Ænesidemus. A Cretan sceptical philosopher of the first century. He adopted the principle of Heraclitus, that all things were in course of change, and argued against our knowledge of ultimate causes.
Airy (Sir George Biddell). English Astronomer Royal, b. Alnwick 27 July, 1801. Educated at Cambridge, where he became senior wrangler 1823. During a long life Professor Airy did much to advance astronomical science. His Notes on the Earlier Hebrew Scriptures 1876, proves him to have been a thorough-going Freethinker.
Aitkenhead (Thomas), an Edinburgh student aged eighteen, who was indicted for blasphemy, by order of the Privy Council, for having called the Old Testament “Ezra’s Fables,” and having maintained that God and nature were the same. He was found guilty 24 Dec. 1696, and hanged for blasphemy, 8 Jan. 1697.
Aitzema (Lieuwe van), a nobleman of Friesland, b. at Dorckum 19 Nov. 1600, author of a suppressed History of the Netherlands, between 1621–68. Is classed by Reimmann as an Atheist. Died at the Hague 23 Feb. 1669.
Akbar (Jalal-ed-din Muhammad), the greatest of the emperors of Hindostan, b. 15 Oct. 1542, was famous for his wide administration and improvement of the empire. Akbar showed toleration alike to Christians, Muhammadans, and to all forms of the Hindu faith. He had the Christian gospels and several Brahmanical treatises translated into Persian. The result of his many conferences on religion between learned men of all sects, are collected in the Dabistan. Akbar was brought up as a Muhammadan, but became a Theist, acknowledging one God, but rejecting all other dogmas. Died Sept. 1605.
Alberger (John). American author of Monks, Popes, and their Political Intrigues (Baltimore, 1871) and Antiquity of Christianity (New York, 1874).
Albini (Giuseppe). Italian physiologist, b. Milan. In 1845 he studied medicine in Paris. He has written on embryology and many other physiological subjects.
Alchindus. Yakub ibn Is’hak ibn Subbah (Abú Yúsuf) called Al Kindi, Arab physician and philosopher, the great grandson of one of the companions of Muhammad, the prophet, flourished from 814 to about 840. He was a rationalist in religion, and for his scientific studies he was set down as a magician.
Alciati (Giovanni Paolo). A Milanese of noble family. At first a Romanist, he resigned that faith for Calvinism, but gradually advanced to Anti-trinitarianism, which he defends in two letters to Gregorio Pauli, dated Austerlitz 1564 and 1565. Beza says that Alciati deserted the Christian faith and became a Muhammadan, but Bayle takes pains to disprove this. Died at Dantzic about 1570.
Aleardi (Gaetano). Italian poet, known as Aleardo Aleardi, b. Verona, 4 Nov. 1812. He was engaged in a life-long struggle against the Austrian dominion, and his patriotic poems were much admired. In 1859 he was elected deputy to Parliament for Brescia. Died Verona, 16 July, 1878.
Alembert (Jean le Rond d’), mathematician and philosopher, b. at Paris 16 Nov. 1717. He was an illegitimate son of Canon Destouches and Mme. Tencin, and received his Christian name from a church near which he was exposed as a foundling. He afterwards resided for forty years with his nurse, nor would he leave her for the most tempting offers. In 1741, he was admitted a member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1749, he obtained the prize medal from the Academy of Berlin, for a discourse on the theory of winds. In 1749, he solved the problem of the procession of the equinoxes and explained the mutation of the earth’s axis. He next engaged with Diderot, with whose opinions he was in complete accord, in compiling the famous Encyclopédie, for which he wrote the preliminary discourse. In addition to this great work he published many historical, philosophical and scientific essays, and largely corresponded with Voltaire. His work on the Destruction of the Jesuits is a caustic and far-reaching production. In a letter to Frederick the Great, he says: “As for the existence of a supreme intelligence, I think that those who deny it advance more than they can prove, and scepticism is the only reasonable course.” He goes on to say, however, that experience invincibly proves the materiality of the “soul.” Died 29 Oct. 1783. In 1799 two volumes of his posthumous essays were printed in Paris. His works prove d’Alembert to have been of broad spirit and of most extensive knowledge.
Alfieri (Vittorio), Count. Famous Italian poet and dramatist, b. Asti, Piedmont, 17 Jan. 1749, of a noble family. His tragedies are justly celebrated, and in his Essay on Tyranny he shows himself as favorable to religious as to political liberty. Written in his youth, this work was revised at a more advanced age, the author remarking that if he had no longer the courage, or rather the fire, necessary to compose it, he nevertheless retained intelligence, independence and judgment enough to approve it, and to let it stand as the last of his literary productions. His attack is chiefly directed against Catholicism, but he does not spare Christianity. “Born among a people,” he says, “slavish, ignorant, and already entirely subjugated by priests, the Christian religion knows only how to enjoin the blindest obedience, and is unacquainted even with the name of liberty.” Alfieri’s tragedy of Saul has been prohibited on the English stage. Died Florence, 8 Oct. 1803.
Alfonso X., surnamed the Wise, King of Castillo and of Leon; b. in 1223, crowned 1252. A patron of science and lover of astronomy. He compiled a complete digest of Roman, feudal and canon law, and had drawn up the astronomical tables called Alfonsine Tables. By his liberality and example he gave a great impulse to Spanish literature. For his intercourse with Jews and Arabians, his independence towards the Pope and his free disposal of the clerical revenues, he has been stigmatised as an Atheist. To him is attributed the well-known remark that had he been present at the creation of the world he would have proposed some improvements. Father Lenfant adds the pious lie that “The king had scarcely pronounced this blasphemy when a thunderbolt fell and reduced his wife and two children to ashes.” Alfonso X. died 4 April, 1284.
Algarotti (Francesco), Count. Italian writer and art critic, b. at Venice, 11 Dec. 1712. A visit to England led him to write Newtonianism for the Ladies. He afterwards visited Berlin and became the friend both of Voltaire and of Frederick the Great, who appointed him his Chamberlain. Died with philosophical composure at Pisa, 3 May, 1764.
Alger (William Rounseville), b. at Freetown, Massachusetts, 30 Dec. 1822, educated at Harvard, became a Unitarian preacher of the advanced type. His Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life, with a complete bibliography of the subject by Ezra Abbot, is a standard work, written from the Universalist point of view.
Allen (Charles Grant Blairfindie), naturalist and author, b. in Kingston, Canada, 24 Feb. 1848. He studied at Merton College, Oxford, and graduated with honors 1871. In 1873 appointed Professor of Logic in Queen’s College, Spanish town, Jamaica; from 1874 to ’77 he was its principal. Since then he has resided in England, and become known by his popular expositions of Darwinism. His published works include Physiological Æsthetics (1877), The Evolutionist at Large (1881), Nature Studies (1883), Charles Darwin (1885), and several novels. Grant Allen has also edited the miscellaneous works of Buckle, and has written on Force and Energy (1888).
Allen (Ethan) Col., American soldier, b. at Litchfield, Connecticut, 10 Jan. 1737. One of the most active of the revolutionary heroes, he raised a company of volunteers known as the “Green Mountain Boys,” and took by surprise the British fortress of Ticonderoga, capturing 100 guns, 10 May, 1775. He was declared an outlaw and £100 offered for his arrest by Gov. Tryon of New York. Afterwards he was taken prisoner and sent to England. At first treated with cruelty, he was eventually exchanged for another officer, 6 May, 1778. He was a member of the state legislature, and succeeded in obtaining the recognition of Vermont