Thack′eray, William Makepeace, a great
novelist of England, was born at Calcutta,
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE
THACKERAY
India, in 1811.
His father was in
the civil service
of the East India
Company, and
dying young left his
son a fortune of
$100,000. When
William was
seven, he was
sent to England
and placed in the
noted Charterhouse
School,
often mentioned in
his books. He
next went to
Cambridge, and
in 1831 was at Weimar, where he saw Goethe.
His ambition was to become an artist, and
he traveled over most of Europe, studying
at Paris and at Rome. His drawings were
quaint, picturesque and truthful; his art may
be seen in the illustrations of his novels,
which, as he expressed it, were “illuminated
by the author's own candles.” But his
success in this line did not satisfy him and he
tried his hand at writing, much to the
delight of readers then and now. He first
wrote for Fraser's Magazine, in which
appeared The Great Hoggarty Diamond and
Barry Lyndon. Most of his capital had
been spent in foreign travel and losing
investments; he now adopted literature as a
profession. His Snob Papers and Jeames's
Diary in Punch made him known, but his
reputation as one of the greatest of English
novelists was made by Vanity Fair (1846-8),
which disputes the first place among
English stories with such books as Ivanhoe,
Adam Bede, Tom Jones and David Copperfield.
In 1849 he published Pendennis, one
of the best of his books, which tells his own
story. His lectures on English Humorists
and on The Four Georges were delivered in
America as well as in England. In 1852-5
appeared Henry Esmond and The Newcomes,
his finest works. He also wrote The
Virginians, a sequel to Henry Esmond, in which
Washington figures. In 1859 he became
the first editor of Cornhill Magazine.
Thackeray was tall and powerfully built,
witn massive head, and, as he aged, silvery
white hair. He died at London, Dec. 24,
1863. See Life by Trollope.
Thales (thā′lēz). Greek sage and philosopher, was born at Miletus, Asia Minor, about 640 B. C. and died about 546. One of the Seven Wise Men (q. v.) of Greece, he was noted especially as an astronomer and geometer and was the earliest of the Ionian natural philosophers, regarding water as the principle of all things. A remarkable fact concerning Thales is his predicting, so early in the history of astronomical science, an eclipse of the sun, which is alleged to have occurred on May 28, 585 B. C., though doubted on the ground that in Thales' era certain astronomical facts necessary to predict an eclipse with any chance of success were not then known. Some modern astronomers have, however, stated that the prediction of Thales did come true on the date given, and the date agrees with that given by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History.
Thallium (thăl′lĭ-ŭm), a metal discovered in London in 1861 by the use of the spectrum. It is found in certain iron and copper pyrites, of which it forms about a four-thousandth part, and some in mica. It is generally obtained from the fine dust of pyrites burners. It resembles lead in appearance, is very soft, can be hammered into leaves, tarnishes quickly, gives a green color to a flame, and forms many compounds.
Thallophytes (thăl′lō-fīts), the lowest of the four great divisions of the plant kingdom. The name means thallus-plants, the thallus being the characteristic plant-body, which is usually prostrate and has no differentiation of nutritive organs, as the roots, stems and leaves of higher plants. All parts of this body are practically alike. There are two great general divisions of the group: (1) Algæ, which contain chlorophyll and hence can manufacture their own food and live independent of any other organisms; and (2) Fungi, which do not contain chlorophyll and hence are dependent upon other organisms for their food. Besides the ordinary algæ and fungi the thallophytes contain many forms which are not classified easily, as slime-moulds, bacteria, diatoms etc. The group is an immense one, and contains the minutest of living forms, as well as some which are very bulky, as some of the seaweeds. Thallophytes are of special interest as representing the beginnings of the plant-kingdom, the group from which all the higher forms have been derived.
Thal′lus, the characteristic plant-body of the thallophytes. The thallus-body is also characteristic of the liverworts and of the gametophyte of ferns.
Thames (tĕmz), a river of England rising in Cotswold Hills and flowing to the North Sea. It is about 220 miles long, and as far as London, 60 miles from its mouth, is navigable for large vessels. It is 18 miles wide at its mouth, and the tide flows up for 72 miles. The largest river of England, it also is the most important, having as large a traffic, probably, as any river in the world. Its bridges and tunnels at London, its great docks and embankments, are a part of the sights of the city. Canals connect it with the Avon and the Severn, the Sussex coast and the canal system of central England.
Thanks′giving Day, a religious festival peculiar to the United States, resembling the Hebrew feast of ingathering. The
