Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/433

 THOMPSON

THOMSON

He was now a thorough nationalist, and his Eloge de Descartes (1765), though it was crowned by the Academy, was warmly attacked by the clergy. In 1765 he was appointed historiographer of the royal residences, and in the following year he was admitted to the Academy. His Eloge de Marc Aurcle, which he read at the Academy in 1770, was forbidden publication until 1775. His collected works were published in four volumes in 1775. D. Sep. 17, 1785.

THOMPSON, Daniel Greenleaf, Ameri can psychologist. B. 1850. Ed. Amherst College. He studied law, and was admitted to practise at the New York Bar in 1872. His leisure was devoted to a thorough study of psychology, especially in relation to religion and sociology, and his excellent works (System of Psychology, 2 vols., 1884 ; The Religious Sentiment of the Human Mind, 1888; Social Progress, 1889; etc.) were Spencerian. He was president of the Nineteenth Century Club. D. 1897.

THOMPSON, Sir Henry, first Baronet, F.R.C.S., surgeon. B. Aug. 6, 1820. Ed. privately and London University College. He took honours in chemistry, a gold medal for anatomy and surgery, and the Jacksonian Prize. In 1863 he was appointed surgeon to University College Hospital, and in 1884 professor of pathology and surgery at the Eoyal College of Surgeons. He was consulting surgeon to the Univer sity College Hospital, and surgeon extra ordinary to the King of the Belgians, who made him a Commander of the Order of Leopold. Sir Henry was a fair artist as well as a distinguished surgeon, and ex hibited at the Academy and the Paris Salon. He was created baronet in 1899. In addition to his many scientific works he wrote two novels (Charley Kingston s Aunt, 1885; and All But, 1886). His Rationalist views are given in his Unknown God (1902 a reprint of an article which appeared in the Fortnightly Review for March). He boldly speaks of his &quot; eman cipation from the fetters of all the creeds &quot; 793

(p. 85), but retains a belief in a beneficent Power which rules the universe. Mr. Edward Clodd reproduces in his Memories (p. 48) a letter from Sir Henry in relation to the Theism of his little book. &quot; I am Agnostic to the backbone,&quot; he protests. D. Apr. 18, 1904.

THOMPSON, William, Irish political economist. B. about 1785, Thompson was- a wealthy Irish landlord who accepted Jeremy Bentham s creed, and became disgusted to find himself living on the labours of the poor peasants. He went on to adopt the principles of Robert Owen, and sought to propagate the co-operative ideal in his country. In 1824 he published an Owenite Inquiry into the Principles of the Distribution of Wealth Most Conducive to Human Happiness one of the earliest works of scientific Socialism and one of the first to raise the question of the dis tribution of wealth seriously. Thompson contended long before Marx that all wealth should go to the producers. He also championed the cause of women (Appeal of One Half the Human Race- Women Against the Pretensions of the Other Half Men to Retain Them in Political, and Thence in Civil and Domestic ,. Slavery ; 1825). He came to London in 1827 and joined in the Owenite propa ganda. Thompson was a strict vegetarian and teetotaller ; one of the highest-minded of Owen s followers. He left his body for dissection, and the bulk of his property for propagandist purposes. D. Mar. 28, 1833.

THOMSON, James, poet. B. Nov. 23, 1834. Ed. Royal Caledonian Asylum and Chelsea Military Asylum. Thomson was left an orphan at the age of eight. Ha was sent to Chelsea to be trained as an army schoolmaster, and in 1851 he began to teach in Ireland. Two years later his life was embittered by the death of a beautiful girl whom he loved ; but he continued as- a schoolmaster, and studied assiduously, until 1862. Bradlaugh then found him work as a clerk and journalist, and he 794