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Show TODAY IN HISTORY I MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 1910. ( Birthday of John Locke. Today Is tho birthday of the eminent English philosopher, John Locke, whose wonderful "Essay on the Human Understanding" Under-standing" was tho first work which attracted at-tracted attention in England to metaphysical meta-physical speculation. The chiof purpoiio of this "essay" was to find the original sources nnd Bcope of human knowledge. Tho conclusions ho arrived ut in this study were that there Is no ouch thing as an "Innate Idea," that the human mind is a 3heut of white paper, prepared to be written upon; that tho knowledge thereon written is supplied by experience, and that "sensation" and "reflection" aro tho two sources of all our Ideas. I John Locko was born In im atmosphere of Puritanism, but his whole life was a battle against the enemies of freedom In worship and freedom from every unnecessary unnec-essary political restraint. Wrlngton. .England, and 1632, was the place and tho date of his birth, and Oates, England. October 128, 1704, the placo and date of his death. His father was a captain In tho Parliamentary army, and fought for tho principles of the Puritans. John was reared In this environment, but he was at school while the contest raged. He was educated at Christ Church college. Oxford, and was a student for many years through the necessity of the times when he would have preferred a broader acquaintance with men of action. When a young man he gained the favor of Lord Ashley, afterward Earl of Shaftesbury- Locke was the first who correctly diagnosed this gentleman's trouble trou-ble for he had studied medicine for a considerable time which wa.s duo to an nbscess In the chest, and the operation that Locke recommended is supposed to have saved Lord Ashley's life. Tho result was a close and permanent friendship between be-tween the two men. Locke lived at Ashley's Ash-ley's house In London, and met there the most listingulslied characters 01 me timo. Ho superintended tho education of the nobleman's son and grandson. At the bidding of Ashley. Jjocke drew up tho fundamental laws of Carolina, in America, which had been granted to his patron nnd seven others, and It Is noteworthy note-worthy that the philosopher, while Incorporating Incor-porating in his scheme of government the complete religious tolerance which he advocated, ad-vocated, was careful to preserve tho principles of aristocracy and monarchy. Locke was a very practical man. Lord Ashley became the Earl of Shaftesbury and lord chancellor, and I Locke was appointed to a place In the I government. Afterward, when Shaftes-I Shaftes-I bury was charged with high treason and took refuge In Holland, many devices were employed to obtain from Locke an expression of sympathy with tho exiled noblemnn or of criticism of the government, govern-ment, but tho philosopher was too wary to be thus entrapped. Later, he followed Shaftesbury to Holland, Hol-land, and while he was there an offort was made to Identify him with the project pro-ject of the invasion of England by the Duke of Monmouth, but It was unsuccessful. unsuccess-ful. He was wise enough, however, to discern tho elements of success in tho revolution of lfiS8, and he cast In his fortunes for-tunes with Wllllnm of Orange and returned re-turned to England. Ho spent lHs last years In studious leisure. The work for which Locke is most widely known Is the "Essay on tho Human Hu-man Understanding." He made the first sketch of It in 1670. when he was 38 years old. and finished it seventeen years later. It was published In 1G00. It was suggested in a discussion with fivo or six friends at Oxford, when the question arose as to what subjects our 'understandings 'under-standings are or arc not fitted lo deal with. The object of the comploted "essay," which was the product of meditation continued through many years, was to Inquire Into the origin, certaintv and ex tent of human knowledge. The theory is developed that our natural faculties are capable of forming every notion that we possess: that the action of these faculties takes Its rise from experience, and that the mind may, therefore, bo compared to a sheet of white paper void of all characters till the events of timo Inscribe them. The book was bitterly attacked, and the celebrity of Its author as a friend of civil and religious liberty, with the attempts at-tempts mado at Oxford to prevent the students from reading the work, gave it an Immediate and extensive success. On August 2D. lfifil. New Amsterdam surrendered to the English and became New York. It Is the blrthdav of John Henry Lambert, the German philosopher (1726): Richard Rush, seeretnrv of the treasury under J. Q. Adams (1780); William Wil-liam G. Brownlow. "The Fighting Parson" Par-son" (1S05); Oliver-Wendell Holmes, poet and author (1S00); Joseph E. MacDonald statesman, known as "Old Saddle Bags" (1S1.0); Georgo F. Hoar, the Massachusetts Massachu-setts statesman (182G). George W. Mc-Crary, Mc-Crary, secretary of war under Haves, and David Bennett Hill, the New York politician poli-tician (1813). It is the date of the beheading be-heading of John the Baptist, 30 .V. D-, and of the death of Edmund Hoyle, author au-thor of the book of games (1769); Joseph Wright, the historical painter (1707), and Brigham Young, the Mormon leader (1877). . ' |
