Brækstad (Hans Lien), b. Throndhjem, Norway, 7 Sept. 1845. Has made English translations from Björnson, Asbjörnsen, Andersen, etc., and has contributed to Harper’s Magazine and other periodical literature.
Brandes (Georg Morris Cohen), Danish writer, by birth a Jew, b. Copenhagen, 4 Feb. 1842. In 1869 he translated J. S. Mills’ Subjection of Women, and in the following year took a doctor’s degree for a philosophical treatise. His chief work is entitled the Main Current of Literature in the Nineteenth Century. His brother, Dr. Edvard Brandes, was elected to the Danish Parliament in 1881, despite his declaration that he did not believe either in the God of the Christians or of the Jews.
Bray (Charles), philosophic writer, b. Coventry, 31 Jan. 1811. He was brought up as an Evangelical, but found his way to Freethought. Early in life he took an active part in promoting unsectarian education. His first work (1835) was on The Education of the Body. This was followed by The Education of the Feelings, of which there were several editions. In 1836 he married Miss Hennell, sister of C. C. Hennell, and took the System of Nature and Volney’s Ruins of Empires “to enliven the honeymoon.” Among his friends was Mary Ann Evans (“George Eliot”), who accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Bray to Italy. His works on The Philosophy of Necessity (1841) and Cerebral Psychology (1875) give the key to all his thought. He wrote a number of Thomas Scott’s series of tracts: Illusion and Delusion, The Reign of Law in Mind as in Matter, Toleration with remarks on Professor Tyndall’s “Address,” and a little book, Christianity in the Light of our Present Knowledge and Moral Sense (1876). He also wrote A Manual of Anthropology and similar works. In a postscript to his last volume, Phases of Opinion and Experience During a Long Life, dated 18 Sept. 1884, he stated that he has no hope or expectation or belief even in the possibility of continued individuality after death, and that as his opinions have done to live by “they will do to die by.” He died 5 Oct. 1884.
Bresson (Léopold), French Positivist, b. Lamarche, 1817. Educated at the Polytechnic School, which he left in 1840 and served on public works. For seventeen years was director of an Austrian Railway Company. Wrote Idées Modernes, 1880.
Bridges (John Henry), M.D. English Positivist, b. 1833, graduated B.A. at Oxford 1855, and B.M. 1859; has written on Religion and Progress, contributed to the Fortnightly Review, and translated Comte’s General View of Positivism (1865) and System of Positive Polity (1873).
Bril (Jakob), Dutch mystical Pantheist, b. Leyden, 21 Jan. 1639. Died 1700. His works were published at Amsterdam, 1705.
Brissot (Jean Pierre) de Warville, active French revolutionist, b. Chartres, 14 Jan. 1754. He was bred to the law, but took to literature. He wrote for the Courier de l’Europe, a revolutionary paper suppressed for its boldness, published a treatise on Truth, and edited a Philosophical Law Library, 1782–85. He wrote against the legal authority of Rome, and is credited with Philosophical Letters upon St. Paul and the Christian Religion, Neufchatel, 1783. In 1784 he was imprisoned in the Bastille for his writings. To avoid a second imprisonment he went to England and America, returning to France at the outbreak of the Revolution. He wrote many political works, became member of the Legislative Assembly, formed the Girondist party, protested against the execution of Louis XVI., and upon the triumph of the Mountain was executed with twenty-one of his colleagues, 31 Oct., 1793. Brissot was a voluminous writer, honest, unselfish, and an earnest lover of freedom in every form.
Bristol (Augusta), née Cooper, American educator, b. Croydon, New Haven, 17 April, 1835. In 1850 became teacher and gained repute by her Poems. In Sept. 1880, she represented American Freethinkers at the International Conference at Brussels. She has written on Science and its Relations to Human Character and other works.
Broca (Pierre Paul), French anthropologist, b. 28 June, 1824. A hard-working scientist, he paid special attention to craniology. In 1875 he founded the School of Anthropology and had among his pupils Gratiolet, Topinard, Hovelacque and Dr. Carter Blake, who translated his treatise on Hybridity. He established The Review of Anthropology, published numerous scientific works and was made a member of the Legion of Honor. In philosophy he inclined to Positivism. Died Paris, 9 July, 1880.
Brooksbank (William), b. Nottingham 6 Dec. 1801. In 1824 he wrote in Carlile’s Lion, and has since contributed to the Reasoner, the Pathfinder, and the National Reformer. He was an intimate friend of James Watson. He wrote A Sketch of the Religions of the Earth, Revelation Tested by Astronomy, Geography, Geology, etc., 1856, and some other pamphlets. Mr. Brooksbank is still living in honored age at Nottingham.