Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/281

This page needs to be proofread.

MASAEYK


MASSEY


remainder of his life in London. He was foreign correspondent of various American journals, and was engaged in his chief work, Das Kapital (3 vols., 1867, 1885, and 1894). From London he organized the International, and helped to found the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Like all the other German Socialist leaders, he had no religion. D. Mar. 14, 1883.

MASARYK, Professor Tomas Gar- rigue, Bohemian writer. B. Mar. 7, 1850. Ed. Vienna and Leipzig Universities. In 1879 he was appointed teacher of philo sophy at Vienna University, and in 1882 professor at the Tchek University at Prague. For some years he led the Young Tcheks in the Austrian Parliament, and in 1900 he founded the Tchek Volks- Partei. Professor Masaryk is an Agnostic and an ardent humanitarian. He trans lated Hume s Inquiry into Tchek, and has written Grundziige einer Konkreten Logik (1887), Die Ideale der Humanitat (1902), and other works in German and Bohemian. He stresses the ethical element of life.

MASCAGNI, Pietro, Italian composer. B. Dec. 7, 1863. Ed. Milan Conservatory. In his early years Mascagni was the director of a touring opera company, and then of the municipal musical service at Cerignola. His first opera, In Filanda (1881), was not successful, but his Caval- leria Rusticana (1890) made his fame throughout the world. From 1895 to 1903 he was Director of the Eossini Con servatory at Pesaro, and later of the Scuola Musicale Nazionale at Home. Mascagni is thoroughly pagan, even in his Church music. See G. Bastianelli s Pietro Mascagni (1910).

MASCI, Professor Filippo, Italian philosopher. B. Sep. 29, 1844. Masci was a professor, at Naples University, of the evolutionary Monistic School. He held that matter and spirit are two aspects of one evolving reality (see his Psicologia religiosa, 1886 ; Elementi filosofici, 1899, 489


and especially an article in the Atti of the Neapolitan Keale Accademia,, 1909, vol. xxxiii, on " II materialismo storico ") He was a Commander of the Crown of Italy, Eector of Naples University, Secre tary of the Eoyal Society of Naples, and member of the Council of Higher Educa tion. D. 1901.

MASON, Sir Josiah, philanthropist. B. Feb. 23, 1795. Mason began at the age of eight to earn his living by hawking food on the streets. After trying various trades, he was in 1824 appointed manager of a key-ring works, and he invented a machine for making the rings. He after wards took to the manufacture of pens and electro-plating, and he made a fortune of more than 500,000. The greater part of this was spent in charity, especially in building orphanages and alms-houses. He spent 250,000 on a beautiful orphanage, and 180,000 on a College of Science (now incorporated in Birmingham University). He was knighted in 1872. His biographer, J. T. Bunce, says that he described himself as " not a religious man according to the views of sect or party " (Josiah Mason, 1882, p. 72). He was a Theist, but he forbade the teaching of the catechism in his institutions, as " the dogmatic and ecclesiastical aspects of religion were repug nant to him " (p. 163). D. June 16, 1881.

MASSENET, Jules Emile Frederic,

French composer. B. May 12, 1842. Ed. Paris Conservatoire. He won the Prix de Borne in 1862, and perfected his education in Italy. In 1878 he was elected to the Academie des Beaux Arts and appointed professor of advanced composition at the Conservatoire. Some of his oratorios (such as Marie Madeleine, 1873) and operas are plainly Eationalistic, but his sentiments are best seen in the last chapter of his reminiscences (Mes Souvenirs, 1912). D. Aug. 13, 1912.

MASSEY, Gerald, poet. B. May 29, 1828. Massey was the son of a canal 490