Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/491

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WYEOUBOFF


YOUMANS


Dumas in the chair of organic chemistry in 1852, and took the chair of medical chemistry at the Faculty of Medicine in 1853. From 1866 to 1875 he was Dean of the Faculty, and in the latter year he was chosen professor of organic chemistry to the Faculty of Sciences. He was admitted to the Academy of Medicine in 1856, and the Academy of Sciences in 1867. Wurtz was one of the greatest organic chemists of his time, and the apostle of the atomic theory in France. He made many discoveries, and wrote works of high authority. In 1881 he was made a Life Senator, and he took his seat among the moderate anti-clericals. D. May 12, 1884.

WYROUBOFF, Count Grigorio Nicolaievich, Eussian physicist and socio logist. B. Nov. 12, 1842. Ed. Italy, Lycee Bonaparte, Paris, Alexander Lyceum, St. Petersburg, Medical School, St. Peters burg, and Moscow University. In the course of his brilliant and thorough academic course Wyrouboff was converted to Positivism by a French professor. He spent some time completing his education in the German universities, and settled in Paris in 1864. He wrote at that time on chemistry and mineralogy, and was heatedly attacked by the organ of the orthodox Eussians in Paris, The Christian Union. He replied in his Religion devant la science (1865). In collaboration with Littre, he answered J. S. Mill s criticisms of Comte (Stuart Mill et la j)hilosophie positive, 1867), and founded and edited La Philosophic Positive (at first with Littre, later with Eobin). He was naturalized in France in 1888. Wyrouboff is not a slavish follower of Comte, and he emphasized the Agnostic side of Positivism. He has written a number of works on physics and chemistry (notably his Manuel de cristallographie, 1889), and in 1904 he was appointed pro fessor of the history of science at the College de France.

XIMENES, the Marquis Augustin Louis, French poet. B. Feb. 26, 1726. 909


Ximenes was the son of the Marshal Ximenes, whose father had taken service in the French army. He himself took up military service, but he abandoned the army for letters. He wrote a number of unsuccessful tragedies and a great quantity of verse (collected in his (Euvres, 1772). He was an ardent admirer of Voltaire, and he wrote several works against Eousseau (or lent his name to works written by Voltaire) in the quarrel of the two great Eationalists. D. May 31, 1817.

YEARSLEY, PerciYal Macleod,

F.E.C.S., surgeon. B. 1867. Ed. Merchant Taylors School, and Westminster and London Hospitals. Mr. Yearsley is con sulting aural surgeon to the Eed Cross Hospital, Harrow, and to the Jews Deaf and Dumb Home ; otologist to the L.C.C. Deaf Schools ; and lecturer and examiner to the Training Colleges for Teachers of the Deaf. He is Chairman of the Medical Publications Committee, and member of the Executive Committee, of the National Bureau for the Welfare of the Deaf ; also member of the Child Study Society, the Volta Bureau, and the Central Health Committee for London. He has written a number of surgical works, and translated Forel s Sensations des insectes. He is a member of the E. P. A.

YOUMANS, Edward Livingston, M.D., American chemist and educationist. B. June 3, 1821. Ed. common schools, Saratoga County. Youmans was a very assiduous reader as a boy, but at the age of thirteen he had ophthalmia and was blind for several years. During these years he contrived to continue his studies, especially in chemistry and physics, and he invented a machine for writing. In

1851 he constructed a chemical chart which was of great use in agricultural chemistry. He studied medicine also, and graduated at Vermont University. From

1852 to 1869 he lectured on science in connection with the lyceum system, and he was one of the first lecturers and writers

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