The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Klotz, Christian Adolf

KLOTZ, klōts, Christian Adolf, German critic and Latin scholar: b. Bishopswerda, 13 Nov. 1738; d. Halle, 31 Dec. 1771. He studied at Leipzig and Jena; became professor of philosophy at Göttingen 1763; and professor of oratory at Halle 1765. He proved himself expert in philology through his Latin poems (collected in ‘Opuscula poetica,’ 1766); ‘Der Ausgabe des Tyrtäoa,’ (1764); numerous treatises such as ‘Opuscula varii argumenti’ (1766); ‘Opuscula philologica et oratoria’ (1772). He got into controversy with the Algemeinen Biblothek, to which he had contributed, and by his ‘Ueber den Nützen und gebrauch der alten geschnittenen Steine’ (1768), criticizing Lessing's ‘Laokoon,’ he brought forth that poet's response in the ‘Briefe antiquarischen Inhalts’ (1768-69). His disputes were carried on in Acta Literaria and Deutschen Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften (1767-72); ‘Genius Saeculi’ (1760) had a satirical purpose, as also had his ‘Mores Eruditorum’ and ‘Opuscula Latina’ (1760). Consult Hausen, ‘Leben und Charakter Herrn Klotz’ (Halle 1772); Hagen, ‘Briefe deutschen gelehrten an Klotz’ (1773); Sandys, ‘A History of Classical Scholarship’ (Cambridge 1903-08).