789 



WOLFF, EMIL. 



WOLFF, JOHANN CHRISTIAN VON. 



780 



instructive to the military man, for his character as a soldier was 

 almost perfect, though the field in which his talents were developed 

 was a narrow one. The task was undertaken by Southey, and alter- 

 wards by Gleig, but relinquished by both from unexplained difficulties 

 which intervened. In the third volume of ' Glasgow, Past and Present,' 

 published at Glasgow in 1856, are printed thirteen letters by Wolfe 

 (some of which appeared in a less complete form in ' Tait's Magazine' 

 for 184 9). They are of a very interesting character, and are accom- 

 panied by a brief memoir, in which several new facts are stated. 

 Much information respecting Wolfe (in good part the result of inqui- 

 ries started by the author of the memoir just mentioned) will be found 

 in ' Notes and Queries,' vols. iv. to xii. inclusive. 



"WOLFF, EMIL, an eminent German sculptor, was born in Berlin 

 about 1800. Ho studied under Rudolf Schadow, in the Art Academy 

 of that city, where he gained the prize in 1821 for a relievo of 

 'David playing on the Harp before Saul.' He then proceeded to 

 Home, where he for some time studied under Thorwaldsen. Having 

 fixed on Rome as his permanent residence, he has continued diligently 

 occupied in the quiet pursuit of his art, finding ample patronage 

 among foreigners as well as his countrymen, and gradually working 

 his way to a place among the leading artists of the Roman capital. 

 A large part of his attention has been given to classical subjects, into 

 the spirit of which his thorough study of antique art has qualified him 

 to enter, and which he renders with purity of form, and elevation of 

 style. His religious pieces are also much admired; and he has exe- 

 cuted more homely subjects with much success, of which his ' German 

 Maiden with a Lamb ' is a happy example. Among his classic works 

 may be mentioned his relievi of ' Midas,' and ' Charity ; ' and his 

 statues of ' Hercules,' ' Prometheus,' 'Diana,' 'Pandora/ and 'Melea- 

 ger; ' his groups of 'Achilles and Thetis,' 'Telephus suckled by a 

 Hind,' the 'Death of Patroclus,' 'Amazons,' ' Victory narrating to a 

 youth the deeds of heroes,' &c. Of a different order are his life-sized 

 group, 'Jephtha and his Daughter,' and his popular statuette of 

 ' Winter.' Wolff enjoys considerable reputation as a portrait sculp- 

 tor ; he has executed busts of the sculptors Thorwaldsen and Schadow; 

 ofNiebuhr; Winckelmann; AngeloMai; Palestrina, &c. In 1841 he 

 visited England, when he was commissioned by her Majesty to execute 

 companion statues of the Queen and Prinoe Albert (the latter in 

 Grecian costume), a bust of the Princess Royal, &c. Casts of several 

 of Wolff's statues are in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. He is a 

 member of the Academy of Arts at Berlin. 



WOLFF, JOHANN CHRISTIAN VON, a celebrated German 

 mathematician and philosopher, was born at Breslau, January 24, 

 1679, and at an early age showed a taste for the acquisition of know- 

 ledge. His father, who was a brewer, strongly encouraged in him this 

 disposition; he became his first preceptor, and having instructed him 

 in the Latin language, he sent -him to the public school of the town, 

 iii ordiT that he might have the benefit of the best masters which it 

 afforded. The youth there studied diligently the philosophy of the 

 age, and he -acquired such a facility in the practice of disputing, that 

 he is said to have become the rival of his tutors ; but before he was 

 twenty years of age, having obtained information of the revolution 

 which the writings of Descartes had begun to produce in the schools, 

 he was actuated by a strong desire to become acquainted with them. 

 The result of his application to the Cartesian philosophy was a deter- 

 mination to cultivate mathematical science for the purpose of founding 

 on its principles a system of metaphysics. With this object in view 

 he passed through a course of mathematics at the university of Jena, 

 and ho afterwards went to Leipzig, whero he resided during three or 

 four years. Here, in 1703, he began to deliver lectures ; and in the 

 same year he published two tracts, one entitled ' De Rotis Dentatis,' 

 and the other *De Algorithmo Infinitesimal! Differentiali.' The ability 

 displayed in these dissertations procured for Wolff the esteem and 

 friendship of the learned men of his country ; he became intimate 

 with Tschirnhausen and Leibnitz, and by them he was encouraged in 

 his views of giving to Germany a national philosophy which might 

 replace that of Aristotle as then understood. He at first intended to 

 enter the church as a profession, but he was finally induced to seek 

 an appointment in fulfilling the duties of which he might continually 

 advance his knowledge of the science?. He became therefore a can- 

 didate for a professor's chair, and in 1707 he was appointed to give 

 instruction in pure and mixed mathematics in the University of Halle, 

 it was while he held this post that he wrote his tract entitled ' De 

 Methodo Mathematical aud his ' Elementa Matheseos Universse,' of 

 which last work an enlarged edition was published at Geneva between 

 the years 1732 and 1741, in five volumes, 4to. The first volume con- 

 tains the following subjects: 'Commentatio de Methodo .Mathe- 

 matica; Arithmetica; Geometria; Trigouoinetria plaua et sphserica : ' 

 the second, ' Mechauica cum Statica; Hydrostatica, &c. : ' the third, 

 ' Optica ; Perspectiva atque Astronomia:' the fourth, 'Geographia; 

 Chronologia; Gnomonica; Pyrotechnia et Architectura : ' and the 

 fifth, ' Commentatio de Prsecipuis Scriptis Mathematicis, &c.' He also 

 published at Leipzig and Frankfort, in 1728, ' Tabulae Sinuum atque 

 Tangentium tarn naturaliam quam artificialum, una cum Logarithmis 

 numerorum vulgarium, &c.' Being made a member of the Philoso- 

 phical Society at Leipzig, he wrote several memoirs relating to mathe- 

 matics and physics, which were inserted in the 'Acta Eruditorurn,' 

 and in 1710 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. 



But the life of Wolff was almost wholly devoted to the study of 

 metaphysical and moral philosophy; and between the years 1712 

 and 1723 he wrote his ' Thoughts on the Powers of the Human 

 Mind ; on the Deity and the Universe ; on the Operations of Nature ; 

 on the Search after Happiness ; ' and, as a sequel to the last, ' Thoughts 

 on Society as a means of advancing Human Happiness.' These works 

 were published separately in the German language, a medium till 

 then unemployed in treating such subjects. At a later period he pub- 

 lished in the same language a Dictionary of Mathematics. 



While thus employed, and while his talents were procuring for him 

 invitations to occupy the chairs of philosophy at Wittenberg, Leipzig, 

 and St. Petersburg, a serious opposition to his person and writings 

 began to manifest itself in the university of which he was so distin- 

 guished a member. This in supposed to have arisen from the 

 iutrigues of the theological professors, one of whom conceived a 

 violent dislike to Wolff because the latter, who held the post of deau 

 of the faculty of theology, declining to receive his son ou the ground 

 of incapacity, had appointed Thiimmig, one of his own pupils, to be 

 his assistant. In such circumstances subjects of accusation are not 

 long wanting, and Wolff was charged with endeavouring to subvert the 

 proofs of the existence of the Deity, and to disturb the religious 

 belief of the students in the university, while his metaphysical prin- 

 ciples were violently criticised by Stabler in a work which was pub- 

 lished at Jena. It happened also that Wolff, in one of his lectures, 

 had spoken highly in favour of the moral precepts of Confucius, 

 which had then recently been made known to the people of Europe 

 through the researches of the Jesuit missionaries in the East; and 

 this approbation of the doctrines of a heathen philosopher was con- 

 sidered as a crime, though Wolff was so far from being aware of giving 

 cause of offence, that, as he states in his letter to the minister at 

 Berlin, he intended to publish the discourse at Rome with the consent 

 of the Inquisition. The King of Prussia, being instigated by some of 

 the military authorities, who represented that the sentiments of Wolff 

 might become dangerous to the state by holding out to the soldiers 

 an excuse for desertion, suddenly deprived the professor of his appoint- 

 ment, and issued an order that he should quit the kingdom in two 

 days. Wolff accordingly, November 3, 1723, left Halle and went to 

 reside at Cassel, where he was kindly received by the landgrave, who 

 conferred on him the title of councillor, and appointed him professor 

 of mathematics and philosophy at Marburg. Here he resided about 

 eighteen years, and during that time he published his metaphysical 

 works. The first and greatest of these is entitled ' Philosophia Ratio- 

 nalis, sive Logica methodo scientific^ pertractata,' 4to, 1728. The 

 others are, 'Psychologia Empirica, &c.,' 4to, 1728; 'Philosophia prima, 

 sive Outologia, &c.,' 4to, 1730 ; ' Cosmologia generalis,' 4to, 1731 ; 

 'Psychologia Rationalis,' 4to, 1734; 'Theologia Naturalis,' 4to, 1737; 

 ' Philosophia Practica Universalis/ 4to, 1738-39 ; and ' Philosophia 

 Moralis, sive Ethica,' 4to, 1732. 



Amidst these labours Wolff found time to write in defence of his 

 doctrines, and by degrees the violence of his antagonists began to 

 abate. Among them there were many who disapproved of the strong 

 measures which had been adopted against him, and there were some 

 who desired his return in the hope of promoting a revival of meta- 

 physical science in Prussia. Frederick the Great, when he ascended 

 the throne, appointed commissioners to examine Wolff's writings and 

 inquire into the cause of his banishment, and the report being favour- 

 able, he was in 1733 invited back to Halle; the invitation was repeated 

 six years afterwards, but it was not till 1741 that it was accepted. 

 Wolff had been, in 1725, appointed an honorary professor of the 

 Academy of St. Petersburg; and in 1733 he was elected a member 

 of the Academic des Sciences at Paris. 



On his return to Halle he was made privy-councillor, vice-chancellor, 

 and professor of international law ; the king afterwards made him 

 Chancellor of the University, and by the elector of Bavaria the dig- 

 nity of a Baron of the Empire was conferred upon him. It is said 

 however that Wolff had the mortification to perceive that his lectures 

 were not well attended ; either age had diminished his powers, or, as 

 is supposed, his numerous writings being in the hands of all the 

 German students, his oral instructions were no longer necessary. 

 Being attacked by gout in the stomach, he died, having borne his 

 sufferings with fortitude and Christian piety, April 9, 1754, in the 

 seventy-sixth year of his age. 



The merit of Wolff consisted in a correct and methodical arrange- 

 ment of the subjects of philosophical science, rather than in discovery. 

 He borrowed freely from his immediate predecessors, Descartes and 

 Leibnitz, aud even from the writers of the Aristotelian school ; and, 

 having an earnest desire to combine utility with truth, he endeavoured 

 to reduce the apparently heterogeneous elements under one system. 

 That he completely succeeded in this difficult task it is too much to 

 say ; entertaining the project of introducing in philosophical investi- 

 gations the precise methods which are employed in mathematics, he 

 appears to have overlooked the want of homogeneity in the elements of 

 the former branch of science, which renders it impossible to arrive at 

 conclusions by purely abstract reasonings. In stating a philosophical 

 proposition which perhaps is self-evident, he often exhibits a tedious 

 demonstration in order that he may show its dependence on some 

 more general theorem which precedes it ; and his developments are 

 remarkable for their extraordinary prolixity. 



