WELLHAUSEN
himself a Eationalist as well as the poet.
In the Literary Guide for July, 1914, there
is quoted a letter of his, written in the
preceding January, in which he speaks of
his "great respect" for the Eationalist
Press Association, and regrets that his
extreme age alone prevents him from
joining it. D. June 6, 1914.
WEBER, Karl Julius, German jurist. B. Apr. 16, 1767. Ed. Erlangen and Gottingen Universities. Weber was trained in law, and occupied a position for some years in French Switzerland. There he adopted the views of the French philosophers and became very anti-clerical. In 1792 he was appointed private secretary to Count von Erbach-Schonberg ; in 1799 Councillor of the Government Chancellory at Konig ; and in 1802 Court Councillor at Isenburg. He returned to Germany after his retire ment, and his satirical pen was freed from the restraint of office. His Moncherei (3 vols., 1818-20) is a drastic attack upon Catholic monks. He wrote also Das Bittcr- wesen (3 vols., 1822-24) and Detitschland (3 vols., 1826-28); but his Eationalism was most liberally expressed in a manu script he left behind entitled Demokritos, oder hintergelassene Papiere eines lachenden Philosophen. It was published in twelve volumes (1832-40). D. July 20, 1832.
WEISMANN, Professor August, M.D., Ph.D., Bot.D., D.C.L., German zoologist. B. Jan. 17, 1834. Ed. Gottingen and Giessen Universities. Weismann was chiefly trained in medicine and zoology. He began to teach at Freiburg University in 1863. In 1867 he was appointed pro fessor of zoology there, and he occupied the chair until he died. He rose to the first position in his science in Germany, and his theory of evolution has carried his name throughout the world. A thorough Eationalist, he at once took up the defence of evolution (Uber die Berechtigung der Darwin schen Theorie, 1868) ; but he restricted the sphere of natural selection, denied the inheritance of acquired charac- 879
teristics, and emphasized the share of
evolution in the germ-plasm (Essays upon
Heredity and Kindred Biological Problems,
Eng. trans., 1889 ; The Germ-plasm, 1893 ;
Vortrage uber Descendenztheorie, 3 vols.,
1902-1913). Professor Weismann was an
Agnostic, but he avoided the subject of
religion, and expresses his view only in
occasional phrases of his works. D. Nov. 6,
1914.
WEITLING, Wilhelm, German Com munist. B. 1808. Weitling was a tailor, and had had a very slender education. He went to Paris, where he adopted Eationalist and Communist views. The remainder of his life was spent in a not very successful attempt to disseminate them. He first tried Switzerland, where he published his Gospel of the Poor Sinner. He was expelled in 1845, and went to the United States. His best work is Humanity as It Is and as It Ought To Be (1845). D. Jan. 25, 1871.
WELLHAUSEN, Julius, historian and orientalist. B. May 17, 1844. Ed. Gottin gen University. Wellhausen was trained in theology, and in 1872 he was appointed professor of theology at Greifswald Univer sity. He resigned, and devoted himself to oriental languages. In 1882 he became extraordinary professor of oriental lan guages at Halle, in 1885 ordinary professor at Marburg, and in 1892 professor at Gottingen. He retired in 1913. Well- hausen s critical works on the Old Testa ment and the history of the Jews (chiefly Geschichte Israels, 1878 ; Israelitische und jiidische Geschichte, 1894 ; and Die kleinen Propheten, 1912) were among the most powerful factors in the triumph of Biblical criticism in the latter part of the nineteenth century. He published an equally impor tant series of works on Arabic literature and religion, which would have sufficed of themselves to give him a commanding position. In his later years Wellhausen applied his critical method to the New Testament, and wrote monographs on Mark (1903), Matthew (1904), and Luke (1904) ;
