were issued after his death (4th ed., 1835), and parts not issued by him appeared 1787. The authorship did not remain hidden, though Leasing tried to lay a false scent by suggesting the name of Johann Lorenz Schmidt, the editor of the Wertheim Bible (see BIBLES, ANNOTATED, I., § 4). The author yeas Herrmann Samuel Reimarus, as is confirmed by his own son, Johann Albert Heinrich Reimarus, who gave to the Hamburg city library the complete work from which the fragments were taken (a letter from the younger Reimarus is published in the Leipziger Litteraturzeitung, 1827, no. 55, in which the authorship is asserted).

Hermann Samuel Reimarus was born at Hamburg Dec. 22, 1694, and died there Mar. 1, 1768. He came of a family of ministers, though his father was a teacher, but one of rare talents, and was himself the oldest son. In his preparatory course he was under such instructors as Johann Christian Wolff; he studied at the universities of Jena and Wittenberg, at the latter of which he taught in the philosophical faculty. In 1723 he became rector of the city school at Wismar, and in 1717 professor of oriental languages in the gymnasium of Hamburg, where he remained in spite of a call to GSttingen to succeed Gesner. Reimarus was held in high honor in his native city, and his house was the gatheringplace of choice spirits. He employed the leisure which his duties left him in the study of one branch of learning after another. His official position entailed upon him the duty of preparing memorials of deceased persons. Outside of these he left but three larger works, which appeared in the earlier portion of hiss life. These were: Die vornehmsten Wahrheiten der naturlichen Religion (Hamburg, 1754); Die Vernunftlehre, als sine Anweisung z um richtigen Gebrawh der Vernunft in der Erkenntnis der Wahrheit (1756); and Allgemeine Betrachtungen fiber die Triebe der Tiere (1760). These appeared in several editions after the death of Reimarus and were translated into Dutch. The philosophical standpoint of Reimarus was essentially that of Wolff, though more radical; the being of God, the divine plan in the world, the annihilation of doubt of the divine providence, the immortality of the soul, the advantages of religion were proved by reason, and so far his attitude was apologetic. He was awake to the fact that in his time many little works had appeared which assailed not only Christianity but all religion and ethics, and his aim was to oppose these and to set forth by the claims of reason the truths of natural religion as well as of Christianity. Hence he named the great work which he left behind "Apology or Defense for the Rational Worshiper of God." In this he subjected the entire Biblical history to the tests of analytical criticism; according to the deistic standpoint of Reimarus, miracle is impossible, so that if the prophets and Jesus and the apostles pretended to work miracles, they were impostors. Such "impurities" he found to be conceivable in the Bible, since it contained much that was at variance with virtue as tested by the laws of nature and of peoples. A psychological explanation of this attitude of Reimarus appears when it is recalled that he was a man highly honored by his contemporaries, and that he held fast to the observances of the

Church, even though he regarded both Judaism and Christianity to have been founded by processes which involved imposture. He recognized that his book would cause unrest, and so did not print it, preferring that it remain concealed, being available for the use of such friends of his as were possessed of discretion. Some parts he had frequently worked over, and had revised the whole shortly before his death; this revised autograph is still extant.

While Lessing went to Hamburg in Apr., 1767, and Reimarus did not die until March of the next year, there is no evidence that the two met; but soon after the death of Reimarus, Leasing became acquainted with the son and daughter of Reimarus. According to a letter of Lessing to the son (in Leasing's Briefe, Nachtrage and Berichtigungen, p. 17, no. 183a, Berlin, 1886), the latter was aware of Lessing's possession of parts of the elder Reimarus' work. These parts were in the author's handwriting, but not in their final shape, though the main thought was in no way different. Permission to publish excerpts was obtained by Leasing only on condition that the name of the author be not divulged. The complete work was carefully guarded by the family and shown to but few-"the community" of friends of ReimA>1,a. In 1779 Leasing was allowed to copy from the final draft the chapters which related to the passage of the Red Sea, in which the results with reference to the numbers differed from what had been published. In 1779 the publisher Ettinger of Gotha was ready to publish the whole work, but the family decisively negatived the proposition, fearing a loss of the good reputation which it enjoyed and the effect upon the health of the mother of the family. The intention to republish portions (Zeitschr(ft fur historische Theologie, 1850-52) failed through lack of interest in the work on the part of the public. (CARL BERTHEAUt.)

Bisraoansrar: An ad. of the " Fragments " as issued by Leasing appeared Berlin, 1895. There is an Eng. transl. of part, Fragments from Reimarua, ad. C. Voysey, London, 1879 (cf. J. Sawyer, A Criticism of . . . C. VovsWs " Fragments from Reimarus," ib. 1880). Consult: the literature under GoEZE, JORAN MELCHIOR; and LEssxxa, GOTTHOLD Eraxelm; D. F. Strauss, Hermann Samuel Reimarua and seine Schutzachrift far die vernanflwen Verehrer Gottes, Leipsic, 1862; J. A. $. Reimari . . . do vita sua commentariua. Additas aunt de vita H. S. Reimari narrationes J. G. Bfachii et C. A. Klotzii, Hamburg, 1815; C. MSnckeberg, Hermann Samuel' Reimarus and Tohann Christian Edelmann, ib. 1867; K. Fischer, Geachichte der neueren Philosophie, ii. 759-772, Heidelberg, 1867; K. C. Scherer, Daa Tier in die Philoaophie des H. S. Reimarus, Wamburg, 1898; B. Brandl, Die Ueberlieferung der " Schutzachrift " des H. S. Reimarua, Pilsen, 1907.

WOLFF, volf, CHRISTIAN, AND THE WOLF

FIAN SCHOOL: German philosopher; b. at

Breslau Jan. 24, 1679; d. at Halle May 9, 1754.

He was educated at the gymnasium in Breslau

and the University of Jena, where he was greatly

attracted to the study of mathematics

Life. by the certainty of its method, which

seemed to him typical for science.

Without entirely giving up the thought of a theo

logical career, he took his master's degree in Leipsic,

then studied philosophy at Jena, and in 1703 estab

lished himself as privat-docent of philosophy at

Leipsic. In 1707 he accepted a call to Halle where

he lectured on mathematics, after 1709 also on