DENTON
DB SANCTIS
his writings on political economy and
sociology. D. May 12, 1913.
DENTON, William F., American writer. B. (England) Jan. 8, 1823. He emigrated to America in 1848 and became a popular lecturer and writer on Eationalism, tem perance, and science. His chief works are Poems for Reformers (1856), Radical Discourses on Religious Subjects (1872), and Radical Rhymes (1879). D. Aug. 26, 1883.
DE PAEPE, Cesar, M.D., Belgian sociologist. B. July 12, 1842. Ed. Brussels. While still at the university he began to contribute democratic and nationalist arti cles to the Tribune du Peuple. He took to printing, then qualified in and practised medicine. Dr. De Paepe was one of the founders of the Internationale and of the International Freethought Federation, and a leader of the Belgian Socialists and Free thinkers. A biographical sketch is prefixed to his chief work, Les services publics (2 vols., 1895). D. 1890.
DE POTTER, Agathon Louis, Belgian sociologist, son of the following. B. Nov. 11, 1827. He worked with Baron Colins [SEE] in advocating "rational Socialism," and in 1875 founded La Philosophic de I Avenir for its propagation. He wrote Economic Sociale (2 vols., 1874) and other works, and contributed to the Belgian, French, and Spanish Eationalist periodicals.
DE POTTER, Louis Joseph Antoine,
Belgian politician. B. Apr. 26, 1786. Ed. Bruges and Brussels. He began to write anti-clerical works in 1816, and in 1830 he was a member of the Provisional Govern ment of Belgium. He was a Deist, of noble family, and one of the most powerful of the early Liberals. In later years he adopted "rational Socialism," and his zeal for social work has left "an imperishable name" in the annals of Belgium (Biog. Nationale de Belgique). His chief Deistic work is Histoire pliilosophique, politique, et 207
critique du Christianisme (8 vols., 1836-37).
D. July 2, 1859.
DERAISMES, Maria, French writer. B. Aug. 15, 1835. Ed. Paris. She started her literary career in 1861 with a collection of dramatic sketches. In 1866 she began to take an active part in feminist contro versy, and is regarded as one of the founders of the movement in France. She opened the first French Women s Congress (1878), and was President of the Society for the Improvement of the Condition of Women. Mile. Deraismes was an active Rationalist. She was the first w y oman Freemason of France (Pesq Lodge of Freethinkers), and president of various Freethought societies. She presided, with V. Schoelcher, at the Anti-Clerical Congress at Paris in 1881. D. Feb. 6, 1894.
D ERCOLE, Professor Pasquale, Italian philosopher. B. Dec. 28, 1831. Ed. Venosa, Molpetta, Naples, and Berlin. In 1863 he was appointed professor of philo sophy at Pavia, and later at Turin Univer sity. Professor D Ercole, who has written much on philosophy and religion, called himself a " Philosophic Christian Theist." He was rather an Hegelian Pantheist, with no belief in Christian doctrines or personal immortality.
DE SANCTIS, Professor Francesco,
Italian literary critic. B. 1818. Ed. privately and at Naples Military Academy. He opened a school at Naples, and was in 1848 appointed by the Revolutionaries General Secretary of Public Instruction. At the restoration he suffered three years imprisonment. He was appointed professor of aesthetics and Italian literature at Zurich in 1856, Minister of Public Instruction in the new kingdom of Italy in 1860, professor at Naples University in 1871, and again Minister of Public Instruction in 1879. De Sanctis, who became the leading literary critic of Italy, seems to have been as strongly disliked by the Positivists as by the Clericals. B. Croce, who warmly 208
