Lang (Andrew), man of letters, b. Selkirk, 31 March, 1844. Educated at St. Andrews and Oxford. Mr. Lang made his name by his translation of the Odyssey with Mr. Butcher, and by his graceful poems and ballads. He has written In the Wrong Paradise, and many other pleasant sketches. More serious work is shown in Custom and Myth, ’84, and Myth, Ritual and Religion, ’87. A disciple of E. B. Tylor, Mr. Lang successfully upholds the evolutionary view of mythology.
Lang (Heinrich), German Rationalist, b. 14 Nov. 1826. Studied theology under Baur at Tübingen, and became teacher at Zürich, where he died, 13 Jan. 1876.
Lange (Friedrich Albert), German philosopher and writer, b. Wald, near Solix, 28 Sept. 1828. He studied at Bonn, and became teacher in the gymnasium of Cologne, ’52. In ’53 he returned to Bonn as teacher of philosophy, and there enjoyed the friendship of Ueberweg. He became proprietor and editor of the democratic Landbote, and filled various municipal offices. In ’70 he was called to the chair of philosophy at Zürich, but resigned in ’72 and accepted a similar post at Marburg, where he died 21 Nov. 1875. His fame rests on his important History of Materialism, which has been translated into English.
Langsdorf (Karl Christian), German Deist, b. 18 May, 1757, author of God and Nature, a work on the immortality of the soul, and some mathematical books. Died Heidelberg, 10 June, 1834.
Lankester (Edwin Ray), F.R.S., LL.D., English scientist, b. London, 15 May, 1847, and educated at St. Paul’s School and Oxford. Has published many scientific memoirs, revised the translation of Haeckel’s History of Creation, and has done much to forward evolutionary ideas. In 1876 he exposed the spiritist medium Slade, and procured his conviction. He is Professor of Zoology and Natural History in the University of London.
La Place (Pierre Simon). One of the greatest astronomers, b. Beaumont-en-Auge, 23 March, 1749. His father was a poor peasant. Through the influence of D’Alembert, La Place became professor of mathematics in the military school, 1768. By his extraordinary abilities he became in 1785 member of the Academy of Science, which he enriched with many memoirs. In 1796 he published his Exposition of the System of the Universe, a popularisation of his greater work on Celestial Mechanics, 1799–1825. Among his sayings were, “What we know is but little, what we know not is immense.” “There is no need for the hypothesis of a God.” Died Paris, 5 March, 1827.
Larevelliere-Lepaux (Louis Marie DE), French politician, b. Montaigu 25 Aug. 1753. Attached from youth to the ideas of Rousseau, he was elected with Volney to represent Angers in the national assembly. He was a moderate Republican, defended the proscribed Girondins, was doomed himself but escaped by concealment, and distinguished himself by seeking to replace Catholicism with theophilanthropy or natural religion. He wrote Reflections on Worship and the National Fêtes. He became President of the Directory, and after the 18 Brumaire retired, refusing to swear fealty to the empire though offered a pension by Napoleon. Died Paris, 27 March, 1824.
Larousse (Pierre Athanase), French lexicographer, b. of poor parents, 23 Oct. 1817, at Toucy, Yonne, where he became teacher. He edited many school books and founded the Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XIXe. Siecle, 1864–77. This is a collection of dictionaries, and may be called the Encyclopedie of this century. Most of M. Larousse’s colleagues were also Freethinkers. Died at Paris, 3 Jan. 1875.
Larra (Mariano José de), distinguished Spanish author, b. Madrid, 4 March, 1809. He went with his family to France and completed his education. He returned to Spain in ’22. At eighteen he published a collection of poems, which was followed by El Duende Satirico (The Satirical Goblin). In ’31 appeared his Pobrecito Hablador (Poor Gossip), a paper in which he unmercifully satirised the public affairs and men of Spain. It was suppressed after its fourteenth number. He edited in the following year the Revista Española, signing his articles “Figaro.” He travelled through Europe, and on his return to Madrid edited El Mundo. Larra wrote also some dramas and translated Lamennais’ Paroles d’un Croyant. Being disappointed in love he shot himself, 13 April, 1837. Ch. de Mazade, after speaking of Larra’s scepticism, adds, “Larra could see too deep to possess any faith whatever. All the truths of this world, he was wont to say, can be wrapped in a cigarette paper!”
Larroque (Patrice), French philosopher, b. Beaume, 27 March, 1801. He became a teacher and was inspector of the academy of Toulouse, 1830–36, and rector of the academies of Cahors, Limoges, and Lyons, 1836–49. In the latter year he was denounced for his opposition to clerical ideas and lost his place. Among his numerous works we mention De l’Esclavage chez les Nations Chrétiennes, ’57, in which he proves that Christianity did not abolish slavery. This was followed by an Critical Examination of the Christian Religion, ’59, and a work on Religious Renovation, ’59, which proposes a moral system founded upon pure deism. Both were for a while prohibited in France. M. Larroque also wrote on Religion and Politics, ’78. Died at Paris, 15 June, 1879.