EICHTHAL, GUSTAVE D'

EICHTHAL, GUSTAVE D' (1804–1886), French publicist, Saint-Simonian, and Hellenist. He was the son of a family of Jewish bankers originally named Seligmann. His parents adopted Catholicism, and Eichthal himself was baptized in childhood. In 1822 Eichthal met Auguste Comte who introduced him to the doctrines of Saint-Simon. Subsequently, Eichthal became active in favor of civil rights for Jews and Negroes. In 1837 Eichthal went to Austria but was unsuccessful in enlisting official support for Jewish emancipation. He visited Algeria in 1838 and prepared a project for organizing the Jewish community there. After visiting Greece in 1832, Eichthal advocated the use of Greek as a universal language. Despite his Saint-Simonian and cosmopolitan outlook, Eichthal died a fervent Catholic. His works include Les trois grands peuples mediterraneens et le Christianisme (1864); Melanges de critique biblique (1886); and La langue grecque (1887). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Loeb, in: REJ, 15 (1887), 153–5; Weill, ibid., 31 (1895), 261–73.