JAMES MASON CRAFTS. 801 



JAMES MASOX CRAFTS (1839-1917) 



Fellow in Class I, Section 3. 1S07. 



The passing of another from among the few survivors of the older 

 generation of leading chemists arouses sorrow for our great loss anfl 

 gratitude for his devoted labor. Among the honored names of Ameri- 

 can scientific men of the 19th century that of Professor Crafts will 

 always be remembered. Both in the direction of organic chemistry 

 and in that of physical chemistry he rendered contributions of great 

 permanent value. 



James ^Mason Crafts was born at Boston on March 8, 1839. He was 

 the son of Royal Altamont Crafts and Marianne (Mason) Crafts. 

 He is remembered by his schoolmates at the Sullivan School in Boston 

 as a serious boy, but one glowing with vigor and at times full of fun 

 and jollity. The most vivid impression was of his mechanical ingenu- 

 ity and dexterity: he was able at the age of nine or ten to pull to 

 pieces and successfully reassemble his watch — a rare possession in 

 those days among school children. All his childhood was spent in 

 Boston, where he completed at the Boston Latin School and under 

 the private tuition of Dr. Samuel Eliot the excellent training in 

 mathematics with which he entered the then recently founded Law- 

 rence Scientific School of Harvard Lniversity in 1856. At Harvard 

 he pursued the study of chemistry under Professor Horsford, and 

 graduated with the degree of S. B. in 1858. 



The winter of 1858-59 he spent as a graduate student of engineering 

 at Cambridge, whence he went to the Bergakademie at Freiberg in 

 Saxon}^ to continue once more the study of the science to which he was 

 to devote his life work. In 1860 he migrated to the University of 

 Heidelberg, where he studied under Robert W. Bunsen, at that time 

 and for many years aftenv^ards director of the chemical laboratory 

 there. In the following year the young chemist left Germany for 

 Paris, where he came under the influence of Wurtz, and for four years 

 continued his studies at the Ecole de Medicine. Ever afterwards his 

 interest centered in France rather than in Germany. 



Returning to America in 1865 he became mine examiner in Mexico 

 during 1866-1867 — a task which in^-olved courage and resourceful- 

 ness as well as expert knowledge, since the country was alive with 

 bandits and filled with difficulties. His adventures were thrilling, 



