Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/348

 PROCTOR

PEOUDHON

Ed. Bonn, Berlin, Heidelberg, Vienna, and Paris Universities. He began in 1865 to teach zoochemistry and physiology at Bonn, and four years later he was appointed professor of physiology at Jena University. In 1888 he lectured at Berlin University. Preyer, an indefati gable research worker, covered many fields of his science, and was one of the first to welcome the doctrine of evolution and point out its value for physiology and psychology. His works are very numerous and weighty, but he is especially distin guished as the founder of child-psychology. His Die Seele des Kindes (1881 ; Eng. trans., The Sold of the Child, 1889) was translated into most languages, and is still valuable. He wrote also a fine Ration alistic volume on Darwin (Darwin, Sein Lebenund Wirken, 1896). D.July 15, 1897.

PROCTOR, Richard Anthony, astro nomer. B. Mar. 23, 1837. Ed. King s College, London, and Cambridge (St. John s College). At Cambridge Proctor studied theology and mathematics. For a time he then devoted himself to law ; but he presently settled in his life-work astro nomy and mathematics. His Saturn and His System (1865) was his first successful book. In the following year he lost a large part of his fortune ; and he cultivated the art of popular lecturing and writing, in which he had few equals. For some years the struggle was severe, and he taught mathematics for a time in a private school at Woolwich. In 1873 he toured the United States, and in 1879 and subsequent years he made phenomenally successful tours in Australasia and America. After 1881 he lived chiefly in America, but in that year he founded Knowledge, and took a deep interest in its direction. It was in its early years a scarcely veiled Rationalist periodical. Proctor had at one time embraced Catholicism, but had abandoned it for Deism, as his early articles in Knowledge show. From 1885 onwards the paper was more aggressive and outspoken, and in an article of July 1, 1887, Proctor 623

expressly describes himself as Agnostic. Mr.EdwardClodd informs us in his Memories that he was an Agnostic to the end. Mr. Clodd s book gives valuable information of the views of other men of science. D. Sep. 12, 1888.

PROUDHON, Pierre Joseph, French economist. B. July 15, 1809. Ed. Coll6ge de BBsancon. As he was the son of a worker, Proudhon had little schooling, and was mainly self-educated. In 1828 he took to printing, and eight years later he set up a printing business, which failed. Winning a scholarship of 1,500 francs a year in 1838 by an Essai de gramma-ire generate, he was able to attend the College de Besangon, and in 1840 he moved to Paris and published his famous work, Qu est-ce que la propriete ? As he replied that &quot; property is theft,&quot; the Besangon College withdrew his scholarship. From 1844 to 1847 he was in business at Lyons, and he continued to issue economic works, in which he incidentally rejected all religion. During the 1848 Revolution he went to Paris, and founded Le Eepresentant du Peuple, which was suppressed. Other papers that he founded in succession were Le Peuple, La Voix du Peuple, and Le Peuple de 1850. He started a People s Bank, which failed, and he was condemned to three years in prison. From 1858 to 1860 he continued his work in Belgium. Proulhon was a serious and well-informed Rationalist, as one may read in his Philo sophic du Prog res (1853). He studied Kant and Hegel, and &quot; occupies an impor tant place in the history of French thought &quot; (Grande Encyclopedic). Sainte-Beuve has a high appreciation of him in his P. J. Proudhon (1873). He taught himself Hebrew in order to study the Bible, and his style is moulded on that of the Bible in a way which is rare in France. Among the manuscripts which he left behind were two very drastic Rationalist works, Vie de Jesus and Histoire de Jehovah. His com plete works fill twenty-six volumes. D. Jan. 16, 1865.

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