LEWES, GEORGE HENRY British philoso pher and literary critic, was born in London, the grandson of Charles Lee Lewes, the actor. He was educated in London, Jersey, Brittany, and finally at Dr. Burney's school in Greenwich. Be tween 1841 and 1850 he appeared several times on the stage, but finally devoted himself to literature, science and philosophy. In 1838 he went to Germany, probably with the intention of study ing philosophy. In 1840 he married a daughter of Swynfen Stevens Jervis and during the next ten years contributed to various reviews on a wide variety of subjects, notably on the drama. His essays on this subject were collected as The Spanish Drama (1846) and Actors and Acting (1875). Other works of this period are his Biographical History of Philosophy two novels, and a series of papers contributed to the Leader founded in 1850.
In 1851 he became acquainted with Marian Evans (George Eliot) and in 1854 left his wife. For his happy life with George Eliot see ELIOT, GEORGE.
Lewes's best known work is his excellent Life of Goethe (1855, published in the Everyman Series, 1908), which is a biographical classic. He also wrote many popular works on science, which contain valuable suggestions. They are Seaside Studies (1858), Physiology of Common Life (1859), Studies in Animal Life (1862), and Aristotle, a Chapter from the History of Science (1864). He developed the doctrine of the functional indifference of the nerves, and suggested that what are known as the specific energies of the optic, auditory and other nerves are simply differ ences in their mode of action due to the differences of the peri pheral structures or sense-organs with which they are connected. His final conclusions were given in The Problems of Life and Mind, possibly the crowning work of his life. His sudden death on Nov. 28, 1878 cut short the work, yet it is complete enough to allow us to judge of the author's matured conceptions on biologi cal, psychological and metaphysical problems.
Lewes's views in psychology, partly opened up in the earlier volumes of the Problems, are more fully worked out in the last two volumes (3rd series). He claims against Comte and his fol lowers a place for introspection in psychological research. In addition to this subjective method there must be an objective, which consists partly in a reference to nervous conditions and partly in the employment of sociological and historical data. Biological knowledge, or a consideration of the organic conditions, would only help us to explain mental functions, as feeling and thinking; it would not assist us to understand differences of mental faculty as manifested in different races and stages of human devel opment. The idea of dealing with mental phenomena in their
relation to social and historical conditions is probably Lewes's most important contribution to psychology.
LEWES (111'wez or kro'wes), a market-town and municipal borough and the county town of Sussex, England, 5o m. S. from London by the S.R. Pop. (1931) 10,785.
Stone and bronze implements and numerous tumuli and earth works found around Lewes indicate its remote origin. Lewes was in the Saxon royal demesne and received the privilege of a market. Aethelstan established two royal mints there, and by the reign of Edward the Confessor, and probably before, Lewes was a borough. William I. granted the whole barony of Lewes, including the revenue arising from the town, to William de Warenne, who con verted an already existing fortification into a place of residence. His descendants continued to hold the barony until the beginning of the 14th century. It then passed to the earl of Arundel, with whose descendants it remained until 1439, when it was divided between the Norfolks, Dorsets and Abergavennys. In the II th century it was important as a port and a market town. A guild merchant is first mentioned in a charter of Reginald de Warenne, about 1148, by which he restored to the burgesses the privileges they had enjoyed in the time of his grandfather and father, but of which they had been deprived. In 1595 a "Fellowship" took the place of the old guild and in conjunction with two constables governed the town until the beginning of the 18th century. The borough seal probably dates from the 14th century. Lewes was incorporated by royal charter in 1881. The town returned two representatives to parliament from 1295 until deprived of one member in 1867. It became part of a county-division in 1885. Fairs and markets have been held since io66. In 1792 the fair-days were May 6, Whit-Tuesday, July 26 (for wool), and Oct. 2. The market-day was Saturday. Fairs are now held on May 6 for horses and cattle, July zo for wool, and Sept. 21 and 28 for Southdown sheep. A corn-market is held every Tuesday, and a stock-market every alternate Monday. The trade in wool has been important since the 14th century.