Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/556

 WHITE

Reformatory; manager of the State Inebriate Asylum; senior-consultant of the Arnot Memorial Hospital and presi- dent of the State Medical Examination and Licensing Board.

On November 15, ISoJi, he married -Mary Bowman, daughter of Dr. Edward Covell, of Wilkesbarre, and had two children, the boy, Hamilton D., becoming a doctor.

A scholarly man, accomplished in other arts besides medicine. Dr. Wey was a leading doctor in the Chemung Valley and when he died on June 30, 1897, Elmira lost not only a friend but a clear- headed adviser. His paper on "Medical Responsibility and Malpractice," read as president of the Medical Society of the State of New York in 1871, showed him to be well above the average.

Memorial, by Dr. W. W. Potter in Tr. Med. Soc. of the St. of N. York, 1898.

White, Charles Abiathar (1826-1910).

Charles Abiathar White, natural scien- tist, was born at Dighton, Bristol County, Massachusetts, January 26, 1826. the second son of Abiathar White and his wife Nancy, daughter of Daniel Corey, of Dighton. The first of this line in America was William White, who estab- lished himself at " Wind-mill Point in Boston about 1640."

When Charles was twelve years old his father's family removed to Burlington, but he revisited his old home in Dighton in 1847, and married a school mate, Charlotte R. Pilkington, daughter of James Pilkington, of Dighton. Eight children were born, six of whom survived him. It was at Burlington that his first scientific papers were written. He made many journeys to various parts of the great Mississippi Valley for geological study, and in the years 1862 and 1863 assisted Prof. James Hall in his paleon- tological work for New York state.

In pursuance of his long-cherished purpose, he studied medicine under Dr. S. S. Ransom, and afterwards graduated M. D. from Rush Medical College, now the medical department of the University

496 WHITE

of Chicago. In 1864 he removed with his family from Burlington to Iowa City and there began to practise.

While practising medicine at Iowa City he was appointed state geologist of Iowa. He conducted that survey until 1870, when two volumes of reports were published, devoted mainly to structural and economic geology.

In 1866 he received the M. A. from Iowa College at Grinnell, and in 1867 was appointed professor of natural history in the Iowa State University. He became first member, then fellow of the American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science in 1868, and closed his work upon the Iowa survey in 1870, when he assumed the full duties until 1873, when he was called to a similar chair in Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine.

In 1874, at the request of Maj. (then Lieut.) G. M. Wheeler, he undertook the publication of the invertebrate paleon- tology of the government survey west of the one-hundredth meridian, then under his direction. In 1875 he removed with his family to Washington, and joined the United States Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, in charge of Maj. J. W. Powell.

In 1876 he joined the United States Geological Survey of the Territories in charge of Dr. F. V. Hayden and remained with it until its suspension in 1879. He was appointed curator of paleontology in the United States National Museum in 1879, and geologist to the reorganized United States Geological Survey in 1882.

In 1882 he was commissioned by the director of the National Museum of Brazil to prepare for publication the cretaceous invertebrates which had been collected by members of the geological survey of that empire. The results of this work were published at Rio de Janeiro in both Portuguese and English.

The degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by the State University of Iowa in 1893, and he was one of the founders of the Geological Society of America, and elected to corresponding