Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 56.djvu/282

 office of physician-superintendent to the asylum suddenly became vacant, Thomson undertook to fill the appointment, though Asiatic cholera was raging among its inmates. The onerous duties of the post proved to be too much for his strength, and symptoms of illness slowly showed themselves, but he remained at his post in spite of increasing illness until shortly before his death. He died at Edinburgh, whither he had gone a few days previously to consult his medical friends, on 12 May 1852.

He married, in December 1827, Eliza, the second daughter of Ninian Hill, writer to the signet, and by her had six children.

His published works consist chiefly of original articles and carefully prepared digests for encyclopædias and various standard medical works. His essay ‘On the Black Deposit in the Lungs of Miners,’ published in the ‘Transactions’ of the Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, vols. xx. and xxi., and on ‘Sloughing of some Portions of the Intestinal Tube’ in the ‘Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal,’ 1835, xliv. 296, are deserving of special attention. His only separate work was ‘A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of the Liver and Biliary Passage,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1841.

[Allen Thomson's biographical notice of his half-brother, prefixed to Cullen's ‘Life,’ Edinburgh, 1850; Gordon Laing's Life of Sir James Y. Simpson; additional facts kindly given to the writer by Professor John Millar Thomson, Dr. William Thomson's nephew, and by Alex. Duncan, esq.]  THOMSON, WILLIAM (1819–1890), archbishop of York, born at Whitehaven on 11 Feb. 1819, was the eldest son of John Thomson of Kelswick House, near that town. Both his parents were of Scottish extraction. His mother, Isabella, was maternally descended from Patrick Home of Polwarth, and was related to the Earls of Marchmont. His father migrated to Whitehaven in 1813 to join the business of his uncle, Walter Thomson. He became director of the local bank and chairman of the ‘Cleator Moor Hematite Iron Company,’ the first hematite company formed in the north of England. He died at Bishopthorpe Palace on 18 April 1878, aged 87 (West Cumberland and Whitehaven Herald, 25 April and 2 May 1878; Whitehaven News, 25 April and 2 May 1878).

William was educated at Shrewsbury school, entering at the age of eleven. During his school days he preferred science to classics, although at Shrewsbury he had no opportunity of following his bent. On 2 June 1836 he matriculated from Queen's College, Oxford. He was elected a scholar in the following year, and a fellow in 1840. He graduated B.A. in that year and M.A. in 1844.

While an undergraduate, Thomson devoted himself chiefly to the study of logic, somewhat to the detriment of his work for the schools, and before he graduated he had practically completed a treatise entitled ‘Outlines of the Laws of Thought.’ This was published in 1842, and brought him his earliest reputation. The germ of his work, he states, he derived from Christian von Wolff's ‘Philosophia Rationalis,’ and Daniel Albert Wyttenbach's ‘Præcepta Philosophiæ Logicæ.’ Thomson's treatment of his topic was remarkably clear, and he arranged his matter with great skill. The merits of the treatise brought him into communication with many authorities on the subject, among others with Sir William Hamilton, Professor De Morgan, James McCosh, Philip Henry, fifth earl Stanhope (then Lord Mahon), and William Whewell, master of Trinity. From these, and especially from Sir William Hamilton, Thomson received many suggestions which induced him to make considerable alterations in the later editions of his work. Thomson's ‘Outlines’ in some respects anticipated John Stuart Mill's ‘System of Logic,’ and was long used extensively as a text-book.

Soon after the publication of his treatise in 1842, Thomson was ordained deacon, and left Oxford to devote himself to clerical work. He took priest's orders in 1843, and in the next four years served curacies, first at St. Nicholas, Guildford, Surrey (1844–6), and afterwards at Cuddesdon, near Oxford, under the nominal vicar, Samuel Wilberforce [q. v.], bishop of Oxford.

Thomson's growing reputation as a logician led the authorities of Queen's College in 1847 to recall him to Oxford to act as college tutor. In this capacity he did much to retrieve the standing of the college. Indefatigable in his attention to its affairs, he filled the office not merely of tutor, but also of chaplain and dean. In 1852 he became junior bursar, and in 1854 bursar. At the same time he was recognised in the university as a preacher of power. In 1848 he was appointed select preacher, and in 1853 he was chosen Bampton lecturer. Taking as his subject ‘the atoning work of Christ,’ he dwelt on the expiatory character of the atonement, and his sermons constitute a very complete exposition of that theory of the purpose of Christ's incarnation. They attracted great attention, and St. Mary's was more crowded than it had been since the time of Newman (Times, 7 June 1853). 