EDISON
French historian. B. Sep. 11, 1811. In
1833 he was appointed professor of history
at the College Henri IV; in 1861 Inspector
of the Paris Academy, General Inspector
of secondary education, and professor of
history at the Polytechnic. In 1863 he
became Minister of Education, and he
roused the fierce wrath of the clergy by
his reforms, especially in improving the
education of girls. He was compelled to
resign in 1869, and he entered the Senate.
In 1875 he was admitted to the Institut.
Duruy was one of tho ablest French
historians of the century, his chief works
being his Histoire des Bomains (2 vols.,
1843-44), Histoire des Bomains jusqu d la
mort de Theodore (7 vols., 1876-85), and
Histoire des Grecs (2 vols., 1886-88). D.
Nov. 25, 1894.
DUYERNET, Theophile Imarigeon,
French writer. B. about 1730. He was tutor to the Comte de Saint- Simon, then abbe and head of the College de Clermont. Duvernet was sent to the Bastille in 1781 for his Disputes de M. Guillaume, but it did not check his Deistic output. In 1786 he published a very eulogistic Vie de Voltaire, and other strongly worded Eationalist writings followed. D. 1796.
EATON, Daniel Isaac, bookseller. B. about 1752. Ed. Jesuit College at St. Omer. In 1793 he was indicted for selling the second part of Paine s Bights of Man and Letter Addressed to the Addressers, and in 1794 he published Politics for the People. For a time he migrated to America, but he incurred imprisonment on his return, and again in 1812. He called his shop " The Eatiocinatory," and he translated the Eationalist works of Freret and Helvetius. D. Aug. 22, 1814.
EBERHARD, Professor Johann August, Ph.D., German philosopher. B. Aug. 31, 1739. Ed. Halle University. He joined the Lutheran ministry, but his Neue Apologie des Socrates (2 vols., 1772) caused an outcry by its defence of reason
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and its criticism of Christianity. Frederick
the Great made him professor of philosophy
at Halle (1778), and he quitted the Church.
In 1786 he was admitted to the Berlin
Academy. The theory he expounds in his-
score of volumes on philosophy is a
moderate Eationalism, akin to the system
of Leibnitz. D. Jan 6, 1809.
ECHTERMEYER, Ernst Theodor,
German writer. B. 1805. Ed. Halle and Berlin Universities. After teaching for four years he settled at Dresden as a literary man. He founded the Hallesche Jahrbiicher and the Deutsche Musen- almanach, which contained many Eation alist articles. His chief work is a masterly study of the sources of Shakespeare (Quellen des Shakspeare, 3 vols., 1831). D. May 6, 1844.
ECKERMANN, Johann Peter, German writer. B. Sep. 21, 1792. He had little early education, and was employed in manual labour until he became Korner s secretary. He then studied poetry and aesthetics at Gottingen ; and Goethe,, attracted in 1823 by a study of his poetry,, engaged him as assistant. His Gesprdche- mit Goethe (2 vols.) appeared in 1837. In 1838 he was appointed Councillor and Librarian to the Grand Duke of Weimar. D. Dec. 3, 1854.
EDELMANN, Johann Christian, German writer. B. July 9, 1698. Ed. Jena University. A tutor and writer of the pietist school, he took part in the German translation of the Bible in 1736 ; but the general hypocrisy modified his views, and he became " the first outspoken opponent of positive Christianity in Germany " (Meyer). His Moses mit aufgedeckten Angesicht (1740) and Die Gottlichkeit der Vernunft (1742) are Deistic, with leanings to Spinoza, and their drastic criticism of Christianity brought him much persecution.. D. Feb. 15, 1767.
EDISON, Thomas Ahra, D.Sc., LL.D., Ph.D., inventor. B. Feb. 11, 1847.. 232
