Labanca (Baldassarre), professor of moral philosophy in the University of Pisa, b. Agnone, 1829. He took part in the national movement of ’48, and in ’51 was imprisoned and afterwards expelled from Naples. He has written on progress in philosophy and also a study on primitive Christianity, dedicated to Giordano Bruno, the martyr of Freethought, ’86.
Lachatre (Maurice), French writer, b. Issoudun 1814, edits a “Library of Progress,” in which has appeared his own History of the Inquisition, and History of the Popes, ’83.
Lacroix (Sigismund), the pen name of Sigismund Julien Adolph Krzyzanowski, b. Warsaw 26 May, 1845. His father was a refugee. He wrote with Yves Guyot The Social Doctrines of Christianity. In ’74 he was elected a municipal councillor of Paris. In ’77 he was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for calling Jesus “enfant adulterin” in Le Radical. In Feb. ’81 he was elected president of the municipal council, and in ’83 deputy to the French parliament.
Laffitte (Pierre), French Positivist philosopher, b. 21 Feb. 1823 at Beguey (Gironde), became a disciple of Comte and one of his executors. He was professor of mathematics, but since the death of his master has given a weekly course of instruction in the former apartment of Comte. M. Laffitte has published discourses on The General History of Humanity, ’59, and The Great Types of Humanity, ’75–6. In ’78 he founded La Revue Occidentale.
Lagrange (Joseph Louis), Count, eminent mathematician, b. Turin, 25 Jan. 1736. He published in 1788 his Analytical Mechanics, which is considered one of the masterpieces of the human intellect. He became a friend of D’Alembert, Diderot, Condorcet, and Delambre. He said he believed it impossible to prove there was a God. Died 10 April 1813.
La Hontan (Jean), early French traveller in Canada, b. 1666. In his account of Dialogues with an American Savage, 1704, which was translated into English, he states objections to religion. Died in Hanover, 1715.
Lainez (Alexandre), French poet, b. Chimay, Hainault, 1650, of the same family with the general of the Jesuits. He lived a wandering Bohemian life and went to Holland to see Bayle. Died at Paris 18 April, 1710.
Laing (Samuel), politician and writer, b. Edinburgh 1812, the son of S. Laing of Orkney. Educated at Cambridge, where he took his degree ’32; called to the bar ’42; became secretary of the railway department of the Board of Trade; returned as Liberal M.P. for Kirkwall ’52; helped repeal duty on advertisements in newspapers. In ’60 he became finance minister for India. His Modern Science and Modern Thought, ’85, is a plain exposition of the incompatibility of the old and new view of the universe. In the Modern Zoroastrian, ’87, he gives the philosophy of polarity, in which, however, he was anticipated by Mr. Crozier, who in turn was anticipated by Emerson. In ’88 he entered into a friendly correspondence with Mr. Gladstone on the subject of Agnosticism his portion of which has been published.
Lakanal (Joseph), French educator, b. Serres, 14 July, 1762. Studied for priesthood, but gave up that career. He entered with ardor into the Revolution, was a member of the Convention 1792–5, and there protected the interests of science. At the restoration in 1814 he retired to America, and was welcomed by Jefferson and became president of the University of Louisiana. He returned to France after the Revolution of ’30, and died in Paris 14 Feb. 1845.
Lalande (Joseph Jèrome le Francais de), distinguished French astronomer, b. Bourg en Bresse, 11 July 1732. Educated by the Jesuits, he was made a member of the Academy of Sciences in his 20th year. In 1762 he became Professor of Astronomy at the College of France. In 1764 he published his Treatise of Astronomy, to which Dupuis subjoined a memoir, which formed the basis of his Origin of all Religions, the idea of which he had taken from Lalande. In Aug 1793 Lalande hazarded his own life to save Dupont de Nemours, and some priests whom he concealed in the observatory of Mazarin college. It was upon Lalande’s observations that the Republican calender was drawn up. At Lalande’s instigation Sylvain Maréchal published his Dictionary of Atheists, to which the astronomer contributed supplements after Maréchal’s death. Lalande professed himself prouder of being an Atheist than of being an astronomer. His Bibliographie Astronomique is called by Prof. de Morgan “a perfect model of scientific bibliography.” It was said that never did a young man address himself to Lalande without receiving proof of his generosity. He died at Paris 4 April, 1807.