CHAPTER VIII 



THE BO\AT)OINS, DANAS, AND OTHER 

 FAMILIES 



JAMES BOWDOIN, elder son of Pierre Baudouin the TheBowdoins 

 emigrant, was born in 1676. He became a highly '^''^ 

 successful Boston merchant, was for a number of 

 years a member of the Massachusetts council, and when 

 he died, in 1747, was accounted to have left the largest 

 estate ever owned by any citizen of the province. 



His son, James, was born in Boston in 1727 and was james Bow- 

 graduated fi'om Harvard in 1745. By the death of his '*°^° scientist 

 father two years later he came into possession of the great 

 estate, and for the next few years devoted himself to the 

 care of his property and to scientific and literary studies. 

 When he was twenty-four years old he paid a visit to 

 Benjamin Franklin, with whom he afterwards corre- 

 sponded to such good purpose that Franklin read his let- 

 ters before the Royal Society of London. It is interest- 

 ing to note that in one of these letters Bowdoin suggested 

 the theory, now generally accepted, that under certain 

 conditions the phosphorescence of the sea is due to the 

 presence of minute animals. During his entire life he 

 was greatly interested in natural science, and it is highly 

 probable that he would have made still more valuable 

 contributions to knowledge if patriotism and ill health 

 had not cut short his studies. But although suffering 

 from consumption for many years, he nevertheless threw 

 himself with ardour into the turbulent political life of the 

 day. 



His public career began with his election to the Massa- 



183 



