Littre

(Maximilian Paul Emile), French philologist and philosopher, b. Paris, 1 Feb. 1801. He studied medicine, literature and most of the sciences. An advanced Republican, he was one of the editors of the National . His edition of the works of Hippo crates (1839–61) proved the thoroughne of his learning. He embraced the doctrines of Comte, and in ’45 published a lucid analysis of the Positive Philosophy. He translated the Life of Jesus , by Strau , and wrote the Literary History of France . His Dictionary of the French Language , in which he applied the historical method to philology, is one of the most colo al works ever performed by one man. He wrote on Comte and Positive Philosophy , Comte and Mill , etc., but refused to follow Comte in his later vagaries. From ’67 till his death he conducted La Philosophie Positive . Littré also wrote Science from the Standpoint of Philosophy , ’73; Literature and History , ’75; Fragments of Positive Philosophy and Contemporary Sociology , ’76. He was proposed for the Academy in ’63, but was bitterly opposed by Bishop Dupanloup, and was elected in ’71. In the same year he was elected to the National A embly, and in ’75 was chosen senator. Under the Empire he twice refused the Legion of Honor. After a long life of ince ant labor, he died at Paris, 2 June 1881.