Cabanis (Pierre Jean George), called by Lange “the father of the materialistic physiology,” b. Conac, 5 June, 1757. Became pupil of Condillac and friend of Mirabeau, whom he attended in his last illness, of which he published an account 1791. He was also intimate with Turgot, Condorcet, Holbach, Diderot, and other distinguished Freethinkers, and was elected member of the Institute and of the Council of Five Hundred in the Revolution. His works are mostly medical, the chief being Des Rapports du Physique et du Morale de l’Homme, in which he contends that thoughts are a secretion of the brain. Died Rueil, near Paris, 5 May, 1808.
Cæsalpinus (Andreas), Italian philosopher of the Renaissance, b. Arezzo, Tuscany, 1519. He became Professor of Botany at Pisa, and Linnæus admits his obligations to his work, De Plantis, 1583. He also wrote works on metals and medicine, and showed acquaintance with the circulation of the blood. In a work entitled Demonum Investigatio, he contends that “possession” by devils is amenable to medical treatment. His Quæstionum Peripateticarum, in five books, Geneva, 1568, was condemned as teaching a Pantheistic doctrine similar to that of Spinoza. Bishop Parker denounced him. Died 23 Feb. 1603.
Cæsar (Caius Julius), the “foremost man of all this world,” equally renowned as soldier, statesman, orator, and writer, b. 12 July, 100 B.C., of noble family. His life, the particulars of which are well known, was an extraordinary display of versatility, energy, courage, and magnanimity. He justified the well-known line of Pope, “Cæsar the world’s great master and his own.” His military talents elevated him to the post of dictator, but this served to raise against him a band of aristocratic conspirators, by whom he was assassinated, 15 March, 44 B.C. His Commentaries are a model of insight and clear expression. Sallust relates that he questioned the existence of a future state in the presence of the Roman senate. Froude says: “His own writings contain nothing to indicate that he himself had any religious belief at all. He saw no evidence that the gods practically interfered in human affairs.... He held to the facts of this life and to his own convictions; and as he found no reason for supposing that there was a life beyond the grave he did not pretend to expect it.”
Cahuac (John), bookseller, revised an edition of Palmer’s Principles of Nature, 1819. For this he was prosecuted at the instance of the “Vice Society,” but the matter was compromised. He was also prosecuted for selling the Republican, 1820.
Calderino (Domizio), a learned writer of the Renaissance, b. in 1445, in the territory of Verona, and lived at Rome, where he was professor of literature, in 1477. He edited and commented upon many of the Latin poets. Bayle says he was without religion. Died in 1478.
Calenzio (Eliseo), an Italian writer, b. in the kingdom of Naples about 1440. He was preceptor to Prince Frederic, the son of Ferdinand, the King of Naples. He died in 1503, leaving behind a number of satires, fables and epigrams, some of which are directed against the Church.
Call (Wathen Mark Wilks), English author, b. 7 June, 1817. Educated at Cambridge, entered the ministry in 1843, but resigned his curacy about 1856 on account of his change of opinions, which he recounts in his preface to Reverberations, 1876. Mr. Call is of the Positivist school, and has contributed largely to the Fortnightly and Westminster Reviews.
Callet (Pierre Auguste), French politician, b. St. Etienne, 27 Oct. 1812; became editor of the Gazette of France till 1840. In 1848 he was nominated Republican representative. At the coup d’état of 2 Dec. 1851, he took refuge in Belgium. He returned to France, but was imprisoned for writing against the Empire. In 1871, Callet was again elected representative for the department of the Loire. His chief Freethought work is L’Enfer, an attack upon the Christian doctrine of hell, 1861.
Camisani (Gregorio), Italian writer, b. at Venice, 1810. A Professor of Languages in Milan. He has translated the Upas of Captain R. H. Dyas and other works.
Campanella (Tommaso), Italian philosopher, b. Stilo, Calabria, 5 Sept. 1568. He entered the Dominican order, but was too much attracted by the works of Telesio to please his superiors. In 1590 his Philosophia Sensibus Demonstratio was printed at Naples. Being prosecuted, he fled to Rome, and thence to Florence, Venice, and Padua. At Bologna some of his MS. fell into the hands of the Inquisition, and he was arrested. He ably defended himself and was acquitted. Returning to Calabria in 1599, he was arrested on charges of heresy and conspiracy against the Spanish Government of Naples, and having appealed to Rome, was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in the prison of the Holy Office. He was put to the torture seven times, his torments on one occasion extending over forty hours, but he refused to confess. He was dragged from one prison to another for twenty-seven years, during which he wrote some sonnets, a history of the Spanish monarchy, and several philosophical works. On 15 May, 1626, he was released by the intervention of Pope Urban VIII. He was obliged to fly from Rome to France, where he met Gassendi. He also visited Descartes in Holland. Julian Hibbert remarked that his Atheismus Triumphatus—Atheism Subdued, 1631, would be better entitled Atheismus Triumphans—Atheism Triumphant—as the author puts his strongest arguments on the heterodox side. In his City of the Sun, Campanella follows Plato and More in depicting an ideal republic and a time when a new era of earthly felicity should begin. Hallam says “The strength of Campanella’s genius lay in his imagination.” His “Sonnets” have been translated by J. A. Symonds. Died Paris, 21 May, 1639.