cott, territorial governor of Florida, with whom he also studied law, but in 1835 he went to Augusta, Ga„ and became associated with Judge Augustus B. Longstreet in editing the " States Rights Senti- aiel." He served as a volunteer against the Semi- noles in 1835-'6, and in the autumn of the latter year established at Augusta the " Mirror," the first purely literary paper in the state. It was not a financial success, and was merged in the " Family Companion " at Macon, whither Mr. Thompson Temoved. Afterward he conducted the "Miscel- lany" in Madison, Ga., to which he contributed his •" Major Jones Letters," which first won him a repu- tation, and which were afterward collected in book- form as "Major Jones's Courtship" (Philadelphia, 1840 ; unauthorized ed., entitled " Rancy Cottem's •Courtship, by Major Joseph Jones "). In 1845 he became associated with Park Benjamin in the pub- lication at Baltimore of the "Western Continent," & weekly, of which he was afterward sole editor and proprietor, but he sold it in 1850, and, removing to Savannah, founded the "Morning News," with which he remained connected till his death. Dur- ing the civil war he was aide to Gov. Joseph E. Brown, and in 1864 he served in the ranks as a vol- unteer He was at one time one of the wardens of the port of Savannah, sat in the State constitu- tional convention of 1877, and was a delegate to the National Democratic convention of 1868. His po- litical editorials were forcible and often bitter, but in private life he was simple and genial. His hu- morous works at one time were widely popular. Besides the one mentioned above, they include "Major Jones's Chronicles of Pineville" (1843: new and unauthorized ed., entitled " Major Jones's Georgia Scenes ") ; " Major Jones's Sketches of Travel " (1848) ; " The Live Indian," a farce ; and a dramatization of " The Vicar of Wakefield," which was produced with success in this country and abroad. He also edited " Hotchkiss's Codification of the Statute Laws of Georgia" (1845). After his death another collection of his sketches was pub- lished by his daughter, Mrs. May A. Wade, with the title " John's Alive, or the Bride of a Ghost, .and other Sketches" (Philadelphia, 1883).
THOMPSON, Zadoc, naturalist, b. in Bridge-
water, Vt., 23 May, 1796 ; d. in Burlington, Vt., 19
Jan., 1856. He was graduated at the University
-of Vermont in 1823, and became a tutor there in
1825. In addition to his teaching, he edited in
1828 the " Iris and Burlington Literary Gazette,"
and in 1832 " The Green Mountain Repository."
He issued an almanac as early as - 1819, and subse-
quently made the astronomical calculations for the
"Vermont Registers," also for thirty-four years
those of " Walton's Registers." He removed in
1833 to Hatley, Canada, and then to Sherbrooke,
where he taught, and, after studying theology, was
in 1835 made a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal
church. He returned to Burlington, Vt., in 1837,
and was given a chair in the Vermont Episcopal
seminary. Subsequently in 1845-'8 he held the of-
fice of state geologist of Vermont and gathered in
Burlington a collection of more than 3.000 speci-
mens of the productions of the state, which on his
death became the property of the university. In
1851 he was called to the professorship of chemis-
try and natural history in the University of Ver-
mont, and in 1853 he was directed to make a survey
of the state, including its physical geography,
geology, mineralogy, botany, and general zoology.
upon which he was engaged at the time of his
•death. He was sent as a commissioner from Ver-
mont to the World's fair in London in 1851, and exhibited a collection of American woods, classified according to their useful properties, for which he received a bronze medal. In June, 1850, he delivered the annual address before the Boston society
of natural history on the " Geology of Vermont."
Besides several text-books, Prof. Thompson pub-
lished " Gazetteer of the State of Vermont " (Mont-
pelier, 1824) ; " History of the State of Vermont to
1832 " (Burlington, 1833); "History of Vermont,
Natural, Civil, and Statistical " (1841-'53) ; " Guide
to Lake George, Lake Champlain, Montreal, and
Quebec " (1845) ; and the " Geography and Geology
of Vermont " (1848).
THOMSON, Alexander, jurist, b. in Franklin county. Pa., 12 Jan., 1788 ; d. in Chambersburg, Pa., 2 Aug., 1848. He was the son of Archibald Thomson, a soldier in the war of the Revolution. His parents having died when he was a child, he was apprenticed at the age of fifteen to his uncle, Andrew Thomson, a sickle-maker. Meanwhile he found time for private study, and at the end of his apprenticeship had a fair knowledge of Latin and Greek, and English literature. His attainments came under the notice of the Rev. Mr. Grier, father of Justice Robert C. Grier of the U. S. supreme court, whose family he entered as tutor, at the same time pursuing his own studies. At the end of three years he left Northumberland for Bedford, where he taught, and studied law. After his admission to the bar he rose rapidly in his profession, was elected to the Pennsylvania house of representatives, and afterward chosen to congress to fill a vacancy, serving from December, 1824, till his resignation in May, 1826. During his term he gave much attention to the interests of the District of Columbia, in recognition of which his portrait was placed in the Washington city-hall. After his resignation he was appointed city judge of Lancaster, and soon afterward president-judge of the 16th judicial district, which post he occupied until 1838. Judge Thomson was also professor in the law-school of Marshall college, Lancaster, Pa. — His son, William, surgeon, b. in Chambersburg, Pa., 28 Jan., 1833, was educated in the Academy of Chambersburg and under private tutors, and was graduated at Jefferson medical college in 1855. Soon afterward he had a lucrative practice at Lower Merion, near Philadelphia, which he relinquished in 1861 in order to enter the regular army as assistant surgeon. He was with the Army of the Potomac throughout the civil war, either in the field or at Washington. For his services after the battle of. South Mountain he received the thanks of President Lincoln. He originated two reforms for improving the medical field service: the system of brigade supplies, and the division hospital system. Both these reforms were extended to all the armies by the war department. He was raised to the post of medical inspector of the Department of Washington in 1864, received two brevets, and after the war was sent to Louisiana, but he resigned from the army, 25 Feb., 1866. Dr. Thomson introduced the local use of carbolic acid as a disinfectant in the treatment of wounds, published an article on the treatment of hospital gangrene by bromine, and was the first, in conjunction with Dr. William F. N orris, successfully to apply the negative process of photography by wet collodion in clinical microscopy. The Army medical museum has been largely indebted to Dr. Thomson for its success, and in its catalogue he is mentioned as the largest contributor both of papers and specimens. Since his retirement from the armv Dr. Thomson has practised his profession in Philadelphia. He was elected vice-president of the ophthalmological section of the international medical congress that met in Philadel-
