Thun
LAKE OF, a body of water 11 miles long and 2 miles wide, in the canton of Berne, Switzerland. It lies about 1,800 feet above sea-level, in a beautiful region annually visited by great numbers of tourists. On its E. shore is the town of Interlaken, and on its W., Thun, the latter being the starting point of tourists to the Bernese Oberland. There are steamers on the lake and the two towns are joined by a railroad. THUNBERGIA (named after Carl Peter Thunberg, 1743-1828), a Swedish traveler, botanist, and professor of natural history at Upsal, in botany a genus of Gardenida, sometimes made a synonym of Gardenia. Involucre two-leaved; calyx about 12-toothed; corolla campanulate; capsule beaked, two-celled. Handsome and frag fragrant climbers, cultivated in gardens for the beauty of their flowers. T. fragrans has cordate, acuminate leaves; T. grandiflora angular, cordate leaves, larger flowers with no inner calyx, and the anthers bearded and spurred. Both are natives of the East Indies.
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Thunder Bird
an imaginary bird occurring in the mythology of races of low culture, and personifying thunder or its cause. Among the Caribs, Brazilians, Harvey Islanders, and Karens, Bechuanas, and Basutos, there are legends of a flapping or flashing thunder bird, which seem to translate into myth the thought of thunder and lightning descending from the upper regions of the air, the home of the eagle and the vulture.
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Thunder Fish
a species of fish of the family Siluridæ, found in the Nile, which, like the torpedo, can give an electric shock. It is the Malapterurus electricus of the naturalists.
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Thunderbolt
in heraldry, the thunderbolt is represented as a twisted bar in pale, inflamed at each end, surmounting two jagged darts in saltire, between two wings expanded, with streams of fire issuing from the center.
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Thundering Legion
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about other peoples, religions, or nationalities that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) a Roman legion containing some Christians, which (A. D. 174) fought under Marcus Antoninus against the Marcomanni. The Roman army was shut up in a defile and ready to perish with thirst, when a thunderstorm with heavy rain relieved them of their distress, and so terrified the enemy that a complete victory was gained. The Christians attributed the deliverance to the prayer. The heathen also considered the interposition supernatural, but ascribed it to Jupiter, Mercury, or to magic. Also a legion composed of Christian soldiers raised in the Thebaïs, and led by St. Maurice. The name existed long before it was applied to either of these two legions.
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Thurgau
a canton N. E. of Switzerland; bo inded mainly by the Lake of Constance and the cantons of Zürich and St. Gall; a ea, 381 square miles; capital, Frauenfeld It differs much in physical conformation from most other Swiss cantons, in having no high mountains, though the surface is sufficiently diversified. The whole canton belongs to the basin of the Rhine, to which its waters are conveyed chiefly by the Thur and its affluents, and partly also by the Lake of Constance, including the Untersee. The principal crops are grain and potatoes; large quantities of fruit are also grown. In many places the vine is successfully cultivated. The manufactures consist chiefly of cottons, hosiery, ribbons, lace, etc. Pop. about 135,000.
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Thurible
in ecclesiastical usage, a censer, a vessel for burning incense. Their present form, according to Martigny, dates only from the 12th century. The modern thurible consists of a metallic vessel or cup, sometimes of gold or silver, but more commonly of brass or lateen, in which burning charcoal is placed, with a movable perforated cover. Chains are attached, so that the thurible may be waved to and fro.
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Thurifer
in ecclesiastical usage, the attendant at his high mass, solemn vespers, and benediction, who uses the thurible, either by simply waving it to and fro or for incensing the clergy, choir, and congregation, and at certain times pre- Y sents it to the officiating priest that he may incense the altar or the Host. THÜRINGERWALD (tü'ring - er valt), or Forest of Thuringia, a mountain chain in the center of Germany, stretching S. E. to N. W. for about 60 miles. Its culminating points are the Beerberg and the Schneekopf, which have each a height of about 3,220 feet. The mountains are well covered with wood, chiefly pine. The minerals include iron, copper, lead, nickel, cobalt, etc.
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Thuringia
the name still borne by that part of the ancient Saxon area which is generally bounded by the Werra, the Saale, and the Harz mountains; the Thuringian states being the minor Saxon duchies, the two Schwarzburgs, the two Reuss principalities, and small parts of Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria. The district got its name from the Thuringian tribe of Germans, who were found inhabiting it in the 5th century. The Thuringian forest is a series of wooded mountain ridges occupying a great part of this area. It is about 70 miles long, and belongs to the Sudetic system.
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Thuringite
a hydrated silicate of alumina, and the protoxide and peroxide of iron, which occurs in the form of an aggregation of minute olive-green scales in Thuringia.
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Thurlow
EDWARD, LORD, an English jurist; born in Bracon-Ash, Norfolk, England, in 1732. He was called to the bar in 1754, made king's counsel in 1761, and won great reputation by his speech in the Douglas case. In 1768 he entered Parliament. In 1771 he be came solicitor-general and zealously supported the policy of the government toward the American colonies. In 1778 he was made lord-chancellor, being raised to the peerage as Baron Thurlow. Pitt suspected Thurlow of intriguing with the Prince of Wales, and from this time an open disagreement took place between them. Pitt demanded his dismissal, to which the king at once agreed, and he was deprived of the great seal, seal, June, 1792. He died in Brighton, England, Sept. 12, 1806.
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