Pushkin (Aleksandr Sergyeevich), eminent Russian poet, often called the Russian Byron, b. Pskow, 26 May, 1799. From youth he was remarkable for his turbulent spirit, and his first work, which circulated only in manuscript, was founded on Parny's Guerre des Dieux, and entitled the Gabrielade, the archangel being the hero. He was exiled by the Emperor, but, inspired largely by reading Voltaire and Byron, put forward numerous poems and romances, of which the most popular is Eugene Onéguine, an imitation of Don Juan. He also wrote some histories and founded the Sovremennik (Contemporary), 1836. In Jan. 1837 he was mortally wounded in a duel. Putnam (Samuel P.), American writer and lecturer, brought up as a minister. He left that profession for Freethought, and became secretary to the American Secular Union, of which he was elected president in Oct. 1887. In '88 he started Freethought at San Francisco in company with G. Macdonald. Has written poems, Prometheus, Ingersoll and Jesus, Adami and Heva; romances entitled Golden Throne, Waifs and Wanderings, and Gottlieb, and pamphlets on the Problem of the Universe, The New God, and The Glory of Infidelity. Putsage (Jules), Belgian follower of Baron Colins, founder of the Colins Philosophical Society at Mons; has written on Determinism and Rational Science, Brussels 1885, besides many essays in La Philosophie de L'Avenir of Paris and La Societe Nouvelle of Brussels. Pyat (Felix) French socialist, writer and orator, b. Vierzon, 4 Oct. 1810. His father was religious and sent him to a Jesuit college at Bourges, but he here secretly read the writings of Beranger and Courier. He studied law, but abandoned it for literature, writing in many papers. He also wrote popular dramas, as The Rag-picker of Paris, '47. After '52 he lived in England, where he wrote an apology for the attempt of Orsini, published by Truelove, '58. In '71 he founded the journal le Combat. Elected to the National Assembly he protested against the treaty of peace, was named member of the Commune and condemned to death in '73. He returned to France after the armistice, and has sat as deputy for Marseilles. Died, Saint Gerainte near Nice, 3 Aug. 1889.