Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/239

 KNEELAND

KNOWLES

recognized that his Zerbrochene Krug and other dramas are of a very high artistic order, but Kleist enjoyed little appreciation until near the close of his brief and pathetic life. Goethe and Schiller, with whom he was friendly, warmly recognized his great power, and his work now stands high in German literature. He adopted the Kantist philosophy and dissented from all creeds. Z&amp;gt;. Nov. 21, 1811.

KNEELAND, Abner, American journa list. B. Apr. 7, 1774. Kneeland was a carpenter until 1801, when he joined the Baptist Church and worked as a preacher. In 1803 he passed to the Universalists, and became a minister in that liberal school (1811). Some years later he aban doned every shade of Christianity, and adopted journalism as his profession. He edited the Philadelphia University Magazine (1821-23) and the Olive Branch (1828); and in 1831 he settled at Boston and founded the Investigator, the oldest Ration- alist periodical in America. In 1833 he was sentenced to two months in prison for saying that he did not believe in God. He learned Hebrew, Greek, and Latin in order to make a thorough study of the Bible, and published the New Testament, with notes, in Greek and English. He edited Voltaire s Philosophical Dictionary (2 vols., 1852), and wrote The Deist (2 vols., 1822), Review of the Evidences for Chris tianity (1829), and other works. He also lectured constantly on Rationalism. D. Apr. 27, 1844.

KNOPF, Professor Otto Heinrich Julius, German astronomer. B. Sep. 24, 1856. Ed. Hildburghausen Gymnasium, and Jena and Berlin Universities. He was assistant at the Wilhelm Gymnasium at Berlin in 1880-81, calculator at Cordoba Observatory (Argentina) from 1881 to 1883, and assistant at the Berlin Reden Institute from 1884 to 1889 ; and he has been Director of the Jena University Observatory since 1889, and professor of astronomy at Jena since 1897. Professor 405

Knopf has written many works on astronomy, and he is also an active worker in the Monist League. In the tribute to Professor Haeckel (Was Wir Ernst Haeckel Verdanken, ii, 298-303) he expresses his thorough Rationalism. He sees no &quot; plan&quot; in nature, and he thinks that the old psychology, which taught a soul capable of living apart from the body, is &quot; struck out of the list of sciences.&quot;

KNOX, Robert, M.D., anatomist. B. Sep. 4, 1791. Ed. Edinburgh High School and University. In 1815 he was appointed assistant surgeon in the army. Two years later his regiment was sent to the Cape, and Knox made valuable scientific research there in ethnology and zoology. Returning to Europe in 1821, he completed his studies under the great French masters of zoology, and he then settled in Edin burgh, contributing to the scientific jour nals. In 1825 he entered into partnership with Barclay in his school of anatomy, and in the following year he became sole proprietor and was recognized as one of the ablest anatomical teachers in Britain for many years. He was an outspoken Deist (see Lonsdale s Life of Knox, 1870), and seems at times in his letters to be near Agnosticism. His heresies contributed to the ruin of his school, and in 1846 he removed to London and engaged in the popularization of science. In 1856 he was appointed pathological anatomist to the Brompton Cancer Hospital, and in 1861 he was made a member of the Anthropo logical Society of Paris. D. Dec. 20, 1862.

KNOWLES, Sir James, F.R.I.B.A., K.C.V.O., editor. B. 1831. Ed. Univer sity College, London, and Italy. Although he was trained as an architect and practised for some years, Knowles began early to take an interest in literature, and contri buted to the magazines. In 1860 he published his only work, The Story of King Arthur. In 1870 he succeeded Dean Alford as editor of the Contemporary Review. Seven years later, desiring a 406