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in 1856; and "La Veuve Grossier" at the Bouffes Parisiens in September, 1859. Flotow's manner is distinguished by excessive lightness, constant readiness of invention, and profusion of melody, which is always vocal in its construction, mostly gay, and not rarely catching. In 1854 he was appointed intendant of the theatre at Schwerin.—G. A. M.

FLOTTE, Pierre, a French lawyer and statesman, chancellor of Philip the Fair. He took a conspicuous part in the celebrated dispute between the French king and Pope Boniface, and was in consequence vehemently denounced by that pontiff. It was Flotte who was commissioned by Philip to convey to Rome his answer to the bull, "Ausculte, fili." A violent altercation took place between the pope and the royal messenger, who quitted Rome with a deep resentment against the priests, which he lost no opportunity of gratifying; and the pope, on his part, denounced the chancellor as a new Achitophel, a rancorous heretic, &c. While this contest was pending, Pierre Flotte perished in the disastrous battle of Courtray in 1304.—J. T.

FLOURENS, Marie Jean Pierre, a celebrated French physiologist, member of the French Academy, and secretary of the Academie des Sciences, was born at Maureilhan in Herault in 1794. At an early age he came to Paris from Montpellier, where he had taken his degree of M.D., and in the capital of his country soon formed acquaintance with the most celebrated of her savans. His predilection for physiological research, manifest in his first scientific writings, was confirmed by the success of a course of lectures he delivered at the Athenée in 1821, and of a series of memoirs which, about the same time, he submitted to the Academie des Sciences. In 1828, after having contributed a number of important articles to various scientific journals, he was made a member of this learned body. In the same year he formally undertook the functions of a professor, being invited by Cuvier to deliver the natural history lectures of the session in the college of France. In 1830 he lectured on comparative anatomy at the jardin du roi; two years afterwards was appointed titulary professor of comparative physiology in the museum; and in 1855 professor in the college of France. He was elected secretary of the Academie des Sciences in 1833; member of the French Academy in 1840; and created a peer of France in 1846. M. Flourens has been a most prolific author. The work by which, perhaps, he is most widely known is "A Treatise on the Duration of Human Life, and the Quantity of Life on the Globe," in which he promulgates the doctrine that the natural duration of human life is a hundred years. But his reputation mainly rests on his numerous contributions to physiology. Many of these were collected and republished under the title of "Experimental Researches on the Properties and Functions of the Nervous System in Vertebrate Animals, and Researches on the Development of Bone and of the Teeth." Among his numerous other works, is one on the "General Anatomy of the Skin and Mucous Membranes," in which he endeavoured to demonstrate the physical unity of mankind by anatomical considerations connected with the coloured races. He has written also, and t o good purpose, on phrenology; a history of the labours of Buffon; a history of the circulation of blood, &c. It is a natural consequence of the rapid advances which physiology has made, and is making, that the foremost in the race, but a few years ago, should now be left behind, and his labours too much overlooked. But while Bernard and others now fill the place formerly occupied by Flourens, the name of the latter will always be held in veneration by every true student of animal physiology, and in the world of letters his works will ever occupy a prominent and honourable position.—J. B. C.

FLOYD, John, an English jesuit, was born in Cambridgeshire in 1593, and after some residence on the continent, became a missionary in England. He was allowed to pursue his labours only a few years, and having been banished from England, repaired to France and was appointed one of the tutors of divinity at St. Omer and Louvain. He was living at St. Omer in 1641; but the time of his death is uncertain. Under the names of Daniel à Jesu, Hermannus Lœmelius, and Annosus Fidelis Verimontanus, he wrote many controversial tracts, which were answered by Chillingworth, Crawshaw, and other learned protestants.—J. B. J.

FLOYER, Sir John, an English physician, born in 1649, was a native of Hinters in Staffordshire. He received his education at Oxford, took his degree of doctor of medicine there, practised at Litchfield, and died in 1734, having won for himself the honour of knighthood by the eminence to which he rose in his profession. The principal medical works published by him were—"An Inquiry into the use of Baths;" "The Touchstone of Medicines;" "The Physician's Pulse Watch;" "A Treatise on Asthma;" besides a disquisition on the derangement of the animal humours, and another on the art of preserving health in old age. He published also a translation of the Sibylline oracles, a curious and valuable work. It was by Sir John's advice that Dr. Johnson in his childhood was sent to London to be touched by Queen Anne for the king's evil.—W. B.

FLUDD, Robert, otherwise known as Robertus de Fluctibus, a learned physician and mystical philosopher of England, was born at Milgate in Kent in 1571, or, according to other authorities, in 1574. He studied at Oxford, and afterwards spent several years in travel. Whilst abroad he became acquainted with the writings of Paracelsus, and adopted many of the views of that ill-appreciated thinker. He did not, however, devote himself to the study of alchemy, but sought to systematize the theosophic, cabalistic reveries of the Paracelsian school, an undertaking in which he displayed profound erudition. He aimed at identifying physical with spiritual truth, and finding a complete philosophy in the Hebrew scriptures, especially in the books of Moses.—(See his "Philosophia Mosaica," and "Historia Macro et Micro Cosmi, Metaphysica, Physica, et Technica.") These views involved him in a variety of controversies, especially with Gassendi, Kepler, and Mersenne. He dwelt much upon the real or supposed analogy between the human body and the whole universe, or, in the language of the age, between the microcosm and macrocosm. He was a believer in the four classes of elemental spirits—salamanders, sylphs, undines or nixes, and kobolds—by whom the respective phenomena of fire, air, water, and earth were supposed to be brought forth. At the same time he did not entirely neglect the more practical departments of research. He was alive to the value of experiment, and is supposed to have been the first inventor of the barometer—an honour generally attributed to Toricelli, the pupil of Galileo. He was thus an apt embodiment of the conflicting tendencies of his epoch—a period which, in order to escape from the trammels of Aristotelian scholasticism, pressed forward on the one hand on the track of experimental research, and on the other sought to resuscitate the wildest dreams of the neoplatonists and of the cabbala. Fludd died in 1637.—J. W. S.

FLÜE, Nicolaus von der, commonly called Friar Klaus, a Swiss patriot and saint, was born at Saxeln or Flüelen, in the district of Unterwalden, 21st March, 1417. He served his country as a soldier, a magistrate, and a judge, and in all these capacities was highly respected for the honesty, humanity, and manliness of his character. At the age of fifty he retired to a lonely glen, where, till his death in 1487 or 1488, he led the life of a hermit, and enjoyed the highest veneration from his countrymen. He was said to have partaken for years of no food except the Lord's supper. When in 1481 dissensions broke out in the canton, and the confederation was in danger of being dismembered, he proceeded to the diet held at Hanz, and by his endeavours brought about the celebrated agreement of Hanz, by which the unity and liberty of Switzerland were established on a permanent footing. In 1669 he was canonized by Pope Clement IX.—(See Büsinger, Bruder Klaus und sein Zeitalter, Luzern, 1827.)—K. E.

* FLÜGEL, Gustav Lebrecht, a distinguished German orientalist, was born at Bautzen, February 18, 1802. After having completed his education in the university of Leipsic, he continued the study of the Shemitic languages at Vienna under Hammer Purgstall, and at Paris under De Sacy. In 1832 he was appointed professor at the Meissen gymnasium, but was obliged by a protracted illness to resign this office in 1850. In 1851 he compiled a catalogue of the oriental MSS. in the Vienna library. His opus magnum is his edition of the Arabian Cyclopædia of Hadji-Chalfa, with a Latin translation and commentary, for the Oriental Translation committee. He has also published a history of the Arabs, an edition of the Koran, and various learned treatises on Arabian literature.—K. E.

FLÜGEL, Johann Gottfried, was born at Barby on the Elbe, 22nd November, 1788, and bred to the commercial profession. After having lived for several years in the United States of America, he returned to Germany, and settled as a lecturer at Leipsic, where he was afterwards appointed consul for the United States. He died 24th June, 1855. Besides his well-known