716 I M M I M M Dominican order, for their refusal to acquiesce, were for several years excluded from the privileges of the university. In the beginning of the 15th century the famous chancellor, John Gerson, accepted the new dogma, and applied in its favour the well-known doctrine of development. At the council of Basel (in the 36th session, held September 17, 1439) it was defined and declared that the doctrine was con sistent with faith, reason, and Scripture, and therefore to be approved and embraced ; the contrary doctrine was not con demned, but it was forbidden to preach or to teach it. The university of Paris now made subscription to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception a condition for its degrees, and various other universities entered into a solemn compact to use every exertion for its spread, but the controversy was far from having been brought to a close even by the action of Pops Sixtus IV., who in 1483 published a bull threatening with excommunication any one who should accuse of heresy either the advocates or the irnpugners of the doctrine, the point having not yet been decided by the apostolical see. In its fifth session (1546) the council of Trent, after formu lating its decree on the subject of original sin, sought to effect a compromise between Dominicans and Franciscans by appending a declaration that it did not intend that this doctrine should be applied to the blessed and immaculate Virgin Mary, but that the constitutions of Sixtus IV. were still to be observed, In the beginning of the 17th century the field of battle was transferred to Spain, where, under the predominant influence of the Franciscans and Jesuits, medals were struck, pictures painted, statues erected, and persecutions set on foot in honour of the Virgin "sin pe- cado concebida"; and embassies were sent to Rome, both by Philip III. and by Philip IV., to obtain more explicit recognition of the popular doctrine. The popes continued for a long time, however, to maintain their attitude of re serve. Paul V. (1617) forbade all public dispute on the subject, and Gregory XV. (1622) extended the prohibition even to private discussions, except in the case of Dominicans " inter se." But gradually the papal sympathies became in >re pronounced under Jesuit influences ; Clement IX. gave the feast of the Conception an octave ; Clement XL, in 1708, made it a festival " de pracepto " for all Christen dom ; while Benedict XIV. endeavoured to reconcile St Bernard with the more modern tendencies of Roman Catholic theology, by insisting upon subtle distinctions be tween the " conceptio activa " and the " conceptio passiva" of Mary. In the pontificate of Gregory XVI. several pre lates received papal permission to describe her conception as immaculate; and in 1849 Pius IX. was induced to ad dress to his bishops from Gaeta an encyclical, inviting them to state how far the dogmatic definition of the dogma would meet their wishes and the wishes of those under their charge. A large majority declared themselves strongly in favour of the proposal, and the ultimate result was that in December 8, 1854, the pope, in presence of a numerous concourse of cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops assembled in St Peter s, Rome, solemnly promulgated the bull " In- effabilis Deus," by which the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception finally became for the Roman communion an article of faith, the denial of which is accounted to be herosy. 1 The feast of the Immaculate Conception is observed in the Roman Church on December 8. In the Greek Church there is a festival in honour of the conception of St Anne 1 The words are " Auctoritate Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, beatorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, ac Nostra, declaramus, pronuntiamus et detinimus, doctrinam, qute tenet Beatissimam Virginem Mariam in primo instanti suse Conceptions fuisse singular! Omnipotentis Dei gratia et privilegio, intuitu meritorum Christi Jesu, Salvatoris humani gene ris, ah omni originalis culpre lahe praeservatam immunem, esse a Deo revelatam, atque idcirco ab omnibus fidelibus firmiter constanterque credendam. (the mother of Mary), for which Decemlber 9 was fixed by a constitution of the emperor Eminuel Comnenus in the 12th century. Her deliverance from the reproach of sterility is what is celebrated ; there is no reference to anything analogous to the Roman doctrine. It may be re marked that strong expressions as to the absolute purity of Mary are found in the Koran (iii. 37), and still more in later Mahometan writings ; but the Christian doctrine of sin is so utterly foreign to Islam that no precise theological construction of these expressions is possible. IMMERMANN, KAKL LE BERECHT (1796-1840), dra matist and novelist, was born April 24th, 1796, at Magdeburg. From the gymnasium of his native city he passed in 1813 to study law at the university of Hulle, but his career there was interrupted by the commotions consequent upon Napoleon s escape from Elba. Itnmermana was prevented by illness from taking part in the earlier campaign, but he served in the Prussian army in 1815, was present at Ligny and Waterloo, and marched into Paris with Bliicher. He went back to Halle to finish his studies, and held official positions at Oschersleben, Minister, and Magdeburg successively, before he became judge of a district on the Rhine, near Diisseldorf. The attention which his writings had already excited won him a warm welcome from the artistic circle which then made Diissel- dorf famous, and there he spent the rest of his life, dividing his time amongst his judicial duties, his unsuccessful attempt to raise the theatre there to a permanent classic level of art and refinement, and a platonic literary friend ship with the countess of Ahlefeldt. The last, begun at Miinster and terminated only at his marriage with a granddaughter of the chancellor Niemeyer in 1839, ex- ercised a marked influence over his genius. Immermann died at Diisseldorf, August 25, 1840. His dramas are perhaps better suited for the study than for the stage. Though sometimes rough and forbidding, they are marked by considerable insight into character ; the comedies are by no means destitute of comic force. Signs of a close study of Shakespeare are abundant. In his semi-humor ous romances Immermann is at his best, and it is by those that he will be chiefly remembered. His chief works are the following : the tragedies Vale of Ron- ccval, Edwin, Pctrarca, 1822; King Periandcr, 1823; Cardcnio and Cdinde, 1826; Frederick II., 1828; and Ghismonda, 1839; and the comedies Princes of Syracuse, 1821 ; Eye of Love, 1824 ; Dis guises, 1828 ; School of the Pious, 1829. Besides these he wrote the mythical play, Merlin, 1831 ; the trilogy of Alexis, 1832 ; the dramatic poem, The Tragedy in the Tyrol, 1827 ; and the romances Tulifdntchen, 1827, Die Epigoncn, 1836 (perhaps his Lest work), and Miinchhausen, a Story in Arabesques, 1839. He published two volumes of poems (1822 and 1832), and began Tristan and Isolde, 1842. His miscellaneous writings include a translation of Ivanhoe ; On the Mad Ajax of Sophocles, 1826 ; Miscellen, 1830 ; The Hermit s Window, 1822 ; Journal of a Traveller, 1833 ; Memorabilien (unfinished), 1840 ; and Theatertriefe, 1851. The collected works were published in 14 vols. in 1835-43. See Putlitz s Karl Immermann, sein Lebcn und seine Werke, 1870. IMMORTELLE, or EVERLASTING. The immortelle plant belongs to the division Tubuliflorce of the natural family Composite, and is scientifically known as Gnaplia- lium (Helichrysuni) orientate of Linnaeus. It is a native of North Africa, Crete, and the parts of Asia bordering on the Mediterranean ; and it is cultivated in many parts of Europe. It first became known in Europe about the year 1629, and has been cultivated since 1815. In common with several other plants of the same group, known as " everlast ings," the immortelle plant possesses a large involucre of dry scale-like or scarious bracts, which preserve their appearance when dried, provided the plant be gathered in proper condition. The chief supplies of Helichrysuni orientals come from Lower Provence, where it is cultivated in large quantities on the ground sloping to the Mediterranean, in
positions well exposed to the sun, and usually in plots sur-
