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* DUMAS. 514 Dtr MAURIER. (1873) ; Monsieur Alphonse (1873) ; L'itmngire (1870) ; La princcsst lie Bagdad (1881) ; Utilise (1885): t'laiuilloii (1887). All these deal re- alistically with one phase or another of social ethics, their perennial theme is the baneful in- fluence of romantic love, false sentiment, and chivalrous passion, Jai dame aux caiinlius had shown him disposed to an open-armed charity toward ladies of easy virtue who asi)ired to a virginity of the heart after the manner of Pr6- vost's ilanon Lescaut and Hugo's Marion de Lorme and Fantine {Les miserablcs). But Diane shows sterner stutT. and all the dramas that fol- low are social sermons, each provided with a frank and forceful preface to enforce its lesson of warning against "those charming, tcrrihle little creatures i'or whom we ruin, dishonor, and kill ourselves, and whose sole occupation in the midst of this universal carnage is to dress now like umbrellas and now like bells," In general, the dramas are rather gloomy pic- tures of relations that, as one of his heroines re- marks, "began because I was bored and ended because he bored me." They are very witty, but the wit is not kindly. The style is a marvel of conciseness and clearness, "all muscles, nerves, and action:" the language was at first incorrect, and to the last full of new-coined phrases: the characteis are apt to be abstractions, types re- peated over and over. Clemenceau's wife, Iza, for instance, is the Countess of Terremonde in La priiicesse Georges, and the Valentine of Le demi- monde and the incarnate Beast of La femme de Claude. But after all resei-ves have been made, the son of the author of .l/o»fe Crisio was the most purposeful, forceful, and serious of the French dramatists of the nineteenth century. He died at !Marly-le-Roi, Xovember 27, 1895. Dumas's dramas are collected in seven volumes (1890-03), with two volumes of plays revised and adapted by him, Le theatre des autres. Four volumes of essays, chiefly on social sub- jects, appear as i'li^cV/c^es (1878-90). Consult: Lacour, Trois theatres (Paris, 1880) : Zola, Xos auteurs dramatiques (ib., 1881): Bourget, Es- sais de psiicholopic contemporaine (ib.. 1883); Douniic, Portraits d'vcrivains (ib., 1892) ; and Matthews, Freneh Dramatists (Xew York, 1901). DTJMAS, Gni.L.'S.VME iUTTHiEf. Count ( 1753- 1837). A French general, politician, and mili- tary historian, born at Montpellier. November 23," 1753. After receiving a military education, he became, in 177(5. a captain of chasseurs, and in 1780 accompanied the Comte dc Rocliambeau to America as aide-decamp, and took part in the principal actions of the war. including the siege of Yorktown. He returned to France with the rank of major. He was Lafayette's aide-de- camp in 1789. and sided with the Constitutional Liberal Party. In 1791 he was elected to the Constituent .'ssembly, and the next year was chosen president of that body. During the Reign of Terror he absented himself from France, with some brief intervals. In 1797 he was pro- scribed as a monarchist, and fled to Holstein. When Bonaparte became First Consul, Dumas was recalled and appointed chief of stafT to the army of Dijon. He was subsequently Councilor of State, grand officer of the Legion of Honor, and general of division. In this last capacity he ■was present at the capitulation of I'lni and the battle of .usterlitz (q.v.). in the latter of which he distinguished himself by high courage and dash- ing tactics. In 1800 he went with Joseph Bona- parte to Naples, and was made Minister of War. in 1808-09 he served in tlie French anny in Spain and Germany, and after the battle of Wag- ram he was employed in negotiating an armistice with Austria.- In ISIO he was made a comit of the Empire, lu the Russian campaign of 1812 Dmnas tilled the arduous post of intendantgen- cral, and after the retreat he fought at Liitzen and Bautzen. 8ul)sequent to the defeat at Leip- zig he was intrusted with the task of arranging for the capitulation of Dresden: but his condi- tions were not accepted by the allied powers, and he was arrested and imprisoned until the conclu- sion of peace in 1814. He was in favor under the first Bovirbon Restoration, ami held important commissions. Upon Napoleon's return from Elba Dumas was persuaded to take charge of the organization of the National Guard. When Louis XVllI. returned, Dumas was obliged to retire on half pay. In 1818 he was restored to favor and made a member of the Council of State, and in 1828 was a Deputy in the Chamber from Paris. After the events of 1830, in which he took a prominent part, he was made a |icer, reentered the Council of State, and became presi- dent of the War Committee. He died October 16, 1837. Besides an important military history. Precis des evihiemeiits militaircs, n!>S-IS07 (19 vols., Paris, 1817-26). Dumas left an autobio- graphical work, Soureiiirs du lieutenant-general eomie Matthieu Dumas, 1770 A ISSG (Paris, 1839; English trans. Philadelphia, 1839-40). DTTMAS. .Te. B.PTISTE (1800-84). A distin- guished French chemist, born at .lais. in the Department of Gard. He was at first apprenticed to an apothecary in Geneva, and engaged in some scientific investigations that attracted the at- tenion of De Candolle and Prevost. In 182.3 he went to Paris, and was appointed chemical rcpHiteur (tutor) in the Polytechnic School, and then professor of chemistry in the ,theniFum. He was afterwards transferred to the Sorbonne, and made a member of the .cadcmy of Sciences. His researches on atomic weights, sulphuric ctlier, and the phenomena of substitution in organic chemistry attracted attention over all Europe. During the July monarchy he was a member of the Council of Education, .^fter the Revolution of February, he was chosen a memlier of the Legislative Assembly, and from 1849 to 1S51 he held the portfolio oif Agriculture and Commerce. After the couj) d'etat he was made a member of the Senate and of the Superior Council of Pub- lic Instruction. Numerous contributions from his pen are contained in the Annales de VIndus- trie and other scientific journals, and in the Metnoires de I'Academie. His chief works arc: Traiti de chimie appiiqufe aux arts (8 vols., 1828-45) ; Lecons sur la philosophie chimique (1837): Essai sur la statique ehimiqiic des ctres organises (1841: 3d ed. 1844), etc. Dumas delivered the first Faraday lecture before the Lon- don Chemical Society, in 1869. Consult Hof- mann. Zur Erinnerung au Jean Haptiste Dumas (Berlin, 1885). See ' Ciiemi-stry ('History'). DTJ MATJBIER. du mft'rsa'. (?EORr.E Loris P.u.MELLA Bt ssoN ( 1834-96). An English artist and novelist, born in Paris. On his father's side be was of French descent; his mother was Eng- lish. His boyhood was passed in Paris. Belgium, and London," and at the age of seventeen his