Lexicographer and philosopher; born Paris, France, 1801; died there, 1881. His medical studies having been interrupted by his father's death, he embraced a literary career. After 1840 he became a disciple of Comte and wrote several works on Positivist philosophy. He was elected to the Academy, 1871. Translated the works of Hippocrates. Wrote a series of articles on comparative philology and the study of languages. His most important work was his immense Dictionnaire de la langue francaise, and perhaps his most interesting a translation of Book I of the Iliad, in verse and in the French language of the 13th century. Always opposed to the bitter attacks on the Church, towards the end of his life he was baptized a Catholic.