freemason, Tristram was in 1884 appointed grand chaplain of England, and in 1885 deputy provincial grand master for Durham. In 1891 he visited Japan, where a daughter was a missionary. In 1893 he presided over the biological section of the British Association at Nottingham. He retained his vigour of mind and body till his death at Durham on 8 March 1906. Tristram married in 1850 Eleanor Mary, daughter of Captain P. Bowlby, 4th King's Own (d. 1903), by whom he had one son and seven daughters.
As a traveller and a naturalist, Tristram was a close observer and diligent collector. His knowledge of the geology, topography, and natural history of Palestine was unrivalled. His study of the larks and chats of North Africa led him, before the issue of the 'Origin of Species' in Nov. 1859, to support (The Ibis, 1859, p. 429) 'the views set forth by Messrs. Darwin and Wallace in their communication to the Linnsean Society' (1 July 1858), though he afterwards modified his language. His collection of 20,000 birds, of which he published a catalogue (Durham, 1889), he sold to the public museum of Liverpool; his collection of birds' eggs ultimately passed to the Natural History Museum.
Tristram's scientific accuracy and picturesque style rendered his writings at once valuable and popular. In addition to contributions to periodical literature and much work in Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible,' he published: 1. 'The Land of Israel: a Journal of Travel with Eeference to its Physical History,' 1865; 3rd ed. 1876. 2. 'The Natural History of the Bible,' 1867. 3. 'The Topography of the Holy Land,' 1872—later entitled 'Bible Places, or the Topography of the Holy Land,' 5th ed. 1897. 4. 'The Land of Moab: Travels and Discoveries on the East Side of the Dead Sea and the Jordan,' 1873. 5. 'Pathways of Palestine: a Descriptive Tour through the Holy Land,' 1881–2. 6. 'The Fauna and Flora of Palestine,' 1884. 7. 'Eastern Customs in Bible Lands,' 1894. 8. 'Rambles in Japan,' 1895.
[Proc. Roy. Soc, B. vol. lxxx.; Field, 17 March 1906; Record, 16 March 1906; Church Missionary Intelligencer, April 1906; private information.]
TRUMAN, EDWIN THOMAS (1818–1905), dentist and inventor, born on 20 Dec. 1818, was the son of Thomas Truman, a descendant of Sir Benjamin Truman, the founder of the firm of brewers, Truman, Hanbury and Buxton. He was educated at King's College School, London, and King's College Hospital. On 28 Feb. 1855 he was appointed dentist to the royal household, holding this appointment until his death, a period of fifty years. He became M.R.C.S. England in 1859. His dental work led him to study the varied properties and uses of gutta-percha. His chief claim to notice is his invention of an improved method of preparing gutta-percha as the protective covering for the Atlantic cable. The failure of the first cable of 1858 and those subsequently laid was due to imperfect insulation, which a committee of inquiry appointed by the privy council attributed to the improper preparation of the gutta-percha employed. Truman discovered that gutta-percha could be purified in any quantity by mechanical means without injury, and after his discovery had been satisfactorily tested by the committee, the invention was patented, on 25 Aug. 1860, the rights were sold to the Gutta-Percha Company, and all subsequent cables which were laid were covered with gutta-percha prepared by Truman's process. In 1860 he invented a machine for the preparation of crude gutta-percha, and established a factory at Vauxhall Cross, and between that year and 1889 took out many patents for perfecting processes connected with the use of gutta-percha. He pursued his investigations with a view to expediting the making of the insulating material and to reducing its porosity and cost; after thirty years of experiment he succeeded in producing a perfectly insulated conductor possessing, according to Lord Kelvin, ten times the insulation of the French Atlantic cable. The general post office adopted Truman's process, and he received until shortly before his death a minimum annual royalty of 500l. In his profession as a dentist he acquired a wide repute by his success in correcting cleft palate. He was the inventor of gutta-percha stoppings for dental work, receiving royalty from every dentist making use of his patent.
From the age of fifteen he was an enthusiastic collector of books and prints, and an habitue of Sotheby's sale rooms. The intimate friend of George Cruikshank, he made a special hobby of collecting Cruikshank's satirical prints and caricatures as well as books illustrated by him, eventually forming the largest collection known. This collection, with his general literary and historical and other portraits, was dispersed by Messrs. Sotheby in 1906, the sale occupying twenty-one days and realising nearly 15,000l. Truman also busied himself with religious and social
