as ordinates and the atomic volumes as abscissae, the curve obtained presents a series of maxima and minima, the most electro-positive elements appearing at the peaks of the curve in the order of their atomic weights. His book on Die modernen Theorien der Chemie, which was first published in Breslau in 1864, contains a discussion of relations between the atomic weights and the properties of the elements. In 1882 he received from the Royal Society, at the same time as D. J. Mendeléeff, the Davy medal in recognition of his work on the Periodic Law. A younger brother, O. E. Meyer, became professor of physics at Breslau in 1864.
MEYER, KONRAD FERDINAND (1825–1898), Swiss poet and
novelist, was born at Zürich on the 11th of October 1825. After
studying law at the university, he went for considerable periods
to Lausanne, Geneva and Paris, and in Italy interested himself
in historical research. In 1875 he settled at Kilchberg near
Zürich, was created in 1880 a doctor philosophiae honoris causa
by that university, and died at Kilchberg on the 28th of November
1898. After Gottfried Keller, Konrad Meyer is the most
important Swiss poet of modern times, though as a novelist he
was perhaps more successful. His poetical works include
Balladen (1867); Romanzen und Bilder (1870); the epic poem,
Huttens letzte Tage (1871); and Gedichte (1882; 20th ed., 1901).
Among his novels must be specially mentioned Jürg Jenatsch
(1876; 20th ed., 1894); Der Schuss von der Kanzel (1878); Der
Heilige (1880; 12th ed., 1894; English by M. von Wendheim,
Thomas à Becket, the Saint, 1885); Die Richterin (1885); Die
Versuchung des Pescara (1887); Angela Borgia (1891). His
shorter stories were collected in two volumes in 1885 (5th ed.,
1892).
See A. Reitler, Konrad Ferdinand Meyer (1885); Lina Frey, K. F. Meyer’s Gedichte und Novellen (1892); K. E. Kranzos, K. F. Meyer (1899); A. Frey, K. F. Meyer (1900); H. Kraeger, K. F. Meyer: Quellen und Wandlungen seiner Gedichte (1901); B. Meyer, K. F. Meyer in der Erinnerung seiner Schwester (1904); Briefwechsel zwischen Luise von François und K. F. Meyer, herausg. von A. Bettelheim (1905); A. Langmesser, K. F. Meyer (1905).
MEYER, [MARIE] PAUL HYACINTHE (1840–), French
philologist, was born in Paris on the 17th of January 1840. He
was educated at the École des Chartes, and in 1863 was attached
to the manuscript department of the Bibliothèque Nationale.
In 1876 he became professor of the languages and literatures of
southern Europe at the Collège de France. In 1882 he was made
director of the École des Chartes, and a year later was nominated
a member of the Academy of Inscriptions. He was one of the
founders of the Revue critique, and a founder and the chief
contributor to Romania (1872). Paul Meyer began with the study
of old Provençal literature, but subsequently did valuable work
in many different departments of romance literature, and ranks
as the chief modern authority on the French language. He is
the author of Rapports sur les documents manuscrits de l’ancienne
littérature de la France conservés dans les bibliothèques de la Grande
Bretagne (1871); Recueil d’anciens textes bas-latins, provençaux et
français (2 parts, 1874–1876); Alexandre le Grand dans la littérature
française du moyen âge (2 vols., 1886). He edited a great
number of old French texts for the Société des anciens textes
français, the Société de l’histoire de France and independently.
Among these may be mentioned Aye d’Avignon (1861), with
Guessard; Flamença (1865); the Histoire of Guillaume le Maréchal
(3 vols., 1892–1902); Raoul de Cambrai (1882), with A. Longnon;
Fragments d’une vie de Saint Thomas de Cantorbéry (1885);
Guillaume de la Barre (1894).
MEYER, VICTOR (1848–1897), German chemist, was born at Berlin on the 8th of September 1848, and studied at Heidelberg University under R. W. Bunsen, H. F. M. Kopp, G. R. Kirchhoff and H. L. F. Helmholtz. At the age of twenty he entered J. F. W. A. Baeyer’s laboratory at Berlin, attacking among other problems that of the composition of camphor. In 1871, on Baeyer’s recommendation, he was engaged by H. von Fehling as his assistant at Stuttgart Polytechnic, but within a year he left to succeed J. Wislicenus at Zürich. There he remained for thirteen years, and it was during this period that he devised his
well-known method for determining vapour densities, and carried out his experiments on the dissociation of the halogens. In 1882, on the death of W. Weith (1844–1881), professor of chemistry at Zürich University, he undertook to continue the lectures on benzene derivatives, and this led him to the discovery of thiophen. In 1885 he was chosen to succeed Hans Hübner (1837–1884) in the professorship of chemistry at Göttingen, where stereo-chemical questions especially engaged his attention; and in 1889, on the resignation of his old master, Bunsen, he was appointed to the chair of chemistry in Heidelberg. He died on the 8th of August 1897. In recognition of his brilliant experimental powers, and his numerous contributions to chemical science, he was awarded the Davy medal by the
Royal Society in 1891.
MEYERBEER, GIACOMO (1791–1863), German composer,
first known as Jakob Meyer Beer, was born at Berlin on the 5th
of September 1791,[1] of a wealthy and talented Jewish family.
His father, Herz Beer, was a banker; his mother, Amalie (née
Wulf), was a woman of high intellectual culture; and two of his
brothers distinguished themselves in astronomy and literature.
He studied the pianoforte, first under Lauska, and afterwards
under Lauska’s master, Clementi. When seven years old he
played Mozart’s Concerto in D Minor in public, and at nine he was
pronounced the best pianist in Berlin. For composition he was
placed under Zelter, and then under Bernard Weber, director of
the Berlin opera, by whom he was introduced to the Abbé Vogler.
Vogler invited him to Darmstadt, and in 1810 received him into
his house, where he formed an intimate friendship with Karl
Maria von Weber, who also took daily lessons in counterpoint,
fugue and extempore organ-playing. At the end of two years
the grand duke appointed Meyerbeer composer to the court. His
first opera, Jephtha’s Gelübde, failed lamentably at Darmstadt
in 1811, and his second, Wirth und Gast (Alimelek), at Vienna in
1814. These checks discouraged him so cruelly that he feared
he had mistaken his vocation. Nevertheless, by advice of Salieri
he determined to study vocalization in Italy, and then to form
a new style. But at Venice he was so captivated by Rossini that,
renouncing all thought of originality, he produced a succession
of seven Italian operas—Romilda e Costanza, Semiramide
riconosciuta, Eduardo e Cristina, Emma di Resburgo, Margherita
d’Anjou, L’Esule di Granata and Il Crociato in Egitto —which all
achieved a success as brilliant as it was unexpected. Against
this act of treason to German art Weber protested most earnestly;
and before long Meyerbeer himself grew tired of his defection.
An invitation to Paris in 1826 led him to review his position
dispassionately, and he came to the conclusion that he was
wasting his powers. For several years he produced nothing in
public; but, in concert with Scribe, he planned his first French
opera, Robert le Diable. This gorgeous spectacle was produced
at the Grand Opera in 1831. It was the first of its race, a grand
romantic opera, with situations more theatrically effective than
any that had been attempted either by Cherubini or Rossini,
and with ballet music such as had never yet been heard, even in
Paris. Its popularity exceeded all expectations; yet for five
years Meyerbeer appeared before the public no more.
His next opera, Les Huguenots, was first performed in 1836. In gorgeous colouring, rhetorical force, consistency of dramatic treatment, and careful accentuation of individual types, it is at least the equal of Robert le Diable. In two points only did its interest fall short of that inspired by the earlier work. Meyerbeer had shown himself so eminently successful in his treatment of the supernatural that one regretted the omission of that element; and, more important still, the fifth act proved to be an anti-climax. The true interest of the drama culminates at the close of the fourth act, when Raoul, leaping from the window to his death, leaves Valentine fainting upon the ground. The opera now usually ends at the fourth act.
After the production of Les Huguenots Meyerbeer spent many years in the preparation of his next greatest works—L’Africaine and Le Prophète. The libretti of both these operas were furnished
- ↑ Or, according to some accounts, 1794.
