G08 



THUGS THUNDER AND LIGHTNING. 



ing to Pausaniii*, he was assassinated in Athens. 

 This, at least, seems to be certain, that 11 cenotaph 

 was erected to him in Athens. The work which 

 has made his name immortal bears the title Account 

 of the War of the Peloponnesians and Athenians. 

 It consists of eight books, of which only seven are 

 finished : the eighth is to be considered only as a 

 rough draught, which wants the last touches. 

 These eight books, however, embrace only twenty- 

 one years of this memorable war ; the last six arc 

 wanting. This work is the production of a deep- 

 searching, clear-sighted man, fully acquainted with 

 the nature of history. As a work of art, it stands 

 far higher than the agreeable narratives of Herodo- 

 tus. While Herodotus gives more interesting ac- 

 counts, he neither penetrates into the character of 

 the persons of the action, nor seeks out the causes 

 of events springing from the relations of the vari- 

 ous states. Thucydides considers history in a 

 higher point of view, treats the particular events 

 as the result of necessity or choice, and by this 

 means makes history a teacher, not merely of what 

 has been, but of what will be. As politics attrac- 

 ted him particularly, his history has a limited char- 

 acter, but, as the political history of a state, is a 

 model, and, as he himself calls it, a treasure for 

 posterity. He first introduced dialogues into his- 

 torical narratives, with a view of exhibiting the 

 principles and motives of the leading agents. He 

 made historical writing an art, for he not only skil- 

 fully united the different threads of the action, but 

 investigated truth with a very critical spirit. Su- 

 perior to selfishness and national prejudice, he dis- 

 penses praise and blame, reproves vices and praises 

 virtue, with impartiality ; and, as he spent a great 

 part of his fortune in the collection of materials for 

 his history, his accounts have great value on the 

 score of credibility. As to his style, it justly de- 

 serves the praise which has been bestowed on it by 

 all intelligent judges. It has the greatest dignity ; 

 every word has a meaning ; and it possesses all the 

 qualities upon which the perfection of writing de- 

 pends. His pictures attract as well by the variety of 

 the colouring as by the powerand individuality of the 

 figures. However, at times he is obscure. But 

 the present text of Thucydides is full of the faults 

 occasioned by ignorant transcribers. Among the 

 editions, that of Duker (Amsterdam, 1731, folio), 

 is the most complete. Next to this is the Bipont 

 (1788, 1789, in 6 vols.), valuable on account of the 

 Latin version. Thucydides has been translated 

 into English by Smith. 



THUGS; the name applied to a secret and 

 widely-spread society among the Hindoos, whose 

 main occupation is to waylay, assassinate, and rob 

 all who do not belong to their own caste. It is 

 only within these few years, that the existence of 

 this appalling and wholesale system of burking came 

 to light. As every month is adding new evidence 

 *o the subject, we leave its investigation to the 

 Appendix. 



THUILLERIES. See Tuileries 



THUISCON. See Tuiscon. 



THULE. This name the ancients gave to the 

 most northern country with which they were ac- 

 quainted. Probably the word did not always de- 

 note the same country or island : many, in fact, 

 may not have at* iched to it the idea of any precise 

 country. Hence the many contradictory opinions 

 of scholars respecting it. According to Pythias, it 

 is an island, six days' journey to the north of Bri- 

 tannia. Some have imagined it to be one of the 



Scotch islands, but most the coast of Norway. 

 Mannert and others beb'eve it was Iceland. 



THUMMEL, M.vt UK i: Ar<;i>ri s VON, a dis- 

 tinguished German author, was bom, in 17;!H, near 

 Leipsic. where he studied. He subsequently en- 

 tered the service of the duke of Saxe-Cobourg, 

 whose privy counsellor mid minister In- tuvainc in 

 17G8. From 1775 to 1777, he travelled in Fnm.v 

 and Italy. He died in 1817, near Cobourg. His 

 chief work is called Travels in the Southern Pro- 

 vinces of France. It is a novel, interspersed with 

 reminiscences of his travels. Ten volumes of it 

 appeared from 1791 to 1805, which contain an 

 abundance of observations and descriptions, some- 

 times characterized by deep and grave reflection, 

 sonu'times by the most unbridled humour. Fmich 

 ease and German feeling are beautifully united in 

 this work. He also wrote some poems. A collec- 

 tion of his works appeared in 1821. 



THUNBERG, CHARLES PETER, professor of 

 botany in the university of Upsal, member of more 

 <li;m sixty societies, was born, November 11, 1743, 

 at Junkoping, the capital of Smaland, and studied 

 at Upsal. Linnaeus, his great countryman, was his 

 instructor in natural history, and said of him, 

 " Never has any botanist afforded me more satis- 

 faction and, pleasure." In 1772, he went as a 

 physician in the service of the Dutch East India 

 company to the cape of Good Hope, where, during 

 three years, he made journeys into the interior. In 

 1775, he went to Batavia, and afterwards to Japan, 

 as physician to the embassy of the East India com- 

 pany to the emperor of Japan. Thunberg and 

 Kiimpfer are the only persons who have given us 

 much authentic information respecting that coun- 

 try. In 1777, he visited Ceylon, and, in 1778. 

 went again to the cape of Good Hope, in order to 

 return to his own country. He subsequently pre- 

 sented his rich collections to the university of Up- 

 sal, having been appointed professor of botany in 

 Upsal immediately on his return. In 1784, after 

 the death of the younger Linnaeus, he was made 

 professor ordinarius. The royal academy ehose 

 him their president. At his request, Gustavus III. 

 gave the ancient royal garden, as a botanical garden, 

 to the university. The rich museum Thunberyianum 

 is preserved there the most costly collection of 

 natural history ever presented to a European uni- 

 versity. The most important works of this inde- 

 fatigable inquirer are, 1. his Travels, in four voK 

 (it has been translated into English, German, 

 Dutch, French, Sic.); 2. Flora Japonica; 3. Flora 

 Capensis ; 4. Icones Plantarum Japonicarum ; 5. 

 Description of Swedish Mammalia; G. Museum 

 naturalium Academics Upsaliensis ; 7- Dissertationes 

 Academicce ; and a numerous collection of treatises, 

 mostly in the Transactions of the academies of 

 sciences at Stockholm and Petersburg, and those 

 of the scientific society at Upsal. Peculiarly valu- 

 able are his Kcempfcrus illustrates, and the notes 

 respecting Japanese coins and language. He died, 

 August 8, 1828, near Upsal. 



THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.* It has 

 been demonstrated, by the sagacity of doctor 

 Franklin, that thunder and lightning is merely a 

 case of electrical discharges from one portion of the 

 atmosphere to another, or from one cloud to 

 another. Air, and all gases, are non-conductors ; 

 but vapour and clouds, which are composed of it, 



Tliis article is from Professor Thomson's Outlines <;f th 

 Science of Heat and Electricity. 



