and as he did not disdain to prostitute his muse to the celebration of the heroic and royal virtues of the despicable Louis XV, he was rewarded with pensions to a considerable amount. He died in October 1780 from the results of a fall from his horse. The satiric force of one or two of his pieces, as .llon apoloyz'e (1778), and Le dir-lmiliéme siéclc (1775), would alone be sutlicient to preserve his reputation, and it has been further increased by the eulogies of those modern writers who, like Alfred de Vign y, consider him a victim to
the spite of his philosophic opponents.
Among his other works may be mentioned Les Families dc Darius ct (I’Eridame, Izistoire persanc (1770), Le Carnaral des Autcurs (1773), Odes mom-cues ct patriotiqucs (1775). Gilbert’s Ema-es completes were first published in 1778, and they have since been edited by Mastrella (Paris, 1823) and by Charles Nodier (1840, 1859, &c.
GILBERT, or Gilberd, William (c. 1540–1603), was the most distinguished man of science in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He was born at Colchester. where his father was recorder, but was a descendant of an ancient Suffolk family, long resident at Clare. Of his early years no account is left. He entered St John’s College, Cambridge, in 1558, when eighteen years of age, and in due course took the degrees of B.A., 31.11., and M.D.; he also became Symson fellow, and in 1560 was elected a senior fellow of his college. After leaving the university he went to the Continent, and, on his return in 1573, settled in London, where for thirty years,—that is, till his death, —he practised as a physician with “great success and applause.” He was admitted to the College of Physicians, and filled various offices in it. He began in 1581 as censor, which duty he discharged for several years; then he became treasurer, consiliarius elect, and, at last, president in 1600. His professional skill and general ability drew the attention of Queen Elizabeth. to him, and she appointed him royal physician. She also settled a pension on him to enable him to prosecute the scientific inquiries to which he was devoted. After this Gilbert seems to have removed to the court, and to have vacated his house, which was “on St Peter’s Hill, between Upper Thames Street and Little Knight- Itider Street.” At this house he seems to have had a society or college, which was broken up and the members dispersed by his promotion. In the year 1600 he published his work on the magnet. In 1603 the queen died, but Gilbert was reappointed by her successor. He did not long enjoy the honour, however, for he died November 30, 1603, some say at Colchester, others at London. He was buried at Colchester, in the chancel of the church of the Holy Trinity, where a monument was erected to him. To the College of Physicians he bequeathed his books, instruments, and minerals, but he gave his portrait to the School Gallery at Oxford. In it he is represented as tall of stature and of cheerful countenance, “ holding in his hand a globe inscribed ‘Terella’; over his head is the inscription ‘1591, aetatis 48 ;’ and a little below his left shoulder, ‘Magneticarum virtutum primus indagator Gilbertus.’ ” The date thus given does not tally with the conclusion of the inscription on his tombstone: “ Obiit anno Redemptionis Humanm 1603, Novembris ultimo, aetatis sum 63.” If the latter be correct, he was born in 1540; if the former, in 1543.
Gilbert’s principal work is his treatise on magnetism, entitled Dc filagncte, Magneticisqw Corporibus, ct do flfagno Magncte Tellurc, London, 1600 (later editions—Sedan, 1628, 1633; Frankfort, 1629,_1638). The merit of this work consists in its originalit , containing, as it does, an account of the author’s experiments on magnets and magnetical bodies, and also the great discovery that the whole earth is nothing but a large magnet, and that it is this which explains, not only the direction of the magnetic needle north and south, but also the variation and dipping or inclination of the needle. Gilbert’s is therefore, not merely the first, but the most important systematic contribution to the science of magnetism, and its merits were freely acknowledged by his contemporaries. A posthumous work of Gilbert’s was edited by his brother, also called William, from two MSS‘. in the possession of Sir William Boswell ; its title is he ilfumlo Nostro Subhumri I’lu'lesophia Nora (Amsterdam, 1651). lle is the reputed inventor besides of two instruments to enable sailors “to find out the latitude without seeing of sun, moon, or stars." An account of these instruments is given in Thomas Blondevillc's Theoriqurs (j the Planets (London, 1602). The only writing of Gilbert in English is a short epistle addn ssed to “’illiam Barlowc, printed at the end of his little Work entitled Jlagnctirall Adrerlz‘srmcnts (London, 1616), a letter which has hitherto escaped the notice of all the writers about Gilbert. It is of interest both because. it shows that he carried on a. Scientific correspondence with the Continent, and that his book had been very well received, and because he says that he was intending to add six or eight sheets to the book,—an intention, however. which was never carried into effect. The letter is dated 14th February, unfortunately without the year, but it must have been written between 1600 and 1603. In his preface Barlowc says that Le] id numerous letters from Gilbert, but these have. long Slin't’ tllHllDpeared. It is a. matter of great regret for the historian of chemistry that Gilbert left nothing on that branch of science, to which he was deeply devoted, “ attaining to great exactness therein." So at least says Fuller, who, in his li’orlltz‘cs qf England (among whom he includes Gilbert), prophesied truly how he would be afterwards known : “ Mahomet's tomb at Mocha,” he says, “is said strangely to hang up, attracted by some invisible loadstone ; but the memory of this doctor will never fall to the ground, which his incomparable book Dc filagnete will support to eternity."
of the 12th century, was born at Poitiers. He was educated under Bernard de Chartres and Anselm of Laon, and after completing his studies remained attached as teacher to the church at Chartres. In 1135 he is recorded as discharging these functions, but he seems soon after to have repaired to Paris and opened public courses on dialectics and theology. His fame caused him to be called to his native town, where in 1141 he was elected bishop. The heterodox opinions he was led to express regarding the doctrine of the Trinity drew upon his works the condemnation of the clmrch. The synod of Rheinis in 1148 procured papal sanction for four propositions opposed to certain tenets of Gilbert’s, and the works of the latter were condemned until they should be corrected in accordance with the principles of the church. Gilbert seems to have submitted quietly to this judgment; he yielded assent to the four propositions, and remained on friendly terms with his antagonists till his death in 1154. Gilbert is almost the solitary logician of the 12th century who is quoted by the greater scholastics of the succeeding age. His chief logical work, the treatise Dc o'er I’n'ncz'pu's. was regarded with a reverence almost equal to that given to Aristotle, and furnished matter for numerous connncn- taries. Albertus Magnus did not disdain to coninnnt upon this work of an earlier logician. The treatise itself is an elaborate discussion of the Aristotelian categories, specially of the six subordinate modes. Gilbert distinguishes in the ten categories two classes, one essential, the other derivative. Essential or inhering (fin-ma ill/ta’l’fltlc’s) in the objects themselves are only substance, quantity, quality, and relation in the stricter sense of that term. The remaining six, 'Il'ltHI, where, action, passion, position, and habit, are relative and subordinate (formce assislenies). This suggestion has some interest, but it cannot be said to have great value, either in logic or in the theory of knowledge. More important in the history of scholasticism are the theological consequences to which Gilbert’s realism led him. In the commentary on the treatise De Trinitale, erroneously supposed to be by Boetius, he proceeds from the metaphysical notion that pure or abstract being is prior in nature to that which is. This pure being is God, and must be distinguished from the triune God as known to us. God is incomprehensible, and the categories cannot be applied to determine his existence. In God there is no distinction or difference, whereas in all substances or things there is duality, arising from the element of matter. Between pure being and substances
stand the ideas or forms, which subsist though they are not