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VOLTAIC BATTERY 251 VOLTAIRE 1815 was made director of the philosophi- cal faculty of Padua. Volta's name is COUNT ALESSANDRO VOLTA perpetuated in a large number of elec- trical terms. He died in Como, March 5, 1827. VOLTAIC BATTERY, a term some- times applied to a Voltaic pile, but more specifically used for a battery of several voltaic cells; known also as a galvanic battery (from Galvani), though the honor properly belongs to Volta. See Electricity; Volta. VOLTAIC PILE, Volta's arrangement for producing a current of electricity, consisting of a pile of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals, as copper and zinc, zinc and silver, zinc and platinum, separated by pieces of flannel or paste- board moistened with salt water or with water acidulated with sulphuric acid. VOLTAIRE, the assumed name of Francois Marie Arouet, a French poet, historian and philosopher; born in Chatenay, near Paris, in 1694. He was educated by the Jesuits at the College of Louis le Grand, and already showed so clearly the characteristics which marked him through life, that one of his teachers foretold his eminence as the "Coryphee du Ddisme." He was early introduced at the Salon of Ninon de I'Enclos, and be- came familiar with some of the most distinguished persons of the time. Ninon, pleased with his remarkable in- telligence and liveliness, left him a legacy of 2,000 francs, to buy books. His father's ambition was that he should be- come, not author, but lawyer and judge; and to break off his associations in Paris, sent him away in 1713, as page to the Marquis de Chateauneuf, ambassador to Holland. He was soon sent home, how- ever, after getting into trouble about a love affair, and was next placed with a lawyer. Quickly and finally escaping this attempt to tame and train him for official life, he soon appeared in Paris again, and from that time he pursued his course as a literary man. In 1716 he was committed to the Bas- tille, on suspicion of being the author of a satirical poem on Louis XIV., and re- mained there a year. His first literary work of mark was the tragedy of "CEdipe," which, with much difficulty, he got represented in 1718. During a visit to Brussels in 1721, he was introduced to Rosseau, but this interview made enemies of them forever. He was sent to the Bastille a second time, in conse- quence of a quarrel at the Duke de Sully's house, and after his release, spent three years in England, where the prev- alence of free-thinking made an atmos- phere congenial to him. Here, in 1728, he published his celebrated epic poem, "La Henriade," under the title of "La Ligue," and applied himself to other literary labors. He rose speedily to the summit of renown as an epic poet; was courted in all the higher circles; and when he returned to France, he found VOLTAIRE himself a sort of national idol among the French. After the publication of several plans, he retired, about 1735, to Chateau de Cirey, near Vassy, in Champagne, be-