Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/481

 WHYTE

WIELAND

College of Science and Oxford (Exeter College). He won a scholarship in natural science and second-class honours in biology. In 1881 he began to contribute to Mind, and from 1885 to 1891 he assisted Pro fessor Groom Eobertson in editing it. In conjunction with Professor Bain he edited Groom Eobertson s Philosophical Eemains (1894). His chief philosophical work is The Neo-Platonists (1901), and his Eation- alist views are given in his Origins of Christianity (1904) and Priests, Philo sophers, and Prophets (1911). He has been a Director of the Eationalist Press Association for many years.

WHYTE, Adam Gowans, B.Sc., writer and editor. B. Aug. 1, 1875. Ed. Allan Glen s School and Glasgow University. After graduating in science at the Univer sity, Mr. Whyte turned to journalism, and he was for some time sub-editor of the Glasgow Weekly Citizen. He moved to London in 1898, and was employed on the publications of C. Arthur Pearson, Limited. In the following year he became sub-editor of The Ecview of the Week, and since 1901 he has edited Electrical Industries. He now edits various other electrical periodi cals in addition, and frequently contributes to the magazines on his science. He has won some distinction in the field of fiction, and has met a widely-felt need with his very successful exposition of Evolution for children, The World s Wonder Stories (1916). Mr. Whyte is the author of the work, Do We Believe ? (1904), based on a correspondence in the Daily Telegraph and issued under the name of &quot; John Allan Hedderwick.&quot; He has since written The Religion of the Open Mind (1913) and The Natural History of Evil (1920). He is a Director of the Eationalist Press Associa tion, and has contributed to the Literary Guide since 1897.

WICKSELL, Knut, Ph.D., Swedish

writer and lecturer. B. Dec. 30, 1851.

Ed. Upsala University. Wicksell graduated

in philosophy in 1885 and won a travelling

889

stipend, in virtue of which he visited England and other countries. He had become a Eationalist during his student years, and after 1886 he lectured much on social subjects and on Eationalism. He belongs to the Freethought Federation of Sweden and the International Peace Asso ciation. In 1889 he married a prominent worker in the Feminist and Pacifist move ments, Anna Bugge, who also is an active Eationalist and lecturer on social questions. Wicksell has written a number of pam phlets on Eationalist and social subjects.

WIELAND, Christoph Martin, German writer. B. Sept. 5, 1733. Ed. Biberach, Magdeburg, and Tubingen University. At the age of sixteen Wieland had read the whole of the Latin poets, as well as Voltaire and Bayle and other modern writers. He was sent to the university to study law, but he deserted it for literature and poetry. In 1752 he went to live in Zurich, and during his seven years stay in a pious atmosphere there he for a time returned to his Christian faith (Empfin- dungen ernes Christen, 1757). He now studied Shaftesbury, D Alembert, and other great Eationalists, and became a Deist, without belief in a future life. In 1760 he obtained an official position at Biberach, and he entered upon a period of fertile and sprightly literary production, far removed from Lutheran piety. His novel, Don- Silvio von Eosalva (1764), is a rebuke to fanaticism. He studied Shakespeare and Fielding, and wrote novels of considerable freedom. He edited a translation of Shakespeare in eight volumes (1762-66). In 1769 he was appointed professor at Erfurt ; but a description of an ideal State (Der goldene Spiegel, 1772), which he published, brought him an engagement as tutor to the sons of the liberal Duchess of Saxe- Weimar. He remained at Weimar until his death, and had a profound influence on the development of German literature, especially through his organ, the Deutsche Mercur (later the Attisches Museum). He was now severe and sober, 890