BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX 



learned thinker of his age. Originated the 

 atomic system, which assumed matter to be com- 

 posed of indivisible atoms whose motion is de- 

 rived entirely from themselves. From the com- 

 bination made by the motion the whole of Na- 

 ture is created. There is law in Nature, but no 

 design. Upon his philosophy epicureanism was 

 founded. 



Descartes, Rene, ii, 193. Born at La Haye, 

 1596; died at Stockholm, 1650. French philoso- 

 pher, the "father of modern philosophy." Edu- 

 cated by the Jesuits, he became dissatisfied with 

 scholasticism, and resolved to free his mind from 

 all he had learned in order to get at truth. Be- 

 came a soldier and finally settled in Holland, 

 where he wrote his books, taught, and became 

 involved in many disputes with theologians. The 

 principles of his systems were published in his 

 "Discourse de la Methode," 1637, in which he 

 finds absolute truth only in those thoughts and 

 ideas which are as distinct and clear as is his 

 self-consciousness. With this system he revolu- 

 tionized all methods of thought and logic. He 

 also wrote a geometry which puts him among 

 the leading mathematicians of his age. In 1649 

 he was called to Stockholm by Queen Christina 

 and shortly after died there. 



Desmoulins, Louis Antoine, iv, 249. Born at 

 Rouen, 1794; died at Rouen, 1828. French nat- 

 uralist and anatomist. Studied and practiced in 

 Paris, where he made a special study of anatomy 

 and the physiology of the nerve centers. He was 

 a severe critic of Cuvier. 



Dewar, Sir James, v, 39. Born at Kincardine- 

 on-Forth, Scotland, 1842. Scottish chemist. 



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