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* THOMPSON. 241 THOMPSON. THOMPSON. Launt (183:i-04). An Anipri- can sculptiir. He was born in Abljeyleix. Quceii's County, Ireland, but came to America in 1847. settling at Albany. He .studied anatomy for a short time, and tlien became a pupil and assist- ant of Erastus Palmer, the sculptor. In 1858 he opened a studio in New York City, where he was first brought into public notice by his exquisite medallion heads. Later he executcil some striking portrait busts and statues. He was made a member of the National Academy in 1862. In 18G8 he went to Rome for a year, and in 1875-87 again visited Italy, residing princi- pally at Florence, Among his works are a medal- lion portrait of John A. Dix : portrait bust of William Cullen Bryant (Metropolitan iluseuni ) : a colossal statue' of Napoleon ( Jletropolitan Museum), of John Sedgwick (West Point), Win- field Scott (Soldiers' Home. Washington), and one of Abraham Pierson, first president of Yale College (187-t). THOMPSON, Mortimer (1832-75). An American journalist and humorist, born at Riga, Monroe County, N. Y. He studied at the Uni- versity of Michigan, contributed humorous arti- cles to the Advertiser of Detroit, and afterwards was a writer for the Xew York Tribune, in which were published his .series of letters from Niagara Falls and his account of the Pierce- Butler slave-auction at Savannah, printed by the Anti-Slavery Society as a tract. For several years he was a popular lecturer. He published under the pseudonym 'Q. K. Philander Doesticks. P.B.' — interpreted by him as "Queer Kritter. Phi- lander Doesticks, Perfect Brick' — a number of volumes, including Doesticks — What He Says (1855): a parody of Hiawiitha. I'lii-ri-bus-tah: A l^oiirj Thafs hi'i Xo Author (185fi) : and oth- iiKj to Hint. Being a Satire on Snobbery (1857). THOMPSON, Richard Wigginton (1809- lOOOl. An American political leader, born in Cul- peper County. V'a. In 1831 he removed to Louis- ville, Ky., but soon afterwards went to Lawrence County, Ind., where in 1834 he was admitted to the bar. In 1840 he was elected to Congress, and in 1847 was again elected. He was appointed judge of the Fifth Indiana Circuit in 1807, and in 1877 was Secretary of the Navy in the Cabinet of President Hayes. His publications include: The Papacy and. the Ciril Power (1876) ; His- tory of Protective Tariff Laws (1888) ; Personal Recollections of Sixteen Presidents (1894) ; and Footprints of the Jesuits ( 1894 ). THOMPSON, Robert Ellis (1844—). An American educator, born near Lurgan, Ireland. At an early age he emigrated to the United States, and in 1805 graduated at the University of Pennsylvania. Two years later he was li- censed to preach by the Reformed Presbytery of Philadelphia, but "from 1808 until 1892 was a professor in the Lniversity of Pennsylvania. In 1894 he became principal of the Phihulelphia Central High School. He edited the Penn Monthly from 1870 to 1881, and the American Weekly from 1881 to 1892; edited vols. i. and ii. of the Encyclopcedia Americana, supplement to the Encyclopwdia Britannica (1884-85); and published a number of books, including: Social Science and Kational Economy (1875); .1 Bis- torn of the Presbyterian Churches of America, (1895) ; and Political Economy for High Schools (1895). THOMPSON, SiLVANUS PHILLIP.S (1851—). An Engli>li physicist. He was born at York, aiul was educated at the Royal School of Mines and the University of London, where he received the degrees of B.A. (1869), B.Sc. (1876), and D.Sc. (1878). After serving as science master at Bootham School, York, he was lecturer and professor of experimental physics in the Uni- versity College, Bristol, and in 1885 he became principal and professor of physics in the City and Guilds Technical College, Finsbury, Professor Tliompson has done much to spread knowledge of electricity, while at the same time he has carried on original researches. His books on electricity and physics have passed through numerous edi- tions. Of these. Elementary Lessons in Elec- tricity and Magnetism (1st ed. 1881), Dynamo Electric Machinery (1st ed. 1885), Light, Visible and Invisible (1897), and Polyphase Electric Currents and Alternate-Current Motors (1895) are well known, as is his Michael Faraday: His Life and Work (1898). THOMPSON, Smith (1768-1843). An Ameri- can jurist and statesman. He was born in Stan- ford, Dutchess County, New York ; graduated at Princeton College iii 1788, and was admitted to the bar in 1792, having studied under Clian- cellor Kent. After serving as a member of the New York Legislature (1800) and of the State Constitutional Convention (1801), and receiving other political honors, he became associate jus- tice of the State Supreme Court (1802-14), and Chief .lustice (1814-18). In 1818 he became Sec- retary of the Navy in Monroe's Cabinet, and in 1823 was appointed to the United States Su- preme Court, of which he remained a justice un- til his death. THOMPSON, Thomas Perronet (1783- 1869). An English general and political re- former. He was born' in Hull and was educated at Queen's College, Cambridge. He took part in the Buenos Ayres campaign, 1807, and in 1808 was made Governor of Sierra Leone. His recall to England in 1810 was due to the influence of the slave-traders, against whose traffic he had taken active measures. He was with the British army in the Peninsular and French campaigns of 1813 and 1814, and in the Indian Pindari campaign of 1818. In 1820, with a small force, he was defeated at Sur, on the Arabian coast, by a band of Arabs, whom he was attempting to punish for piracy. He returned to England and in 1824 became one of the founders, and later proprietor, of the Westminster lieviciv, to which he was a versatile and prolific contributor. His best known publications are the Catechism on the Corn Laws (1827), and The Catholic State Waggon (183?), in favor of Catholic emancipation. A collection of his miscellaneous writings was pul)lished with the title Exercises, Political and Other (6 vols., 1842). He was elected to Parliament in 1835, 1847, and 1857. He became general in 1868. THOMPSON, WAnin- (1798-1868). An American legislator and diplomat, born in Pick- ensville, S. C. He graduated at the South Caro- lina College in 1814 and in 1810 was admitted to the bar. From 1835 to 1841 he was a member of