DELAMBEE
DELCASSE
President of the Zoological Society of
France (1900), and corresponding member
of many learned bodies. In 1916 he was
awarded the Darwin Medal. He edits the
Annie Biologique, and has written many
valuable works. Delage is an enemy of
all obscurantism. In L Heredite (1903,
p. 432), after enumerating the theories of
the soul of spiritual philosophers like Plato
and Augustine, he drily adds : " We find
an analogous idea among many savages."
DELAMBRE, Jean Baptiste Joseph,
French astronomer. B. Sep. 19, 1749. Ed. College d Amiens and College du Plessis, Paris. From 1771 he devoted himself to letters and astronomy, earning a slender living as a tutor. He was the first to draw up the tables of Uranus (1781), and won the prize of the Academy of Sciences. In 1795 he became a member of the Bureau of Longitude, and he conducted the cele brated measurements for the settlement of the metre. He was secretary of the Institut, professor of astronomy at the College de France (1807), and Treasurer of the University. He was the friend and pupil of Lalande, whose Eationalism he shared, and one of the most eminent astro nomers of the time. D. Aug. 19, 1822.
DELAYIGNE, Jean Francois Casimir,
French poet. B. Apr. 4, 1793. Ed. Lycee Napoleon, Paris. He displayed poetical talent while still at school, and in 1815 he won the Academy prize. In 1818 he pub lished his Messeniennes, and in 1819 his drama Les Vepres Siciliennes, both of which were directed against the royalist- clerical reaction. He exulted in the 1830 Eevolution, and composed a hymn, La Parisienne, which for a time rivalled the Marseillaise. Delavigne was one of the first lyric poets of France in his time, and he shared with Beranger the inspiration of the people against clericalism. D. Dec. 11, 1843.
DELB(EUF, Professor Joseph Remi,
D. es L., D. es Sc., Ph.D., Belgian philo- 203
sopher. B. Sep. 30, 1831. Ed. Liege and
Bonn. In 1860 he became a teacher at
Liege, in 1863 professor at Ghent Uni
versity, and in 1866 professor of classical
philology at the Liege University. His
many works on psychology and philosophy
are of the psycho-physiological school.
Baldwin classes him as a Positivist. D,
Aug. 13, 1896.
DELBOS, Professor Etienne Marie Justin Victor, D. es L., French philo sopher. B. Sep. 26, 1862. Ed. College de Figeac, Lycee Louis le Grand, and Ecole Norm ale Superieure, Paris. He was pro fessor of philosophy successively at Limoges, Toulouse, and Paris. Delbos was a Eationalist of the spiritual school, and a. great admirer of Spinoza (Le Spinozisme, 1916). D. June 16, 1916.
DELBOS, Leon, French writer. B. Sep. 20, 1849. Ed. Lycee Charlemagne, Paris. He served in the Franco-German war, and afterwards devoted himself to letters and the propagation of Eationalism. In 1879 he published L Athce, a Eation alist novel, and in 1885 he wrote, in English, The Faith in Jesus not a New Faith. He is a fine linguist and a member of the Academy. Delbos was an early contributor to the Agnostic Annual.
DELCASSE, Theophile, French states man. B. Mar. 1, 1852. He adopted political journalism, especially in the field of foreign affairs, and quickly earned dis tinction when he was returned to the Chambre in 1889. He was Under-Secre- tary for the Colonies in 1893, Minister for the Colonies in 1894-95, Minister of Foreign Affairs 1898-1905, and Minister of Marine 1905-13 and 1914-15. During 1913-14 he was Ambassador at Petrograd. Delcasse is a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and he holds the highest Orders of Eussia, Denmark, Belgium, Japan, China, etc. He is a strong Eationalist, and stoutly supported the Government s action against the Church. It would be difficult to name- 204
