Naturalist, born at Belleville, ON, Canada, on the 13th of December 1832. While a boy he went to New York, and was a compositor in the office of the Evening Post. In 1851 he began to study medicine, and obtained the degree of M.D. in 1855. He then took an active part in antislavery agitation, and on the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 he was for a time a surgeon in the Union army. Later he served at Montreal as a confidential correspondent of Pres. Lincoln. He afterwards became a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons there, but devoted his attention chiefly to the natural history of Canada. In 1881 he was one of the founders of the Society for the Diffusion of Physiological Knowledge. He was then treasurer and commissioner of agriculture of the province of Ontario. His publications include Recollections of an Abolitionist (1867); Birds of Canada (1872); Butterflies and Moths of Canada (1873); Flora of Canada (1873); Forest Trees of Canada (1874); Mammals, Reptiles and Fresh-water Fishes of Canada (1878).
