Montgomery (Edmund), Dr. philosopher, b. of Scotch parents, Edinburgh 1835. In youth he lived at Frankfort, where he saw Schopenhauer, and afterwards attended at Heidelberg the lectures of Moleschott and Kuno Fischer. He became a friend of Feuerbach. He wrote in German and published at Munich in ’71, The Kantian Theory of Knowledge refuted from the Empirical Standpoint. In ’67 he published a small book On the Formation of so-called Cells in Animal Bodies. In ’71 he went to Texas and prosecuted his scientific studies on life. He has written in the Popular Science Monthly, The Index, and The Open Court and Mind. Dr. Montgomery holds not only that there is no evidence of a God, but that there is evidence to the contrary.
Montgolfier (Michel Joseph), aeronaut, b. Aug. 1740. He was the first to ascend in an air balloon, 5 June 1783. A friend of Delambre and La Lalande, he was on the testimony of this last an atheist. Died 26 June 1810.
Mook (Friedrich) German writer, b. Bergzabern, 29 Sept. 1844, studied philosophy and theology at Tübingen, but gave up the latter to study medicine. He lived as a writer at Heidelberg and became lecturer to a free congregation at Nürenburg, and wrote a popular Life of Jesus, published at Zürich, ’72–3. He travelled abroad and was drowned in the river Jordan, 13 Dec. 1880. His brother Kurt, b. 12 Feb. 1847, is a physician who has published some poems.
Moor (Edmund), Major in the East Indian Company, author of the Hindu Pantheon, 1810 and Oriental Fragments, ’34. Died 1840.
Moreau (Hégésippe), French poet, b. Paris 9, April 1810. A radical and freethinker, he fought in the barricades in ’30. Wrote songs and satires of considerable merit, and a prose work entitled The Mistletoe and the Oak. His life, which was a continual struggle with misery, terminated in a hospital, 20 Dec. 1838. His works have been collected, with an introduction by Sainte-Beuve.
Moreau (Jacques Joseph), Dr. of Tours, b. Montresor, 1804. He became a distinguished alienist of the materialist school, and wrote on Moral Faculties from a medical point of view, ’36, and many physiological works.
Morelly, French socialist of the eighteenth century, b. Vitry-le-Français, author of a work called Code de la Nature, sometimes attributed to Diderot. It was published in 1755, and urges that man should find circumstances in which depravity is minimised.
Morgan (Thomas), Welsh Deist, known by the title of his book as The Moral Philosopher, 1737. Was a Presbyterian, but was deposed for Arianism about 1723, and practised medicine at Bristol. He edited Radicati’s Dissertation on Death, 1731. His Moral Philosopher seeks to substitute morality for religion. He calls Moses “a more fabulous romantic writer than Homer or Ovid,” and attacks the evidence of miracles and prophecy. This was supplemented by A Further Vindication of Moral Truth and Reason, 1739, and Superstition and Tyranny Inconsistent with Theocracy, 1740. He replied to his opponents over the signature “Philalethes.” His last work was on Physico-Theology, 1741. Lechler calls Morgan “the modern Marcion.” Died at London, 14 Jan. 1743.
Morgan (Sir Thomas Charles), M.D., b. 1783. Educated at Cambridge. In 1811 he was made a baronet, and married Miss Sidney Owensen. A warm friend of civil and religious liberty and a sceptic, he is author of Sketches of the Philosophy of Life, ’18, and the Philosophy of Morals, ’19. The Examiner says, “He was never at a loss for a witty or wise passage from Rabelais or Bayle.” Died 28 Aug. 1843.
Morin (André Saturnin), French writer, b. Chatres, 28 Nov. 1807. Brought up to the law, and became an advocate. In ’30 he wrote defending the revolution against the restoration. In ’48 he was made sous-prefet of Nogent. During the Empire he combated vigorously for Republicanism and Freethought, writing under the signature “Miron,” in the Rationaliste of Geneva, the Libre Pensée of Paris, the Libero-pensiero of Milan, and other papers. He was intimately associated with Ausonio Franchi, Trezza, Stefanoni, and the Italian Freethinkers. His principal work is an Examination of Christianity, in three volumes, ’62. His Jesus Reduced to his True Value has gone through several editions. His Essai de Critique Religieuse, ’85, is an able work. M. Morin was one of the founders of the Bibliothèque Démocratique, to which he contributed several anti-clerical volumes, the one on Confession being translated into English by Dr. J. R. Beard. In ’76 he was elected on the Municipal Council of Paris, where he brought forward the question of establishing a crematorium. Died at Paris, 5 July, 1888, and was cremated at Milan.