Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/1245

NAME WHELPLEV 1223 WHITE Whelpley, James Davenport (1817-1872) James Davenport Whelpley was bom in New York City, January 23, 1817, and died in Boston, Massachusetts, April 15, 1872. He was graduated at Yale in 1837 and entered the service of the geological survey of Pennsyl- vania under Henry D. Rogers, where he con- tinued for two years. He was graduated at the medical department of Yale in 1842 and remained in New Haven until 1846, engaging in the study of science and in literary pur- suits. Dr. Whelpley then settled in Brooklyn, New York, where he began to practise medi- cine ; but failing health soon compelled him to relinquish that profession. In 1847 he removed to New York City, where he became one of the owners of the American Whig Review, to which he had been a contributor since 1845. While thus engaged he formed, about 1849, a project of establish- ing a commercial colony in Honduras, and in furtherance of this enterprise spent two years in San Francisco, purchasing and editing one of the daily papers there. His arrangements were disturbed by the presence of the fili- buster, William Walker, and on going to Hon- duras he was detained by Walker for nearly a year and impressed into the service as a sur- geon, during which time he sufifered great pri- vation. Finally, he escaped to San Francisco, whence he returned early in 1857 to the East and again devoted himself to literary and scientific pursuits. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, to whose transactions and to the American Jour- nal of Science he contributed papers, prin- cipally on physics and metallurgy, giving the results of his researches. The most important of these is "Idea of an Atom suggested by the Phenomena of Weight and Temperature" (1845), in which he anticipated Michael Fara- day's ideas as set forth in his "Thoughts on Ray Visions" (1846) ; and he was also the author of "Letters on Philosophical Induction" and "Letters on Philosophical Analogy," which discuss fundamental principles in scientific methods. Appleton's Cyclop, of Amer. Biog., N. Y., 1889, vol. vi, 458. White, Charles Abiathar (1826-1910) Charles Abiathar White, nat'ural scientist, was born at Dighton, Bristol County, Massa- chusetts, 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 American was William White, who established himself at "Wind-mill Point in Boston about 1640." When Charles was twelve years old his father's family removed to Burlington, Iowa, 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 paleontological work for New York State. In pursuance of his long-cherished purpose, he studied medicine under Dr. S. S. Ransom, and in 1863 graduated M. D. from Rush Med- ical College, now the medical department of the University of Chicago. In 1864 he re- moved 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 Advancement 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 Col- lege, Brunswick, Maine. In 1874, at the request of Maj. (then Lieut.) G. M. Wheeler, he undertook the publication of the invertebrate paleontology of the govern- ment survey west of the one-hundredth mer- idian, 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 Geologi- cal 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 Sur- vey 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.