A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages and Nations Part 17

Jones (Lloyd), Socialist, b. of Catholic parents at Brandon, co. Cork, Ireland, in March, 1811. In '27 he came over to Manchester, and in '32 joined the followers of Robert Owen. He became "a social missionary," and had numerous debates with ministers, notably one on "The Influence of Christianity" with J. Barker, then a Methodist, at Manchester, in '39. Lloyd Jones was an active supporter of co-operation and trades-unionism, and frequently acted as arbitrator in disputes between masters and men. He contributed to the New Moral World, Spirit of the Age, Glasgow Sentinel, Leeds Express, North British Daily Mail, Newcastle Chronicle, and Co-operative News. Died at Stockwell, 22 May, 1886, leaving behind a Life of Robert Owen.

Joseph II., Emperor of Germany, son of Francis I. and Maria Theresa, b. Vienna 13 March 1741. In 1764 he was elected king of the Romans, and in the following year succeeded to the throne of Germany. He wrought many reforms, suppressed the Jesuits 1773, travelled in France as Count Falkenstein, saw d'Alembert but did not visit Voltaire. He abolished serfdom, allowed liberty of conscience, suppressed several convents, regulated others, abridged the power of the pope and the clergy, and mitigated the condition of the Jews. Carlyle says "a mighty reformer he had been, the greatest of his day. Austria gazed on him, its admiration not unmixed with terror. He rushed incessantly about, hardy as a Charles Twelfth; slept on his bearskin on the floor of any inn or hut;--flew at the throat of every absurdity, however broad and based or dangerously armed. 'Disappear I say.' A most prompt, severe, and yet beneficent and charitable kind of man. Immensely ambitious, that must be said withal. A great admirer of Friedrich; bent to imitate him with profit. 'Very clever indeed' says Friedrich, 'but has the fault (a terribly grave one!) of generally taking the second step without having taken the first.'" Died Vienna 20 Feb. 1790.

Jouy (Victor Joseph Etienne de), French author b. Jouy near Versailles 1764. He served as soldier in India and afterwards in the wars of the Republic. A disciple of Voltaire to whom he erected a temple, he was a prolific writer, his plays being much esteemed in his own day. Died 4 Sept. 1846.

Julia.n.u.s (Flavius Claudius), Roman Emperor, b. Constantinople 17 Nov. 331. In the ma.s.sacre of his family by the sons of Constantine he escaped. He was educated in the tenets of Christianity but returned to an eclectic Paganism. In 354 he was declared Caesar. He made successful campaigns against the Germans who had overrun Gaul and in 361 was made Emperor. He proclaimed liberty of conscience and sought to uproot the Christian superst.i.tion by his writings, of which only fragments remain. As Emperor he exhibited great talent, tact, industry, and skill. He was one of the most gifted and learned of the Roman Emperors, and his short reign (Dec. 361--26 June, 363), comprehended the plans of a life-long administration. He died while seeking to repel a Persian invasion, and his death was followed by the triumph of Christianity and the long night of the dark ages.

Junghuhn (Franz Wilhelm), traveller and naturalist, b. Mansfeld, Prussia 29 Oct 1812. His father was a barber and surgeon. Franz studied at Halle and Berlin. He distinguished himself by love for botany and geology. In a duel with another student he killed him and was sentenced to imprisonment at Ehrenbreitster for 20 years. There he simulated madness and was removed to the asylum at Coblentz, whence he escaped to Algiers. In '34 he joined the Dutch Army in the Malay Archipelago. He travelled through the island of Java making a botanical and geological survey. In '54 he published his Licht en Schaduwbeelden uit de binnenlanden van Java (Light and Shadow pictures from the interior of Java), which contains his ideas of G.o.d, religion and science, together with sketches of nature and of the manners of the inhabitants. This book aroused much indignation from the pious, but also much agreement among freethinkers, and led to the establishment of De Dageraad (The Daybreak,) the organ of the Dutch Freethinkers Union. Junghuhn afterwards returned to Java and died 21 April, '64 at Lemberg, Preanges, Regentsch. His Light and Shadow pictures have been several times reprinted.

Kalisch (Moritz Marcus), Ph.D., b. of Jewish parents in Pomerania, 16 May, 1828. Educated at the University of Berlin, where he studied under Vatke and others. Early in '49 he came to England as a political refugee, and found employment as tutor to the Rothschild family. His critical Commentary on the Pentateuch commenced with a volume on Exodus, '55, Genesis '58, Leviticus in two vols. in '67 and '72 respectively. His rational criticism antic.i.p.ated the school of Wellhausen. He published Bible Studies on Balaam and Jonah '77, and discussions on philosophy and religion in a very able and learned work ent.i.tled Path and Goal, '80. Kalisch also contributed to Scott's series of Freethought tracts. Died at Baslow, Derbys.h.i.+re, 23 Aug. 1885.

Kames (Lord). See Home (Henry).

Kant (Immanuel), German critical philosopher, b. Konigsberg, 22 April, 1724. He became professor of mathematics in 1770. In 1781 he published his great work, The Critick of Pure Reason, which denied all knowledge of the "Thing itself," and overthrew the dogmatism of earlier metaphysics. In 1792 the philosopher fell under the royal censors.h.i.+p for his Religion within the Limits of Pure Reason. Kant effected a complete revolution in philosophy, and his immediate influence is not yet exhausted. Died at Konigsberg, 12 Feb. 1804.

Kapila. One of the earliest Hindu thinkers. His system is known as the Atheistic philosophy. It is expounded in the Sankhya Karika, an important relic of bold rationalistic Indian thought. His aphorisms have been translated by J. R. Ballantyne.

Karneades. See Carneades.

Keeler (Bronson C.) American author of an able Short History of the Bible, being a popular account of the formation and development of the canon, published at Chicago 1881.

Keim (Karl Theodor), German rationalist, b. Stuttgart, 17 Dec. 1825. Was educated at Tubingen, and became professor of theology at Zurich. Is chiefly known by his History of Jesus of Nazara ('67-'72). He also wrote a striking work on Primitive Christianity ('78), and endeavored to reproduce the lost work of Celsus. His rationalism hindered his promotion, and he was an invalid most of his days. Died at Giessen, where he was professor, 17 Nov. 1878.

Keith (George), Lord Marshall, Scotch soldier, b. Kincardine 1685, was appointed by Queen Anne captain of Guard. His property being confiscated for aiding the Pretender, he went to the Continent, and like his brother, was in high favor with Frederick the Great. Died Berlin, 25 May, 1778.

Keith (James Francis Edward), eminent military commander, b. Inverugie, Scotland, 11 June, 1696. Joined the army of the Pretender and was wounded at Sheriffmuir, 1715. He afterwards served with distinction in Spain and in Russia, where he rose to high favor under the Empress Elizabeth. In 1747 he took service with Frederick the Great as field-marshal, and became Governor of Berlin. Carlyle calls him "a very clear-eyed, sound observer of men and things. Frederick, the more he knows him, likes him the better." From their correspondence it is evident Keith shared the sceptical opinions of Frederick. After brilliant exploits in the seven years' war at Prague, Rossbach, and Olmutz, Marshal Keith fell in the battle of Hochkirch, 14 Oct. 1758.

Kenrick (William), LL.D., English author, b. near Watford, Herts, about 1720. In 1751 he published, at Dublin, under the pen-name of Ontologos, an essay to prove that the soul is not immortal. His first poetic production was a volume of Epistles, Philosophical and Moral (1759), addressed to Lorenzo; an avowed defence of scepticism. In 1775 he commenced the London Review, and the following year attacked Soame Jenyns's work on Christianity. He translated some of the works of Buffon, Rousseau, and Voltaire. Died 10 June 1779.

Kerr (Michael Crawford) American statesman, b. t.i.tusville, Western Pennsylvania, 15 March 1827. He was member of the Indiana Legislature '56, and elected to Congress in '74 and endeavoured to revise the tariff in the direction of free-trade. Died Rockbridge, Virginia, 19 Aug. 1876, a confirmed Freethinker and Materialist.

Ket, Kett, or Knight (Francis), of Norfolk, a relative of the rebellious tanner. He was of Windham and was an M.A. He was prosecuted for heresy and burnt in the castle ditch, Norwich, 14 Jan. 1588. Stowe says he was burnt for "divers detestable opinions against Christ our Saviour."

Khayyam (Omar) or Umar Khaiyam, Persian astronomer, poet, b. Naishapur Khora.s.san, in the second half of the eleventh century, and was distinguished by his reformation of the calendar as well as by his verses (Rubiyat), which E. Fitzgerald has so finely rendered in English. He alarmed his contemporaries and made himself obnoxious to the Sufis. Died about 1123. Omar laughed at the prophets and priests, and told men to be happy instead of worrying themselves about G.o.d and the Hereafter. He makes his soul say, "I myself am Heaven and h.e.l.l."

Kielland (Alexander Lange), Norwegian novelist, b. Stavanger, 18 Feb. 1849. He studied law at Christiania, but never practised. His stories, Workpeople, Skipper Worse, Poison, and Snow exhibit his bold opinions.

Kleanthes. See Cleanthes.

Klinger (Friedrich Maximilian von), German writer, b. Frankfort, 19 Feb. 1753. Went to Russia in 1780, and became reader to the Grand Duke Paul. Published poems, dramas, and romances, exhibiting the revolt of nature against conventionality. Goethe called him "a true apostle of the Gospel of nature." Died at Petersburg, 25 Feb. 1831.

Kneeland (Abner), American writer, b. Gardner, Ma.s.s., 7 April, 1774, became a Baptist and afterwards a Universalist minister. He invented a new system of orthography, published a translation of the New Testament, 1823, The Deist (2 Vols.), '22, edited the Olive Branch and the Christian Inquirer. He wrote The Fourth Epistle of Peter, '29, and a Review of the Evidences of Christianity, being a series of lectures delivered in New York in '29. In that year he removed to Boston, and in April '31 commenced the Boston Investigator, the oldest Freethought journal. In '33 he was indicted and tried for blasphemy for saying that he "did not believe in the G.o.d which Universalists did." He was sentenced 21 Jan. '34, to two months' imprisonment and fine of five hundred dollars. The verdict was confirmed in the Courts of Appeal in '36, and he received two months' imprisonment. Kneeland was a Pantheist. He took Frances Wright as an a.s.sociate editor, and soon after left the Boston Investigator in the hands of P. Mendum and Seaver, and retired to a farm at Salubria, where he died 27 August, 1844. His edition, with notes, of Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, was published in two volumes in 1852.

k.n.o.blauch (Karl von), German author, b. Dillenburg, 3 Nov. 1757. He was a friend of Mauvillon and published several works directed against supernaturalism and superst.i.tion. Died at Bernburg, 6 Sept. 1794.

Knowlton (Charles) Dr., American physician and author, b. Templeton, Ma.s.s., 10 May, 1800. He published the Fruits of Philosophy, for which he was imprisoned in '32. He was a frequent correspondent of the Boston Investigator, and held a discussion on the Bible and Christianity with the Rev. Mr. Thacher of Harley. About '29 he published The Elements of Modern Materialism. Died in Winchester, Ma.s.s., 20 Feb. 1850.

Knutzen (Matthias), b. Oldensworth, in Holstein, 1645. He early lost his parents, and was brought to an uncle at Konigsberg, where he studied philosophy. He took to the adventurous life of a wandering scholar and propagated his principles in many places. In 1674 he preached Atheism publicly at Jena, in Germany, and had followers who were called "Gewissener," from their acknowledging no other authority but conscience. It is said there were seven hundred in Jena alone. What became of him and them is unknown. A letter dated from Rome gives his principles. He denied the existence of either G.o.d or Devil, deemed churches and priests useless, and held that there is no life beyond the present, for which conscience is a sufficient guide, taking the place of the Bible, which contains great contradictions. He also wrote two dialogues.

Koerbagh (Adriaan), Dutch martyr, b. Amsterdam, 1632 or 1633. He became a doctor of law and medicine. In 1668 he published A Flower Garden of all Loveliness, a dictionary of definitions in which he gave bold explanations. The work was rigidly suppressed, and the writer fled to Culemborg. There he translated a book De Trinitate, and began a work ent.i.tled A Light s.h.i.+ning in Dark Places, to illuminate the chief things of theology and religion by Vrederijk Waarmond, inquisitor of truth. Betrayed for a sum of money, Koerbagh was tried for blasphemy, heavily fined and sentenced to be imprisoned for ten years, to be followed by ten years banishment. He died in prison, Oct. 1669.

Kolb (Georg Friedrich), German statistician and author, b. Spires 14 Sept. 1808, author of an able History of Culture, 1869-70. Died at Munich 15 May, 1884.

Koornhert (Theodore). See Coornhert (Dirk Volkertszoon.)

Korn (Selig), learned German Orientalist of Jewish birth, b. Prague, 26 April, 1804. A convert to Freethought, under the name of "F. Nork,"

he wrote many works on mythology which may still be consulted with profit. A list is given in Fuerst's Bibliotheca Judaica. We mention Christmas and Easter Explained by Oriental Sun Wors.h.i.+p, Leipsic, '36; Brahmins and Rabbins, Weissen, '36; The Prophet Elijah as a Sun Myth, '37; The G.o.ds of the Syrians, '42; Biblical Mythology of the Old and New Testament, 2 vols. Stuttgart, '42-'43. Died at Teplitz, Bohemia, 16 Oct. 1850.

Krause (Ernst H. Ludwig), German scientific writer, b. Zielenzig 22 Nov. 1839. He studied science and contributed to the Vossische Zeitung and Gartenlaube. In '63 he published, under the pen-name of "Carus Sterne," a work on The Natural History of Ghosts, and in '76 a work on Growth and Decay, a history of evolution. In '77 he established with Haeckel, Dr. Otto Caspari, and Professor Gustav Jaeger, the monthly magazine Kosmos, devoted to the spread of Darwinism. This he conducted till '82. In Kosmos appeared the germ of his little book on Erasmus Darwin, '79, to which Charles Darwin wrote a preliminary notice. As "Carus Sterne" he has also written essays ent.i.tled Prattle from Paradise, The Crown of Creation, '84, and an ill.u.s.trated work in parts on Ancient and Modern Ideas of the World, '87, etc.

Krekel (Arnold), American judge, b. Langenfield, Prussia 14 March, 1815. Went with parents to America in '32 and settled in Missouri. In '42 he was elected Justice of the Peace and afterwards county attorney. In '52 he was elected to the Missouri State Legislature. He served in the civil war being elected colonel, was president of the const.i.tutional convention of '65 and signed the ordinance of emanc.i.p.ation by which the slaves of Missouri were set free. He was appointed judge by President Lincoln 9 March, '65. A p.r.o.nounced Agnostic, when he realized he was about to die he requested his wife not to wear mourning, saying that death was as natural as birth. Died at Kansas 14 July, 1888.

Krekel (Mattie H. Hulett), b. of freethinking parents, Elkhart Indiana 13 April, 1840. Educated at Rockford, Illinois, in her 16th year became a teacher. Married Judge Krekel, after whose death, she devoted her services to the Freethought platform.

Kropotkin (Petr Aleksyeevich) Prince, Russian anarchist, b. Moscow 9 Dec 1842. After studying at the Royal College of Pages he went to Siberia for five years to pursue geological researches. In '71 he went to Belgium and Switzerland and joined the International. Arrested in Russia, he was condemned to three years imprisonment, escaped '76 and came to England. In '79 he founded at Geneva, Le Revolte was expelled. Accused in France in '83 of complicity in the outrage at Lyons, he was condemned to five years imprisonment, but was released in '86, since which he has lived in England. A brother who translated Herbert Spencer's "Biology" into Russian, died in Siberia in the autumn of 1886.

Laas (Ernst) German writer, b. Furstenwalde, 16 June, 1837. He has written three volumes on Idealism and Positivism, 1879-'84, and also on Kant's Place in the History of the Conflict between Faith and Science, Berlin, 1882. He was professor of philosophy at Stra.s.sburg, where he died 25 July, 1885.

Labanca (Balda.s.sarre), 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 munic.i.p.al 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 munic.i.p.al 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 a.n.a.lytical 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 G.o.d. 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 advertis.e.m.e.nts 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 antic.i.p.ated by Mr. Crozier, who in turn was antic.i.p.ated 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.

Laka.n.a.l (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 Jerome 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 Marechal published his Dictionary of Atheists, to which the astronomer contributed supplements after Marechal'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.

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 a.s.sistant at the Museum of Natural History, and in 1809 propounded, in his Zoological Philosophy, a theory of trans.m.u.tation 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 a.s.sume a G.o.d 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 (Francois 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 a.n.a.lysis of Science, 3 vols. 1801-3, and a physico-mathematical theory of the organisation of worlds, 1805. Died Paris, 1809.