BOLZANO, Bernhard, Catholic theologian aud philosopher, was born at Prague on the 5th October 1781. He distinguished himself by his proficiency in mathematics, a study for which he always retained a predilection, and in philosophy. At the age of twenty-four he took orders, and was appointed professor of the philosophy of religion at the philosophical faculty in Prague. His lectures, in which he endeavoured so to present the system of Catholic theology as to show its complete harmony with reason, were received with eager interest by the younger generation of thinkers. But his views met with much opposition; and it was only through the powerful protection of the Prince Archbishop Salm-Salm that he was enabled to retain his chair. At last, in 1820, he was accused of being connected with some of the students’ societies, and was compelled to resign his professorship. Several doctrines extracted from his works were condemned at Rome, and he was suspended from his priestly functions. The remainder of his life was devoted to literary work. He died at Prague in 1848. Bolzano’s works are very numerous, filling, according to Erdmann, twenty-five volumes. The most important are the Wissenschaftslehre (4 vols., Sulzbach, 1837), containing some admirable discussions on logic, and the Lehrbuch der Religions-wissenschaft (4 vols., Sulzbach, 1834), which contains a philosophic representation of all the dogmas of the Catholic theology. In some respects it resembles the earlier work of Georg Hermes, for whom Bolzano had a great veneration. Some of the best of his minor works are on the philosophy of mathematics; such are— Betrachtungen über Elementarg eometrie, Beiträge zur begründeteren Darstellung dei' Mathematik, Begründung der Lehre von der drei Dimensionen des Baums. (See ...