Thomas

GEORGE HENRY, (tom'as,) an American general, B. in Va., 1816; graduated at West Point in 1840, and served with distinction in the war with Mexico. In May, 1861, he became colonel of the 5th U. S. Cavalry, and in Aug. of same year brig.-gen. of volunteers. In Jan., 1862, while in command of adi vision of Gen. Buell's army, he defeated the Confederate Gen. Zollicoffer, near Mill Spring, Kentucky, and in the following April was made major-gen. In Sept., 1862, T. became second in command of the army opposed to Gen. Bragg in Kentucky, largely contributed to the National succe at the battle of Stone River. Dec. 31, 1862-Jan. 2, 1863, and bore the chief brunt on the field of Chick am aug a, Sept. 19-20. In the Oct. following he s. Gen. Rose crans in the chief command of the Army of the Cumber land, participated in Gen. Grant's victory near Chattanooga, Nov. 25, 1863, and also in the operations against Atlanta, under Sherman. On the 15th Dec., 1864, he defeated Gen. Hood at Nashville, Tenn., after a battle which lasted two days, and cost the Confederates a lo of 6,000 prisoners and 60 guns. He was afterward appointed major-general, and, after the close of the war, given the command of the dept. of the Cumber land, and, later, that of the military division of the Pacific. D. 1870. Thrashing, Thom'as, in Georgia, a S.W. co., adjoining Florida; area, 800 sq. m.; C. Thomasville. Pop. 14,523. Thomas a Kempis, (-kām'pis,) a distinguished German ascetic writer, B. at Kempen, 1380; D. 1471. It is disputed if we owe to him or Gersen the celebrated work entitled De I mit at i one Christ i. Thom'as, (St.,) (called DIDYMUS,) one of the twelve apostles, is stated to have been B. in Galilee. In the Scripture he is represented as doubting the resurrection of his Divine Master (John xi. 16), and, according to tradition, suffered martyrdom in Coromandel, India, while engaged in proselytizing the heathen. Thom'as, (St.,) an island lying off the W. coast of Africa, in the Gulf of Guinea, bet. N. Lat. 0° 5′-0° 50′, E. Lon. 6° 25′. It belongs to Portugal, has an area of 145 sq. m., and a pop. (including Prince Island) of 19,295. Thom'as, (St.,) an island of the W. Indies. See SAINT THOMAS. Thomas ton, (tom'as-tun,) in Maine, a town and seaport of Knox co., 80 m. E.N.E. of Portland. Shipbuilding is extensively engaged in. Pop. 3.092. Thom'ists. (Eccl. Hist.) See A QUINAS. Thompson, in Connecticut, a vill. of Windham co., 35 m. N.E. of Norwich. Pop. 3,804. Thomson, JAMES, (tom's un.) an English poet, B. at Ednam, 1700; D. 1748. His finest works are The Castle of Indolence, an allegorical poem in the Spenserian stanza, and The Seasons. Thor, (thor.) (Scand. Myth.) The Norse god of thunder, and eldest son of Odin. He is sometimes styled the Northern Jupiter. From him the Anglo-Saxons derived the name of Thursday (Thor's day). Thoracic, (tho-rds'ik.) [From Gr. thorax, the breast.] (Ichthyology.) A term applied to the ventral fins of fishes when they are placed in front of the pectoral fins. T. Duct. (Anat.) The trunk of the absorbent ve els, which is of a serpentine form. Thorax, (tho'raks.) [Gr.] (Anat.) That part of the human skeleton which consists of the bones of the chest; also, the cavity of the chest. Thorium, (thor'e-um,) or THORINUM. (Chem.) A very rare earth discovered by Berzelius in 1828; at. weight 115-72; symbol Th. Its oxide tho rin a (Tho) is a white powder of sp. gr. 9.4. It forms a series of crystallizable salts with acids. Thorn, (thorn.) [A.S.] (Bot.) See CRATÆGUS. Thorn, (tõrn,) a fort if. manuf. city of Pru ia, p. W. Pru ia, on the Vistula, 92 m. S. of Dantzig. Copernicus was B. here. Pop. 11,266. Thorn'-apple. (Bot.) See DATURA. Thornback, (thorn'bak.) (Zool.) A species of Ray. See RAIDE. Thorough -ba , (thur'ro-bās.) (Mus.) The art of composition according to the rules of harmony. This branch of the musical science is twofold, theoretical and practical. Theoretical T.-B. comprehends the knowledge of the connection and disposition of all the several chords, harmonious and di onant; and includes all the established laws by which they are formed and regulated. Practical T.-B. supposes a familiar acquaintance with the figures, a facility in taking the chords they indicate, and judgment in the various applications and effects of those chords in accompaniment. Thorwaldsen, ALBERT BERTEL, (tor'wahld-sen,) the greatest of Danish sculptors, B. in 1770. After residing at Rome for many years, and earning a world-wide fame by the productions of his chisel, he returned to his native country, and D. there in 1844. Among his ablest works are the Triumphal March of Alexander, executed for the Emperor Napoleon I., Christ and the Twelve Apostles, a colo al statue of Jason, and the bas-reliefs of Night and Day, and of Priam and Achilles. You sand Islands, (The,) (-ī'lan dz,) a group of aits, or small river-islands, said to be some 1,500 in number, which lie bet. the U. States and Canada, where the St. Lawrence opens into Lake Ontario. There are 1 many rapids among them, and the coup d'œil they present is one remarkably picturesque. Thrace, (thrās,) or THRACIA. (Hist.) The anc. name borne by a country of Greece, now forming the Turkish p. of Roumelia. Settled by the Greeks in the 6th cent. B. c., internal di ensions led to its partial subjugation by the Persians under Darius, 513 R. c., and, later, to its complete absorption into the kingdom of Macedon. On the fall of the latter, in 168 B. c., T. became a Roman prov., and after suffering repeated inroads of the Goths under Alaric and Attila, became a Turkish dependency in 1353. (thrashing,) or THRESHING. [From A.S. ther scan, to beat out.) (Agric.) The separating of the grain or seeds of plants from the straw or ha ulm, a proce which has been accomplished in different ages and countries by means more or le effective. The first method known to have been practised was the beating out of the grain from the ears with a stick. An improvement on this method was the practice of the ancient Egyptians and Israeli tes to spread out the loosened sheaves of grain on a circular piece of hard ground 50-100 feet in diameter, and to drive oxen backwards and forwards over it, so as to tread the grain out (Fig. 639); but as this mode was found to damage a portion of the grain, it was finally superseded in later times by the threshing-sledge, [Egypt. no reg, cf. Heb. mo reg,] a heavy frame mounted on three rollers, which was dragged over the heaps of sheaves. The primitive implement in Northern Europe was the stick, and an improved modification of it, the flail, has not yet been completely superseded. T., however, is now very generally performed by means of machines provided with a large number of flails, or other parts answering the same purpose, and moved by the power of water, wind, •horses, or steam. [s. 893]