G10 



THUNDERBOLT THURSO. 



This difference was chiefly owing to the apparatus. 

 During the first year, there occurred seventy-three 

 days in which the signs of electricity were so weak 

 that the kind could not be determined. In the 

 second year, it was found that on days when the 

 electricity is weak, it is always vitreous or positive. 

 During the first year, the electricity was observed 

 resinous or negative 136 times, and, during the 

 second year, 157 times. During the first year, 

 sparks could be drawn from the apparatus dur- 

 ing ninety-eight days, and, in the second year, 

 during 106 days. From these facts, the pro- 

 bability is, that the electrical state of the atmo- 

 sphere did not differ much during each of the two 

 years, during which the observations were kept. 

 It would tend greatly to promote the progress of 

 meteorology, which is obviously very much con- 

 nected with electricity, if a register were kept in 

 the torrid zone of the state of the electricity of the 

 atmosphere during a whole year. The weather in 

 these countries is so regular, and the transition 

 from dry weather to rain so marked, that we have 

 reason to expect corresponding changes in the state 

 of the electricity of the atmosphere. The heavi- 

 ness of the rain, and the large size of the drops in 

 these countries, indicate that the clouds from which 

 the rain comes are situated at a great height above 

 the surface of the earth. If the accumulation of 

 electricity should be at a corresponding height, this 

 would render a greater height necessary for the rod, 

 by means of which the electrical indications are 

 determined. 



THUNDERBOLT; a shaft of lightning; a 

 brilliant stream of the electric fluid passing from 

 one part of the heavens, and particularly from the 

 clouds to the earth. See the preceding article. 



THUNDERING LEGION. See Leyio Fulmi- 

 natrix. 



THURGAU, OR THURGOVIA; a canton of 

 Switzerland, bounded north and north-east by lake 

 Constance, south-east and south by St Gall, and 

 south-west by Ziirich and Schaffhausen. The chief 

 town is Frauenfeld. It is divided into eight dis- 

 tricts, and has a democratic constitution. The 

 rivers are the Thur and Sitter. It is partly level, 

 and partly hilly ; but the elevations do not exceed 

 2500 feet above lake Constance. It is fertile and 

 well cultivated, producing wheat, barley, oats, rye, 

 flax, hemp, and vines, and has also good pasture. 

 Cotton and silk are manufactured, but the staple 

 article is linen. See Switzerland. 



THURINGIA (in German, Thuringeri); the 

 former name of an extensive tract, in the central 

 part of Germany, in Saxony, having Franconia on 

 the west, and Meisen on the east. In the latter 

 part of the fifth century, it was inhabited by the 

 Thuringians, who are then first mentioned in his- 

 tory, and whom some consider as a Visigothic tribe, 

 while others maintain that they are the same as 

 the Hermunduri. The kingdom of Thuringia was 

 conquered by the Prankish kings, in 530, who 

 governed it by dukes. In the thirteenth century, 

 it was annexed to Meisen, or Misnia. It was styled 

 a landgraviate, and gave the title of landgrave to 

 the elector of Saxony ; but it was subdivided among 

 many petty princes. The circle of Thuringia com- 

 prised the northern part. The name of Thuringia 

 became gradually disused after the incorporation 

 of the territory with other states. It is still, how- 

 ever, -preserved, in a limited sense, in the Thurin- 

 yian forest. The greatest part of the old Thuringia ! 

 now belongs to Prussia. See Hersog's Geschichte j 



ties Thi'irinyinflu-n I'tilkcs (Hamburg, IH'27), or 

 Galletti's Geschichte Tliurinyens (17811785, 6 

 vols.). 



THURINGIA, FOREST OF ; a hilly and woody 

 tract, in the interior of Germany, comprising a part 

 of the ancient Hercynian forest, and included 

 within the territories of Prussia, Gotta, Weimar, 

 Meiiiingen, Hildburghausen, and Coburg. It is 

 about seventy miles long, and from eight lo sixteen 

 broad; population, about 188,000; square miles, 

 about 1200. It is covered with wood; thinly 

 peopled, containing only small villages ; but rich 

 in mines, particularly of iron. The highest sum- 

 mit, Schneekopf, is about 3000 feet high. Insels- 

 berg, another summit, is nearly as high. 



THURLOW, EDWARD, baron Thurlow, lord 

 high chancellor of Great Britain, -.vas= the son. of 

 the rector of Ashfield, in Suffolk, where he was 

 born in 1732. He was educated at Caius college, 

 Cambridge ; and after having bten a student of the 

 Middle Temple, he was, in 1758, called to the 

 bar. He rose to eminence through the display of 

 his abilities in the famous Douglas cause ; and he 

 soon after obtained a silk gown. In 1770, he was 

 appointed solicitor- general, in the room of Dunning 

 (lord Ashburton), and the following year lie suc- 

 ceeded lord Walsingham as attorney-general. He 

 was now chosen member of parliament for the 

 borough of Tamworth, and became a warm and 

 powerful supporter of the ministry in the house of 

 commons. He retired from office in 1783, but 

 resumed it again on the dissolution of the coalition 

 ministry, and continued to hold the seals under the 

 premiership of Mr Pitt till 1792. His death took 

 place in September, 1806. He was succeeded in 

 the peerage by his nephew. He was never married, 

 but left three illegitimate daughters. 



THURN AND TAXIS (De la Tour, or Delia 

 Torre) ; a family of jirinces and counts in Germany, 

 which originated in Milan. The first of this family, 

 it is said, received the name Delia Torre from St 

 Ambrose, bishop of Milan (from 374 to 397), on 

 account of his defence of the new gate against the 

 Arian rebels. In 1313, Lamurald de la Tour took 

 the surname of Taszis, now Taxis. His great 

 grandson, Roger I., count of Thurn and Taxis and 

 Valsassina, went to Germany, where he established 

 the first posts (q. v.) in Tyrol. The post estab- 

 lishment in the German empire became, at a subse- 

 quent period, a fief of the family, which, in Ger- 

 many, as well as in several other countries, enjoyed 

 great privileges, so that they became rich and 

 powerful. Many important privileges have been 

 continued to this family since the new organization 

 of the German confederacy. The present head of 

 the family has an income of about 800,000 guilders 

 a year, and possesses about 260 square miles, in 

 various German countries, with 30,746 inhabitants. 

 Besides the princely line, there are four lines of 

 counts. 



THURSDAY (in Latin, dies Jovis, whence the 

 French Jeudi} ; the fifth day of the week, so called 

 from the old Teutonic god of thunder, Thor, the 

 northern Jupiter. (See Thor.~) The German 

 name for Thursday is Donnerstag (Thunder-day), 

 thunder being the chief attribute of Thor. (See 

 Maunday-Thnrsday.} Ascension day is also called 

 Holy Thursday. 



THURSO; a sea-port town in the shire of 

 Caithness, pleasantly situated on the north-west 

 coast, at the head of a spacious bay, having a good 

 harbour, formed by the estuary of the river Tliuiso, 



