Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/316

 NOIEE

NOETON

She was frequently consulted by the Government. Miss Nightingale was the first woman to receive the Order of Merit ; and she had also the freedom of the City of London, the German Cross of Merit, the French gold medal for helping the wounded, and other honours. Sir Edward Cook shows in his Life of Florence Nightingale (2 vols., 1913) that, while she was a fervent Theist, she was entirely outside Christianity. He says less than the truth when he observes that &quot; she had little interest in rites and ceremonies as such, and she interpreted the doctrines of Christianity in her own way &quot; (ii, 243). Her own words, in a letter of 1896 which he quotes (ii, 392), are : &quot; The Church is now more like the Scribes and Pharisees

than like Christ What are now called

the essential doctrines of the Christian religion he [Christ] does not even mention.&quot; In 1873 she wrote two articles on religion in Fraser s Magazine (May and July) in which she is not less outspoken. Curiously enough, the Unitarians have included a pamphlet on her (Florence Nightingale as a Religious Thinker, 1914) in their &quot; Penny Library,&quot; in which the author, W. G. Tarrant, quotes her saying : &quot; I am so glad that my God is not the God of the High Church or of the Low ; that he is not a Eomanist or an Anglican -or a Unitarian&quot; (p. 12). D. Aug. 13, 1910.

NOIRE, Ludwig, German philosophical writer. B. Mar. 26, 1829. Ed. Giessen University. Noire was a teacher at Mayence who made a profound study of Spinoza and Schopenhauer, and published a series of able philosophical writings under their influence. Plis aim was to incorporate Darwinism with philosophy, and teach a system of Monism in harmony with modern science (Die Welt als Ent- wickelung des Geistes, 1874 ; Die Monis- tische Gedanke, 1875, etc.). He contended that there is only one reality, of which sensation and movement are different aspects. Noire, a very able and learned writer, contributed the Preface to Max

559

Miiller s English translation of Kant s Critique of Pure Beason. Max Miiller greatly esteemed him as a philologist. D. Mar. 27, 1889.

NOLDEKE, Professor Theodor, Ger man orientalist. B. Mar. 2, 1836. Ed. Gottingen, Vienna, Leyden, and Berlin Universities. In 1864 he was appointed extraordinary professor of theology at Kiel University, and in 1866 ordinary professor. The chief works he published in this period (Geschichte des Korans, 1860 ; and Das Lebcn Muhammads, 1863) show a. divergence from Christianity ; and in 1872 Noldeke became professor of Semitic philology at Strassburg University. He is one of the most learned authorities on his branch of oriental philology, and has written nearly six hundred scholarly works, pamphlets, and articles.

NORDAU, Max Simon, M.D., French writer. B. July 29, 1849. Ed. Buda- Pesth University. Of a wealthy Jewish- Hungarian family, Nordau spent six years, after graduating, in travelling over Europe. He then practised medicine for two years at Buda-Pesth, and in 1880 went to settle at Paris. His early writings (VomKreml zum, Alhambra, 1880, etc.) attracted little notice; but in 1884 his Konventionelle Liigen der Kulturmenschheit (Eng. trans., Conven tional Lies of Our Civilization, 1895) was discussed all over Europe. The religious lie was not the least sardonically attacked. His Paradoxe (1885) and Entartung (2 vols., 1892 ; Eng. trans., Degeneration, 1893) were less successful. He has written in all about thirty volumes and a number of plays.

&quot; NORK, F.&quot; See KORN, SELIG.

&quot; NORTH, Christopher.&quot; See WILSON, JOHN.

NORTON, Professor Charles Eliot,

Litt.D., LL.D., D.C.L., L.H.D., American historian. B. Nov. 16, 1827. Ed. Har vard University. Norton entered the

560