THANET 329 THAYER of the Thames ; separated from the main- land by the Stour river on the S. and the Nethergong on the W., with an area of 26,500 acres. On its shores are the well- known watering places Ramsgate, Mar- gate, and Broadstairs; and on the North Foreland, in the N. E., is a lighthouse, 85 feet high, visible 19 miles. Pop. about 72,500. THANKSGIVING DAY, in the United States, an annual festival of thanksgiving for the mercies of the clos- ing year. Practically it is a National hai'vest festival, fixed by proclamation of the President and the governors of States, and ranks as a legal holiday. In 1789 the Episcopal church formally rec- ognized the civil government's authority to appoint such a feast, and in 1888 the Roman Catholic church also decided to honor a festival which had long been nearly universally observed — though no- where with such zest as in the New Eng- land States, where it ranks as the great annual family festival, taking the place which in England is accorded to Christ- mas. The earliest harvest thanksgiving in America was kept by the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth in 1621, and was repeated often during that and the en- suing century; Congress recommended days of thanksgiving annually during the Revolution, and in 1784 for the return of peace — as did President Madison in 1815. Washington appointed such a day in 1789 after the adoption of the Con- stitution, and in 1795 for the general benefits and welfare of the nation. Since 1817 the festival has been observed an- nually in New York, and since 1863 the Presidents have always issued proclama- tions appointing the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. THANN (tan), a town of Upper Al- sace, Germany; on the Thur river; 23 miles S. W. of Kolmar. It dates back to 995 and in 1325 became the property of the House of Hapsburg. In 1632 it was captured by the Swedes (during the Thirty Years' War) and in 1675 the French under Turenne blew up the castle of Engelburg, the ruins of which over- look the town. Thann has manufactures of silk, cotton, chemicals, and machinery, and contains the beautiful church of St. Theobald (Roman Catholic) with a spire of delicate openwork 325 feet high. THAPSIA, the deadly carrot; the typi- cal genus of Thapsidaz. Perennial herbs with doubly or trebly pinnate leaves, and large compound umbels of yellow flow- ers without involucres or involucels. T. garganica is found in the S. of Europe and Northern Africa; T. silphion is a variety of it rather than a distinct spe- cies. Thapsia is a powerful rubefacient, and is used in medicine in the form of a sparadrap. THASO, the ancient Thasos, an island in the ^gean sea, a few miles S. of the Macedonian coast, belonging to Turkey. It is of a circular form, about 16 miles in diameter, and is traversed by high woody hills which yield large quantities of timber. THATCH, straw, or any other drj) vegetable substance, laid on the top of a building, rick, etc., to keep out the wet. There are many different materials for thatching, but the straw of wheat and rye when well laid form the neatest and most secure covering for general pur- poses. The reed, though expensive, is a highly valuable article for the purpose of thatch, where a lasting roof is re- quired. THAUMASTURA, in ornithology, the sheartail; a genus of Trochilidse, with two species, from the humid districts of Peru. The genus is distinguished by the peculiarly shaped tail, the feathers of which are pointed, the middle ones being greatly elongate. Several pairs are gen- erally met with together. The males are extremely pugnacious, driving off every other kind of humming bird which ven- tures to enter their territory. The plu- mage of the sexes is different, the female being much duller in color. THAUSING, MORITZ (tou'sing), an Austrian art critic; born in Leitmeritz, in Bohemia, June 3, 1838. He became professor of the science of aesthetics in the University of Vienna, 1873. He wrote: "Diirer: History of His Life and His Art" (1876); "J. J. Callot's Sketch- Book" (1881); "Art Letters from Vien- na" (1884). He died in Leitmeritz, Aug. 14, 1884. THAXTER, MRS. CELIA (LEIGH- TON), an American poet; born in Ports- mouth, N. H., June 29, 1836. She spent her childhood and most of her later life at the Isles of Shoals. Her works are: "Poems" (1872) ; "Among the Isles of Shoals" (1873) ; "Poems" (1874) ; "Drift Weed" (1879); "Poems for Children" (1884) ; "The Cruise of the Mystery," etc. (1886); "Idyls and Pastorals" (1886) ; "The Yule Log" (1889) ; "An Isl- and Garden" (1894); "Letters" (1895); "Stories and Poems for Children" (1895). She died on the island of Appledore, Isles of Shoals, Aug. 26, 1894. THAYER, ALEXANDER WHEEL- OCK, an American writer on music and
