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* THOMAS. 236 THOMAS. youngest competitor, but was fleil;iieil the wiiiupr of the best liarp. He found a patron and friend in Ada, Countess of Lovelace, Byron's only daughter, ■who made it possible for him in 1840 to enter the Royal Academy of ^lusie. where he remained for nearly six years. During his stu' dent days he wrote a harp concerto in B flat with orchestral accompaniment: a symphony; several overtures ; quartets ; and two operas, all of which were included in the programmes of the Academy concerts. In 1851 he became a member of Her Majesty's Opera House orchestra under Balfe. and in the autumn of the same year began the annual Continental tours which made him famous the world over. In 1862 he published his celebrated collection of Welsh melodies. In 1863 was produced at the Swansea Eisteddfod his dramatic cantata "Llewell.vn," which was re- peated in 1893 at the World's Fair, Chicago. In 1871 he was appointed harpist to Queen Vic- toria, and in the same year foiuided in London the Welsh Choral Union. He was also professor of the harp at the Roval College of Music, and at the Guildhall School'of Music. THOMAS, John Jacob (1810-95). A noted American horticulturist and writer. He was born on the shores of Lake Cayuga, in western New York vState, and there spent his life on a farm. For nearly sixty years he exercised a wide influence as an editorial writer for The Cultivator and The Countnj (lentleman, his articles dealing with a great variety of prac- tical farm topics. He also published a book, F(trm Implements and Machinrri/, and a nine- volume work. I'ural Affairs, both of which were valuable in their day and serve as records of their time. His fame rests chiefly upon his work as a poniologist and upon his book. The American Fruit Cnlturist, which appeared first in 1846. As revised by W. H. S. Wood in 1897 it reached its twentieth edition. THOMAS, Joseph (1811-91). An American lexicographer and physician. He was born in Cayuga County. N. Y. ; educated at the Poly- technic Institute. Troy, and at Yale College, and then studied medicine in Philadelphia. In 1857- 58 in India, and afterwards in Egypt, he made a special study of the Oriental languages and subsequently became professor of Latin and Greek at Haverford College, Pa. In association with Thomas Baldwin he published in 1845 A Pronouncing Oaxetteer, in 1854 .1 Hew and Com- plete Gazetteer of the United States, and in 1855 The Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer of the World, which has been repeatedly revised. In 1870-71 appeared his Unlrrrsal Pronouncing Dic- tionary of Biography and Mythology, a monu- ment of scholarly and painstaking labor. Web- ster's Unabridged Dictionary is supplied with his 'pronouncing vocabulary' of proper names, in which department his work had high authority. Thomas also edited A Comprehensive Medical Dictionary (1864: revised 1886). THOMAS, Lorenzo (1804-75). An Ameri- can soldier, born in Newcastle, Del. He gradu- ated at the LTnited States Militarv Academy in 1823, and served in the Florida War. In 1838 he was appointed assistant adjutant-general, in 1839-40 was chief of staflT of the forces in Florida, served in the Jlexican War as chief of staff of Gen. W. O. Butler, and was brevetted lieutenant- colonel for gallantry at Monterey. From 1861 to 1863 he was adjutant-general with rank of brigadier-general, and during the remaining two years of the war organized colored troops in the Southern States. President .lohnson in 1868 ap- pointed him Secretary of War ad interim, but as E. M. Stanton refused to vacate liis post, he did not assiune office. In 1865 he was brevetted major-general, and in 1869 was retired. THOMAS, M. Carey ( 1857— ). An American educator, born at Baltimore, Md. She was edu- cated at Cornell Lmiversity. where she gradu- ated in 1877, and at .Johns Hopkins University, and the imiversities of Leipzig and Zurich. She took the degree of doctor of philosophy from the last-named institution in 1883, being the first woman to receive the doctorate of arts at a European university. In 1885 she became profes- sor of English and dean, and in 1804 president of Bryn Mawr College. In 1895 she was elected trustee of Cornell University, and in 1896 she received the degree of LIj.D. from the Western University of Pennsylvania. She published in 1883 a study of Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight, and after that time various educational addresses. THOMAS, Seth (1785-1S59). An American manufacturer, born in Wolcott, Conn. After re- ceiving a meagre education, he was apprenticed to a carpenter and joiner in New Haven. Sub- sequently he settled in Plymouth Hollow (now Thoniaston) and with two partners began the manufacture of clocks, finally becoming sole proprietor of an establishment which gi'ew to be one of the largest clock factories in the world. THOMAS, Sidney Gilchrist (1850-1885). A British metallurgist and inventor. He was born in London and received an elementary education at Dulwich College, but by study after hours spent in a clerkship was able to gain a thorough knowledge of chemistry, especially in its rela- tions to technology. When opportunity offered he attended lectures at the Royal School of Mines and was able to pass the examinations for the de- gree in metallurgy, which was, however, denied him, owing to lack of attendance on day lectures. From 1870 his attention was directed to the elimination of phos]ihorus in the Bessemer con- verter, and in 1875 he reached a pi'actical solution of the problem by employing a 'basic' lining of magnesia or magnesian limestone. He secired the coo])eration of his cousin Percy Gilchrist, also a chemist, and after obtaining a first patent in November, 1877, announced the invention in the following year. The process, which is discussed under Iron and Steel, soon came into wide use all over the world, and Thomas received both financial returns and scientific honors, notable among which was the Bessemer medal of the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain in 1883. THOMAS, Theodore (18,35-1904). A distin- guished German-American orehestral conductor, born in Esens, East Friesland. He received his musical education from his father, and played the violin at public concerts when only six years of age. He came with his parents to America in 1845. and was a member of the orchestra of the Italian opera in New York. He played first violin in the first American concert tour of Jenny Lind. In 1861 he began the formation of liis famous orchestra, and in 1864 gave his first