2 s 2 Pr<»', i dings of tht , 1 Ibany Institub . 



Dr. S. D. Willard read a briei biographical Bketcb ol 



Dr. Edwin James, a laic member of the Institute. 



Edwin James was the youngest of ten sons of Deacon 

 Daniel .lames, a native of Rhode Island. Edwin was 

 born in Weybridge, Addison count}', Vermont, August, 

 1798. He was graduated al Middlebury College, and 

 studied medicine with his brother, Dr. Daniel James, of 

 Albany. He was adiligenl Btudenl in the natural sciences 

 and his talents attracted the attention of scientific men at 

 an early age. 



He was appointed by John C. Calhoun, secretary of 

 war, botanist and geologist to Major Long's expedition 

 to the Rocky mountains in 1820, when he was scarcely 

 twenty-one years old. lie was many weeks with the 

 expedition, composed of twenty persons, in the wilderness 

 of the great west along the chain of the Rocky mountains, 

 and on the 13th and 14th of July, 1820, ascended the 

 highest peak of the mountains, which bears his name, 

 James Peak. The expedition traversed south towards 

 the source of the Red river, and reached Fort Smith on 

 the 13th of September, being over three months among 

 the Indians. The information gained, and the contribu- 

 tions to the botany, natural history and geology of the 

 country, were cordially welcomed by the scientific world. 



An account of the expedition, Long's Expedition, etc., was 

 published in three volumes, pp. 344, 356, 347, in London, 

 1823, and is dedicated to John C. Calhoun. 



I le was subsequently appointed surgeon in the army, and 

 was stationed at the West Troy Arsenal, and at Sault St. 

 Marie. He published a translation of tin New Testament 

 into the Chippewa language, under the title of "Kekitche- 

 manitomenahn G-abemahjeinnunk Jesus Christ Otoashke 

 Waweveendummahgawin, Albany: Packard and Van Ben- 

 thuysen, 1833; " also a Life of John Tanner, a lad stolen 

 by Indians, and found thirty years after, lie was as- 



