Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/128

 COOPER

COUEIER DE MEEE

COOPER, Professor Thomas, M.D., natural philosopher. B. Oct. 22, 1759. Ed. Oxford (University College). He was called to the Bar in 1787, but turned to anatomy and medicine. He and James Watt were sent to Paris as representatives of the democratic clubs of England during the Eevolution. Emigrating to America, he became professor of chemistry, and in 1816 professor of mineralogy and chemistry, in the Pennsylvania University. In 1820 he was appointed President of the South Carolina College, but he was compelled to resign on account of his advanced Ration alism. He was a very versatile and learned writer, and rejected all religion. D. May 11, 1840.

COPE, Professor Edward Drinker,

M.A., Ph.D., American palaeontologist. B. July 28, 1840. Ed. Westtown Academy and Pennsylvania University, completing his study of comparative anatomy in the Smithsonian Institution and in Europe. Cope was professor of the natural sciences in Haverford College in 1864-07, then palaeontologist to the U. S. Geological Survey ; and he was for many years Curator of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Pennsylvania. In 1879 he received the Bigsby Gold Medal of the Royal Geological Society. He published more than 350 papers, and many volumes, on his science ; and he was one of the chief defenders of evolution in America. He was a Theist, but uncertain about personal immortality (see his Theology of Evolution, 1887). -D. Apr. 12, 1897.

CORNETTE, Professor Henri Arthur Marie, Belgian educationist. B. Mar. 27, 1852. Cornette was professor of Flemish literature at the Ecole Normale, Antwerp, and a Provincial Councillor. He was a powerful advocate of Rationalism, writing and lecturing in French and Flemish. He wrote in the advanced organs of Holland, Belgium, and France, and published various pamphlets and several w r orks in the Dutch Pcsdagogische Bibliothek. 183

CORYIN-WIERBITSKI, Otto Julius Bernhard von, German writer. B. Oct. 12, 1812. Ed. Cadet Colleges of Pots dam and Berlin. He held a commission in the Prussian army until 1835, when he devoted himself to letters and the propaga tion of advanced opinions. He was im prisoned for six years after the failure of the 1848 Revolution and went to England, where he became war correspondent of the Times. His chief Rationalist works are Historische DenJcmale des christlichen Fanatismus (2 vols., 1845) and Pfaffen- spiegel (1891) : two ruthlessly anti- Christian productions. D. Mar. 3, 1886.

COTTON, Sir Henry John Stedman,

Positivist and Indian Reformer. B. Sep., 1845. Ed. Oxford and King s College, London. He entered the Indian Civil Service in 1867 and won rapid promotion, becoming chief Secretary to the Bengal Government in 1892, Home Secretary to the Indian Government in 1896, and Chief Commissioner of Assam in 1898. On his retirement in 1902 he was made KG. S.I. As M.P. for Nottingham (1906-10) he rendered great service to India. Sir Henry published a number of his Posi tivist addresses (see especially The Reli gion of Humanity, 1887), and wrote a number of works on India. He also lectured frequently for the English Ethical Societies. He was one of the few men who brought a high idealism into English politics, and his austere sense of right and deep humanitarian feeling commanded the respect of all who knew him. D. Oct. 23, 1915.

COURIER DE MERE, Paul Louis,

French Hellenist. B. Jan 4, 1772. Ed. College de France (Paris) and Artillery School, Chalons. He served in the Repub lican and the Napoleonic armies, and in 1809 retired to Switzerland. After the Restoration he returned to France and courageously attacked the royalist-clerical reaction. He was imprisoned for some of his outspoken pamphlets. Courier de Mere 184