Doebereiner(Johann Wolfgang), German chemist, b. Bavaria, 15 Dec. 1780. In 1810 he became Professor of Chemistry at Jena, where he added much to science. Died 24 March, 1849. He was friend and instructor to Goethe.Dolet(Etienne), a learned French humanist, b. Orleans 3 Aug. 1509. He studied in Paris, Padua and Venice. For his heresy he had to fly from Toulouse and lived for some time at Lyons, where he established a printing-press and published some of his works, for which he was imprisoned. He was acquainted with Rabelais, Des Periers, and other advanced men of the time. In 1543 the Parliament condemned his books to be burnt, and in the next year he was arrested on a charge of Atheism. After being kept two years in prison he was strangled and burnt, 3 Aug. 1546. It is related that seeing the sorrow of the crowd, he said: “Non dolet ipe Dolet, sed pia turba dolet.”—Dolet grieves not, but the generous crowd grieves. His goods being confiscated, his widow and children were left to beggary. “The French language,” says A. F. Didot, “owes him much for his treatises, translations, and poesies.” Dolet’s biographer, M. Joseph Boulmier, calls him “le Christ de la pensée libre.” Philosophy has alone the right, says Henri Martin, to claim Dolet on its side. His English biographer, R. C. Christie, says he was “neither a Catholic nor a Protestant.”Dominicis(Saverio Fausto de), Italian Positivist philosopher, b. Buonalbergo, 1846. Is Professor of Philosophy at Bari, and has written onEducation and Darwinism.Dondorf(Dr. A.), SeeAnderson(Marie)in Supplement.Doray de Longrais(Jean Paul), French man of letters. b. Manvieux, 1736. Author of a Freethought romance,Faustin, or the Philosophical Age. Died at Paris, 1800.Dorsch(Eduard), German American Freethinker, b. Warzburg 10 Jan. 1822. He studied at Munich and Vienna. In ’49 he went to America and settled in Monroe, Michigan, where he published a volume of poems, some being translations from Swinburne. Died 10 Jan. 1887.Dorsey(J. M.), author of theThe True History of Moses, and others, an attack on the Bible, published at Boston in 1855.Draparnaud(Jacques Philippe Raymond), French doctor, b. 3 June, 1772, at Montpelier, where he became Professor of Natural History. His discourses on Life and Vital Functions, and on the Philosophy of the Sciences and Christianity (1801), show his scepticism. Died 1 Feb. 1805.Draper(JohnWilliam), scientist and historian, b. St. Helens, near Liverpool, 5 May 1811. The son of a Wesleyan minister, he was educated at London University. In ’32 he emigrated to America, where he was Professor of Chemistry and Natural History in New York University. He was one of the inventors of photography and the first who applied it to astronomy. He wrote many scientific works, notably onHuman Physiology. His history of the American Civil War is an important work, but he is chiefly known by hisHistory of the Intellectual Development of EuropeandHistory of the Conflict of Religion and Science, which last has gone through many editions and been translated into all the principal languages. Died 4 Jan. 1882.Dreyfus(Ferdinand Camille), author of an able work on the Evolution of Worlds and Societies, 1888.Droysen(Johann Gustav), German historian, b. Treptoir, 6 July, 1808. Studied at Berlin; wrote in theHallische Jahrbücher; was Professor of History at Keil, 1840; Jena ’51 and Berlin ’59. Has edited Frederick the Great’s Correspondence, and written other important works, some in conjunction with his friend Max Duncker. Died 15 June, 1882.Drummond(Sir William), of Logie Almond, antiquary and author, b. about 1770; entered Parliament as member for St.Mawes, Cornwall, 1795. In the following year he became envoy to the court of Naples, and in 1801 ambassador to Constantinople. His principal work isOrigines, or Remarks on the Origin of several Empires, States, and Cities (4 vols. 1824–29). He also printed privatelyThe Œdipus Judaicus, 1811. It calls in question, with much boldness and learning, many legends of the Old Testament, to which it gave an astronomical signification. It was reprinted in ’66. Sir William Drummond also wrote anonymouslyPhilosophical Sketches of the Principles of Society, 1795. Died at Rome, 29 March, 1828.Duboc(Julius) German writer and doctor of philosophy b.Hamburg, 10 Oct. 1829. Educated at Frankfurt and Giessen, is a clever journalist, and has translated theHistory of the English Press. Has written an Atheistic work,DasLebenOhne Gott(Life without God), with the motto from Feuerbach “No religion is my religion, no philosophy my philosophy,” 1875. He has also written on thePsychologyof Love, and other important works.Dubois(Pierre), a French sceptic, who in 1835 publishedThe True Catechism of Believers—a work ordered by the Court of Assizes to be suppressed, and for which the author (Sept. ’35) was condemned to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of one thousand francs. He also wroteThe Believer Undeceived, or Evident Proofs of the Falsity and Absurdity of Christianity; a work put on theIndexin ’36.Du Bois-Reymond(Emil), biologist, of Swiss father and French mother, b. Berlin, 7 Nov. 1818. He studied at Berlin and Bonn for the Church, but left it to follow science, ’37. Has become famous as a physiologist, especially by hisResearches in Animal Electricity, ’48–60. With Helmholtz he has done much to establish the new era of positive science, wrongly called by opponents Materialism. Du Bois-Reymond holds that thought is a function of the brain and nervous system, and that “soul” has arisen as the gradual results of natural combinations, but in hisLimits of the Knowledge of Nature, ’72, he contends that we must always come to an ultimate incomprehensible. Du Bois-Reymond has written onVoltaire and Natural Science, ’68;La Mettrie, ’75;Darwin versus Galiani, ’78; andFrederick II.and Rousseau, ’79. Since ’67 he has been perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences, Berlin.Dubuisson(Paul Ulrich), French dramatist and revolutionary, b. Lauat, 1746. A friend of Cloots he suffered with him on the scaffold, 24 March, 1794.Dubuisson(Paul), living French Positivist, author ofGrand Types of Humanity.Du Chatelet Lomont.SeeChastelet.Duclos(Charles Pinot), witty French writer, b. Dinan, 12 Feb. 1704. He was admitted into the French Academy, 1747 and became its secretary, 1755. A friend of Diderot and d’Alembert. HisConsiderations sur les Mœursis still a readable work. Died 27 March, 1772.Ducos(Jean François), French Girondist, b. Bordeaux in 1765. Elected to the Legislative Assembly, he, on the 26th Oct. 1791, demanded the complete separation of the State from religion. He shared the fate of the Girondins, 31 Oct. 1793, crying with his last breath, “Vive la Republique!”Du Deffand(Marie),Marchioness, witty literary Frenchwoman, b. 1697. Chamfort relates that when young and in a convent she preached irreligion to her young comrades. The abbess called in Massillon, to whom the little sceptic gave her reasons. He went away saying “She is charming.” Her house in Paris was for fifty years the resort of eminent authors and statesmen. She corresponded for many years with Horace Walpole, D’Alembert and Voltaire. Many anecdotes are told of her; thus, to the Cardinal de Polignac, who spoke of the miracle of St. Denis walking when beheaded, she said “Il n’y a que le premier pas qui coûte.” Died 24 Sept. 1780. To the curé of Saint Sulpice, who came to her death-bed, she said “Ni questions, ni raisons, ni sermons.” Larousse calls her “Belle, instruite, spirituelle mais sceptique et materialiste.”Dudgeon(William), a Berwickshire Deist, whose works were published (privately printed at Edinburgh) in 1765.Dudnevant(A. L. A.Dupin),Baroness. SeeSand (Georges).Duehring(Eugen Karl), German writer, b. Berlin, 12 Jan. 1833; studied law. He has, though blind, written many works on science and political economy, also aCritical History ofPhilosophy, ’69–78, andScience Revolutionized, ’78. In Oct. 1879, his death was maliciously reported.Dulaure(Jacques Antoine), French archæologist and historian, b. Clermont-Ferrand, 3 Dec. 1755. In 1788–90 he published six volumes of a description of France. He wrote many pamphlets, including one on the private lives of ecclesiastics. Elected to the Convention in 1792, he voted for the death of the King. Proscribed as a Girondist, Sept. 1793, he fled to Switzerland. He was one of the Council of Five Hundred, 1796–98. Dulaure wrote a learnedTreatise on Superstitions, but he is best known by hisHistory of Paris, and hisShort History of Different Worships, 1825, in which he deals with ancient fetishism and phallic worship. Died Paris, 9 Aug. 1835.Dulaurens(Henri Joseph). French satirist, b. Douay, 27 March, 1719. He was brought up in a convent, and made a priest 12 Nov. 1727. Published a satire against the Jesuits, 1761, he was compelled to fly to Holland, where he lived in poverty. He editedL’Evangile de la Raison, a collection of anti-Christian tracts by Voltaire and others, and wroteL’Antipapisme réveléin 1767. He was in that year condemned to perpetual imprisonment for heresy, and shut in the convent of Mariabaum, where he died 1797. Dulaurens was caustic, cynical and vivacious. He is also credited with thePortfolios of a Philosopher, mostly taken from the Analysis of Bayle, Cologne, 1770.Dulk(Albert Friedrich Benno), German poet and writer, b. Konigsberg, 17 June, 1819; he became a physician, but was expelled for aiding in the Revolution of ’48. He travelled in Italy and Egypt. In ’65 he publishedJesus der Christ, embodying rationalism in prose and verse. He has also writtenStimme derMenschheit, 2 vols., ’76, ’80, andDer Irrgang des Lebens Jesu, ’84, besides numerous plays and pamphlets. Died 29 Oct. 1884.Dumont(Léon), French writer, b. Valenciennes, 1837. Studied for the bar, but took to philosophy and literature. He early embraced Darwinism, and wrote onHæckel and the Theory of Evolution, ’73. He wrote inLa Revue Philosophique, and other journals. Died Valenciennes, 17 Jan. 1877.Dumarsais(CésarChesneau), French grammarian and philosopher, b. Marseilles, 17 July, 1676. When young he entered the congregation of the oratory. This society he soon quitted, and went to Paris, where he married. A friend of Boindin and Alembert, he wrote against the pretensions of Rome and contributed to theEncyclopédie. He is credited withAn Analysis of the Christian Religionand with the celebratedEssai sur les Préjugés, par Mr. D. M., but the latter was probably written by Holbach, with notes by Naigeon.Le Philosophe, published inL’Evangile de la Raisonby Dulaurens, was written by Voltaire. Died 11 June, 1756. Dumarsais was very simple in character, and was styled by D’Alembert the La Fontaine of philosophers.Dumont(Pierre Etienne Louis), Swiss writer, b. Geneva, 18 July, 1759. Was brought up as a minister, but went to France and became secretary to Mirabeau. After the Revolution he came to England, where he became acquainted with Bentham, whose works he translated. Died Milan, 29 Sept. 1829.Duncker(Maximilian Wolfgang), German historian, b. Berlin, 15 Oct. 1811. His chief work, theHistory of Antiquity, 1852–57, thoroughly abolishes the old distinction of sacred and profane history, and freely criticises the Jewish records. A translation in six volumes has been made by E. Abbot. Duncker took an active part in the events of ’48 and ’50, and was appointed Director-General of the State Archives. Died 24 July, 1886.Dupont(Jacob Louis), a French mathematician and member of the National Convention, known as the Abbé Dupont, who, 14 Dec. 1792, declared himself an Atheist from the tribune of the Convention. Died at Paris in 1813.Dupont de Nemours(Pierre Samuel), French economist, b. Paris, 14 Dec. 1739. He became President of the Constituent Assembly, and was a Theophilantrophist. Died Delaware, U.S.A., 6 Aug. 1817.Dupuis(Charles François), French astronomer and philosopher, b. Trie-le-Chateau, 16 Oct. 1742. He was educated for the Church, which he left, and married in 1775. He studied under Lalande, and wrote on the origin of the constellations, 1781. In 1788 he became a member of the Academy of Inscriptions. At the Revolution he was chosen a member of the Convention.During the Reign of Terror he saved many lives at his own risk. He was afterwards one of the Council of Five Hundred, and president of the legislative body. His chief work is on theOrigin of Religions, 7 vols., 1795, in which he traces solar worship in various faiths, including Christianity. This has been described as “a monument of the erudition of unbelief.” Dupuis died near Dijon, 29 Sept. 1809.Dutrieux(Pierre Joseph), Belgian physician, b. Tournai, 19 July, 1848. Went to Cairo and became a Bey. Died 1 Jan. 1889.Dutton(Thomas), M.A., theatrical critic, b. London, 1767. Educated by the Moravians. In 1795 he published aVindication of the Age of Reason by Thomas Paine. He translated Kotzebue’sPizarroin Peru, 1799, and edited theDramatic Censor, 1800, and theMonthly Theatrical Reporter, 1815.Duvernet(Théophile Imarigeon), French writer, b. at Ambert 1730. He was brought up a Jesuit, became an Abbé, but mocked at religion. Duvernet became tutor to Saint Simon. For a political pamphlet he was imprisoned in the Bastille. While here he wrote a curious and rare romance,Les Devotions de Mme. de Bethzamooth. He wrote onReligious Intolerance, 1780, and aHistory of the Sorbonne, 1790, but is best known by hisLife of Voltaire(1787). In 1793 he wrote a letter to the Convention, in which he declares that he renounces the religion “born in a stable between an ox and an ass.” Died in 1796.

Cooper(Anthony Ashley), seeShaftesbury.

Cooper(Henry), barrister, b. Norwich about 1784. He was a schoolfellow of Wm. Taylor of Norwich. He served as midshipman at the battle of the Nile, but disliking the service became a barrister, and acquired some fame by his spirited defence of Mary Ann Carlile, 21 July, 1821, for which the report of the trial was dedicated to him by R. Carlile. He was a friend of Lord Erskine, whose biography he commenced. Died 19 Sept. 1824.

Cooper(John Gilbert), poet, b. Thurgaton Priory, Notts, 1723. Educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. An enthusiastic disciple of Lord Shaftesbury. Under the name of “Philaretes” he contributed to Dodsley’s Museum. In 1749 he published aLife of Socrates, for which he was coarsely attacked by Warburton. He wrote some poems under the signature of Aristippus. Died Mayfair, London, 14 April, 1769.

Cooper(Peter), a benevolent manufacturer, b. N. York, 12 Feb. 1791. He devoted over half a million dollars to theCooper Institute, for the secular instruction and elevation of the working classes. Died 4 April, 1883.

Cooper(Robert), Secularist writer and lecturer, b. 29 Dec. 1819, at Barton-on-Irwell, near Manchester. He had the advantage of being brought up in a Freethought family. At fourteen he became teacher in the Co-operative Schools, Salford, lectured at fifteen, and by seventeen became an acknowledged advocate of Owenism, holding a public discussion with the Rev. J. Bromley. Some of his lectures were published—one onOriginal Sinsold twelve thousand copies—when he was scarcely eighteen. TheHoly Scriptures Analysed(1832) was denounced by the Bishop of Exeter in the House of Lords. Cooper was dismissed from a situation he had held ten years, and in 1841 became a Socialist missionary in the North of England and Scotland. At Edinburgh (1845) he wroteFree AgencyandOrthodoxy, and compiled theInfidel’s Text Book. About ’50 he came to London, lecturing with success at John Street Institution. In ’54 he started theLondon Investigator, which he edited for three years. In it appears his lectures on “Sciencev.Theology,” “Admissions of Distinguished Men,” etc. Failing health obliged him to retire leaving theInvestigatorto “Anthony Collins” (W. H. Johnson), and afterwards to “Iconoclast” (C. Bradlaugh). At his last lecture he fainted on the platform. In 1858 he remodelled hisInfidel Text-Bookinto a work onThe Bible and Its Evidences. He devoted himself to political reform until his death, 3 May, 1868.

Cooper(Thomas), M.D., LL.D., natural philosopher, politician, jurist and author, b. London, 22 Oct. 1759. Educated at Oxford, he afterwards studied law and medicine; was admitted to the bar and lived at Manchester, where he wrote a number of tracts on “Materialism,” “Whether Deity be a Free Agent,” etc., 1789. Deputed with James Watt, the inventor, by the Constitutional clubs to congratulate the Democrats of France (April, 1792), he was attacked by Burke and replied in a vigorous pamphlet. In ’94 he publishedInformation Concerning America, and in the next year followed his friend Priestly to Philadelphia, established himself as a lawyer and was made judge. He also conducted theEmporium of Arts and Sciencesin that city. He was Professor of Medicine at Carlisle College,’12, and afterwards held the chairs both of Chemistry and Political Economy in South Carolina College, of which he became President, 1820–34. This position he was forced to resign on account of his religious views. He translated from Justinian and Broussais, and digested the Statutes of South Carolina. In philosophy a Materialist, in religion a Freethinker, in politics a Democrat, he urged his views in many pamphlets. One onThe Right of Free Discussion, and a little book onGeology and the Pentateuch, in reply to Prof. Silliman, were republished in London by James Watson. Died at Columbia, 11 May, 1840.1

Coornhert(Dirk Volkertszoon), Dutch humanist, poet and writer, b. Amsterdam, 1522. He travelled in his youth through Spain and Portugal. He set up as an engraver at Haarlem, and became thereafter notary and secretary of the city of Haarlem. He had a profound horror of intolerance, and defended liberty against Beza and Calvin. The clergy vituperated him as a Judas and as instigated by Satan, etc. Bayle, who writes of him as Theodore Koornhert, says he communed neither with Protestants nor Catholics. The magistrates of Delft drove him out of their city. He translated Cicero’sDe Officiis, and other works. Died at Gouda, 20 Oct. 1590.

Cordonnier de Saint Hyacinthe.SeeSaint-Hyacinthe (Themiseuil de).

Corvin-Wiersbitski(Otto Julius Bernhard von), Prussian Pole of noble family, who traced their descent from the Roman Corvinii, b. Gumbinnen, 12 Oct. 1812. He served in the Prussian army, where he met his friend Friedrich von Sallet; retired into the Landwehr 1835, went to Leipsic and entered upon a literary career, wrote the History of the Dutch Revolution, 1841; theHistory of Christian Fanaticism, 1845, which was suppressed in Austria. He took part with the democrats in ’48; was condemned to be shot 15 Sept. ’49, but the sentence was commuted; spent six years’ solitary confinement in prison; came to London, became correspondent to theTimes; went through American Civil War, and afterwards Franco-PrussianWar, as a special correspondent. He has written a History of the New Time, 1848–71. Died since 1886.

Cotta(Bernhard), German geologist, b. Little Zillbach, Thuringia, 24 Oct. 1808. He studied at the Academy of Mining, in Freiberg, where he was appointed professor in ’42. His first production,The Dendroliths, ’32, proved him a diligent investigator. It was followed by many geological treatises. Cotta did much to support the nebular hypothesis and the law of natural development without miraculous agency. He also wrote on phrenology. Died atFreiburg, 13 Sept 1879.

Cotta(C. Aurelius), Roman philosopher, orator and statesman, b.B.C.124. In ’75 he became Consul. On the expiration of his office he obtained Gaul as a province. Cicero had a high opinion of him and gives his sceptical arguments in the third book of hisDe Natura Deorum.

Courier(Paul Louis), French writer, b. Paris, 4 Jan. 1772. He entered the army and became an officer of artillery, serving with distinction in the Army of the Republic. He wrote many pamphlets, directed against the clerical restoration, which place him foremost among the literary men of the generation. His writings are now classics, but they brought him nothing but imprisonment, and he was apparently assassinated, 10 April, 1825. He had a presentiment that the bigots would kill him.

Coventry(Henry), a native of Cambridgeshire, b. about 1710, Fellow of Magdalene College, author ofLetters of Philemon to Hydaspus on False Religion(1736). Died 29 Dec. 1752.

Coward(William), M.D., b. Winchester, 1656. Graduated at Wadham College, Oxford, 1677. Settled first at Northampton, afterwards at London. Published, besides some medical works,Second Thoughts Concerning Human Soul, which excited much indignation by denying natural immortality. The House of Commons (17 March, 1704) ordered his work to be burnt. He died in 1725.

Cox(the Right Rev. Sir George William), b. 1827, was educated at Rugby and Oxford, where he took B.C.L. in 1849. Entered the Church, but has devoted himself to history and mythology. His most pretentious work isMythology of the Aryan Nations(1870). He has also written anIntroduction to Comparative Mythologyand several historical works. In 1886 he became Bishop of Bloemfontein. He is credited with the authorship of theEnglish Life of Jesus, published under the name of Thomas Scott. At the Church Congress of 1888 he read an heretical paper on Biblical Eschatology. His last production is aLife of Bishop Colenso, 2 vols, 1888.

Coyteux(Fernand), French writer, b. Ruffec, 1800. Author of a materialistic system of philosophy, Brussels, 1853 Studies on physiology, Paris, 1875, etc.

Craig(Edward Thomas), social reformer, b. at Manchester 4 Aug. 1804. He was present at the Peterloo massacre ’19; helped to form the Salford Social Institute and became a pioneer of co-operation. In ’31 he became editor of theLancashire Co-operator. In Nov. of the same year he undertook the management of a co-operative farm at Rahaline, co. Clare. Of this experiment he has written an history, ’72. Mr. Craig has edited several journals and contributed largely to Radical and co-operative literature. He has published a memoir of Dr. Travis and at the age of 84 he wrote onThe Science of Prolonging Life.

Cramer(Johan Nicolai), Swedish writer, b. Wisby, Gottland, 18 Feb. 1812. He studied at Upsala and became Doctor of Philosophy ’36; ordained priest in ’42; he resigned in ’58. In religion he denies revelation and insists on the separation of Church and State. Among his works we mentionSeparation from the Church, a Freethinker’s annotations on the reading of the Bible, Stockholm, 1859.A Confession of Faith; Forward or Back?(1862). He has also written on the Punishment of Death (1868), and other topics.

Cranbrook(Rev. James.) Born of strict Calvinistic parents about 1817. Mr. Cranbrook gradually emancipated himself from dogmas, became a teacher, and for sixteen years was minister of an Independent Church at Liscard, Cheshire. He also was professor at the Ladies’ College, Liverpool, some of his lectures there being published ’57. In Jan. ’65, he went to Albany Church, Edinburgh, but his views being too broad for that congregation, he left in Feb. ’67 but continued to give Sunday lectures until his death, 6 June, 1869. In ’66 he publishedCredibilia: an Inquiry into the grounds of Christian faith and two years laterThe Founders of Christianity, discourses on the origin of Christianity. Other lectures onHuman Depravity,Positive Religion, etc., were published by Thomas Scott.

Cranch(Christopher Pearse), American painter and poet, b. Alexandria, Virginia, 8 March, 1813, graduated at divinity school, Cambridge, Mass. ’35, but left the ministry in ’42. He shows his Freethought sentiments inSatan, a Libretto, Boston, ’74, and other works.

Craven(M. B.), American, author of a critical work on the Bible entitledTriumph of Criticism, published at Philadelphia, 1869.

Cremonini(Cesare), Italian philosopher, b. Cento, Ferrara, 1550, was professor of philosophy at Padua from 1591 to 1631, when he died. A follower of Aristotle, he excited suspicion by his want of religion and his teaching the mortality of the soul. He was frequently ordered by the Jesuits and the Inquisition to refute the errors he gave currency to, but he was protected by the Venetian State, and refused. Like most of the philosophers of his time, he distinguished between religious and philosophic truth. Bayle says. “Il a passé pour un esprit fort, qui ne croyait point l’immortalité de l’âme.” Larousse says, “On peut dire qu’iln’étaitpas chrétien.” Ladvocat says his works “contain many things contrary to religion.”

Cross(Mary Ann). SeeEliot (George).

Crousse(Louis D.), French Pantheistic philosopher, author ofPrinciples, or First Philosophy, 1839, andThoughts, 1845.

Curtis(S. E.), English Freethinker, author ofTheology Displayed, 1842. He has been credited withThe Protestant’s Progress to Infidelity. See Griffith (Rees). Died 1847.

Croly(David Goodman), American Positivist, b. New York,3 Nov. 1829. He graduated at New York University in ’54, and was subsequently a reporter on theNew York Herald. He became editor of theNew York Worlduntil ’72. From ’71 to ’73 he editedThe Modern Thinker, an organ of the most advanced thought, and afterwards theNew York Graphic. Mr. Croly has written aPrimer of Positivism, ’76, and has contributed manyarticles to periodicals. His wife, Jane Cunningham, who calls herself “Jennie June,” b. 1831, also wrote inThe Modern Thinker.

Cross(MaryAnn), seeEliot (George).

Crozier(John Beattie), English writer of Scottish border parentage, b. Galt, Ontario, Canada, 23 April, 1849. In youth he won a scholarship to the grammar school of the town, and thence won another scholarship to the Toronto University, where he graduated ’72, taking the University and Starr medals. He then came to London determined to study the great problems of religion and civilisation. He took his diploma from the London College of Physicians in ’73. In ’77 he wrote his first essay, “God or Force,” which, being rejected by all the magazines, he published as a pamphlet. Other essays on the Constitution of the World, Carlyle, Emerson, and Spencer being also rejected, he published them in a book entitledThe Religion of the Future, ’80, which fell flat. He then started his workCivilisation and Progress, which appeared in ’85, and was also unsuccessful until republished with a few notices in ’87, when it received a chorus of applause, for its clear and original thoughts. Mr. Crozier is now engaged on his Autobiography, after which he proposes to deal with the Social question.

Cuffeler(Abraham Johann), a Dutch philosopher and doctor of law, who was one of the first partizans of Spinoza. He lived at Utrecht towards the end of the seventeenth century, and wrote a work on logic in three parts entitledSpecimen Artis Ratiocinandi, etc., published ostensibly at Hamburg, but really at Amsterdam or Utrecht, 1684. It was without name but with the author’s portrait.

Cuper(Frans), Dutch writer, b. Rotterdam. Cuper is suspected to have been one of those followers of Spinoza, who under pretence of refuting him, set forth and sustained his arguments by feeble opposition. His work entitledArcana Atheismi Revelata, Rotterdam 1676, was denounced as written in bad faith. Cuper maintained that the existence of God could not be proved by the light of reason.

Cyrano de Bergerac(Savinien), French comic writer, b. Paris 6 March, 1619. After finishing his studies and serving in the army in his youth he devoted himself to literature. His tragedy “Agrippine” is full of what a bookseller called “bellesimpiétés,” and La Monnoye relates that at its performance the pit shouted “Oh, the wretch! The Atheist! How he mocks at holy things!” Cyrano knew personally Campanella, Gassendi, Lamothe Le Vayer, Linière, Rohault, etc. His other works consist of a short fragment onPhysic, a collection ofLetters, and aComic History of the States and Empires of the Moon and the Sun. Cyrano took the idea of this book from F. Godwin’sMan in the Moon, 1583, and it in turn gave rise to Swift’sGulliver’s Travelsand Voltaire’sMicromegas. Died Paris, 1655.

Czolbe(Heinrich), German Materialist, b. near Dantzic, 30 Dec. 1819, studied medicine at Berlin, writing an inaugural dissertation on thePrinciples of Physiology, ’44. In ’55 he published hisNew Exposition of Sensationalism, in which everything is resolved into matter and motion, and in ’65 a work onThe Limits and Origin of Human Knowledge. He was an intimate friend of Ueberweg. Died at Königsberg, 19 Feb. 1873. Lange says “his life was marked by a deep and genuine morality.”

D’Ablaing.SeeGiessenburg.

Dale(Antonius van), Dutch writer, b. Haarlem, 8 Nov. 1638. His work on oracles was erudite but lumbersome, and to it Fontenelle gave the charm of style. It was translated into English by Mrs. Aphra Behn, under the title ofThe History of Oracles and the Cheats of Pagan Priests, 1699. Van Dale, in another work onThe Origin and Progress of Idolatry and Superstition, applied the historical method to his subject, and showed that the belief in demons was as old and as extensive as the human race. He died at Haarlem, 28 Nov. 1708.

Damilaville(Etienne Noël), French writer, b. at Bordeaux, 1721. At first a soldier, then a clerk, he did some service for Voltaire, who became his friend. He also made the friendship Diderot, d’Alembert, Grimm, and d’Holbach. He contributed to theEncyclopédie, and in 1767 published an attack on the theologians, entitledTheological Honesty. The book entitledChristianity Unveiled[seeBoulangerandHolbach] was attributed by Voltaire, who called itImpiety Unveiled, and by La Harpe and Lalande to Damilaville. Voltaire called him “one of our most learned writers.” Larousse says “he was an ardent enemy of Christianity.” He has also been credited with a share in theSystem of Nature. Died 15 Dec. 1768.

Dandolo(Vincenzo)Count, Italian chemist, b. Venice, 26 Oct. 1758, wrotePrinciples of Physical Chemistry, a work in French onThe New Men, in which he shows his antagonism to religion, and many useful works on vine, timber, and silk culture. Died Varessa, 13 Dec. 1819.

Danton(Georges Jacques), French revolutionist, b. Arcis sur Aube, 28 Oct. 1759. An uncle wished him to enter into orders, but he preferred to study law. During the Revolution his eloquence made him conspicuous at the Club of Cordeliers, and in Feb. 1791, he became one of the administrators of Paris. One of the first to see that after the flight of Louis XVI. he could no longer be king, he demanded his suspension, and became one of the chief organisers of the Republic. In the alarm caused by the invasion he urged a bold and resolute policy. He was a member of the Convention and of the Committee of Public Safety. At the crisis of the struggle with Robespierre,Danton declined to strike the first blow and disdained to fly. Arrested March, 1794, he said when interrogated by the judge, “My name is Danton, my dwelling will soon be in annihilation; but my name will live in the Pantheon of history.” He maintained his lofty bearing on the scaffold, where he perished 5 April, 1794. For his known scepticism Danton was calledfils de Diderot. Carlyle calls him “a very Man.”

Dapper(Olfert), Dutch physician, who occupied himself with history and geography, on which he produced important works. He had no religion and was suspected of Atheism. He travelled through Syria, Babylonia, etc., in 1650. He translated Herodotus (1664) and the orations of the late Prof. Caspar v. Baerli (1663), and wrote aHistory of the City of Amsterdam, 1663. Died at Amsterdam 1690.

Darget(Etienne), b. Paris, 1712; went to Berlin in 1744 and became reader and private secretary to Frederick the Great (1745–52), who corresponded with him afterwards. Died 1778.

Darwin(Charles Robert), English naturalist, b. Shrewsbury, 12 Feb. 1809. Educated at Shrewsbury, Edinburgh University, and Cambridge. He early evinced a taste for collecting and observing natural objects. He was intended for a clergyman, but, incited by Humboldt’sPersonal Narrative, resolved totravel. He accompanied Captain Fitzroy in the “Beagle” on a voyage of exploration, ’31–36, which he narrated in hisVoyage of a Naturalist Round the World, which obtained great popularity. In ’39 he married, and in ’42 left London and settled at Down, Kent. His studies, combined with the reading of Lamarck and Malthus, led to his great work onThe Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, ’59, which made a great outcry and marked an epoch. Darwin took no part in the controversy raised by the theologians, but followed his work withThe Fertilisation of Orchids, ’62;Cross and Self Fertilisation of Plants, ’67;Variations of Plants and Animals under Domestication, ’65; and in ’71The Descent of Man and Selection in relation to Sex, which caused yet greater consternation in orthodox circles. The following year he issuedThe Expression of the Emotions of Men and Animals. He also published works on theMovements of Plants,Insectivorous Plants, theForms of Flowers, andEarthworms. He died 19 April, 1882, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, despite his expressed unbelief in revelation. To a German student he wrote, in ’79, “Science has nothing to do with Christ, except in so far as the habit of scientific research makes a man cautious in admitting evidence. For myself I do not believe that there ever has been any revelation.” In hisLife and Lettershe relates that between 1836 and 1842 he had come to see “that the Old Testament was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindoos.” He rejected design and said “I for one must be content to remain an Agnostic.”

Darwin(Erasmus), Dr., poet, physiologist and philosopher, grandfather of the above, was born at Elston, near Newark, 12 Dec. 1731. Educated at Chesterfield and Cambridge he became a physician, first at Lichfield and afterwards at Derby. He was acquainted with Rousseau, Watt and Wedgwood. His principal poem,The Botanic Gardenwas published in 1791, andThe Temple of Naturein 1803. His principal work isZoomania, or the laws of organic life (1794), for which he was accused of Atheism. He was actually a Deist. He also wrote on female education and some papers in thePhilosophical Transactions. Died at Derby, 18 April, 1802.

Daubermesnil(François Antoine), French conventionalist. Elected deputy of Tarn in 1792. Afterwards became a memberof the Council of Five Hundred. He was one of the founders of Theophilanthropy. Died at Perpignan 1802.

Daudet(Alphonse), French novelist, b. at Nîmes, 13 May 1840, author of many popular romances, of which we mentionL’Evangeliste, ’82, which has been translated into English under the titlePort Salvation.

Daunou(Pierre Claude François), French politician and historian, b. Boulogne, 18 Aug. 1761. His father entered him in the congregation of the Fathers of the Oratory, which he left at the Revolution. The department of Calais elected him with Carnot and Thomas Paine to the Convention. After the Revolution he became librarian at the Pantheon. He was a friend of Garat, Cabanis, Chenier, Destutt Tracy, Ginguené and Benj. Constant. WroteHistorical Essay on the Temporal Power of the Popes, 1810. Died at Paris, 20 June, 1840, noted for his benevolence.

Davenport(Allen), social reformer, b. 1773. He contributed to Carlile’sRepublican; wrote an account of the Life, Writings and Principles of Thomas Spence, the reformer (1826); and published a volume of verse, entitledThe Muses’ Wreath(1827). Died at Highbury, London, 1846.

Davenport(John), Deist, b. London, 8 June, 1789, became a teacher. He wroteAn Apology for Mohammed and the Koran, 1869;Curiositates Eroticœ Physiologæ, or Tabooed Subjects Freely Treated, and several educational works. Died in poverty 11 May, 1877.

David of Dinant, in Belgium, Pantheistic philosopher of the twelfth century. He is said to have visited the Papal Court of Innocent III. He shared in the heresies of Amalric of Chârtres, and his workQuateriniwas condemned and burnt (1209). He only escaped the stake by rapid flight. According to Albert the Great he was the author of a philosophical workDe Tomis, “Of Subdivisions,” in which he taught that all things were one. His system was similar to that of Spinoza.

David(Jacques Louis), French painter, born at Paris, 31 Aug. 1748, was made painter to the king, but joined the Jacobin Club, became a member of the Convention, voted for the king’s death and for the civic festivals, for which he made designs.On the restoration he was banished. Died at Brussels, 29 Dec. 1825. David was an honest enthusiast and a thorough Freethinker.

DavidisorDavid(Ferencz), a Transylvanian divine, b. about 1510. He was successively a Roman Catholic, a Lutheran and an Antitrinitarian. He went further than F. Socinus and declared there was “as much foundation for praying to the Virgin Mary and other dead saints as to Jesus Christ.” He was in consequence accused of Judaising and thrown into prison at Deva, where he died 6 June, 1579.

Davies(John C.), of Stockport, an English Jacobin, who in 1797 published a list of contradictions of the Bible under the title ofThe Scripturian’s Creed, for which he was prosecuted and imprisoned. The work was republished by Carlile, 1822, and also at Manchester, 1839.

Davidson(Thomas), bookseller and publisher, was prosecuted by the Vice Society in Oct. 1820, for selling theRepublicanand a publication of his own, called theDeist’s Magazine. For observations made in his defence he was summoned and fined £100, and he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in Oakham Gaol. He died 16 Dec. 1826.

Debierre(Charles), French writer, author ofMan Before History, 1888.

De Dominicis.SeeDominicis.

De Felice(Francesco), Italian writer, b. Catania, Sicily, 1821, took part in the revolution of ’43, and when Garibaldi landed in Sicily was appointed president of the provisional council of war. Has written on the reformation of elementary schools.

De Greef(Guillaume Joseph), advocate at Brussels Court of Appeal, b. at Brussels, 9 Oct. 1842. Author of an importantIntroduction to Sociology, 1886. Wrote inLa Liberté, 1867–73, and now writes inLa Societé Nouvelle.

De Gubernatis(Angelo), Italian Orientalist and writer, b. Turin, 7 April, 1840; studied at Turin University and became doctor of philosophy. He studied Sanskrit under Bopp and Weber at Berlin. Sig. de Gubernatis has adorned Italian literature with many important works, of which we mention his volumes onZoological Mythology, which has beentranslated into English, ’72: and on theMythology of Plants. He has compiled and in large part written aUniversal History of Literature, 18 vols. ’82–85; editedLa Revista Europeaand theRevue Internationale, and contributed to many publications. He is a brilliant writer and a versatile scholar.

De Harven(Emile Jean Alexandre), b. Antwerp, 23 Sept. 1837, the anonymous author of a work onThe Soul: its Origin and Destiny(Antwerp, 1879).

Dekker(Eduard Douwes), the greatest Dutch writer and Freethinker of this century, b. Amsterdam, 2 March, 1820. In ’39 he accompanied his father, a ship’s captain, to the Malayan Archipelago. He became officer under the Dutch government in Sumatra, Amboina, and Assistant-Resident at Lebac, Java. He desired to free the Javanese from the oppression of their princes, but the government would not help him and he resigned and returned to Holland, ’56. The next four years he spent, in poverty, vainly seeking justice for the Javanese. In ’60 he published under the pen name of “Multatuli”Max Havelaar, a masterly indictment of the Dutch rule in India, which has been translated into German, French and English. Then follow his choiceMinnebrieven(Love Letters), ’61;Vorstenschool(A School for Princes), andMillioenenStudiën(Studies on Millions). HisIdeën, 7 vols. ’62–79, are full of the boldest heresy. In most of his works religion is attacked, but in theIdeasfaith is criticised with much more pungency and satire. He wrote “Faith is the voluntary prison-cell of reason.” He was an honorary member of the Freethought Society,De Dageraad, and contributed to its organ. During the latter years of his life he lived at Wiesbaden, where he died 19 Feb. 1887. His corpse was burned in the crematory at Gotha.

De Lalande(seeLalande).

Delambre(Jean Baptiste Joseph), French astronomer, b. Amiens, 19 Sept. 1749, studied under Lalande and became, like his master, an Atheist. His Tables of the Orbit of Uranus were crowned by the Academy, 1790. In 1807 he succeeded Lalande as Professor of Astronomy at the Collége de France. He is the author of aHistory of Astronomyin five volumes, and of a number of astronomical tables and other scientific works He was appointed perpetual secretary of the Academy ofSciences. Died 19 Aug. 1822, and was buried at Père la Chaise. Cuvier pronouncing a discourse over his grave.

De la Ramee.SeeRamée.

Delbœuf(Joseph Remi Léopold), Belgian writer, b. Liège, 30 Sept. 1831; is Professor at the University of Liège, and has writtenPsychology as a Natural Science, its Present and its Future; Application of the Experimental Method to the Phenomena of the Soul, ’73, and other works. In hisPhilosophical Prolegomena to Geometryhe suggests that even mathematical axioms may have an empirical origin.

Delbos(Léon), linguist, b. 20 Sept. 1849 of Spanish father and Scotch mother. Educated in Paris, Lycée Charlemagne. Is an M.A. of Paris andofficier d’Académie. Speaks many languages, and is a good Arabic and Sanskrit scholar. Has travelled widely and served in the Franco-German War. Besides many educational works, M. Delbos has writtenL’Athée, the Atheist, a Freethought romance ’79, and in EnglishThe Faith in Jesus not a New Faith, ’85. He has contributed to theAgnostic Annual, and is a decided Agnostic.

Delepierre(Joseph Octave), Belgian bibliophile, b. Bruges, 12 March, 1802. Was for thirty-five years secretary of Legation to England. His daughter married N. Truebner, who published his workL’Enfer, 1876, and many other bibliographical studies. Died London, 18 Aug. 1879.

Delescluze(Louis Charles), French journalist and revolutionary, b. Dreux, 2 Oct. 1809, was arrested in ’34 for sedition. Implicated in a plot in ’35, he took refuge in Belgium. In ’48 he issued at ParisLa Revolution Démocratique et Sociale, but was soon again in prison. He was banished, came to England with Ledru Rollin, but returning to France in ’53 was arrested. In ’68 he published theRéveil, for which he was again fined and sentenced to prison for ten years. In ’59 he was amnestied and imprisoned. He became head of the Commune Committee of Public Safety, and died at the barricade, 25 May, 1871.

Deleyre(Alexandre), French writer, b. Porbats, near Bordeaux, 6 Jan. 1726. Early in life he entered the order of Jesuits, but changed his faith and became the friend of Rousseau and Diderot. He contributed to theEncyclopédie, notably the article“Fanatisme,” and published an analysis of Bacon and works on the genius of Montesquieu and Saint Evremond, and a History of Voyages. He embraced the Revolution with ardor, was made deputy to the Convention, and in 1795 was made member of the Institute. Died at Paris, 27 March, 1797.

Delisle de Sales.SeeIsoard Delisle (J. B. C.)

Dell(John Henry), artist and poet, b. 11 Aug. 1832. Contributed toProgress, wroteNature Pictures, ’71, andThe Dawning Grey, ’85, a volume of vigorous verse, imbued with the spirit of democracy and freethought. Died 31 Jan. 1888.

Deluc(Adolphe), Professor of Chemistry at Brussels, b. Paris, 1 Sept. 1811. Collaborated onLa Libre Recherche.

De Maillet.SeeMaillet (Benoît de).

Democritus, a wealthy Atheistic philosopher, b. Abdera, Thrace,B.C.460. He travelled to Egypt and over a great part of Asia, and is also said to have visited India. He is supposed to have been acquainted with Leucippus, and sixty works were ascribed to him. DiedB.C.357. He taught that all existence consisted of atoms, and made the discovery of causes the object of scientific inquiry. He is said to have laughed at life in general, which Montaigne says is better than to imitate Heraclitus and weep, since mankind are not so unhappy as vain. Democritus was the forerunner of Epicurus, who improved his system.

Demonax, a cynical philosopher who lived in the second century of the Christian era and rejected all religion. An account of him was written by Lucian.

Demora(Gianbattista), director of theLibero Pensatoreof Milan, and author of some dramatic works.

Denis(Hector), Belgian advocate and professor of political economy and philosophy at Brussels University, b. Braine-le-Comte, 29 April, 1842. Has written largely on social questions and contributed toLa Liberté,la Philosophie Positive, etc. Is one of the Council of the International Federation of Freethinkers.

Denslow(Van Buren), American writer, author of essays onModern Thinkers, 1880, to which Colonel Ingersoll wrote an introduction. He contributed a paper on the value of irreligionto theReligio Philosophicjournal of America, Jan. ’78, and has written in theTruthseekerand other journals.

Denton(WilliamF.), poet, geologist, and lecturer, b. Darlington, Durham, 8 Jan. 1823. After attaining manhood he emigrated to the United States, ’48, and in ’56 publishedPoems for Reformers. He was a prolific writer, and constant lecturer on temperance, psychology, geology, and Freethought. In ’72 he publishedRadical Discourses on Religious Subjects(Boston, ’72), andRadical Rhymes, ’79. He travelled to Australasia, and died of a fever while conducting scientific explorations in New Guinea 26 Aug. 1883.

De Paepe(César) Dr., Belgian Socialist, b. Ostend, 12 July, 1842. He was sent to the college of St. Michel, Brussels. He obtained the Diploma of Candidate of Philosophy, but on the death of his father became a printer with Désiré Brismée (founder of Les Solidaires, a Rationalist society). Proudhon confided to him the correction of his works. He became a physician and is popular with the workmen’s societies. He was one of the foremost members of the International and attended all its congresses, as well as those of the International Federation of Freethinkers. He has written much on public hygiene, political economy, and psychology, collaborating in a great number of the most advanced journals. Dr. De Paepe is a short, fair, energetic man, capable both as a speaker and writer.

Depasse(Hector), French writer, b. at Armentières in 1843, is editor ofLa RépubliqueFrançaise, and member of the Paris Municipal Council. He has written a striking work onClericalism, in which he urges the separation of Church and State, 1877; and is author of many little books onContemporary Celebrities, among them are Gambetta, Bert, Ranc, etc.

De Ponnat.SeePonnat (—de),Baron.

De Pontan.SeePonnat.

De Potter(Agathon Louis), Belgian economist, b. Brussels, 11 Nov. 1827. Has written many works on Social Science, and has collaborated toLa Ragione(Reason), ’56, andLa Philosophie de l’Avenir.

De Potter(Louis Antoine Joseph), Belgian politician and writer, father of the above, b. of noble family, Bruges, 26 April, 1786. In 1811 he went to Italy and lived ten years at Rome.In ’21 he wrote theSpirit of the Church, in 6 vols., which are put on theRoman Index. A strong upholder of secular education in Belgium, he was arrested more than once for his radicalism, being imprisoned for eighteen months in ’28. In Sept. ’30 he became a member of the provisional government. He was afterwards exiled and lived in Paris, where he wrote a philosophical and anti-clericalHistory of Christianity, in 8 vols., 1836–37. He also wrote aRational Catechism, 1854, and aRational Dictionary, 1859, and numerous brochures. Died Bruges, 22 July, 1859.

Deraismes(Maria), French writer and lecturer, b. Paris,15 Aug. 1835. She first made her name as a writer of comedies. She wrote an appeal on behalf of her sex,Aux Femmes Riches, ’65. The Masonic Lodge of Le Pecq, near Paris, invited her to become a member, and she was duly installed under the Grand Orient of France. The first female Freemason, was president of the Paris Anti-clerical Congress of 1881, and has written much in her journal,Le Républicain de Seine et Oise.

De Roberty(Eugene). SeeRoberty.

Desbarreaux(Jacques Vallée),Seigneur, French poet and sceptic, b. Paris, 1602, great-nephew of Geoffrey Vallée, who was burnt in 1574. Many stories are related of his impiety,e.g.the well-known one of his having afeastof eggs and bacon. It thundered, and Des Barreaux, throwing the plate out of window, exclaimed, “What an amount of noise over an omelette.” It was said he recanted and wrote a poem beginning, “Great God, how just are thy chastisements.” Voltaire, however, assigns this poem to the Abbé Levau. Died at Chalons, 9 May, 1673.

Descartes(René), French philosopher, b. at La Haye, 31 March, 1596. After leaving college he entered the army in ’16, and fought in the battle of Prague. He travelled in France and Italy, and in ’29 settled in Holland. In ’37 he produced his famousDiscourses upon the Method of Reasoning Well, etc., and in ’41 hisMeditations upon First Philosophy. This work gave such offence to the clergy that he was forced to fly his country “parce qu’il y fait trop chaud pour lui.” He burnt hisTraite du Monde(Treatise on the World) lest he should incur the fate of Gallilei. Though a Theist, like Bacon, he puts asidefinal causes. He was offered an asylum by Christina, Queen of Sweden, and died at Stockholm 11 Feb. 1650.

Deschamps(Léger-Marie), known also as Dom Deschamps, a French philosopher, b. Rennes, Poitiers, 10 Jan. 1716. He entered the Order of Benedictines, but lost his faith by reading an abridgment of the Old Testament. He became correspondent of Voltaire, Rousseau, d’Alembert, Helvetius, and other philosophers. “Ce prêtre athée,” as Ad. Franck calls him, was the author of a treatise entitledLa Vérité, ou le Vrai Système, in which he appears to have anticipated all the leading ideas of Hegel. God, he says, as separated from existing things, is pure nothingness. An analysis of his remarkable work, which remained in manuscript for three-quarters of a century, has been published by Professor Beaussire (Paris, 1855). Died at Montreuil-Bellay, 19 April 1774.

Deslandes(André FrançoisBoureau), b. Pondichery, 1690. Became member of the Berlin Academy and wrote numerous works, mostly under the veil of anonymity, the principal beingA Critical History of Philosophy, 3 vols(1737). HisPygmalion, a philosophical romance, was condemned by the parliament of Dijon, 1742. HisReflexions sur les grands hommes qui sont mort en Plaisantant(Amsterdam, 1732) was translated into English and published in 1745 under the title,Dying Merrily. Another work directed against religion wasOn the certainty of Human Knowledge, a philosophical examination of the different prerogatives of reason and faith (London, 1741). Died Paris, 11 April, 1757.

Des Maizeaux(Pierre), miscellaneous writer, b. Auvergne, 1673. He studied at Berne and Geneva, and became known to Bayle who introduced him to Lord Shaftesbury, with whom he came to London, 1699. He edited the works of Bayle, Saint Evremond and Toland, whose lives he wrote, as well as those of Hales and Chillingworth. Anthony Collins was his friend, and at his death left him his manuscripts. These he transferred to Collins’s widow and they were burnt. He repented and returned the money, 6 Jan. 1730, as the wages of iniquity. He became Secretary of the Royal Society of London, where he died, 11 July, 1745.

Desmoulins(Lucié Simplice Camille Benôit), French revolutionary writer, b. Guise, 2 March, 1760. He was a fellow-studentof Robespierre at Paris, and became an advocate and an enthusiastic reformer. In July ’89 he incited the people to the siege of the Bastille, and thus began the Revolution. On 29 Dec. 1790 he married Lucile Laridon-Duplessis. He editedLe Vieux Cordelierand theRévolutions de France et de Brabant, in which he stated that Mohammedanism was as credible as Christianity. He was a Deist, preferring Paganism to Christianity. Both creeds were more or less unreasonable; but, folly for folly, he said, I prefer Hercules slaying the Erymanthean boar to Jesus of Nazareth drowning two thousand pigs. He was executed with Danton, 5 April 1794. His amiable wife, Lucile, who was an Atheist (b. 1770), in a few days shared his fate (April 13). Carlyle calls Desmoulins a man of genius, “a fellow of infinite shrewdness, wit—nay, humor.”

Des Periers(Jean Bonaventure), French poet and sceptic, b. Arnay le Duc, about 1510. He was brought up in a convent, only to detest the vices of the monks. In 1535 he lived inLyonsand assisted Dolet. He probably knew Rabelais, whom he mentions as “Francoys Insigne.” Attached to the court of Marguerite of Valois, he defended Clement Marot when persecuted for making a French version of the Psalms. He wrote theCymbalum Mundi, a satire upon religion, published under the name of Thomas de Clenier à Pierre Tryocan,i.e., Thomas Incrédule à Pierre Croyant, 1537. It was suppressed and the printer, Jehan Morin, imprisoned. Des Periers fled and died (probably by suicide, to escape persecution)1544. An English version ofCymbalum Mundiwas published in 1712. P. G. Brunet, the bibliographer, conjectures that Des Periers was the author of the famous Atheistic treatise,The Three Impostors.

Destriveaux(Pierre Joseph), Belgian lawyer and politician, b. Liége, 13 March, 1780. Author of several works on public right. Died Schaerbeck (Brussels), 3 Feb. 1853.

Destutt de Tracy(Antoine Louis de Claude)Count, French materialist philosopher, b. 20 July, 1754. His family was of Scotch origin. At first a soldier, he was one of the first noblemen at the Revolution to despoil himself of his title. A friend of Lafayette, Condorcet, and Cabanis, he was a complete sceptic in religion; made an analysis of Dupuis’Origine de tous les Cultes(1804), edited Montesquieu and Cabanis, wasmade a member of the French Academy (1808), and wrote several philosophical works, of which the principal isElements of Ideology. He was a great admirer of Hobbes. Died Paris, 9 March, 1836.

Des Vignes(Pietro), secretary to Frederick II. (1245–49). Mazzuchelli attributes to him the treatiseDe Tribus Impostoribus.

Detrosier(Rowland), social reformer and lecturer, b. 1796, the illegitimate son of a Manchester man named Morris and a Frenchwoman. In his early years he was “for whole days without food.” Self-educated, he established the first Mechanics’ Institute in England at Hulme, gave Sunday scientific lectures, and published several discourses in favor of secular education. He became secretary of the National Political Union. He was a Deist. Like Bentham, who became his friend, he bequeathed his body for scientific purposes. Died in London, 23 Nov. 1834.

Deubler(Konrad). The son of poor parents, b. Goisern, near Ischl, Upper Austria, 26 Nov. 1814. Self-taught amid difficulties, he became the friend of Feuerbach and Strauss, and was known as “the Peasant Philosopher.” In 1854 he was indicted for blasphemy, and was sentenced to two years’ hard labor and imprisonment during pleasure. He was incarcerated from 7 Dec.’54, till Nov. ’56 at Brünn, and afterwards at Olmutz, where he was released 24 March, 1857. He returned to his native place, and was visited by Feuerbach. In ’70 he was made Burgomaster by his fellow-townsmen. Died 30 March, 1884.

Deurhoff(Willem), Dutch writer, b. Amsterdam, March 1650. Educated for the Church, he gave himself to philosophy, translated the works of Descartes, and was accused of being a follower of Spinoza. Forced to leave his country, he took refuge in Brabant, but returned to Holland, where he died 10 Oct. 1717. He left some followers.

De Wette.(See Wette M. L. de).

D’Holbach.SeeHolbach (P. H. D. von),Baron.

Diagoras, Greek poet, philosopher, and orator, known as “the Atheist,” b. Melos. A pupil of Democritus, who is said to have freed him from slavery. A doubtful tradition reports that he became an Atheist after being the victim of an unpunishedperjury. He was accused (B.C.411) of impiety, and had to fly from Athens to Corinth, where he died. A price was put upon the Atheist’s head. His works are not extant, but several anecdotes are related of him, as that he threw a wooden statue of Hercules into the fire to cook a dish of lentils, saying the god had a thirteenth task to perform; and that, being on his flight by sea overtaken by a storm, hearing his fellow-passengers say it was because an Atheist was on board, he pointed to other vessels struggling in the same storm without being laden with a Diagoras.

Di Cagno Politi(Niccola Annibale), Italian Positivist, b. Bari, 1857. Studied at Naples under Angiulli, has written on modern culture and on experimental philosophy in Italy, and contributed articles on Positivism to theRivista Europea.

Diderot(Denis), French philosopher, b. Langres, 6 Oct. 1713. His father, a cutler, intended him for the Church. Educated by Jesuits, at the age of twelve he received the tonsure. He had a passion for books, but, instead of becoming a Jesuit, went to Paris, where he supported himself by teaching and translating. In 1746 he publishedPhilosophic Thoughts, which was condemned to be burnt. It did much to advance freedom of opinion. Three years later hisLetters on the Blindoccasioned his imprisonment at Vincennes for its materialistic Atheism. Rousseau, who called him “a transcendent genius,” visited Diderot in prison, where he remained three years. Diderot projected the famousEncyclopédie, which he edited with Alembert, and he contributed some of the most important articles. With very inadequate recompense, and amidst difficulties that would have appalled an ordinary editor, Diderot superintended the undertaking for many years (1751–65). He also contributed to other important works, such as Raynal’sPhilosophic History,L’Esprit, by Helvetius, andThe System of Natureand other works of his friend D’Holbach. Diderot’s fertile mind also produced dramas, essays, sketches, and novels. Died 30 July, 1784. Comte calls Diderot “the greatest thinker of the eighteenth century.”

Diercks(Gustav), German author of able works on the History of the Development of Human Spirit (Berlin, 1881–2)and on Arabian Culture in Spain, 1887. Is a member of the German Freethinkers’ Union.

Dilke(Ashton Wentworth), b. 1850. Educated at Cambridge, travelled in Russia and Central Asia, and published a translation of Turgenev’sVirgin Soil. He purchased and edited theWeekly Dispatch; was returned as M.P. for Newcastle in 1880, but, owing to ill health, resigned in favor of John Morley, and died at Algiers 12 March, 1883.

Dinter(Gustav Friedrich), German educationalist, b. Borna, near Leipsic, 29 Feb. 1760. HisBible forSchoolmastersis his best-known work. It sought to give rational notes and explanations of the Jew books, and excited much controversy. Died at Konigsberg, 29 May, 1831.

Dippel(Johann Konrad), German alchemist and physician, b. 10 Aug. 1672, at Frankenstein, near Darmstadt. HisPapismus vapulans Protestantium(1698) drew on him the wrath of the theologians ofGiessen, and he had tofleefor his life. Attempting to find out the philosopher’s stone, he discovered Prussian blue. In 1705 he published his satires against the Protestant Church,Hirt und eine Heerde, under the name of Christianus Democritos. He denied the inspiration of the Bible, and after an adventurous life in many countries died 25 April, 1734.

Dobrolyubov(Nikolai Aleksandrovich), Russian author, b. 1836, at Nijni Novgorod, the son of a priest. Educated at St. Petersburg, he became a radical journalist. His works were edited in four vols. by Chernuishevsky. Died 17 Nov. 1861.

Dodel-Port(Prof. Arnold), Swiss scientist, b. Affeltrangen, Thurgau, 16 Oct. 1843. Educated at Kreuzlingen, he became in ’63 teacher in the Oberschule in Hauptweil; then studied from ’64–’69 at Geneva, Zürich, and Munich, becomingprivat docentin the University of Zürich, ’70. In ’75 he publishedThe New History of Creation. In ’78 he issued his world-famousBotanical Atlas, and was in ’80 made Professor of Botany in the Zürich University and Director of the Botanical Laboratory. He has also writtenBiological Fragments(1885), theLife and Letters of Konrad Deubler, “the peasant philosopher” (1886), and has just publishedMoses or Darwin? a SchoolQuestion, 1889. Dr. Dodel-Port is an hon. member of the London Royal Society and Vice-President of the German Freethinkers’ Union.

Dodwell(Henry), eldest son of the theologian of that name, was b. Shottesbrooke, Berkshire, about the beginning of the eighteenth century. He was educated at Magdalen Hall, when he proceeded B.A., 9 Feb. 1726. In ’42 he published a pamphlet entitledChristianity not Founded on Argument, which in a tone of grave irony contends that Christianity can only be accepted by faith. He was brought up to the law and was a zealous friend of the Society for the Promotion of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. Died 1784.

Doebereiner(Johann Wolfgang), German chemist, b. Bavaria, 15 Dec. 1780. In 1810 he became Professor of Chemistry at Jena, where he added much to science. Died 24 March, 1849. He was friend and instructor to Goethe.

Dolet(Etienne), a learned French humanist, b. Orleans 3 Aug. 1509. He studied in Paris, Padua and Venice. For his heresy he had to fly from Toulouse and lived for some time at Lyons, where he established a printing-press and published some of his works, for which he was imprisoned. He was acquainted with Rabelais, Des Periers, and other advanced men of the time. In 1543 the Parliament condemned his books to be burnt, and in the next year he was arrested on a charge of Atheism. After being kept two years in prison he was strangled and burnt, 3 Aug. 1546. It is related that seeing the sorrow of the crowd, he said: “Non dolet ipe Dolet, sed pia turba dolet.”—Dolet grieves not, but the generous crowd grieves. His goods being confiscated, his widow and children were left to beggary. “The French language,” says A. F. Didot, “owes him much for his treatises, translations, and poesies.” Dolet’s biographer, M. Joseph Boulmier, calls him “le Christ de la pensée libre.” Philosophy has alone the right, says Henri Martin, to claim Dolet on its side. His English biographer, R. C. Christie, says he was “neither a Catholic nor a Protestant.”

Dominicis(Saverio Fausto de), Italian Positivist philosopher, b. Buonalbergo, 1846. Is Professor of Philosophy at Bari, and has written onEducation and Darwinism.

Dondorf(Dr. A.), SeeAnderson(Marie)in Supplement.

Doray de Longrais(Jean Paul), French man of letters. b. Manvieux, 1736. Author of a Freethought romance,Faustin, or the Philosophical Age. Died at Paris, 1800.

Dorsch(Eduard), German American Freethinker, b. Warzburg 10 Jan. 1822. He studied at Munich and Vienna. In ’49 he went to America and settled in Monroe, Michigan, where he published a volume of poems, some being translations from Swinburne. Died 10 Jan. 1887.

Dorsey(J. M.), author of theThe True History of Moses, and others, an attack on the Bible, published at Boston in 1855.

Draparnaud(Jacques Philippe Raymond), French doctor, b. 3 June, 1772, at Montpelier, where he became Professor of Natural History. His discourses on Life and Vital Functions, and on the Philosophy of the Sciences and Christianity (1801), show his scepticism. Died 1 Feb. 1805.

Draper(JohnWilliam), scientist and historian, b. St. Helens, near Liverpool, 5 May 1811. The son of a Wesleyan minister, he was educated at London University. In ’32 he emigrated to America, where he was Professor of Chemistry and Natural History in New York University. He was one of the inventors of photography and the first who applied it to astronomy. He wrote many scientific works, notably onHuman Physiology. His history of the American Civil War is an important work, but he is chiefly known by hisHistory of the Intellectual Development of EuropeandHistory of the Conflict of Religion and Science, which last has gone through many editions and been translated into all the principal languages. Died 4 Jan. 1882.

Dreyfus(Ferdinand Camille), author of an able work on the Evolution of Worlds and Societies, 1888.

Droysen(Johann Gustav), German historian, b. Treptoir, 6 July, 1808. Studied at Berlin; wrote in theHallische Jahrbücher; was Professor of History at Keil, 1840; Jena ’51 and Berlin ’59. Has edited Frederick the Great’s Correspondence, and written other important works, some in conjunction with his friend Max Duncker. Died 15 June, 1882.

Drummond(Sir William), of Logie Almond, antiquary and author, b. about 1770; entered Parliament as member for St.Mawes, Cornwall, 1795. In the following year he became envoy to the court of Naples, and in 1801 ambassador to Constantinople. His principal work isOrigines, or Remarks on the Origin of several Empires, States, and Cities (4 vols. 1824–29). He also printed privatelyThe Œdipus Judaicus, 1811. It calls in question, with much boldness and learning, many legends of the Old Testament, to which it gave an astronomical signification. It was reprinted in ’66. Sir William Drummond also wrote anonymouslyPhilosophical Sketches of the Principles of Society, 1795. Died at Rome, 29 March, 1828.

Duboc(Julius) German writer and doctor of philosophy b.Hamburg, 10 Oct. 1829. Educated at Frankfurt and Giessen, is a clever journalist, and has translated theHistory of the English Press. Has written an Atheistic work,DasLebenOhne Gott(Life without God), with the motto from Feuerbach “No religion is my religion, no philosophy my philosophy,” 1875. He has also written on thePsychologyof Love, and other important works.

Dubois(Pierre), a French sceptic, who in 1835 publishedThe True Catechism of Believers—a work ordered by the Court of Assizes to be suppressed, and for which the author (Sept. ’35) was condemned to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of one thousand francs. He also wroteThe Believer Undeceived, or Evident Proofs of the Falsity and Absurdity of Christianity; a work put on theIndexin ’36.

Du Bois-Reymond(Emil), biologist, of Swiss father and French mother, b. Berlin, 7 Nov. 1818. He studied at Berlin and Bonn for the Church, but left it to follow science, ’37. Has become famous as a physiologist, especially by hisResearches in Animal Electricity, ’48–60. With Helmholtz he has done much to establish the new era of positive science, wrongly called by opponents Materialism. Du Bois-Reymond holds that thought is a function of the brain and nervous system, and that “soul” has arisen as the gradual results of natural combinations, but in hisLimits of the Knowledge of Nature, ’72, he contends that we must always come to an ultimate incomprehensible. Du Bois-Reymond has written onVoltaire and Natural Science, ’68;La Mettrie, ’75;Darwin versus Galiani, ’78; andFrederick II.and Rousseau, ’79. Since ’67 he has been perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences, Berlin.

Dubuisson(Paul Ulrich), French dramatist and revolutionary, b. Lauat, 1746. A friend of Cloots he suffered with him on the scaffold, 24 March, 1794.

Dubuisson(Paul), living French Positivist, author ofGrand Types of Humanity.

Du Chatelet Lomont.SeeChastelet.

Duclos(Charles Pinot), witty French writer, b. Dinan, 12 Feb. 1704. He was admitted into the French Academy, 1747 and became its secretary, 1755. A friend of Diderot and d’Alembert. HisConsiderations sur les Mœursis still a readable work. Died 27 March, 1772.

Ducos(Jean François), French Girondist, b. Bordeaux in 1765. Elected to the Legislative Assembly, he, on the 26th Oct. 1791, demanded the complete separation of the State from religion. He shared the fate of the Girondins, 31 Oct. 1793, crying with his last breath, “Vive la Republique!”

Du Deffand(Marie),Marchioness, witty literary Frenchwoman, b. 1697. Chamfort relates that when young and in a convent she preached irreligion to her young comrades. The abbess called in Massillon, to whom the little sceptic gave her reasons. He went away saying “She is charming.” Her house in Paris was for fifty years the resort of eminent authors and statesmen. She corresponded for many years with Horace Walpole, D’Alembert and Voltaire. Many anecdotes are told of her; thus, to the Cardinal de Polignac, who spoke of the miracle of St. Denis walking when beheaded, she said “Il n’y a que le premier pas qui coûte.” Died 24 Sept. 1780. To the curé of Saint Sulpice, who came to her death-bed, she said “Ni questions, ni raisons, ni sermons.” Larousse calls her “Belle, instruite, spirituelle mais sceptique et materialiste.”

Dudgeon(William), a Berwickshire Deist, whose works were published (privately printed at Edinburgh) in 1765.

Dudnevant(A. L. A.Dupin),Baroness. SeeSand (Georges).

Duehring(Eugen Karl), German writer, b. Berlin, 12 Jan. 1833; studied law. He has, though blind, written many works on science and political economy, also aCritical History ofPhilosophy, ’69–78, andScience Revolutionized, ’78. In Oct. 1879, his death was maliciously reported.

Dulaure(Jacques Antoine), French archæologist and historian, b. Clermont-Ferrand, 3 Dec. 1755. In 1788–90 he published six volumes of a description of France. He wrote many pamphlets, including one on the private lives of ecclesiastics. Elected to the Convention in 1792, he voted for the death of the King. Proscribed as a Girondist, Sept. 1793, he fled to Switzerland. He was one of the Council of Five Hundred, 1796–98. Dulaure wrote a learnedTreatise on Superstitions, but he is best known by hisHistory of Paris, and hisShort History of Different Worships, 1825, in which he deals with ancient fetishism and phallic worship. Died Paris, 9 Aug. 1835.

Dulaurens(Henri Joseph). French satirist, b. Douay, 27 March, 1719. He was brought up in a convent, and made a priest 12 Nov. 1727. Published a satire against the Jesuits, 1761, he was compelled to fly to Holland, where he lived in poverty. He editedL’Evangile de la Raison, a collection of anti-Christian tracts by Voltaire and others, and wroteL’Antipapisme réveléin 1767. He was in that year condemned to perpetual imprisonment for heresy, and shut in the convent of Mariabaum, where he died 1797. Dulaurens was caustic, cynical and vivacious. He is also credited with thePortfolios of a Philosopher, mostly taken from the Analysis of Bayle, Cologne, 1770.

Dulk(Albert Friedrich Benno), German poet and writer, b. Konigsberg, 17 June, 1819; he became a physician, but was expelled for aiding in the Revolution of ’48. He travelled in Italy and Egypt. In ’65 he publishedJesus der Christ, embodying rationalism in prose and verse. He has also writtenStimme derMenschheit, 2 vols., ’76, ’80, andDer Irrgang des Lebens Jesu, ’84, besides numerous plays and pamphlets. Died 29 Oct. 1884.

Dumont(Léon), French writer, b. Valenciennes, 1837. Studied for the bar, but took to philosophy and literature. He early embraced Darwinism, and wrote onHæckel and the Theory of Evolution, ’73. He wrote inLa Revue Philosophique, and other journals. Died Valenciennes, 17 Jan. 1877.

Dumarsais(CésarChesneau), French grammarian and philosopher, b. Marseilles, 17 July, 1676. When young he entered the congregation of the oratory. This society he soon quitted, and went to Paris, where he married. A friend of Boindin and Alembert, he wrote against the pretensions of Rome and contributed to theEncyclopédie. He is credited withAn Analysis of the Christian Religionand with the celebratedEssai sur les Préjugés, par Mr. D. M., but the latter was probably written by Holbach, with notes by Naigeon.Le Philosophe, published inL’Evangile de la Raisonby Dulaurens, was written by Voltaire. Died 11 June, 1756. Dumarsais was very simple in character, and was styled by D’Alembert the La Fontaine of philosophers.

Dumont(Pierre Etienne Louis), Swiss writer, b. Geneva, 18 July, 1759. Was brought up as a minister, but went to France and became secretary to Mirabeau. After the Revolution he came to England, where he became acquainted with Bentham, whose works he translated. Died Milan, 29 Sept. 1829.

Duncker(Maximilian Wolfgang), German historian, b. Berlin, 15 Oct. 1811. His chief work, theHistory of Antiquity, 1852–57, thoroughly abolishes the old distinction of sacred and profane history, and freely criticises the Jewish records. A translation in six volumes has been made by E. Abbot. Duncker took an active part in the events of ’48 and ’50, and was appointed Director-General of the State Archives. Died 24 July, 1886.

Dupont(Jacob Louis), a French mathematician and member of the National Convention, known as the Abbé Dupont, who, 14 Dec. 1792, declared himself an Atheist from the tribune of the Convention. Died at Paris in 1813.

Dupont de Nemours(Pierre Samuel), French economist, b. Paris, 14 Dec. 1739. He became President of the Constituent Assembly, and was a Theophilantrophist. Died Delaware, U.S.A., 6 Aug. 1817.

Dupuis(Charles François), French astronomer and philosopher, b. Trie-le-Chateau, 16 Oct. 1742. He was educated for the Church, which he left, and married in 1775. He studied under Lalande, and wrote on the origin of the constellations, 1781. In 1788 he became a member of the Academy of Inscriptions. At the Revolution he was chosen a member of the Convention.During the Reign of Terror he saved many lives at his own risk. He was afterwards one of the Council of Five Hundred, and president of the legislative body. His chief work is on theOrigin of Religions, 7 vols., 1795, in which he traces solar worship in various faiths, including Christianity. This has been described as “a monument of the erudition of unbelief.” Dupuis died near Dijon, 29 Sept. 1809.

Dutrieux(Pierre Joseph), Belgian physician, b. Tournai, 19 July, 1848. Went to Cairo and became a Bey. Died 1 Jan. 1889.

Dutton(Thomas), M.A., theatrical critic, b. London, 1767. Educated by the Moravians. In 1795 he published aVindication of the Age of Reason by Thomas Paine. He translated Kotzebue’sPizarroin Peru, 1799, and edited theDramatic Censor, 1800, and theMonthly Theatrical Reporter, 1815.

Duvernet(Théophile Imarigeon), French writer, b. at Ambert 1730. He was brought up a Jesuit, became an Abbé, but mocked at religion. Duvernet became tutor to Saint Simon. For a political pamphlet he was imprisoned in the Bastille. While here he wrote a curious and rare romance,Les Devotions de Mme. de Bethzamooth. He wrote onReligious Intolerance, 1780, and aHistory of the Sorbonne, 1790, but is best known by hisLife of Voltaire(1787). In 1793 he wrote a letter to the Convention, in which he declares that he renounces the religion “born in a stable between an ox and an ass.” Died in 1796.

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