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 FRANCE (LANGUAGE AND LITERATUKE) 409 Rochette, and more recently by those of Beule, Belloguet, De Riviere, Lartet, and Quatrefages. GhampollioQ threw new light upon ancient Egypt by his system of deciphering hiero- glyphics. The study of oriental languages, pro- moted by Sylvestre de Sacy, has been success- fully continued by De Saulcy, Menant, Oppert, and Renan, in the Semitic languages. Lenor- mant, Mariette, Chabas, and De Rouge have dis- tinguished themselves as Egyptologists. The works of Abel de Remusat, Stanislas Julien, Burnouf, De Rosny, and Hervey de St. Denys are valuable contributions to the occidental knowledge of the Chinese, Japanese, and San- skrit. Philosophy was brought back to spirit- ualist principles by the natural reaction against the materialism of the preceding age. This rev- olution, prepared by Royer-Collard, Maine de Biran, and others, has been accomplished by Victor Cousin and his disciples, who, under the name of eclecticism, unfurled the banner of spiritualism. The eloquent lectures which Cousin delivered at the Sorbonne exercised a powerful influence over the rising generation ; they have been printed, with corrections and considerable additions, under the title of GOUTS de philosophic, Fragments de philosophic, and Du wai, du beau et du Men. Jouffroy and Dami- ron, who acknowledged him as their master, contributed to the progress of the same doc- trines, which were advocated by Cousin's young- er disciples, Emile Saisset, Amedee Jacques, Vacherot, Paul Janet, Adolphe Franck, and Jules Simon. The books of the last named, Du devoir, De la liberte de conscience, and De la liberte, are among the most meritorious performances for healthfulness of tone, honesty of purpose, and generosity of mind. Besides the eclectic school, four philosophers of great originality and uncommon power have shone each in his own sphere, viz. : Joseph de Mais- tre, the zealous apologist of absolute power, in his treatise Du pape, and the eccentric author of the Soirees de St. Petersbourg ; Bonald, who in his Legislation primitive, as well as his other philosophical writings, upheld the cause of monarchy and the church ; Ballanche, the mystic dreamer, who in his Palingenesie sociale attempted to represent through a series of symbolical narratives couched in a poetical style the various phases of the history of man- kind ; and Lamennais, who, at first a bold and independent defender of the papal power, was gradually led to become the advocate of pure democracy. His Essai sur V indifference en matiere de religion, Les paroles d'un croy- ant, Le livre du peuple, Une voix de prison, and Esquisse dine philosophic, show the va- rious steps of this transformation, while they are placed among the masterpieces of French eloquence. The Cours de philosophic positive of Auguste Comte offers a system of philoso- phy which has found many disciples in other countries, especially in England and America. Among the writers on social science, Saint- Simon and Fourier are incontrovertibly the most conspicuous; and although their doc- trines have been rejected as a whole, they have exercised a powerful influence over the age. Pierre Leroux, Louis Blanc, and Proud- hpn may be mentioned as in some sort their disciples. The historian Michelet and Edgar Quinet take rank among fanciful philosophers by a number of publications. The various branches of natural science boast of many ori- ginal and powerful writers, at the head of whom we must place Georges Cuvier, author of Le regne animal distribue d'apres son or- ganisation, and Recherches sur les ossements fos- siles, with an admirable introduction entitled Discours sur les revolutions du globe. Cuvier's great contemporaries Lamarck, Jussieu, De Can- dolle, Lacepede, and Latreille, and rival, fitienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, must be mentioned with him. The son of the latter, Isidore, is worthy of his father, and many disciples of these great men, among whom are Dumeril, Jussieu, and Alcide d'Orbigny, have published brilliant sci- entific works. Mineralogy boasts of Elie de Beaumont, Beudant, and Dufrenoy ; chemistry especially of Lavoisier; and chemistry and physics of Thenard and Dumas, Gay-Lussac, Berthollet, Despretz, Pasteur, Berthelot, Che- vreuil, and Dumas. French medical literature is particularly rich, from the contributions of Bichat, Broussais, Corvisart, Magendie, Trous- seau, Claude Bernard, and many others. Mathe- matical sciences have distinguished representa- tives in Lagrange, Laplace, Ampere, Biot, Le- verrier, and especially Arago, who has no equal for clearness of exposition and perspicuity of style. Among the travellers of this century whose writings have been of most service to science or who have attracted particular at- tention are Bonpland, Freycinet, Duperrey, Dumont d'Urville, Rene Caille, Victor Jacque- mont, Fontanier, Father Hue, Dubois de Montpireux, Saint-Martin, Marcoy, D'Abbadie, and De Beauvoir. Many able pens have been devoted to political economy and philosophy : Michel Chevalier, whose Lettressur VAmerique have made him known in the United States, Leon Faucher, Rossi, Adolphe Blanqui, Fre- deric Bastiat, Andre Cochut, De Beaumont, and De Tocqueville. The last is well known in America by his singularly philosophic trea- tise De la democratic en Amerique. The ad- mirable historical essays of Laferriere upon French jurisprudence must not be forgotten. The political writers who deserve to be named, even after the interest of the daily questions they treated is gone, are numerous. Among them are Armand Carrel, the model journalist Courier, and Cormenin, his imitator, perhaps his equal in point of pungency and wit, though far from possessing the same classical perfec- tion. The French essayists and literary critics are a legion. Among the most prominent we may mention Sylvestre de Sacy and Saint-Marc Girardin, who were admitted to the French academy, the former merely as a journalist, the latter on account of his versatile talents