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 the Encyclopédie, and in 1767 published an attack on the theologians, entitled Theological Honesty. The book entitled Christianity Unveiled [see [Boulanger] and [Holbach]] was attributed by Voltaire, who called it Impiety 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 the System of Nature. Died 15 Dec. 1768.
Dandolo (Vincenzo) Count, Italian chemist, b. Venice, 26 Oct. 1758, wrote Principles of Physical Chemistry, a work in French on The 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 called fils 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 a History 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’s Personal Narrative, resolved to travel. He accompanied Captain Fitzroy in the “Beagle” on a voyage of exploration, ’31–36, which he narrated in his Voyage 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 on The 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 with The Fertilisation of Orchids, ’62; Cross and Self Fertilisation of Plants, ’67; Variations of Plants and Animals under Domestication, ’65; and in ’71 The Descent of Man and Selection in relation to Sex, which caused yet greater consternation in orthodox circles. The following year he issued The Expression of the Emotions of Men and Animals. He also published works on the Movements of Plants, Insectivorous Plants, the Forms of Flowers, and Earthworms. 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 his Life and Letters he 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 Garden was published in 1791, and The Temple of Nature in 1803. His principal work is Zoomania, 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 the Philosophical Transactions. Died at Derby, 18 April, 1802.
Daubermesnil (François Antoine), French conventionalist. Elected deputy of Tarn in 1792. Afterwards became a member of 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 mention L’Evangeliste, ’82, which has been translated into English under the title Port 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. Wrote Historical Essay on the Temporal Power of the Popes, 1810. Died at Paris, 20 June, 1840, noted for his benevolence.