Lamarck (Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet) French naturalist, b. Picardy 1 Aug. 1744, educated for the Church, but entered the army in 1761, and fought with distinction. Having been disabled, he went to Paris, studied Botany, and published French Flora in 1788, which opened to him the Academy of Sciences. He became assistant at the Museum of Natural History, and in 1809 propounded, in his Zoological Philosophy, a theory of transmutation of species. His Natural History of Invertebrate Animals (1815–22) was justly celebrated. He became blind several years before his death, 18 Dec. 1829.
Lamborelle (Louis). Belgian author of books on The Good Old Times, Brussels, 1874; The Apostles and Martyrs of Liberty of Conscience, Antwerp, 1882, and other anti-clerical works. Lamborelle lost a post under government through his anticlerical views, and is one of the council of the Belgian Freethought party.
Lamettrie (Julian Offray de). French physician and philosopher, b. St. Malo, 25 Dec. 1709. Destined for the Church, he was educated under the Jesuits at Caen. He, however, became a physician, studying under Boerhaave, at Leyden. Returning to France, he became surgeon to the French Guard, and served at the battles of Fontenoy and Dettingen. Falling ill, he noticed that his faculties fluctuated with his physical state, and drew therefrom materialistic conclusions. The boldness with which he made his ideas known lost him his place, and he took refuge in Holland. Here he published The Natural History of the Soul, under the pretence of its being a translation from the English of Charp [Sharp], 1745. This was followed by Man a Machine (1748), a work which was publicly burnt at Leyden, and orders given for the author’s arrest. It was translated into English, and reached a second edition (London, 1750). It was often attributed to D’Argens. Lamettrie held that the senses are the only avenues to knowledge, and that it is absurd to assume a god to explain motion. Only under Atheism will religious strife cease. Lamettrie found an asylum with Frederick the Great, to whom he became physician and reader (Feb. 1748). Here he published Philosophical Reflections on the Origin of Animals (1750), translated Seneca on Happiness, etc. He died 11 Nov. 1751, and desired by his will to be buried in the garden of Lord Tyrconnel. The great king thought so well of him that he composed his funeral eulogy.
La Mothe Le Vayer (François de). French sceptical philosopher, b. Paris, 1588, was patronised by Louis XIV., and was preceptor to the Duke of Anjou. Published The Virtue of Pagans and Dialogues after the Manner of the Ancients, in which he gave scope to his scepticism. Two editions of his collected works appeared, but neither of these contains The Dialogues of Orasius Tubero (Frankfort 1606, probably a false date). Died 1672.
Lancelin (Pierre F.), French materialist, b. about 1770. Became a constructive engineer in the French navy, wrote an able Introduction to the Analysis of Science, 3 vols. 1801–3, and a physico-mathematical theory of the organisation of worlds, 1805. Died Paris, 1809.
Land (Jan Pieter Nicolaus), Dutch writer, b. Delft, 23 April, 1834. Has written critical studies on Spinoza, and brought out an edition of the philosopher’s works in conjunction with J. van Vloten.
Landesmann (Heinrich). See [Lorm].
Landor (Walter Savage), English poet, b. Ipsley Court, Warwickshire, 30 Jan. 1775. He was educated at Rugby and Oxford, and, inheriting a fortune, could indulge his tastes as an author. He published a volume of poems in 1795, and Gebir in 1798. An ardent Republican, he served as a volunteer colonel in the Spanish Army against Napoleon from 1808 to 1814, besides devoting a considerable sum of money to the Spanish cause. He became a resident of Florence about 1816. His reputation chiefly rests on his great Imaginary Conversations, in which many bold ideas are presented in beautiful language. Landor was unquestionably the greatest English writer of his age. While nominally a Christian, he has scattered many Freethought sentiments over his various works. Died at Florence, 17 Sept. 1864.
Lanessan (Jean Louis de), French naturalist, b. at Saint André de Cubzac (Gironde), 13 July, 1843. At 19 he became a naval physician, and M.D. in ’68. He was elected in ’79 as Radical member of the Municipal Council of Paris, and re-elected in ’81. In August of the same year he was elected Deputy for the Department of the Seine. He founded Le Reveil, edited the Marseillaise, and started the International Biological Library, to which he contributed a study on the doctrine of Darwin. He has written a standard work on botany, and has written vol. iii. of the “Materialists’ Library,” on the Evolution of Matter.
Lanfrey (Pierre), French author and senator, b. Chambéry, 26 Oct. 1828, became known by a book on The Church and the Philosophers of the Eighteenth Century, ’55, and celebrated by his History of Napoleon I. ’67–75. M. Lanfrey also wrote The Political History of the Popes, a work placed on the Index. Died at Pau, 15 Nov. 1877.