THURMAX TIME. 



681 



and modern literatures, eminently successful as an in- 

 structor, and t lie most prominent leader of the 

 Southern Presbyterian Church. His views were set 

 forth in the Smillitrn Quarterly Recleir, which he 

 fuiindcd and edited from 1855 to 1857. In politics lie 

 strictly followed John C. Calhoun. and in theology 

 John Calvin. Rev. J. B. Adger eilited his Cul/ectnl 

 tt'riti'iif/s C2 vols.. lt>74) and Key. B. M. Palmer, D. D., 

 his /.in ,,n,l Letters (\*~;>). 



Till 'K.MAN. AI.I.F.X (rRANBERUY. statesnian. was 

 born Nov. 13, 1813. at Lynchbiirg. Va. His, father. 

 a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, re- 

 moved to Chillkxrt.be, Ohio, in 181 ( J. and here Allen 

 received an academical education. After some experi- 

 ence as a surveyor he studied law with hig uncle, 

 William Allen, afterwards governor of Ohio, and with 

 Judge N. 11. Swayno. afterwards a justice of the U. 

 S. Supreme Court. He was admitted to the bar in 

 is:;.") and .-oon was active in both law and politics. In 

 is 15 he was elected to Congress, and in 1851 to the 

 Supreme Court of Ohio, of which he bicauie chief- 

 jti>tiee in 1*5 1. His term expired in 1S50 and he re- 

 turned to practice at the bar. In 1S67 he was Demo- 

 cratic candidate for governor but was defeated by 

 Rutherford B. Hayes, although Tliurman had exhib- 

 ited remarkable power as a campaign speaker. The 

 Legislature, however, was largely Democratieanil elected 

 him to the U. S. Senate, which had then only eleven 

 others of his party. James (i. Blaine in his Tn-mti/ 

 Yi-nfs nf ( ini'/ri'sx pronounces Tliurman then " the fore- 

 most man of iiis party in the nation." As such he vigor- 

 ously supported the restoration of the government of 

 the Southern States to the native whites, lie stood 

 firmly for the maintenance of gold nnd silver ns the cur- 

 rency of the country, and resisted the Greenback move- 

 ment He opposed Chinese immigration and sought 

 to maintain the control of the general government over 

 the 1'acilic railroads. In 1SS1 his term as Senator ex- 

 pired, hut (iartield, who had been chosen by the Legis 

 tore to succeed him, having been subsequently elected 

 President, showed his friendly regard for Thurman 

 by appointing him a delegate to the international 

 monetary conference at Paris. Thirteen nations were 

 repp -.in. il, and the conference recommended the re- 

 inonetizhg of silver, but the disinclination of the 

 English government prevented definite action on the 

 f ai.y. After a tour through Europe Thnrman 

 returned, to the United States and was sooji active in 

 his profession. In IS,x5 he was retained to mra4 gov- 

 ernment counsel in the suit against the Bell Telephone 

 Co., but the cases were decided against the govern- 

 ment. In some Demoer.itie national conventions 

 Thurman had been suggested as Presidential nominee 

 and in 1876 he was a prominent candidate. In the 

 convention of 1884 he received 88 votes on the first 

 ballot. In 1888 a movement was started a few days 

 before the meeting of the convention at St. Louis to 

 name him for second place on the ticket, the first being 

 accorded to Pres. Cleveland. When the conven- 

 tion met the proposal received general approval ami 

 he was nominated on the first ballot. Mr. Thurman, 

 in spite of his age, exerted himself gallantly in the 

 canvass, but his ticket was defeated by a decisive vote. 

 THUKSTON. KOBF.KT HK.NRV, engineer, was born 

 at Providence. R. I., Oct. >:>. 1 :;'.. His father. 

 Robert L. Thitrston (ISiHM873), was a sueeesslu' 

 builder of steam-engines. The son graduated at Brown 

 University in 185'J and was engaged in his father's 

 business until 1801. when lie entered the navy as 

 officer of engineers. Hessrvcd in the North and South 

 Atlantic squadrons throughout the war. He was then 

 made assistant professor of physics in the U. 8. 

 Naval Academy. In 1870 he went to Europe to study 

 iron-manufacture and on his return was appointee 

 professor of mechanical engineering in the Stevens 

 Institute, Hoboken. N .1. In 1873 he was a member 

 of the U. S. scientific commission to the Vienna Ex- 

 hibition, and edited the Report of the commissioners, 

 VOL. IV.-2 s 



Besides publishing his own Report on Machinery and 

 Manufacture! (5 vols., 1875-ti). He was a member 

 )f the U. S. commission on steam-boiler explosions, 

 'n 1885 he was made director of Sibley College, or 

 school of mechanical engineering and the mechanic 

 arts. ^ in connection with Cornell University, Ithaca, 

 . Y. Prof. Thnrston has invented numerous iui- 

 Tovements in mechanical devices. His many papers 

 on scientific and technical topics have been published 

 'in both European and American journals. His History 

 f the Steam-Enffme is the standard work on the 

 (object 



TIFFIN, a city of Ohio, county-seat of Seneca co., 

 is on the Sandusky River, 34 miles S. W. of Sati- 

 liisky, on the Cincinnati, Sandusky, and Cleveland 

 Ixailroad and two other railroads. It has a court-house, 

 2 national banks, a savings bank, 16 churches, a con- 

 vent, a high-school and other schools, and is the scat 

 of Heidelberg College, which was founded in 1850 by 

 the Reformed Church. Tiffin has '2 daily and 4 weekly 

 icwspapers. Its manufactures include agricultural 

 implements, carriages, stoves, furniture, woollen goods, 

 tiles, etc. Its population in 1880 was 7879. 



TILLANDSIA, the generic name of a plant known 

 by the various names of long moss, old man's beard, 

 etc., belonging to the Bromeliactcr. or pine-apple 

 family. imt of the members of which are epiphytes, 

 or air-plants. T. vsnru!<lrs, the common long moss, 

 ocelli's abundantly in the Southern States, hanging in 

 of long, dark . swaying fibres from the branchesof 

 the live-oak and other trees, and constituting a peculiar 

 feature of Southern woodland scenery. There arc in 

 all eight species of TiU<nuls! in the United States, but 

 the above named is the best known. Its stcn.s are 

 thread-like and pendulous, its leaves awl-shaped, its 

 flowers sessile and small, the petals imbricated and 

 tube-like below, spreading above, the seeds erect on, 

 long stalks. This plant is found in humid districts, 

 from the Dismal Swamp southward, becoming very 

 abundant in the Gulf States, and has considerable 

 economic importance; its fibrous masses being ex- 

 tensively used for stuffing mattresses, cushions, mrd- 

 skins, etc. For these purposes it is one of the best of 

 materials. The plant is also an ingredient in an oint- 

 ment which is said to be useful for haemorrhoids. la 

 winter it is eaten by cattle. (c. M.) 



TIME, STANDARD. The introduction of railroads 

 and the invention of the telegraph, and the constant 

 use of these modern facilities of intercourse, have 

 forced upon the popular mind in America more than 

 elsewhere attention to the fact of differences of local 

 time, and given that fact a commercial bearing. 

 1'laccs on the same meridian have the same solar time, 

 but places on different meridians, whether on the 

 same parallel or not, differ in time according to tlieir 

 longitude. The proper management of railroads was 

 early found to require the fixing of a standard of time. 

 and each road undertook to establish a standard suited 

 to its locality. But the great through lines of the 

 United States, miming chiefly east ana west, found it 

 difficult to secure such harmony among their differ- 

 ent sections anil connections as was absolutely neces- 

 sary lor safe and satisfactory working. In 1880 there 

 were over fifty railroad standards of time used in the 

 United States, and at the intersection of various roads 

 these standards varied and conflicted in most perplex- 

 ing ways. Nearly every railroad centre had two or 

 three standards. Three were used in Chicago, five in 

 Kansas City, six in St. Louis. The smaller cities 

 readily adopted the time of the railroads which passed 

 through them, though some took pride in having ac- 

 curate solar time for the town-clock. 



The establishment of the U. S. Signal Service, with 

 its constant use of the telegraph at fixed times, 

 brought before eminent scientists the practical consid- 

 eration of the problem which was already annoying 

 the railroad managers. Prof. Cleveland Abb6 sug- 

 gested the simple and ingenious plan which eventually, 



