Fouquet, JEAN-FRANgois, a French Jesuit, was sent as a missionary to Central Asia in the early part of the 18th century. He made himself acquainted with the language, idioms, and the theogony of the Celes- tial Empire, and was struck with their points of resem- blance not only to Christian doctrine, but especially to the prophecies contained in the holy Scrijitures. According to him, the Chou-King (sacred book of Confucius) is only a paraphrase of Genesis, and the praises addressed to Wen-wang and to Tcheou-Koung in the Chi-King are only hymns in honor of the Jles- siah. One can see liow much this ingenious interpre- tation would aid in proselyting the Chinese, who thus had only to change the names of their deities to claim priority in holding the doctrines of revelation over Christians themselves. Strict theologians attacked his opinions and censured his means of conversion ;
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nevertheless, on his return to Eome in 1720, pope Clem- ent XI made liim bishop of Eleutheropolis. He was rocommended by the Academy of Inscriptions as the only person capable of criticisinf^ Fourmont's Chinese Grammar. His Tabula Chrunologica kistorue iSinica;, 17£y (on 3 sheets), contains a list of the Chinese mon- archs, and the chief events of their reign, and a com- plete series of the Nianluio, or names of j'ears (new edi- tion bj- Seutter, Augsburg, 1740). He wrote also a let- ter to the duke de La Force, and inserted in toni. v of Lettres klijiantes, which furnishes curious details in re- gard to the Chinese army and tlie bonzes. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Ghierale, xviii, 3o2. (J. S. M.)
Fourier, Francois Charles Marie, a philo- sopliical socialist, was born at Besanron April 7, 177"2. His father designed him for trade, but he never took to it willingly. In 179G he entered the F^rench armj', but in 1798 he left it and entered a mercantile liouse at Marseilles. His mind seems to have been turned about this time to social questions by tlie scarcitj' of food and the terrible suft'erings of the poor. The relations of capital to labor, and similar social prob- lems, occupied his mind intensely for several years, and in 1808 he issued his first book, entitled Theoiie des Quatre Mouvemcnts et des Desthices Gmirahs. "It is the strangest, most mystical, and moSt startling of all his works, though merely given as a general an- nouncement of his theory. Surprise and wonder were the only effects which it |)roducod on those who read it, and tlie few ])ul)lic writers who reviewed it." In 1821 he removed to Paris, in order to publish his writ- ings, and he lived there, with some interruptions, to his death, Oct. 10, 1837. His princii)al works are TM- orie des Quatres Hfouvements et des Distinees Genendes (1808, 8vo) : — Traite de V Association Domesiiqve Agri- cole (1822, 2 vols. 8vo) : — Le Nouveau Monde, Industrkd et Soci'iaire (1829) ; a Livret d'annonce (1830) : — PVcges et Charlatanisme des deux Scctes iSt. Simon et Owen (1831): — La Fausse Industrie, morceVe, reintgnante, mensonghre, et V Antidote, V Indus'rie naturelle. comhinee, attrayante. His Giuvres completes were published at Paris in 6 vols. (1840-4()). The Passions of the Human Soul, translated bj' Morell, was published in London in 1851 (2 vols. 8vo). " His philosopliy may be divided into science and praxis, or his psychological and on- tological theory and its application in his societary system. The first comprises what he styles passional attraction, the last its application to society in indus- trial association. His psychologj' is confined to an analysis of the aff'ections, from which he infers that the Newtonian principle of attraction is equally appli- cable to the social and mental worlds, and that societj' should be moulded in accordance with tlie diversity and intensity' of individual attractions. Unit}' in di- versit}' and harmonj' in contrast is what he professes to achieve in his now social system. This principle of passional attraction is regarded by Fourier as his grand discovery, which had been culpably neglected and overlooked by past philosophers" (Tennemann, Hist, riiilos. § 435). Among the followers of F'ourier are counted Considerant, Pompery, Lemoj-n, Henne- quiii, Jules Lechevalier, and Transen. Several peri- odicals, mostly short-lived, have been established for the defence of Fouriorism, as Le Kouveau jlfonde, Le Phalanst'ere, La Plmlange, La Dhiiocratie Pacifi'pie. Several attempts to carry out the view of Fourier were made in France, the United States, and Brazil, but all failed. See Gamond, Fourier and Ms Systr-m (London, 1842, 8vo) ; Doherty, False Association, with Memoir oj" Fourier {Lonilnn, 1841, 8vo) ; Christian Examiner, xxxvi, 57 ; Methodist Quarterly Rev. v, 545. See Com- munism.
Foi:rier, Pierre, of Jlataincourt, a Roman Cath- olic religious reformer, was born at Mire (Lorraine) Nov. 30, 1565, and died at Gray Dec. 9, 1G40. He re- formed the regular canons of the congregation of St.
Sauveur de Lorraine, and established the religiemes of the congregation of Notre Dame for the instruction of girls. He died in the odor of sanctity, and his name was placed on the list of the beatified at Pome Jan. 29, 1730. See lives of him by Bedel (Paris, 1G45, 8vo) and Friant (Nancy, 1746, 12mo). — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gen- irale, xviii, 344-5. (J. W. M.)
Fourmont, Etienne (Stephen), a French Orien- talist, known as Fourmont the elder, to distinguish liim from his brother, the abbe Fourmont, was born at Herbelav, near Paris, June 23, lG8o, and died Dec. 19, 1745. He was an earnest f,nd indefatigable student, and, being endowed with an unusually quick and re- tentive memory, stored his mind with a vast amount of information in regard to the classic and Oriental languages and their literature. On the death of the abbe Galland in 1715, Fourmont succeeded him as professor of Arabic in the College of France and as member of the Academy of Inscriptions, and subse- quently became a member of the learned societies of Paris, Berlin, and London. Freret describes him as being of a gentle and cheerful disposition, wholly ab- sorbed in his labors, and possessed of little knowledge of men, but ofl^cnsively vain of his knoAvledge. F'or a list of Fourmont's numerous writings, jiubli^-hed or in manuscript, sre his life by De Guignes et Des Hautes- Eaj'es (r«V d' Etienne Foxirmont et Catalogue de ses Ou- vruges') in the second edition of his Critical Reflections on Ancient History, and Catalogue des Ouvrages de M. Fourmont (Amst. 1731), which is said, however; to con- tain some works only projected and never completed. Besides his famous eonimcntary on the Psalms and Hebrew poetry, we mention here or\\y Meditationes Sin- ices, complectens aricm legendi lingiue Sinicce Charac- teres (Paris, 1737, fol.), which is the prelim inarj' por- tion of the following, published separately: Linguce Sinarum mandarinicce hieroglyidiica grammatica duplex, latine et cum characteribus Sintnsium (Paris, 1742, fol.) : — PJ flexions siir I'Origine, Vhist<,ire it la succession de* onciens jieuples, Chaldcens, Hebreux, PMniciens, Egyp- tiens, Grecs jiisqiCaii. temjys de Cyrus (Paris, 1735 and 1747, 2 vols. 4to). — Hoefer, Now. Bi< g. Ginirale, xviii, 354-3G5 ; Rose, Neto General Biog. Diet, vii, 427 ; Que- rard, La France litteraire. (J. W. ]\1.)