(GEORGE BERNARD), born 23d January 1693, at Canstadt in Wurtemburg, acquired considerable celebrity as a Philosopher and Statesman. His father was a Lutheran minister. By a singularity of constitution, hereditary in his family, Bilfinger came into the world with twelve fingers on his hands, and twelve toes. An amputation happily corrected this deformity. Bilfinger, from his earliest years, discovered the greatest inclination to learning, and made himself remarkable by his fondness for meditation. He studied in the schools of Blanbeuren and Bobenhausen, and afterwards entered into the Theological Seminary of Tubingen. The works of Wolf, which he studied in order to learn Mathematics, soon inspired him with a taste for the Wolfean Philosophy, and that of Leibnitz; a passion which made him neglect, for some time, his other studies. Returning to Theology, he wished, at least, to try to connect it with his favourite science of Philosophy, and in this spirit composed a tract, entitled, De Deo, Anima, et Mundo. This work, filled with new ideas, met with great success, and contributed to the advancement of the author, who was appointed soon after to the office of Preacher, at the Castle of Tubingen, and of Reader in the school of Theology: but Tubingen was now become too small a theatre for him. He obtained from his friends, in 1719, a supply of money which enabled him to spend some time at Halle, in order to pursue the lessons of Wolf, and after two years of study, he returned to Tubingen, where the Wolfean Philosophy was not yet in favour. He found his protectors there cooled, saw his lectures deserted, and perceived himself shunned, from the dislike of his new doctrines: his ecclesiastical views also suffered from it. This unpleasant situation lasted almost four years, when he received, by the intervention of Wolf, an invitation to go to Petersburg, where Peter I. wished to appoint him Professor of Logie and Metaphysics, and member of his new Academy. He was received in this city, where he arrived in 1725, with the consideration due to his abilities. The Academy of Sciences of Paris having proposed, about this time, the famous problem, on the cause of Gravity, Bilfinger gained the prize, which was a thousand crowns. The reputation of this success was spread abroad among all the learned of Europe. All the journals repeated it; and the Duke Charles Edward of Wurtemburg, finding that the author of this admired Memoir was one of his subjects, hastened to recall him into his dominions. The court of Russia, after having made some useless attempts to detain him, granted him a pension of four hundred florins, and a present of two thousand, in reward of an invention relative to the art of fortification. He quitted Petersburg in 1731. Returned to Tubingen, Bilfinger soon excited considerable attention in that quarter, both by his own lectures, and by the changes which he introduced in the school of Theology. The whole University prospered under his care; and this establishment is conducted to this day according to his excellent regulations. Without overturning anything in the foundation of Theology, he succeeded in applying his system of Philosophy to this science, exhibiting, it is said, in his deductions, and in his proofs, a method, a justness, and a clearness, which bespoke a mind long exercised in deep and rigorous investigations. The Duke Charles Alexander, who succeeded Edward, had already had occasion to appreciate his talents, and put them to use. At the time when he carried on the war in Servia, he maintained a regular correspondence with Bilfinger, who had long been known as an able Engineer, and had, indeed, made some improvements of value in the received system of Fortification. After his return to Tubingen, he had frequent conversations with the Professor on different subjects of administration, and appointed him, in 1735, Privy-Counsellor. This nomination was not a simple honorary title. Bilfinger saw himself raised at once to a power almost unlimited. He resisted some time a promotion, which he did not think himself qualified to sustain. In accepting office, his first care was to acquire all the knowledge necessary to the discharge of its duties. He employed almost two years in assiduous labour to instruct himself thoroughly in the statistics of the country, in considering its political situation, its constitution, its interests, and became, at the end of all this study, one of the most enlightened ministers that his country had yet produced. Bilfinger was placed in a situation too elevated not to excite jealousy and hatred. He felt it, and wished to quit the ministry; but the court refused to receive his resignation, soon after the tender of which, the Duke died. Bilfinger experienced from his successor all the consideration and all the friendship which he had experienced in the beginning of his career. Received into a confidence without bounds, he had the power to realize, without obstacle, those plans of administration with which the most enlightened patriotism had inspired him. Wurtemberg still feels the happy influence of his ministry. Commerce, public instruction, agriculture, were protected and ameliorated by his cares. The culture of the vine, of so much importance in this country, was one of the principal objects of his attention. We ought not to forget that he was the original author of that strict union which has long united Wurtemberg and Prussia, and of the importance to which the hereditary Prince of Wurtemberg was raised at the court of Berlin. In 1737, the Duke nominated him President of his consistory, and Secretary of the grand Order of the Chace. He was also Curator of the University of Tubingen, and member of the Royal Academy of Berlin. All his time was consecrated to some serious occupation, with the exception of one hour in the evening, which he employed in making and receiving visits. His greatest enjoyment was in cultivating his garden. A warm and strong friend, he gave many proofs of gratitude to those protectors, who had generously assisted him in his studies. He has been reproached with being irascible; but in spite of some slight blemishes, the memory of Bilfinger will be always dear to his countrymen, and honoured by all Germans. Wurtemberg reckons him among the greatest men which she has produced, and proposes him as a model to her statesmen and her men of letters. He was never married, and left no issue. He died at Stuttgart the 18th of February 1750. His works, besides various Papers published in the Memoirs of the St Petersburg and Paris Academies of Science, are:

1. Disputatio de Harmoniâ praestabilitâ, Tubingen, 1721, in 4to. 2. De Harmoniâ Animi et Corporis Humani maxime praestabilitâ Commentatio Hypothetica, Francfort on the Main, 1723, in 8vo. This work was inserted in the Expurgatory Index at Rome in 1734. 3. De Origine et Permissione Mali, praecipue Moralis, Commentatio Philosophica, ibid. 1724, in 8vo. 4. Specimen Doctrinae Veterum Sinarum Moralis et Politicae, Francf. 1724, in 4to. 5. Dissertatio Historico-catastrica de Speculo Archeomedis, Tubingen, 1725, in 4to. 6. Dilucidationes Philosophicae de Deo, Animali Humani, Mundo, et Generalibus Rerum Affectionibus, ibid. 1725, in 4to. 7. Bilfingeri et Holnanni Epistolae de Harmoniâ Praestabilitâ, 1728, in 4to. 8. Disputatio de Naturâ et Legibus Studii in Theologia Thetici, ibid. 1731, in 4to. 9. Disputatio de Cultu Dei Rationali, ibid. 1731. 10. Notae Breves in Ben. Spinosae Methodum Explicandi Scripturas, Tub. 1732, in 4to. 11. De Mysteriis Christianae Fidei Generatim Spectatis Sermo, Recitatus 1732, Tubingen, 1732, in 4to. 12. Elementa Physics, Leipzig, 1742, in 8vo. 13. La Citadelle Coupée, Leipzig, 1756, in 4to.

See Biographie Universelle, Tom. IV.