of a certain differential equation which generally bears his name, but which had originally been treated in a less complete manner by L. Euler (see Differential Equations). The latter work contains an important addition to the theory of partial differential equations as it had been left by J. L. Lagrange.
His brother, Johann Wilhelm Andreas Pfaff (1774–1835), was professor of pure and applied mathematics successively at Dorpat, Nuremberg, Wurzburg and Erlangen. Another brother, Christian Henrich Pfaff (1773–1852), graduated in medicine at Stuttgart in 1793, and from 1801 till his death was professor of medicine, physics and chemistry at the university of Kiel.
PFALZBURG a town of Germany, in the imperial province of
Alsace-Lorraine, lies high on the west slopes of the Vosges, 25 m
N W. of Strassburg by rail. Pop. (1905), 3716. It contains an
Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church, a synagogue and a teachers’ seminary. Its industries include the manufacture of gloves, straw hats and liqueurs, and also quarrying.
The principality of Pfalzburg, of which this town was the capital, originally a part of Luxemburg, afterwards belonged in turn to the bishop of Metz, the bishop of Strassburg and the duke of Lorraine, and passed into the possession of France in 1661. The town was of importance as commanding the passes of the Vosges, and was strongly fortified by Vauban in 1680. The works resisted the Allies in 1814 and 1815, and the Germans for four months in 1870, but they were taken on the 12th of December of that year. They have since been razed.
PFEIFFER, FRANZ (1815–1868), German scholar, was born at Bettlach near Soleure on the 27th of February 1815. After studying at the university of Munich he went to Stuttgart, where in 1846 he became librarian to the royal library. In 1856 Pfeiffer founded the Germania, a quarterly periodical devoted to German antiquarian research. In 1857, having
established his fame as one of the foremost authorities on
German medieval literature and philology, he was appointed
professor of these subjects at the university of Vienna; and in
1860 was made a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.
He died at Vienna on the 29th of May 1868.
Among the many writings edited by him may be mentioned the Barlaam und Josaphat of Rudolf von Ems (1843), the Edelstein of Ulrich Boner (1844), Die deutschen Mystiker des 14 Jahrhunderts (1845–1857; new ed, 1906), the Buch der Natur of Konrad von Megenberg, a 14th-century writer (1861), Die Predigten des Berthold von Regensburg (1862), and the poems of Walther von der Vogelweide (1864; 6th ed. by K. Bartsch, 1880). Of his independent writings the most important are Zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte, Über Wesen und Bildung der hofischen Sprache in mittelhochdeutscher Zeit, Der Dichter des Nibelungenliedes, Forschung und Kritik auf dem Gebiete des deutschen Altertums, and Altdeutsches Übungsbuch. A biographical sketch by Karl Bartsch is in Uhlands Briefwechsel mit Freiherrn von Lassberg, edited by Franz Pfeiffer (1870).
PFEIFFER. IDA LAURA (1797–1858), Austrian traveller, daughter of a merchant named Reyer, was born at Vienna on
the 14th of October 1797. In 1820 she married Dr Pfeiffer, a
lawyer of Lemberg, who subsequently incurred official persecution
and was reduced to poverty. In her later life Mme
Pfeiffer devoted her limited means to travel. In 1842 she visited
Palestine and Egypt, and published an account of her journey in
Reise einer Wienerin in das Heilige Land (Vienna, 1843). In 1845
she set out to Scandinavia and Iceland, describing her tour in
two volumes, Reise nach dem skandinavischen Norden und der Insel Island (Pest, 1846). In 1846 she started on a journey round
the world, visiting Brazil, Chile and other countries of South
America, Tahiti, China, India, Persia, Asia Minor and Greece,
and reaching home in 1848. The results were published in
Eine Frauenfahrt um die Welt (Vienna, 1850). In 1851 she went
to England and thence to South Africa, intending to penetrate
into the interior; this proved impracticable, but she proceeded
to the Malay Archipelago, spending eighteen months in the
Sunda Islands and the Moluccas. After a visit to Australia,
Madame Pfeiffer proceeded to California, Oregon, Peru, Ecuador,
New Granada, the Missiones Territory, and north again to the
Great Lakes, reaching home in 1854 Her narrative, Meine zweite Weltreise, was published at Vienna in 1856. In May of the
same year she set out to explore Madagascar, where at first she
was cordially received by the queen. But she unwittingly
allowed herself to be involved in a plot to overthrow the government,
and was expelled the country She died at Vienna on
the 27th of October 1858.
The Reise nach Madagascar was issued in 1861 (Vienna), with a biography by her son.
PFLEIDERER, OTTO (1839–1908), German Protestant theologian, was born at Stetten near Cannstadt in Wurttemberg
on the 1st of September 1839. From 1857 to 1861 he studied at
Tubingen under F. C. Baur, and afterwards in England and
Scotland. He then entered the ministry, became repetent at
Tubingen, and for a short time held a pastorate at Heilbronn
(1868). In 1870 he became chief pastor and superintendent at
Jena and soon afterwards professor ordinaries of theology, but
in 1875 he was called to the chair of systematic theology at
Berlin, having made his name by a series of articles on New Testament
criticism and Johannine and Pauline theology, which appeared in Adolf Hilgenfeld’s Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie, and by his Der Paulinismus, published in 1873 (2nd
ed., 1890, Eng. trans, Paulinism: a Contribution to the History of Primitive Christian Theology, 2 vols., 1873, &c Das Urchristentum, seine Schriften und Lehren, in geschichtlichem Zusammenhang beschrieben was published in 1878 and considerably enlarged for a second edition in 1902 (Eng. trans., 1906). In 1890 appeared The Development of Theology since Kant, and its Progress in Great Britain since 1825, which was written for
publication in England. A more elaborate work was his
Religionsphilosophie auf geschichtlichen Grundlage (1878, 2nd ed., enlarged, 1883~1884; Eng. trans, from 2nd German ed., The Philosophy of Religion on the Basis of its History, 4 Vols., 1886–1888).
“The Influence of the Apostle Paul on the Development
of Christianity ” was the title of a course of Hibbert Lectures given in London in 1885. In 1894 he delivered the Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh, the subject being “The Philosophy and Development of Religion” His later publications included: The Early Christian Conception of Christ (1905), Die Entstehung des Christentums (1905, Eng trans., 1906), Religion and Religionen
(1906; Eng trans., 1907), and Die Entwicklung des Christentums
(1907). He died on the 18th of July 1908, at Gross Lichterfelde,
near Berlin. In New Testament criticism Pfleiderer belonged
to the critical school which grew out of the impulse given by
F. C. Baur. But, like other modern German theologians, he
showed a greater disposition to compromise. All his work shows
a judicial tone of mind, and is remarkable for the charm of its
Style.
Pfleiderer’s younger brother Edmund (1842–1902) distinguished himself both in philosophy and theology. He too entered the ministry (1864) and during the Franco-German War served as army chaplain, an experience described in his Erlebnisse eines Feldgeistlichen (1890). He was afterwards appointed professor ordinarius of philosophy at Kiel (1873), and in 1878 he was elected to the philosophical chair at Tubingen. He published works on Leibnitz, empiricism and scepticism in Hume’s philosophy, modern pessimism, Kantic criticism, English philosophy, Heraclitus of Ephesus and many other subjects.
PFORTA, or Schulpforta, formerly a Cistercian monastery dating from 1140, and now a celebrated German public school. It is in the Prussian province of Saxony, on the Saale, 2 m. S.W. of Naumburg. The remains of the monastery include the 13th century Gothic church, recently restored, the Romanesque chapel (12th century) and other buildings now used as dormitories, lecture rooms, &c. There is also the Furstenhaus, built in 1573. Schulpforta was one of the three Furstenschulen founded in 1543 by Maurice duke, and later elector, of Saxony, the two others being at Grimma and at Meissen. The property of the dissolved monastery provided a good revenue for the new educational foundation, which now amounts to about £15,000 a year. Free education is provided for 140 boys, the total number of pupils being 185. After being in the possession of Saxony, Pforta passed to Prussia in 1815, and since this date the school has been entirely reorganized.
