THOMSON. 243 THOMSON. tion of natural liistoiy, and became in 1853 pro fessor of natural history in Queen's College, Cork. In 1860 he became professor of natural science at Belfast, and in 1870 at the Univer- sity of Kdinburgh. He early became interested in problems relating to life in the deeper parts of the sea, and in 1808, with Dr. Y. B. Car- penter, made investigations north of Scotland in the gunboat Litihtniiiij. Other ocean voyages for scientific sounding and dredging were conducted subsequently, and their results were popularlj' explained in The Drptlts of the .S'e« (1873), a volume which attracted much attention. The interest thus aroused was infiuential in caus- ing the British Government to undertake the renowned Challciu/er (q.v.) exploring expedition, the scientific conduct of which w-as given to Professor Thomson. The successful and brilliant outcome of this undertaking was recognized at its close, in 1876, by the conferring of knight- hood upon Thomson and by scientific honors from all parts of the world. Sir Wvville re- sumed his lectures at the university, and began to superintend the disposal of the scientific material from the expedition, placing it in the hands of specialists to be exhaustively studied. He prepared at once a general narrative. The Voyage of the Challenger (2 vols., 1877), but became ill in 1879 and died in 1882. Besides the books mentioned, he was the author of more tfaan forty papers of importance published in sci- entific ])eriodicals. relating largely to marine zoijlogy and especially to echinoderms, recent and fossil. He devised many of the methods and invented much of the apparatus used in deep- sea exploration (q.v.). THOMSON, Edw.rd (1810-70). A Meth- odist Episcopal bishop. He was born at Port- sea. England: came to America in 1818 and set- tled in Wooster, Ohio. He graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsyl- vania in 1829, and practiced medicine in .Jerome- ville and Wooster. He joined the Ohio Confer- ence in 1833 and was stationed at Norwalk and Sandusky. In 1836 the Michigan Conference was formed and by the division of territory he became a member of that body, and was sta- tioned at Detroit. He was principal of Norwalk Seminary, 1838-1843; editor of the Ladies' Re- pository, 1844-184.'): president of Ohio Wesley- an University 1846-1860: editor of the Christian Advocate and Journal, New York. 1860-64. He was elected bishop in 1864 ; soon after his election he made a world-wide survey of Methodist mis- sions, among many other things organizing the India ilission into an annual conference. He published iloral and Religious Essays (1856); Educational Essays (1856) : Sketches, Biograph- ical and Incidental (1866); Letters from Europe (1856); Our Oriental Missions (1870); Evidences of Revealed Religion (1872) ; THOMSON, Elihu (1853—). An American electrician. He w'as born in Manchester, Eng- land, and came to the United States in 1858. He was educated in the Philadelphia public schools and was professor of chemistry and me- chanics in the Central High School there from 1870 to 1880. Meanwhile he devoted much at- tention to the study of electricity, and lectured on that science at the Franklin Institute. In 1880 he became electrician to the American Elec- tric Company, and thereafter devoted his atten- tion to invention, especially as relating to arc ligliting, incandescent lighting, motor work in- ducting systems, and especially electric welding. He organized the Thomson-Houston Electric Company for the development of his inventions, and subsequently became associated with the General Electric Company. THOMSON, George (1757-1851). A Scottish composer, born at Limekilns, Fife. He was a constant and untiring collector of Scotch, Welsh, and Irish melodies and had the most celebrated musicians of that period engaged in writing ac- companiments for them. Each song contained a prelude, code, and ad libitum parts throughout for violin, flute, or 'cello. -Among his works are A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs; A Collection of Sonqs of Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, etc. (1822); Select Vollcction of Original ^Yclsh Airs (1809) ; and a Select Col- lection of Original Irish Airs (I8I4 to 1810); besides twentj- Scottish melodies (1839). He died at Leith. THOMSON, .James (1700-48). A Scottish ■jioet, born at Ednani, a village in Roxburghshire, where his father was minister. After attending school at .Jedburgh Abbey by the Tweed, he was sent to the University of Edinburgh (ltl5) with a view to the Church. Forsaking all thought of the ministry, he went to London to seek fame and fortune in poetry (1725). Though l)oor, he was well received by the Duke of Mont- rose and others, who helped him bring out ^'inter (1720). This poem was followed by Summer (1727) and Spring (1728). In 1730 appeared Autumn, bound with the previous poems, under the title of The Seasons. These poems, issued separately and collectively, were from the first successful, and were exceedingly popular for a full century. They marked the return of blank verse, and a feeling for nature, of which there had been very few traces since ^lilton. With The Seasons the literary historian dates the beginning of the romantic movement in English literature. Appointed in 1730 tutor to the son of Sir Charles Talbot, afterward Lord Chancellor, Thomson traveled for three years in France and Italy. On the death of his pupil (1733), he returned to London and was imme- diately appointed by the Lord Chancellor secre- tary of briefs, a sinecure, at a salary of £300 a year. He was now able to settle in a pretty cot- tage at Richmond. The death of his patron in 1737 put an end to his sinecure; but through Lyttleton he obtained from the Prince of Wales a"pension of £100 (1738). At this time he re- vised The Seasons, enlarging greatly each poem. The new edition was published in 1744. In 1740 appeared The Masque of Alfred, written by Thomson and David Mallet and containing Thom- son's famous ode, "Rule Britannia," the national patriotic hymn of England. At Richmond, too, was written Thomson's finest poem, The Castle of Indolence (1748). For it he employed the Spenserian stanza. The poem is exquisitely col- ored and reveals here and there rare gleams of imagination. Besides these significant and beautiful poems, Thomson was the author of several tragedies, of which Sophonisba, produced at Drurv Lane (February 28, 1730), was the first, anil Tancred and Sigismunda, produced at
