Tomlinson was soon after appointed lecturer on experimental science in King's College school.
To Tomlinson was due the perception of several important scientific phenomena. Early in his career his attention was attracted by the singular rotation of fragments of camphor on the surface of water. By investigation he ascertained that many other bodies also possess that property, and that liquids, such as creosote, carbolic acid, ether, alcohol, and essential and fused oils, assume definite figures on the surface of oil and other liquids in a state of chemical purity in chemically clean vessels. These researches obtained for Tomlinson the friendship of Professor Van der Mensbrugghe of the university of Ghent, who found Tomlinson's conclusions of much importance in establishing the theory of the surface tension of liquids.
In 1864 Tomlinson was elected on the council of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, in 1867 he became a fellow of the Chemical Society, and in 1872 he was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society. He was also one of the founders of the Physical Society in 1874. Some time before his death he retired from his post at King's College, and the later years of his life were devoted more to literature, and especially to the study of poetry. From 1878 to 1880 he held the Dante lectureship at University College, London. He died at Highgate on 15 Feb. 1897. Before leaving Salisbury he married Miss Sarah Windsor, author of several small manuals and stories.
Besides the works mentioned, Tomlinson was author of:
- ‘Amusements in Chess,’ London, 1845, 8vo.
- ‘Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy,’ London, 1848, 12mo.
- ‘Pneumatics for the Use of Beginners,’ London, 1848, 12mo; 4th edit. 1887, 8vo.
- ‘Rudimentary Mechanics,’ London, 1849, 12mo; 9th edit. 1867.
- ‘A Rudimentary Treatise on Warming and Ventilating,’ London, 1850, 12mo; App. 1858.
- ‘The Natural History of Common Salt,’ London, 1850, 16mo.
- ‘Objects in Art Manufacture,’ London, 1854, 8vo.
- ‘Illustrations of the Useful Arts,’ London, 1855–64, 12mo.
- ‘Illustrations of Trades,’ London, 1860, 4to.
- ‘The Useful Arts and Manufactures of Great Britain,’ London, 1861, 12mo.
- ‘On the Motion of Camphor towards the Light,’ London, 1862, 8vo.
- ‘Experimental Essays,’ London, 1863, 8vo.
- ‘On the Motions of Eugenic Acid on the Surface of Water,’ London, 1864, 8vo.
- ‘On the Invention of Printing,’ London, 1865, 8vo.
- ‘Illustrations of Science,’ London, 1867, 8vo.
- ‘The Sonnet: its Origin, Structure, and place in Poetry,’ London, 1874, 8vo.
- ‘Experiments on a Lump of Camphor,’ London, 1876, 16mo.
- ‘The Literary History of the Divine Comedy,’ London, 1879, 8vo.
- ‘Sonnets,’ London, 1881, 16mo.
- ‘Essays, Old and New,’ London, 1887, 8vo.
- ‘A Critical Examination of Goethe's Sonnets,’ London, 1890, 8vo.
- ‘Dante, Beatrice, and the Divine Comedy,’ London, 1894, 8vo.
He also edited several scientific works, including a ‘Cyclopædia of Useful Arts,’ 1852–4, 8vo; new edit. 1866; translated Dante's ‘Inferno,’ London, 1877, 8vo; and contributed to ‘Notes and Queries’ and to the eighth edition of the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica.’
[Tomlinson's Works; Biograph, 1881, vi. 265–70; Times, 16 Feb. 1897.]
TOMLINSON, MATTHEW (1617-1681), regicide. [See Thomlinson.]
TOMLINSON, NICHOLAS (1765–1847), vice-admiral, born in 1765, third son of Captain Robert Tomlinson of the navy, was from March 1772 borne on the books of the Resolution, guardship at Chatham, of which his father was first lieutenant. He is said to have afterwards made two voyages to St. Helena in the Thetis, and in her to have been also on the North American station. In March 1779 he joined the Charon, with Captain John Luttrell (afterwards Olmius), third earl of Carhampton [see under Luttrell, James]; served as Luttrell's aide-de-camp in the reduction of Omoa; and, continuing in her with Captain Thomas Symonds, was present at the capture of the French privateer Comte d'Artois, and the defence and capitulation of Yorktown. He returned to England in a cartel in December 1781, and on 23 March 1782 was made lieutenant into the Bristol, which went out with convoy to the East Indies. In April 1783, shortly after the Bristol's arrival at Madras, Tomlinson was in command of a working party on board the Duke of Athol, Indiaman, when she was blown up and upwards of two hundred men and officers killed. Tomlinson escaped with his life, but was severely injured. In the Bristol he was present in the fifth action between Suffren and Sir Edward Hughes [q. v.]; in September 1784 he was appointed to the Juno, and in her returned to England in 1785. From 1786 to 1789 he served in the Savage sloop on the coast of Scotland. He is said to have been then, for a few years, in the Russian navy, and to have had command of a Russian ship of the line, which he resigned on the immi-
