RATCLIFFB
RAWLINSON
1869-70 he sat on the extreme left in the
Chambre. He demanded the expulsion of
the Jesuits and the separation of Church
and State. Raspail was at ono time so
distinguished in organic chemistry that he
is often described as one of the founders
of the science in France. In 1833 he won
the Montyon Prize of the Academy of
Sciences (10,000 francs). D. Jan. 7, 1878. j
RATCLIFFE, Samuel Kerkham,
journalist and lecturer. B. 1868. Mr. j Ratcliffe is one of the regular lecturers for j the Ethical Societies at London. He ! edited the Echo in 1900, and from 1903 to 1906 he was acting-editor of the Calcutta Statesman. At one time secretary of the Sociological Society, he now spends a con siderable part of each year lecturing on | sociological subjects in America, and is London representative of the New York New Republic. He contributed a chapter to the Ethical symposium, A Generation of Religious Progress (1916). Mr. Ratcliffe concludes that "the very revival of super stition and the manufacture of new creeds are evidence of profound dissatisfaction with the established orthodoxies, and of the determination of the human spirit to find a satisfying means of expression for the craving after reality " (p. 109).
RAU, Albrecht, German writer. B. Nov. 19, 1843. In his earlier years Rau was a student of, and writer on, chemistry. In middle life he became more interested in philosophy and psychology, and pub lished a number of outspoken Rationalist [ works (Ludwig Feuerbach s Philosophic, \ 1882 ; Die Ethik Jesu, 1899 ; Der moderne Panpsychismus, 1901 ; Das Wesen des menschlichen Verstandes und Beivusstsein s, 1910 ; etc.). He was one of the founders of the Monist League.
RAWLINSON, Major-General Sir Henry Creswicke, baronet, K.C.B., F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D., Assyriologist. B. Apr. 11, 1810. Ed. Wrington and Baling. He secured a cadetship in the East India
637
Company s service, and, going out to the
East, distinguished himself by his rapid
mastery of the Hindu and Persian
languages. From 1833 to 1839 he was
employed in Persia, where he reorganized
the army. He returned to India, and was
appointed assistant to Sir W. Macnaghten
in Afghanistan, and in the following year
political agent at Kandahar. For his
services in the Afghan War he was made
Commander of the Bath (1814), and he
received the Persian Order of the Lion and
the Sun and the Durrani Order. This
closed the military part of his career, the
remainder of his life being devoted to
oriental studies. He was appointed Consul
at Baghdad, and in the course of 1844-46
he discovered the key to the Cuneiform
script and opened Assyrian literature to the
world. He was created K.C.B. and nomi
nated Crown Director of the East India
Company in 1856, minister plenipotentiary
to Persia in 1859, member of the India
Council in 1868, Trustee of the British
Museum in 1876, and baronet in 1891.
In 1858-59 and from 1865 to 1868 Sir
Henry sat in the House of Commons. He
had the Prussian Order Pour le Merite
and numerous decorations, and belonged
to a large number of learned bodies.
From 1878 to 1881 he was President of
the Royal Asiatic Society, and in 1871-72
and 1874-75 of the Royal Geographical
Society. As Sir Henry s biography was
written by an ecclesiastic (his brother,
Canon Rawlinson), his Rationalist views
are not obtruded on the reader ; but the
Canon does not attempt to misrepresent
them. He diplomatically says : " Not
committed to the daily performance of
those religious acts and practices which to
many are the essentials of an upright life,
he held the broad view of doing good
because it was good ; because it was for the
benefit of human creatures generally, and
at the same time for the glorification of
the Creator his views were the reverse
of dogmatic" (A Memoir of Major-General Sir H. C. Rawlinson, 1898, p. 303). In short, he was a non-Christian Theist who
638
