CHAUVIN

chauvin, etienne (1640-1725), french protestant divine, was born at nimes on the 18th of april 1640. at the revocation of the edict of nantes he retired to rotterdam, where he was for some years preacher at the walloon church; in 1695 the elector of brandenburg appointed him pastor and professor of philosophy, and later inspector of the french college at berlin, where he enjoyed considerable reputation as a representative of cartesianism and as a student of physics. his principal work is a laborious _lexicon rationale, sive thesaurus philosophicus_ (rotterdam, 1692; new and enlarged edition, leuwarden, 1713). he also wrote _theses de cognitione dei_ (1662), and started the _nouveau journal des savans_ (1694-1698). see e. and e. haag, _la france protestante_, vol. iv. (1884).