Danish Government with Prof. Johnstrup to investigate the causes of the eruption which had occurred the previous year at Askja in Dyngjufjoll, and this proved the beginning of a long series of Icelandic explorations. In 1880 he was appointed master at the school of Mpdruvellir in northern Iceland, and in 1882, 1883 and 1884 made extensive explorations in the interior. From 1884-6 he travelled in England and on the Continent, and in 1886 was appointed master of the school at Reykjavik. Until 1898 he made a journey of exploration nearly every year, the later expeditions being undertaken from Gopenhagen, where he settled in 1805. Reports on his work appeared from time to time in the Danish Geografisk Tidskrift, but he also produced various important works, including Oversigt over de islandske Vulkaners Historic (1882); Vulcane im nordostlichen Island (1891) and Landfraedissaga Islands (1892), a monumental work for which he collected material from the beginning of his career. Thorodd- sen received many honours from universities and learned so- cieties, and was awarded the gold medal of the Swedish and the La Roquette medal of the Paris Geographical Society.
THURINGIA (see 26.901), a Territory and Free State of the German Reich. Pop. 1,508,025. Area 11,763 sq. kilometres.
On April 30 1920 the union of the Territories Saxe- Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Gotha, Reuss, Sch warzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, in one Territory " Thuringia," was recognized by a law of the German Reich, on the basis of article 18, section 2, of the Constitution of the Reich. The consequence was thereby drawn from the aboli- tion of the dynasties, whose policy of dynastic interests had in former centuries caused the disintegration of central Germany into small states. The removal of these dynasties had been effect- ed in the Thuringian States, as in the Empire in Nov. 1918, by the method of revolution. A noteworthy exception was Schwarz- burg-Rudolstadt, where the republic was established by a law enacted conjointly by the sovereign (the Prince of Schwarz- burg-Rudolstadt) and the Diet.
The unification of the Thuringian States in one single State was preceded by the union of the two principalities of Reuss into one democratic State of Reuss. On the other hand the personal union of the two States of Coburg and Gotha was dissolved, and each of them went its own way. In all the States of Thu- ringia elections were instituted after the revolution by the revo- lutionary Governments for Constituent Assemblies to vote new constitutions. Only in Gotha was the meeting of the new State Assembly delayed. The Council of Workmen and Soldiers in that Territory was subject to Communist influence and en- deavoured to establish a Councils (Soviet) Republic. Gotha had to be occupied in Feb. 1919 by detachments of the Reichswehr (regular army of the Reich). The workmen replied by a general strike which lasted more than a month. When the Assembly met, the Government of Gotha, which was composed of Independent Socialists, submitted the draft of a constitution which attempted to maintain the system of Councils (Soviets). The work of framing constitutions in all the Thuringian States had mean- while been anticipated by the movement for forming a unified single State of Thuringia.
Steps in the direction of a union had been taken in some of the States of Thuringia before the revolution, but it was only by the revolution that the path was cleared. All the Thuringian States, with the exception of Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Coburg, concluded a " treaty of community " (Gemeinschaftsvertrag) in order to prepare for their amalgamation. They formed a kind of federated state with an organ of legislation, the Volksrat (Council of the People), and an organ of administration, the Staatsrat (State Council). Saxe-Meiningen subsequently joined this Community of States; in Saxe-Coburg a great majority of the citizens decided on Nov. 30 1919 for union with Bavaria, which was ratified by a law of the Reich on April 30 1920. on the basis of article 20 of the Constitution.
The Volksrat of Thuringia passed a law on Jan. 28 1920, by which it assumed the right to include within its competence the enactment of a constitution for the State of Thuringia. Never- theless, there was to be reserved ,for the first Diet (Landtag) of
the new State, which was to be elected on the basis of this con- stitution, the right of making alterations in the constitution within a period of three months by ordinary legislation. On May 12 1920 the provisional constitution voted by the Volksrat (Council of the People) was promulgated. On March u 1921 the newly elected Diet (Landtag) ratified this provisional con- stitution with certain amendments. The birth of the new State dates from May i 1920, the day on which its establishment was voted by a law of the Reich. While the Thuringian Community of States (see above) was organized on the lines of a confederation, what was in contemplation is a single, unified State. For the period of transition, however, the separate Thuringian States continued to exist as communities or territorial regions (Gebiete) their former constitutions remained in force as regional regulations (Gebietssatzungeri). If any disputes should arise between the Territory of Thuringia and the former Thuringian States, the Court of Jurisdiction for State affairs (Staatsgerichtshof) was to decide them; for the settlement of financial differences a court of arbitration, half of whose members were to be elected by the Thuringian Diet and half by the popular representative as- semblies of the former States concerned, was to be set up.
In accordance with the Constitution of the Reich, Thuringia is a republic with parliamentary government. The Diet, as in the other Territories, consists of a single Chamber elected on a system of proportional representation. It can be dissolved by a popular vote ( Volksenlscheid) . The peculiarity of the Thuringian Constitution is that the committees of the Diet may call in experts to supplement their membership. The executive power is in the hands of the Ministry, which is formed on the principle of equal colleagues (Kollegialprinzip) and consists partly of mem- bers who hold office and partly of members who hold no office and who are designated State Councillors (Staatsriite) . The mem- bers of the Ministry are appointed by the Diet. The president of the Ministry is chosen by the Ministry and is merely its chairman. The Thuringian constitution does not provide for any President of the State. The legislative prerogatives of the Diet are limited, as in the other German Territories, by the right of the people themselves to vote laws; the people can be invited to give their vote (referendum) upon a law which has already been passed and may likewise by their own initiative cause the expression, in a vote, of their will (Volksbegehren). (W. v. B.)
THURSTON, ERNEST TEMPLE (1879- ), English novelist,
was born at Halesworth, Suffolk, Sept. 23 1879. At the age of 16
he published two volumes of verse. Two years later he published
his first novel, The Apple of Eden(i&gi, republished 1905), fol-
io wed by Traffic (1906); The Evolution of Kalherine (1907); The
Realist (1907) ; and two widely differing but very successful novels,
Sally Bishop (1908) and the City of Beautiful Nonsense (1909).
His later work includes, on the realistic side, The Antagonists
(191 2) and Richard Furlong (1913); and on the sentimental side
The Greatest Wish in the W 'arid (1910); The Garden of Resurrection
(1911); Enchantment (1917) and The World of Wonderful Reality
(1920). He dramatized his wife's novel, John Chilcote, M.P.
and one or two of his own, and wrote also, as original plays,
Driven and The Cost (1914), and The Wandering Jew (1920).
His wife, KATHERINE CECIL THURSTON (d. 1911), was born at Cork, the daughter of Mr. Paul Madden. She married Mr. Thurston in 1901, but in 1910 her marriage was dissolved on her own petition. She was well known as a writer of novels, notably The Circle (1903) ; John Chilcote, M.P. (1904) ; The Gambler (1906) and The Fly on the Wheel (1908). The second of these, a study of dual personality, created a considerable stir, both as a novel and as a play. She died at Cork Sept. 6 1911.
TIBET (see 26.916). In Feb. 1910, at the approach of a small Chinese force, which had invaded Tibet under Gen. Chun Ling from Szechuen, the Dalai Lama fled to India and was deposed by imperial decree. In exile at Darjeeling, he appealed for British intervention at Peking, but the British Government declined to dispute the authority of the de facto Government in Tibet. At the same time, H.M, Government took occasion to draw the attention of, the Government at Peking to the necessity
