Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/400

 SELOUS

SENANCOUE

in 1905 he began to teach philosophy at Michigan University. Since 1912 he has been associate professor of philosophy there. He is a member of the American Western and Eastern Philosophical Associations, and an active Socialist (see his Next Step in Democracy, 1916). How very thoroughly he has outgrown his early theological training may be read in his Next Step in Religion (1918). He rejects Mr. Wells s God as well as the Christian, and says : &quot; I challenge any one to develop a really tenable system of theology &quot; (p. 164). He wants a &quot; human faith &quot; with &quot; no tottering creed to sustain &quot; (p. 223).

SELOUS, Sir Frederick Courteney,

D.S.O., traveller and writer. 5.1851. Ed. Eugby, Neuchatel, and Wiesbaden. At the age of nineteen Selous went to Africa to earn his living as an elephant hunter, and in a few years he was recognized as one of the most skilful hunters. He returned to England in 1881, published A Hunter s Wanderings, and was awarded the gold medal of the Eoyal Geographical Society. He returned immediately to Africa for the purpose of scientific exploration. In 1890 he led the expedition of the Chartered Company into Mashonaland, and he served in the two Matabele Wars. In later years he travelled in many other parts of the world. Con tributing to a symposium on &quot; If a Man Die, Shall he Live Again ? &quot; in the Christian Commonwealth (Mar., 1915), Selous said : I have no confidence that I shall survive bodily death ; nor, until I know what my future state would be, if I did so, do I hope for a survival.&quot; He added that he did not believe in &quot; some power which is known to civilized man as God.&quot; He volunteered for service in the late War, although over sixty, and was killed in action in East Africa Jan. 4, 1917.

SEMBAT, Marcel Etienne, LL.D., French politician. B. Oct. 10, 1862. Ed. College Stanislas. Sembat graduated in law, but developed Socialistic ideas and joined Jean Jaures in his work. He was 727

elected to the Chambre in 1893. For a time he edited La Petite Republique, and was later one of the editors of L Humanite. In 1914 he was Minister of Public Works in Viviani s Cabinet. Sembat is an Agnostic.

SEMERIE, Eugene, M.D., French physician and writer. B. Jan. 6, 1832. Ed. Lycee Henri IV and Ecole de Mede- cine. His doctorate thesis, a treatise on insanity, was so drastically Eationalistic that Bishop Dupanloup tried to have him prosecuted for it. Semerie published a brilliant and caustic reply to the prelate in 1868, but devoted himself to journalism and Positivist propaganda rather than medicine. During the Siege of Paris he served as military surgeon. In 1872 Eobinet and he founded La Politique Posi tive, which failed in the following year. His views are given in his Positivistes et Catholiques (1868) and a few other works. D. May, 1884.

SEMON, Professor Richard, Ph.D., M.D., German anatomist. B. Aug. 22, 1859. Ed. Wilhelms-Gymnasium (Berlin) and Jena and Heidelberg Universities. He spent some years, after graduating, in exploration in Africa. From 1887 to 1897 he was professor of anatomy at Jena, and he then travelled in Australia and the Malay Archipelago for two years. He retired from professional work in 1897, and has since lived at Munich. Semon is chiefly known in science for his theory that unconscious memory is an attribute of all substance, having both a physical and a psychical aspect (Die Mnemischen Empfindungen, 1809, and Die Mneme als erhaltendes Prinzip im Wechsel des organi- schen Geschehens, 1912). He is an out spoken Monist, a founder of the Monist League, and a warm admirer of Haeckel (Was Wir E. Haeckel Verdanken, i, 217-22).

SENANCOUR, Etienne PiYert de,

French writer. B. Nov., 1770. As his

parents wanted to make a priest of him,

Senancour fled to Geneva, where he

728