A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages and Nations Part 5

Brown (t.i.tus L.), Dr., b. 16 Oct. 1823, at Hillside (N.Y.). Studied at the Medical College of New York and graduated at the h.o.m.oeopathic College, Philadelphia. He settled at Binghamton where he had a large practice. He contributed to the Boston Investigator and in 1877 was elected President of the Freethinkers a.s.sociation. Died 17 Aug. 1887.

Browne (Sir Thomas), physician and writer, b. London, 19 Oct. 1605. He studied medicine and travelled on the Continent, taking his doctor's degree at Leyden (1633). He finally settled at Norwich, where he had a good practice. His treatise Religio Medici, famous for its fine style and curious mixture of faith and scepticism, was surrept.i.tiously published in 1642. It ran through several editions and was placed on the Roman Index. His Pseudodoxia Epidemica; Enquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors, appeared in 1646. While disputing many popular superst.i.tions he showed he partook of others. This curious work was followed by Hydriotaphia, or Urn-Burial, in which he treats of cremation among the ancients. To this was added The Garden of Cyrus. He died 19 Oct. 1682.

Bruno (Giordano), Freethought martyr, b. at Nola, near Naples, about 1548. He was christened Filippo which he changed to Filoteo, taking the name of Giordano when he entered the Dominican order. Religious doubts and bold strictures on the monks obliged him to quit Italy, probably in 1580. He went to Geneva but soon found it no safe abiding place, and quitted it for Paris, where he taught, but refused to attend ma.s.s. In 1583 he visited England, living with the French amba.s.sador Castelnau. Having formed a friendship with Sir Philip Sidney, he dedicated to him his s.p.a.ccio della Bestia Triomfante, a satire on all mythologies. In 1585 he took part in a logical tournament, sustaining the Copernican theory against the doctors of Oxford. The following year he returned to Paris, where he again attacked the Aristotelians. He then travelled to various cities in Germany, everywhere preaching the broadest heresy. He published several Pantheistic, scientific and philosophical works. He was however induced to return to Italy, and arrested as an heresiarch and apostate at Venice, Sept. 1592. After being confined for seven years by the Inquisitors, he was tried, and burnt at Rome 17 Feb. 1600. At his last moments a crucifix was offered him, which he n.o.bly rejected. Bruno was vastly before his age in his conception of the universe and his rejection of theological dogmas. A statue of this heroic apostle of liberty and light, executed by one of the first sculptors of Italy, is to be erected on the spot where he perished, the Munic.i.p.al Council of Rome having granted the site in face of the bitterest opposition of the Catholic party. The list of subscribers to this memorial comprises the princ.i.p.al advanced thinkers in Europe and America.

Brzesky (Casimir Liszynsky Podsedek). See Liszinski.

Bucali or Busali (Leonardo), a Calabrian abbot of Spanish descent, who became a follower of Servetus in the sixteenth century, and had to seek among the Turks the safety denied him in Christendom. He died at Damascus.

Buchanan (George), Scotch historian and scholar, b. Killearn, Feb. 1506. Evincing an early love of study, he was sent to Paris at the age of fourteen. He returned to Scotland and became distinguished for his learning. James V. appointed him tutor to his natural son. He composed his Francisca.n.u.s et Fratres, a satire on the monks, which hastened the Scottish reformation. This exposed him to the vengeance of the clergy. Not content with calling him Atheist, Archbishop Beaton had him arrested and confined in St. Andrew's Castle, from whence he escaped and fled to England. Here he found, as he said, Henry VIII. burning men of opposite opinions at the same stake for religion. He returned to Paris, but was again subjected to the persecution of Beaton, the Scottish Amba.s.sador. On the death of a patron at Bordeaux, in 1548, he was seized by the Inquisition and immured for a year and a half in a monastery, where he translated the Psalms into Latin. He eventually returned to Scotland, where he espoused the party of Moray. After a most active life, he died 28 Sept. 1582, leaving a History of Scotland, besides numerous poems, satires, and political writings, the most important of which is a work of republican tendency, De Jure Regni, the Rights of Kings.

Buchanan (Robert), Socialist, b. Ayr, 1813. He was successively a schoolmaster, a Socialist missionary and a journalist. He settled in Manchester, where he published works on the Religion of The Past and Present, 1839; the Origin and Nature of Ghosts, 1840. An Exposure of Joseph Barker, and a Concise History of Modern Priestcraft also bear the latter date. At this time the Socialists were prosecuted for lecturing on Sunday, and Buchanan was fined for refusing to take the oath of supremacy, etc. After the decline of Owenism, he wrote for the Northern Star, and edited the Glasgow Sentinel. He died at the home of his son, the poet, at Bexhill, Suss.e.x, 4 March, 1866.

Buchanan (Joseph Rhodes), American physician, b. Frankfort, Kentucky, 11 Dec. 1814. He graduated M.D. at Louisville University, 1842, and has been the teacher of physiology at several colleges. From 1849-56 he published Buchanan's Journal of Man, and has written several works on Anthropology.

Buchner (Ludwig). See Buechner.

Buckle (Henry Thomas), philosophical historian, b. Lee, Kent, 24 Nov. 1821. In consequence of his delicate health he was educated at home. His mother was a strict Calvinist, his father a strong Tory, but a visit to the Continent made him a Freethinker and Radical. He ever afterwards held travelling to be the best education. It was his ambition to write a History of Civilisation in England, but so vast was his design that his three notable volumes with that t.i.tle form only part of the introduction. The first appeared in 1858, and created a great sensation by its boldness. In the following year he championed the cause of Pooley, who was condemned for blasphemy, and dared the prosecution of infidels of standing. In 1861 he visited the East, in the hope of improving his health, but died at Damascus, 29 May, 1862. Much of the material collected for his History has been published in his Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works, edited by Helen Taylor, 1872. An abridged edition, edited by Grant Allen, appeared in 1886.

Buechner (Friedrich Karl Christian Ludwig), German materialist, b. Darmstadt, 29 March, 1824. Studied medicine in Geissen, Stra.s.sburg and Vienna. In '55 he startled the world with his bold work on Force and Matter, which has gone through numerous editions and been translated into nearly all the European languages. This work lost him the place of professor which he held at Tubingen, and he has since practised in his native town. Buchner has developed his ideas in many other works such as Nature and Spirit (1857), Physiological Sketches, '61; Nature and Science, '62; Conferences on Darwinism, '69; Man in the Past, Present and Future, '69; Materialism its History and Influence on Society, '73; The Idea of G.o.d, '74; Mind in Animals, '80; and Light and Life, '82. He also contributes to the Freidenker, the Dageraad, and other journals.

Buffon (Georges Louis Leclerc), Count de, French naturalist, b. Montford, Burgundy, 7 Sept. 1707. An incessant worker. His Natural History in 36 volumes bears witness to the fertility of his mind and his capacity for making science attractive. Buffon lived much in seclusion, and attached himself to no sect or religion. Some of his sentences were attacked by the Sorbonne. Herault de Sech.e.l.les says that Buffon said: "I have named the Creator, but it is only necessary to take out the word and subst.i.tute the power of nature." Died at Paris 16 April, 1788.

Buitendijk or Buytendyck (Gosuinus van), Dutch Spinozist, who wrote an Apology at the beginning of the eighteenth century and was banished 1716.

Bufalini (Maurizio), Italian doctor, b. Cesena 2 June, 1787. In 1813 he published an essay on the Doctrine of Life in opposition to vitalism, and henceforward his life was a conflict with the upholders of that doctrine. He was accused of materialism, but became a professor at Florence and a member of the Italian Senate in 1860. Died at Florence 31 March, 1875.

Burdach (Karl Friedrich), German physiologist, b. Leipsic 12 June, 1776. He occupied a chair at the University of Breslau. His works on physiology and anthropology did much to popularise those sciences, and the former is placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum for its materialistic tendency. He died at Konigsberg, 16 July, 1847.

Burdon (William), M.A., writer, b. Newcastle, 11 Sept. 1764. Graduated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1788. He was intended for a clergyman, but want of faith made him decline that profession. His princ.i.p.al work is ent.i.tled Materials for Thinking. Colton largely availed himself of this work in his Lacon. It went through five editions in his lifetime, and portions were reprinted in the Library of Reason. He also addressed Three Letters to the Bishop of Llandaff, wrote a Life and Character of Bonaparte, translated an account of the Revolution in Spain, edited the Memoirs of Count Boruwlaski, and wrote some objections to the annual subscription to the Sons of the Clergy. Died in London, 30 May, 1818.

Burigny (Jean Levesque de), French writer, b. Rheims, 1692. He became a member of the French Academy, wrote a treatise on the Authority of the Pope, a History of Pagan Philosophy and other works, and is credited with the Critical Examination of the Apologists of the Christian Religion, published under the name of Freret by Naigeon, 1766. Levesque de Burigny wrote a letter in answer to Bergier's Proofs of Christianity, which is published in Naigeon's Recueil Philosophique. Died at Paris, 8 Oct. 1785.

Burmeister (Hermann), German naturalist, b. Stralsund, 15 Jan. 1807. In 1827 he became a doctor at Halle. In '48 he was elected to the National a.s.sembly. In 1850 he went to Brazil. His princ.i.p.al work is The History of Creation, 1843.

Burmeister or Baurmeister (Johann Peter Theodor) a German Rationalist and colleague of Ronge. Born at Flensburg, 1805. He resided in Hamburg, and wrote in the middle of the present century under the name of J. P. Lyser.

Burnet (Thomas), b. about 1635 at Croft, Yorkshire. Through the interest of a pupil, the Duke of Ormonde, he obtained the mastership of the Charterhouse, 1685. In 1681 the first part of his Telluris Theoria Sacra, or Sacred Theory of the Earth, appeared in Latin, and was translated and modified in 1684. In 1692 Burnet published, both in English and in Latin, his Archaeologiae Philosophicae, or the Ancient Doctrine of the Origin of Things. He professes in this to reconcile his theory with Genesis, which receives a figurative interpretation; and a ludicrous dialogue between Eve and the serpent gave great offence. In a popular ballad Burnet is represented as saying--

That all the books of Moses Were nothing but supposes.

He had to resign a position at court. In later life he wrote De Fide et Officiis Christianorum (on Christian Faith and Duties), in which he regards historical religions as based on the religion of nature, and rejects original sin and the "magical" theory of sacraments; and De Statu Mortuorum et Resurgentium, on the State of the Dead and Resurrected, in which he opposed the doctrine of eternal punishment and shadowed forth a scheme of Deism. These books he kept to himself to avoid a prosecution for heresy, but had a few copies printed for private friends. He died in the Charterhouse 27 Sept. 1715. A tract ent.i.tled h.e.l.l Torments not Eternal was published in 1739.

Burnett (James), Lord Monboddo, a learned Scotch writer and judge, was b. Monboddo, Oct. 1714. He adopted the law as his profession, became a celebrated advocate, and was made a judge in 1767. His work on the Origin and Progress of Language (published anonymously 1773-92), excited much derision by his studying man as one of the animals and collecting facts about savage tribes to throw light on civilisation. He first maintained that the orang-outang was allied to the human species. He also wrote on Ancient Metaphysics. He was a keen debater and discussed with Hume, Adam Smith, Robertson, and Lord Kames. Died in Edinburgh, 26 May, 1799.

Burnouf (Emile Louis), French writer, b. Valonges, 25 Aug. 1821. He became professor of ancient literature to the faculty of Nancy. Author of many works, including a translation of selections from the Novum Organum of Bacon, the Bhagvat-Gita, an Introduction to the Vedas, a history of Greek Literature, Studies in j.a.panese, and articles in the Revue des deux Mondes. His heresy is p.r.o.nounced in his work on the Science of Religions, 1878, in his Contemporary Catholicism, and Life and Thought, 1886.

Burnouf (Eugene), French Orientalist, cousin of the preceding; b. Paris, 12 Aug. 1801. He opened up to the Western world the Pali language, and with it the treasures of Buddhism, whose essentially Atheistic character he maintained. To him also we are largely indebted for a knowledge of Zend and of the Avesta of the Zoroastrians. He translated numerous Oriental works and wrote a valuable Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism. Died at Paris, 28 May, 1852.

Burns (Robert), Scotland's greatest poet, b. near Ayr, 25 Jan. 1759. His father was a small farmer, of enlightened views. The life and works of Burns are known throughout the world. His Freethought is evident from such productions as the "Holy Fair,"

"The Kirk's Alarm," and "Holy Willie's Prayer," and many pa.s.sages in private letters to his most familiar male friends. Died at Dumfries, 21 July, 1796.

Burr (William Henry), American author, b. 1819, Gloversville, N.Y., graduated at Union College, Schenectady, became a shorthand reporter to the Senate. In 1869 he retired and devoted himself to literary research. He is the anonymous author of Revelations of Antichrist, a learned book which exposes the obscurity of the origin of Christianity, and seeks to show that the historical Jesus lived almost a century before the Christian era. He has also written several pamphlets: Thomas Paine was Junius, 1880: Self Contradictions of the Bible; Is the Bible a Lying Humbug? A Roman Catholic Canard, etc. He has also frequently contributed to the Boston Investigator, the New York Truthseeker, and the Ironclad Age of Indianapolis.

Burton (Sir Richard Francis), traveller, linguist, and author, b. Barham House, Herts, 19 March, 1821. Intended for the Church, he matriculated at Oxford, but in 1842 entered the East India Company's service, served on the staff of Sir C. Napier, and soon acquired reputation as an intrepid explorer. In '51 he returned to England and started for Mecca and Medina, visiting those shrines unsuspected, as a Moslem pilgrim. He was chief of the staff of the Osmanli cavalry in the Crimean war, and has made many remarkable and dangerous expeditions in unknown lands; he discovered and opened the lake regions in Central Africa and explored the highlands of Brazil. He has been consul at Fernando Po, Santos, Damascus, and since 1872 at Trieste, and speaks over thirty languages. His latest work is a new translation of The Thousand Nights and a Night in 10 vols. Being threatened with a prosecution, he intended justifying "literal naturalism" from the Bible. Burton's knowledge of Arabic is so perfect that when he used to read the tales to Arabs, they would roll on the ground in fits of laughter.

Butler (Samuel), poet, b. in Strensham, Worcestershire, Feb. 1612. In early life he came under the influence of Selden. He studied painting, and is said to have painted a head of Cromwell from life. He became clerk to Sir Samuel Luke, one of Cromwell's Generals, whom he has satirised as Hudibras. This celebrated burlesque poem appeared in 1663 and became famous, but, although the king and court were charmed with its wit, the author was allowed to remain in poverty and obscurity till he died at Covent Garden, London, 25 Sept. 1680. Butler expressed the opinion that

"Religion is the interest of churches That sell in other worlds in this to purchase."

b.u.t.tmann (Philipp Karl), German philologist, b. Frankfort, 5 Dec. 1764. Became librarian of the Royal Library at Berlin. He edited many of the Greek Cla.s.sics, wrote on the Myth of the Deluge, 1819, and a learned work on Mythology, 1828. Died Berlin, 21 June, 1829.

Buzot (Francois Leonard Nicolas), French Girondin, distinguished as an ardent Republican and a friend and lover of Madame Roland. Born at Evreux, 1 March, 1760; he died from starvation when hiding after the suppression of his party June, 1793.

Byelinsky (Vissarion G.) See Belinsky.

Byron (George Gordon Noel) Lord, b. London, 22 Jan. 1788. He succeeded his grand-uncle William in 1798; was sent to Harrow and Cambridge. In 1807 he published his Hours of Idleness, and awoke one morning to find himself famous. His power was, however, first shown in his English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, in which he satirised his critics, 1809. He then travelled on the Continent, the result of which was seen in his Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and other works. He married 2 Jan. 1815, but a separation took place in the following year. Lord Byron then resided in Italy, where he made the acquaintance of Sh.e.l.ley. In 1823 he devoted his name and fortune to the cause of the Greek revolution, but was seized with fever and died at Missolonghi, 19 April, 1824. His drama of Cain: a Mystery, 1822, is his most serious utterance, and it shows a profound contempt for religious dogma. This feeling is also exhibited in his magnificent burlesque poem, The Vision of Judgment, which places him at the head of English satirists. In his letters to the Rev. Francis Hodgson, 1811, he distinctly says: "I do not believe in any revealed religion.... I will have nothing to do with your immortality; we are miserable enough in this life, without the absurdity of speculating upon another.... The basis of your religion is injustice; the Son of G.o.d, the pure, the immaculate, the innocent, is sacrificed for the guilty," etc.

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 Inst.i.tute 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.

Caesalpinus (Andreas), Italian philosopher of the Renaissance, b. Arezzo, Tuscany, 1519. He became Professor of Botany at Pisa, and Linnaeus 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 ent.i.tled Demonum Investigatio, he contends that "possession" by devils is amenable to medical treatment. His Quaestionum 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.

Caesar (Caius Julius), the "foremost man of all this world," equally renowned as soldier, statesman, orator, and writer, b. 12 July, 100 B.C., of n.o.ble 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, "Caesar 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 a.s.sa.s.sinated, 15 March, 44 B.C. His Commentaries are a model of insight and clear expression. Sall.u.s.t 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 G.o.ds 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'etat 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 h.e.l.l, 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 Ga.s.sendi. He also visited Descartes in Holland. Julian Hibbert remarked that his Atheismus Triumphatus--Atheism Subdued, 1631, would be better ent.i.tled 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.

Campbell (Alexander), Socialist of Glasgow, b. about the beginning of the century. He early became a Socialist, and was manager at the experiment at Orbiston under Abram Combe, of whom he wrote a memoir. Upon the death of Combe, 1827, he became a Socialist missionary in England. He took an active part in the co-operative movement, and in the agitation for an unstamped press, for which he was tried and imprisoned at Edinburgh, 1833-4. About 1849 he returned to Glasgow and wrote on the Sentinel. In 1867 he was presented with a testimonial and purse of 90 sovereigns by admirers of his exertions in the cause of progress. Died about 1873.

Campion (William), a shoemaker, who became one of R. Carlile's shopmen; tried 8 June, 1824, for selling Paine's Age of Reason. After a spirited defence he was found guilty and sentenced to three years'

imprisonment. In prison he edited, in conjunction with J. Clarke, E. Ha.s.sell, and T. R. Perry, the Newgate Monthly Magazine, to which he contributed some thoughtful papers, from Sept. 1824, to Aug. 1826, when he was removed to the Compter.

Canestrini (Giovanni), Italian naturalist, b. Rer, 1835. He studied at Vienna, and in '60 was nominated Professor of Natural History at Geneva. Signor Canestrini contributed to the Annuario Filosofico del Libero Pensiero, and is known for his popularisation of the works of Darwin, which he has translated into Italian. He has written upon the Origin of Man, which has gone through two editions, Milan, '66-'70, and on the Theory of Evolution, Turin, '77. He was appointed Professor of Zoology, Anatomy and Comparative Physiology at Padua, where he has published a Memoir of Charles Darwin, '82.