680 



THOMSON THORNWELL 



other colleges. Tic h.is published S<-i<il Sri'rnrf nml 

 X'ltiiinul Kconnmy (IST.'O. tin' iliinl edition of which 

 WM revised lltidrr MM title fnliticnl Ecnnnm<i 

 His lectures before Harvard University were published 

 under the title I 'ml f ft inn In /Amir Iiiiliixtrit <|s<il). 

 He was the original editor-in-chief of this SmpteitaU, 

 but after two volumes had been prepared the work 

 pained into other hands. 



THOMSON. CHARLES (1729-1824), secretory of 

 the Continental Congress, was born at Manhera. near 

 Londonderry, Ireland, Nov. _"., 1729. With his family 

 he sailed for America in 1741, but his father died on 

 the voyace. He was taught by Rev. Francis Alison, 

 at Thunder Hill. Md.. and became a teacher first at 

 Newcastle, afterward at Philadelphia. Through the 

 friendship of Franklin and other influential men he 

 was employed in negotiating treaties with the Indians, 

 and the tribe of the Del.iwares adopted him as the 

 "Truthtcller." He was engaged in mercantile busi- 

 ness for some years, and was secretary of many lit- 

 erary and patriotic societies. Hence when the first 

 Continental Congress met in Carpenters' Hall. Phila- 

 delphia, Sept. 5, 1774, they readily chose him as secre- 

 tary, and he retained this position in oaeh successive 

 Congress until the adoption of the Federal ('(institu- 

 tion in 1789. Then he was commissioned to notify 

 Gen. Washington of his election to the Presidency, 

 but declined any further public service. He spent 

 many years in translating the Bible into English, using 

 the Septuagint for the Old Testament. After his ver- 

 sion was published in 1808 (4 vok), he prepared from 

 it a Synnpxix tif the Four EooHfftlutt (1813). He died 

 at biwer Merion. Pa., Aug. 16. \*\H. 



THOMSON, W 11,1.1AM, Archbishop of York, Eng- 

 land, was born at Whitehaven, Cumberland, Feb. II, 

 1819. He passed from Shrewsbury School to Queen's 

 College, Oxford, where he was in succession scholar, 

 fellow, dean, bursar, tutor, and provost. Graduating 

 in 1840, he was ordained deacon 1842. and priest I MH. 

 After four years' parish work at Guildloru and Cud- 

 desden, he returned to his college as tutor, was ap- 

 pointed select preacher at Oxford 1848 and 1 s.'ii',. and 

 provost 1855. In the same year he accepted the 

 crown living of All Souls. Marylebone. and contributed 

 to the Oxford Exxnyx. In 1858 he became preacher 

 at Lincoln's Inn, and in 1859 one of her Majesty's 

 chaplains. Lord Palnicrston procured his appoint- 

 ment to the see of Gloucester and Bristol in Decem- 

 ber, 1861. whence he was translated to York a year 

 later, and enthroned Feb. 24, 1863, succeeding Dr. 

 Longley. He has been active in educational and eccle- 

 siastical reforms, had charge of the Public Worship 

 Regulation Act in the House of Lords, and procured 

 the appointment of a royal commission on chir.vh 

 patronage. He is president of the Palestine Explora- 

 tion Fund, a member of the Royal and Geographical 

 Societies, a lord of the privy council, governor of the 

 Charter-house and of King's College, Iiondon. He 

 has been examiner in divinity at Oxford and in logic 

 and mental science to the Society of Arts. Eminent 

 as a scholar and metaphysician, he has published An 

 Outline of the Necetxary Lnux of Thoiii/lit (isti'l, 

 largely used in England and America as a text-book on 

 logic; The Aloiiiiuj \\'nrlt nf Clin'xt Vicinal in Jiela- 

 titn to Knme Cnrrtnt Theories (The Hampton lec- 

 tures), 1853; Srrmnnx I'rvichnl in Ltncnlii'x Inn 

 Chap* (1861)-, and The Limit* r>/ /'/n'/o*./,/,/,-,!/ A'/i- 

 gniry (1869), besides many charges, discourses, and 

 contributions to Smith's Dietiomarv of thf JitUe and 

 other works. He edited Aiilx In Fitlth 0861), a reply 

 to Eu>ty* and Rrrinr*. and projected The Speaker' t 

 Comnifiitrin/. As archbishop of York he has an in- 

 come <>f ilU.O'M and the palronaire of 96 livings. 



THO.MSON. Sin WILLIAM, British mathematician 

 and physicist, was born at Belfast in June. Is. I' I. His 

 father, James Thomson, LL. D., was then lecturer on 

 mathematics in the Royal Academical Institute in Bel- 

 fast, bat afterwards removed to Glasgow, having been 



appointed professor in tlio University of that city. The 

 sou was educated in that institution and at Pcterhousr. 

 Cambridge, where he graduated in IS4. r > and Ix-caim a 

 fellow. In IS Id he was made professor of natural 

 philosophy at (Jlasgow, ami has since retained that 



}>ost. Me was (lie editor of the < 'iiinliriii/jf and I>u!>- 

 in Mathrniuticnl .Inn nml from 18?6 to 1853. and to 

 it contributed valuable papers. He gave especial atten- 

 tion to electrical science, and invented several beautiful 

 and delicate machines for investigating atmospheric 

 electricity. Among his other inventions are the mir- 

 ror galvanometer and the siphon-recorder, which proved 

 of great service in submarine telegraphy. On the suc- 

 cessful completion of the Atlantic cable in isiiii, to 

 which he had greatly contributed, he received tho 

 honor of knighthood. He al.so received the 

 of LL. D. from the Universities of Dublin. Cambridge, 

 and Edinburgh, and that of 1). C. L. from Oxford. 

 In 1871 he was chosen to preside at the meeting of the 

 British Association in Edinburgh, and in 1SS1 was 

 president of the section of mathematics at the m 

 of' the association in York, lie has also received many 

 marks of honor from foreign societies and academies. 

 His Mathematical nml l'/ii/*fi-n/ I'n/irrs were collected 

 in a volume published at Cambridge in ISsu. 



THO.MSON. WII.I.IA.M MrCu UK. missionary, was 

 born at Springfield, near Cincinnati, Dec. 31, ISdtl. 

 He graduated at Miami Inivcrsity in 182f>, studied 

 theology at Princeton, and was ordained as an evangelist 

 in IS31. Jle was sent as missionary to Syria in 

 and labored there until |S7(> with two intervals of rest, 

 in which he returned to the I'nited States. He is liest 

 known as the author of The Lxnil ti/irl the Honk (2 

 vols., 1859). in which in a conversational method vivid 

 illustrations of the Bible are drawn from the 

 manners, and customs of Palestine. The work has been 

 thoroughly revised and enlarged in three volumes, 

 tS'i'illifrn I*tlrxtfitf and Jrriixnlnn (1880), Central 

 I'tilfxtlnr and I'limiicin (1882), J^fltannn, Damaxciit 

 nml Beyond Jordan (1886). Dr. Thomson now resides 

 in New York pity. 



TH O UN T< ) N . M ATTTIF.W (1714-1 803), a signer of 

 the Declaration of Independence, was born in Ireland 

 in 1714. His father soon removed to Wiscasset, Maine, 

 and thence to Worcester. Mass. The son became a 

 physician and accompanied Sir William Peppcrell's 

 expedition to Louisburj:. He was also active in militia 

 affairs, nnd in 1775 was president of the New Hamp- 

 shire Convention. This body was divided into two 

 houses in 1770, nnd Thornton became speaker of the 

 assembly, lie was not elected to the Continental Con- 

 gress until September, yet on his appearance in it in 

 November he was allowed the honor of signing the 

 engrossed copy of the Declaration. He continued to 

 attend Congress until the end of 1777, and then re- 

 turned to New Hampshire, where he was J udgo of the 

 Superior Court until 17S2, and held other offices. He 

 died June 24, 1803, while visiting his married daugh- 

 ter nt Newbnryport, .M.-i--. 



THORNWKLL, JV.MKS HKNI.EY (1812-1862), 

 Presbyterian theologian, was born in Marlborough 

 district, S. C., Dec. 9, 1812. Most of his life was 

 spent at Columbia. S. C., either at the South Caro- 

 lina College, or in the Presbyterian Theological Sem- 

 inary. In the former he graduated in ls:il. and alter 

 a brief experience in teaching and as pastor of a 

 church at Lancaster. S. C. (]S;;:,-S), he returned to be 

 professor of logic and Indies let t res. His service was 

 interrupted by a pastorate of a year in Columhi.i 

 (184'M). and six months in Charleston (1851). After 

 the former his position was changed lo that of chaplain 

 and professor of Christian evidences, and after tint 

 laiter he was called to the presidency. In 1855 the 

 Presbyterian synod appointed him professor of didac- 

 tic and polemic theology in their seminary, and this 

 position he held till his death at Charlotte. N. C., 

 Aug. 1, 1862. He hnd twicj visited Europe .fin -ihu 

 sak" of his health. He was well versed in ancient 



