Jacobsen (Jens Peter), Danish novelist and botanist, b. Thistede, 7 April, 1847. He did much to spread Darwinian views in Scandinavia, translating the Origin of Species and Descent of Man. Among his novels we may name Fru Marie Grubbe, scenes from the XVII. century, and Niels Lyhne, in which he develops the philosophy of Atheism. This able young writer died at his birth place, 3 April 1885.
Kleist (Heinrich von), German poet, b. Frankfurt-on-Oder, 18 Oct. 1777. Left an orphan at eleven, he enlisted in the army in 1795, quitted it in four years and took to study. Kant’s Philosophy made him a complete sceptic. In 1800 he went to Paris to teach Kantian philosophy, but the results were not encouraging. Committed suicide together with a lady, near Potsdam, 21 Nov. 1811. Kleist is chiefly known by his dramas and a collection of tales.
Letourneau (Charles Jean Marie), French scientist, b. Auray (Morbihan), 1831. Educated as physician. He wrote in La Pensée Nouvelle, and has published Physiology of the Passions, ’68; Biology, ’75, translated into English by W. Maccall; Science and Materialism, ’79; Sociology based on Ethnography, ’80; and the Evolution of Marriage and the Family, ’85. He has also translated Büchner’s Man According to Science, Light and Life and Mental Life of Animals, Haeckel’s History of Creation, Letters of a Traveller in India, and Herzen’s Physiology of the Will.
Lippert (Julius), learned German author of works on Soul Worship, Berlin, 1881; The Universal History of Priesthoods, ’83; and an important Culture History of Mankind, ’86–7.
Lloyd (William Watkiss), author of Christianity in the Cartoons, London 1865, in which he criticises Rafael and the New Testament side by side. He has also written The Age of Pericles, and several works on Shakespeare.
Lucian, witty Greek writer, b. of poor parents, Samosata, on the Euphrates, and flourished in the reign of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. He was made a sculptor, but applied himself to rhetoric. He travelled much, and at Athens was intimate with Demonax. His principal works are dialogues, full of wit, humor, and satire, often directed against the gods. According to Suidas he was named the Blasphemer, and torn to pieces by dogs for his impiety, but on this no reliance can be placed. On the ground of the dialogue Philopatris, he has been supposed an apostate Christian, but it is uncertain if that piece is genuine. It is certain that he was sceptical, truth-loving, and an enemy of the superstition of the time which he depicts in his account of Alexander, the false prophet.
Maglia (Adolfo de), Spanish journalist, b. Valencia, 3 June, 1859, began writing in La Tronada at Barcelona, and afterwards published L’Union Republicana. He founded the Freethinking group “El Independiente” and edits El Clamor Setabense and El Pueblo Soberano. Was secretary for Spain at the Anticlerical Congress at Rome in ’85, and in ’89 at Paris. During this year he has been condemned to six years’ imprisonment and a fine of 4,000 francs for attacking Leo XIII. and the Catholic dogmas.
[missing text] disciples, whom he conducted from faith to scepticism. He was the most eminent predecessor of Ibn Roschd or Averroës. Died Oct.–Nov. 931. His works were publicly burned at Seville.
Mata (Pedro), Spanish physician, professor at the University of Madrid. Author of a poem, Glory and Martyrdom, 1851; a Treatise on Human Reason, ’58–64; and on Moral Liberty and Free Will, ’68.
Mendizabal (Juan Alvarez), Spanish Liberal statesman, b. Cadiz, 1790. Was minister during the reign of Cristina, and contributed to the subjugation of the clerical party. He abolished the religious orders and proclaimed their goods as national property. Died at Madrid, 3 Nov. 1853.