FLOUEENS
FONTENELLE
and he went to Crete. There he took part
in the insurrection, and sat in the National
Assembly. He returned to France in 1868,
and was imprisoned for his utterances.
He was shot, fighting for the Commune,
Apr. 3, 1871.
FLOURENS, Professor Marie Jean Pierre, physiologist. B. Apr. 15, 1794. Ed. Montpellier. He graduated in medi cine at the age of nineteen, and won great distinction a few years later by his researches into the nervous system. He was admitted to the Academy of Sciences in 1828, and became its Perpetual Secretary in 1833. Five years later he occupied the chair of comparative anatomy at the College de France. He entered the Chamber of Deputies in 1838, the Academy in 1840, and the House of Peers in 1846. Flourens, who was one of the most eminent physiologists of his time, was a Vitalist and opposed to Materialism, but he rejected Christian doctrines. D. Dec. 5, 1867.
FLOWER, Benjamin Orange, Ameri can writer. B. Oct. 19, 1858. Ed. Ilion and Kentucky University. Adopting journalism as his profession, he founded and edited the Arena (Boston), then the Coming Age (1896-1904), finally combining the two as the Arena (1904-1909). He edited the Twentieth Century Magazine (1909-11), and he is now president of the Menace Publishing Company the prin cipal check on Komanism in America and the Free Press Defence League. Mr. Flower has written Lives of Whittier and others, and various advanced works.
FLOWER, Eliza, musical composer. B. Apr. 19, 1803. Miss Flower, a sister of Sarah Flower Adams, devoted herself after 1840 to providing a musical service at South Place Chapel, which had seceded from the Unitarian body. Sixty-three of the hymns and many anthems sung there were composed by her. Harriet Martineau has charming descriptions of the sisters 257
(under other names) in Five Years of Youth
and Deerbrook (see Garnett s Life of W. J.
Fox, pp. 65-7). She shared the opinions
of W. J. Fox. D. Dec. 12, 1846.
FOERSTER, Professor Wilhelm,
Ph.D., German astronomer. D. Dec. 16, 1832. Ed. Breslau, Berlin, and Bonn Universities. He became second assistant at the Berlin Observatory in 1855, first assistant in 1860, and Director in 1865. Since 1863 he has also been professor of astronomy at Berlin University. Professor Foerster educated his children without religion, and is head of the German Ethical Movement. He is a Privy Councillor, and was almost the only German professor to oppose the War.
FONBLANQUE, Albany, journalist. B. 1793. Ed. Woolwich. He joined the staff of the Times, and in 1826 became chief leader-writer to the Examiner, which he edited from 1830 to 1847 and ultimately purchased. He was statistician to the Board of Trade in 1847, and was offered the Governorship of Nova Scotia. Fon- blanque was in his time one of the most powerful and influential of London journal ists. He was a friend of Bentham and Mill, and shared their Utilitarianism. D. Oct. 13, 1872.
FONTANE, Theodor, German novelist. B. Dec. 30, 1819. He was a chemist in his early years, but turned to letters and journalism in 1849. His poems (Gedichte, 1851) were largely Eationalistic. He was dramatic critic of the Vossische Zeitung (1870-90), and one of the leading German novelists of his time. His novels were republished in twelve volumes 1890-91. Fontane was a non-Christian Theist (Ettlinger s Theodor Fontane, p. 59). D. Sep. 20, 1898.
FONTENELLE, Bernard le Bovier de,
French writer, nephew of Corneille. B. Feb. 11, 1657. Ed. Eouen Jesuit College. He deserted the law for letters, and, after
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