iU THOUVENEL, EDOUAED A. 



to whether the metal thallium belongs to the 

 game group as potassium and sodium, or to the 

 group comprising silver, lead, and mercury. 

 The fact that its perchlorate is isomorphons 

 with that of potassium, is regarded as a proof 

 that it is an alkaline metal. 



THOUVENEL, EDOUARD ANTOINE, a French 

 statesman and diplomatist, born at Verdun, 

 November 11, 1818; died at the Palace of the 

 Luxembourg, Paris, October 17, 1866. He was 

 educated for the law, but on completing his 

 studies travelled for some years in the East, 

 publishing an' account of his journeyings upon 

 his return. In 1839 he obtained an appoint- 

 ment in the foreign office. In 1844 he was sent 

 to Brussels as attache of the embassy, and the 

 following year to Athens, as secretary of the 

 .legation. He acted there for some time as pro- 

 visional charge d'affaires, and was confirmed 

 in the appointment by Gen. Cavaignac, which, 

 however, Thouvenel exchanged in January, 

 1849, for that of minister plenipotentiary to 

 Athens. He was in Greece at the time of the 

 Pacifico trouble, and energetically seconded the 

 special mission of Baron Gros. A short time 

 after, he was sent as minister plenipotentiary to 

 Munich, where the services which he had ren- 

 dered to King Otho, secured for him, on the 

 part of Otho's brother, the King of Bavaria, a 

 very favorable reception. After the coup d'etat 

 of the 2d December, he was intrusted with the 

 direction of the ministry of foreign affairs, and 

 discharged the functions of that office until the 

 Vienna conferences. In 1855 he was named 

 embassador to Constantinople, where he had to 

 contend against the powerful influence exercised 

 over the Porte by Lord Stratford*de Redcliffe, 

 and against the demands of Austrian diplo- 

 macy in the question of the Danubian princi- 

 palities. In the midst of the difficulties created 

 by the Italian question, M. Thouvenel was called 

 to replace M. Walewsld, as minister of foreign 

 affairs, in January, 1860. The circulars and 

 memoranda which he addressed to the diplo- 

 matic corps, on the grave circumstances of the 

 hour, were remarkable documents, proving him 

 to be a statesman of no common order. He 

 acted as plenipotentiary of France in the settle- 

 ment of the treaty of commerce with Belgium, 

 also in the conveption of navigation, and in the 

 literary convention. In August, 1862, he was- 

 succeeded as foreign minister by M. Drouyn 

 de Lhuys, and was appointed president of the 

 commission to examine the then pending ques- 

 tion between the Egyptian Government and 

 the Suez Canal Company. In May, 1839, he 

 was raised to the dignity of senator. He was 

 also a member of the Legion of Honor. He pub- 

 lished a volume entitled " Hungary and Walla- 

 chia," consisting of articles originally contrib- 

 uted to the Revue des Deux Mondes. 



TOWNSEND, Captain ROBERT, United States 

 Navy, born in Albany, N. Y., in 1819; died on 

 the steamer Wachusett, in one of the ports 

 near Shanghai, August, 15, 1866. He was a 

 descendant of an old and well-known family, 



TURKEY. 



who had figured in the Revolution ; graduated 

 at Union College, Schenectady, in 1835, and 

 immediately entered the navy as a midshipman. 

 His first cruise was in the Mediterranean. He 

 afterward took part in the siege and capture 

 of Vera Cruz, and was otherwise actively en- 

 gaged during the Mexican war. 



In 1851, Commander Townsend, then a lieu- 

 tenant, having married, resigned his commission. 

 At the outbreak of the war, he offered his ser- 

 vices as a volunteer, and was accepted as an 

 acting lieutenant, serving as such under Farra- 

 gut at the passage of the forts and the capture 

 of New Orleans. He commanded the Miami, 

 and did efficient service in the sounds of North 

 Carolina. Subsequently he was restored to the 

 regular service, with the rank of commander, 

 and commanded the well-known iron-clad Es- 

 sex at the siege of Port Hudson. Still later, ho 

 was division commander under Admiral Porter 

 and upon the Red River campaigns of the 

 most harassing description. Just before the 

 close of the war he was ordered to the East 

 India Squadron. 



His career in China, though brief, was not an 

 idle one. His conduct of matters at Newchwang 

 was such as to afford a guaranty for the peace of 

 the port; yet it was so considerate and careful 

 that no injury, but the contrary, was offered to 

 the prestige of the native authorities. At 

 Canton he rendered some valuable service, and 

 at Chefoo he put the difficulties of the mission- 

 aries in the way of settlement. Before his re- 

 turn from the latter place he received orders to 

 proceed to Hankow, stopping at the ports, and 

 it was at the first of these, en route, that he 

 met the hand of the destroyer. His hard work 

 and exposure to malaria upon the Southern 

 Mississippi had implanted in his system the 

 seeds of disease, and they were germinated 

 readily by the fierce sun and the fresh waters 

 of the Yangtze. At the close of the late war 

 he was promoted to the full rank of captain. 



TURKEY. An empire in Eastern Europe, 

 Western Asia, and Norohern Africa. Present 

 ruler, Sultan Abdal-Aziz, born February 9, 

 1830; succeeded his brother June 25, 1861. 

 Heir-presumptive, Amurath Murad Effendi, 

 born September 21, 1840. The area and popu- 

 lation of the empire are estimated as follows : 



In 1860, the ecclesiastical statistics of the 

 empire were supposed to be about as follows : 



