POUCHET
POULTIEE D ELMOTTE
Louvain University. In 1849 he founded
and edited La Belgique Democratique, and
from 1863 onward he gave public lectures
at Brussels on Belgian and foreign litera
ture. In 1869 he established the Revue de
Belgique, and edited it until 1874, when
he was appointed professor of the history
of literature at the Military Museum,
Brussels. He was admitted to the
Belgian Academy in 1881, and in 1883
he became Curator of the Wiertz Museum.
Potvin was one of the courageous workers
with Victor Hugo in the stormy days.
Between 1838 and 1862 he published
twelve volumes of poems and songs of a
fiery democratic and anti-clerical nature.
He was a fine lyrist, and a learned student
of old French literature. His more out
spoken Eationalist works were published
under the name " Dom Jacobus," and from
1873 to 1883 he was President of the
Brussels Libre. Pensee. D. 1902.
POUCHET, Professor Felix Archimede,
M.D., French natural historian. B. Aug. 26, 1800. Ed. Eouen and Paris. After graduating in medicine in 1827, Pouchet devoted his attention to the study of science, and in 1828 he was appointed Director of the Eouen Natural History Society. In 1838 he became professor at the School of Medicine. He was a Corre sponding Member of the Paris Academy of Sciences, and he made many valuable con tributions to microscopic science. He is said to have spent one half of his life at the microscope. His best work is L Univers (1865) ; but he is chiefly remem bered for his spirited championship of spontaneous generation against Pasteur and others (Traite de la generation spon- tanee, 1852, etc.). His philosophy was Materialistic. D, Dec. 6, 1872.
POUCHET, Professor Henri Charles Georges, M.D., Sc.D., son of preceding, French anatomist. B. Feb. 24, 1833. Ed. Eouen, Paris, and (under Sir Eichard Owen) London. In 1865 Pouchet was appointed assistant naturalist at the Paris G17
Museum, and in 1870 he became General
Secretary of the Prefecture of Police. He
was a good anthropologist, but the appoint
ment was largely political, as he was a
strong republican. He returned to science,
and in 1875 he succeeded Paul Bert at the
University, and lectured at the Ecole
Normale Sup6rieure. In 1879 he was
nominated professor of comparative
anatomy at the Museum. He was ad
mitted to the Legion of Honour in 1880.
Pouchet wrote a number of biological and
anthropological works (De la plurality des
races humaines, 1858; Precis d histologie
humaine, 1863, etc.), and contributed to the
Revue des deux Mondes, the Philosophic
Positive, and other periodicals. D.
Mar. 29, 1894.
POUGENS, Marie Charles Joseph de,
French writer and archaeologist. B. Aug. 15, 1755. Pougens, who was believed to be a natural son of the Prince de Conti, was extraordinarily precocious ; but in the course of his studies of art and diplomacy in Italy he lost his sight, at the age of twenty-four, through a bad attack of small pox. He was not entirely excluded from public life, since it was he who negotiated the commercial treaty with England in 1786. He devoted his time mainly to letters and philosophy, however, and shared the views and the society of the Encyclo paedists. In 1886 he published Recreations de philosophic et de morale. The Eevolution deprived him of his fortune, but he became a prosperous bookseller and publisher. He married a niece of the English Admiral Boscawen. His Lettres Philosophiques (1825) and Memoires et Souvenirs (1834) are full of interesting information about the great Eationalists of the eighteenth century. Mar6chal includes Pougens in his Dictionnaire des Athees. D. Dec. 19, 1833.
POULTIER D ELMOTTE, Francois
Martin, French writer. B. Dec. 31, 1753.
After a varied career as soldier, clerk, and
opera-singer, Poultier d Elmotte became a
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