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 1746, the last issued during the poet's lifetime); another edition, edited with notes philosophical, classical, historical, and biographical, by Anthony Todd Thomson, London, 1847, 16mo; another edition, illustrated by Birket Foster (and others), London, 1859, 8vo; with introduction and notes by E. E. Morris, 2 vols. Calcutta, 1869, 8vo; edited, with introductions and notes, by J. Logie Robertson, Oxford, 1891, 8vo (the influence of Thomson upon Burns is here traced with much effect); another edition, with forty-eight illustrations and Cunningham's introduction, London, 1892, 8vo; another edition, 4 vols. London and Boston, 1893, 12mo. Among the translations may be noted those into French of Mme. Chatillon Bontems (1759), Deleuze (1801), Poullin (1802), and Fremin de Beaumont (1806). Poullin's translation was described in the ‘Edinburgh Review’ for January 1806 as ‘incomparably good,’ and ‘perhaps an improvement on the original,’ a proposition which, if established, would be rightly regarded as a negation of poetic excellence of the highest order. The German translations include those of Brockes (1745), Pulte (1758), von Palthen (1766), Schubert (1789), Soltau (1803), Bruckbraen (1824), and Rosenzweig, in hexameters, 1825. Lessing, who was a great student of Thomson, left several fragments of translations from the poet's tragedies. Parts of ‘The Seasons’ have appeared in Polish (1852), Danish (1807), Dutch (1803), Romaic (1817), Latin, Italian, Spanish, and Hebrew (Berlin, 1842). A translation of the ‘Castle of Indolence’ by Lemierre d'Argy appeared at Paris in 1814.

[The chief Lives of Thomson have been those of Robert Shiels in Cibber's Lives (1753), Patrick Murdoch (1762), Dr. Johnson in Lives of the Poets (1781), G. Wright (1770), the Earl of Buchan (1792), Robert Heron (1793), Sir Harris Nicolas (1831; revised by Peter Cunningham in 1862), Bolton Corney's Annotations on Murdoch (1842), Robert Bell (1855), Edward E. Morris (1869), and J. Logie Robertson (1891). But all these have been superseded by the elaborate James Thomson, sa Vie et ses Œuvres, by Dr. Léon Morel (Paris, 1895, 678 pp., large 8vo, with a copious list of authorities), which constitutes a pattern biography both in respect to exhaustive research and sound literary criticism. Prefixed is an exceptionally good engraving after Paton by J. Sévrette. The present article has had the advantage of Dr. Morel's revision. Since Dr. Morel wrote have appeared a detailed criticism of Thomson by M. Lefèvre Deumier in his Célébrités Anglaises, 1895; a careful biography prefixed to the Aldine edition of his Works, 1897, by the Rev. D. C. Tovey; Bayne's Life of Thomson, 1898; G. C. Macaulay in English Men of Letters ser. 1908. See also Texte's Cosmopolitisme Littéraire, 1895; E. B. Chancellor's Richmond, pp. 248 sq.; Gent. Mag. 1803 i. 6, 1819 ii. 295, 399, 1821 ii. 223, 300, 397 (a long essay on Thomson and Young), 1841 i. 145, ii. 564, 1843 i. 602–3 (by Bolton Corney); Leigh Hunt's Men, Women, and Books, 1878, pp. 225 sq., and The Town, 1859, p. 368; Younger's Autobiography, 1881, chap. xiii.; Elihu Burritt, Memorial Vol., p. 239; Stephen's English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, ii. 360–2; Trevelyan's Macaulay, 1878, i. 482; Minto's Georgian Era, pp. 51 sq.; Goodhugh's Libr. Man. 1824; Veitch's Feeling for Nature in Scottish Poetry, 1887; Wool's Life of Joseph Warton, 1806, p. 253; Spence's Anecd., ed. Singer; Ticknor's Spanish Literature, 1888, iii. 371; Philobiblon Soc. Publ. vol. iv. (containing letters); Genest's Hist. of the Stage, vol. v.; Dennis's Age of Pope, pp. 86–95; Montégut's Heures de lecture, 1891, pp. 190–3 (on the relations of Thomson and Collins); Dr. G. Schmeding's Jacob Thomson, Brunswick, 1889; Notes and Queries, 6th ser. ii. 447, 7th ser. ii. 410, vi. 268, 393, 8th ser. vi. 4–5, xii. 389–91; Sat. Rev., 20 Feb. 1897; Book Prices Current, 1889–97.]  THOMSON, JAMES (1786–1849), mathematician, born on 13 Nov. 1786, was fourth son of James Thomson, a small farmer at Annaghmore, near Ballynahinch, co. Down (the house is now called Spamount), by his wife, Agnes Nesbit. His early teaching was received solely from his father. At the age of eleven or twelve he had found out for himself the art of dialling. Seeing his strong bent for scientific pursuits, his father sent him to a school at Ballykine, near Ballynahinch, kept by Samuel Edgar, father of John Edgar [q. v.] Here Thomson soon rose to be an assistant. Wishing to become a minister of the presbyterian church, he in 1810 entered Glasgow University, where he studied for several sessions, supporting himself by teaching in the Ballykine school during the summer. He graduated M.A. in 1812, in 1814 he was appointed headmaster of the school of ‘arithmetic, bookkeeping, and geography’ in the newly established Academical Institution, Belfast; and in 1815 professor of mathematics in its collegiate department. Here he proved himself a teacher of rare ability.dannce dance dance dance ass ass ass ass In 1829 the honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the university of Glasgow, where in 1832 he was appointed professor of mathematics. He held this post till his death on 12 Jan. 1849.

Thomson married, in 1817, Margaret, eldest daughter of William Gardiner of Glasgow (she died in 1830), by whom he had four sons and three daughters, whose education he conducted with the utmost care. James


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  (1822–1892) [q. v.] and William, afterwards Lord Kelvin (1824–1908), were the two elder sons.

There is a good portrait of Thomson, by Grahame Gilbert, formerly belonging to Lord Kelvin. A copy of it hangs in the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow.

He was the author of the following schoolbooks, which long enjoyed a high reputation and passed through many editions: 1. ‘Arithmetic,’ Belfast, 1819; 72nd edit. London, 1880. 2. ‘Trigonometry, Plane and Spherical,’ Belfast, 1820; 4th edit. London, 1844. 3. ‘Introduction to Modern Geography,’ Belfast, 1827. 4. ‘The Phenomena of the Heavens,’ Belfast, 1827. 5. ‘The Differential and Integral Calculus,’ 1831; 2nd edit. London, 1848. 6. ‘Euclid,’ 1834. 7. ‘Atlas of Modern Geography.’ 8. ‘Algebra,’ 1844. A very graphic paper, entitled ‘Recollections of the Battle of Ballynahinch, by an Eye-witness,’ which appeared in the ‘Belfast Magazine’ for February 1825, was from his pen.

[Sketch written in 1862 by his son, Professor James Thomson, in consultation with Professor William Thomson (subsequently Lord Kelvin), in Poggendorff's Biographisch-literarisches Handwörterbuch; Memoir of Professor James Thomson, jun., by J. T. Bottomley, F.R.S., in Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, 1892–3; information kindly supplied by Thomson's grandchildren, Mr. James Thomson and Miss Thomson, Newcastle-on-Tyne.]  THOMSON, JAMES (1788–1850), engraver, was baptised on 5 May 1788 at Mitford, Northumberland, where his father, James Thomson, afterwards vicar of Ormesby, Yorkshire, was then acting as curate. Showing a taste for art, he was sent to London to be articled to an engraver named Mackenzie, and on the voyage from Shields was nine weeks at sea. After completing his apprenticeship with Mackenzie, he worked for two years under Anthony Cardon [q. v.], and then established himself independently. He became an accomplished engraver in the dot and stipple style, devoting himself almost exclusively to portraits, and was largely engaged upon important illustrated works, including Lodge's ‘Portraits of Illustrious Personages,’ Fisher's ‘National Portrait Gallery,’ Walpole's ‘Anecdotes of Painting,’ Heath's ‘Book of Beauty,’ Mrs. Mee's ‘Gallery of Beauties,’ the ‘Keepsake,’ the ‘Court Magazine,’ and ‘Ancient Marbles in the British Museum.’ Thomson's principal single plates are the portraits of Mrs. Storey, after Lawrence, 1826; Lady Burghersh and her sisters, after Lawrence, 1827; John Wesley, after Jackson, 1828; Charles James Blomfield, bishop of London, after Richmond, 1847; the queen riding with Lord Melbourne, after Sir Francis Grant; Prince Albert, after Sir William Charles Ross; and Louis-Philippe and his queen, a pair, after E. Dubufe, 1850. He died at his house in Albany Street, London, on 27 Sept. 1850. By his wife, whose maiden name was Lloyd, he had two daughters, one of whom, Ann, married Frederick Goodall, R.A.

[Ottley's Dict. of Painters and Engravers; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Gent. Mag. 1850, ii. 558; Mitford Parish Register.]  THOMSON, JAMES (1768–1855), editor of the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica,’ born in May 1768 at Crieff in Perthshire, was the second son of John Thomson by his wife, Elizabeth Ewan. Thomas Thomson (1773–1852) [q. v.] was his younger brother. James was educated at the parish school, and afterwards proceeded to Edinburgh University. He was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Haddington on 6 Aug. 1793, and frequently assisted his uncle, John Ewan, minister of Whittingham, East Lothian. In 1795 he became associated with George Gleig [q. v.], bishop of Brechin, as co-editor of the third edition of the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica.’ He wrote several articles himself, including those on ‘Scripture,’ ‘Septuagint,’ and ‘Superstition.’ That on ‘Scripture’ was retained in several later editions. During the same period he prepared an edition of the ‘Spectator,’ with short biographies of the contributors (Newcastle, 1799, 8 vols. 8vo). In 1796 he became tutor to the sons of John Stirling of Kippendavie, and resigned his post on the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica’ to his younger brother, Thomas Thomson (1773–1852) [q. v.] Both brothers were constant contributors to the ‘Literary Journal’ founded in 1803 by James Mill [q. v.], James Thomson contributing the philosophic articles. On 26 Aug. 1805 Thomson was ordained minister of Eccles, Berwickshire. In his country life he devoted himself to the study of the Bible in the original tongues, and to the careful editing of his discourses on St. Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. In 1842 he received the honorary degree of D.D. from the university of St. Andrews, and in 1847 he resigned his charge and retired to Edinburgh. In 1854 he removed to London, where he died on 28 Nov. 1855.

On 10 Oct. 1805 Thomson married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of James Skene of Aberdeen, second son of George Skene of Skene, Aberdeenshire. She died in 1851, leaving three sons: Robert Dundas Thomson [q. v.]; James Thomson, chairman of the government bank of Madras; and Andrew Skene Thomson, besides a daughter Eliza.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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 paper on ‘The Effect of Pressure in lowering the Freezing-point of Water,’ communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in January 1849 (printed in its ‘Transactions,’ vol. xvi. pp. 541 seq., and republished in the ‘Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal’ in November 1850), he expounded the principles which in 1857 he used as the foundation of his explanation of the plasticity of ice, a subject which continued to engage his attention for years. The results of his researches appeared from time to time in the ‘Proceedings’ of the Royal Society, the most important dealing with ‘crystallisation and liquefaction as influenced by stresses tending to change of form in the crystals’ (December 1861). Many other subjects occupied his active mind. He extended to an important degree the discoveries of his Belfast colleague, Dr. Thomas Andrews, on the continuity of the gaseous and liquid states of matter, made valuable researches on the grand currents of atmospheric circulation, investigated the jointed prismatic structure seen at the Giant's Causeway and elsewhere, and the flow of water in rivers. Papers from his pen on these subjects and others will be found in the ‘Proceedings’ of the Royal Society.

Thomson received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Glasgow in 1870, that of D.Sc. in 1875 from the Queen's University in Ireland, and that of LL.D. from the university of Dublin in 1878. He was elected F.R.S. in 1877.

A practical failure of eyesight obliged him to resign his chair at Glasgow in 1889, and on 8 May 1892 he died, and was followed to the grave within a few days by his second daughter and by his wife. He married, in 1853, Elizabeth, daughter of William John Hancock, Lurgan, co. Armagh, and sister of Dr. Neilson Hancock, professor of jurisprudence and political economy in Queen's College, Belfast. He had one son and two daughters.

[Memoir by J. T. Bottomley, F.R.S., in Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, 1892–3; obituary notice in Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. liii.; information kindly supplied by his son and daughter, Mr. James Thomson and Miss Thomson, Newcastle-on-Tyne; Addison's Glasgow University Graduates, 1898.]  THOMSON, JAMES BRUCE (1810–1873), pioneer of criminology, born in 1810 at Fenwick in Ayrshire, was son of James Thomson, by his wife Helen Bruce. The parents appear to have died while their two sons were youths, and the boys were left in destitute circumstances, but they were educated at the cost of a friend. James was sent to Glasgow University, and took his diploma as a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1845. Thereupon he proceeded to practise in Tillicoultry. While there Thomson acted as factory surgeon, and his first contribution to medical literature was a paper on the beneficial effects of the oil used in the manufacture of wool on the health of the workers. This brought him some repute, and Sir John Kincaid, inspector of prisons, directed the attention of the general board of prisons to his abilities. In consequence he was appointed first resident surgeon to her Majesty's general prison in Perth in 1858.

Thomson was thus placed in medical charge of a large number of prisoners, and the experience so gained enabled him to communicate to the medical periodicals of the day a series of able and important papers on the problems suggested by crime and criminals. In 1872 his health broke down, and he suffered from gangrene of the leg for many months before his death on 19 Jan. 1873. He married Miss Agnes Laing about 1845, but the marriage proved unfortunate, and resulted in a separation. There were no children.

Thomson's published papers were chiefly contributed to the ‘Edinburgh Medical Journal’ and to the ‘Journal of Mental Science’ between 1860 and 1870. In the ordinary course of duty he prepared annual official returns to the general board of prisons, Scotland; and with Sir Robert Christison [q. v.] in 1865 a special report on the prison dietaries of Scotland, with details of the regulations then in force and suggestions as to the future. His papers in the ‘Journal of Mental Science’ present Thomson in the important light of the pioneer of criminology in this country. He was the first medical writer of Great Britain to investigate the mental and physical condition of criminals from the modern scientific point of view, and to attempt a scientific estimate of the relations of crime with mental and physical disease. He made researches into the history of criminal families, and found that heredity was the prime factor of criminality, and that environment determined the almost inevitable issue. Thomson outlined the physical appearances of criminals—what are now called the stigmata of degeneration. He showed that tubercular disease was the chief ailment of the criminal class, diseases of the nervous system taking the next place in order of frequency. The close connection between insanity and crime he illustrated by the conclusion that


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 one in forty-seven of the criminal class was insane.

These decisive communications, based upon large experience and careful study, gave an impulse to the scientific investigation of the criminological branch of anthropology. That study had been wisely inaugurated in France by Morel and Despine, and has been followed out by the school of Lombroso in a manner provocative of destructive criticism. Thomson stated his opinion too briefly, and did not deal with the statistics at his command in sufficient detail; but he led the way for those who command modern instruments of precision and wider opportunities of research.

THOMSON, JOHN (1778–1840), landscape-painter, was the fourth son of Thomas Thomson, minister of Dailly, Ayrshire, and of his second wife Mary, daughter of Francis Hay. Born in his father's manse on 1 Sept. 1778, he was educated at the parish school, and sent to Glasgow University to study for the ministry, that being the family profession followed by his grandfather and great-grandfather as well as by his father. He attended Glasgow University in 1791–2, but his elder brother, (1768–1852) [q. v.], having removed to Edinburgh to study law, he followed him thither at the beginning of the following winter session (1793). Through Lady Hailes, a former parishioner of their father's, they were introduced to the best kind of Edinburgh society, and included Francis Jeffrey and Walter Scott (then young advocates) among their friends. During his course at Edinburgh John, who had always the desire to be a painter, devoted the vacations to sketching and studying nature among the charming woodland scenery of his Ayrshire home. During his last session (1798–9) he received some lessons from [q. v.], to whom most of the early Scots landscape-painters were indebted for such training as they had.

On his father's death, on 19 Feb. 1799, Thomson, through powerful influence, was presented by the crown as his successor in Dailly. He was ordained on 24 April 1800.

An important change in Thomson's life took place in 1805, when, through the interest of Scott, the Marquis of Abercorn presented Thomson to the parish of Duddingston in Midlothian. At Dailly he had lived much alone; his art was hardly known beyond the borders of his parish, and little approved of by his flock, while his pictures were given to friends as presents. But at Duddingston all this was altered. He made the acquaintance of many notable men in the then brilliant society of Edinburgh, and enjoyed the society of other artists, entertaining Turner as his guest in 1822. His talent as a landscape-painter soon became talked of, and we are told he had difficulty in supplying those anxious to possess his pictures. For ten years (1820–30) he is said to have made 1,800l. a year by his art, an income which no Scottish landscape-painter resident in Scotland has perhaps equalled.

At the exhibitions in Edinburgh, beginning in 1808, he showed over a hundred pictures; and when, on the institution of the Scottish Academy, he declined because of his clerical office to become an ordinary member, he was elected (1830) an honorary one. Thomson's love for art was not confined to painting; he was also passionately fond of music, and played the violin and the flute. He was a member of the Friday Club, to which social body Dugald Stewart, Alison, and Brougham belonged; and he contributed several articles on scientific subjects to the ‘Edinburgh Review,’ then recently started.

Thomson died on 28 Oct. 1840. He was twice married: first, on 7 July 1801, to Isabella, daughter of John Ramsay, minister of Kirkmichael in Ayrshire. She died on 18 April 1809, leaving two sons—Thomas and John—and two daughters; the younger, Isabella, was married to [q. v.] Thomson married, secondly, on 6 Dec. 1813, Frances Ingram Spence, widow of Martin Dalrymple of Fordel, Fifeshire. By her he had three sons—Francis, Charles, and Henry—and a daughter, Mary Helen.

Although lack of early and systematic training crippled his powers and prevented him from attaining full command of his mediums, Thomson was the greatest Scottish landscape-painter of his time, and the first to grasp and fitly express the ruggedness and strength of Scottish scenery. He appeared at a time when romance was in the ascendant, and his pictures bear evidence of the influence of its spirit. His earlier work was influenced by the Dutch painters, who were then in fashion; but gradually he came to think that Scottish scenery was ‘peculiarly suited to a treatment in which grandeur and wildness to a certain extent were the leading characteristics.’ As a rule the influence of Salvator Rosa and the Poussins, of whose work he possessed examples, is evident in his landscape, which, despite exaggeration of sentiment and a tendency to melodrama, possesses unity of idea, harmony


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 of colour, distinction of style, and a certain grandeur of impression and design. For its time it has also freshness and originality of observation. Many of his pictures, owing to his habit of painting upon an insufficiently hardened ground of flour boiled with vinegar, which he described as ‘parritch,’ and a reckless use of asphaltum and megilp, are now in a very bad state of preservation. His slighter and more directly painted pictures are, however, in a much sounder state, and some of them betray a sensitiveness and charm of handling which one would hardly expect from his more elaborate work.

His pictures are to be found principally in the mansions of the Lothians and neighbouring counties and in Edinburgh. He is well represented in the National Gallery of Scotland by a series of works which shows the range of his art; there are two small examples in Glasgow, and a watercolour is in the historical collection at South Kensington. Of recent years his work has attracted considerable attention, and in 1895 twenty-four of his pictures were shown at the Grafton Gallery exhibition of Scottish old masters.

In the Scottish National Gallery there are two portraits of Thomson—one by Scott Lauder, and one by William Wallace; a second by Wallace is at present in the Scottish Portrait Gallery, and a head and shoulders by Raeburn belongs to Mr. Stirling of Keir. The last has been engraved in mezzotint by Alexander Hay.

THOMSON, JOHN (1805–1841), musical writer, eldest son of [q. v.], successively minister of Sprouston, Perthshire, and St. George's, Edinburgh, by his wife, Jane Carmichael (d. 1840), was born at Sprouston on 28 Oct. 1805. He made the acquaintance of Mendelssohn on the composer's visit to Edinburgh in 1829, and renewed his acquaintance at Leipzig, where he also met Schumann and Moscheles, and studied under Schnyder von Wartensee. He returned to Edinburgh, and in 1839 he was elected first Reid professor of the theory of music in the university there. He gave the first Reid concert on 12 Feb. 1841, and the book of words contains a critical analysis by Thomson of the pieces produced—probably the first instance of analytical programmes.

Thomson died at Edinburgh on 6 May 1841, having occupied the chair for only eighteen months. Six months before his death he married a daughter of (1779–1859) [q. v.], principal of Edinburgh University.

He was the composer of three operas: He also published ‘The Vocal Melodies of Scotland, with Symphonies and Accompaniments by John Thomson and Finlay Dunn,’ Edinburgh, n.d. 4to; new edit. 1880. He wrote many compositions for the piano and violin, and among a large number of songs the best known are ‘The Arab to his Steed,’ ‘Harold Harfäger,’ and ‘The Pirate's Serenade.’
 * 1) ‘Hermann, or the Broken Spear,’ 1834;
 * 2) ‘The House of Aspen;’ and
 * 3) ‘The Shadow on the Wall;’ the two latter, produced at the Royal English Opera (Lyceum) on 27 Oct. 1834 and 21 April 1835 respectively, each enjoying a long run.

THOMSON, JOHN (1765–1846), physician and surgeon, born at Paisley on 15 March 1765, the son of Joseph Thomson, a silk-weaver, by his wife, Mary Millar. John was engaged in trade under different masters for about three years, until at the age of eleven he was bound apprentice to his father for seven years. At the end of his term of service his father destined him for the ministry of the anti-burgher seceders. John, however, desiring to study medicine, persuaded his father to apprentice him in 1785 to Dr. White of Paisley, with whom he remained for three years. He entered the university of Glasgow in the winter session of 1788–9, and in the following year migrated to Edinburgh. He was appointed assistant apothecary at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, in September 1790, and in the following September he became house-surgeon to the institution under the designation of surgeon's clerk, having already from the previous June filled the office of an assistant physician's clerk. He became a member of the Medical Society at the beginning of the winter session in 1790–1, and in the following year he was elected one of its presidents. On 31 July 1792 Thomson resigned his appointment at the infirmary on account of ill-health, and proceeded to


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, where he studied awhile at John Hunter's school of medicine in Leicester Square.

In London Thomson made many valuable friendships, and on his return to Edinburgh early in 1793 he became a fellow of the College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the necessary funds being provided by Hogg, the manager of the Paisley bank. Until the autumn of 1798 he lived with an Edinburgh surgeon, named Arrott, and attended the Royal Infirmary as a surgeon. During this period he was much engaged in the study of chemistry. He conducted a chemical class during the winter of 1799–1800 which met at Thomson's private house, under the auspices of the Earl of Lauderdale, and consisted chiefly of gentlemen connected with the parliament house. In 1800 he was nominated one of the six surgeons to the Royal Infirmary under an amended scheme for the better management of the charity, and he almost immediately entered upon the teaching of surgery. He also gave a course of lectures on the nature and treatment of those injuries and diseases which come under the care of the military surgeon, and he visited London in the autumn of 1803 to be appointed a hospital mate in the army in order to qualify himself technically to take charge of a military hospital should it be found necessary to establish one in Edinburgh in case of an invasion.

The College of Surgeons of Edinburgh established a professorship of surgery in 1805, and, in spite of extraordinary opposition—mainly on political grounds—Thomson was appointed to the post. In 1806, at the suggestion of Earl Spencer, the home secretary, the king appointed him professor of military surgery in the university of Edinburgh. On 11 Jan. 1808 Thomson obtained the degree of M.D. from the university and King's College of Aberdeen. In 1810 he resigned his post at the Royal Infirmary in consequence of the refusal of the managers to investigate some criticisms on his surgery by John Bell (1763–1820) [q. v.] He continued to lecture, however, and in the summer of 1814 he visited the various medical schools in Europe to examine into the different methods followed in the hospitals of France, Italy, Austria, Saxony Prussia, Hanover, and Holland. He was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh on 7 Feb. 1815, since he was now acting as a consulting physician as well as a consulting surgeon. In the ensuing summer he again returned to the continent to watch the treatment of the men wounded at Waterloo, and in September 1815 he was mainly instrumental in founding the Edinburgh New Town dispensary. The smallpox epidemic of 1817–18 showed that vaccination was not so absolutely protective as had been supposed, and Thomson published his views upon the subject in two pamphlets, issued respectively in 1820 and in 1822. He delivered a course of lectures on diseases of the eye in the summer of 1819, thereby paving the way for the establishment of the first eye infirmary in Edinburgh in 1824. He was much engaged during 1822–6 in the study of general pathology, and in 1821 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the chair of the practice of physic in the university, rendered vacant by the death of James Gregory (1753–1821) [q. v.] In 1828–9 and again in 1829–30 he delivered a course of lectures on the practice of physic, both courses being given in conjunction with his son, William Thomson (1802–1852) [q. v.] In 1831 he addressed to Lord Melbourne, then secretary of state for the home department, a memorial representing the advantages likely to flow from the establishment of a separate chair of general pathology. A commission was issued in his favour, and he was appointed professor of general pathology in the university, giving his first course of lectures upon this subject in the winter session of 1832–3.

Repeated attacks of illness compelled him to discontinue his visits to patients after the summer of 1835, but he still continued to see those who chose to call upon him. He resigned his professorship in 1841. The duties had long been performed by deputy. He died at Morland Cottage, near the foot of Blackford Hill, on the south side of Edinburgh, on 11 Oct. 1846.

Thomson was twice married: first, in 1793, to Margaret Crawford, second daughter of John Gordon of Caroll in Sutherlandshire; she died early in 1804. Secondly, in 1806, to Margaret, third daughter of John Millar (1735–1801) [q. v.], professor of jurisprudence in the university of Glasgow. There were three children by the first marriage, the only survivor being Professor William Thomson, while of the second marriage a daughter and Professor Allen Thomson [q. v.] alone outlived childhood.

Thomson died with the reputation of being in his time the most learned physician in Scotland. ‘To almost the last week of his life he was a hard student,’ says Henry Cockburn in his journal, ‘and not even fourscore years could quench his ardour in discoursing upon science, morals, or politics. … He never knew apathy, and, medicine being his first field, he was for forty years the most exciting of all our practitioners and of all our teachers.’


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 There is an excellent portrait by Geddes. It was presented to Thomson in 1822 by the medical officers of the army and navy who had attended his lectures, and it has been well engraved in mezzotint by Hodgetts. A characteristic marble bust copied from that executed by Angus Fletcher about 1820 is in the hall of the library of the university of Edinburgh.

Thomson wrote in addition to many pamphlets of ephemeral interest:
 * 1) ‘The Elements of Chemistry and Natural History, to which is prefixed the Philosophy of Chemistry by M. Fourcroy,’ translated with notes, vol. i. Edinburgh, 1798, vol. ii. 1799, vol. iii. 1800; the work reached a fifth edition.
 * 2) ‘Observations on Lithotomy, with a new Manner of Cutting for Stone,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1808. An appendix was issued in 1810. The original work and the appendix were translated into French, Paris, 1818.
 * 3) ‘Lectures on Inflammation: a View of the general Doctrines of Medical Surgery,’ Edinburgh, 8vo, 1813; issued in America, Philadelphia, 1817, and again in 1831; translated into German, Halle, 1820, and into French, Paris, 1827. This important series of lectures was founded upon the Hunterian theory of inflammation, and moulded the opinion of the profession for many years, but of late the study of experimental pathology has profoundly modified our views of inflammatory processes.

Thomson also edited ‘The Works of William Cullen, M.D.,’ Edinburgh, 1827, 8vo, 2 vols., and wrote an account of his life, of which volume i. was published in 1832, and was reissued, with a second volume and biographical notices of John and William Thomson, in 1859.

THOMSON, JOSEPH (1858–1894), African explorer, fifth son of William Thomson, by his wife Agnes Brown, was born on 14 Feb. 1858 in the village of Penpont, Dumfriesshire, in a house which his father—at first a journeyman stonemason—had built for himself and his family. In 1868 the household removed to Gatelawbridge, where William Thomson became tenant of a farm and a freestone quarry. Under the stimulus of his father's example and the quaint enthusiasm of a neighbour, Dr. Thomas Boyle Grierson, Thomson as a lad developed a keen interest in geology as well as in other branches of natural science. To Dr. Grierson's local ‘Society of Inquiry’ he contributed papers on the ‘Peroxide of Iron in the Sandstone of Gatelawbridge Quarry,’ ‘Some Peculiar Markings in the Sandstone of Gatelawbridge Quarry,’ and ‘The Stratification of the Sandstone of Gatelawbridge Quarry, with special reference to the Unconformable Character of certain Strata.’ From 1871 onwards the geological survey was at work in Nithsdale, and by a happy chance the young geologist fell under the notice of Professor Archibald Geikie at Crichope Linn, and had the delight of learning that his own eye had discovered in his native rocks three ‘fossil ferns’ till then unknown there. Leaving school in 1873, Thomson worked for a short time in his father's quarry, but by the winter of 1875 he had made up his mind to study his favourite sciences in the university of Edinburgh. In his first session, besides studying geology under Professor James Geikie and botany under Professor [q. v.], he had the opportunity of attending a course of lectures on natural history by Professor Huxley. In 1877 he came out as medallist both in geology and in natural history.

In 1878 Thomson was appointed geologist and naturalist to an expedition under (1844–1879) [q. v.], which was sent out by the Royal Geographical Society for the exploration of East Central Africa. The expedition reached Zanzibar on 5 Jan. 1879. On 19 May a start for the interior was made. By the death of Keith Johnston on 28 June 1879 within the malarial zone at Behobeho, Thomson suddenly found himself leader of the expedition. He reached Lake Tanganyika on 3 Nov., and on Christmas day had the pleasure of confirming Stanley's theory as to the geographical relations of the Lukuga outlet of the lake. After a brief visit to Ujiji on the eastern shore, Thomson again started westwards with the intention of reaching the headwaters of the Congo; but a mutiny of his men—alarmed at the risks they ran from the warlike Warua—obliged him to turn back (1 March 1880) when within a day's march of the river. His homeward route from the south end of the lake northward towards Tabora gave him an opportunity of making a detour to the neighbourhood of Lake Leopold (Lake Hikwa), which he was the first white man to see. By 27 May 1880 Thomson was resting at Tabora (Unyanyembe), and after a march of five hundred miles he reached the coast on 10 July. He recorded his experiences in ‘To the African Lakes and Back’ (2 vols. 1881).


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 Thomson's next enterprise was undertaken for the sultan of Zanzibar, who believed that the coal reported by Livingstone in 1862 as existing in the Rovuma valley might be turned to profitable account. The sultan invited Thomson to make an expert examination. This Thomson carried out in 1881. The result was a disappointment to the sultan—the ‘coal’ was only useless shale.

A very different task was that to which Thomson, under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society, next braced himself—the opening up of a route between the seaboard of Eastern Africa and the northern shore of Victoria Nyanza. He left the coast with a caravan 140 strong on 15 March 1882, and reached Taveta, at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, on 5 May. On 3 May the expedition entered the territory of the dreaded Masai, to find the tribe in a state of dangerous excitement as the result of a recent conflict with a party led by Dr. Fischer, a German explorer. Forming an encampment at Taveta, Thomson proceeded with ten men to examine the Kilimanjaro mountain, and, having travelled 230 miles in five and a half marches, he ascended the mountain to a height of nearly nine thousand feet. September found the explorer at Lake Navaisha, where Fischer had been obliged to turn homeward. At El Meteita Thomson left his main body to proceed with a trading caravan to Lake Baringo, and, taking with him only thirty men, made one of those rapid detours, which were always congenial to him, for the purpose of visiting Mount Kenia. On the way he discovered the noble range, fourteen thousand feet high, which he named after Lord Aberdare, president of the Royal Geographical Society. On reaching the neighbourhood of Lake Baringo (3,300 feet above sea level) he took a much-needed rest at Njemps or Nnems (0.30 N., 36.5 E.) among the friendly Wa-Kwafi. Having (16 Nov.) once more got his caravan (reduced to about a hundred men) into marching order, he pushed steadily and patiently from Baringo eastwards to Victoria Nyanza, and on 10 Dec. he bathed in the waters of the great birth-lake of the Nile. Here he was obliged to retrace his steps owing to the treacherous hostility of the king of Uganda, which was reported to him in time. On his homeward route he turned northwards to visit Mount Elgon (14,094 feet), and was rewarded by a discovery of a wonderful series of prehistoric caves suggestive of the existence at one time of a civilisation very different from that half-barbarism which now turns them to account. On the last day of 1882 Thomson was nearly killed by a wounded buffalo, and for weeks he had to be carried in a litter. On 24 Feb. 1883 the caravan resumed its march for Lake Naivasha, but by the 27th its leader was disabled by dysentery, and further progress was impossible for eight or nine weeks. Meanwhile the expedition was in daily danger of complete annihilation from the ferocious and suspicious Masai. Towards the end of April the appearance of Jumba Kimameta, a coast trader, along with whose caravan part of the inland journey had been performed, gave a happy turn to events. On 7 May Thomson parted with this friendly caravan, and carried out his original idea of making for Mombasa via Teita. By the 24th he had reached Rabai, and celebrated the event by walking through the village—the first walk he had taken for three months.

On his return to London in broken health in the summer of 1883 he was received with the utmost cordiality. Explorer after explorer had been previously baffled in attempts to traverse the country of the Masai, one of the most warlike of all African tribes, and Thomson's record of heroic endurance and adventurous bravery, which he published under the title of ‘Through Masai Land,’ took the world by storm.

By the end of 1884 Thomson was fit to undertake new explorations, and when, in 1885, the Royal Geographical Society bestowed on him the founder's gold medal, he was already in the Western Sudan. On this occasion he was in the service of the National African Company, and his mission was to forestall the efforts of Germany to enter into direct relations with the kings of Sokoto and Gand[ua]. The chief difficulties lay in outwitting Malikè, king of N[ua]pe, who considered his interests as a middleman endangered, and in reducing a mob of undisciplined and mutinous carriers to a recognition of authority. Starting from Akassa (15 March 1885), the expedition passed up the Niger to Rabba (7 April) and thence struck inland to Sokoto (21 May), Wurnū (23 May), and Gand[ua] (7 or 8 June). By September Thomson was in England once more with a record of work brilliantly done. He had made treaties with the great potentates of the Sudan which proved of the highest service to British interests.

Thomson's health was still weak, and the remainder of 1885, with 1886 and 1887, was devoted to its restoration. He paid during this period visits to the continent and made useful contributions to questions of geographical and political interest. He strongly advocated the selection of the east coast Masai-land route for the expedition to be sent for the relief of Emin Pasha; but his rival,


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 Mr. Stanley, with whom he had more than once crossed swords on African affairs, carried out another scheme.

On 17 March 1888 Thomson set foot again on his chosen continent. On this occasion he elected to explore, on his own account, the Atlas mountains in Morocco. The difficulties thrown in his way were as great as any he had yet experienced. The escort provided by the Morocco authorities, under the pretence of protecting him, did everything to hamper and limit his movements. But Thomson overcame all obstruction. He reached Jebel Ogdimt, a height of 12,734 feet, and climbed 13,150 feet up Tizi-n-Tamjurt, but these explorations were brought to a close by a call from the British East African Company to enter their service. The company intended that he should go to the relief of Emin from the east coast, news of Stanley's expedition having been long looked for in vain. The proposal, however was not carried out.

In the controversies of 1888–9 with regard to the government policy of withdrawal from East Africa, Thomson took a keen interest and denounced in no measured terms what he considered the pusillanimity and treachery of the British authorities.

In 1890 he once more entered upon active service, this time in the interest of the British South African Company. He proceeded to Kimberley to receive instructions from Mr. Cecil Rhodes. Under those instructions his new explorations began at Quilimane. To circumvent the jealousy of the Portuguese was his foremost task. By pluck he passed in safety through their territory—goods and all—though at the last moment he just escaped with his life from a fusillade by native soldiers. The Shire being abandoned at Chilomo, Thomson's route ran northwards by Blantyre to join the Shire at Matopè, and then passed further northwards by water to Kota-Kota on the western shore of Lake Nyassa. With a caravan of 148 men he left Kota-Kota on 23 Aug. 1890. Marching west to the populous valley of the Loangwa, he made his first treaty with Kabwiré, chief of the Babisa. At Kwa Nansara (21 Sept.) the expedition was in the midst of a small-pox epidemic. Man after man dropped out of the march as they pushed forward to Lake Bangweolo. On 29 Sept. Thomson was attacked with cystitis and was obliged to be carried in a hammock. Happily two young Englishmen, Charles Wilson and J. A. Grant, who were with him proved excellent lieutenants. Threatened with desertion by his men, Thomson failed to penetrate beyond Kwa Chepo, where he found himself compelled to retrace his steps. When the expedition reached Blantyre (19 Feb. 1891) the leader found himself unable to proceed; Grant was entrusted with the documents to be delivered to the company; Wilson stayed behind, only to fall a victim to fever. The medical missionaries at Blantyre could do little more than alleviate the worst symptoms of Thomson's disease, and it was with difficuly he reached London on 18 Oct. 1891. The results of this mission were only partially divulged, the full report being still the private property of the company.

Thomson's health was permanently injured. In 1892, though weak and suffering, he visited the British Association, then holding its meeting in the university of Edinburgh; and in the latter part of the year he performed a considerable amount of literary work. On 22 Nov. he read a paper before the Royal Geographical Society, ‘To Lake Bangweolo and the Unexplored Region of British Central Africa.’ Shortly afterwards he was prostrated by disease of the lungs, following an attack of pneumonia, and he visited the Cape in search of health. First at Matjesfontein and then at Kimberley (where he was the guest of Mr. Rhodes) his vitality responded to the healing influences of the climate, and by December he was planning an expedition to Mashonaland. The expedition being postponed, Thomson again ventured home. Lung disease broke out once more. A visit (October–May) to Southern France did him little good. By the middle of May he was brought back to London, and there, in the house of Mr. S. W. Silver, he died 2 Aug. 1895. He was buried in Morton cemetery, Thornhill. A memorial, with a bust by Mr. Charles MacBride, was placed in 1897 near the village cross, opposite the school that the explorer had attended as a boy.

In physique, intellect, and morale, Thomson was an ideal explorer. At first sight he did not impress the observer as peculiarly muscular or robust; but there was an almost boyish ease in his gait, and his powers of endurance were often without parallel. Seventy miles was no infrequent record at the end of a day's march. While his work was mainly that of a geographical pioneer, yet in his most rapid passages through a country he had such a genius for observing that his notebooks were filled with material that most men would have taken months to collect. The first thing that appealed to his eye was the geological features of the country. No African explorer under similar circumstances ever made such extensive additions to the geological map of the continent. He laid down the master lines of structure over vast areas with an ease and accuracy which


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  those who have followed in his footsteps. To zoology and botany he made serious contributions in spite of the difficulties attached to the collection and conveyance of specimens during forced marches and forced inactivity. Several newly described botanical species in Central Africa were named after him (, British Central Africa, pp. 90, 259, 271, 280). But above all stands Thomson's capacity of dealing with men. He passed through the midst of the most ferocious of African tribes when their hostility against the white man was at fever heat without firing a shot in self-defence or leaving anywhere a needless grave.

As literature Thomson's records of his explorations take a high place. Besides a novel, ‘Ulu’ (1888), a psychological study of the African mind, written in collaboration with his friend Miss E. Harris-Smith (Mrs. Calder), his independent publications were: ‘To the Central African Lakes and Back,’ 2 vols. 1881 (German translation, 1882); ‘Through Masai Land,’ 1885 (revised edit. 1887; German translation, 1885; French translation, 1886); ‘Travels in the Atlas and Southern Morocco,’ 1889; and ‘Mungo Park and the Niger,’ 1890, in the series of ‘World's Great Explorers and Explorations,’ edited by Messrs. Keltie, Mackinder, and Ravenstein.

Thomson's other literary work figured in periodicals. The chief of his articles are: ‘The Origin of the Permian Basin of Thornhill’ (‘Trans. of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Nat. Hist. Soc.,’ 1879). ‘Notes on a Glacial Deposit near Thornhill’ (‘Trans. of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Nat. Hist. Soc.,’ 1879). ‘Notes on the Geology of Usambara’ (‘Proc. of Roy. Geogr. Soc.,’ September 1879, n.s. vol. i.). ‘Notes on the Route taken by the Royal Geographical Society's East African Expedition from Dar-es-Salaam to Uhehe’ (‘Proc. of the Roy. Geogr. Soc.’ February 1880, n.s. vol. ii.). ‘A Trip to the Mountains of Usambara’ (‘Good Words,’ 1880). ‘Toiling by Tanganyika,’ two articles (‘Good Words,’ 1881). ‘Journey of the Society's East African Expedition’ (‘Proc. of the Roy. Geogr. Society,’ December 1880, n.s. vol. ii.). ‘Notes on the Geology of East Central Africa’ (‘Nature,’ 1881). ‘Notes on the Basin of the River Rovuma, East Africa’ (‘Proc. of the Roy. Geogr. Soc.,’ February 1882, n.s. vol. iv.). ‘Adventures on the Rovuma’ (‘Good Words,’ 1882). ‘On the Geographical Evolution of the Tanganyika Basin’ (‘Brit. Assoc. Report,’ 1882). ‘Report on the Progress of the Society's Expedition to Victoria Nyanza’ (‘Proc. of the Roy. Geogr. Soc.,’ December 1883, n.s. vol. v.). ‘Through the Masai Country to Victoria Nyanza’ (‘Proc. of the Roy. Geogr. Soc.,’ December 1884, n.s. vol. vi.). ‘Sketch of a Trip to Sokoto by the River Niger’ (‘Journal of the Manchester Geogr. Soc.,’ 1886, vol. ii.). ‘Niger and Central Sûdan Sketches’ (‘Scottish Geogr. Magazine,’ October 1886, vol. ii.). ‘Up the Niger to the Central Sûdan’ (‘Good Words,’ January, February, April, and May 1886). ‘East Central Africa and its Commercial Outlook’ (‘Scottish Geogr. Magazine,’ February 1886, vol. ii.). ‘Note on the African Tribes of the British Empire’ (‘Jour. of the Anthrop. Institute,’ vol. xvi.). ‘Mohammedanism in Central Africa’ (‘Contemporary Review,’ 1886). ‘A Masai Adventure’ (‘Good Words,’ 1888). ‘East Africa as it was and is’ (‘Contemporary Review,’ 1889). ‘A Journey to Southern Morocco and the Atlas Mountains’ (‘Proc. of the Roy. Geogr. Soc.,’ January 1889, n.s. vol. xi.). ‘How I reached my Highest Point in the Atlas’ (‘Good Words,’ 1889). ‘Explorations in the Atlas Mountains’ (‘Scottish Geogr. Magazine,’ April 1889, vol. v.). ‘How I crossed Masai Land’ (‘Scribner's Magazine,’ 1889). ‘Some Impressions of Morocco and the Moors’ (‘Manchester Geogr. Magazine,’ 1889, vol. v.). ‘Downing Street versus Chartered Companies’ (‘Fortnightly Review,’ 1890). ‘The Results of European Intercourse with Africa’ (‘Contemporary Review,’ 1890). ‘A Central Sûdan Town’ (Harper's ‘Magazine,’ 1892). ‘The Uganda Problem’ (‘Contemporary Review,’ 1892). ‘To Lake Bangweolo and the Unexplored Region of British Central Africa’ (‘Geogr. Journal,’ February 1893, vol. i.).

THOMSON, KATHARINE (1797–1862), miscellaneous writer, born in 1797, was the seventh daughter of Thomas Byerley of Etruria, Staffordshire, a nephew by marriage and sometime partner and manager of the pottery works of Josiah Wedgwood [q. v.] The Byerley family were descended from Colonel Anthony Byerley of Midridge Grange, Durham, who commanded a regiment under the Marquis of Newcastle during the civil war, and died in 1667. Colonel Anthony was father of Robert Byerley (1660–1714), member of parliament for Durham in 1685 and in the Convention of 1689, and for Knaresborough in nine successive parliaments from 1697 to 1710. This Robert married Mary, daughter of Philip Wharton and great-niece of Philip, fourth lord Wharton (hence the pseudonym latterly assumed by Mrs. Thomson and her son).


text: Folk-Lore/Volume 4/The Sanctuary of Mourie


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Author:George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood

Works

 * Economic Vegetable Products of the Bombay Presidency (1888)
 * The Industrial Arts of India (1888)
 * Report on the Old Records of the India Office (1891)
 * First Letter Book of the East India Company (1895)


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title: Author:Gertrude Mary Godden


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400 "Many years ago a fiery flying dragon lived at Curry Rivell. At certain times it used to fly across the marsh to Aller and destroy the crops and all it came near, with its fiery breath. This continued for a long time. At last one John Aller, a brave and valiant man, who lived at Aller, vowed that he would kill it. He laid in wait, and when next the dragon flew across to Aller hill he attacked it, and, after a fierce struggle, slew it, and cut off its head. Then its fiery blood ran out, and scorched up all the grass around, and from that day to this grass has never grown on the spot. John Aller was so burnt by the dragon's breath that he died almost at the same moment as the dragon. The people took up his body, buried it in the church, and called the village after him."

The Flitting Gnomes.—It may be assumed that folk-lorists are acquainted with Crofton Cookes's delightful Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, and will remember, in the section devoted to "The Clericaune" (vol. ii, p. 163), how an old Quaker gentleman, haunted by one of these fairies, desired to get rid of him, and for that purpose took another house, and had all his furniture packed on carts, when, as the last casks were being put on, the Clericaune was seen to jump on to the car, and into the bunghole of an empty cask, and cry: "Here, master, here we all go together." Whereupon the Quaker said: "In that case let the cars be unpacked; we are just as well where we are!" Another similar instance of the Danish Nis is also adduced. In The Land of Manfred, by Miss Janet Ross, a book rich in folk-lore, a like being with the same story is described as popularly believed in in the extreme South of Italy. "When near Tasanto, Miss Ross relates (pp. 127-8), "I observed that some of the flock an old shepherd was guarding looked tired, and hung their heads wearily. I asked whether they were ill, and he answered: 'No, but I must get rid of them, because the Laiiro has taken an antipathy to them.' On further inquiry he told me that the Laùro was a little man, only thirty centimètres high, always dressed in velvet, and wearing a Calabreze hat with a feather stuck into it. The Laùro is most capricious: to some who ask him for money he gives a sackful of broken potsherds; to others who ask for sand he give old coins. He took a particular dislike to a cousin of the old shepherd, sitting on her chest at night and giving her terrible dreams. At last she was so worried by the Laùro that she determined to leave her house. All the household goods and chattels were on the cart; nothing was left but an old broom, and when the goodwife went to fetch it the Laùro suddenly appeared, saying: 'I'll take that; let us be off to the new house.' His antipathies or likings are


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Rh he will steal corn from one horse or mule to give it to another; twist up their manes and tails in a fantastic way, or shave them in queer patterns. The Lauro could not allow the sheep I had asked about to rest at night, and any animal he hated had to be sold." Thus a being with the same attributes and story attached is known in Denmark, Ireland, and the far South of Italy.

The Monaciello of Naples.— Belief in the Monaciello, or Little Monk, still prevails all around the Bay of Naples; he is described as broad, sturdy, and dwarfish; wearing a monk's dress, but a broad-brimmed hat. He is mischievous and tricky, sometimes spiteful; often alluded to in the Pentamerone. In one of the tales, "Vardiello," a house is mentioned that had been deserted on account of the annoyances occasioned by the Monaciello. Except that he is never associated with the Will-o'-the-Wisp he would seem to be somewhat akin to the English Friar Rush. It is, however, in Sorrento that the Monacielli appear to have their headquarters. Visitors to Sorrento will remember the extraordinarily deep, narrow ravines which traverse the town; these are at the present day believed to be peopled by Monacielli, who elsewhere appear to be of solitary habits. When at Sorrento, four years ago, I had a fancy of trying to get to the bottom of one of those very deep precipitous clefts. No one, however, would go with me, and I was strongly dissuaded from the attempt, as there was no telling what might befall an intruder in those haunted depths. Beside the Monaciello, one hears stories of a sort of house-spirit known as the Bella 'Mbriana, that tenants many of the houses in St. Agata, Massa, and other villages near Sorrento. It is not easy to get any distinct idea of this being. Unlike house-spirits in general, she is female and never seen; but her presence in the house is always acknowledged and spoken of with great deference, and the epithet "bella" is no doubt placatory, like the "good people" applied to the fairies; for, though generally beneficent, she can be malicious, and, while exacting the greatest courtesy, dislikes being spoken of directly. The village people may have clearer ideas of her, but it is difficult for strangers to get at them.

Dwarfs in the East.— Mr. Keightley, in his Fairy Mythology, expressed his conviction that the ancients knew of no diminutive beings like British Fairies or Northern Duergar. Neither does popular belief know of any such throughout the East. In India rings are not uncommonly seen in the grass after rain, but no popular superstition is connected with them; no beings, like elves or fairies, find place in village traditions or belief. The Hindu mind inclines more to the idea of hideous malevolent demons, especially female. A belief in dwarfs,


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 402 not unlike the Duergar, is, however, much more familiar, for dwarfs hold a distinct place in Hindu mythology; they appear sculptured on all temples. Siva is accompanied by a bodyguard of dwarfs, one of whom, the three-legged Bhringi, dances nimbly. But coming nearer to Northern legend, the cromlechs and kistvaens which abound over Southern India are believed to have been built by a dwarf race, a cubit high, who could nevertheless move and handle the huge stones easily. The villagers call them Pândayar. In the Chingalpat district, near Madras, there is a large mound said to be inhabited by a bearded race of Pândayar, three feet high, whose king lives in the top of the mound. This nearly approaches the traditions of hill-dwarfs in Norway; but no skill or habit of working in metal is associated with them. The late Mr. Fergusson (Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 79) held that "all the Fairy Mythology of East and West belongs to the Turanian races"; and the late learned Bishop Caldwell, who laboured for a lifetime amongst the people in Southern India, suggested that the Tamil word pey—demon or goblin—may be the origin of the word "fairy", but their attributes respectively, as popularly understood, seem too widely diverse. It may be noted, however, that in Scandinavian mythology we hear of the dark Alfar, or malignant elves. Brotier thinks the word "Alf" may be derived from the Teutonic deity Alcis, mentioned by Tacitus (Germania, 43), identified by him with Castor and Pollux in their jack-o'-lantern appearances.

Dwarfs in the West.— The Rev. Baring Gould, in his pleasant and instructive volume, In Troubadour Land, published in the present year, relates a curious experience of his boyish days. While sitting on the box of his father's carriage crossing the Cran, a wide, desolate, stony tract in Provence, he suddenly saw a number of little figures of men with peaked caps, running about the horses and making attempts to scramble up them. For some time he continued to see these dwarfs running among the pebbles of the Cran, jumping over tufts of grass, or careering along the road by the carriage, making faces at him; but gradually their number decreased, and he failed to see any more (pp. 65-6). They were visible only to him, and on saying something about it to his father, he was sent inside the carriage, on the supposition that the sun was too hot for his head. Mr. Gould adds an anecdote of his wife, "who never deviated from the truth in her life, and who walking one day, when a girl of thirteen, beside a quickset hedge, her brother on the other side looking for birds' nests, all at once saw a little man dressed entirely in green, with jacket and high peaked hat, seated in the hedge staring at her. She was paralysed with terror for a moment, then called her brother to come round and see the little green man. When he arrived the dwarf had


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 Rh disappeared." Mr. Gould supposes this vision, too, would be ascribed to a too hot sun on the head, but is evidently dissatisfied with that explanation, and asks why a hot sun should call up visions of dwarfs and fairies. It is the fashion now to make light of the tone and sensible avouch of our own eyes, but, railways notwithstanding, fairies may still exist for those who have the gift of seeing them. Mrs. Baring Gould's experience, however, recalls a story current on the eastern border of the Dartmoor, where still stands a farm-house, of which it is told that some years ago the farmer who lived there was coming home from market rather late, and saw in the hedge, not far from his house, a tiny little woman sitting dressed all in green. She was a pixy, and the farmer, probably bold after sundry drops at he market-town, picked her up and carried her home. There he told his wife, who had gone to bed, what he had found, and asked what he should do with her. The wife answered, sleepily: "Tie her to the bed-post with your garter." The farmer did so, and went off to sleep. In the morning he looked at once at the bed-post, and there was his garter as he had tied it the evening before, but no little green lady in it, only a long green leek! Disgusted at this, he seized the leek, and opening the door, threw it out into the yard, when, as it left his hand, it changed back into the woman in green, and he saw himself suddenly surrounded by a swarm of tiny beings, mounted on little horses, who presently vanished, clapping their hands, and crying: "We have got her again! we have got her again!"

M. L. C.

May-Day at Watford, Herts.— On May-Day, in this parish, groups of children, almost entirely girls, go about the streets from door to door, and sing the accompanying verses. They are dressed in white for preference, and decorate themselves with gay ribbons and sashes of various colours; I cannot find that any particular colours are prescribed by tradition. Two of the girls carry between them on a stick what they call "the garland", which, in its simplest form, is made of two circular hoops, intersecting each other at right angles; a more elaborate form has, in addition, smaller semicircles inserted in the four angles formed by the meeting of the hoops at the top of "the garland". These hoops are covered with any wild-flowers in season, and are further ornamented with ribbons. The " garland" in shape reminds me of the "Christmas" which used to form the centre of the Christmas decorations in Yorkshire some few years ago, except that the latter had a bunch of mistletoe inside the hoops.

One of the children generally carries a purse or small bag to hold the coppers which may be collected. The group, of which I have a photograph, was one taken quite at hap-hazard, as it passed the


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Page:Audubon and His Journals.djvu/23

 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Vol. I

title: Page:Audubon and His Journals.djvu/23


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Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 4, 1893.djvu/412

404 photographer's door. In this a boy with a bunch of flowers on a stick accompanies them, but this is not very usual.

Verses sung by Children at Watford, Herts, on May-Day.

Watford.


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title: Page:Audubon and His Journals.djvu/24


text:
Portal:Horror

Horror non-fiction

 * The Book of Were-Wolves by Sabine Baring-Gould
 * Supernatural Horror in Literature by Howard Phillips Lovecraft

Horror fiction

 * A Dream of Red Hands by Bram Stoker
 * A Baby Tramp by Ambrose Bierce
 * The Beast in the Cave, 1918 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
 * The Boarded Window by Ambrose Bierce
 * The Book, 1938 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft (unfinished)
 * The Case of Euphemia Raphash by Matthew Phipps Shiel
 * The Disinterment,1937 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft and D. W. Rimel
 * Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family, 1921 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
 * The Green Meadow, 1927 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft and Winifred V. Jackson
 * The Horror in the Burying-Ground, 1937 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft and Hazel Heald
 * John Silence, Physician Extraordinary, 1908 by Algernon Blackwood
 * Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe
 * Medusa's Coil by Howard Phillips Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop
 * The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell
 * The Temple, 1925 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
 * The Tomb, 1922 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
 * Vaila, 1896 by Matthew Phipps Shiel
 * Xélucha, 1896 by Matthew Phipps Shiel

Cults

 * The Grisly Horror, 1935 by Robert Ervin Howard

Cursed and enchanted objects

 * Clothes

 * Cutlery

 * Mirrors

 * Paintings
 * Hell Screen 1918, by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
 * The Picture of Dorian Gray 1890, by Oscar Wilde
 * The Picture of Dorian Gray 1890, by Oscar Wilde

Cosmic horror

 * Portal:Cthulhu Mythos
 * Hypnos, 1923 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft

Cryptids and strange creatures

 * The Horror of the Heights, 1913 by Arthur Conan Doyle

Demons

 * The Music of Erich Zann, 1922 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
 * The Other Gods, 1933 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft

Ghost stories

 * Portal:Ghost stories

Gothic fiction

 * Portal:Gothic fiction

Mad science

 * Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, 1831 by Mary Shelley
 * Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, 1886 by Robert Louis Stevenson
 * The Island of Doctor Moreau, 1896 by H. G. Wells
 * The Invisible Man, 1897 by H. G. Wells
 * Herbert West: Reanimator, 1922 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft

Murderers

 * The Imp of the Perverse, 1845 by Edgar Allan Poe
 * The Cask of Amontillado, 1846 by Edgar Allan Poe
 * The String of Pearls, 1846-47 anonymous work
 * Hop-Frog, 1849 by Edgar Allan Poe
 * Max Hensig, 1907 by Algernon Blackwood
 * The Vengeance of Nitocris, 1928 by Tennessee Williams

Nature

 * Malevolent aspects of nature (including animals and plants) and nature running amok. Includes spirits or forces of nature.

 * The Willows, 1907 by Algernon Blackwood
 * The Tree, 1921 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft

Sea monsters

 * The Horror at Martin's Beach, 1923 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft and Sonia Haft Greene Lovecraft Davis

Undead

 * Not including stories of vampires, mummies or others listed in separate sections

 * The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, 1845 by Edgar Allan Poe
 * In the Vault, 1925 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
 * Cool Air, 1928 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
 * Skull-Face, 1929 by Robert Ervin Howard

Vampires

 * "The Vampyre," 1819 by John William Polidori
 * Clarimonde, 1836 by Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier, translated by Lafcadio Hearn
 * "The Vampire," 1871 by Jan Neruda
 * Carmilla, 1872 by Sheridan Le Fanu
 * Dracula, 1897 by Bram Stoker
 * The House of the Vampire, 1907 by George Sylvester Viereck
 * The Room in the Tower, 1912 by Edward Frederic Benson
 * "Share Alike," 1953 by Jerome Bixby and Joe E. Dean
 * "She Only Goes Out at Night," 1956 by William Tenn
 * "Share Alike," 1953 by Jerome Bixby and Joe E. Dean
 * "She Only Goes Out at Night," 1956 by William Tenn
 * "Share Alike," 1953 by Jerome Bixby and Joe E. Dean
 * "She Only Goes Out at Night," 1956 by William Tenn
 * "Share Alike," 1953 by Jerome Bixby and Joe E. Dean
 * "She Only Goes Out at Night," 1956 by William Tenn
 * "Share Alike," 1953 by Jerome Bixby and Joe E. Dean
 * "She Only Goes Out at Night," 1956 by William Tenn

Werewolves

 * "Gypsy Song," 1771 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 * "The Boarwolf," 1826 by Robert Pearse Gillies
 * "The Werewolf of the Hartz Mountains," 1839 by Frederick Marryat
 * Wagner the Wehr-wolf, 1846 by George W. M. Reynolds
 * by George James De Wilde
 * The Mark of the Beast, 1890 by Rudyard Kipling
 * "The Camp of the Dog," 1908 by Algernon Blackwood
 * The Lay of the Were-Wolf, 1911 by Marie de France
 * "Wolf of the Steppes," 1919 by Greye La Spina
 * In the Forest of Villefére, 1925 by Robert E. Howard
 * Invaders from the Dark, 1925 by Greye La Spina
 * Wolfshead, 1926 by Robert E. Howard
 * The Hyena, 1928 by Robert E. Howard
 * "Black Hound of Death," 1936 by Robert E. Howard
 * "Black Hound of Death," 1936 by Robert E. Howard
 * "Black Hound of Death," 1936 by Robert E. Howard
 * "Black Hound of Death," 1936 by Robert E. Howard

Witchcraft, curses and magic

 * The White People, 1904 by Arthur Machen
 * Brood of the Witch Queen, 1918 by Sax Rohmer
 * The Alchemist, 1916 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
 * The Horror at Red Hook, 1927 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
 * The Haunter of the Ring, 1934 by Robert Ervin Howard

Horror poetry

 * Darkness, 1816 by George Gordon, Lord Byron
 * Nemesis, 1917 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft

Horror authors

 * H. F. Arnold
 * Edward Frederic Benson
 * Ambrose Bierce
 * Zealia Bishop
 * Algernon Blackwood
 * Robert William Chambers
 * August William Derleth
 * Stefan Grabinski
 * William Hope Hodgson
 * Robert Ervin Howard
 * Montague Rhodes James
 * Sheridan Le Fanu
 * Howard Phillips Lovecraft
 * Walter de la Mare
 * Edward Plunkett (Lord Dunsany)
 * Edgar Allan Poe
 * Seabury Quinn
 * Clark Ashton Smith
 * Robert Louis Stevenson
 * Bram Stoker
 * Manly Wade Wellman

title: Portal:Horror


text: Folk-Lore/Volume 4/The Glass Mountain. A Note on Folk-lore Gleanings from County Leitrim


text:
The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Fischart, Johann

FISCHART, fish'ärt, Johann, German satirist: b. Mainz, between 1545 and 1550; d.

Forbach, about 1590. As a satirist he is the most unrestrained of his age, inexhaustible in droll, humorous and witty thoughts, not seldom guilty of equivoque and obscenity, intimately acquainted with the follies of his age, and never at a loss whether to ridicule or lash them. He treats the German language with the greatest freedom, coining new words and turns of expression without any regard to analogy, and displaying, in his most arbitrary formations, erudition and wit. In the broad comic and burlesque he is not to be surpassed, and even in his most satirical effusions there is an honesty and good nature always observable. His most celebrated works are a rifaccimento of the Gargantua of Rabelais, first printed in 1575; ‘Das gluckhaft Schiff von Zürich’ (The Lucky Ship of Zürich) (1576); ‘Aller Praklik Grossmutter’ (1572); ‘Eulenspiegel Reimensweiss’ (1572), and several others. We find in Fischart the first attempt at German hexameters.


text: Author:Charles Frederic Moberly Bell

title: Author:Charles Frederic Moberly Bell


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gwynneth, John


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gwynne, Robert


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gwynne, Nell


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gwynne, John


text:
The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Fischbach, Friedrich

FISCHBACH, fĭsh'bä H, Friedrich, German textile designer: b. Aix-la-Chapelle, 1839; d. 1908. He received his education at the Berlin Academy of Industrial Design. In 1862 he removed to Vienna where he followed the profession of decorator and designer. He became teacher of ornamentation at the Royal Academy, Hanau, in 1870, and from 1883 to 1888 served as director of the Industrial Art School of Saint-Gall. In 1889 he removed to Wiesbaden. He founded many societies for the advancement of industrial art and by his work exercised a great influence on textile designing in Germany. In 1909 the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acquired his collection of antique embroideries and fabrics. He published ‘Ornamente der Gewebe’ (1874-81); ‘Geschichte der Textilkunst’ (1883); ‘Südslavische Ornamente’ (2d ed., 1872); ‘Album für Stickerei’ (130 patterns in gold and colors, 1872; 1880); ‘Neue Muster für Stickerei und Häkelarbeiten’ (3 series, 1880-83); ‘Stickereimuster’ (1888); ‘Häkelvorlagen’ (1889); ‘Weissstickereivorlagen’ (1892); ‘Die Wichtigsten Webemuster bis zum 19ten Jahrhundert’ (1900).


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The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Fischer, Abraham

FISCHER, fĭsh'ėr, Abraham, South African statesman: b. Green Point, Cape Town, 1850; d. 1913. He was educated at the South African College, became interested in the politics of the Orange Free State and in 1878 became a member of the Volksraad. In 1896 he became a member of the Executive Council of the Volksraad and took part in many colonial and interstate conferences. He headed a joint deputation from Transvaal and Orange Free State to Europe and America during the South African War. From 1907 to 1910 he was Premier of the Orange River Colony and in the latter year became Minister of Lands in the new Union of South Africa government. He was made Privy Councillor in 1911 and became Minister of the Interior and Lands in 1912.


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Page:Examiner, Journal of Political Economy, v2n07.djvu/2

 Governments, supposing always, that they exercise that right consistently with the rights of the minority. It follows, a fortiori, that they have a right to interpose to prevent the minority from usurping upon their rights. If, then, this be the meaning of the Resolutions, they employ a very useless solemnity in affirming a mere truism. Besides, it is idle to suppose, that the interposition either of all the States, or of a majority of them, is intended to be asserted as a right, when the object is to correct the usurpations of that very majority itself. Certainly those who do the wrong, not only have a right to redress it, but are in duty bound to do so. Do the Resolutions, then, contemplate a plural number less than a majority? If so, a single State may act for itself upon the same principle; for there is no rule, either in ethics or politics, which measures the rights of a minority, by the mere number who may happen to compose it. Indeed, that the action by a single State, for itself, was contemplated, is manifest enough, from other considerations. In the first place, the language imports it, and will be so understood by every reader, who is not prone to look for refinement and subtlety in every thing. Moreover, it is the particular object of the written Constitutions to define and limit the powers of the Government; to guard against usurpations; to protect the weak against the strong; to guard the rights of the minority against the encroachments of the majority. The States, when they formed the Compact, brought to that work, their entire sovereignty, and all their rights. If they did not then surrender that sovereignty and those rights altogether, they must have designed to reserve to themselves, the task of protecting them. A case may very well arise, in which an unconstitutional law may affect the rights of a single State only; and it would be a mocking of the very name of State Rights, to say that in such case, she may not protect herself. In what other course can her "safety" be "provided" for? In twenty-three States should unite in cutting up every right which appertains to the twenty-fourth, has that State no redress except what a "majority" of her oppressors may choose to grant? If this be the meaning of the Resolutions, so far from affirming and protecting State Rights, they affirm that no single State has any rights at all. Besides the Resolutions speak only of the reserved rights of the States; among which reserved rights, is that which authorises State interposition, to arrest the usurpations of the Federal Government. Now, how are these rights "reserved?" Does one State "reserve" its own rights to another State, or any number of other States? This seems to me, to be a grant, and not a reservation of a right. Each State, then, reserves its own rights to itself, and the Resolutions affirm, that the right to refuse obedience to an unconstitutional law, is among those reserved rights. Again: If the State may not act upon its own decision, until the majority have sanctioned it, the right so to decide, is, as to all practical results, in that majority, and not in the State. The State has only the right to express its opinion; which opinion, although involving her "safety," and her very existence, goes for nothing, until approved by others.—This is, indeed, a meagre State Rights, Mr. Ritchie. Besides, sir, is there not some contradiction in the positions that a State may declare a law to be unconstitutional, and yet that it is bound to submit to that law, for some given time? What difference is there, in principle, between an obligation to submit to an unconstitutional law for one day, and an obligation to submit to it for one year or for ever? I confess that I can see none at all. Finally, sir—for the subject was really not worthy of even these few practical and popular views of it—suppose that the other States should refuse to say whether the particular State which undertakes to pronounce a law unconstitutional, is right or wrong? There are no means of compelling them to decide, and of course, a majority of the States, upon your supposition, (if it be yours,) have only to stand mute, in order to deprive all the other States, and constitutionally too, of every right which appertains to them. Nay, even if the other States should be disposed to act upon the subject in good faith, the right which the individual States interposes to protect, may be such as to be lost for ever, unless it be promptly asserted.—Our slave population will at once suggest to you such a case. The very delay, therefore, of this previous appeal, may be fatal to the very existence of the right. I can scarcely think that it was the intention of the Resolutions of 1798, to produce any such result as this.

And now, sir, let me bring you back to my dilemma. The Resolutions of 1798, approved by you, acknowledge the right of South Carolina, to pronounce the Tariff Laws unconstitutional; and do not require that she shall forbear to act on that decision until it shall be affirmed by a majority of the other States. South Carolina has pronounced those laws unconstitutional, and you have over and over again declared, that she is right in that respect. How then can you countenance the President and Congress, in subjecting her people to the sword, for not obeying those laws? I would, if a regard to decorum did not forbid it, defy you to the answer. You ought to give it, and plainly and satisfactorily too, or else you ought to change your course. You are encouraging the President in making war upon South Carolina. It is war, sir, however you may disguise it—civil war—with all its unnumbered train of sufferings, tears and sorrows. A husband and a father who contemplates this result, must have a nature more callous than I take yours to be, if he can admit into his calculations, either the "feelings" of a political favourite, the success of party objects, or the poor pride of opinion. You can, if you choose, arrest the wide spreading desolation with which our whole country is threatened. I beseech you to reflect that it is at least possible, that you are permitting innocent blood to be shed, when it is in your power to prevent it. Shall it not, hereafter, be required at your hands?

I know, sir, that you have too much respect for public opinion and for decency, to urge on the mad measures of this administration, without, at least, an attempt to justify your course. I read your paper constantly, yet seldom, of late, without mortification and sorrow. I have seen upon what grounds it is, that you are willing to consign to the sword—a sword that was never known to spare—a people of as generous and lofty a character, as the whole world can show. The President has profited by your suggestions, and has founded his proposed measure of violence and carnage; upon reasons with which you have furnished him. The history of that man's past life, affords full and terrible proof, that he never wants excuses, good or bad, for any outrage which he may propose to perpetrate upon the laws and constitution of his Country. Posterity will do him justice, although this age seems determined to be blind to his real character. I cannot close these letters without an attempt to show, that there is no reason whatever, which can justify or extenuate the sanguinary purpose which he now entertains. I have not yet, however, quite done with the subject of Nullification. It will be continued in my next letter.


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The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Fischer, Bernhard

FISCHER, Bernhard, German bacteriologist: b. Coburg, 1852. He was educated at the University of Berlin, received the degree of M.D. in 1875, and went to Egypt and India as member of the German Cholera Commission. In 1889 he was a member of the Plankton Expedition and 10 years later became professor at the University of Kiel. There he also became head of the Institute of Hygiene. He became generally known for his classification of bacteria. His ‘Structure and Functions of Bacteria’ (2d ed., 1900), is the standard in its field.