Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/745

 THOMAS THOMASIUS 715 ie battle of Nashville a gold medal was pre- jnted to him by the state of Tennessee. From Tune, 1865, to March, 1867, he was in corn- id of the military division (afterward the lepartment) of the Tennessee, his headquar- 3rs being at Nashville and Louisville. He ras subsequently assigned to the command of the third military district, comprising Georgia, lorida, and Alabama, and next to that of ie Cumberland ; and in 1868, having declined ie brevet rank of lieutenant general, on the >und that he had since the war done noth- w to entitle him to such promotion, he was >laced in command of the fourth military divi- ion, comprising the territory on the Pacific >ast, including Alaska, respecting which he lade a valuable report. THOMAS, Isaiah, an American printer, born Boston in 1749, died in Worcester, April 4, L831. He commenced business as a printer in Tewburyport in 1767. In 1770 he removed to ston and established the "Massachusetts >y," in which he attacked with great boldness ie oppressive measures of the British govern- lent toward the colonies ; and Gov. Hutchin- vainly endeavored to procure his indict- lent. In 1775 he took an active part in the skirmish at Lexington, and on May 3 com- lenced issuing his paper from Worcester. In 1788 he opened a bookstore in Boston, and >on after established branches of his business various parts of the United States, while mtinuingto reside in Worcester. In 1791 he >rinted an edition of the Bible in folio, and ibsequently issued numerous editions of laller size. For many years most of the 100! books of the country were printed and )ublished by him. In 1810 he published his History of Printing in America" (2 vols. Jvo). The American antiquarian society of orcester was founded through his efforts in L812, and liberally endowed by him. THOMAS, Joseph, an American author, born in Cayuga co., N. Y., about 1811. He was educated at the Kensselaer institute, Troy, and at Yale college, was for some time professor of Latin and Greek in Haverford college, Pa., took the degree of M. D. in Philadelphia, and settled there as a physician. In 1857-'8 he was in India studying oriental languages. He is the author of the system of pronouncing geographical names in "Baldwin's Pronoun- cing Gazetteer" (Philadelphia, 1845), of the geographical and biographical vocabularies in several editions of Webster's Dictionary, and of "Travels in Egypt and Palestine" (1853). With Thomas Baldwin he edited "A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States" (1854), and " Lippincott's Pronouncing Gazet- teer of the World" (1855; new ed., 1866); and he edited alone a "Comprehensive Medi- cal Dictionary" (1864), and a "Universal Pro- nouncing Dictionary of Biography and Mythol- ogy " (2 vols. large 8vo, 1870-'7l). THOMAS, Saint, also called Didymus, one of the twelve apostles. Both names, the Hebrew Thomas (Th'om) and the Greek Didymus, de- note a twin. Thomas is rarely mentioned in the New Testament, and little is known of him. The principal traits of his character are given in the Gospel of John. When Jesus after his crucifixion appeared to his disciples, Thomas was not present, and refused to be- lieve until he himself saw and touched Jesus. As to the scene of his apostolical labors, the statements of the ecclesiastical writers of the first centuries do not agree ; according to some it was Parthia, according to others Egypt and Ethiopia, and according to others India, where the Portuguese in the 16th century asserted that they had found his body. An ancient sect (see CHRISTIANS OF ST. THOMAS), who early in the middle ages were numerous in Persia and still survive in India, claim St. Thomas as their founder ; but many theolo- gians consider the account of the labors of St. Thomas in India as having bee'n invented by the Manichffians, and as early as the 5th cen- tury the Thomas of India was regarded by Theodoret as a disciple. of Manes. To the apostle Thomas an Emngelium Infantice Christi (also called Evangelium secundum Thomam) is ascribed, which pretends to fill up the gaps left by the canonical Gospels in the time from the infancy of Jesus until his public appearance ; but it has always been regarded as apocryphal. (See Thilo, Acta ThomcB Apostoli, Leipsic, 1823.) St. Thomas is commemorated in the Roman Catholic church on Dec. 21 ; in the Greek church on the first Sunday of her church year, beginning with Easter (hence called Thomas Sunday). THOMAS I REMPIS. See KEMPIS. THOMAS AQCDfAS. See AQUINAS. TIIOMASIIS. I. Christian, a German philoso- pher, born in Leipsic in January, 1655, died in Halle, Sept. 23, 1728. He was educated by his father, the rector of the celebrated Thomas- schule, and from 1675 to 1679 studied at Frank- fort-on-the-Oder. Returning to Leipsic in 1679, he undertook a course of lectures at the university, and in 1687 he began to lecture in the German instead of the Latin language. From 1688 to 1690 he issued a monthly series of papers devoted chiefly to current literature. Persecution finally forced him to flee from Leipsic, and he went to Berlin, where he was kindly received by the elector Frederick III., afterward King Frederick I. of Prussia. He subsequently delivered lectures at Halle, and his success induced the elector in 1694 to found the university of Halle, of which in 1710 Thomasius became rector and dean of the fac- ulty of jurisprudence. It was principally by his exertions that trials for witchcraft and tor- ture were abolished in Germany. His most important works are : Historie der Weis- Tieit und Thorheit (Halle, 1693), and Ver- nunftige und christliche, aler nicJit scTiein- Jieilige Gedanlcen und Erinnerungen uber aller- hand auserlesene, gemiscJite philosophische und juristische Handel (3 vols., !723-'6). His life