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 HOFFMANN 598 he asserted that there must always be a ntradiction between the truths of theology ...id those of philosophy. Accused by Martini and Caselius, he was obliged in 1601 to recant ; but returning the next year to his original views, he was deprived of his professorship. His followers, on account of their belief in opposing truths, were called Duplicists, their opponents Simplicists. HOFFMANN, Ernst Theodor Wilhelm (AMADEUS), a German author, born in Konigsberg, Jan. 24, 1776,. died in Berlin, July 24, 1822. He manifested an early taste for music and draw- ing, studied law at the university of his native place, graduated in 1795, and in 1796 began practice at Glogau. He was soon afterward 'appointed referendary to the superior court of Berlin, and in 1800 was named assessor of the province of Posen ; but having drawn a num- ber of caricatures containing allusions to the " scandalous chronicle " of the city of Posen, the minister, instead of signing his appointment as councillor, sent him to Plock (1802). Be- fore his departure Hoffmann married a young Polish lady, who shared his exile. While at Plock he wrote much, composed masses and a grand sonata, and copied in pen drawing all the vases of the Hamilton collection. In 1803 he was appointed counsellor of the regency at Warsaw, where his life became a strange mixture of legal duties and theatrical man- agement, his clients visiting him behind the scenes, where he was painting or training musicians. The entry of the French army re- ducing him to poverty, he wandered to Ber- lin and Bamberg, and was finally invited by Rochlitz, his future biographer, to write for the newspaper which the latter then edited at Leipsic. His sufferings at this period were great and varied. He lost his daughter, saw his wife shockingly maimed by an accident, and had his system shaken by a nervous fever. But during eight years he was always busy, passing his nights in revels, and his days as editor, leader of an orchestra, translator, de- signing machinist, fresco painter, or church singer, and finally became, with Holbein, di- rector of the theatre of Bamberg. In 1816 he was appointed counsellor of the court of ap- peal, and soon became famous for his musical compositions. His means were now abundant, and his eccentricities and dissipations were re- doubled. He was sought by the first society, but took refuge in wine cellars among wild companions. To render his dissipation less gross and public, his literary friends formed a club known as the Serapionsbruder, and the results of their meetings were written by Hoff- mann in the form of a collection of articles bearing the same name, which contains his best tales (4 vols., Berlin, 1819-'21 ; with a supplementary volume, 1825). One of his most characteristic books, all of which are marked by an extraordinary exuberance of fancy and replete with grotesque caricature, is Die Elix- ire des Teufels (Berlin, 1816). Toward the HOFFMANN VON FALLERSLEBEN 755 close of his life he was afflicted with a painful disease ; but he dictated a number of curious books, among which is Lebensansichten des Eaters Murr, occasioned by the death of a favorite cat. There is a complete edition of his works in 12 vols. (Berlin, 1857). HOFFMANN, Friedrich, a German physician, born in Halle, Feb. 19, 1660, died there, Nov. 12, 1742. He graduated at Jena, visited Hol- land and England, and after his return was ap- pointed physician to Frederick William, elec- tor of Brandenburg. The elector Frederick III., afterward king of Prussia, appointed him in 1693 chief professor of medicine in the uni- versity recently founded at Halle. In 1708 he was appointed physician to the king, and removed to Berlin ; but in 1712 he returned to his professorship at Halle. He was one of the first to advance medicine from the old mediaeval grounds, maintaining that the phe- nomena of living bodies are not to be ex- plained by the laws of inanimate or inorganic nature, but that they depend on the continued action of life. He tested the action of many medicines, and invented new ones, of which the elixirium viscerale and liquor anodynus are still in use. He was the discoverer and in- troducer of Seidlitz waters, and of the salt ob- tained from them. Among his works which are still of value are Systema Medicinw Ra- tionalis (9 vols., Halle, 1718-'40), Medicina Consultatoria (12 vols., l721-'39), and Consul- tationum et Responsorum Medicinalium Cen- turies (1734). His life, in Latin, was written by J. H. Schultze, and published at Halle in 1730. HOFFMANNSEGG, Johann Centnrins, count, a German botanist, born in Dresden, May 23, 1766, died there, Dec. 13, 1849. He studied in Leipsic and Gottingen, served as an officer in the Saxon guard from 1783 to 1786, and spent some years in travel. He discovered several hundred new plants, and made impor- tant contributions to entomology. He pub- lished Voyage en Portugal (Paris, 1805), and, with the aid of II. F. Link, Flore portugaise, in French and Latin (fol., Berlin, 1809-'33), toward the cost of which he himself contrib- uted nearly $40,000. HOFFMANN VON FALLERSLEBEN, August Hein- rich, a German poet, born at Fallersleben, Han- over, April 2, 1798, died at the palace of Korvei, near Hoxter, Jan. 21, 1874. He intended to study theology, but the brothers Grimm directed his attention to German philology and litera- ture, to which he zealously devoted himself. He was keeper of the university library at Bres- lau from 1823 to 1838, and professor of the Ger- man language and literature from 1830 to 1842, when he was suspended for political reasons, and for .one year was not allowed to live in Prussia. In 1854 he settled at Weimar, and in 1860 became librarian of the duke of Rati- bor and prince of Korvei. The latter part of his life was devoted to the publication of hia autobiography (Mein Lelen, 6 vols., 1862-'8). His works, archaeological, historical, poetical,