THOMSON, James Bates, educator, born in Springfield, Vermont, 21 May, 1808; died in Brooklyn, New York, 22 June, 1883. He worked on his father's farm in summer, attending a district school in winter, till 1824, when he began to teach, he was graduated at Yale in 1834, and was principal of an academy at Nantucket, Massachusetts, from 1835 to 1842. He then went to Auburn, New York, and at the request of President Day, of Yale, published an abridgment of Day's algebra for the use of schools. He began in 1843 to organize and extend teachers' institutes and similar gatherings, and was actively engaged in this work for the next four or five years. In 1845 he assisted in the organization of the New York state teachers' association, and was elected its president. He removed to the city of New York in 1846, and resided there and in Brooklyn till 1868, when he took up his permanent residence in the latter city. He received the degree of LL.D. from Hamilton college in 1853, and from the University of Tennessee in 1882. Mr. Thomson attained considerable reputation as a conchologist. He published a very successful series of mathematical works, his arithmetical works alone having a sale of about 100,000 copies annually. His books include " School Algebra." (New Haven, 1843) ; a series of arithmetics (New York, 1845-'52); and "Arithmetical Analysis" (1854).